My Second Favorite Church

Hello friends.

Thank you for all of your heartfelt comments

from my last post.

It meant the world to me.. 

Mom was a fighter to the end.

We buried her on Monday morning.

This is the church we had the funeral service at.

St Mary's Catholic Church.

They recently just re-painted the starburst mural.

Many years ago the original starburst was 

wallpapered over to remove the cracks in the wall.

Well the wallpaper started peeling away...

so they took up donations to restore it.

It looks wonderful and so glad they 

were able to bring it back to its original glory.

This is the church I attended when 

visiting both grandparents.

My maternal grandparents paid for

one of the stained glass windows....

but I forget which one.

The right side display.

The left side display.

This statue is of St Mary.

Looking up towards the front of the church,

is the choir area.

The organist was already playing when 

I was taking these pictures.

Bob is in the foreground.

I took these pics before mass...

and my mom was lying in state 

to the left of Bob.

Above the organist was another

 stained glass window.

The service was wonderful.

Those who sang the songs we chose

sang like angels.

It was a beautiful service.

Tuesday we cleaned out mom's apartment.

We donated her furniture.

Her church wanted to provide a room

for someone in need on a temporary basis.

When we found this out, we decided

to give it to them.

They received the kitchen table and chairs,

bed with linens, small side tables and lamps.

They were so appreciative.

Wednesday I went to our local bakery

to purchase 2 dozen cookies to the ladies

who assisted with mom's care.

One of the ladies told me that she wished

more families were like ours.

She said that a lot of their residents

dont even get visitors from their family members.

They move them into their apartments,

and alas never go to visit them.

So sad.

Today I am going to lunch with

two former co-workers.

Time for me to relax a bit.

A weight has been lifted.

I will miss my mom tremendously,

 but know she is no longer suffering.

St. Mary Blessings To All!

Janice

An Angel Went To Heaven

Mom left us on Thursday morning

around 11:00am.

My brother arrived to find her deceased,

but she was still warm.

She is with our dad now and her family.

1934-2026

She was 91 one years young.

My mom's engagement announcement

back in 1955.

Back then they placed these 

in their local newspaper.

Mom and dad's wedding photo.

April 23, 1955

Dad's sister on the left sitting.

Dad's brother 2nd to left.

My mom's brother was their ring bearer.

Mom's sister was her maid of honor. 

Mom with her siblings and her mom.

My gramma was in the middle.

Mom on the left.

Her sister and brothers.

Christmas 2017 at my brother's home.

My sister Teresa on left, mom in the middle,

and me on the right. Brother Tom in back.

July 2018 Harsen's Island outing

July 2019 family reunion.

Pictured from left to right ~

mom's sister Louise now deceased,

 my deceased uncle's wife Gerry,

mom's only living brother Leonard,

and my mom on the right.

2020 was taken by her church just before 

covid lockdown.

December 2022 Dinner at the museum

for my 65th birthday.

Bob on the left.

 

May 2025 Mother's Day at Frankenmuth.

At the end of July she fell and broke her shoulder.

She never went back home.

My daughter Michele in back.

Halloween night 2025

My mom and sister.

May 2026

This was taken on Mother's Day.

It was a month later that mom started

having issues and the decline began.

I am numb right now.

We knew it was coming, 

however still so very hard.

We were allowed to see her before

the funeral driver took her away.

She is at peace now,

and I am happy she is in no more 

pain and suffering.

It was hard seeing her go from

a strong woman to a frail one.

Thank you to everyone for

your thoughts and prayers

in this difficult time for me and my family.

Time is so very precious.

In other news,

my mom and I always went on the annual

antique trail which starts south of my house,

and all the way around the Thumb of Michigan.

I was unable to do it last year 

as it was held right after my mom fell.

Unfortunately it was this weekend and once

again am not able to go.

Hopefully next year will be different.

Blessings To All!

Janice

Another Whippy Wednesday

Here is the only WIP I have for July.

A few little items that were carry overs from last year

were also stitched and finished in July.

Those I will show later.

Too much was going on with mom

to work on any other samplers.

 

Started page 5 and added in

the American flag.

