3 Years Ago..........

Three years ago you left me.
It was three years ago my life took a dramatic change
I had always envisioned us growing old and sitting in our rockers on the front porch.

I spent the better part of today drifting away from reality and thinking about you.
Remembering things you did and things you said
The way you always stroked my hair.............
The way you cheered Peter on at hockey games...........
Hockey playoffs the year the Lightning won the Stanley Cup. Away games outside the Ice Palace and home games at Wing House..........
Your laugh...........
Christmas and your Santa Hat..............
How easily you got buzzed............
That old Saturn car of yours..........
How excited you got after a major fire....... calling me at 3AM to tell me about it.........
That damn checkbook.........
How Teeki would curl up in your arms and fall asleep...........
The day you were huggin on George and thought it was me....... what a laugh that was
How we talked for hours about everything............
You teaching Peter to skate..........
Skating at the Sports Forum on Tuesday nights.........
Road trips to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.....
Sunsets on the beach............ I don't think I have seen any magnificent ones since you left.
How you got me to watch Stargate........
Always coming home to Warner Brothers cartoons on the TV.........
How proud I was the day you became a fireman.........
Never seeing you without a camera..........
How you faithfully called your parents once a week.........
Hearing that same damn story over and over again about how drunk you got one night and you and your friends were all doing cartwheels down the middle of the road.................
The days of hockey 101..........

There are so many more things I thought about today................... mostly how much I miss my best friend

I know you have been there at times. I have felt you. These moments have given me comfort and saved me. Its nice to know your watching over me.............................

Lost.... in the world of humans

I had blogged a while back about a kitty that has come around and made my home a place to get food when he was unable to catch his own. He has seen some harsh times and some cruelty. He showed up at my house once with a huge gash on the top of his head that ran down the side of his face. This was not made by a fight with another cat. It was huge and exposed a large area of his head. When he ate I would dribble peroxide over his head to clean it out. He would of course run away, but hunger always won out and he would come back to eat. It took a long time for that mess to heal up. He often showed up with some severe injuries. I could only think that they were the result of humans. My cats never come home looking the way he did. I have always been saddened by the fact that he would never let anyone near him and that he would not know the touch of a kind hand. The other day he was sitting on the front porch and I went to feed him. I slowly reached for him and got close enough to lay a hand on his neck. He flinched. I held my breath as I was able to slide my hand down his back. I stopped with that one stroke and let him eat the food. Two days later he was on my door step again looking for a meal. I sat down on the step and as I poured the food I swear I heard a soft, almost non audible meow. It was the first time I ever heard a sound from that cat. I didn't want to push my luck so I simply basked in the warm a fuzzy feeling I had at that moment. Another week passed, and at each meal I was greeted with a soft but very real meow. Finally I decided to make another try at petting him. I sat down next to him and as I poured the food, I reached out and once again touched the top of his neck and slowly took may hand down his back. He continued to eat. Three more strokes. I softly spoke to him. Another 2 strokes. This is where I left it. I now knew that he had, however fragile, some trust in me........ and I knew that at last he would know that kind people exist and that the human hand could also provide pleasure. The old kitty will now know kindness, and that makes me happy................ I hope it does him as well.

A Week in Virginia

Ah a week escape from reality..........................beautiful weather, low (and I mean low) humidity, no thought of time, and total hakuna matata. The place is tranquil with a quiet that is serene. The local train for the coal mill goes by every 30 minutes to an hour and its just such a wonderful sound.

A light work load awaited us this year, demo a peacock pen, put up a few deck supports and build a step. Easy peasy. The rest of the time was spent boating, swimming, fishing and my favorite ....... conversation with family over food..... and peanuts. This year was different from most. Usually only Dwain makes the trek to see Peter and me when we are at dads, but this year the entire clan made it and then some. Dwain brought his girl friend Marie, Doug and Tripp showed up, and Natalie came with daughter (Fressia) and hubby(Andy) tagging along. I can't recall the last time all four siblings were together along with all the cousins....... hmmmmmm ................ 1st time I think. Cousin Cathy and her byfriend John showed up for the 4th, bearing fireworks and yummy key lime pies.

Patsy was the Queen of Hostesses with the 4th of July having 14 people to cook for and several days of 12. Nair a grumble or a gripe of having so many mouths to feed and cook for.

So with no further waiting for the impatient........ pictures galore to tell the story......

