No Endings But a New Adventure

Hi this is Marty and I am writing Janet's final blog.  Janet passed peacefully into  the afterlife to meet her God Monday at 10 am.  She is now proudly sitting by His side.  She has so many friends to see  there too: Gary, Joe, Greg, Anna, Ryan, Coz, and many more.  Knowing her she will organize a reunion for everyone.  And you can bet it will involve Southern cooking with a California flair. 

We are planning a memorial for Saturday, February 13, 2 pm at The First Christian Church, 3039 Willow Pass Road, Concord, CA 94519.  Memorials will  be accepted to the church and please designate it for the Capital Improvement Project.  Online giving can also be used by selecting: 
www.concordfcc.net/wideningourwelcome

We will also have a memorial reception in Louisville at her brother's home 1349 So Fourth St, Louisville, KY 40208.  It will be Sunday, May 8, 2016, 2 pm - 5 pm.

Thank you for following her blog.  She was so intent to share her experiences with everyone.  She loved your comments and prayers.

This was great for me, probably will bore all of you

Friday night we went out eat in Indiana,  just across the Ohio River from Louisville.

 

Not a bad view of Louisville 



Saturday we had a wonderful day.  We gathered friends and family from all walks of our life.  No we couldn't have everyone we wanted.  But we did get most of our family together. I have pictures of my family.  Marty hasn't shared his pictures of  his family yet.  So maybe later I can get those posted.

I as always have lots and lots of pictures.  I am going to put up way more than you'll want to see.  But this post is for me.  This is for me to remember that special day.  Feel free to skip through it.

 

 

The party has begun.  Marty, nephew A.J., me, and Holly.  This was the room with the champagne punch and the ginger ale punch.  Guess which one I drank.

 

 

Dining room table with some of our "light" hors d'oeuvres

 

 

Ann ordered a chocolate cake with butter cream icing.  I cut the first piece, a corner piece. This icing was wonderful, rich and gooey.

 

 

Little Brother and his pal Louie

 

 

No Belinda and I are not sitting down.  Kiel is my tallest nephew, 7 foot.   He just signed a contract to play pro basketball.  Belinda was excited to meet him.  She had had college classes with his father, who also played pro ball. 

 

 

Friends Marty grew up with.  Left to right, me, Ronald, Beverly, Billy, Marty

 

 

Friends I grew up with.  Left to right, Joyce, Wanda, me, Peggy.  Joyce and Wanda drove several hours to come visit me. Peggy lived within an hour or so from Louisville.  They are part of my Corbin Prayer Warriors. 

 

Below are several pictures of my side of the family.  We had nieces, nephews, spouses, great nephews, great nieces, Papa Jack and Yolanda, partners, and Friend Mark.  Did I forget anyone?  Oh Marty was there too.  Love my crazy loud family.

 



 

We laughed, told tall tales of family happenings. We told tales of my late sister, Maryann. Story were told that were new to some of the family.  Like one person had eloped and her children didn't know that.  It was such a wonderful day. 

 

Sunday we were again doing a family tradition.  Church and then out to breakfast at The Big Boy.  After breakfast we had to take pictures, lots of pictures.  And where did we take them?  In front of the Boy of course.

 

This should have been a video.  Getting this group together was like herding cats. 

 

 

 

This is all without me.

 

 

One of the waitresses came out and took a picture of all of us with me. 

 

The last few days have been a huge love fest for me to them, and them to me.  I do love these wonderful crazy fun people.  Hope you got through most of the pictures.  You can see how happy we all are.  

 

If I can get Marty and Mark to send me the pictures they took, I will post them and bore you all some more. Two more days and we go home.  Then we will be back to health updates.  Not as much fun but just as important.  Much love to all my friends, family, and Prayer Warriors.







Wine Train

Today we rode the Wine Train.   I thought it would be fun, but it was way more than that.  It was a delightful, lovely, gracious day.  I want to go back tomorrow.  Please, please . . .

