Meatloaf sandwiches

Last night I made meatloaf for dinner.  There was a lot left over, so today I made meatloaf sandwiches to take on our ride.

We went to Greenfield and ended up at my grandparents' graves in Green River Cemetery.  I like to check on them every now and then because the cemetery has been having a problem with erosion of the hill where they are buried.

While we were there we decided that it was a good place to eat our sandwiches.  While I was outside taking pictures of the grave stone, Paul got the sandwiches out of our cooler.  All of a sudden I heard him yell out the window, "Debbie, Debbie, there's no bread on the top of the sandwich."  There were four sandwiches and I told him to check the other ones.  "Same thing," he yelled.

For some reason, this struck me so funny.  I haven't laughed that much in forever.  Every time I thought about it for the rest of the day it struck me funny.  Even now as I am typing this I could laugh out loud.

I have no idea how I could do that.  Paul said, "When you wrapped them in foil, didn't they look funny?"

Totally hysterical.

Uncle Ross's gravestone

My Uncle Ross, my mother's brother, died in 2006.  He purchased his gravestone before he died and had it put in the North Blandford Cemetery where many of his relatives, including his mother and father are buried.  His death date never got put on his gravestone.

My mother died in 2010.  She had been living with my half sister Laura.  Laura has both my Uncle Ross's ashes, and my mother's ashes, and my mother didn't have a gravestone.  

When Paul and I had my Aunt Dot's gravestone made, we had them go to North Blandford Cemetery and get my uncle's gravestone.  The guy cleaned up the stone and had my mother's name, birth date and death date added to Uncle Ross's gravestone. 

I'm not sure if their ashes will ever make it to the cemetery, but at least their names, birth dates and death dates will be there for posterity.

Sometimes life is complicated.

Berta, Nancy, and Edward Radtke

This is a picture of Paul's grandparents and his Aunt Nancy. My father-in-law has been visiting his sister in the Boston area quite often lately as she has been having some health concerns.


This Fall, on our way to the Cape, we stopped by Blue Hills Cemetery in Braintree to see his grandparents' graves. It was the first time that I had ever been there.

I have a pact to take pictures of as many family graves as possible.

Happy July 4th!

As many of you know, Paul and I have been doing some genealogy research lately and I had wanted to take a picture of a Revolutionary War veteran's grave today. One person that I came across, on my mother's father's side, was William Higgins II. The problem is...I can't find where he is buried. Some places say Easton, MA., and others say Chesterfield. I am going to have to do some more digging. I did find the information above though.

So...instead, Paul and I went to Malden, MA to check on Capt. John Wayte's gravestone. He was the first one in the Wait (my father's) family to come to America. He came from England in 1638.

He landed in Charlestown, and eventually moved to Malden, MA. He died in 1693 and is buried in the Bell Rock Cemetery. This is his gravestone. It is amazing to me that a gravestone from 1693 is still intact.



This plaque is at the front of the cemetery. It is hard to read in this picture, but it is a list of all the Revolutionary War veterans buried here.



Happy Birthday America!

Memorial Day

"
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." - John F. Kennedy

Today, being Memorial Day, I wanted to visit the N. Blandford cemetery to see if any of my mother's family were veterans.

To backtrack a little.....after receiving a comment on a post (see post May 22, 2012) and discovering a new found cousin who has since told me so much about my mother's mother's family, I decided that it was time to find out more about my mother's father's family.

I found out that the grave above is my great-great grandfather, William C. Higgins who fought in the Civil War.

Today, I give thanks to all of our veterans, and to all who are serving now. Freedom really does come with a price.

GG's grave

Good Friday. It was a beautiful Spring day today and since both Marley and Mason were here, I decided it would be a good day to clean off the winter debris from GG's grave. Marley wanted to put some of our colored Easter eggs there; we have been doing that for a few years. Mason kept asking what a grave was; not easy to explain to a 2 1/2 year old.

I was surprised to see how many leaves were around her gravestone. I guess the cemetery has not done their Spring cleanup yet. I just brushed them away so that the lillies, which were already coming up, could be free from the leaves.

I'm glad that Marley still remembers GG, or at least remembers about her. It's too bad Priscilla never got to meet Mason; she sure would have loved him!

Putting Eggs on GG's Grave

Two years ago Marley and I put a couple of dyed Easter eggs on GG's grave. This year Marley made a couple of eggs for GG and Mark, Mason, Marley and I put them on GG's grave.

Greenfield Cemetery mud slide

Today we took a ride to Greenfield to see if my grandparents' graves in the Green River Cemetery was affected by the mud slide that they had on March 7th. There was an article about it on the front page of our local paper. I know that my grandparents are buried on the edge of a cliff but I really didn't think that their section of the cemetery was affected. In another part of the cemetery, along that same cliff but quite a ways away, they had moved some graves that were too close to the edge a couple of years ago. We took a ride up there a week after it happened, but the road in to the cemetery was blocked off and it was too cold to walk all the way in. Today the road was open. There was caution tape near their grave stone but it was down so we drove up to it. The mudslide was near the back side of their graves but hopefully far enough away that they will never have to be moved.





While we were looking around the mud slide area in the cemetery, I noticed that down below was the playground where we had taken Marley in April 2004 when she slipped on the playscape and had to have stitches. (The cemetery is at the top of the hill behind the playscape).



It was Patriot's Day, 2004 and Paul and I were babysitting. We took Marley to Yankee Candle. After we left YC we took a ride to Greenfield and had lunch at McDonald's. Since it was such a beautiful day we decided that we would look for a playground. We found one at the Green River School. She was having such a good time, when all of a sudden she slipped on the steps and cut her face right above the eyebrow. These are the steps that she fell on.



I knew immediately that she was going to need stitches. We called Kris at work and she and Toby met us at Baystate Medical Center. We hadn't been back to that playground since.

300/365 - Letterboxing

This is a graveyard in Deerfield where one of my ancestors (I'm talking really old, 1837) is buried. The last time we were here I was looking around and there was a really old grave stone that was leaning up against the stone wall at the very end of the graveyard. I tried to stand it up, and behind the stone there was a zip-lock bag. The bag said "Please do not remove." I took it out and looked at it but I didn't go into the bag. Paul said it was probably something to do with that GPS game where you try to find things; I forget the name. Anyhow, later I wished that I had looked inside the bag, so today we took a ride up there and I found the bag again. Inside the bag was a jar, and inside the jar was a small notebook, pen, and a stamp. I guess the idea is that you stamp the stamp in your book, and you stamp your stamp in their book. It is called Letterboxing. I am definitely going to check this out. It really intrigues me.

223/365 - Wait Monument

In 2003 Paul and I started doing some genealogy research. We spent a lot of time in this cemetery in Greenfield. This is the Wait monument. We have traced my father's side back to when the first relatives came over from England in 1638 to Malden, MA.