Military Funeral

My former father-in-law, my son's grandfather, was given a hero's funeral today.

Alex was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 27, 1939, to Alex and Marie Frisenda.  He enlisted in the USMC at the young age of 18 and proudly served 20 years as a helicopter pilot, which included two tours to Vietnam.  He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and President’s Unit Citation for his efforts in the war and was responsible for the safe medical evacuation of soldiers from all branches of the Armed Forces.  He was a 32 Degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Shriners, VFW, and the American Legion.

At the funeral home, the males of the family, including Jacob, bore his coffin to the hearse for the hour and a half ride to the cemetery.

I love Kyle saluting to the far left. 

Jacob and his big brother Gregory.

 He was buried at Florida National Military Cemetery with Marines escorting his coffin, giving him a gun-salute and sending him off with Taps.  It was absolutely moving.

The guns in the background.

Lone bugler playing.

Family members say one last prayer.

Aunt Sharon and Jacob.

Jacob was given one of the cartridges from the gun salute.

My Crafty Gal

Isabel was discussing Valentine's Day Sunday and I asked her if she wanted to make her own cards or go to the store and get them.  She said she wanted to make them herself.  That's my girl.

We had some doilies left from last year and got to work with rubber stamps, ink, 3D stickers and flowers with brads.

Don't judge my top! I'm still in my pajamas!

Isabel stamped the kids' names onto the fronts of the folded doilies.

Then we stamped a heart under the names.

On the inside, she wrote either "Happy Valentine's Day" or
"I wish you very good luck!" and attached either a 3-D
 flower sticker or silk flowers attached to the cards with flower brads

Yay!  Homemade Valentine's Day cards.  Got to love them.

I hope that your day with your loved ones was a good one.  Cherish them.  

Goodbye, You Great Man.

While in Panama this week, I received a phone call on Thursday the 9th of February.  My co-worker/friend of 14 years called to inform me that my former father-in-law and Jacob's grandfather had passed away from cancer at 2:30 a.m.  My co-worker received a call from Jacob's dad, who knew I was out of the country (my voice mail told him I was out of the country so he called my work) and wanted my co-worker to to pass the message to me in Panama.  He kept apologizing over and over as he heard my tears over the phone line, "I'm sorry, Kaaren. I'm sorry to have to tell you this."

Class 28 of 1959, MARCAD.

I am so glad Jacob got to see him a little under 2 weeks ago.


(I was going to title this "Goodbye, You Great WOP" but thought better of it because people might not understand the joking Al and I used to do to each other.  He'd rip me about being Hispanic and I'd rip him about being Italian.  I assure you, we were politically incorrect with each other and could not give a fig.  His kids would gasp as he would make a Puerto Rican joke, and then I'd counter with an Italian one and make him crack up.)

Stetson University Men's Choral Festival

Jacob took part in the 2012 Stetson University Men's Choral Festival in late January.

Stetson University is a private University located in Deland, Florida; very close to us.  It is a BEAUTIFUL campus.  They have a wonderful music program and every year they invite High School males to attend this Men's Choral Festival.

Jacob spent the entire day at the University, learning 3 new songs, eating some lunch and having a good learning experience with fellow classmates.

They sang in the H. Douglas Lee Chapel in Elizabeth hall that evening.

Including Jacob, there were six young men from his school participating.

Isabel reads while waiting for the concert to begin.

Before the high school students sang, Stetson's Men's Choir and Concert Choir performed 8 different pieces. Then, it was the high school student's turn.

The conductor was Dr. Andrew Larson.  Tammy Miller was on piano and Bridget Johnson was on cello.

Song 1: "We'll Shout and Give Him Glory", arr. Mack Wilberg.



Song 2: "Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair," Victor C. Johnson



Song 3: "Come Travel with Me," Scott Farthing



Jacob enjoyed his experience.

January Reads

Here are the books I read in January:

• The Miracle at Speedy Motors (Book 9 of the 'No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' series) - Alexander McCall Smith
• First Among Sequels (Book 5 of the 'Thursday Next' series) - Jasper Fforde
• Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (Book10 of the 'No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' series)  - Alexander McCall Smith
• The Double Comfort Safari Club (Book 11 of the 'No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' series) - Alexander McCall Smith
• The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down (Book 2 of the 'Yada Yada Prayer Group' series) - Neta Jackson
• Storm Front (Book 1 of the Dresden Files) - Jim Butcher
• The Big Over Easy (Book 1 of the Nursery Crimes series) - Jasper Fforde
• Three to Get Deadly (Book 3 of the Stephanie Plum series) - Janet Evanovich

Wow, January was made up of "series" books.

I'm still loving the sweetness of the" No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series.   Mma Ramotswe is one smart lady who has old time values.  Mma Makutsi cracks me up with her shoes.  I love that in this world of Botswana, the good guys go through tough times, but goodness does prevail.  Take that, Violet Sephotho!

Jasper Fforde is super intelligent.  And insane.  In a good way.  The Thursday Next series is great.  The puns, the literary asides, the random things  (Temperance Brennan, footnoter phones, defeating oral tradition and its consequences) he comes up with are hysterical.  Only one more to go, as far as what's already been published.  But I am happy to note, I have recently received books 1 & 2 of his Nursey Rhymes mystery series, so I'll still have my Fforde-Fix for a bit.

"The Yada Yada Prayer Group" series is a contemporary Christian series.  I picked up the first one for a quarter last year at the library and got the second one for free from the Paperback Swap web site.  The series deals with a completely diverse group of women in Chicago who are put together as a prayer team for mornings before the weekend-long conference.  They come from different backgrounds (school teacher, salon shop owner, real estate agent, house keeper, bagel shop worker, University professor, elementary school principal, etc.), have different histories (raised in a loving home in Ohio, in jail for stealing clothes for younger brothers, former crack addict, immigrants, etc.) as well as different races and nationalities (black & white; Hispanic, Jamaican, Jew, from Africa, etc.)  They have nothing in common except for their love of God and the sacrifice He made for them through Jesus.  This odd group of women decide to meet after the conference and stay in touch with bi-weekly meetings.  The lead character, white school teacher Jodi,  sometimes is annoying, mainly in her jealousy of another member.  That bit bothers me, but the women's relationships with each other go through tests, but remain, and ring, true.

"Storm Front" (Dresden Files, book 1):  I think I should have read this book some time way after reading "Yada Yada..."   I do not care whether a book has supernatural elements in it or not (Hello?  Buffy fan,  Harry Potter fan here) but when the author's writing has this..... "I hate Christianity" undercurrent/feel to it (Harry Dresden does not believe in God.  Wears T-shirts that says "Easter's Been Cancelled.  They found the body,") it turns me off.  I have the second book and will read it. Maybe I'll like it better after I've stepped away from the first one for a bit.  It just bugged me and it's sad, because the Harry character is quirky (I love that he hates current technology and pretty much destroys anything electronic he touches or is near) and has a spirit trapped in a skull in his lab that helps him with his potions, named Bob.

"The Big Over Easy" is another Jasper Fforde insanity that made me laugh. MAN, he is good.  Inspector Jack Spratt (he of the "could eat no fat" fame) is in charge for the NCD - Nursery Crime Division of the police department.  Nursery rhyme puns and references galore in this book.  Jack must solve the whodunnit - who pushed Humpty Dumpty off the wall and killed him.  Super-fun, just like his 'Thursday Next' series.

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum is so ridiculously trashy, I love her.  I literally snort reading the stupid things this woman get herself into.  How in the world she's still alive as a Bounty Hunter is beyond me.  *snort* Aaaaaand there's a new movie out!  I don't care what the Razzie's say, I'm watching it!