All Things Nice . . .

 

The bird song of a morning this week has been really beautiful.  The morning chorus starts about 5:30 am or so.  There has been one particularly loud chickadee right outside our bedroom windows and he starts about quarter two. He does sound really happy.  It is really loud however happy and impossible to sleep through. He also doesn't seem to understand the words, "shut up," because it only seems to make him sing louder. Or perhaps that's just our imaginations, lol.  IN any case much nicer than an alarm clock and its annoying buzz!

  

Now here's a happy thought. Not only are my sister and I, sisters . . .  we are soul sisters. How cool is that! (not exact photos of our cars, but close enough.)  We are both loving our cars.  Its amazing how easy you fall back into driving again. I am a bit nervous, but doing great.  I didn't drive much in the UK.  I did take driving lessons when I was there, but was never comfortable on their narrow busy roads. And once we moved back into the city I never drove again.  I drove the first day there to get Big Mac's for the guys that were helping us move but that was the last time I drove there. 

Driving in the UK for a North American is crazy.  It feels like you are driving in a mirror. Everything is on the opposite side to what you are used to. Then there is the fact that most of the roads, parking places, etc. are a lot smaller and narrower. OH, and don't get me started on parked cars. They are literally everywhere, which makes the roads even narrower. Not my cup of tea. I wasn't even comfortable as a passenger. 

It feels very good to be back driving again.  I have my wings back.

 

Just having a sister is pretty nice.  She has been my best friend for all of her life!  NO matter how far we have lived apart from each other.  She probably knows me better than anyone else on this planet, and she loves me anyways. That is no small thing.  We share a history and a bond that we can never share with anyone else, except perhaps our brother, but even that is not the same because he is a man and we are women, if that makes sense.  I wish I had a magic wand that I could wave over both of our hurts and sorrows to make them go away, but alas I cannot.  We are blessed to have each other, which is more than many people have. 

 

I found this old, old, old photograph of my sister, brother and I in my photobucket account.  It must be from about 35 or 40 years ago. My brother is wearing his Acadia jacket, and I think that is an old fur coat my ex sister in law gave me.  I think it was made from opossum or some such, and as usual my eyes are closed. (I have never been able to abide flash from cameras) Looking at those huge glasses, lol.  So funny.  Makes me smile.  I thought I was fat. Wish I was that fat now, lol. 

 

We've always been book-ends.  My sister and I. I think in this photograph I must have been six or seven, which would make my sister three and my brother only one.

That chair was my father's pride and joy.  My mother saved for a long time to get him that. I believe she gave it to him as a Christmas present. It was a lazy boy chair, and I remember being a bit afraid of it.  The mechanism in it was said to be able to break your legs off and I had been well warned by my mother not to play with it.

I think parents used fear tactics a lot in those days to keep their children safe.  I can remember being deathly afraid of the wringer washer as well.  

 

See . . .  book ends.

I love the matching skirts Cindy and I are wearing. Fruits

of my mother's labors. 

 

And again  . . . 

 

Speaking of fat, this is one of the few fat photos of me that I don't mind looking at.  I look pretty happy here.  We had gone down to Gloucestershire to visit a farm and my friend Julie had met me at the train station to say hello.  She was such a nice girl. We are still friends of course.  Julie and I  also had a weekend together in Norfolk when we both went to Jimmy's Farm a year or so later.  Good times! 

 

I also don't mind this photo of me with Mitzie. Seems a lifetime ago now.  

 

I found this photo of my sister and I this morning also.  I am pushing her around in my doll carriage and somehow she has amazingly fallen asleep in it.  I clearly have tried to make her comfortable with the pillow and all, but I can't think that the books that are piled on top of her are very comfortable. We were just talking about this photograph the other day.  My sister and brother both had a reaction to their shots, felt a bit punky and flu-like for about 24 hours. My brother says its probably because they both must have had some infection when they were children that I didn't have. I remembered them both having had some weird infection in the glands on their faces, in their necks and their faces swelling up like balloons. My sister actually had to have hers lanced as it was starting to affect her breathing.  My brother did not remember that, but my sister did, and she says that this is a photograph from around that same time. 

 

While I am showing family pictures here I might as well show you this one. Its my late Aunt Freda (holding me), my mother and my great grandmother just before my mother and I left to fly over to meet my father in Germany. This would have been 1956. It was taken on my grandparent's veranda in Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia. 

That was quite the trip for my mother. Flying for the very first time all the way across the Atlantic Ocean with an infant/toddler. They lost our luggage and we landed in Germany on Christmas Eve with nothing but the clothes we were wearing. Mom always talked about the kindness of the family who owned the gasthause my father had gotten a place for us to live in. (A small apartment upstairs.)  The woman who was the landlord took over me and made me diapers from a sheet she had torn up.  This way my mom could get some rest, and then this kind woman cooked a dinner for mom and dad, roast chicken. Mom loved the years she spent living in Germany, and my sister was born there!

 

Another rare photograph. My maternal grandmother is the woman in the back in the middle with the little boy in front of her. That's Ronnie, the foster child my grandmother brought up.  That's my Aunt Freda as a child next to her and my grandfather is on the bottom right. You almost can't see him.  I believe the occasion was my mother's cousin Lydia McNayr visiting from America, but I am not sure which one is Lydia and who the other people in the photograph are.  The man might be Austin McNayr, Lydia's husband.

Lydia was always very good to our family. She sent us girls small tokens at Christmas every year. One year it was these pin cushion chairs made from tin cans. We used them with our Barbie dolls.  Another  year it was crepe paper butterflies made with paper and wooden clothes pins.  And of course there were the glow-in-the dark Jesus prayers that hung on our bedroom wall most of our childhood.

Its funny the things you remember.

And with that I best leave you with a thought for today as the day is moving along and we will soon be out to get some groceries and go see my dad!

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

Life is a series of
tiny little miracles.
Notice them.•。★★ 。* 。

 

Something fun from this week in The English Kitchen today.  Raw Date Squares and boy are they some good!  Only five ingredients, low fat, no sugar, vegan and healthy!  My sister made them and I photographed the process! Deeeeee-licious!!

Have a wonderful Saturday. I hope something nice fills your day.  Don't forget along the way  . . . 

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And I do too!