DarkSaphyre

The Mark(s) family name has always been a favorite of mine. It was the maiden name of my maternal grandmother and was used both for the name of my brother Mark King, as well as my own son. He was the original ancestor of that family line to come to the new world. From early records it is believed that he was born in the Ahogill area in County Antrim, about 1746 where he married Anna McCurdy…

Amelia woke suddenly and felt the instant ache of a deep headache. For days the dreams had been getting both worse and more vivid and it was getting harder and harder to shake them off upon waking. Lack of sleep or the horrors lived through at night, or both had started to give her days a dreamy quality that sometimes made her think she was sleeping during the day and actually living at…

Instead of making a resolution that I never keep, a few years ago I adopted the habit of picking a word to define what I wanted in the new year. A way to set my mind on a particular path, so to speak. My word for 2021 was BLOOM. A few days ago I told Biker Beat that I didn’t feel it had been very successful. He looked around our home and disagreed completely. I stand corrected. As of the end of…

Little girl Jean dances and colors and laughsMama teaches her to sew andtells her to stop being so sensitiveMama is her whole world and will always be thereUntil one day she isn’t anymoreInstead of her mama, Jean has a Cookie Monster puppetCookie Monster can’t help, and disappears with the rest of her world Jeanne is born the day Jean’s mama diedAlone she still dances but she doesn’t laughNew…

Lying next to our ancestors in death is more meaningful than one might think...

Headstone for my mother Patricia, and her mother Elizabeth with the man I knew as my Grandfather Last summer I went back to my hometown, Hubbard, Iowa. I moved there at the age of 10 when my mom died, placed with an aunt and uncle who didn’t want me, but my grandmother wanted me close after she lost her daughter. She had that rule over our family – what she said was done. I have lots of stories…

Family Reunions A thread ⬇️

William Nelson Whitesell Family circa 1900 Back row, left to right: Lydia Kesler, Jane Ladd, Etta Hall, Effie Hall, Eva Mark, Helena Steward, Dorothea Marshall, Estella Windecker; Middle row: Julia Kesler, Ethel Hays, Della Stout, Caroline Whitesell, William Nelson Whitesell, John Whitesell; Front row: Paul Whitesell, Anna Bacon, Willie Whitesell Family reunions were a prime feature of my…

In our family photos, I didn’t find many that fit the theme. I don’t think of us as a particular sober family and it surprises me a little that there no photos that show that side of us. Growing up I can remember many stories of pranks played and jokes shared between my uncles. One of the first characterizations almost always mentioned of my grandfather was that he was a jokester. I can only…

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I lost my inner little girl in New Orleans a few weeks ago and it has really thrown me into depression. I didn’t actually realize it until last week which is the first really bad thing. She’d run away the last week in July and I didn’t even notice for 2 weeks or more! Thank god I was more aware of my kids.

In my defense, I survived by pushing her down until I…

A little distraction….

This morning a video of sea otters came across my newsfeed with a description that talked about having the wonderful life of a sea otter; and in the video it was a cute as a button otter on his back leisurely eating and swimming. I couldn’t find that video. Sorry. But I think the one above is awfully cute too so please enjoy!

A week ago today we left on a road trip to see our first grandchild in Louisiana. Baby B was born before the pandemic started but it hit before it was our turn to visit. As a result, we’ve been waiting 6 months to meet our granddaughter. Driving from Denver, driving means two days down, a full week of baby kisses and now 2 days journey home.

Oi! That sweet face!

Miss B was most definitely…

Our precious grandbaby was born right before (what we thought was) the beginning of this awful pandemic and our ability to travel across the country to meet her shut down with everything else. Finally, we’re taking 10 days and driving to see her; 2 days there, a week to visit,…

Our family is firmly on board with reducing our footprint on the earth and so we try as much as possible to buy things used. Each trip to the local thrift there are always a few items I look for that I’d love to have but refuse to buy new.

For a couple of years, a bread maker has been on my list and our last trip I found a new, in box, Breadman Plus for $26!

