I stumbled on a picture of my mom yesterday and thought it would make a good flashback picture.
The picture shows my mom holding on to the only cat who ever lived in their house. I remember the cat was named Callie and it never seemed to want to be near anyone but mom.
How mom got dad to agree to get a cat, I will never know. My dad made it quite clear growing up that he disliked cats. Somehow, he welcomed the kitty into the house.
I never knew what it was like to have a cat until I had moved away from home. I don’t remember how I came to get one, but I named him Larry. When I moved back home, my brother took him to Ohio with him.
I can’t tell, but it sure looks like this is our house. It may be the front room. It is hard to tell.
A couple things stand out to me. I do not remember this sweater at all, but I love how mom looks in it. Next, the garland in the background. Mom always had garland on doorways, windows and even on the walls. Garland always makes me think of mom.
I have no idea when this was taken, but it looks like mom is healthy. I’d imagine this was taken before she got cancer.
It’s funny how I was just talking about my mom and then I stumble on this photo. I wish the photo was a bit clearer.
I found today’s photo in a stack of pictures I found in a box.
Growing up, we always had dogs. The two we had throughout most of my childhood were Lucy and Daisy. Daisy was a beagle and we got her when she was a puppy.
Lucy would bark. Daisy would howl. We had never heard a dog howl before. She would also go after birds, rabbits and other critters. She would have been a good hunting dog.
I remember when Lucy got old, my dad “took her to the farm” to get better. Well, that was obviously code for “putting her down.” She was very sick at the end and there was nothing that could be done. She was in a lot of pain, so the decision was made.
Daisy was around for quite a few years after Lucy. At some point my mom brought another puppy home and called it Sassy. I remember her playing well with Daisy, and at the same time she reminded me of Scrappy Doo. I can’t tell you why.
Thinking back, we had this one dog named Pepe that grew to be very large. They had told my folks that she would be a small dog. They lied. One time we were going to be gone all day. Dad thought he’s put the dogs in the garage so they wouldn’t go to the bathroom in the house. When we came home, Pepe had white stuff all over her face. She had been eating the drywall in the garage. Another time she had found a D battery and ate almost half of it. It is a wonder that dog didn’t kill itself with all it would eat.
When I moved out, someone gave me a kitten. From that time on, I think I’ve always had a cat. Currently Maizey and Bitsy are the felines in our house.
I know some folks aren’t pet people, but I’ve always been. I loved the companionship of our dogs and love when the cats decide to sit on my lap. Pets are truly family.
According to the calendar, it is still officially Autumn. There are still colored leaves on the trees here in Michigan. Many people haven’t even started raking them yet. This, however, may be the shortest Autumn I can remember as we were hit today with quite the winter storm!
I guess we broke the record today for “most snowfall” on November 11th. The record (for the Detroit area, anyway) was set back in 1984 – 4.1 inches. That record was surpassed as early as 1pm today. The snow continued to fall throughout the evening and made for one hell of a ride (3+ hours) into work!
The snow brings out a lot of anger in people. People waste no time talking about how much they hate the snow. “It’s too early,” they say. It’s not like we haven’t had snow early in November before, we have. As a matter of fact, it was one year ago I posted about it snowing on Facebook. We’ve certainly seen snow as early as late October, too! While I don’t necessarily like having to shovel it, or drive in it, I do like the snow. I marvel at the beauty of it when it has first fallen on the ground. Someone posted this on Facebook yesterday, and it is SO true:
“If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.”
Sometimes, in life, we need to look for the positives instead of focusing on the negatives.
At any rate, all the snow brought me back to a thought I had while writing a recent blog about Christmas music (Is It Too Early? – on November 2). Some radio stations (both local and on Sirius XM) have started playing all Christmas music. On my drive in, I was flipping around and stopped on the local station, because they were playing a song that would be considered a Christmas song, but actually worked because of the weather.
Here I am driving 30mph while the snow is falling, and Dean Martin’s “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” is playing. It was the perfect song for the weather. Which brings me back to the thought I had in the previous blog – why can’t stations play “winter” songs before Christmas, and after Christmas? I compiled a list of songs that could certainly be played as just “winter hits”.
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Winter Wonderland
Snowfall
Winter Weather
Snow
I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
Marshmallow World
Song For A Winter’s Night
Snowbird
Hazy Shade of Winter
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Jingle Bells
There are SO many more. Jingle Bell Rock could easily be a “winter song”. Frosty the Snowman is a “winter song”. Sleigh Ride is also a snowy “winter song”! It doesn’t have to be Christmas for me to enjoy those songs. Am I forgetting any? What can YOU add to the list?
Too Early?
I should mention that my wife listens to Christmas music all year round. AND she likes to be able to enjoy the decorations, so when we have our first snow, the tree goes up. Yes, it is up and decorated…and the cats are already enjoying it.
I guess I should make sure the snow blower starts when I get home ….
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 