Sunday, September 18, 2011

A Wedding Picture From Long Ago

These are my maternal grandparents, Kathleen and Raymond Coakley, on their wedding day in 1914. There was a huge difference in their age; she was much older. Her final wish before she died was to not have her age in her obituary. The family complied. so I won't spill the beans here either.

She was the old maid school teacher in a small town in Minnesota; he was the town catch. I love her hat; it's worthy of wearing to a royal wedding. I don't remember her as very stylish, but I do remember her wonderful, simple home cooking. She loved chocolate and thought meat was bad for you.

She stood 4 ft. 10 inches tall; he was well over 6 feet. Together they weathered the birth of four children (one, a son, died at birth), the Great Depression, World War II and the death of their only son in that war. Life was not easy for them. She was a devout Catholic; he went along.

They were my favorites and they knew it; in their eyes I could do nothing wrong. I remember riding my bike to their house to tell them about my life. They would sit in rapt attention to whatever I said. I loved it. In college they brought me cranberry juice and raspberry jam plus $5 on occasional Sunday when they visited.

My grandfather outlived his wife, all of his children and even his children's spouses. He was a good man. I loved them both very much.  


Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Weather OCD

No I'm not a hoarder of things this time of year; I'm a hoarder of weather facts that will support my hope that the weather is changing from hot to cool.

For example, I found an App for my iPhone that gives me sunset and sunrise times for Lincoln. A shorter day means sun falls on me for a shorter time. Unfortunately this has caused my dog, Harleen, to decide to go to bed earlier because it's dark outside. But I can deal with that.

Last night we had heat lightening that was just incredible; mother nature at her best. Luckily she didn't cause any fires in the area. With no rain since early June, things are pretty dry around here. It was nice to see something different in the sky.

During the summer here the sky is blue every day; it gets really boring. So now every time I see a cloud roll in I get my hopes up that it means change. Weather.com is saying we have a 10% chance of rain every day. It's getting cooler at night. The days are less hot.

As you can see I am obsessed. This happens nearly every fall. I love the winters here; they are not unbearable like some other parts of the country. My fleece is ready.


Many people's lives have ended or been ruined due to weather this year. So my whining seems a bit out of place, but I promise I will only write this kind of blog once a year. I hope the weather in your world will be kind to you.