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Monday, May 30, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM ... ELIZABETH "BETTY" KAEMERER JUNE 3, 1918

Edward Byrne and
Julia Grace Byrne
Husband and Wife
1917




                                                        June 3, 1918
                                                And then there were
                                           three.
                            Elizabeth Ann "Betty" Byrne
                          
                            Can you imagine being a mother
                                               in 1918?
Mothers made their baby's diapers,
jammies, bibs, blankets and booties.
                         Mmmm .... did your mother sing you lullabies?


                                   And Betty grew ... and grew.

                              A child living in the city of Chicago,
                                          riding a pony.....
                               some things never change.
                                I have photos of my children 
                                                 on  ponies
                                                on sidewalks .




A second child was born a few years later, Edward, "Bud" they called him. My grandparents had only two children .... I often wondered why. I eventually learned the reason why they had such a small family ... but the reason will stay put in "family lore."

I came by these next photos the only way a child in a family of eight kids gets anything before the rest of the mob gets it first:
                      I stole them ... along with a few more.
I was visiting my parents and saw their album sitting on a shelf in their bedroom. I wanted ... this one, and that one .... and those two ... and there's Mom riding a pony. I really want that one...
Then my Dad popped his head around the corner.
"What are you doing? You're not stealing those pictures , are you?"

"Who me? Would I do such a terrible thing like that?" 

"Well, just put the album away when you're finished .... umm, looking at the pictures."




She was a young teenager in this photo.

                                     And becoming a beautiful young woman.
            Just look at her! She's surrounded by attentive young men.

I would have more photos to post  ... but it seems photo-thievery runs in the family. During one of my Mom's visits, and after my Dad died in 1984, she was looking through one of my albums. She pulled out one ... then another... and this one and that one .. holding them up toward me like a fanned-out deck of cards.
"Where'd you get these?"
"From Dad ... well, kind of from Dad ..." and I told her the scene in their room with the album.
She made a neat little pile of the pictures and put them into her suitcase. "I'm not finished with these pictures yet."
As I said, photo thievery runs in the family.
But for the life of me, I don't remember how I got them back into my album ........

   

She once told me a story
about why she was, admittedly,
a very lax housekeeper......

"I was at home alone, waiting for my Mother to come home
and decided to clean the kitchen ..... I didn't like to do housework, but I wanted to surprise her.
I swept the floor
mopped the floor
and put things away in the kitchen.
I thought I'd done a good job.

My mother came home.
Looked around the kitchen at what I had done.
I knew she was pleased .... err
I thought that was a look of pleased on her face.

She removed her hat, coat, gloves and proceeded
to re-sweep the floor,
re-mop it,
and rearrange the things I'd put away in the cupboard.

I never did like housework after that!"




 What a stunning couple ..... love is in the air!
Walter Desmond Kaemerer
"John Wayne" handsome, I always said.
And Betty thought so too.



Betty married into this huge family ..... nine children (she's in the row behind the couch on the right side, in a black dress and barely pregnant with their first of eight children, Betty Ann.



I'm not too sure when this photo was taken ....
I'm counting on some of my siblings
to fill in the details.


 Eight kids and eleven - or there about - grandkids,
Des and Betty celebrated
their 40th wedding anniversary.





They retired to the desert ... Salton Sea,
120 degrees in the summer!
They  fished, had bar-b-ques,
made friends with other retired desert-rats,
and worked hard building a cute little house
and a patio for Betty to feed the birds.
Everything was
as
it should be
at retirement ..... except the 120 degree weather in the summer.






...... only in the cool of the evening
would they venture out to the patio.
Actually .... it was too  stinkin' HOT
 in the desert to go outside at any time!




and then the unthinkable happened .....
Betty was alone in the little brown house
that Des built.

Kathy, Desi, Betty Ann, Howard, Monica, Joe, Chris, and Terry .......
and Betty
all smiling
but inconsolable.

We went on with our lives ......
but Mom's was forever changed.
She was a widow.
But she had her little brown house .....and us.
  
 End of Chapter One
           To be Continued.......

  1. 

Friday, May 27, 2011

MORE EMPTY SPACES WHERE ONCE WALKED OUR HEROES



MEMORIAL DAY
2012

REPOSTED FROM
MEMORIAL DAY
2011

I'ts been a year since I first posted this
Memorial Day remembrance.
I think of those
men and women who have dedicated their
lives for our country .... some giving their lives.
I pray for those families ... and for the loved ones
we've said goodby to.
Thank you,
for the memories deeply engrained in our hearts and lives
because "you" never leave us ....... 
..........................................................................

         Memorial Day officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by
General John Logan, national commander ot the Grand Army of the Republic. It was first observed on May 30, 1868 when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetary.

Red Poppies

In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields"
Moina Michael wrote this poem:

"We cherish too,
the Poppy red,
that grows on fields
where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
that blood of heroes never dies."

The tradition of wearing Red Poppies on Memorial Day
is to honor those who died serving the nation during war.
Moina Michael was the first to wear a
Red Poppy,
and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers,
with the money going to benefit servicemen in need.


