How Does Your Garden Grow?

A new garden flag adds a splash of color

to Mud Season

A reflecting pond by Gruff's bench

The grass is always greener over the septic tank

Some snow still left in the backyard

A weed with tiny, white flowers finds its way to the sun

Crocus poke their heads above the ground

Daffodils and

tulips are a 

sign of Spring.

How does your garden grow?

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

This idea came from a Facebook meme:
Over 10 days, post your 10 all time favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:me favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) Robert Donat, Greer Garson

If you haven't seen this movie, it's available for rent on YouTube.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. My (3rd) cousin sent me picture of his grandmother (my first cousin 2x removed) and pictures of members of his family

2. My (3rd) cousin's daughter (3rd cousin 1x removed) came to visit for coffee and..

3. The basement repair was completed and the ventilation system installed.

4. I saw Timex the chipmunk (or one of his descendants) foraging by the honeysuckle vine.

5.Last class for the Winter term, and I had to pass out the student evaluation forms. One of my students who has taken several classes with me  said he's running out of superlatives to describe me. I said write down that I walk on water. And I think he did! 😸

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

The other thing that my father-in-law was interested in was becoming a grandfather. We were not in a hurry for that at the time.

One night at the dinner table after dinner, he started to ask me a question which Concordia tried to shut him up.

He asked me, "Joe  when you go to bed what do you do?" The moment he got to the word bed I knew what he was after. I looked at him with a puzzled, innocent look and frown, "I go to sleep." He got up  and headed for the parlor saying as he was shaking his head and in Italian about the stupid Americans didn't know anything. He's going to wait for the stork to bringa the son."

During the first year or two the housing area was tight. It was hard to get an apartment. We were looking and I asked my co-workers to be on the look out. One day I got a chance when my co-worker came in and said that there was a vacancy in his town of Cambridge. Knew the name of the landlord and gave me the address and her telephone number and hot to get there.

I called and made an appointment and Mary and I made it after work. We looked at the place. It was a parlor, bedroom and kitchen. The area was not far from the Charles River and still close to work. We took it. We were so happy and we went home together and told my in-laws what we had done. Boy, did they get mad. This was on a Friday. On Saturday, my father-in-law, Domenic called my wife into the parlor and asked her what did I do or say that made your husband leave us? She explained that we would like to have a place of our own as we were crowded as it was. On the same morning, Concordia who washed our laundry as well as theirs threw ours on the floor and told Mary, "You wanna leave, you washa your own clothes. I no do it no more."

Strictly Italian. You have children. They marry and still live with you. Why should children leave? In Italy, they do not.

There was a television interview with young Italian. And the interviewers couldn't get over the fact that they still lived with their parents. One was married and every night, he went home to his parents and had dinner there while his wife ate with their children. Another built a house and it was unoccupied because he still lived with his parents. The interviewer even spoke to a professor of sociology who stated it was Italy. And that families are close in this country.

[ed: This story surprised me and made me laugh. I have to add a story from my own young adulthood. Around the age of 25 or 26, after a broken engagement, I began to get restless. I was still living at home. All my girlfriends had or were getting their own apartments. One weekend, I broached the subject to my parents. My mother cried for the whole weekend and wouldn't speak to me. Dad called me into the living room and said, "What are we doing to make you so unhappy that you want to leave?" I told him they had done nothing wrong. It was just time for me like all little birds to fly the nest. He listened to me. Said, you have made a thoughtful argument (ever the lawyer), but there would only be one reason you would want your own place and that would be to "entertain gentleman." There are only 2 ways you can leave my roof. You can get married, and he gave me a leveled look. Being the smartass I am I asked, what's the second way? "You can go out in a box." That was the end of the discussion.

My brother was expected to go out and sow his wild oats, but as a young woman, I was not allowed to reap a harvest. Double standards.]

Wordless Wednesday

T Stands For Cousins

Two weeks ago, I blogged how I had made contact with a cousin on my maternal grandmother's side. We've been sharing information and in an e-mail, and he included one of his daughters as she's been doing some genealogy and made a trip to Italy a couple of years ago.

Color me giddy blue when the daughter contacted me to say she was in the area and could we meet. She was going to be on her way back to New York so I asked if she wanted to come to the house as she would practically be driving by the house. Well, just 10 minutes off the Mass. Pike on her way home.

She said she would be happy to stop by for coffee and... I had coffee pods, baked some of Ma's cookies (gluten and sugar-free). The cookie was  flavored with vanilla and lemon for the frosting.  The cookies looked like Easter chicks. Being Italian, I couldn't stop there so I made a cheese pizza. One side with gravy (sauce) and cheese and the other side with a bit of olive oil and cheese as the Young One has problems with tomato. Himself made a salad.

We compared notes on our share ancestor, her great-great grandmother and my grandmother are first cousin. Her father had written information on his grandmother's children and their children. So I was able to add to my family tree.

My young cousin told me she had taken a trip to Italy to Ariano Irpino (formerly Ariano Puglia) where her 2nd great-grandmother and my grandmother were born.  She had gone looking for records to apply for Italian citizenship. She told me Italy allows citizenship if you have an Italian ancestor. Italy recognizes jure sanguinis or citizenship by blood. There are all sorts of hoops to jump through and necessary documents.  While in Ariano, a tiny town, she was at the town hall for records and casually asked if there were any residents with her last name. She was given directions and told to go see this man, A. And the clerk even wrote her a letter of introduction so A wouldn't think she was an axe murderer.

As it turned out, A was actually related to her father's side of the family. He invited her into his home. I think she said he was an artist and painted. On the wall he had a picture of family members and she said one of them looked exactly like her brother.

We enjoyed good food, company, stories, and pictures. She has a sister who lives in Massachusetts, she said she visits frequently, and I told her she was welcome to stop by any time. I was so excited by her visit, I forgot to take pictures of the table set with food and our beverages (tea for me and ginger ale for her) until she had left, and I was cleaning up.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Happy Mail

Nan was in San Francisco on a working vacation. Working for her daughter and vacation for Nan who tagged along. Nan kindly sent me

a Saint Patrick's Day card. Nan's the only one who ever sends me St. Patrick's Day cards. Makes me smile as I'm only Irish through marriage. Thanks, Nan. You always brighten up my day.