WARNING: Lots and lots of pictures.  Some pictures are good, some almost so.  Lots of sun coming through the dome (yes we were in the Dome Car ) and washed out colors, also trains rock and roll. 

 

Hank, Ann, and Marty at the entrance of the train station

 

 

We are waiting to board the train.  Bottomless coffee for all except me.

 

 

 

Oh no!  The Wine Train crashed through the window.  What to do?

 

 

Our hero stopped the Wine Train with one hand!

 

 

 Studying the menu.  We ordered and after devouring the appetizers we realized no one took any pictures. 

 

 

Apple salad with endive, gorgonzola cheese, Hazelnuts, and mustard vinaigrette

 

 

Ann and Marty had swordfish with shrimp.  The sauce was fabulous.  I loved the taste Marty shared with me.

  

 

 Henry and I had Beef Tenderloin, carrots, spinach, and grits with truffles.  YUMMY!

 

 

Yes, we licked the platter clean.

 

DESSERTS

We ordered 3 different desserts and shared.

 

 

 Cheese cake

 

 

Crème Brulee

 

Chocolate Pot Pie, served warm.  This was the winner three to one.  Ann loved her cheesecake best.

 

 

Our server, Gerald, the best ever.  He told us history of the  Napa Valley, what wineries we were passing.  And the service was perfect, gracious, outstanding.  When you make your reservations for the Dome car, ask to be in Gerald's section.

 

 

Don't we look happy?  We had a great time.  Thank you Little Brother and Ann.

 



  

For the worry warts, no I did not eat that much food.  No bread, just a little of the sauces, none of the cheese, and only one glass of wine.  I did eat every bite of the grits with truffles.

 



Thoughts from the pool

Well, mainly one thought, FAMILY.  I kept thinking about my family. Regular readers know we have a nephew who is the father of our pretend grandchildren.  He also is a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force.  Tres is my brother's only child. 

Tres and his family lived in Davis (just an hour away from us) for 2 years.  Then in June they left Travis Air Force Base and  moved to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.  Marty and I have missed the family so much.  This week Tres had a meeting in L.A. which is only 2 to 3 hours away from us.  He had time to spend 24 hours with us.  We had a great time talking and doing the family thing, drinking wine.

Tres told us about his new job. He and his people make sure that medical care is there for injured service people.  He makes planes fly, troops are dropped, Seal Teams are carried to scary places. Planes are refueled in the air.  The dead are brought home. Anything the troops need, the Air Force delivers, anything.

I am not real sure where are some of the countries he has airmen.  But I know they are not nice places.  They are what he called combat zones.  I think that is correct, could be areas wine was involved.  He is not a "boss" who sits in his office and reads reports about these places.  He goes in and spends time with his people.  He cares about them, and lets them know it. 

This is one family Tres has, the military.  And there is the civilian family.  We shared family stories, the older cousin the  younger ones thought was bossy.  Yes Lisa Kay, we talked about you.  But with love.  Stories were told of cousins sleeping on cots in the Living Room with the scary portrait on the wall.  They were all terrified of this picture.  I defended the picture, it is a wonderful oil painting of my grandfather.  I have never been able to convince any of them that it is not scary.  These cousins are now 40 or older.

Stories were told about Tres' Pop and Mother.  These are two brilliant successful people who we laugh at when it comes to technology.  They have improved.  I told events that happened when Pop (Henry) was a little boy.  Some sad and some funny.

I told about a dance we all went to with Mother and Papa Jack. (My brother is often quiet and business like) Mother was close to a teetotaler.  But drinking was happening with her children and their spouses.  The next day Mother said, "Henry should drink more often.  He really loosens up."

We talked about Tres's wife and children, our son and his wife, cousins, aunts and uncles.  We covered most of the family.  We sat up until after 1:00 in the morning and were up by 8:30 to continue talking.  So much to catch up on and then he was gone.

