Under the Weather

“Tis healthy to be sick sometimes”
Henry David Thoreau


I am not feeling so hot.
I caught some awful cold/flu bug.
I will be resting and trying to get better.

Have a great weekend...
Hugs and love to all
Raggedy

Happy Birthday Joe

Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time. ~Jean Paul Richter


Our son, Joe, had a birthday yesterday!

He had a Happy 14th Birthday!

I cooked the meal he wanted, Meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy and corn.

We sang Happy Birthday!
Joe made a wish.

We ate cake.

His favorite present was this…

We take him in on Monday to get his driving permit.

They grow up so fast!

JOE,

I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART

LOVE MOM

Thursday Thirteen (10th)

13 Things That Children Advise!

1. Never trust a dog to watch your food.

2. Never smart off to a teacher whose eyes and ears are twitching.

3. Wear a hat when feeding seagulls.

4. Don't flush the toilet when you dad's in the shower.

5. When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?"

don't answer him.

6. Don't pick on your sister when she's holding a baseball bat.

7. When you get a bad grade in school, show it to your mom when she's on the phone.

8. Never dare your little brother to paint the family car.

9. No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.

10. When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.

11. Never ask your three-year old brother to hold a tomato.

12. Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.

13. Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!
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Happy Birthday Mother

Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes, by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins, comrades and friends - but only one mother in the whole world. ~Kate Wiggin



A MOTHER'S LOVE
A Mother's love is something that no one can explain,
It is made of deep devotion and of sacrifice and pain,
It is endless and unselfish and enduring come what may
For nothing can destroy it or take that love away . . .
It is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking,
And it never fails or falters even though the heart is breaking . . .
It believes beyond believing when the world around condemns,
And it glows with all the beauty of the rarest, brightest gems . . .
It is far beyond defining, it defies all explanation,
And it still remains a secret like the mysteries of creation . . .
A very splendid miracle man cannot understand
And another wondrous evidence of God's tender guiding hand.
~Helen Steiner Rice~


Mom on one of our numerous camping expeditions.

There are times when posts are very difficult to write. I am well aware that it is difficult for anyone to spend an inordinate amount of time on any one post. It is hard to consolidate some topics into a limited amount of space.

Today is my Mothers Birthday. Her name is Rachel. I am very proud of my mother. My parents were pioneers in the south where I grew up. At that time my dad was a practicing Presbyterian Minister. They both believed in equality and social change. They were behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964 before it was an Act. My parents divorced in the mid 1970’s. My mother went back to school and received a degree in social work from Widener University. My eldest brother, Mark, and I had the luxury of a SAHM. My little sister, Laura and brother, Tim grew up with our mother working.


Laura and my Mother dancing.

My Mother never remarried. She is dedicated to her work, family, friends, the democratic committee, and a new church group that she enjoys. I was very happy to hear that she took a group tour to Smith Island recently and enjoyed it very much. She makes a few trips a year to Florida to see one of her good friends who moved there.

She has worked on the Democratic committee for as long as I can remember. I can’t remember a single election that she was not “working the polls”. One of things I remember clearly is standing next to her waiting to hand out the flyers. She could spot right off the bat who was a democrat and who was a republican. She was correct 99% of the time, and it was not the clothes they were wearing. She just knew. I was amazed at this odd talent.

I am sure she is well past retirement age but she continues to work. She cares deeply about her clients and the work that she does. A phone call in the middle of the night to inform her of a death that nobody else cared about including the people who made the call brought my mother to her knees with tears and grief. She has worked well over twenty years caring for mentally disabled elderly people. These people reside in a facility and are not at home. Human rights and justice are very important to my Mom. The people she cares for can’t tell her that they appreciate what she does with words. I went to visit her one day at work. It was then that I realized she was so different from the direct care staff and other people interacting in the lives of these people with severe disabilities. When they saw my mother a brightness came to their eyes and a smile or silly giggle exploded from their mouths. They were truly happy to see her. Isn’t that something? She is dedicated to making their small worlds a good world. She called me this past Sunday and I was shocked to hear she was calling me from work.

Happy Birthday Mom. I love you!

I am not keeping a secret. I can’t splutter out my mothers age because to be totally honest here I do not know myself.

These are some quotes my mother would like.

Age is a number and mine is unlisted.~ Anonymous

Old age is always 15 years older than I am.~ Bernard Baruch

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age.~ Robert Frost

John Markey

John Markey

I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days scrunch themselves into one. I would love to only write about my mother because this post is long enough already, but, there is another person I am also thinking about today. It would have been his 56th Birthday today.



“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart” Eleanor Roosevelt


I used to call him a little leprechaun. He didn’t just leave a foot print. His footprint is stomped in my heart.

Dear John,
Your 54th was the last birthday we celebrated together.
When you would have turned 55, I broke down and cried.
(At 55 you would have been able to retire from work)
Today you would have been 56.
It is still hard my friend…
It is the second August 23rd that I didn’t give you a bottle of CR.

It is the second August 23rd we did not lift our glasses to clink in another birthday year.


I miss you!

One of our many remembered conversation:
(From one vertically challenged person to another)
Me: So where are we going today?
Him: North.
Me: Cya there
Him: I will be the one out front swinging my legs from the curb…

Psssst~ I hope some of these are in heaven.

