Lilac Time

This is a tribute to my mother.Today is the 40th anniversary of her death. I am her name sake because I was born three hours before midnight on the 19 th of November and her 35th birthday was on the 20th of November. She was one of ten children, and was born in Madison County, Ohio. Her parents were first generation Americans, her grandparents were born in Ireland and migrated to this country because of the potato famine. She, also was named for her mother and Grandmother, Ellen Elizabeth.. Mother was the only one of the ten children in her family,that had children. My brothers, Joe and Paul and my sister, Martha and I were the only grandchildren of Ellen and Peter Morrissey.

Mother was a very soft spoken, kind and gentle person. Her strongest expletive was "Honest to John!" and she made a sound with her tongue that resembled ,"tsk, tsk, tsk. " She was not given to rants or loud chastisements or physical contact, just an "Honest to John!" showed her displeasure adequately.

When she was a young child, about two years old she fell from her mother's lap and fell on a scissors that her sibling was playing with on the floor and she lost the sight in her left eye. Consequently she was never allowed to learn to sew, or drive a car or a few other things that her family thought might harm her right eye. Actually she missed very little. Her vision was fine.

She was very interested in politics all of her life. So also was my father and his family. Both she and Dad were very active and involved in all election activity. We always had placards in our front window , comparable to yard signs today, for all the candidates that they supported. Dad was the campaign manager for one of his railroad colleagues that ran for mayor of Springfield, O. He won and we attended the celebration party when I was about nine or ten years old. Mother always worked at the polls and did a task beforehand called 'polling the ward'. As soon as I was old enough to work at the polls she signed me up to work too.

She never really made a fuss about things but in her quiet unassuming way she was ahead of all the other women . She went bra-less long before it became a 'statement', she had strong values and lived by them but did not condemn people that did not live or believe as she did. She figured there was room for all of us and we all had the right to be what we wanted to be. She was very devout but not overbearing or judgemental about others. She was truly a tolerant person.

Her sense of humor was sharp. She saw the humor in a lot of things and was always the first to laugh at the funny remarks we made. She especially liked my humor and I was always pleased when I could make her laugh or when I heard her repeat some of the witty things I said. The Great Depression happened during our early years and she was able to manage to do the best she could do with the pittance that Dad could bring home to her on payday. We never wanted for food or care in our lives. She stretched every dollar. My brother ,Joe, teased her frequently about her frugality. He would say, "Take down the wallpaper, we're moving!" and he had comments about how tight she was, so tight she squeeked, he would say. Nevertheless, we all knew that without her frugality we would have had life a lot worse than we did.

When, because of Dad's health, they moved to Arizona, she promptly joined the League of Women Voters and continued her volunteering work for the candidates of her choice.

I was married and had three babies when she moved to Arizona but I was only about 23 years old so she never got to know me as a grown up, mature woman. I regret that she did not get to know our wonderful children nor did they get to know her! She would have enjoyed them and enjoyed watching them grow up.

She loved lilacs and would grow homesick when it was lilac time in Ohio. Lilacs did not grow in Tucson. Dad nurtured rhubarb and coaxed it to grow out there but could never get lilacs to live long enough to bloom. She died on the 30th of April and we brought her home to London, O for her burial. She came home for her last time, at lilac time. She would have liked that!

Come Hell or High Water

When I was in the sixth grade at St. Joseph's School, in Springtfield, Ohio Our class room was on the second floor of the school and one day we all suddenly felt the room, desks etc. moving. The nun teaching us at the time made us rapidly get under our desks with our hands locked over our bowed heads until the tremmors ceased. I never got to see where the nun went. Did she get under her own desk or did she remain upright to make sure we all followed her orders? I'll never know. I do know that it was a pretty significant earthquake because there were reports of windows, dishes, and all kinds of things crashing to the floor and some minor damage to some structures, but nothing big.


Last week as I lay in my bed coasting as I like to call that period between deep sleep and wide awake period in the morning when I heard Fergus give a few squeeky barks (he had a sore throat) and them major rummblings. I thought my oak tree was falling in on the house, then I thought it was a Mack truck and finally as it gained intencity I realized it was an earthquake. My Galileo thermometer started rocking back and forth and the temperature bubbles starting banging against the glass sides, my whole bed shook and it was an interesting happening. I quickly turned on the TV, (the remote is in bed with me) and they were visibly shaking and calling attention to the lights shaking back and forth on the set. They were puzzled for the first few seconds but rapidly verified that it was an earthquake.



Quite a few people at school said their cats or dogs responded first, two said their caged birds went wild in their little cages, I called Brian at the track and he was in the field with a horse and there were a few other walkers with their horses and they all (the horses) called to each other and were a little nervous. Negligible damage was done here in Louisville and I don't think there was much damage done at the epi center of the quake. It was near the San Andreas Fault I think. IN MO.


Quote for the day: "This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."
_ President Bush April 23, 2002

Spring Break

Here it is Thursday of spring break and I have pretty much followed my plan! I did a little yard work,very little. Michele and Jeff and Julie did the muscle burning job in the front yard. It took hours and looks great . The back will have to wait for awhile. I did go out today and sweep off the deck but other than that it still looks pretty primitive out there.

The weather has been relatively warm and so far it has only rained about 2 inches. We are expecting thunder storms after midnight tonight. I got to go shopping for a few hours with Karen one day and as usual I spent two or three hours at Klondike Manor each day. At least it was warm enough to take Doc out into the patio on two or three occasions.

I took my observation trip through the park on Saturday, and once again it is a sure sign that spring has in fact, burst forth. The trees are budding, the scanty attire is back, the bald convertible driver, runners, walkers, golfers and bike riders in all their glory are back. It is a reassuring sight to see the usual pattern of behavior repeating itself. It is an adult rite of spring. There are no children evident in the arena except the one's in the runners' strollers that moms are pushing. Really there was only one of those.

I have been reading the tome titled "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. It has 951 pages and I have reached page 549. I am enjoying the book; however , it is so heavy that I have to prop it on a pillow when I read in bed and on the arm of the chair when I read it in the living room. Good thing it is a paperback. It is quite facinating. I'm hoping I can finish the last 400 plus pages before I go back to school on Monday. More later.

285 days left until we get a new president.

Quote for today: " What I am against is quotas. I am against hard quotas, quotas they basically delineat based upon whatever. However they delineate, quotas, I think, vulcanize society."

_ President Bush, possible Trekkie, January 21, 2000