I’ve been making all kinds of…

First Floor Landing with a collection of plants in my stair well. While it looks kind of dark here, in spite of  it being a northern exposure, all of the landings seem to have a lot of indirect light for most of the day.

So here we are in our brand new house, and the plants that were tucked into every nook and cranny at our old apartment don’t even fill my windows. There is only about 200 more square feet, but it’s very clear that I have so many more windows and places for wonderful green things. We live in what’s essentially a patio home with no real yard to speak of and we moved in too late to really do any kind of landscaping with boxes and beds in the little outdoor space we do have this year) so my garden is really my home. I’m ok with that. Next year we’ll work outside as well but for now filling up my indoor spaces with living breathing beings is my goal.

For my first Six on Saturday post I thought I’d do introductions. So in no particular order (don’t want any plant to think it’s loved more or less than any other) here are some of my babies.

1) Angel Wing Begonia

This is a cutting of a plant that was in my therapist’s office and is one of my most prized plants. It’s sort of a strange looking thing, and was in her office as well, but the way the leaves have formed like angel wings along with the pink undertones make it quite striking. J gifted this to me at our last session. It was a plant that had been her grandmother’s and she also was very fond of it. It’s been interesting taking care of it because in spite of it seeming to be so strong, two of the branches are quite fragile and I take great care with it. I love it most because of the fact that in reality as a cutting, this plant is quite old.

2. Our Memorial Ficus Tree

So many leaves….

Last year we bought this beautiful ficus tree for a purpose. My mother, father and brother are all buried scattered across the country as are Biker Bears. While I realize that those bodies no longer hold their souls, for me, having a physical place to remember someone is important. Last year I decided to create a living place that we could take with us wherever we go instead of being wistful about visiting graves. So this is our memorial tree. It represents my mother, my brother, my father, Biker Bear’s father and his niece who died as a teenager just a few years ago. I talk to her every time I pass by her and we have some comfort having our family symbolically with us. When we first moved into the in-laws, she dropped a bunch of leaves as well but eventually settled in. I am not positive I want to keep her in this spot in our new house. She seems to be dropping even more leaves then she did the first time and I don’t think she’s getting enough light.

3. Thanksgiving/Christmas Cactus

I bought this 3 years ago at Christmas time because I love them and always hoped I could keep one alive. This cactus has been with me ever since and I have not only kept it alive, it has quadrupled in size and actually blooms for me each year. I’ve repotted it once and it really seems to love this one. As a result of taking the time to really learn how to take care of one of these, while I lived at my in-laws, we repotted one of theirs which is now about 4 times the size of this one and doing quite well.

4. I don’t know the name of this plant…

I remember buying this at a local Loew’s and it’s doubled in size but the leaves seem to get big and then crumbly and then just kind of disintegrate into the pot (notice the leaves down on the soil). I am not sure what is going wrong or going right with this one and since I don’t know what it is, I can’t look up proper care. All of the baby leaves coming off the stem at the bottom seem to indicate that it likes its new home.

5. Philodendron

This was a cutting from a plant that my father-in-law received from his mother. His plant was incredibly tall and skinny and seems to loose leaves just to keep reaching for the sky. The original cutting was just a single leaf last Christmas and has grown so much in the last few months. While his is about 4 feet tall, mine is full and prettier!

6. Succulents

So everyone says succulents are soooo easy but in spite of my newly found green powers, these still seem to be difficult for me to maintain. I bought these two babies at a sale at the Denver Botanical Gardens. It was both an effort to give them some money during the Covid crisis as well as to make yet another attempt to grow some of these.

The Isolation Journals Day 98 – My Idea of Fun by ADAM GRANT

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Figure out your “fun age,” meaning the common age of those who enjoy the same activities as you. Invite some friends to do the same, and then compare lists. You might discover some new ways to enjoy your time with old friends.

Learn more about today’s prompt contributor: As an organizational psychologist at Wharton, Adam Grant is the #1 New York Times bestselling…