a weekend to remember

this was memorial day weekend and the weekend that we had planned to take virginia's ashes to buffalo to be dispersed on aunt eth's grave and her first husband's grave. we had beautiful weather which helped the trip to be even more memorable. i wish all of you girls could have been with us, but you were in all of our thoughts. we (ken, lynne and i) left butler on fri. afternoon and arrived at the buffalo airport where we had reserved 2 rooms . lee edel had also reserved a room as she was flying in from utah late that night to be a part of our weekend. after getting settled in our rooms (this was mine),

ken gave us a short tour of some familiar places of his and paul's childhood. we stopped to eat first at this neat place . we all had fish fries- can't get any better than a buffalo fish fry!

ken and lynne before we went in to the buffalo brewpub.

batter dipped haddock, macaroni salad, cole slaw french fries and, of course, rye bread! (we called ahead to make sure they had that).

this was my dessert- creme' brule- (sp?) anyway- it was heavenly ...



after totally enjoying that meal, we went for a ride and drove by paul and ken's old house. they lived in the far side of this house that their dad rented.



we also drove by aunt eth's house, which is in a neighborhood that we had no business being in -- that's the reason for the "drive-by-shooting" that i did with the camera! her old house is on the left(green color)- you can just see a corner of it. the garage is boarded up and the house on the other side has been torn down- what a shame that the the once beautiful, tree- lined street is now so run down and polluted with gangs.


this is the beautiful old steeple of the church of christ that their family attended and that virginia sang in.


we drove by many neighborhood fire houses. they all had their doors open and the firemen were sitting out in front- a quaint scene.



after a good night's sleep, we met lee in the breakfast room- a nice reunion after many years. we then started out for the first cemetary where ken and paul's father is buried along with their grandparents and brother and wife- harold and gertrude. we met seth and paul there and lynne bought a beautiful pot of flowers with a flag for the grave. we deposited some of virginia's ashes next to the stone with edward's name. we felt that they were together again.

i placed a white bleeding heart on the top of the stone- brought it from my garden.

this was on the other side of the stone... harold, apparently, changed the spelling of his last name- go figure!
we then went for lunch and had the traditional beef on weck- amazing! lynn had a bologna steak sandwich.. WHAT?????? also, those red things were buffalo wings... soooo good!

after moaning and groaning over all of that, we started off for the cemetary where aunt eth was buried. this is the place that we had the grave stone for virginia set. it was placed on the foot of eth's grave. lee had brought roses from her garden in utah and i had brought lilies of the valley from mine. it was actually past the time for those flowers, but i found some still blooming in the front garden- amazing!

this cemetary was really beautiful (as was the first one). there was a memorial service being held and it started after we arrived- a bagpiper was there and played some beautiful scottish music.( i took a video , but sorry, i can't get it to work on my blog-- gggrrrr. ) we thought the stone was very beautiful and a nice tribute to virginia.

we took pictures of the other family stones there and were surprised to find so many. that's lee next to the family stone.

we all said goodbye to each other after visiting dairy queen for a parting treat. ken and lynne were headed back to virginia. lee was on her way to ohio for a week , paul and seth to dunkirk to the conference grounds and i was headed to fredonia for the night- then to jamestown to see my aunt and uncle. i drove to my old grade school - wheelock elementary.

the old highschool used to be next door to wheelock, but most of it has been torn down- just a parking lot and grass now! we were the last class to graduate from that school.

sunday morning i went to church at the branch in fredonia and stopped at jane forster's for a brief visit before driving to jamestown. evelyn and bob are not doing well- this picture doesn't give the true situation, they have changed so much from the last time i saw them. - that's a whole separate story.

i drove back to dunkirk to visit an old school friend who is in the county home . she had a stroke years ago and is in a wheelchair now. i felt so badly for her and appreciate my good health. i promised her that we would visit her during our 45th class reunion this summer. she was very emotional and it was a difficult time for me too.

on the way home, i decided to drive on lake shore drive instead of the thruway. what a beautiful drive. i stopped at the white village in van buren where my parents had a cottage years ago, and bought a sabbath buster beef on weck. absolutely the best one i've ever had!!!

