Cousins

Funerals are a strange custom; it is a time to say goodbye to your departed loved one, but also a time to see family you have not seen in forever. My Mom came from a large family, and she had a large family, so cousins have always been a big part of my life. My parents moved out of the small town where they grew up, and moved to the big city a while before I was born. This left my Mom`s large family a long car ride away.  When I was growing up my summers were spent with cousins visiting us, or us visiting them. Such cherished memories.

The top picture is of me with some of my cousins on our Grandma`s front porch. The bottom picture is of me, on the top right, with two of my cousins, my little brother, two of my nieces, and a boy from down the street, all in my front yard.                               

Having six siblings, I always thought our kids would grow up the same way, visiting and staying with their cousins. My oldest sister`s kids were so close to my age that they were more like siblings. My younger brother is 2 months younger than my niece. The next group of nieces and nephews were born when I was a teenager, so I babysat them often. My older brother and I were the last to have children and our kids are the youngest 1st cousins. Then, like my Mom, I was the daughter that moved away and it was more than a short car drive to visit.

This is one of the few occasions that my kids spent a Holiday with their cousins.

It was just not meant to be. No cousin visits or sleepovers for my kids. We would get together on holidays or special occasions, and it was so wonderful to see all the cousins, that span in age by 30 years, jell and have so much fun together. They all have my Mom`s sense of humor and gift of gab.

I have a policy of not using pictures of my family, so the faces are blurred. We are missing two cousins in this picture, one had to leave early, and one was still driving in from the east. These cousins represent five states and span from coast to coast. 

So it was fitting that on this occasion they all catch up on what has been happening in each of their lives. As my family was gathered in the funeral home during visiting hours, receiving family and friends, I watched the cousins. They started in small groups of two or three, and then as time went on the number of groups were fewer, while the number in each group grew. Soon it was just one big cousin circle. My parents' grandchildren, talking and laughing like at a wonderful family reunion. To see these cousins relating to each other the way their parents (my brothers and sisters) relate to each other was so very special. My Mom and Dad had to have been looking down with a smile, and with such a sense of pride as to the amazing legacy they have left on this Earth.

Mission San Antonio: Finale Part 5

Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion de Acuna ( Mission Concepcion) was moved to San Antonio from East Texas in 1731. At over 250 years old, it is one of the country`s original stone churches. This mission combined the teachings of Spain`s Catholic religion, and the culture of the natives, to become the culture of modern day South Texas.

On October 28, 1835 it was host to the Battle of Concepcion. This battle was fought between Colonel Domingo Ugarechea`s Mexican troops and the Texan insurgents led by James Bowie and James Fannin. Although it was only a 30 minute engagement some say it was the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution.  

Mission Concepcion`s Chapel

James Bowie

James Bowie a great knife fighter, and the namesake of the Bowie knife, was later killed at the Alamo. James Fannin also had a very sad end. On March 19, 1836 Fannin led the Texans in retreat from Goliad`s Fort Defiance. While stopping to rest their animals, Fannin and his men were attacked by the Mexican Calvary. Fannin was wounded and out numbered, so he surrendered at the Battle of Coleto. The Mexicans took Fannin and his men back to Fort Defiance and the 40 men that could not walk, because they were wounded, were all executed.

Colonel Fannin, had to watch his men killed as he was the last to be executed. His leg was wounded, so he was sat in a chair, blindfolded and put in the courtyard in front of the Fort`s chapel to be executed. Fannin had three requests of his executioners: he

James Fannin

wanted his possessions sent home to his family, he did not want to be shot in the face, but in the heart, and last, that he be given a Christian burial. The Mexicans did not heed his wishes, he was shot in the face, they took all his possessions, and he was buried with the rest of his men. 


Both of these men entered into Texas` fight for independence at the battle at Mission Concepcion.

Mission Concepcion was run the same as the previous Missions I have talked about in previous blogs. The Franciscan friars through the Catholic teachings of sacraments, baptism,  communion, reconciliation, confirmation, and marriage brought harmony and a sense of community to the natives that joined the Mission. The Friars taught the natives that at baptism the parents will choose godparents for their children. This created a shared responsibility for the people of the Mission and a connection to the community.

Alter in the chapel

The outside of the mission was painted in elaborate fresco (mural painting on wet lime plaster) and after over 250 years some is still present. The paintings on the inside were restored on the walls and ceiling in 1988. These paintings have elements of Christian, Spanish and Native art. Religious services are still held at Mission Concepcion today.

One of the fresco paintings on the wall in the Chapel 

This is the end of my Mission series. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did sharing it with you. San Antonio is a great vacation spot and is filled with rich Texas history. I am so looking forward to going back to visit.

March 5th

My Mom went to Heaven 6 short days ago,

How can this be true, please say it is not so.

She has now joined my Pop for eternity.

On March the 5th my 32nd Anniversary.

How will I reconcile, these two separate events?

How to define what March 5th, now represents?

The joy of a union, of husband and wife.

Or, the lose of still having my Mom in my life.