I am sitting here with tears in my eyes missing him, worrying about him.  Family is so important, whether they are blood kin, inlaws, or that family you make from your day to day life.  Be sure to tell them all you love them.

Genetics Family Trait Coincidence?

Some things have happened recently that have made me think about family.  One thing was a blog our son, Erik, posted this week.  He makes the statement that he takes a simple thing and makes a long story from it.  I tend to also write long blogs.  But his Dad’s mother was a master of expanding the story.  Dolly would ask if we had heard about Jane Doe’s accident.  By the end of the story we knew Jane’s entire family, their jobs, the doctor’s name, and her neighbors’ history too.   But we would usually have to ask what about the accident.

My niece, her family, and the sons’ girlfriends just vacationed at the beach.  The oldest son posted on Facebook that he had a lot of shells to wash and why had he brought so many home.  My niece commented she would be doing a lot of gluing tonight.  This took me back to my childhood.  We would bring back shells from Florida and my Grandmother would clean them and then putty them to all kinds of boxes.  Usually they were cigar boxes. (I have never known where all the cigar boxes came from.  No one in the family smoked cigars.) We would then keep our treasures in them.  Four generations later, shell gluing is still happening.

Other traits in the family.  The men in my husband’s family all pulse a leg while sitting.  While eating they all hook their left arm off the table. All of their voices are alike.  When Marty’s brother, Keith, would call, our son would act as if  he were Marty.  Then he would hand his Dad the phone. It always fooled Keith.  I have talked to Keith thinking it was Marty.  If they can’t tell each other apart on the phone what chance do I  have?   And they all are just as independent as hogs on ice.

My Daddy’s side of the family has been accused of being very tight with money.  We prefer to say careful with money.  We come from a long line of feuding families: the Hatfields and the McCoys, The Halls of Knott County.  We tend to not forgive and forget.  Some of us can be civil with those who annoy us, other act as if the person is not in the same county.

This is just a few things that stand out as family traits, genetics, coincidences.   Look at your family, both sides, several generations.  What do you see the same?

 

Family Dinner

Today we had a wonderful family dinner at our house.  Nephew Lee is here from Chicago for a long weekend.  We have done no tourist things.  We  just talked and laughed. Lee was happy to just hang out.

We have eaten good eats.  It has been three years since Lee has been here.  We have caught up on what’s going on with each other.  We have cooked, we have drunk good wines, we ate out and had fabulous food.  And today we had a family get together.

Lee, our son Erik, and another nephew Tres had not been together in about 15 years.  Each one had seen one of the cousins through the years, but never the three together.  Today they reunited.

Tres is the only one with children.  We enjoyed the little ones.   We laughed at how busy the year and a half  old was.  This child never slowed down.  The 4 year old and 8 year old played, watched a movie, and helped keep watch over their baby sister. It was a true family gathering.

But it was all about the cousins.  They talked about who had been hurt worst while visiting their Grandmother and Papaw Jack.  Erik may have won with a broken leg from an aerator running over him.  There were falls from the pool slide.  A cousin who wasn’t here won for the highest fall from the slide.  They all agreed Lee’s older sister Lisa was mean and bossy to the little boys. ( sorry Lisa, I don’t remember that. But they told it as they remember it.)  We do all remember about big sisters.

For today’s dinner, Marty and I made smoked ribs and chicken with my famous barbeque sauce.  I also made potato salad (my mother’s recipe), cole slaw, Southern green beans, Benedictine, drunken puppies (little cocktail franks and Bourbon is involved), Bloody Marys,  and a Brownie cake.  It was a lovely meal if I do say so myself.

The cousins had a good visit. They laughed, they talked, they had fun.   It was fun for me to look at them and see the family mouth, nose, mannerisms.  Each man looks like my family, pure Triplett.(Saying man is weird, these are the little boys I diapered, played with, held in my arms.)

Yet when with the other half of their families you see that blood line.  Erik looks pure Appel with his Dad’s family.  Tres looks so much like his Mother’s family.  And Lee, I see his Dad, Leland.

