As my feet hit the floor this morning, I knew what I had first and foremost on the agenda for the day. And that consisted of Banana Bread, period, end of conversation. Nothing was going to come between me and the taste of banana bread and coffee.

I wasn’t thinking about the bread pan I would be using. But, the bread pan turned out to be what has weighted heavy in my thoughts ever since I reached for it.

I haven’t used this particular pan yet, but it’s used. It came from my mother-in-law. But it was new to me as I inherited it from her before our move to NY. I still remember her checking to see what I got. She’d ask “did you get that cookbook or what about that.” She’d ask. She wanted to make sure her things were going to be cared for before her passing.

This pan moved from Texas to storage in NY while our home was being built. And I had pretty much forgotten about so many special little things that were in safe keeping.

So today, there in my kitchen, it was just ma and me. She was heavy on my mind from the time I reached for that pan and she was right there with me in my thoughts while I played house in my kitchen.

So as I looked at these burn marks on the bottom of the pan, a story she told came to mind.

She told the story of long ago when she baked bread. The bread she baked was so over baked to the point it was like a rock. And she told of how her sweet hubby tossed it outside and how it was carried off by the dog. Oh how she used to chuckle telling that story. I never did get to meet pa but I got glimpses of him through the stories that were told. And today, I heard her laugh again and I cried.

It made me wonder if this was not the bread pan she used. Was it? I wish I could ask her. This pan has untold stories all over the outside showing lots of wear. But I wouldn’t trade it for a brand spankin’ new pan for anything. It really grew on me today.

See ma?  The sides are all buttered up and another batch of bread is ready for the oven.

Fresh from the oven again.  Makes me wonder what you baked in here last ma.

My banana bread turned out so Mmmm, mmmmm good. Thank you ma for the pan! I prolly used too much butter on that warm slice but it added to the yumminess of the bread.

I’m left with some pretty amazing things from ma. But the memories are what make these precious things so valuable to me. I’m so blessed.

Hubby and I spent a couple days with his daughter Kristy. She has grown into such a beautiful intelligent woman and graduated college this past weekend.

We crammed so many wonderful experiences in with her in the time we had. There were lunches and special dinners together, ice cream treats at Cold Stone, a fun time in the arcade and visits in her home.

Hubby and Kristy racing in the arcade

Kristy at the wheel

On the evening before her graduation we dined at PF Changs, one of her favorite restaurants. And as always the fortune cookies top off the meal. Not so much the cookie part but the fortune part. We all marveled at her little fortune so much that I wanted a picture.

Graduation day came and she was quite sad. She continued to say she just wanted to stay in college forever. And when the tears would pool in her eyes my heart broke.

Snapped a quick shot of her before we left for her graduation ceremony.

Hubby dropped Kristy and me off and while he was parking she quickly bumped into one of her friends.

Then another

And a couple more

Then the pool of tears began – here she had just wiped her tears and displayed this cute little pouty face.

Hubby arrived shortly and we quickly went in to secure our front row seat.

We were so happy we spied her in the sea of graduates

I spied this guy and his cap says it all.

And this guy I could only imagine how he was looking for his family before the ceremony commenced.

What a beautiful graduation ceremony with an amazing inspiring speaker, I’ll never forget it.

As the ceremony went on into the recognition of each graduate, I had fun on the front row watching shoes. There were girls in high heals and guys in their finest but here are a pair of shoes that really caught my attention let me tell ya.

Soon the ceremony was over and the last name was called. Before the last of the graduates even had a chance to make it to their seats…the graduating class broke out with the wave. Once, twice, three times and then the last wave (the fourth one) came in slow motion. The whole room was filled with cheers and so much emotion. WOW what an ending for their new beginning!

After the ceremony we took Kristy out to her favorite restaurant and then back to her place for cake. We visited with her a couple hours and when it came time for us to leave her little eyes pooled with a fresh wave of tears. It just broke my heart and hubby and I let her know it’s all going to be all right.

Kristy majored in advertising and she has a couple interviews lined out. She will continue working but she’s thinking of going back to school for her MBA next year. We are so proud of her and we wish her the very best.

We enjoyed a little visit with my grandma for dinner last evening. We were on our way up to hubby’s daughters college graduation and grandma was right on the way. So we stopped and treated her to dinner and a few hour visit.

She’s beautiful as ever and she didn’t know I stole this one of her looking out over the river.

I snuck this pic of her visiting with hubby and got in DEEP trouble for it. I’ll say it was worth the trouble because I love this candid shot of her, just wish that glass were out of the way.

The view from where we were sitting – It was a little too chilly for the patio last night.

A shot of the entry as we were leaving.

Back to grandma’s we went for a little visit and she prepared some nice homemade brownies and milk for our dessert. She told us stories about her and grandpa, I’ll have to share those sometime. She says what keeps her going strong and healthy is the fact that to this day she is not on any sort of medication.

Hubby set up the tripod so that we could get a little group shot to remember our evening.

And I captured a few shots of grandma and grandpa. Such a beautiful couple and I’ve enjoyed this picture of them since my childhood. Sorry about the glare and as hubby says we’ll have to take our scanner next time we go to visit grandma.

