Some Of The Pix From The Hardcover Mother’s Day 2020 Photobook I Made For Mom.

“Married Lady” The Lyric

Verse 1
she is a married lady in love with a married man
they are together now daily, you see them holding hands
she writes him cards and letters, he writes her beautiful poems
she packs her wedding dress away and makes their house into a home

married lady with shiny pots and pans
brand new china and decorating plans
married lady…

Verse 2
she is a married lady doing her best each day
with two little boys and a baby, one more on the way
tricycles turn to bicycles, bicycles turn to cars
she sees those babies fly, spread their wings to the stars

married lady with wash on the line
she’s cooking and cleaning all of the time
married lady…

Bridge
everyone who meets her, they all agree nobody is sweeter
she is a special kind of rose that only grows in the springtime
i will never know another
quite as nice as this beautiful lady — she’s my mother

(8 bar bridge of CSNY-esque harmonies)

Verse 3
she is a married lady still in love with that man
now they have three grand babies and she still has decorating plans
fifty-five years gone by now, they’ve been side by side
he’s still writing poems, she still looks like a bride

married lady, her name is Mim
i do appreciate she married him

married lady, the very best lady i know

she is a married lady
in love with a married man…

~~ end of lyric.

Mom and Dad — August 20th, 1959.

So, I wrote that song for Mom, eh, and sang and played it on guitar at her and Dad’s 55th wedding anniversary party this past summer. Cousin Helen took some pix of me presenting it, I’ll have to ask her for those.

As the party danced on, Mom and Sister Rosie treated us to dueling harmonicas.

That’s Dad to Mom’s left.

Earlier we gathered outside.

Now…

as to the first photo in this post… about a week ago Kelly conceptualized, set up and took that photo for her Instagram photography account.

(fyi, she just reached 23K followers on her gymnastics Instagram account!)

But back to this story…

I added my pack of Christmas cards to the mix and took the following… (with not such a good camera as Kelly’s)

(If I still had my working photoshop I’d ‘ve made those art residue stains on the table disappear.) 🙂 Alas, I’ve been technically-sideswiped again by the Universe.

It’s all good tho, eh?

I’ll soon be sending one of those cards to cousin Helen and other dear ones up in Canada Land.

As per the above lyric — true, Mom loves to decorate and redecorate, has ever since I’ve known her. She’s got that special touch.

Here’s the interior of that little porch she and Dad added to their beach cottage a few years ago…

Mind you, Jim, Kelly and I only had THREE days to visit with my side of the family this summer, so running around snapping House & Style photos was not on my mind as much as communing with real humans, and photographing them.

I like the cottage. They bought it in 1979.

Dad’s Christmas pressie from us this year is a framed photo of the 3 grand-babies on the beach.

Mom’s present is an old Wedgwood “Jasper Blue” bowl that’s in this box I wrapped yesterday…

Jim bought the blue bowl and an identical “rosewood” tinted one at a yard sale a few months ago.

Mom loves blue dishes and I rose, so there we go!

My bowl is currently upside-down, used as a shell stand, as you can see.

But here’s how it would probably look if a Normal Person 🙂 owned it ….

(fyi, that’s not spider poop on my shelf — it’s golden sparkles from a votive candle that was sitting there before I snapped the pix.)

Yesterday Kelly chose the following card for Nanny & Poppy…

That’s a shot she took, trying out her new-used Fuji Finepix.

And today — Monday Dec. 8th, 2014 I set out those and other pressies to Canada in my shipping bin, along with my eBay parcels…

So AWESOME I don’t even have to go to the Post Office to mail Internationally! All done online, with labels and customs forms printed out at home, cool!

I’ll be sure to tell Mom & Dad not to look at my blog until after Christmas so their pressies will stay a surprise!

And I’m sure I’ll be posting here again before Christmas. Been writing poems lately! Well, 1 or 3. Edit — Nope, more posting didn’t happen. 🙂

Posted with love and wonderment,

Jannie

xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxxoxoxooxoxo

What Do These 5 Summer Vacation Photos All Have In Common?

(my feet at my parents’ cottage.)

If you’re thinking “Hey… Jannie is in every one of those,” you’re absolutely right! And you win a prize!!

The prize is… I’ll write you a short poem on any topic you want in a comment below.

So give me a word or short phrase, and I’ll totally write you a poem. Totally, totally!

And even if you weren’t thinking “Hey, Jannie’s in all those” you still get a poem if you want!

🙂

xoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo from Jannie, who recently had the privilege of going HOME with Kelly and Jim!!

10 Things To Do While You’re Waiting For Your eBay Photos To Upload

1. go pour some wine

2. go make some tea

3. go eat some candy

4. go eat some cake

5. go eat some pie

6. go pop open a beer

7. go scrub the bath tub

8. go rinse the bath tub

9. go enjoy your bath

10. go call your mother
if you’re lucky enough
to still have one

and if your mom
has passed on, write
exactly this in an

email, text or
on A Real Piece Of
Paper to one of

your
friends or
relatives…

“I am grateful
for the gift of
you today,”

and
see what
happens.

(that message
of gratitude also
works beautifully
with significant
others, especially
ones who only
grow cuter and
sweeter with
time.)

(my S.O. is even more
handsome now than
when I first met him
all those years ago.)

Love, Jannie

Happy day to all.

xooxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxo

P.S. That first bit was close to 55 words, eh?? 🙂 And it IS still Friday…

They Still Don’t Know

where their red hair comes from

but that’s okay, it comes from love’s

ocean we’re all mermaiding in.

_____

it comes from the doctor’s daughter who

in 1916 at age 10 posed in a Nova Scotia

summergarden with a chestnut violin.

_____

it comes from the pines and the lilacs

of the dance hall she bought on auction

with 700 borrowed dollars in 1942,

_____

the dance hall now in arrears,

but with my loving intention will shine

up the seashells again in seven years.

_______

(because all love is up to me.)

______

one day, the invisible red thread that ties us all together

will reveal how after her too-young Episcopalian minister

husband died suddenly and unexpectedly of heart attack,

_____

she took up buying and selling

antiques for the next 35 years,

finally closing shop at age 85

_____

and her eyes at age 97.

_____

how she never remarried, but

for a while had a beau who landed

on the beach in front of her house

to take her flying by seaplane.

_____

how she loved silver

blue cotton sundresses

a glass of white a night

her 3 sons, their wives

her grandchildren,

______

and went on to outlive

all her sisters and friends,

but not the lilacs, and

_____

not the love writing

this bottled message

here in Texas today.

will 2 red-haired angels

one day get to be friends

with a little half-sister,

______

maybe show her around

all the secret caves and coves

of the island they call home?

_________

I hope so!

________

but who knows?

who knows how it

all will go, really?

_____

i sure don’t, but

my money’s on the love

and on the red string

_____

that knows all

the best waves are

still yet to come.

~~ end of poem written with hope and trust in all things good.

And hey — it’s Tuesday!

Sorry I’ve not been out to most of your blogs lately, I’m still in major bread-winning mode these days.

Love you all, tho. And plan on blog-hopping later this week, whoooohoooooo.

xoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxxooxxoxxoxooxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxo