Winterizing the lake house

The older I get, the closer I watch the weather. Which is a good thing since we own a lake house on LBJ and it gets colder up there than here in the big city. I was checking out the forecast a couple days ago and realized an Arctic snap would arrive mid-week. Cold as a well digger's backside, as my granny always said. So the husband and I toodled up to the lake house today to insulate outside faucets with those foam covers, plus turn off the water to the house at the street and empty the pipes. You just never know when the electricity might go out, which would put the pipes at risk for a break or leak if they freeze. We know several folks on the lake who had that happen about a year ago when we had snow and ice. Thankfully for us, we had the forethought to turn off the water. So all we had to do was purge contents of the fridge and freezer after losing power for almost four days. That was a smelly task.

Our favorite restaurant at the lake in nearby Kingsland was temporarily closed last weekend for some remodeling they've started. We were happy to see them reopened today so we could get a chicken fried chicken cutlet fix. It's all made from scratch and really tasty. My mother always enjoyed their home cooking, as well as chatting with the older ladies who waitress there.

We hadn't taken the boat out since late October. We don't keep a trickle charger on our boat or jet skis in the off season, so we were thinking the battery might have died. While I was finding a place for the vintage goose decoy I bought at a new-to-me antique shop I stumbled across recently, the husband lowered our boat out of the lift at our dock and uncovered it. We spent about an hour cruising around the lake enjoying the sunshine, checking out changes since the fall while enjoying the lack of jet skis and wake boats. It's a treat to be on the lake when it's mostly deserted and the water is calm.

IF I had a beach house and could tolerate folks tracking sand all over the floors without losing my mind, I'd absolutely need to purchase one of these whales below to add hooks and use as a towel rack. I was snooping through Etsy this week and ran across them in one of my favorite shops. Aren't they fun!

Family treasures

If you search online for vintage cameos, you quickly realize there are a lot out there and they typically aren't expensive. Despite their modest value, cameos are seriously old school since some of the earliest examples date back to ancient civilizations like Egypt, Greece and Rome in the centuries before Jesus' birth. Cameos are something you might find in your great granny's jewelry box, along with a hatpin. And maybe a piece of hair jewelry that belonged to your great granny's mother. Hair jewelry is kinda gross, in my opinion, but that's a whole other post!

Last week when my sister and I were sorting mother's belongings to decide what we'd keep or donate, I realized I couldn't find granny's big cameo pendant that mother inherited. After a bit of an initial panic, I swam through the pea soup of my fuzzy menopausal brain to the realization that I already stored the cameo in our safe. Then I had to be sure I was remembering the correct safe place... because seriously, I guess I need to start a master of list of safe places where I store things, because I put them there and then forget where the safe place is located. 

Sure enough, I located the large cameo pendant in the safe. I had always wanted this cameo because it reminds me of granny. I wore it on my wedding day (see the fuzzy pic below) and I'm hoping my girls will choose to incorporate it into their own wedding celebrations one day, too.

The other reason I wanted this cameo is because of the history behind it. My grandparents got married right before the start of World War II. Pawpaw got drafted in 1942, serving in North Africa and then Italy. Granny stayed home and moved in with her mother. For a while, she worked at an airplane factory in Fort Worth. The history nerd in me loves that I'm descended from a WWII vet and Rosie the Riveter. Towards the end of the war, Pawpaw was working his way up the boot of Italy and traveled through the area around Naples. While there, he traded a chocolate bar and some cigarettes in his rations for a small box of hand carved cameos by a local artisan. That's how these Italian cameos got to southeast Texas.

The first cameo wasn't set until over four decades later when granny had the largest one made into the pendant I wore at my wedding. Granny came from very humble beginnings that didn't really improve as she aged, and so never had the money to do anything with the cameos most of her life. I'm so happy I have the framed photo of my granny, below, wearing the cameo pendant. I just wish I had a picture of my mother wearing it, too. The only cameo that left granny's possession was the one she gave to her beloved sister, Jodie Ruth. Jodie had that cameo incorporated into a shorter strand of pearls. When she passed, her daughter who inherited it passed it along to my mother, and now it's mine. It was also added to the safe last week when I located it in mother's jewelry box.

My mother had the two smallest cameos made into rings for my sister and I when we were in high school. I've still got mine, and wish I could make it fit on my wrinkly, middle-aged finger. Honestly, I seldom wore the ring when I was younger because the stone used to make cameos is porous. I was always afraid I wouldn't be careful enough and it might get damaged. I was looking at the ring last week, thinking maybe I'll have it reset into a necklace. Or have a new ring made. There's no point in having lovely or special things that remind you of precious people if you're just going to keep them in a box and never enjoy wearing them.

About ten years ago, mother mentioned to me that there were three mid-sized cameos remaining. I decided to have each of those set in gold, one for each of granny and pawpaw's great granddaughters. They've been tucked away in their boxes until the girls are older and I can be sure that when I give it to them the cameos will be appreciated as treasured keepsakes and well taken care of to eventually pass along to their children with this sweet story of our family.

On the road again

I'm SO excited! I just booked a trip to Israel for later in the year with a good friend who also had the Holy Lands at the top of her travel bucket list. I get goosebumps every time I think about walking in the footsteps of Jesus and the Apostles. It's gonna be beyond amazing, and I can hardly wait.

The lake is my happy place

Friday afternoon, the husband and I hit the road to the lake house with our three furbabies in tow. The college coed decided to drive in from Austin for the weekend to join us. We kicked off the weekend with a visit to Bear King Brewing Co, a new place we wanted to try. The husband opted for a flight of interesting beers in these cute little glasses, while I stuck with tea since I'm the designated driver.

Since we didn't make it to the lake much in 2021, I had to make a bit of a haul at the HEB in nearby Marble Falls to restock the basics on Friday. The last time I was up there to check on things in Dec, I started a big purge of the pantry and fridge to toss out things that expired. This weekend I was able to get that finished. Now I just need to make a second grocery store trip to get everything else in place we need to continue entertaining up there. You know, things like blocks of Velveeta cheese for queso and BBQ sauce for grilling. Proudly clogging arteries since May 2020!

The furbabies enjoy patrolling our little yard, prancing up and down the bulkhead and dock to keep an eye on things. The folks across the water have a couple spaniels, and so our Pepper and Chorkie play some echo barking with them. And any duck that dares to paddle by gets a big woof, too. Our temps maxed out in the mid 50s all weekend, and so we stayed inside much of the time. No trips out on the boat... BRRRRR. The dogs enjoyed cuddling with us beneath various throws and blankets after an outside jaunt. At one point, all I could see of the Chorkie was this one foot peeking out from beneath the covers at a humorous angle.

On Saturday, our TV in the living room above the fireplace decided to kick the bucket. That forced the husband and coed upstairs to the TV in the family room to resume the new season of "Ozark". Sunday morning we made a trek to the handy dandy Walmart in Marble Falls to replace it. Honestly, I seldom watch TV when I'm at the lake. I'd much rather sit on the back porch and watch the world go by. Or check out what's happening on Lake LBJ by boat.

We bought the lake house the month after mother was diagnosed with cancer. And boy howdy did she love to spend time up there. We made some great memories with her that first year. As her health declined in 2021, we just couldn't get up there as much anymore. Her favorite thing was to cook out hamburgers and then lounge on the back porch to watch boaters cruise by and give them a big wave. Any time we were indoors, she'd park it in that big cream colored oversized club chair with ottoman over to the right in the above pic and have me find a good movie or cooking show for her to watch. It was all pretty simple, but it was always a good time with mother riding shotgun on any outing or vacation.

Linda Ruth Lowe Griffin

I composed the following obituary for my mother and placed it to run in the Beaumont Enterprise newspaper on January 19-20, 2022. 

Linda Ruth Lowe Griffin

Beloved Mother and Mimi

Aug 28, 1946 - Jan 16, 2022

 

Linda Ruth Lowe Griffin passed from this earthly life to her eternal heavenly home on January 16, 2022, in San Antonio, Texas. Born to Doris Pearl Simmons Lowe and Dolphus “Slim” Homer Lowe on August 28, 1946, in Marshall, Texas, the family moved to Sour Lake when she was in elementary school. Linda had fond memories of growing up in Southeast Texas with her fellow baby boomer classmates. A graduate of Hardin-Jefferson High School class of 1964, she attended Chenier Business College in Beaumont, working various executive clerical jobs over the course of her career. When she was offered the option of working from home, she happily relocated to the Texas hill country to be near her daughters and their families. They were happy to spend almost fifteen years with their mother and Mimi close enough to enjoy on a daily basis.