" .... the blood of heroes never dies."

We would do well
to remember all those
who served  in times of "war"
....
helping  us to heal.
Thank you.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

EMPTY SPACES BETWEEN NOW AND THEN



MAY 25, 2011
WHEN IT HIT ME.....
I MEAN, REALLY HIT ME
 THAT I WAS
A WIDOW....

ALL THE SPACES BETWEEN
OCTOBER 20, 1956
TO
FEBRUARY 3, 2009
WERE  ERASED .....
temporary self-induced, deliberate forgetfulness.

Slowly but surely,
I'm painting those spaces
with brilliant colors
of the rainbow.

Wedding dress white,
a spotless, treasured  memory.

October 20, 1956
So much ahead of us ...
The gown and veil
 stored away,
wedding cake bride and groom,
frosting stuck to the edges,
became stained yellow over the years ..
tucked away with wedding day memorabilia.

One, two, three, four babies born.
Moving about with 4 kids, 2 dogs,
a cat and white rat ....
adventures we all shared
and matured ...
and grew old.

My heart has a hole in it
that is
slowly healing.
Sharing my memories ...
photos,
laughter,tears
and prayer
is the ointment
to repair
my grief.
Thank you for listening.






Sunday, May 22, 2011

SUNRISE, SUNSET IN THE SEA OF CORTEZ and MAINLAND MEXICO


SUNRISE..........................


SUNSET............................
 

Have you ever wondered what happens between sunrise and sunset .....
sailing in a little boat
on a BIG ocean
 in the
Sea of Cortez or Mainland Mexico?

Morning breaks .... with little fanfare.


..... after the first cup of coffee
and while first mate whips up
breakfast,
(people think we eat beans and hardtack...
whatever hardtack is?)

the Captain checks the rigging
to find the line
that banged on the mast
all night.
clang .... clang .... bang....bang....clang!



 The Captain's work is never done ............
Right after breakfast
the barnacles
on the dinghy
have to go ....
barnacles on the bottom
really slow a
 dinghy down.

Oh yeah!
Much better ..... First Mate says.
Just in time for my after-breakfast siesta.



WHAT DO 'YA MEAN
THE COCKPIT DRAIN IS PLUGGED UP!
You can't call a plumber!
So the Captain will have to fix it!

While he fixes the drain

the First Mate does laundry

then shops for a nice pork head for lunch.
 
How about a lobster tail instead!
Okay fine ..... you talked me out of the
pig's head!


After a swim


and a swig of beer




Cpt. E takes a siesta .....
confident that the crew
is on watch
on the foredeck.



Hey Matey ...... who's watching the horizon for
BIG ships?
Long afternoon siestas
in the heat of the day
leads to



 dramatic sunsets.

Manana es un
otra dia.

Hasta manana.


Wednesday, May 18, 2011

ARMED FORCES DAY, MAY 21,2011


MAY 21, 2011
ARMED FORCES DAY

  
THESE HAVE SERVED  WELL
KOREA




CPL. CLARENCE ELDON LAWSON
U.S MARINE CORPS



Harold Ekmanian,  Navy
 Okay .... funny problem here.
Technically inefficient that I am
I posted two photos
of my brother-in-law,
Harold Ekmanian
 Problem?   I can't seem to erase one ..........OR all the photos above his
disappear.
That would erase
ELDON!
Actually .... Harold deserves to have his photo
posted twice.

SONS AND FATHERS, GRANDSONS, BROTHERS,
DAUGHTERS, COUSINS, UNCLES and IN-LAWS
HAVE SERVED



BROTHER AND
GRANDSON



A BROTHER


(COMRADES IN ARMS ..... AND A CAN OF BEER)
Father, sons and grandson all served

GRANDSON

MARINES




                                                                                                                         


                                                                     
DAUGHTER




GRANDSON



GRANDSON SERVING ... AND ONE THAT WILL
"Boy .... salute your superiors!"

THOSE WHO ENLISTED


AND SERVED PROUDLY



A SON

AND DAUGHTER , HIS WIFE, PROUDLY IN UNIFORM


 THIS SON PROUDLY SERVED

GRANDSON STILL
SERVING

Names are missing on some,
but they
are sons and daughters,
grandchildren and brothers
of us all


 



MY FATHER
WALTER D. KAEMERER
NATIONAL GUARD
1940'S
THIS PHOTO NOT TAKEN WHILE HE
WAS IN NATIONAL GUARD




 
 
AND HIS BROTHER JOE KAEMERER WW 11

Years and distance separate
family ....
but together here
we  respect their service to our country .

Austin Steeves

David Kaemerer


Carl "Butch" Kizman

Dave Kaemerer




John Anton Kaemmerer
Ancestor
Civil War Veteran
Kaemmerer, Kaemerer,  and various other spellings




John Anton Kaemmerer
Gravesite, Civil War Veteran
Monica Kaemerer Lawson's Great Grandfather





THANK YOU

 SERVICE TO COUNTRY
 FAMILY
AND GOD


AND THESE
WE DO
WELL
TO REMEMBER