How I See It

It Was Her Time. The Queen of Dalkey is passed.

On Valentine's Day my mum passed away. My husband and I flew home to Ireland to lay her to rest and to celebrate her life. She loved a celebration, social events, hosting a party (gosh could she ever host a party), going to a party, cups of tea with just about anyone...

Mum had spent the last 11 weeks in hospital. Finally they let her come home. She returned to her beloved home in the afternoon, she Skyped with me and my siblings who were together in Toronto. My bother, SIL and my niece were with her, my nephew stopped in to visit, neighbours dropped in.

She looked beautiful in her navy suit, matching shoes and of course the ever present pearls. My niece told how, when she said "Gran, you look beautiful in your navy suit", mum replied..that's French Navy, to which my niece said..whats "French Navy?" and mum said..."It all the style now". At 88 she knew what was happening and loved to be up to date on the happenings of the world. She sat and watch the political debate for a couple of hours with my niece and nephew. Later as my nieces assisted her to get ready for bed she simple let a little "oh" escape her mouth and she was gone. Her heart just gave up the battle. But she was at home and that pleased her.

We held a "wake" at the house and took vigil of her over night. She had expressed that she did not wish to be left at the church alone over night. As always we did her bidding. Hundreds of her friends and family came to pay their respect to this feisty lady. Stories were shared, laughter permeated the house all day long. There were tears, both happy and sad.

The next day the church service was so beautiful, she had picked out her music (of course she had!!! LOL) and a family friend sang it accompanied by harp. My brother spoke of our mum, we cried, laughed and applauded. There was about 500 there to send her on her way. It was beautiful.

Mum, you inspire me to always fight through any pain like you did for so many years. To be a good friend. To have a kind heart. To be determined. To be generous. To know how to laugh from my belly.  To fiercly love my family. To work hard and to mind my manners.

Words over heard at the memorial that described mum:

"A force to be reckoned with" "Great friend" "The best" "Loved life" "Loved to shop" "Elegant" "Stylish" "Funny" "Giggler" "She had the most beautiful skin" (Her secret...Pond's Cold Cream)

You were loved by so many, yes, you also drove us crazy, but we would not have changed a thing about you. Give dad a big hug from us. Rest now.

Again??

Yesterday the first wave of packing was done...they moved like white lightening and befre you knew it our house transformed into a sea of boxes. They worked so hard..I think if I had not stayed out of their way I would now be residing in a cardboard box!

So after they left I went online to chitchat with my friend a little. One of my friends is moving into a new place also..and mentioned how she would be looking forward to gardening. I laughingly replied that I was looking forward to NOT gardening and shared this photo of our new back yard

LOL..not a lot of weeding there. Then she asked what my current garden looked like and I sent this photo:

and then the tears started to flow again. It's all so stupid. I am excited to leave this home and start off again building a 'home' in our beautiful new house. Yet I looked at the picture of the garden in the Summer and I sobbed. We have had amazing parties and gatherings in this garden and it is a little bit of magic here in the city. I'm going to have to work hard on the pots for the new patio!!!

I am sure there will be more tears as the move happens. Sad ones and happy ones. Saying goodbye to the neighbours is the hardest part of all. We have been blessed with the very best.

 

Unexpected emotions

I am sitting in Sydney as I type. On Monday I got ready for work as usual and packed my bags, computer, camera etc..gave the dog a treat and Rich and I headed to the car to drive me to the airport. I was ahead of him, it was dark and as I waited by the car I looked back at our little home of 22 years and suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks. This was my last trip to work from my home, my next flight I will be going to the airport from the new house. Suddenly my eyes welled up and I struggled not to cry (no time to reapply makeup LOL). Sadness engulfed me as I thought about the coming move. Not total sadness...I am excited about the new house and the new adventures we will have together as we get our new nest organized and comfy. What I had not really given much thought to was how much I would miss our little place there in the basement of my in-law's home. Where we poured so much love into the garden, the redecorating and renovating of the apartment. The love/hate I felt for our below ground level home by the end of the Winter when I craved sunshine desperately. Our miniscule kitchen from which we fed crowds

We have laughed so much in this house..it is a house full of love and laughter and good times with good friends and family. It's a pain-in-the-butt old house that always needed some thing fixed and every fix begat another step in the maintenance list! (Hubby won't miss that part for sure)

Strangely, I will truly miss you little house... my husband will be leaving his childhood home behind, you have been a wonderful home to all of us. I hope the new family will love you just as much as we loved you. It will be hard to close the door for the last time.

It's coming together slowly

The style for the new house that is. It is turning into a very eclectic house with a mix of styles that I am hoping I can pull together!

I love the recent Industrial look that has become popular but I don't want too much of it in the house. We bought this piece, it's not a great photo, but I think you get the feel. The wood is beautifully textured and aged.

I can't wait to see it in the new house...I think it will fit right in!

Today we drove out to Chilliwack to pick out another piece..it is also industrial and has to be refinished..I'll share that with you when we get it. Meanwhile it was a stunningly beautiful day and I managed to snap this photo as we crossed the river on the way home

I think the car window was a little dirty!! OOPS!

The best news is my sister came home from the hospital and is doing well. The doctor's told her if she had waited another two days she could have died. She definitely had a wake up call to her health and needs to take care of herself more. She is going to come and visit when we are in the new house and we are going to work on some life changes. I'll be her drill sargent!! We both need to start moving and get healthier.

Thanks for dropping by, Sue

1/1/11

New year, new start, new adventures.

I have had a few different blogs over the years. My stamping blog has been my most consistent, I have done a 356 blog, a photography blog and started a travel blog for a trip to Turkey just last year. I have been kind of all over the place with no cohesion to bring all my interests together. So this year my goal is to bring all those interests together in one place under different tabs. Just one problem, I have no idea how to create tabs on a blog lol! So this is going to be a learning journey. I have to find out how to make this blog what I want it to be or find someone who does. I'd like to try my own hand at it, so bear with me and maybe we will all learn something!

This year is starting out with so much going on already and we are only 21 hours into it...

We are moving into our new home in two weeks after 22 years living here with my Father-in-Law. My eldest son and his wife are also moving into their first home in two weeks. My mum is in hospital in Ireland, my sister is in hospital in Ontario, my Father-in-Law is in full care with Alzheimer's here in Vancouver. So many changes, so much to worry about, so much to look forward to. Probably like most of your lives...good, bad, scary, happy stuff always mixing and mingling.

I hope to share my love of crafting, photography, cooking, decorating and travel. Won't you join me on my little adventure?

The first month may be a little sporadic as we move into our new home and my goal is that by Feburary 1st we will be settled in and ready to blog seriously!

So if you are new here let me tell you a little about myself.

I am Irish by birth, moving to Canada when I was 22 years old. I am a flight attendant with an international airline. I have been flying for 31 years and still think it is the best job in the world. I am also a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and love that job too. I have a wonderful husband of 22 years, two amazing step-sons married to two amazing young ladies. Our family is rounded out with our furbaby Cara..the daughter we never had! You may see her referred to as Boo (Cara > Caraboo> Boo)

For now I wish you all a really wonderful New Year and hope all your dreams and goals are fulfilled in 2011. It's going to be an amazing year!

 

Thanks for visiting, Sue