An avid cook, Linda loved trying new foods. Her family was a glad recipient of Linda’s culinary efforts over the years, whether it was her mother Doris’ fudge icing atop a Texas sheet cake, or yummy cornbread dressing every Thanksgiving. All of the homemade goodies she whipped up were created with love for the family she treasured. Linda was an initial introvert who became an extrovert as she matured, friending folks in every waiting room and checkout line just like her mother Doris always did. She also developed a love of travel, both here in the US and abroad. Some of her favorite trips included fall foliage treks to Maine, shopping the German Christmas markets while cruising the Rhine River, high tea in London and spying Queen Elizabeth’s corgis on one of her visits to Windsor Castle.

Several years ago, Linda joined Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) where she enjoyed deepening her faith as she studied God’s word with newfound friends. Thankfully, she was at peace as she battled cancer this final time. Initially diagnosed in her mid-30s, Linda prayed she’d live to see her daughters graduate high school. The Lord graciously granted her almost four more decades to watch her grandkids earn high school diplomas and college degrees. What a blessing that she was present for so many amazing milestones through the years, and the wonderful memories they made with her.

Linda was preceded in death by both of her parents. She is survived by daughters Carrie Griffin Fraser and her husband Jason, as well as Dana Griffin Riggs and her husband Travis, all of San Antonio; grandchildren Annie Fraser and Callie Fraser (both of Austin), as well as Garrett Riggs (San Angelo) and Lauren Riggs (San Antonio). The family would like to thank extended family and friends for their many visits, cards, calls, texts and prayers during the course of Linda’s illness. She cherished reconnecting and catching up with so many people who were special to her. An only child, Linda thought of her dearest friends Glynda Hunter (Sour Lake) and Linda Ivie (Burleson) as sisters.

We would be remiss if we neglected to mention Linda’s five snort-tastic pugs she had over the years, cremated so she could have them with her after she passed. Opting for cremation herself and expressing that she didn’t want a remembrance service, Linda will be buried at Rosedale Cemetery in Sour Lake, Texas, next to her mother Doris when a joint monument is completed and ready to be set this spring. If you would like to honor Linda’s memory, the family suggests a donation to help support the ongoing missions of Bible Study Fellowship, the Hardin-Jefferson Education Foundation or an animal rescue of your choice.

It can also be viewed using the following link:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/beaumontenterprise/name/linda-griffin-obituary?id=32305217 

 

Mimi and her grandbabies

(L to R) Annie, Callie, Lauren, Garrett

Nov 10, 2007, in Beaumont, Texas

 

Rest in peace, sweet Mother and Mimi

This afternoon I'm thanking the Lord that He called my sweet mother to her heavenly home around 12:15 pm. She was in pain, so I'm relieved that she has shed her cancer-ridden earthly body and is at peace.

These old bruised hands rocked me as a baby, spanked me when I was being a toot, made my favorite cake for lots of birthdays, held my daughters as tiny infants, patted my back and hugged me when I was at my saddest and happiest. I had hoped mother would be with us for many more years to come, but God had other plans. I sincerely believe mother was ready to go home and be with Jesus, her savior. When her soul left her body as she took her last breath, I know she ascended to heaven and will be waiting for me when my time on earth ends. So it's not goodbye, but rather just see you in a while. 

I take great comfort in the promise of Jesus (below) found in the New Testament book of John. I hope it brings you hope and comfort, too.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

John 14:1-4

 

End of life lessons

After a rough start to the week, adjusting mother's pain medications and her seeming to sleep most of the day and refusing to eat, she had a much improved Thursday and Friday. We propped her up in bed and she was trying to talk to us. Not all of it made sense, but I could see her wonderful personality shining through the mental confusion that has fogged her mind and interrupted her speech recently. She recognized me and we chatted a bit. I was so happy about this turnaround. And yet I wondered if it's what the hospice literature calls terminal lucidity, or an end of life rally. According to what I've read, it can last minutes, hours or as long as a couple days. 

