Well, glad to see 2023 is over. Quite a bit of bad luck in the juvat AOR during it. But...it ended on a pretty good note.
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Christmas Eve dinner was a great bit of fun. All were in attendance except The Rev who had the late service at his parish in College Station. (He arrived around 1AM along with Santa.)
Christmas Eve Dinner sports a new traditional meal, Beef Wellington. (It used to be Cracked Dungeness Crab, but that's too hard to get nowadays.)
After Dinner, my Brother asked if I still had the family picture box. We had discovered a moving box about 3 x 3 x 3 filled with family photos when my Dad passed in '08. They'd been put in one of our storage closets in my office with the intent of going through them "Some Day". Well, this was that day.
Oldest pictures were these two.
The bottom picture is of my Mom at 1. Her father is holding her and grandfather looking on.
Had to call my Mom's Sister (only surviving member of that generation) to find out who the Lady in the first picture was. Turns out she is the Great Grandmother of my Mother's Grandfather. The mathematician in Beans will no doubt fact check me and let me know if I'm in error, but I think that's 5 generations from me and 7 from my grandkids. I could be wrong. I ran out of fingers.
Me, ~ a million years ago, in Okinawa, looking at the airplanes. Who knew I'd be back in about 30 years in a jet. (BTW, OldAFSarge was already there fixing jets. Just to explain the "Old" part)
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| I'm on the left, my deceased sister is on the right |
I think this picture was my First Communion. Not sure, but we were in Norman OK. My Dad was working on a Civil Engineer Masters at OU.
There were an awful lot more pictures being passed around and we opened a few bottles of wine to celebrate.
A couple of bottles of Pinot Noir inherited from my Dad's cellar. 20+ years old, this seemed like the proper occasion to drink them.
They were fabulous.
And we even had a surprise visit from Santa.
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| Yeah, I know, No Beard, Beans...But he's only 3 Months old. |
Since, my brother was here, we went down to my late sister's house to see if he wanted anything of hers.
He picked these quilts that she had made.
and
The clan started their RTB's the next day and Mrs. J had an appointment that started the third cycle of Chemo.
Apparently, the tumor has shrunk a bit as certain bodily functions are returning. I'll leave it at that and say "Thank you, Lord!"
I'd like to thank all y'all that have prayed for her. Seems to be working, but there's still a long row to hoe.
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| Moon rise Christmas Evening |
Happy New Year to all! Peace to all y'all!
Wow!! I'm first...maybe...anyhoo
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a wonderful time was had by all.
Family photos: in preparation for my Aunt's funeral, one of my 2nd cousins went through the family photo albums and put together 3 large poster boards worth of memories of my Aunt's life. Lots of other folks in there as well...lots of my Dad either standing next to, with his arm around, or looking down at his little sister. Really kinda pointed out how true my Aunt's saying was that he was her best friend, and best big brother. Told that cousin to be sure to label the backs of those photos so the younger crowd will know who is who...
Well, I am off to give the house a quick clean and get the turkey and venison steaks going here. Everyone is coming here for dinner today.
Better remember to take some pictures before folks run away...
Happy New Year to all!!
Suz
Suz,
DeleteThe early bird gets the worm, or so they say. But glad to hear from you.
Wish we'd have had that picture updating ceremony about 30 years ago and annotated the who, what, when, where on the back as you suggested. I've only got my Aunt left from her generation and I'm the oldest in mine. Hard to recover history with that little knowledge base. But that gives me an idea, an electronic database with the pictures and the data. A project!!!! That'll keep me off the streets at night.
Happy New Year, Suz, Thanks
juvat
Santa always seems to have a smile.........:) Good to see more smiles around that dinner table also, more memories to bank into the memory storage unit. Thanks for the news on Mrs. J, rotation still includes her juvat and will until the news changes. Happy New Year to all!!
ReplyDeleteNylon,
DeleteYeah, the littlest grandchild seems to have a very laid back personality, but he's only 3 months so who's to say? It was a great Christmas if a little short as most of the men had to RTB for work, but still worth it.
