Yes, she did graduate

I pray that she takes this degree, B.A. in Criminal Justice, and finds herself a well paying job so she can have a safe and comfortable life for herself and her daughter.  It's time to create good things. insh'allah!

Travel With Me Tuesday: Boston 2018

My patient daughter in law took this photo of us on the T. Patient? because her husband, my son, will always try to give the middle finger to me, her, anyone. No, he isn't 14 but I have decided it comes from his father's genes not mine! even though his father would never do anything like this. 

I just shake my head and wonder....

TBT: The 1st Birthday 1945

As much as I like to scrap what I please, challenges often get me going on images I just haven't got around to doing. My mother in law used to say she needed a 'getroundtoit' when she knew she had things that weren't getting done. She was a fun woman!

While my birthday is in September, it's almost always still hot round here and even up in Pennsylvania where I lived then. Other photos show us outside in the sun. This is probably one of the biggest parties I had because the guests are my cousins and a few other children I don't recall. I was only 1!

TBT: This is My Family

Only a throwback to 2017 at the 2nd family reunion for our family. The first was back in the late 70s or early 80s. My little branch of the family has traveled the most but while we were in the US from the mid 80s, no one had the initiative to get together again.

But here we are in all our glory and now this time, I am one of the eldest. That allowed me a chair up front! Almost as good as a Senior Discount! my former husband who is the actual member of this family didn't make it. My one sister in law who also married into it attended but also with her 2nd husband. My husband stayed home! as did two of my three children. Another time perhaps.

Catch Up Tuesday: PL Week 26

Don't ask me where the time has gone. I feel like I've been in a bit of a fog lately no doubt by the World Cup but then also by the $^(&% news. It hangs heavy over our hearts and each day is another layer of the unbelievable.  Who could imagine that we would have one of 'those' shootings here in our own town. 5 journalists murdered. But at home it was ok for week 26 with visits with family and friends and then June was finished up. It was a week I was glad to end.

AAM Monday: Project Life Week 25

A week that involved a lot of visiting to and fro. It became a busy week with not so much else going on but isn't that a typical summer? June wasn't as quiet as I thought it was going to be.

Travel With Me Tuesday: Not Your Normal Southern Food

It's funny that when ever we get together down North Carolina way, we often end up having dinner at the same restaurant. Is it traditional Southern food? Not exactly especially as none of us were born in the South. So where do we eat? We call it The Indian Restaurant but in reality it is Pakistani, Indian with a lot of southern Indian also. I always say that the next time, I'll have a dosa because some do come without potatoes. I love dosas!

But after a frantic day, this was the meal that settled us all down.

Throwback Thursday: Two Sisters

Aunt Florence was my Aunt and though her sister Mary always seemed very nice, Aunt Florence seemed to be the fun one. My mother really liked her and enjoyed her company whenever they could get together. As we lived about 4 hours away from her, it wasn't that often unfortunately.

AAM Monday: Project Life Week 13

A year ago my son and his wife came to Maryland to be married the end of March. Why such an iffy time? because he's a chef and it had to be a time with no holiday or major event in the hotel. Just as it was in 2017 we wondered if it would be cold, snowy?, warm or even hot.  We had warm AND chilly for the wedding days and it was the same in 2018. Maybe Maryland is consistent!

TBT: That Day in Dublin 1972

TBT: Another View of Boston

This layout was just earlier this year, but it still makes me happy. I'm happy that my son has married the woman that seems to be a really good match for him. I'm happy that she is adjusting to a New England cold now. And I'm happy that this iconic sign is still there. Hi there Citgo!  I first saw you over 20 years ago!

Or So He Thinks....

TBT: 1971 Birthday Party

1971 in England. My son's 4th birthday party with some of the neighbor children. I don't recall the boy in the striped shirt but suspect he was a schoolmate from my son's pre-school class. While this is August, he is the only one dressed for summer. But then again, this was an English summer.



What you probably would not see at a children's birthday party these days (I hope!) is the father smoking a cigarette with all the children and, as you will see in the next image, a newborn.



Outside our front window is another image - my dark green Hillman Minx, aka 'the pig car' as it was extremely sluggish and chugged up the many hills of Yorkshire, always making me wonder if it would die then and there. Also, here's ruddy British Mum and children.



I was just talking to a friend about the Wedgwood china you see in the back cabinet. My xh has that set which included almost all the pieces made in the Black Florentine pattern. It was one of the benefits of living in England when the $ was strong. And yes, a cake dotted with Smarties.



Not the greatest photo but one in which you can see the clothing of the era. Note the length of my dress. I had others that were shorter...