Since I get to see mother every morning/afternoon during the work week, I let my sister head over this morning since she's a teacher and seldom gets to visit with mother when she's more alert. But alas, mother slept most of the time my sister was there and wasn't really coherent. After lunch with my husband and younger daughter, I drove over and settled in for the afternoon with mother. As she neared time for her next dose of liquid morphine, she started to rouse. She even recognized me and said my name. I was trying to talk through my tears and nose blowing, telling her how sorry I was that she's in so much pain and that I love her.

Mother drifted off again, so I pulled up my church music playlist and chose a couple of old Baptist standards. Back when I was in first and second grades, mother played the piano at a small country church we attended. I can remember sitting in the front pew once a week after school while mother practiced the songs she'd be playing at the next Sunday service. As I sang along in my incredibly off-key voice this afternoon, mother seemed to be humming along to "To God Be the Glory" and "When We All Get To Heaven". As the tears rolled down my face once again, I mourned all of the things I had anticipated doing with my mother. Another college graduation. Watching her granddaughters walk down the aisle. The birth of a great grandchild. On the drive home this evening with those church song lyrics running through my head, God reminded me that even though mother will soon leave this earthly life, I'll carry her in my heart until I see her again one day when I get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be!

A heavenly coffee klatsch

It's clear there will be no bounce back to feeling better. It's obvious Mother's decline is relentlessly ongoing and irrevocable despite my hope that maybe I'd arrive today and she'd be sitting up in bed making perfect sense again and pestering me to go fetch her a sandwich from Jason's Deli. She hasn't had anything to eat in over 24 hours now. She will only rouse when we're persistent, and it doesn't last long until she drops off into a morphine induced sleep. But Praise God that her tremendous pain continues to remain at bay and she is resting comfortably. 

Late this afternoon she woke up for about ten minutes and was lucid for part of it. I told her I loved her as tears ran down my face. She asked me if I was crying and I nodded. She told me she loved me, too. She got quiet for a bit, then told me it was about time for coffee and got this peaceful look on her face. Which struck me as odd because she has always been a first thing in the morning coffee drinker. The only time she ever drank coffee in the afternoons was with her mother (my granny) and granny's friends. The old ladies would take turns gathering at each other's homes several afternoons a week to visit over coffee and chain smoke cigarettes.

As a kid, I accompanied my granny and mother to these afternoon gatherings until I was old enough to be left home alone. Or disappeared to my room when they gathered at our house because I hated the smell of cigarettes. The usual crowd was my granny, Carmen, Flossie, Minnie and sometimes Estelle. All of these ladies were Christians, and so I can't help but wonder if this means mother is looking forward to reuniting with these sweet women she knew her whole life. That they're waiting for mother to join them for coffee once again. Minus the cigarettes. I'd love to be a fly on the walls of heaven to witness that reunion.

What to expect...

 ...when a person with cancer is nearing death. Handy Google finished my search query for me in an incredibly sad way tonight as I sat by my mother's bedside and watched her morphine induced sleep. I was led to this article on the American Cancer Society's website where I realized I had observed every bullet point on the list for mother in the last few days.

This weekend kicked off Friday with me blubbering all over mother, and then she asked me to pray for her and so I did that, too. I had been holding it together pretty well up to that point since her stage 4 diagnosis in April 2020. I've been on and off weepy as her treatments were stopped and her health declined, but never in front of her. Friday I just hit the wall of unrelenting anticipatory grief and there was no more denying the fact that she'd be leaving this earthly life sooner than she or I wanted. 

And yet I couldn't shake my fist at God for a life cut short. Mother worked hard to scratch items off her life's bucket list in the last couple decades. She has done so many wonderful things. Seen so many amazing places. And has made so many precious memories with friends and family over the years. It was a life well lived. So I sucked up the gut punch of grief I couldn't ignore, that she would be gone soon while the world keeps turning and life continues to roll along for those of us left behind. The lament of children, even the middle-aged ones, when they lose a beloved parent.

