Hug an Irishman

When I visited my Mom last week she was feeling low and did not really feel like going out.  I knew she needed to see her friends, so we made our weekly trip to the Tri-Towns Senior Center.  When she got on the elevator, there was a life size inflatable Irishman.  Mom smiled and asked me to take her picture.  She said..........that's all I wanted to do today was "hug an Irishman".

Mom's maiden name is "Mullan". The Mullan ancestors came from Ireland.

March 2016

Palace of Gold

In the early 80s, Bob covered the Palace of Gold at New Vrindaban for USA Today.  Life Magazine described the Hare Krishna Community as "a place where tourists can be amazed".  Soon after, it faded into financial ruin.  Near Moundsville, WV, it's still a place worth visiting.

February Cards

Brandy is an HSC Cafeteria employee-a bright, 30-something mother of 2 girls.  She could work in any position.  The lead inventory control specialist called her "Princess".  I don't think she minded the term.  So for her birthday, I chose pretty pink "princess" type elements.

"This card is sent to you today

With best wished so sincere

To wish you a happy birthday

And love and laughter all year."

 This Valentine is for our son Greg and his lovely wife Michelle.

"This special card 

Is sent your way.

Filled with love

This Valentine's Day."

This card is for the Director of the Senior Center where I take my Mom.  Diana is a lovely lady who had surgery and was off for 5 weeks.  Diana truly helps the senoirs she serves.

"Sending get well wishes

To brighten up your day

Hope they find you happy

And feeling better in every way."

This is the Valentine I made for Mom.

"You are so very special

And this card has come your way.

Loaded with hugs and kisses

Because it's Valentine's Day."

The Valentine for the love of my life, Bob.

"My heart belongs just for you

I've loved you from the start,

Since we met, my world's complete

Through life, we will never part." 

This is the Valentine for our sweet son Chris.

"Valentine wishes are sent to you,

To let you know

How much we love you so."

Our son Greg was 29 on February 23rd.  This is the birthday card for Greg.

"Think of all that you have done

That have made each and every year a memorable one.

Looking to the future may you find it holds in store

So many new experiences of happiness and more."

I volunteered to make thank you cards for the speakers at our annual WV Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics meeting in April.  These are the cards, all with food ephemera, and blank on the inside right where the program chair can hand write a note.

 My sister Terry's husband Nelson has a birthday Friday.  He is a prominent business man and attorney.  

"To help you celebrate

This card is sent to say

May good luck and good fortune

Always with you stay.

May you find much joy and happiness

In everything you do.

And in this card is all our love

Sent especially to you." 

Home (Booklet)

In 2014 when our mortgage was paid, I made pages of all the places we lived in our early years of marriage.  While making the pages, I attempted to make a companion "home" booklet by downsizing the original images and journaling.That was a daunting project which remained unfinished.  This weekend, I completed the book.  

In 1984 when we built our home, we'd been married 8 years and lived in 3 different cities and 7 apartments. All our experiences and "homes" were good ones, all part of building Bob and Cindy and the bigger family to come.

 McClane Avenue

We married on Labor Day 1976 after Bob's WVU graduation and my internship graduation.  We rented our first house in Morgantown with Bob's former roommate Kim upstairs.  Bob started work 1 day after the honeymoon, I had a month till mine began.  I taught myself to make bread and made dinner for the 3 of us.  We went to the shelter & adopted our first "child", whom we named Dallas.  I spent the year studying for my registration exam & adapting to my job as a clinical dietitian.  Bob began working for Steve Lorenze at Superior Photo and to this day we remain friends with the family.  

 White Avenue

The little green house on White Ave. had once been quite a place.  Rows of grape vines, basement darkroom, wood floors.  Dallas and Tiki, the husky next door, started a family.  We had a cozy living room, a large kitchen and furnished dining room with plenty of windows and light.  It was the worst winter ever when Bob left for his job at the Huntington newspapers, but I was able to walk to town to take the bus to work.  I'd stop at Bailey's Grocery in South park and anxiously walk home to meet my pet.
May, 1977-February, 1978 