Tomorrow Lee flies back to Chicago.  We will miss him.  We have had such a good visit.  He promises to come back to see us.  And maybe someday we can go visit him.

 

FAMILY

Today Marty's brother was in the Bay Area on business. He flew into San Jose, checked into his hotel and them drove to Oakland to visit us. Our son Erik and his wife joined us and we had a family dinner. Lots of laughter.

Erik talked about when he was four and Uncle Keith took him for a ride on his motorcycle.   Then Granny took a motor cycle ride. One Christmas visit Uncle Keith let the nephews play pool on his new pool table.  That put him up there as Uncle of the Year.  Then Keith went for the Hall of Fame.  Uncle Keith showed the nephews the room where he loaded his own ammunition. He then blew up some black powder  in the room.  That made him the coolest uncle in the world.  Hall of Fame winner!

Thursday night our nephew Lee is coming to visit. We haven't seen him for a couple of years. I was so tickled when he called last month and asked if he could come visit. Lee is a charming, fun, and interesting person.

When he was a little boy, his Daddy and Papaw Jack spent an afternoon touring car dealerships.  They weren’t buying, ,just looking.  Lee fell in love with one car.   He told us when he grew up he was going to own a  Rolls Royce.  He hasn't bought one yet, but you have to  admit a great goal.

Sunday we are having another family dinner. This time my side of the family. Erik, Lee, and their cousin Tres can't remember when the three cousins have been together. We think maybe at Tres' wedding back in the 90s. And a wedding doesn't count, the groom does not remember what happened that day.

Family is great. Fun for visits because you have missed them so much. Family is great to bring back memories of another get together. This is a special week, Appel family and Triplett family visiting.  And wait until I blog next week.  Family!

The past phoned me yesterday

Friday afternoon I was mindlessly ironing shirts, watching House Hunter's International. The phone rang and Marty answered. He came down stairs and said it's for you, Valerie H, and handed me the phone.

Valerie grew up in the same small town I did. I don't think I have talked to Valerie in nearly 15 years. She was really my sister's friend, I was the tag along little sister. I remember sometimes the big kids would let me play with them. I loved the murder game.  Unfortunately, I was always the victim. I can't tell you how many times I was stretched out on the driveway, not allowed to talk, as everyone else guessed who dunit. But hey, I was with the big kids.

Valerie called for several reasons. One was to talk about the death of my sister, who died in 1997. V knew she had died, but didn't know the story. She had tried to talk to my mother, and Mother couldn't talk about it. So I gave her the short story of her illness because I can barely talk about it.

Valerie and I then talked about how tied our families were.  We had picnics together at the State Parks close to us.  Her mother and mine were good friends.  Her mother defended my mother, The Doctor’s Widow, when she married a much much younger man.  Mrs. H told the town that is was wonderful Anna had found some young to love.

Valerie’s father was our family movie photographer.  Mr. H filmed us Easter mornings before church as well as on Christmas mornings.  I was grown before it occurred to me that he had a little girl at home waiting on Daddy to come home from work so they could have Christmas.

We talked about my grandmother. V remembered my grandmother correcting the pronunciation of my sister’s name.  Maryann, everyone called her Merryann.  Grandmother would correct people and said it is May-ree-ann.  We lived in the mountains of Kentucky, but Grandmother was from the Bluegrass section of the state.  There was just a little bit of snobbery there.

Valerie also wanted the recipe for Pool Hall Chili.  I mention it from time to time.  She had seen my post on Facebook  about cooking the chili.  She lives a thousand miles from the source and wanted to taste it again.  She is having it for supper tomorrow night.

She is sending me pictures of a visit to our home nearly 20 years ago.  Also she has pictures of  her wedding she is sending.  My sister was Maid of Honor and I was a last minute substitute bride’s maid.  One of her friends was pregnant and couldn’t (wasn’t allowed to)  be in the wedding.  She “dropped out” and I fit in the dress, so was in.  In 1961 no pregnant bridesmaids, even if married allowed.