Don't worry I did not show the picture of you and her together....
I remember your smile and your laugh babe!
We really had a blast together...
Thanks for the memories....

The Blonde and the Pink Curtains

l It is great to be a blond. With low expectations it's very easy to surprise people. Pamela Anderson

A blond enters a store that sells curtains.

She tells the salesman, "I would like to buy a pair of pink curtains".

The salesman assures her that they have a large selection of pink curtains. He shows her several patterns, but the blond seems to be having a hard time choosing. Finally she selects a lovely pink floral print.

The salesman then asks what size curtain she needs.

The blond promptly replies, "Fifteen inches".

"Fifteen inches????" asked the salesman.

"That sounds very small - what room are they for?"

The blond tells him that they aren't for a room, they are for her computer monitor.

The surprised salesman replies, "But Miss, computers do not need curtains!

"The blond says, "Helllloooooooooo. I've got Windooooooows!"

"Well, quite frankly, I think passenger side airbags would be a waste of money in this case."

Encore for Mark!

A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip. ~Author Unknown


Dear Mark,

I Love You!

One more song just for you.....


Encore for Mark!

Happy Birthday to my Brother Mark

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. ~Larry Lorenzoni



Happy Birthday Mark



Happy Birthday Mark!

Mark is *cough *cough years old today!

I want to share three Mark stories from his very early years.

ONE
Looking up at our Mother and asking her a question:
“What makes you put those cookies up so-o-o high?”



TWO
We had a bunch of cows that lived near our house. It was not until he finally asked my Dad the question that his fascination with the animals came to light. When they mooed they really did sound like they were calling his name...Maaahhh! Maaahhh! He would run to the cow fence and look at the cows. Finally he asked my Dad: “What do they want with me? They call and call but when I go out there they just (Mark makes a staring cow face at my Dad) look at me and won’t talk.








THREE
If my Mother was baking cookies at night she heard his little voice rise from the back bedroom. “What’s that smell I’m a smellin?” My parents would try and open a coke at night. They went as far as holding a dish towel over the bottle to muffle the sound. As soon as the lid was popped my parents would hear that little voice: “What’s that sound I’m a hearin?”



I have so many wonderful memories of my brother and me growing up together. Mark was a hoot! We really had a lot of fun. I missed him when he went away to VFMA; because that was the first time we were ever separated. There has never been another person who could make me laugh like my brother could.


Valley Forge Military Academy

If anything was wrong with my cat Nugget I knew who to go after first…. I walked in on my cat trying to walk with scotch tape balled up under each paw. She was shaking her feet like crazy trying to get it off. On another day I walked in on Nugget doing the strangest thing with her tongue… Maaaaaark??? What is that behind your back? Let me see!
It was a bottle of this.



Later at dinner I poured half the bottle on his food. He never even batted an eye and ate all his dinner as if nothing was amiss… grrrr……

He scared the dickens out of me one day when he dressed himself in this.
(over his clothes)
Then he went out and scared the rest of the neighborhood… Mark was the tin man. He even walked like an alien as his friends hid behind trees and illuminated him with flashlights off and on.

We walked to the bus stop together, rode our bikes, and went camping and fishing, and countless things that would make this post too long…

Our childhood went by so fast.

Mark went here.

I went here.


We did not see each other as much as we would have liked through the years but he was never far from my heart. He is retired from the Coast Guard now and I am proud of him. He is a wonderful man and I love him with all of my heart. When we do see each other it feels like we were never apart. We share a special bond that I cherish.

Mark?
Mark?
Mark?
I love you!

You know you are getting older when:

- You know you're getting old when your semi-annual erection becomes an annual semi-erection!
- You wake up, looking like your driver's license picture.
- It takes two tries to get up from the couch.
- Your idea of a night out is sitting on the patio.
- Happy hour is a nap.
- Your idea of weight lifting is standing up.
- It takes longer to rest than it did to get tired.
- You give up all your bad habits and you still don't feel good.
- It's harder and harder for sexual harassment charges to stick.
- If you've never smoked, you can start now and it won't have time to hurt you.
- Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.
- Your joints are more accurate than the National Weather Service.
- Your new easy chair has more options than your car.
- You begin every other sentence with, "Nowadays..."
- You run out of breath walking DOWN a flight of stairs.
- You come to the conclusion that your worst enemy is gravity.
- Your childhood toys are now in a museum.
- The car that you bought brand new becomes an antique.
- Your back goes out more than you do.
- You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room.
- Your best friend is dating someone half their age and isn't breaking any laws.
- You constantly talk about the price of gasoline.
- You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
- The end of your tie doesn't come anywhere near the top of your pants.
- You know what the word "equity" means.
- You talk about "good grass" and you're referring to someone's lawn.
- You get into a heated argument about pension plans.
- You got cable for the weather channel.
- You feel like the morning after, and you haven't been anywhere.
- Your mind makes contracts your body can't keep.
- You look forward to a dull evening.
- Your knees buckle and your belt won't.
- You finally got your head together, now your body is falling apart.
- You don't remember being absent minded.
-Your friends marry and divorce instead of hook up and break up.
-You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacids, not condoms and pregnancy tests.
-Growing old is a question of mind over matter. Provided you don’t mind it really doesn’t matter.

-You read this entire list looking desperately for one sentence that doesn't apply to you

Huge Hugs
I Love you babe!