 Washington Avenue

Our move to Hungtington WV was exciting as neither of us had lived here before.  We initially moved into a red brick duplex on the West Side.  The rooms were narrow and rather cramped.  We had a gas heater in the bedroom with a calming light that counter balanced the scanner with the loud alarms.  Two young men, Coolie and Earl, rented the other side of the house.  Earl, a former Marshall football player and Dallas shared Oreo cookies.  I worked at St. Mary's Hospital and Bob for the Herald Dispatch.  1978

 Ninth & Ninth

I loved the location of our second Hungtington apartment as it was 4 blocks from downtown and 8 blocks from Ritter Park.  We walked Dallas to the Park and Bob and I walked to Torlones Bakery or the Arcade.  The living room had shag carpet even up the wall.  The bedroom had wide windows.  The kitchen was long and narrow with this "fruity" wallpaper.  1979  I scanned an actual piece of the wallpaper I saved in a memory book to use for the borders of this page.

 Henson Avenue

Our Henson Avenue apartment in South Charleston was so nice.  The rooms were big and spacious with wood floors.  We even had a room in the basement for our first washer and dryer.  Bob worked at the Charleston Daily Mail, where he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.  I traveled the state as a consultant for the Child Nutrition Programs.  1980

 

 South High Street

In fall of 1981 we moved back to Morgantown when Bob entered grad school and I had a couple consulting jobs.  We were poor but happy to be back to the college town where we met.  This apartment in the bottom floor of a big house had beautiful wood floors and doors and two large rooms.  It was located on South High, just across the bridge from the main street of downtown.  We spent 1 semester and Christmas here after which the heat gave out and we had to move.

 

 Sabraton Avenue

The 2 story house on Sabraton Avenue had a large kitchen downstairs and a large bedroom upstairs.  The other rooms were small.  The kitchen had a window to the living room where we ate some of our meals.  I liked the neighborhood and my neighbor Mary.  Bob began teaching at Waynesburg College and I was WVU's first Dining Hall Dietitian.  1982-1984.

 

 Mountain Meadow

The collage of photos are the different stages of building, from picking out our lot by the woods, through digging the foundation, cement block, floor, walls, decks and brick
siding, paint, cabinets and the first blade of grass. The last picture was of Bob's 30th birthday, just before we moved in.

 

The "list" Bob is holding has final "to dos" our contractors wrote on a block of wood in 1984. I still have the block of wood and the scan of it is under the first hinged piece of my layout. Some of the to dos are crossed off. Some our still visible, "Clean upstairs and down", "Landscape", "Scrape windows" are a few I can read.  
 

My list is complete yet ongoing. Dreams we've captured in our little home of 30 years:
Decorate in our personal style.
Make it comfortable.
Dine in.
Plant flowers.
Feed the birds.
Walk our country road and hill.
Raise a family.
Come home at the end of our shifts.
Make home sanctuary. 

Think we've done ok.1984-2014.  

 Cover

 

Inside Cover

 

All of the homes are linked to my scrapbook blog and the pages I made and posted 2 years ago.

Special Delivery

Our oldest son Greg will be 29 years old on February 23rd.  I sorted through some pictures of him as an infant and toddler and chose these.  His paternal grandmother-Maxine-always loved the picture of him on the right heading for our mailbox!  I loved it too and the memory of walking down our hill to check our mail and the memories of Greg when he learned to walk.

"Greg was raring to go soon after he learned to walk as we walked down the hill to get the mail."

1988

Cacapon Deer Lodge

We love West Virginia Parks, in particular-the picnic areas (in the summer).  In the past few winters, we've taken advantage of the special rates the lodges at the parks advertise to attract visitors during the off season.  A few weeks ago, we chose from a handful of those lodges advertising the special rate to travel to Morgan County, West Virginia-about 3 hours from home.  We picnicked at Cacapon Park-near Berkley Springs-last summer.  It was every bit as pretty in the winter.  Did I mention they had the highest snow fall on record here during the Snow Apocalypse?  Some of the 42 inches of snow was gone. . . but it was still gorgeous.

"We reserved a room at the $50 rate one week after the big snow."

January 31, 2016

JBM

These are pictures of my Mom-June Bryan Mullan-(JBM) when she was a young girl. Even though she was a child of the Great Depression, she had beautiful blouses and pretty collars.  And she was happy!

When I saw this collar on the counter at the Thrift Shop, I knew what I wanted to do with it.