It was a nice phone visit. Thanks to Facebook and this blog Valerie had kept up with my family.  And I am learning about hers.  From the pictures she thought my brother looked just like he did as a little boy.  And he does, he still has that sweet smile.  She saw pictures of Mother and Papa Jack, and commented on them. 

So Valerie, thanks for the memories.

FINALLY, PICTURES

Marty burned a CD with the San Diego pictures. They just wouldn't work through email. There are 129 pictures on the CD. Don't worry, I am only going to use a few of them. And spread it out over a couple of posts.

Richard and Luis host Luis's family many Sundays. Food is very important to this family. Good food, spicy food, lots of food. The children play or swim. The teenagers play videos games or swim, and the adults watch them have fun. And all eat. Different families bring parts of the meal. They cook, they eat, they laugh, they tease. It is a good family to spend an afternoon with.

Below is food from the appetizer table. The left, celery and peppers stuffed with pimento cheese and with Benedictine. I made those two spreads.The large plate to the right is jicama with lime juice and some wonderful spices shaken over it.

More appetizers

Enjoying the food

Luis's Mom making rice for dinner, great rice!

Quality control

Pork cooked in banana leaves and then shredded.

Buffet line

One of the tables with family

Family and airplanes, and we are now alone. . .

Friday did not go as planned. We were at the Academy of Sciences by 10:30. Traffic was awful in the park. We parked several blocks away and hoofed it to the museum. LINES, LINES, LINES. Since we had done the line in September we could tell it was at least 2 hours to get in. Even our members' line was an hour. We went to the Conservatory of Flowers instead. It was wonderful as always. While there we heard (around noon) that the A of S had closed basically, no one else would be allowed in line. Too many people. Then we went to the Cliff House area. Lots of trails to walk and then into the Cliff House for drinks.

Saturday to SFO in the morning, stop at Costco for fixings for the family dinner, stop at the flower mart just because, and then home. We have sent two home to Texas and two were to join us for dinner. Erik called and said they were too sick to come, they caught something in Portland and didn't think we would want them to share. So nephew Lee didn't get to see Erik and Jennifer at all this trip.

We dropped Marty's sister at the Oakland airport this morning at 6:00. And we were home and back in the bed by 6:30. Lee and Phil left this morning for San Francisco and will fly out Tuesday. But we won't see them anymore this trip.

This Christmas was one of the best. I only had a minor meltdown. We kept it simpler and had the luxury of the "guest" house to use. That reduced the stress of being the perfect hostess. Lee and his partner wanted family history and info about Lee's mother. Marty and his sister and brother talked about their parents and family. We continued to tell tales. We continued to laugh until the drop off at the airport. Then we cried a little.

Marty and I are alone again. Except for the piles of towels and sheets to wash.

Family and airplanes

WARNING, spellcheck is not working tonight. I am a poor speller so bear with me.

Yesterday we spent the day waiting on planes. Rain and fog here, snow in the rest of the country. Marty's sister's plane was three hours late as was his brother's. Thank goodness for flight trackers on the net. They are here and safe. Today we did nothing but eat, wrap gifts and talk. Family is good. Tomorrow my nephew arrives, hopefully on time. Our son and his wife are to fly to her parents' tomorrow in Portland. For two days there have been not any flights there. Snow big time in Portland. So they may be here spending Christmas with us this year.

Tonight we had a big family dinner, prime rib for the meat eaters and sauteed portabellos for the vegetarians. Homemade cookies and lots of fine wine. We had the family prayer, the toast to family together, and took lots of pictures. For the first time in years our son pinned ornaments on the Advent tree. That almost made me cry. When he was little he picked what to pin on every night for 25 nights. Tonight was a lovely evening we laughed and told tall tales. We trashed people not there and talked of parents long gone.

It is Christmas and the family is together. We are laughing and having fun. It is Christmas. May you be as happy as we are. Merry Christmas.