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Saturday, April 28, 2012

An anniversary

The pretty little Libester token this week caught me up short and set me thinking about the year I’ve been blogging.  It’s been way over a year since I found blogs, and followed many by bookmarking them.  Never confident enough to comment, completely entranced by the possibilities.

But, what to write about.  There really is nothing new under the sun.  One day in my kitchen I was telling Beth an old family story.  Again.  Again she said “You never told me that!”  Grrrr.  But, there it was.  I could write down as much family history as I remembered or found.  Next time I could say “Go look it up!”

The last ten years my Grandma Rolf lived, (and she lived 95 years), family members would pick her up and bring her to family events.  But she no longer looked involved, and I felt sad about her, alone on the sofa.  I’d sit down and ask her seriously about how she did something when she was young.  As if I’d wound the mainspring, she had stories for hours.  I can still see her become eighty years younger, with far away eyes, floating on air across the parlor floor to the doll on the Christmas tree.  She knew it was hers. 

I heard hours of stories and only looked at it as a way to make Grandma happy she was there. I can recall thinking “I should be writing this down.”  Of course I didn’t. I regret this. Later on, the last few years of Mom’s life, I’d ask her the same kind of questions and spent pleasant Sunday afternoons with her observations and recollections.    “I should be writing this down.”  Of course I didn’t.  I regret this.

Beth gave me a reason and an impetus, but how to start.  Still couldn’t bring myself to jump right in.  I got a blogger page opened, then I went to Pittsburgh with Carol, and this delightful kitten came into my life.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Today I even bought a new office chair, because, as you can see, he no longer fits on the old one.

I love blogs.  I’ve met people from all over the world, seen places I’ll never go, had conversations with people I’ll never meet.  I’m having a good time with the stories, and a good time with the cat who loves everything.  Last night I chased him up the steps.  Chin high, long white streamer between two front legs.  He’s much faster than I, and was around the corner and depositing his treasure in the girls’ room.  A paper towel.   The very first thing my three youngest granddaughters will do in June is crawl around under beds and dressers to get out all the forks, pine cones, spools, yarn, socks, toe people, and now paper towels he’s hidden away.

A year of Toby, who will be one on or about Mothers’ Day, USA:









11 comments:

  1. What a sweet beautiful baby...and I love your stories.

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  2. One of our boys stashes his treasures under the dresser...he and Toby would be great pals...thieves in the night!
    Jane x

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  3. He is a beauty, no wonder your heart has been stolen. I never thought I could love a cat (always a dog lover), now I feel they are the ones who understand me. Besides, they are needy little buggers, aren't they. (I need to be needed, but that is a secret between you and me.)

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  4. That was a lucky little kitten...and so good of him to tidy things away for you!
    I read the link...and found that you too used to weave. I won't start again, but had many happy years weaving.

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  5. Are you sure Toby isn't part squirrel saving up for a rainy day?? :-).

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  6. Given half a chance Jewel steals my watch and/or my earrings. Jazz is much more food oriented.
    I love that you gave Toby a home and he wound his furry little paws into your heart strings. As they do - and he looks a truly beautiful cat.
    I love your stories too.

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  7. So glad you are writing your stories down. I enjoy each and every one.

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  8. I LOVE the photo of kitten Toby asleep on the desk.
    I never knew my grandparents so couldn't ask them stories and my mother's stories were all sad ones about how her mother never wanted or loved her. Not worth writing about.

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  9. Love the kitties. I think writing family stories is difficult. They are for me any way. It is far easier to snap a pic of some china and give a description and say toddles. I first started my blog as a blog without images and wrote stories then I took the easy way out and added pictures. Now I have the big girl camera which I do love but I am getting back to the stories. They take more time. However my daughter and much younger sister are reading a record of me that they never knew.

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  10. I love your blog! And I love your stories!
    And what a little monkey of a cat! personality plus!!!

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  11. entered into a conversation with my 95 year old mother today and learned things about my great-grandparents I did not know...Now, ,,who to tell them too...Family secrets are scarry...

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