Recognition and remembering

On November 11th, the US will celebrate Veterans Day. I will put a flag out on the front porch as a big wave to all the Veteran’s out there and in recognition to their service.

I remember…

My Dad

I remember…

Great Uncle Harvey

I give recognition to my paternal Grandfather, whom I never met, for his service.

World War I

Do you hang out a flag on Veteran’s Day?

Sincerely, Emily

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Memories – Dad

My dad passed away the weekend before Thanksgiving 25 years ago. For many, many years, Thanksgiving was a hard time for me. He left us way too early.It would have been my dad’s birthday last week, so this time of year he is on my mind a lot. He would have been 83 this week.

It is a good time to take a walk down memory lane and think of the many things that he taught me and the things we did together. I remember playing catch in our yard in WI and also in MN. He had a worn, and very soft baseball mitt. It was way too big for me, but I remember the feel of it when I would slip my hand into it. I had my own glove and I remember how stiff it was when we bought it. I remember rubbing some sort of conditioner or sealer into it and them putting a softball in it and wrapping twine around it to help form it.

June 1967

Frisbee was also something I did with dad. Back and forth. Learning to control the angle and speed and direction. We would throw it different ways to see what we could do. As I got better we would take a step back to increase the distance between us. Where ever we went, there was always a Frisbee in the trunk of the car, just in case we had time to play.

He also taught me how to shoot a gun, load ammunition and hunt. He taught me how to water ski and drive the boat. He watched Star Trek and M.A.S.H., so I did too.

It isn’t just this time of year I remember my dad, I think of him often. My brother and I talk about the different things we did with dad. We have some great memories.

Do you have special memories of your Dad?

Sincerely, Emily

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Sunday photos- remembering

High school reunions, homecoming, Veterans Day. A time to honor the past, and our lost ones.

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Last week I (Alexandra), attended my high school reunion. Since it was a weekend for remembering, I finished the trip at the beautiful graveyard near the house where I grew up. Some people had many remembering them, but some were waiting for me to acknowledge with a pebble that the departed ones are worth remembering, even by strangers.

***

I (Sincerely, Emily) am remembering my Dad. He would have been 83 this past week.

Dad

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Family

Family can mean many things. I have my mother and step-dad, and I have a brother and 2 nieces. I also have husband…. that leads to a father-in-law and many brother-in-laws and a sister-in-law. That also leads to many nieces and nephews. I know some of them very well and others not as much. Family is literally spread to each corner of the US and states in between.

I have another family. The family that I lived with in Australia when I was an exchange student. They are family to me. In 1989/90 I traveled back to visit them and I am long overdue for another trip to visit.

Then I have very close friends, and I consider them family. I know they will always be a part of my life no matter how many miles are between us.

On my recent trip up North, I took some photos of more old photos as mom and I were going through boxes of photos. What fun. We are are trying to work through them and sort and label.

fishing in Canada

I love the old photos. They are so much fun to look at and talk about. Lots of great memories.

Sincerely, Emily

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Photos full of memories (2)

With my outdoor and active life still “on hold” I am finding all sorts of different things to do. The other day I was paging through some photo albums and found some older photos in them that were fun to see.

I grew up with cats and so did my dad. One of the photos I found was of my dad in one of his cars. What I didn’t notice until later was there is a cat in the car with him. I believe the photo is from the 50’s, the car is much older than that, but I have no idea what kind of car it is or the year.

This photo is one of my all-time favorites. I was almost 5 years old in the photo.

I’m having fun looking through the old photos. I’m also glad that I can take a digital photo of them to share with family and preserve them for generations to come.

You can see a few other old photos that I posted back in November here.

Are you preserving some of your old photos? How are you doing it?

Sincerely, Emily

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Photos full of memories

In October I went up to Minnesota and Wisconsin to visit my mom and family. The plan was to help my parents put their gardens to bed for the winter, but instead I managed to overdo it before I even left home, rendering my back useless to the garden work plan.

Emily (the young monkey!) – Hollywood, FL

My mom and I always seem to have enough to do whether it is at their home in Minnesota or over at the lake in Wisconsin. I was able to help do a few garden projects and we did manage to transplant a few rhubarb plants over at the cabin. I had a chance to spent a fun night with my second cousin and I also spent some time with my brother and my two nieces. Go Go Go. Never a moment of rest! But that is why I go; to help out and have some fun along the way (if time permits.)

My brother at the lake

Over the past 7 years, my mom and I have been going through boxes and shelves, sorting and deciding what to do with all the “stuff.” Every time we came up any sort of photo or slide, we labelled the box and put it with the rest of the photos on one shelf. We knew that would be a big project, but wanted to stay focused on other “things” first.

Because I was unable to do much of anything, we spent time going through photos and slides. The first box I grabbed was a lot of fun. It was a mix of many years and full of photos I haven’t looked at in a long long time. As I went through the box I took some quick photos of a few to put them on the computer. It has been so much fun to email them to my brother or friends that are in those photos. We are all getting some good mileage out of them.

My Gramps had a Trading Post and gas station in Wisconsin. It was fun to come across some photos from that time. He also sold alumicraft boats and motors, LP gas, concrete statues and birdbaths. I can still remember the bog cow trough filled with water where he would set up the boat motors so he could run them, work on them and also show customers. He also traded a lot when people wanted a bit of gas for their car. His trading post of packed full of treasures. He hung a lot of them from the ceiling because the floors and every nook and cranny already had something in it. The front window was filled with fishing lures – again hung. I vividly remember a ventriloquist doll that hung from the ceiling.

Out front, sitting between the gas pumps was a totem pole. When we sold the station and house we took the totem pole down and moved it to our cabin where it still stands. My mom and I restored it twice since then and it is time to work on it again… next summer.

Mom and I had a chance to set up the old slide viewing rack and go through several boxes of slides. What fun that was. Sailing slides, travel, lake slides, slides from when my brother and I were babies and growing up. Slides of trips my grandparents took to Cuba and Puerto Rico and Mexico too. Lots and lots of slides. I brought many of them back to Texas with me in hopes of getting them converted to a digital image on a little converter that I have. It just takes time, but I hope to work on them little by little so we can all enjoy them for years to come.

Do you look through old photos every now and then?

Sincerely, Emily

P.S. As we gear up for the holiday season, the contributors at NDIN are hosting a series of giveaways. Be sure to check out Miranda’s post yesterday to see what she is offering and be sure read all the posts over the next few weeks to see what else we have in store for our faithful readers.

You can see what else I am up to over at Sincerely, Emily. The topics are varied, as I jump around from gardening to sewing to making bread or lotion and many things in between.

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