Rod McKuen A Remarkable Human Being...You Will Always Be In My Heart

Memories, Mother's Day 2004 with Rod & My Sweet Emily

The Dream...

When I posted this today to my timeline on Facebook a friend commented this:" So much for a dream, this world is a nightmare."  "So sad."

To which I replied: It is all a matter of personal perspective. I am sure Oprah Winfrey wouldn't be one of the most successful as well as wealthiest women in the world had it not been for the dream of Dr. King, Rosa Parks, and many others who have made sure to become educated, have a strong belief system, and courage to make their dream come true. Many other civil rights activists along with Dr. King lost their lives in the process. No matter what kind of confirmation bias many use to support their negative opinions regarding Barack Obama as President there was a time he wouldn't have been able to eat in many restaurants or use public restrooms! I am 63 years old and that went on in my lifetime! Mohammed Ali aka Cassius Clay won an Olympic medal and wasn't allowed in the restaurant with his fellow white team mates to celebrate his honor... how honorable was that???? You say the world is a nightmare....I wonder what the girls would say who were killed in the church bombings of the sixties, the victims of the Holocaust, the Africans kidnapped from their villages and sold as slaves to men like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson? I'd say TODAY our world is pretty nice unless you live in Nigeria!!!!

And In The Year A Week Away...

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The above poem was hand written in a Christmas Card from my Great Aunt Ree who was also my God Mother; Christmas 1978.

 On Christmas Eve 1978, she had baked her famous Busy Day Cake, and was reaching into the cellar way for a can of condensed milk on a shelf. She lost her footing and fell down the cellar steps. She was 77 years old at the time of her fall. She managed to make it back up the steps and into bed.

Christmas morning her leg was terribly swollen and bruised. My brother Buddy went up to see her, and called the squad. She was taken to Warren Hospital. I went to visit her that Christmas day and brought her a small gift, a porcelain child on a sled. I did not know that it would be the last time I would see her alive.

On December 30th while I was working as a barber at the Palmer Park Barber Shop, I received a phone call from my sister Ruth Ann telling me that Aunt Ree, our God Mother had passed away. Apparently, she had a pulmonary embolism.

While helping Uncle Bill prepare for an auction sale I found a daily devotional book in her desk, and on the thirtieth of December there was a poem, that ended with these words; "A few more rolling suns, at most, will land me on fair Canaan's coast, then I shall sing the song of grace, and see my Savior face to face." Prepare to meet thy God. Amos 4: 12

It is my thought that in that year a week away all her dreams came true. She so loved our Lord and devoted her life to teaching anyone about the divine mercy of our Savior the Christ Child.  

 

Christmas, my child, is love in action.” ~ Dale Evans

 Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given–when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.” ~ Joan Winmill Brown, American author and editor.

 Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

 Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won’t make it ‘white’.” ~ Bing Crosby

 Something about an old-fashioned Christmas is hard to forget.” ~ Hugh Downs

Dining Room Chair Decorations For Christmas(matching tablecloth on chair).

 Christmas, my child, is love in action.” ~ Dale Evans

 The best Christmas trees come very close to exceeding nature.” ~ Andy Rooney

Sometimes it’s the simple things that inspire me. A red bowl, rolling pin, old timey flour sifter and a fresh cut tree in a farmhouse washpan. These make my heart go pitter-patter! Aunt Ruthie Sugar Pie Farmhouse

 Like snowflakes, my Christmas memories gather and dance – each beautiful, unique and too soon gone.” ~ Deborah Whipp

 It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart.” ~ Marjorie Holmes

 When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things – not the great occasions – give off the greatest glow of happiness.” ~ Bob Hope

 Christmas is, of course, the time to be home – in heart as well as body.” ~ Garry Moore

 What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.” ~ Agnes M. Pahro

Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing...

The Entrance To Our Community, Lake Wynonah, PA

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale

 At Christmas, all roads lead home. ~Marjorie Holmes

 I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. ~Harlan Miller

 For the spirit of Christmas fulfills the greatest hunger of mankind. ~Loring A. Schuler

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away.
~Eva Logue

You can see the 1950s Christmas tree with its colored lights through the family room window.

 Whatever else be lost among the years,
Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing;
Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,
Let us hold close one day, remembering
Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men.
Let us get back our childlike faith again.
~Grace Noll Crowell

 Christmas — that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance — a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved. ~Augusta E. Rundel

 “I love snow for the same reason I love Christmas: It brings people together while time stands still. Cozy couples lazily meandered the streets and children trudged sleds and chased snowballs. No one seemed to be in a rush to experience anything other than the glory of the day, with each other, whenever and however it happened.”
― Rachel Cohn