Wistful Wednesday: Easter

Here is a polaroid photo of our niece Bethany in 1986.

A big rabbit, Bethany with an Easter purse and Baby Snuffer.

Since this is a Polaroid and was in Far Guy's parents photo album I am certain Far Guy's Dad took the photo.

Baby Snuffer was our Snuffer's puppy.  Snuffer had a rendevous in Florida when we were stationed there...she had four puppies, Fatty, Blackie, Brownie and Flowie (Trica named them...she was just shy of 2 years old)  Far Guy and I are pretty sure that it was Blackie that became Baby Snuffer and went to live a good long life in Indiana with Far Guy's sister and family.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday : Ernie

Ernie was sometimes called Ern.  He was a Silky Terrier and he replaced Zack who replaced Baby Snuffer.  Ernie belonged to Far Guy’s sister Jan and her husband Ron and their daughter Bethany.  Lately Ernie had been staying with our niece Bethany. ( I think Bethany and her Mom had shared custody of the dog.) You see years ago right after Zack died Far Guy’s sister said “No more dogs.”  Well…Bethany waited for her parents to go on vacation and she brought home Ernie.  Ernie captured their hearts.

Chance and Ernie got along just fine.  When we visited we quickly learned that if we left them out in the yard at the same time…Chance would come when called…Ernie would ignore you and run willy nilly all over the neighborhood…he would come back when he was good and ready.

Far Guy, Ernie and Chance in 2007.

Ernie had quite a time with teeth.

Teeth help keep your tongue in your mouth.  I took this photo in 2014…I was up early and so was Ernie…I laid with him on the floor and took a few photos.

Last week Ernie died..I am not sure how old he was. O.L.D.  Ernie’s family in Indiana is very sad.   I understand.  Ernie was a fun little dog.   He liked us and we liked him.  We are sad too.

Far Guy shared a poem with his niece.

Dogs Never Die

You can go and read the poem if you like.  Basically it says that your pets never die they stay in your heart and wag their tail so hard your heart hurts and that is why we cry so much after they die.  As time goes on they are still there but the wagging of the tail is less and hurts less…or so they say.

Wistful Wednesday: Baking with Grandma

This is a old photo from June 1983

Trica went with her Grandparents to Indiana that summer to visit Jan, Ron and Bethany.

Trica would have been 11 years old that summer, Bethany (Far Guy’s sister’s daughter) would have been about 3 years old and Grandma (Far Guy’s Mom) would have been 69 years old.  It looks like they were going to bake a cake.  The photo was taken at the house in Clarksville Indiana.

Wistful Wednesday: Great Grandma

Everyone has a Great Grandmother…but how much do they really know about them…until it is too late to ask..or you were too little to ask the questions? Perhaps they have a photo or two…

 

This is Far Guy’s Grandmother Tracie and our niece Bethany in the summer of 1982.   Grandma would die the following April at the age of 87..she almost made it to 88 years of age before she got liver cancer and died shortly after the diagnosis in the hospital but before she made it to the “home.”  That in itself was worthy of a celebration.

Bethany our niece in the photo would have been about 18 months old if my math is correct.  The photo was taken in the summer at Grandma’s apartment in Park Rapids.  They are sitting in the big chair in the corner by the window.  The latch hookrug/wall hanging might have been a gift from someone( Far Guy’s Dad Marvin I think…and I think it covered the air conditioner) and the throw on the back of the chair looks like it came from Arizona where Grandma used to visit  her youngest son in the wintertime.  You can see the corner of an oak end table…which has been in our home since about 1983. I can see something that I had not thought about for a long time…an ice cream bucket with a crochet cover…I still have mine upstairs I keep crochet hooks and other odds and ends in it…Grandma must have made the cover for the buckets!  It was a useful gift especially since I still have mine.

 

Wistful Wednesday: Christmas Eve 1985

We had a house full of company.  These are all polaroid photos taken with Marvin’s camera.

Jennifer (10) Janice (Far Guy’s sister), Trica (13), Bethany(3), Marvin and Evelyn (Far Guy’s parents they both would have been 71 that year) This is at our home in North Moorhead.  That rocking chair and footstool were handed down to us by Far Guy’s Grandmother Tracie.  It has since been upholstered and is upstairs.   I still have that 1940’s coffee table but it is in the garage awaiting a new home.  I still have the same crèche and nativity set.  The tree looks like a real one!

Now Far Guy and Ronald have joined the girls.

Poor Ronald, we gave him and Janice our waterbed to sleep in….they didn’t sleep a wink.

This was the only year that I recall that Far Guy’s family came to our home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Now I finally got in the photo!  I cooked a lovely meal…got out the China and the special goblets.    Far Guy used to collect coffee cups…and I used to collect Depression Glass…you can see cups and plates on the plate rail. I served supper after Christmas Eve service at Our Redeemer in Moorhead Minnesota…one of the best church homes we ever had.

Christmas 1985 was a sad Christmas for us.  My Dad had just been diagnosed with Bladder Cancer and we were not certain if he would live or die.  He is a Cancer Survivor for 29 years now…going on 30.   Christmas Day in the afternoon we packed up and went to my parents home at the lake.

I feel very sorry for anyone going through a health crisis during the Christmas Holidays.  I recall the carolers all dressed in their finery singing up and down the hospital halls just before Christmas that year.  I wondered at the time…how can they sing such joyful songs…it all seemed so foreign to me…my emotions were raw….and I was a tad angry.  Of course Christmas is a time for hope and joy…and in retrospect I should have been more hopeful and joyful too because no matter what our Savior was born.