A Flag for Every Soldier

                                                 30,000 flags, 
              30,000 lives given in service for our country 
                                            from
                            the state of Massachusetts
                                           since the
                                          Civil War

Do we want to know the National total?

God Bless those 

Brave Heroes!

"Love Letters in the Sand"

As I walked along the beach, I stopped to read the hearts carved in the sand, filled with peoples names and the year 2013.  Seeing these names and the love that was being expressed reminded me of the Pat Boone song 'Love Letters in the Sand'.


                      

My walk did not include my camera so I couldn't wait to take the same walk the following day... camera - check, beach -check, walk - check, love letters - gone.  The tides had rolled in and had washed those beautiful love letters out to sea.  But I had my 
camera and my Ben's birthday was the next day.  I could write my own love letters in the sand.

I found a love letter written in the sand last year to me from my grandson, Cameron. And, received via email.  

Now, I wonder if maybe those couples who had written their love letters in the sand had taken pictures or maybe, all they have are their memories.  Today, there are more letters left by the edge of the sea.  Maybe photographed or e-mailed or maybe just a memory.

A Mixed Bouquet

I can remember being not much older than a toddler, taking an afternoon walk with my Mother.  We came upon a grass field filled with brilliant yellow Buttercups.  

I gathered a handful and presented them to her.  She bent over and taking one of them, said something like "let's put this under your chin to see if it reflects yellow, then we will know whether you like butter". 

What an impression that made on me.  Whenever I see a Buttercup, the moment and the learning experience come back.  I have repeated it with my own children and have gone one step further by saving and  pressing the Buttercups they presented to me between pages in the same book where my Mom had pressed flowers that were important to her.  


One of those had to have been  Sweet Peas.  She loved those delicate flowers.  She carried them on her wedding day and when speaking affectionately to her granddaughters, she would call them "Sweet pea".

When Amanda was getting married, she chose Sweet Peas for her bridal bouquet in honor of her Grandmom.  Stephanotis was also there.  It was a bridal must of my Mother's.

Lilacs were another favorite of hers.  When my Tammy made her First Communion, my Mom arrived from Philadelphia with buckets of this fragrant breath of spring to make into beautiful arrangements in my home for this special occasion.  And, when one of her Grandchildren would tell a fib, she would call that child "my little lilac" (lieloc??)

                                   Lily of the Valley

Sweet Peas, Stephanotis, lilacs and Buttercups, her favorite flowers, they go together - in one fragrant Mother's Day bouquet for my Mom.  











         The Victorian Meaning of Her Favorite Flowers 

             Buttercup - cheerfulness and charm
             Lilac - first emotions of love, and beauty
             Lily of the Valley - sweetness, happiness and humility
             Stephanotis - marital happiness
                           and
             Sweet Pea - THANK YOU!