Page 5 is now completed.

Half of this pattern is now also complete.

Page 6 had the king's crown.

This is not a flag, but was added

to represent King George III.

Stitched most of page 6, but not all.

Above the word We is the start of 

the water.

The brown box represents the tea

being tossed off the ship,

for The Boston Tea Prty.

Here I am thus far.

In other news,

mom is still with us.

She is a fighter for sure.

However she is struggling now to eat by herself,

so either we feed her if we are there,

or the aides are.

My sister brought her a shake last evening

and she could not drink it with the straw.

She even let it melt a bit;

mom still could not drink it.

Her breathing is more raspier.

They continue to give her morphine for pain.

She is declining more each day.

How long do we have with her,

is in God's hands.

These days seeing her are precious to me 

as they will no longer exist soon.

For Bob's  birthday we went to our

favorite Italian  restaurant for lunch.

He had chicken parmesan and I had chicken  alfredo. 

Well off to do a few errands and then

going to see mom.

Hope everyone is enjoying their week thus far.

Wednesday blessings To All!

Janice

August CupboardScape

 

Happy August 1st everyone!

For me August meant harvest.

For my new followers,

both my grandparents had dairy farms.

I spent my Summer months on both farms.

My parents would drive up

both my sister and I and it

was the best time ever. 

I did not get involved with harvesting

until I was a teen.

My job was to bale hay.

Crops were very important to a farmer.

They needed them to feed their animals.

Both my grandparents grew wheat.

Once the wheat was thrashed 

the rest of the stalks were dried for straw.

Corn was also grown by both.

My paternal grandparents also grew alfalfa.

Another food source for their animals.

Crops were men's work.

My grandmother's had their own jobs.

Reaping the fruits of their gardens.

Canning vegetables, making sauces,

and jarring up jams. 

August was the time I would also help

my grandmothers get out their Winter quilts,

in the process of switching over their

Summer ones for these warmer ones.

Another job of mine was to beat 

those quilts outside on their clotheslines,

to get the dust out.

Those heavy quilts would not

go through their ringer washing machines

at the time.

Mending was a necessity this time of year.

Socks, clothes and quilts.

My maternal grandparents had 80 acres of land.

They did not have a furnace.

Therefore the woodpile needed to be

filled for the Winter months.

My uncles would go in the back 40...

as I called it and chop the wood.

The back 20 acres of land was filled with trees.

It was important to my maternal grandparents

to be able to heat their stove daily.

Gramma cooked, heated her iron and it

was the source of warmth for that

old farmhouse.

My favorite time of the year on my

grandparents farms though

was months before harvest.

I loved when the crop dusting planes 

came to my grandparents farms.

For those not familiar with crop dusting,

it was the preferred method at the time

for applying pesticides and fertilizer.

It was an important part of farming.

The croppers only came in good weather,

with a very low wind to be effective.

These small planes were so cool to me.

They would come down very, very low

and spray the many acres of crops.

Then when they were near the end,

they would come up fast and turn around.

Row by row, up and down.

I was mesmerized at the pilots precision.

Farming was a hard but rewarding life.

I have always said kids need to work

a farm at least once in their life to see

where they get their food from.

It would be an important lesson for them.

Better than learning about what is being

taught now in our schools.

In other news,

mom's body is failing.

Her breathing is getting heavier.

She still knows who I am at the time,

but forgets that any of us had seen her

when we did.

No one visits her she tells me when I ask.

Yesterday evening she got worse.

She now is sweating more profusely,

plus she has a Kennedy ulcer....

which both are more signs she is failing.

The Kennedy ulcer is a skin sore that will

not heal and a sign that death is close.

My mom always had a high tolerance to pain.

Yesterday her pain level for both her stomach

area (where the mass is) and her lower back

(where the ulcer is) were both at a 10.

My brother called the Hospice nurse

and she is going to start providing

pain medication.

We do not have long now.

I will be leaving here shortly to visit her.

It may be my last time.

I did not sleep well last night.

Our wedding anniversary was Monday.

Neither Bob or I remembered. LOL

He remembered Wednesday night.

We laughed because we both forgot.