After a bit of a breakdown Friday, I put on the armor of God and got through Saturday. Mother had perked up some and we even chuckled a bit about the paranoid imaginings she recalled. This morning she seemed a bit distracted and at lunch it was worse. By the time I saw her again at 5:30 in anticipation of helping her with dinner, she didn't recognize me or my younger daughter. 

Symbolic of a life winding down, I turned off her iPad and stored it in a drawer. Then I turned off the ringer on her phone and didn't plug it in to charge. She told me yesterday she couldn't remember how to call me on her phone, and that also speaks volumes about where she's at with her terminal cancer. When I went to put away her iPad that has kept her connected with family and friends for years now, I spied these two items below on her nightstand and took a quick pic. That's my mother's mother (granny) taken way back when she was a young woman right before World War II. That little sign is something mother picked up several years ago.

So here I am again, more than 20 years after my granny passed, wanting to dig in my heels and bury my head in the sand at the inevitable pain that's barreling towards me. But I'm stronger than that thanks to my faith. The Lord is holding me in the palm of His hand down this road I'm walking with my mother and I praise Him for it. I have no idea how unbelievers find the strength to get through the grief of a loss like this. And praise God that I won't have to find out because I'm leaning into Him in complete trust to find comfort and peace in the coming weeks and months. 

Preparing to say goodbye for now

I've been blessed to have my mother for 54 years. We have been especially close in the last fifteen-ish years since she moved out to the Texas hill country so she could live closer to us. Often as close as a guesthouse in our backyard. And sometimes she drove me nuts. However, God in His grace allowed us to have mother with us so me and the girls could really enjoy her because He knew we'd all look back on this time with great fondness and some amazing memories.

Raised an only child by a very domineering sort of mother, she really came into her own once she hit middle age. Granny's passing over two decades ago freed her to travel and spend more time with friends/family. And she did. She got to attend school events for all four of the grandkids, from elementary all the way to college graduation for the oldest. She celebrated holidays and birthdays with us. She traveled in the US and abroad. The list goes on and on, and she loved every minute of it.

I don't want this post to sound like my mother's obituary since she's still with us. But the cancer is winning, because evil always does in this earthly life. However, I praise Jesus that Satan and death don't win in the end. Though I'm sad to even think about this impending loss of such an important and beloved person in my life, I take comfort in my faith because I know I'll see mother again in our eternal home one day. 

At the nursing home, I've brought things from her house to decorate mother's room and there is a little corner where I placed her precious pug stuff. As the cancer has spread throughout her body, the pain medicines have been ramped up to deal with it. She tells me almost every day when I go and sit with her that she hears her pugs. Today she told me she can feel Max resting his chin on her knee like he always used to do. She made the tough decision to have Max and his sister Ruby put to sleep last year when her health started to decline. The pugs were already 12 and in failing health, too. She enjoyed it when I'd bring our dogs over to visit, but it just wasn't the same as her darling furbaby pugs.

Mother also told me today that she has been seeing granny in her dreams the past week. I asked her how granny seemed, and she said happy to see her. I can't help but wonder if she's seeing the pugs and granny because they've come to help usher her from this life to the next. God is kind and merciful, loving us more than we can fathom with our limited human intellects. And so I can't help but think He would send sweet pets and her beloved mother to her in her final days. As God reaches out His hand to her, as He does to all of us when we are in need, I hope she takes it with joy and peace as He welcomes her home.

Knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord... I prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 

2 Corinthians 5:6,8

Off to a grate start

Over the holidays, I realized I had tossed out our old cheese grater earlier in the fall because it started rusting and never replaced it. When I was in the grocery store earlier this week, I purchased the largest grater I could find because I knew I'd need one to grate the gruyere for the cheese toast to accompany the French onion soup I planned to make. It's a whopper!

As usual, I had my four-legged monitors in attendance while I was in the kitchen, all loitering in anticipation of something tasty hitting the floor. I dropped a couple rings of the sweet onion I was slicing and they all dove for it. But they quickly, and intelligently, decided it was not something they really wanted and left it alone.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Since I didn't have any kitchen twine on hand, I rooted around in the laundry room and located a bag of zip ties. It was a handy means of securing the fresh thyme together in a bundle to steep in the soup and flavor it. I've used dried thyme in the past, but it's just not as good as the fresh stuff.