TBT: The 1940s Swingers

Back in the 1940s this photo was taken of my maternal grandmother Mary Rose flanked by her daughter in law Florence on the left and her daughter, my mother, Mary aka Pat on the right. I am looking at my Aunt in a suit, my Mother in what looks like a wool skirt and Nana in a dress made of...cotton? rayon? light wool? I imaging that most of this clothing was home made. Nana and my Mother were quite the seamstresses as most women were in that time.

This was in the early 40s before I was born so I'm thinking  it was 1942, the year that both my Aunt and my Mother were married. They would both have been in their 20s while my grandmother was 46. Amazing how 46 looked back then, isn't it. How happy they all look here, yet Aunt Florence would be a widow in 1945 when her husband's plane crashed in India, and Nana would also become a widow in 1947 when her husband died of MS and Black Lung. My Mother would find that her WWII husband would not die but would come home with many issues that led to an unhappy marriage for the next 30 years. The ups and downs of life.

Project Life: Week 30 (or rather Week 31!)

Did some scrapping yesterday but ran into the issue of Adobe vs Apple. It happens and has happened over the years but this time it was an issue actually acknowledged by Apple. I didn't feel as though I wanted to go through their work around right now especially as this answer was written in Nov 2016 and it's now Aug 2017. pfffft

Correct Answer by Sandeep Singh on Nov 1, 2016 4:18 AM

Hi David,

Thanks for explaining the issue here. There are some bad folders in the system we need to remove them

Mainly, I can't install actions and after all these years, I don't remember how to do some things manually vs actions. But I did get the print size done and it was only the web size that got a bit wonky.

 



Well actually, this wasn't week 30 it turns out. It was week 31 and it started on July 30! That will be a fix - later! But it did get me to turn on the Week notification in Calendar. So many things to remember.

AAM Monday: Project Life Week 24

We went down south to North Carolina so there were 4 pages for this week. I often try to keep even these BIG weeks to a 2 pager but not this time. A fun time all around and well deserving of more space.

And then it was back home and back to the daily life here. This was a short trip that didn't feel rushed at all. It was all good until that last couple of hours that worked on our last nerves. Traffic hell. But again, that was only about 4-5 hours of an otherwise great week. Perspective!

TBThursday: I Know That Outfit!

You know how when you click an ad in any social media these days, you then see that ad everywhere you click. "The Google" knows... Well, I saw a navy dress that had a white collar, very prim looking, and while I don't need anything like that as my working days are over, it appealed to me. Today looking through old images, old like in 1971, I saw this.

It's no wonder I liked it. I had a pants suit like it back 46 years ago. gasp. Here with my eldest son and only one at the time, I believe I'm at the airport. It looks like my mother is going back to the US. I wonder how much he remembers his grandmother who died 10 years later of cancer. But here she's whispering to him ...last minute love?

I remember that suit of hers and the mink hat. I thought she was so old. She was 54. Oh how our perspectives change with time. Now that age seems so...young?

TBT: Thoughts of My Uncle

A couple of weeks ago, I saw that my cousin's daughter had posted a photo of her late grandfather on Facebook.

People often post photos of dead relatives who were Veterans on Memorial Day. I've seen this photo of my uncle who died just as WWII ended many times over the years. My Uncle Joe died in a plane crash September 5, 1945 in North East India. His son, my cousin Joe and I were both born in 1944. Joe was born in October and I was born in September.

I never met my uncle and my cousin Joe never knew his father but my mother always told me how handsome he was with his Lithuanian heritage good looks. Uncle Joe was blond and blue eyed or perhaps with green eyes as my mother had and I do. My two sons are blond but have the Irish blue eyes which has always pleased me.

This photo is of my Uncle Joe and his wife Aunt Florence before WWII started. Like my parents, my cousin Joe's heritage is half Lithuanian and half Irish.  I suspect that was pretty common in the small towns in Pennsylvania where they lived. Coal mining towns that had jobs for their immigrant fathers. Towns that most of my parents generation were glad to leave and never hear of coal mines again. My cousin Joe is the only family member who stayed and raised a family in the same neighborhood where his wife grew up.  Now these old coal mining towns are towns for the newest immigrants, those from Central America who are glad to do the harder jobs just as the Irish and Lithuanians did in the late 1800s.  It all goes in cycles.

Happy Faces All Around

I saw this photo of my daughter and two of her daughters on Facebook and really liked it. You never know what you'll find there. I saw a challenge to make one technique but I didn't have the new enough software to do it so...

I took this photo


and made this from it.



and finally here is the result. Not the ideal layout but sometimes you use what you have and see how it will turn out. I'm pretty happy with an hour's play time!

AAM Monday: Project Life Week 18

A week that had gorgeous weather and a visit from two of Dick's cousins. When the ladies are in their 80s each visit is a blessing. Ginger has always been a hardy one and despite being in a wheelchair she drove from out Leesburg VA way to Annapolis. Beltway driving is a challenge for anyone but these two just keep on keepin' on.