Goodbye Little Friend

In Memory of Theophilus Thistle.Furball.Tazzy Gilliland

June 12, 1994-December 3, 2009

The naming of cats is a difficult matter

It isn't just one of your holiday games

You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter

When I tell you a cat must have three different names

First of all, there's the name that the family use daily

Tazzy

There are fancy names if you think they sound sweeter

Furball

But I tell you a cat needs a name that's particular

A name that's peculiar, and more dignified

Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular

Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?

Theophilus Thistle.

Goodbye, Little Bear, I miss you.

Revised and plagiarized from 'The Naming of Cats' from the screenplay 'Cats'

Grandma and Grandpa's House

There are so many pictures of family taken on this porch. Grandpa and my uncles built this in the 40s. The current owners have maintained it nicely. My Aunt Gen and Uncle Reuben bought this one when Grandpa finished the house next door. I get all teary when I remember the smell of Grandma's bread, Frontier Days, playing with Jolyn and Carol. Cousins, aunts and uncles sitting around the table eating pasties, flatbread and felia (sic). The adults ate the felia, yuck. So much laughter and love.

What a vacation. Thank you, Lord.

Memory Lane

This is my childhood home. My brother, Larry and I use to pretend the railings were horses. We always wanted the shorter one because it was sturdier. One time Larry ended up with two black eyes when I got overzealous and pushed him off my 'horse'. Bad me. Sorry, Lar. I have tons of happy memories at 2416 N 22nd St.

The neighborhood has changed and my house seems so much smaller than when I was a child.

Reminicin'

My Milwaukee Cousins

Mary, me, David, Eric and Carol. I'm so glad we got together (thank you, Joan) . Carol and her sis, Jolyn, were my special playmates when I was about 7 and they were babies. Oh, how I love those memories.

This is Joan's adorable house. She has lived in this house for 62 years!! Her daughter, Mary, lives upstairs.

Wisconsin Visit

The girls are ready to go shopping with their new purses Aunt Mary made for them. Eden confiscated her mamma's purse and wore it too. She was shaking her piggy bank trying to get someone to open it. At one time she was wearing all three of them....Emma and Eden played with them for hours. It is so much fun watching them. Pappa Bruce spent hours with them in their playroom at their bidding. It's beautiful here in Osceola. The trees are turning gold & red all around us. Fall is so beautiful this time of year. And the girls are beautiful all year. Got to get ready for dinner. Love to you all.

Eden's First Birthday Party

Happy Birthday, Sweetie Pie

What is it about Ducks and Kids?

I found the same duck that Mary has at a Hallmark store.  Remember how they loved hers.  First Eden opened it, then Emma had to join in on the fun and thirdly here comes Cousin Jake to see what it was all about.  They all loved it...Even Robert and Eden were playing the Chicken Dance at breakfast the next morning.

Bowling

Emma beat us all.  With a little help from her dad.

The Conservatory

The conservatory is next door to the zoo.  It's so pretty in there. I took the shot of the building itself and Jean took the close ups among the flowers.  I didn't last long before the flowers got to me.  

Afterwards we went to lunch and back to the Kendrick's for naps.  I was tired but happy.   It was a lovely day. 

The next morning it was hugs & kisses and off a local zoo and conservatory.  The weather was beautiful.  And so were the girls. 

Spring Visitor

  
Here he is in all his beauty.  This oriole has stopped by in the spring for about 3 years now to enjoy the hummingbird feeder.  He used to hang upside down to get his beak in the feeder.  So I took one of the tabs off so he can get his beak in easier. He comes by several times day & night for a week or so.   What a treat!

Photo courtesy of Bruce

The prettiest flower of them all

Can this girl get any cuter?

Osceola Here We Come

Austin & I left on April 15th and came home on the 20th.  The flight went smoothly and Austin is fun to travel with so we had a time for nice visits.  He's helpful too, seasoned traveler that he is.  Robert picked us up at the airport.  He's in a management training program with a big Home Depot type chain.  He's also taking accounting through The University of Phoenix on line program.  A busy man.  It was great to see him!

Happy Easter Family and Friends

We're spending Easter with Heather, James & the girls; and, hopefully, Dave and Nic at Bob & Jen's family dinner.  Samantha and Hayley grow so fast.  I'm glad we get to see it.  Love and prayers for a blessed Easter,  Love, Grammy/Grandma/Barbara

Spring Blooms

  

RIP

No birthday for my little Shasta.  Goodbye my sweet kitty.  Thank you for your love, friendship and honesty.

 Shasta Gilliland    1993 - 2009 

Shasta

Here's my Shasta.  She'll be sweet 16 in June.  That's over 100 years old in people years.  

BFF

Here's Shirley with another of my BFFs, Rayann.  She is kind, generous, loving and a strong spiritual inspiration to me.  And the truest friend in the world.   Yep, I love her too.

BFFs

Here's one of my Best Forever Friends.  Shirley is sharp as a tack and way younger than her 90 years.  She is 'Grandma' to my dog, Blackie, and dog sits for him often.  He always comes back a better pup.  She's amazing and I love her.

Busy Day

Am enjoying all the family blogs.  Heather, Sammy and Hayley have grown so fast.  I guess you know that already.  Thanks for keeping us up to date.  

Spent several fun hours in the children's book department at Barnes and Noble last week and bought some books for Emma and Eden.  Will get them in the mail soon.  <3

Hi Austin

Congrats again on winning a music award.  Now we have two music men in the family.  I bought a book for you called "Bud, Not Buddy" and ended up reading it.  It was what I call a good read. Your grandpa wants to read it too.  You'll get it someday soon.  Love you and think of you every day.  Love, Grandma B 

Hi Everybody!

This is going on to be a near perfect weekend.  Friday, we went to Grandparents Day at Samantha & Hayley's school in Newhall.  We saw their 1st and 2nd grade classrooms, met their teachers, saw samples of their schoolwork, ate Coolwhip Oreo cake in Hayley's first grade class and enjoyed a show put on by all the grades.  Sammy sang God So Loved The World in a choir.  We could hear her beautiful voice clearly over the others.  The girls were in skits singing and saying huge, complicated verses from memory of what they are studying.  One class is learning Latin...3rd or 4th grade.  They were all so incredible.  The school is giving them more than just the three R's; the children are learning how to be complete, confident people.  We were impressed and had a wonderful, full day.  We sang and laughed almost of the way to Irvine Had a few minutes with Heather and James before heading home

Today, we visited with Robert, Cheryl, Emma and Eden in Wisconsin on Skype.  I got to see and talk to them, throw kisses and wave.  This technology is wonderful.  Even tho' I miss them more than words can express, I can see and hear them.  Eden took her first steps which we did not see, but will soon.

Tomorrow Dave & Nicole are coming over for tax help from Bruce and we're going out to lunch after.

Like I said, near perfect weekend.  All our kids and all our granddaughters.  The one person missing is Austin.  We have to do something about that.  Austin, we love you and don't get to see you often enough.  Next Sunday we hope to have lunch at our house with as many family members as can come.  I hope you're one of them.  

I also had an appt with my ophthalmologist this week.  There has been no change so no cataract surgery anytime soon.  He'll see me in 6 months.  I am disappointed because I need to have the cataracts removed in order to have refractive lenses inserted to correct my astigmatisms an vision.  I'll try to be patient and let God take care of the when and where.

Love you all & God bless you.