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Tag Archives: Aunts

My.Daily.Diversion ~ Post Eighty-Two: Happy Birthday Dear Aunt!

12 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Family, painting, shopping, Stories

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Aunts, baton, Family, Happy Birthday, interests, Januart, lunch, painting, paper bags, Shopping, Twirling, Uncles, Virginia

All of my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins are precious and dear to me.

And it is during the month of January that one of my Aunts is celebrating a birthday.

In honor of this occasion please allow me to share one of my favorite memories of her.

It is but one of hundreds…

My Aunts and Uncles were always very kind as they opened their homes to me and made me feel welcome whenever I came to visit.

This of course included my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins who lived in Virginia.

When I was growing up I wanted to be just like my Aunt.

In fact, I still want to be just like her when I grow up.

Further they were kind and indulged our young interests, whatever they might have been.

The first summer that I visited them in 1967, my Aunt treated her three sons and myself to a shopping spree in a brand new store that I had never heard of before…

It was called TOYS R US.

In the weeks that followed I dabbled first hand the art of oil painting by numbers.

After that I learned how to twirl a baton.

The following summer, at the age of nine years old, I was caught up in the art of ventriloquism.

I had picked out a book on ventriloquism and spent a great deal of time trying to figure out it’s mysteries.

One day my Aunt was called away from home for several hours. Before her departure she had prepared our lunches, put them in brown paper bags and left them in the fridge for us with our names written on the bags.

In each lunch we found an individual note she had hand written for us.

I’ll never forget the note she included in my lunch bag.

It read:

“Dear Doris…

You are always welcome to throw your voice whenever you want, but please don’t throw your food.”

Again…

I had the best family in the whole world.

Happy Birthday Dear Aunt…

…Ich Liebe Dich Sehr!!!

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post Eighty One: The Lord Is My Pace-Setter

11 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by duckykoren in bible, Faith, Family, Grief, Psalms, Religion, spiritual

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Apollo, Archives, Aunts, Bible, Brazil, Faith, Family, First Lady, Grandmothers, Green, Lord, miracles, Pat Nixon, Psalm 23, psalms, Religion, scrapbooks, Tante

It’s an funny thing…

The less I look for miracles, the more I find them.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that I find miracles on a daily basis. The trick is to be open to the possibilities, and then having the presence of mind to recognize a miracle when you see one.

Every now and again, my eyes fall upon a spiral bound green school book scrap-book which sits in one of my bookshelves. It is part of my grandparent’s archives which has been in my keeping for almost a decade now.

This rather ordinary looking notebook is the account of a North American visit made by my great-aunt (my grandmother’s sister) in 1972. It was during this visit that I met her for the first and only time. I was amazed at how much she reminded me of my grandmother.

I knew her as Tante Annie.

That was the last journey she made away from her home in Brazil where she spent her life working as a nurse in a seniors home caring for the ill and dying.

This scrapbook is filled with newspaper clippings, ticket stubs, letters, stamps, and various dried foliage. It is identical in nature to the scrapbooks my Grandmother kept.

This well preserved scrapbook is like a time tunnel back to the days when Pat Nixon was the First Lady, air travel was pleasurable, and the Apollo Moon landing was still fresh in our minds.

It’s unfortunate that this scrapbook is likely one of the last Earthly markers of life, as she passed away in September 1974.

Inside, her green scrapbook, I once found a colourful card cut out and carefully pasted onto one of the school-book’s pages.

It is simply titled “Psalm 23”.

This passage has been a constant denominator in my life. I have memories as a very young child whenever adults gathered to remember a loved one who has passed on these verses would be recited in unison to help battle the loss and grief.

The last time I ever saw my paternal Grandmother, Oma Schon, we read it together as we sat on her bed. I’ll never forget her tears as she closed her Bible.

The 23 Psalm was read at the passing of both my parents.

However, here is a version that I have not read before.

It goes….

“The Lord is my Pace-Setter, I shall not rush;

He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals.

He provides me with images of stillness,

which restore my serenity;

He leads me in the way of efficiency

through calmness of mind,

And his guidance is peace.

Even though I have a great many things

to accomplish each day,

I will not fret, for his presence is here.

His timelessness, His all importance

will keep me in balance.

He prepares refreshment and renewal

in the midst of my activity

By anointing my mind

with his oils of tranquility.

My cup of joyous energy overflows.

Surely harmony and effectiveness

shall be the fruits of my hours,

For I shall walk in the pace of my Lord

and dwell in his house for ever.” *

I consider this reading passage as a gift from my Tante Annie, to be read, treasured, and to remember her by.

I hope that somehow, some way, you may find it useful too.

❤

*Translation of the Japanese version by Toki Miyashina from Psalm 23, copyright by K.H. Strange, 1969, and published by The Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 39: Counting The Herbies

27 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Automobiles, Automotive, Computers, Education, Entertainment, Family, Fitness, Mathematics, sociology, Stories, Technology

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Adventure, Aunts, Automobiles, blogs, Computers, Counting, Cousins, Disney, Fairfax, Family, Fitness, Games, Herbie, Highways, Math, Movies, Technology, The Love Bug, Uncles, Virginia, Volkswagen, VW, Washington DC, Writing

I wonder if young people today ever consider how their parents and grandparents survived without iPhones, video-games, iPads, computers, and other hand held gaming devices?

I am happy to report to them that not only did we survive but we survived happily, and with many fond memories.

In fact, I feel saddened by the loss of interaction between young people, children, and adults because of all the new gadgets available today.

First of all, I was absolutely and unequivocally blessed with the best Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents.

It is only because of them and their generous and loving nature that I was able to see just about every single Disney movie along with all the other blockbuster hits made for children and teenagers on the wide screen during the 1960s and 1970s.

However, there was one movie that our family always referred to with love and reverence.

The movie that I am referring to is:

“The Love Bug.”

Our entire family loved this movie so much that we invented a game in this movie’s honour which quickly became a favorite past-time for many years.

This game was called:

‘Counting The Herbies,’

This game was always best played at my Aunt and Uncle’s home in Fairfax Virginia. Down the street from their house was a ravine which overlooked one of the busiest highways in the state. I will guess that this is because we were only twenty minutes outside of Washington DC.

Hence, the heavy traffic.

On a nice afternoon, usually after lunch it would be suggested that we all go for a walk down the street and…

‘Count The Herbie’s’.

For this walk we were usually accompanied by either a parent or a grandparent.

My fondest recollections however, are those which included my grandfather.

With his cane in hand he would stroll down the block with no less than three grandchildren in tow and sometimes as many as six.

And then the counting would commence.

One, two, three, four, five Herbies…

Each of us would pipe up in turn as they came into view.

It wasn’t always that easy when the traffic was fast and heavy. Sometimes it could even get a bit tedious if traffic was intermittent and sparse.

But one thing was for sure….

There were lots and lots of Volkswagen autos out on the roads. In those days, these cars were very popular as well as economical.

And so we would count till we had reached one hundred Herbies.

Then, highly amused and pleased with ourselves we would head back to my Aunt’s and Uncle’s house where we would feast on Ho-Ho’s and Hawaiian Punch.

Life was very good then.

We got our exercise, a family outing, practiced our math and observational skills and interacted as a loving family.

Now tell me, what software app can do that?

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