I wont forget his birthday though.

It is next Tuesday.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

August Blessings To All!

Janice

Making Progress

Today's post is my progress

for June on my stitching.

This is where I left off in May

with Elizabeth Manners.

For June finished this motif now.

Finished the tree plus Adam & Eve.

Then I wrapped the border 

around and started on the bottom.

Am loving this piece!

This was Floral Motif at the end of May.

Started stitching this bird on the flowered vase.

Went up and did this green/ white motif.

 Then completed the red flower to the left.

Stitched these 2 red tiny flowers.

This is where I ended Floral Motif Sampler

for the month of June.

Sadly I did not pick it up in July.

America 250.

Started page three and here is my eagle.

Finished another flag.

The Rebellion Stripes one.

This red and white striped flag

was created by the Sons of Liberty

to resist the British Stamp Act.

Then I completed the Stamp Act motif.

The British enacted the stamp act

to the American colonies.

This required printed materials such as 

legal documents, newspapers and even

playing cards be produced in London

and had to be embossed with the revenue stamp

depicted in this motif. 

Although this was a British law that

was enacted for America,

this is a French saying meaning

"Shame to him who thinks evil of it."

This is the motto of the order of the garter.

The high order of British knighthood.

The royal crown symbolized the authority

of the British monarchy (King George III)

The one penny was the denomination

of the Stamp Act.   

Most stitchers are not stitching this motif.

Paulette also included in the pattern for a floral

motif if you did not want to stitch the

stamp act one.

I want my piece to include all of the historical

references, so I stitched it. 

Finished the rest of the initials of the men

who wrote the Declaration of Independence.

TJ- Thomas Jefferson

JA- John Adams

BF- Benjamin Franklin

RL- Robert Livingston

RS- Robert Sherman

  Am now finished with page 3 of 10.

This took me seven days to stitch.

I know this was not finished

by July 4th...but do enjoy stitching on it.

Page 4 took me 8 days.

This was a massive American flag.

This page also has a portion

 of Independence Hall.

I did change the backstitch color 

on the steeple and clock hands

to Hickory Sticks (brown)

Now on to page 5 of 10.

Whew this is a lot of stitching,

but I have hopes of completing

by year end.

This was my progress on Faith 1831 for May.

Finally finished the one over one stitching.

YAY

Then I moved to the wreath.

Then the bowl of fruit.

Finished more of the flower border

on both the left and right.

Now that the hard part is completed

(one over one saying)

I am loving stitching on this again.

In other news,

was not feeling the best early Sunday 

morning and yesterday...therefore

I refrained from seeing my mom.

Will see her today sometime.

Am slowly taking down my patriotic decor.

Putting it carefully away until next year.

Bob and I are headed this morning 

to my mom's house.

We are meeting folks to donate

the furniture that did not sell

in the estate sale.

It will be going to the new parson coming

to one of the churches in town who

is moving and needs furniture.

My mom would approve.

One more tidbit.

For those not familiar with the DSA

Democratic Socialists of America...

be aware of their platform.

Abolish both the presidency and Senate.

Abolish the Pentagon.

Abolish prisons.

Abolish both ICE and the Police.

Open borders for any illegal to enter once again.

Free rent and mortgages for all.

Work when you want.

Abolish Capitalism.

In other words...lets become a Communist country.

The leaders of this group are millionaires.

Don't let them fool you.

If you want to remain a free country,

do not vote these Commies in.

They do not mince words.

They straight up tell everyone this is what

they want to do if they take control.

AOC and Bernie Sanders are part of this group.

They fly private jets and own multiple homes.

Drive fancy cars and talk about the oligarchy.

They are rich too...so in my opinion they

are the oligarchy as well.

Hasan Piker is another one.

He dresses just like a Commie.

Don't be fooled. 

They are all rich and want chaos in our country.

35 of these members are running in

seats all over...including in my

state of Michigan.

Abdul El-Sayed even hates 

our Democratic governor.

They are wolves in sheep's clothing. 

Sorry about my rant...but I want our

country to remain free.

Hope everyone enjoys their last week of July.

Making Progress Blessings To All!

Janice