just look at that beauty!

the old drive-in movie was just across the road from this restaurant. my parents used to surprise us on fri. nights sometimes. they would take us for a drive and we would end up here! it was always so exciting. guess it was never torn down and still stands behind the fireside restaurant (which is closed now- yow!)

i also drove through" the point" where we would go swimming when i was young.

it looked the same and brought back many sweet memories with my family as a young girl. i wish you all could have been with me- it was a weekend that i will not soon forget. i once again realize how important family is .

grandmotherly duties

i'm trying to be a good grandma.... i always take stuff to jake, reilly and ellie, and have a project we do together so that when i'm old(er) and decrepit, they will remember "granny".

i don't have a picture of them on this camera- yikes! not a very good start for a great granny...

:o(

i'm fortunate that josie is here and i can spend quality time with her...

i love to share the things i care about with all my grandkids...

and teach them to appreciate the things around them...

i don't know where this fits in to this whole story, but kids always like to go to grandma's and granny's houses- where they can do the unthinkable...

so now that i will be banned from future babysitting favors, i must say--- I DIDN'T DO THIS - i just took the picture-- honest! anyway, i'm looking forward to spending time with j,r, and e soon and having them visit in august.

mothers' day recap

this is the vegetable garden that doug sent mom- she didn't understand it and wanted me to take it- everyone thought it was the best! i have fixed 2 salads from it so far. happy mothers' day to me!!

we had a nice day today- went to church and that turned out to be a good service- i played for the primary as they sang 2 songs in sacrament. all the women were given a gift bag with chocolate and a wonderful cd - instrumental versions of early american hymns. one sister struggled as she gave her talk. she said she felt very unworthy to be speaking on this day. she told of how her mom took her and her sister in the middle of the night to a safe place and then worked cleaning apartments for a place for them to live. her father was abusive. she credited all the women who had been an example to her and helped her to be the person she is today. she teaches young children and has a natural way with them. i gave her one of the small arrangements of lilies of the valley that i had taken for the podium today. her talk was touching and helped me realize how fortunate i have been in my life. thanks becca.

i took 2 small vases of those and a large one of bleeding hearts , from my garden (my grandma aikin's favorite) , and carnations (from my brother doug).

josie LOVES to smell flowers...

fixed hot dogs ,cole slaw beans and reads german potato salad with boston cream pie (yay) for dessert. katie, nate, and josie and my mom came . it was a good day- i thought of virginia, my mother-in-law and missed her. i wore her ring today and that felt good. we also used her silverware for dinner. here are some photos etc. of the day...

4 generations..

this was supposed to be a darned cute video - sorry, it didn't work..

happy mothers' day to all of you - we are blessed by being moms, and having good moms and good grandmas. i'm sure someday we will all get together and compare notes!

sat. at the succop conservancy

today was our big sale at the master gardener's show. we set up the tents last night and got there at 6am today to set up our valuable stuff! lots of activity and tons of people. the "squirrel" had lots of exposure. here are some shots of our area.




(we were lucky number 13!)



(sorry, nella, your angel sold)... this rack had 7 flower arrangements that i made last night from flowers in the yard. they looked pretty in clear sugar bowls that i purchased for .29- .59 each. i sold 3 of them and gave 2 away. - made $18 on them- not too bad, but don't know if it was worth the work.

we cleaned up a few hours early because of high winds- whew! what a day! i did get to walk around with josie for a little while though, and watch her gobble up a hot dog. she was "watering" everything that did or didn't need it with 2 watering cans that i got her.
( every girl needs several watering cans..) she was a bit wound up and katie was worn out. fun was had by all!

here is the old metal rocker that i was going to sell at this show. a woman came by and bought it before i even repainted and recovered it. she still wanted me to recover it (rats). what a bugger to recover-- i got $100 for this -- well worth it after working on it!
before...



chair after i delivered it and set it in her new garden...



at the end of the day, as i was driving out, i took one last look at the pond that was right behind our area and saw this peaceful scene- a canadian geese family... a really beautiful location for a show. ..until next year...

further trash house news...

it's been a few days since we basically completed the project in saxonburg!!!!! we are still going to put some plants and mulch in and then try to visit sandy on a weekly basis- hoping to gain her trust and friendship so that we can help her clean out the garage. here is that mess before we got the door closed- it really looks like this.

the entire garage is like this shot.

