Credit for this beautiful drawing of Snape and Lily goes to *perselus
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Lovely quotes:
“To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.” ~ Mary Oliver
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." ~ Dalai Lama
“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time’ is to say, ‘I don’t want to’.” ~ Lao Tzu
This is Alvina Shay, my Mother’s Grandmother. I don’t know too much about Mom’s side of the family…I vaguely remember going to visit relatives in Lancaster, PA as a child of 7 or so. I remember Mom talking about Aunt Katie (Catherine Shay Herr, who passed in 1980) and her daughter, Charlotte Lafferty (Charlotte married Ellis Lafferty…they lived in Castroville, TX).
The obituary says Alvina had 4 grandchildren…out of 10 kids, 4 seems like a small number (after doing some searching, I found a picture of Alvina’s and Charles’ gravestone and sadly discovered that many of their children passed away quite young).
My mother had two brothers, add Charlotte, and that would be the four grandkids. My mother had two children and one stillborn, one of her brothers had two (one step), so Charlotte must’ve had 7. And I don’t know a one of them! Not even my uncle’s kids, although I remember playing with my cousin, Brian, when I was very young (I think he’s in the Seattle, WA area).
So, I’m just putting this out there, because you never know!
Anyone know any of the Lafferty’s of Castroville, TX? Charlotte passed in 1987 and her husband in 1977, but it’s possible their children, my age-ish, would still be in the area. Asking about Herr families in Lancaster would be like asking about Smiths elsewhere, so I’m pretty sure that would be a dead end.
Reading, reading, reading! These were all taken in the 1970s, and all down the cape (that’s Cape Cod to all you non-Massholes) at my aunt and uncle’s home.
Here’s my shot for Jenn’s Time Warp Tuesday. I was cleaning out some dresser drawers so Dave could have a place to put his clothes other than on the futon…to be fair, he did have two drawers in my dresser in the bedroom, but since he gets up so early he didn’t want to turn on the light and wake me up, so he’d been keeping his stuff in the spare room, which is where the other dresser is. Anyway…here’s me with my Grandma and Nana at my very first Christmas…and if you can believe it, I STILL have that same stocking that’s hanging from the mantle!
Grandma, Dad’s mom
Check out that tree! The original Charlie Brown tree? I think it’s adorable…and those white things are WWII ships that Dad was on! I know…which of these things aren’t like the others LOL!
Nana, Mom’s mom
It’s funny…in this picture, there are many things I still have! One of the mugs, the candle holders, the little candy dish and the picture on the wall behind Nana’s head. Wish I had that mantle! It’s gorgeous!
Here’s my shot for Jenn’s Time Warp Tuesday and I’m early, even! A miracle!
Sunday would’ve been Mom’s 89th birthday. This picture was taken at her high school graduation and even though she didn’t have me until she was 35, this is how I remember her looking. Guess I know where my young looking genes came from (although I’m afraid age has finally caught up with me).
As I mentioned on Facebook, Mom would’ve been SO happy that Dave and his family are in my life, and that Cindy and her family are in my brother Larry’s life. I think it’s funny that my brother and I found mates that had three kids each kind of early in life, and that both became grandparents while relatively still young. The one thing Mom wanted more than anything was grandkids, and oh to have greatgrands, she’d've been absolutely thrilled! She would’ve enjoyed the heck outa Ralphy, too, the little rascal.
Yup! I AM perpetually late for any and everything! Here’s my shot for Jenn’s Time Warp Tuesday!
Remember a couple weeks ago, I posted the picture of the three sisters for TWT? Well, here are their parents.
Can you understand the sisters’ sense of humor now? I really wish I knew these folks…they were long gone by the time I came around. This shot is from their 50th wedding anniversary!
To give you an even better idea of the type of man my Great Grandfather was, here’s a poem he wrote:
After breakfast, after dinner, and also after tea
And many times all through the day they are confronting me.
Dirty dishes, dirty pans, knives and forks and spoons,
Dirty kettles, dirty cans lay about the rooms.
Still I wash and put away at suppertime and noon.
Dirty dishes never stay long about the room
For I need them every one in my daily work
To cook, to bake, to eat our meals t’would never do to shirk.
How the children hate them I am sure, I can’t see why -
I have washed for many years and in the bye and bye
Their children will be dodging, twill then be left for them
To wash, to wipe, to put away, AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN!
