Our Saturday morning started out with a wonderful hike in Sherman Texas. Lauren, Josh and Matilda joined us. We hiked a couple of miles, skipped stones at the lake and came home to an air conditioner on the fritz. (it started acting funny before Saturday, but I was in denial).

We went on our weekly (whole foods) shopping run. Then had little burgers and salads for dinner. The house was warm. We lay on top of the sheets and turned on the fan.

Sunday, Matilda invited us up to their house, for a photo shoot of sorts. It was good to get out of the house and visit with Matilda. We had a photo shoot, played one game of TRivial Pursuit Family and one game of UNO.

We came home and decided to forgo cooking Sunday dinner. Thinking about turning on the stove sounded awful! So we turned on the fans in the bedroom, cuddled up and watched our Sunday movie. It was…drum roll please……

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I am a Olivia De Havilland fan. She made about 49 movies in her life and recently died in Paris at the age of 104.

By the time Captain Blood was over, the house was very warm….so we closed up things…ran a few things to Jamison’s house and then went out to dinner.

We never eat out on Sundays. It was a nice change and dinner was spectacular.

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Yes, the taco was mine but I shared it with Larry…

We came home turned on the fan and watched 90 Day Fiance.

The AC guy is coming at 11 this morning. YAY!

Love you beyond the stars and moon.

Me

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Yesterday, Larry and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. The day was filled with moments of love, very much as our wedding day was.

The reality of the world’s situation has finally hit me. There are no… la vie en rose (rose colored glasses) to make going forward easier. Larry held me in his arms and I cried.

When you press me to your heart
I’m in a world apart
A world where roses bloom
And when you speak, angels sing from above
Everyday words seem to turn into love songs
Give your heart and soul to me and life will always be….

“La vie en rose”

Love you beyond the moon and stars.

Me

On this day in 1977, we became husband and wife. Please excuse me while I pick up the cake and cook a romantic dinner…….

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No, this is NOT Larry and me on our wedding day….it is a cute family I found on the Internet. 70’s wedding photos are very popular. Wink.

I will be back tomorrow with all the lights and colors of our 43rd anniversary……

Love you beyond the moon and the stars.

Me

The days of this summer have been unusually difficult. Not just for me, but for everyone. Am I imaging it, but is each day becoming harder and harder to put on “the happy face”.

Surprise! Yesterday, Amazon Prime came to the door with a package. Neither Larry nor myself were expecting anything and it was addressed to me.

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My cousin Kathy had sent me the most interesting book about handkerchiefs. I opened the book and the fist thing I saw/read was a quote.

A child said: What is the grass…

I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,

A sented gift and remembrancer designedly dropped,

bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners,

that we may see and remark and say Whose?

~Walt Whitman from Song Of Myself~

Because this thoughtful gift arrived when I felt so low, I will never look at handkerchiefs the same way again. The book includes amazing photographs and short histories of who owned them, what they were made of and cultures that insisted in them.

Kathy, Merci for the amazing, thoughtful book. It will be a special treasure for a very long time.

Love you beyond the moon.

Me

The story of a memory

by Ingmar Gregorzewski published Feb 11, 2020

The synopsis reads:

“Nights, lost” – With his mother, young Pawel flees from Poland to Vienna at the beginning of the Second World War. There they both try to build a new life under difficult circumstances. The mother’s entire hope rests on her son and his career as a pianist, which she has driven forward. But it threatens to fail. Pawel loses himself in the care of his mother, longs for the love of Mirjam and encounters the merciless life of the Viennese prostitutes and the bitter poverty of a starving city.

Read about a sunken dark time in the heart of Europe, about the love and hope of the young aspiring pianist Pawel in Vienna during the war and post-war period – and about his attempt to recall his childhood and youth in old age, to meet again in memory the people who loved him and whom he once loved.”

I liked this novel very much. The translation from German to English is perfection and you can find this book for purchase in a few spots. (I bought it for my Kindle on Amazon)

Pawel, the main character is endearing and honest. All other characters, swirl around his personal story and a story written in history. I was drawn in from the first page and although history is riddled with sad events, Pawel kept me secretly cheering him on. His memory is an interesting tapestry of love, sacrifice and history.

Mr Gregorzewski does a good job of enlisting us to go on this journey with Pawel and feeling sentimental at the end of the book.

I gave this book….five flowers

It is a lovely, heartfelt read.

Till next book, Robin

Photos courtesy of Ingmar Gregorzewski

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On Saturday, we had to pick up a new vacuum cleaner, then we picked up Matilda (granddaughter)to come to The Cottage for the day. Who would have thought that a 9 year old would love a vacuum cleaner box so much?

Matilda came over to play board games and cook dinner. Matilda and I made a lemon loaf cake and a broccoli , bacon, cheese quiche. Matilda and Larry made guacamole. That was our dinner on Saturday…then we took her home.

Matilda is very interested in cooking…and when she comes to The Cottage, she has a cookbook that she is making. We test recipes here and they go into the Matilda’s Country Cookbook. I even bought her a notebook. The recipes are slowly being added….now she has a new cake, her favorite quiche and guacamole.

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We played, Scrabble, Crazy 8’s and Uno….our day together went by very fast.

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On Sunday, the cottage was very quiet without Matilda.

We christened the new vacuum, pouted around the house, went to the market and had Sunday Dinner and Movie, post Matilda style. ( we had eaten a lot of food on Saturday)

One of Larry’s clients is a well known pizza chain. This pizza chain has just introduced wings…..and he thought it would be a perfect night to taste test the new wings. Of course, that meant having pizza too.

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I was not hungry but I must admit that dinner was excellent.

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Larry dug into our stash and brought out a favorite movie…….

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AND look what was for dessert! It is one of my favorites……

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The weekend was swift. The weekend was fun, busy and filled with love. Who can ask for more?

Love you beyond the moon and stars.

Me

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How can my house get so cluttered with only two people living here and nothing happening? Yesterday I started straightening things up. While working, I think, why bother?

A few weeks ago I hurt my knee somehow. Since then Larry and I have been walking our miles at an empty mall. (Air Conditioned!) We wear our masks and social distance. The mall is empty most of the time now as the stores are slowly closing down one by one. It is a sad location, but best for now.

I think that maybe I should rest my knee and not clean The Cottage….. I found this sweet poem ages ago, Please don’t mind the blurr.

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Have a wonderful weekend….

Love you beyond the moon and stars.

Me.

There are three more raffle tickets in the jar! Thank you Lisa A. I appreciate your support of early breast cancer detection. Please remember that the drawing (for a quilt) will be on September 12th!

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*****

On this date in 1995, My Mother lost her battle with lung cancer. Larry asked if I wanted to go to the cemetery today. I said no.

This week, we were at a funeral and internment at my Mothers cemetery. After the service was done, we went to Mothers head-stone. I said my prayers, blew her a kiss and we left. I miss her very much. I miss our friendship and love that we had for family.

We had just gotten Chinese Take Away and were sitting down to eat when the call came in. Mother has passed. I still cannot eat egg foo young. Isn’t life funny?

When we arrived at Mothers house, my older sister had stopped all of the clocks like she was in some old Victorian movie. We said our good byes to Mother and life has never been the same since.

Sometimes I wonder if all families are like mine?

As life goes on, we must stay true to ourselves and live our best possible life.

I am off to walk a few miles at the empty, air conditioned mall.

Love you beyond the moon and stars.

Me