- mostly avon boxes- FULL of avon products and jewelry.

we had a wonderful work crew on tues. people just kept coming- lots of interest in the items we put out for sale. notice the cars lined up on the road- it was like that off and on all day.

we made $100.00 for sandy and she also sold a piece of lawn equipment for another $100.00. we worked from 9:00 am 'til 7:30 pm. i made lots of new friends- people who truly cared- not to judge, but realized that this woman needs help- in more than one area.

these are all "before" and "after" shots - i will take some more of the" gravel spreading in the rain "project (the next evening) when i go back this next week. a few scouts cleaned her gutters and their leader mowed (in the rain) and 3 more of us shoveled a pile of gravel around the driveway and over landscaping material and in between 7 pavers that we put down. what a transformation- photos on that later.

these are "before" of the breezeway...

the "after" shot- lots of hard work and pitching... notice my mask- we had to wear those when we did that porch.

we had to put cardboard down because of the mud. the next evening , we put material down and spread gravel. were we tired??? i realized all 62 years of my body after that project was done.

update on the trash house

today( sat.) was the day that we had set aside to start cleaning the house in saxonburg. the owner got a dumpster yesterday and has it for 10 days. i arrived at 8:30 so i could set up a table and get the gloves, etc. out and organized. i also had a paper for the owner to sign- giving us permission to do this project.

it's hard to put into words how unbelievable this whole situation is. here are a few shots of the dumpster and a few of the workers.

this is a photo of gail- black shirt, white pants- she came to buy and stayed the whole time - sorting and lifting heavy bags. she is a hair dresser in town and came with full makeup on! i enjoyed working with her- she's bringing her daughter for tues. workday.

that's seth and me up by the garage -we actually got everything picked up in that area and seth got the garage door shut (it's full to the brim) . that is the only area that we got to , so we will be going back tues. it's physically hard work as the boxes are full and wet and many of them break when lifted.

we had tables set up and sold some of the stuff- she made $60 from donations that day.

this woman and her husband took a large bag full of stuff and then stayed to help- thank you, thank you, thank you--- we needed lots more hands. the owner (sandy) actually started to take things out as soon as we began dumping- she made many comments about the stuff being good stuff- it was difficult dealing with her- sometimes i was very blunt with her- reminding her of the time crunch and $1000 fine.

lots of cars drove by slowly to see what was finally being done at the notorious house on main street. more after we finish tues. workday.

more stuff for the "squirrel"

as you can see, spring has finally sprung at red squirrel.


spring means garden sale at the succop conservancy, may 9th, and that also means collecting garden related stuff for the big sale. here are a few of my finds for the day...



the metal chair is one of 4 that i bought for $20.00- spray painted them and recovered the seats with outdoor material (it was half price at joann's this week). before i even had them officially for sale or could take them to the garden sale, a lady came by and wanted them. they went for $100.00! (actually gave her 10 percent off- so it was $90.oo). yay! the heavy cement angel was part of a lot that i bought for $25.00. i have $25.00 on that-( the wing had been cracked and fixed.) the swan is a stuffed pillow that i bought at a church flea market today for .25! and the painted tray (hi shannon) :o) was .50 cents. the green mirror- beveled- was $2.00. love this stuff. i'll mark these items up when i sell them.

this mosiac top table is my favorite- my friends didn't like it- oh well... i may paint the bottom part.

this is an actual painting, signed and everything! got it today for .50 cents.... WHAT??? may paint the frame.

the last item is a cute,cute,cute needle work that will be snatched up at the sale. the little baby birds' bodies are puffs.

well, hope you liked seeing some of this stuff- it's just stuff, after all . tomorrow i have to go to the trash house to help with the cleaning up- i'll take pictures, so be prepared. josie and i took signs around today asking for help. i'm training her early! keep your fingers crossed for our efforts.