Here’s another pic of the cute couple. Grandpa was about 18 and Grandma said she was 16.

At nightfall it was time for us to say goodbye and wrap up the last two hour drive. We crossed over the river and received such a colorful display as the sun was setting. We’re so happy for such a full and blessed day.

I’ve been working on more pictures of my mother and her siblings. Unfortunately I don’t have my dad’s pictures yet so it does seem pretty one sided lately. Unfortunately over the holidays, I didn’t bother scanning any more family pictures and that bums me out. But I have made a mental note that that is one of my priorities when we return to mom and dads the next time.

A Few Family Treasures

As a child I used to love looking through all the old family albums and I always wanted to know who was in the pictures. And now as an adult, I have not grown weary of family pictures.

While we were at my parents over Christmas, mom got out the ‘old’ slide projector and we reminisced once again. As a matter of fact, that old slide projector is as old as me if not older and my parents made it a family tradition way back when to view slides at Christmas time. Mom and dad’s honeymoon pictures in Niagara Falls are in the batch of slides and I’m thrilled with the old treasure chest of memories. I’m happy that’s still a family tradition and we all enjoyed that this year with both of my grandmother’s with us.

P.S. – Bobby is so happy the Giants won the Super Bowl! For the simple reason the Patriots didn’t take the Miami Dolphin winning streak title from 1972! So here’s a little shout out for the Giants!

The beauty of innocence doesn’t get prettier than this.

Mom and Her Baby Brother

I’ve been working on this picture of mom since August and finally I was able to put together a frame yesterday that spoke to me. I have many favorite pictures of mom but I think this could potentially be at the very top.

So, to start off the “LOVE” month I thought it would be a good day to begin with mom. She’s the one responsible for teaching me how to be a lady and showed me by example a woman of grace. She is polished elegance and holds kindness beneath her wings. She has a charm that words can’t express and her gentleness has no ending. She possesses tenderness sewn with compassion and quilted with that extra special softness that was always seen day in and day out. I count myself blessed to call her my wonderful loving mother.

So many memories come back when I think back on my twin nieces. There was a time when I wanted twins (way before I met my hubby) and I’ll never forget the day my brother and sister-in-law announced that they were having twins. I still remember thinking “I have my twins now” and the feeling of being content settled over me.

The girls were my little cutie pies wrapped in all their sweetness and I was so overjoyed to be their Aunt Deb. As they grew older, they would love to get their little hands on all my jewelry. They would take my rings and put them on their toes and do all silly sorts of stuff with jewelry. I still remember polishing their little finger nails and even giving them hair cuts.

On this particular day I made arrangements to have a nice little outing with just me and the girls for the day. And I’ll never forget all the fun times we had.

Back in the day, they were two of the cutest apples of my eyes and the only girl nieces we have on both sides of our families.

I’m not intentionally leaving my nephews out but my nephews in Dan’s family didn’t live in FL and my little nephew Ryan was just a little guy so the girls and I seemed to bond in those days.

This past Christmas I remember thinking oh how the time goes by. And those sweet little girls are now all grown up into very lovely young ladies and almost as tall as Aunt Deb.

I want to continue making special memories with our nieces and nephews and the times we have with family will be cherished forever.

This picture is of my brothers and me visiting my Great Grandpa. I’ll never forget our little visit with him that day. I still remember to this day his daughter (my Great Aunt) commenting how my little brother was “the baby”. I still remember in his own little sweet way not enjoying the fact that he had just been called “the baby”. It was at that very moment that I was so thrilled and relieved that I wasn’t “the baby”. How crazy the silly details I remember.

What a wonderful time we shared with ma this past weekend. Our family surprised ma with a family reunion including all her children.

All of the couples and 3 of our nephews went back to the hotel where we turned Dan, Rita & Lars’ adjoining rooms into the “game rooms”. Bobby packed so many games but Pictionary was the #1 choice for the evening, we brought my large easel, white board, markers and dry eraser which was a big hit. We played Pictionary till the early morning hours with all of us practically collapsing in the party rooms. I hope our neighbors were able to sleep as it’s hard to keep a room of 9 people playing Pictionary to a soft whisper.

It was time to rise n’ shine early Saturday morning; well shall I say 7:00 am to start our day with horseback riding. Everyone was ready to hit the trail early so that is exactly what we did. Please see our horseback riding pics in the blog below. After our nice ride we came back to the hotel where we rented the conference room for the entire day and all night. The ambulance transferred ma to the hotel for us and we kept her there till 6:00 pm.

Chris, Jim & Ma – Notice our family playing with 2 BINGO cards each!

Our nephew calls BINGO to get yet another prize!

More BINGO fun.

After our BINGO session Hubby moved right along with the Karaoke set that we brought. Our nephew Brian started it off with “Johnny Be Good”. Karaoke was such a big hit and everyone enjoyed that immensely.

The ‘Old Fogies’ against the 7 grandchildren in an afternoon game of Pictionary.

Later that evening Hubby and company enjoyed a Texas Holdem – Midnight Poker Tournament. Don’t let them baby blue’s fool you as Our nephew was the winning player, winning all the chips.Our nephews/brothers enjoy a checker game together.

We had a fun filled day from start to finish and we hope to do this again next year.