This photo was entered in this month’s I Heart Faces photo contest, “In the Distance.” Check out http://www.iheartfaces.com

Happy Birthday Gram
May 24, 1914 – June 14,1985

I think of her almost every day. She had the best laugh! When I got to sleep over her house, she would give me a Toni perm that stunk up the whole house and my grandfather would get so mad about the smell when he came home from work! She was the one who started my fascination with old things. We would drive around for hours and then all of a sudden she would pull over and we would get out and start walking into the woods. I don’t know where she got her information from, but we would walk to a certain distance then she would stop and we would start digging. She would say this is an old dump and we are going to find some nice old bottles here! And we usually always did.

We would also do crafts. One in particular I remember was cooking old records in the oven until the edges curled up. Then we would spray paint them gold and glue macaroni, acorns & other things on them for decorations. Another smelly thing my grandfather didn’t approve of! Oh well, she didn’t care! She did what she wanted to do.

She wore very fancy sparkley clothes and wore a big beehive hair do. She loved wearing hats too!

She loved to dance and ride horses.

She was my inspiration! And I was 8-1/2 months pregnant with my 4th child when she died. She suffered so long and awful with the dreaded bully, cancer that it just didn’t seem fair. She didn’t deserve to suffer like that. The day of her funeral, I cried the loudest and hardest I think I have ever cried so far.
I had my son July 7, 1985 and as a reminder of my grandmother, I named my son Jeffrey B. Michael. The B. of course stands for Beatrice. And I’m proud to say that my son and his girlfriend gave birth to a gorgeous little baby boy January 4th of this year and he also carries on the B. as a Jr. To his dad! Gram, Beatrice, Mother, Honey and all the other names I’m sure you had, I love you, I miss you and I will never forget you or the love you showed me.
XOXO

The never ending snow of 2013! I think Mother Nature is making up for the years she was easy on us because she is killing New England this winter!

I’m really not surprised to tell the truth. I knew it was only a matter of time before we were going to be buried.

With the way the weather has been all over the world the last few years, I knew it was only a matter of time!

Trees and branches are down everywhere. Some areas look like a tornado had blown thru and snapped every tree in its path.

Our plow guy got stuck in my flower bed while plowing our driveway today. Oh geez! Really

They decide to use my truck to pull the plow out and then get my truck stuck in a big ditch that was made by the spinning tires!

To the rescue! My daughters fiancé shows up to visit and spends an hour or so helping get my truck and the plow pulled out!

Well, I got to visit with my two little men while the commotion was going on outside. These little boys are growing way to fast!

So I’m hoping Mother Nature is finally done with us. I did see my daffodils sprouting out of the ground the other day, but now with a ton of heavy white stuff, sitting on them, who knows what’s going to happen!

Oh how I miss you beautiful daffodils!!!

Finally the staircase to nowhere is gone! It was a dusty black sooty mess but its out! It’s a good thing we haven’t used it in years because it wasn’t very secure. Most of it came right out.

So now it needs a recessed floor door built and a few switches re-attached and then the walls can get finished and I can decorate the new entry area! Can’t wait!

Renovation Before During & After

Before During & After

Friday night February 8, 2013 we finally lose power. 7:40 pm We usually lose power in any storm so we knew with a blizzard it was just a matter of time.

It started out barely snowing and then progressively got worse. Wind whipping thru the trees and our antique cape home between the barn & house.

Thank god we have a natural gas fireplace insert in our front room, or we would have to find other living arrangements.

We closed up the back of our house where are main family room and master bedroom are located and moved on up to the front rooms to keep warm. Eventually my daughter also lost power & heat and her family joined us in the long wait for power restoration.

My oldest daughter who lives in Plymouth, MA also loses power & heat and decides to tough it out under the blankets with her new baby boy & fiancé. Crazy daughter of mine!

It is now Sunday February 10th 4:44 pm and still no power.

Sophie’s “release” area is all shoveled out for her! Power is supposed to be back tomorrow sometime. We shall see how that goes!

Taking a drive around the neighborhood we see a few downed trees still on the lines! And they look like they haven’t been touched so its going to be a while before we see the light at night or have regular heat.

I still wouldn’t move to Florida, I’m a New England girl.

Milinda