Reunion

I had a fabulous time yesterday at the 40th reunion of my 8th grade class. Eighth grade? Just as Laura and Susan had an elementary school that finished at 8th grade, so did I. It's a group brimming with enthusiasm, humor and nostalgia-and kindness and thoughtfulness. Though I hadn't seen many of them in years, many classmates reached out with kind words, thoughts and support when Laura passed away and they continue to remember her.


After compiling and sending along a picasweb slideshow of the evening for classmates, I turned today to read about my friends across the miles. On Erin's blog a very poignant entry which I invite you to read as well by clicking here.

vegetables

We recently joined the Mountain Lakes Organic Food Co-op. I'm not much of a cook from scratch person (sounds nice in theory...but usually doesn't happen). It is a nicely run operation and very easy and convenient (easier than picking them out yourself in the supermarket!) Every other Friday we pick up our bag of organic vegetables and fruits at the appointed spot in Mtn Lakes. The selection is a little different every time and that it makes it fun. Of course everything reminds me of Laura, this experience no exception. This time it brought memories of little Laura dressed in cute little vegetable garden theme outfits. We had I think every single piece in this Oshkosh collection including hat and socks. Suse had them too in more grown up school age child versions. I still have many of these favorite clothes from Laura and Suse's early years, most of them Oshkosh with cute themes like the this vegetable garden one. I plan to keep them always! Shown here a sample of a few of them, and the only scanned photo I have of little Laura in one of them. Though she is frowning, I still like the purposeful way she is walking down the backyard path in Aunt Agnes's yard in Weatherly, PA.
Susan has taking care of so many things on her own these days. She's arranging to get the limo for their group going to the prom, taking care of getting her prom dress hemmed, making her own appointments for things that she needs to do. She goes to the store for us. If we want an exact specific item from the store that could be confused with something else on the shelf, she takes a digital picture of it for reference and off she goes.

Shasta viburnum in bloom in our yard and weigela from our neighborhood

Writing on the wall

Usually children should not write on walls. But I know of one place where that is ok. In our basement in a windowless room where the furnace resides, there is a wall where over the years children in the house have written their names and doodled. A mayor of Boonton Township was the first to own our house and it was his children who started the tradition.
Some task took me into the furnace room the other day. I knew Laura and Susan had written there on the "wall" but to what extent I had forgotten.
I was completely delighted to re-discover Laura's drawing of our family circa 2003 when Laura was a second grader. Laura captured the pets very well in her depiction: Pepper the cat so calm and friendly while littermate Daisy is her typical "scaredy" with "claws out!" Hope you enjoy this re-found drawing of Laura's!

Drawings: The whole family and closer shot of Laura and Suse with pets. Click on image for larger view.