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The call to dinner

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Most afternoons were spent talking over beer and peanuts...... or gatorade

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Lots of fishing time....just for little fish but we had fun catching and releasing

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Out and about Lynchburg

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Dinner the night before the 4th with the whole family

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Fourth of July eatins

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Family Photos from the 4th

The Whole clan

Granpa with all the grandkids

Dad with all the siblings

Sitting,(left) my cousin Cathy and her BF John, Patsy (right)

my dad's wife and standing, my dad.

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The boat got water in the engine so Peter steppedm up to the plate and got it running again.

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This is one of their cats, Midnight, check out her eyes.

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Peter's and Jens Hillbilly pictures

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Some Pictures from our last evening there

Family and Politics....... no not together....

My son did something that is worthy of mention.

We are taking a trip to VA this weekend and he was insistant that I needed new tires, as was BC. I being on a tight budget deemed them both crazy and went on my way. Well Peter works at Tire Kingdom and some guy came in wanting them to put on some after market rims and new tires and my son saw a deal on some tires with only 900 miles on them. He called me and tried to sell me on the deal of 4 semi-new tires for $140.00, I scoffed and said I don't need them. Several days later Peter and BC are in cahoots together on something and when my son asked to borrow the truck one day, I had a feeling................. Later, on the day of the truck borrowing, it was returned with 4 new tires. My son spent his hard earned money, and he doesn't make a lot, on me, his mother......... he must really love me.

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Why is it that everytime I hear on the news that the City of Tampa and St Petersburg are handing out pink slips due to a cut in budget from the cut in property taxes, I want to scream BULLSHIT!!!! Hell first off the Senate just passed the reform. According to what they have done, they first part is to roll back taxes, by one year, that will be seen on the next tax bill. AND..... since the tax year is just sneaking up, that would mean the 2006 to 2007 taxes. No change there in budget money. It means the increase they just mailed out would not take affect. The second part will be voted on in January and wouldn't take place until the following tax year, So why is it necessary to layoff people now? The people haven't even voted on the new proposal....... what if they decide to keep it the way it is? I hate poloticians....... I hate liars

Mt Dora

Mt Dora is this quaint little town in Florida that seems to have been able to hide from time and progress for just a little bit. We were in the area to drop off a ferret to a fellow ferret enthusiast and decided to spend the better part of the day in this little town. The place is full of old buildings that have been restored into shops that sell antiques, crafts and vintage items. Main street is still much of what it used to be.

While some have had makeovers on the outside, the inside of the stores tell a true history. Old wood floors, nooks and crannies that you would never see in a modern building and fine art details in doorways, rails, steps and molding. Sometimes I found myself studying the architect (inside and out) of a building as well as the goods being sold.

I couldn't help but marvel at some of the items in the antique stores. It was like a rush of memories. I am sure BC was tired of the stories from the trips down memory lane. In one store there was some pieces of a dinning set that was identical to the ones my grandmother Falter had. The tea pot was selling for $125.00. I got a giggle outta that. I wonder what my mom sold the set for? Another store had a vintage purse I wanted to buy. The dealer wanted $45.00 for it and I just couldn't see spending the money on it. I would have had fun using it though...... well maybe I should have.... *sigh* They don't make purses they way they used to. I had to snap a picture of this:

grandma Falter had one in her basement. When us kids were coming to visit she would purchase a 3 gallon container of lemonade for us to drink when we came in from playing. And for the record, the lemonade was DELIVERED by the milkman. Anyway, I could help but open the fridge and pretend I was in her basement getting that cool glass of lemonade to take upstairs and out to the screened porch to sit and cool down. I could envision every detail of her house, all the furniture, the smells and her in her floral lightweight dresses, handkerchief always in hand. Odd that a fridge did all of that huh?

We stopped and had lunch at the Icelandic pub.. Food was dee-lish but service was a bit slooooow. I had a grilled chi ken sandwich seasoned and served with brie on top, BC had a roast beef sandwich with onions cheese and dipping sauce(au jus) we tried some peach cider(alcoholic) and if the waitress had been more attentive she could have sold me a few more to the point where I would have walked out of there with a bit of a swagger.... or is that stagger? :)

One of the other things that I thought was sweet about this town was that they gave carriage rides throughout the avenues, pointing out the historic landmarks. It reminded me of a summer vacation and a trip to Mackinaw Island. MMMMMM I can almost smell the fudge and taffy.

Lastly as we were heading back to the car, I spotted this old house and just couldn't help but think of my days of living in Cape May New Jersey and the summers on the beach. There were a million other memories that went through my head that day and all the nostalgia made me feel young again.............. ok younger as in days of childhood. Ahhhhhhhhhhh........