March 5th has brought such joy for 32 great years.

My fear is that it now will only be remembered with my tears.

Where the two pictures that sat by her bed a sign?

One was of her Wedding, the other her dancing with Pop at mine.

I leaned to her ear the night before that day.

Told her that I loved her, and begging her to stay.

It may sound selfish of me to make such a request.

I was just not ready for her eternal rest.

As morning came on my Anniversary day.

My Mom in her bed slowly slipped away.

I picture my Pop holding his hand out to his wife.

Asking, "Can I have this dance, for our eternal life?"

How will I reconcile, these two separate events? 

The special two occasions, March 5th now represents.

With the love of my husband, for the rest of my life.

And the memory of my Pop dancing with his wife.

Mom and Pop I love you and miss you,

Gigi

Mouse?

After returning from a visit with our son in Ohio a few Sundays ago, we got a call the following Monday evening from our son telling us he has a mouse in his apartment. He said he was sitting on his couch and heard a scratching noise behind it and when he moved the couch, a 3 to 4 inch mouse ran into the kitchen. He was creeped out and not sure what to do.

Now we are 1000 miles away, and my husband and I were not sure how we were going to help him. I asked him where it was right now, and he said it was behind the dishwasher. As we were talking it was moving around in the kitchen from the dishwasher to the stove. He was afraid to move from his position in the doorway of the kitchen, because he thought standing there was the only thing keeping it in the kitchen, and he didn`t want to lose track of it.

Do you hear that scratching?

Being a parent you want to do anything you can to help your child, but we had no idea how to help. We suggested he go to the hardware store and get a mouse trap, but he was under a winter storm warning, and didn`t want to go out in the weather. The maintenance hot line, told us it was not a maintenance issue, and we needed to call the office in the morning. I am sure you can imagine how well I took that answer. Our Son did not want to sleep in the apartment with a mouse running around.

We suggested he put peanut butter in some kind of container and wait and see if it comes out and catch it. My husband suggested he beat it with a hockey stick. Both of us knowing that a mouse would be way too fast for either of those scenarios. I hung up with him and called a exterminator to see if they would come over and get rid of it, but they could not come until the next day either. I am sure that was a weather related decision.

When I called our son back he said it was now on the counter top. This was all so weird to me because I have never known a mouse to come out in the open when there were people present if they could stay safely behind the appliances. I was so ticked off that I was paying for a really nice, second floor apartment, and he was having to deal with a mouse in the middle of winter.

A house mouse

As we were talking he said he was able to put a bowl over it while it was on the stove top and then put a jar of peanut butter on top of the bowl to hold it in place. I guess that was one way to use the peanut butter, right?

Now how was he going to get it out of the apartment? New plans and all shot down! Do you have a piece of cardboard you can slide under the bowl? No, and it would be too stiff because the stove has a lip around it and he would have to lift the bowl too high risking the mouse getting out. Can you use one of your flimsy plastic cutting boards? No, they would be too flimsy to hold under the bowl to lift it up. Can you hold a box at the end of the stove top and push the bowl towards the box dropping the mouse in the box? No, it is not flat because of the lip around the top of the stove, so the box would lift up letting it escape. The only other thing we could think of involved actions we wouldn`t do, like turn on the stove top, or spray some type of poison into the bowl. Both would leave him with a big mess and not really viable choices. He just had to wait and have the office come over in the morning and remove the mouse.

Tuesday morning our son stopped into the office of the apartment complex and told them he had a mouse under a bowl on his stove and wanted someone to get it out of his apartment.  He then went to class.

Hours later we get a text from our son "It wasn't a mouse, it was a mole".

WHAT!!!!!

He made the mistake of sending that text to his siblings too. Let the games begin!
Dad: Is that better?
Mom: They are gross looking, couldn`t you tell the difference?
Dad: Ooooooh, they have mole paws!
Son: I knew it didn`t look like a mouse, but I didn`t know how to identify it, so I just went with it.
Dad:












Son: And no creepy tail
Sister:

Son: why......
Sister:

Mom: Lol
Son: I un friend you
Mom: That`s not how this works. That`s not how any of this works.
Son: Dakota (sister`s dog) would have thought it was delicious
Dad: Was the mole from (name of business competitor)?
Son: No, but I kid you not, I was eating guacamole when I saw it.
Sister: You caught it in the guacamole bowl?
Mom: lol
Son: No, I caught it in the pierogi bowl.
Dad: Mom and I think it was a hockey bag stowaway.
Sister: Sends the Austin Powers mole scene at https:/m.youtube.com/watch?y=rc5G04nJecl
Sister: He is a mole and he has a mole
Sister: Moley moley moley
Son: (to Brother in Tucson): Can you send me a snake for pest control, a ring tailed cat would probably work too.
Brother: A roadrunner would do the trick. We'll grab the next one we see.
Dad: Do moles have any natural enemies?
Son: Cold and Pierogi bowls
Brother: Also the CIA
Son: If he had not died, I would have named him Edward Snowed-in.

That is the the last word on the Mole/Mouse situation.