Thanks and Happy New Year to you and yours.
juvat
May this year see you blessed by God with health and happiness, joy and contentment, a little sadness, but not too much, as without sadness how can you truly know joy? May evils flee from you as smoke. May your loves be many and your enemies few.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
Re: Dungeness Crab - The Omniscient Powers in Sacramento have deemed it necessary to postpone the season until th 5th of January.
Joe,
DeleteThanks, good point of sadness/joy. Hadn't thought about that, but a lot of truth there.
Politicians? A pox on them all. But I wondered about the lack of crab availability.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
juvat
Thank you, sir. It's part of the fast before the feast kind of thing. Some of the Desert Fathers said things about it. As have some more recent Orthodox saints.
DeleteJoe,
DeleteI've enjoyed learning things about your part of the Religion. I think we're on the same vector and that's a good thing.
Peace out, my Brother.
juvat
Happy New Year and I'd like to wish you folks Good luck in '24!
ReplyDeleteRob,
DeleteThanks and back at you,
juvat
How very, very, very good!!!
ReplyDelete~BarbaCat
BBC,
DeleteGood to hear from you. Hope you and yours had a splendid Holiday season and are looking forward to a great New Year.
juvat
One of my memories of living in Santa Maria (dad worked at Vandenberg) was going Dungeness crab catching off of some piers on the coast. We were leashed such that we could almost lean over the edge of said pier. Dad caught a bunch and then at home blocked off the kitchen and let the little bastids roam free before boiling them. Yes, my older brothers tortured me with said crabs.
ReplyDeleteFunny, one of my first memories of coming to Florida after my dad retired was him building a wooden grate for a boiling pot. We were 'At the Pines' which was a long-term apartment building (with its own 9 hole golf course) right next to Mathers' Bridge in Indian Harbor Beach. And then we went that night to catch crabs from said bridge by hanging Coleman Lanterns (with cheap aluminum pizza pans as reflectors on the top of the lanterns so as to cast the light down) and nets, and the next day having a crab boil and feast.
Thanks for those memories returning.
Glad you all had memory time. It's important.
Beans,
DeleteI can see why you would treasure those memories. They're good for the Blood Pressure and taking your mind off "things". I agree, they are important.
juvat
I'm one of those weirdos that has a very good memory and don't need photos or stuff, for the most part, to remind me about the past.
DeleteSadly, the nieces and nephews show no interest in the family past. And it's all going to fade away soon.
Beans,
DeleteThat may be so, but the pics brought back a lot of memories I’d stored in the back room of memories. The pics moved them back into frontal lobe memory.
juvat
On a side note... I am halfway thru the first day of 2024 (it's noon) and nothing has gone wrong yet! I'm going to take the victory where I can find it!!
ReplyDeleteRob,
DeleteBe careful, you don't want to jinx it.
;-)
juvat
732 twelve hour segments in 2024... One down and 731 to go! :-)
DeleteThat's putting it into more manageable data. Thanks.
Deletejuvat
Still gonna suck, this year of 2024. The 'preview of coming attractions' that started in 2023 seem to be getting ready to steamroll us.
DeleteBeans,
DeleteOne can only hope and pray. What will be will be.
juvat
Great news and pictures from your clan. It's good to keep the family info intact. So much of ours was lost. One crusading, do-gooder trashed the trunk of memories during my grandmother's funeral. "There was just a bunch of bad memories in there." So much history gone. And that grandmother was the daughter of a shifty character with a hundred aliases. Not much is known about him. He was constantly oscar mike* to stay ahead of the tar and feathers. But that's oId water thru the cesspool, I guess. Onward into the future. Merry New Year.
ReplyDelete*on the move
STxAR,
DeleteNow THAT family history would be interesting to spend some time looking into! I wonder if the do-gooder did it for the reason stated or to protect his past.
juvat
Sounds like a good sort of Christmas, Juvat. Love that you could find out some information on the pictures (we have a similar "trunk" from my mother's side of the family, of which I am have become the de facto caretaker.
ReplyDeleteI have always read of Beef Wellington, but have never actually seen it in real life. Something to add to the list. Also, incredibly jealous of 20 year Pinots.
Super glad that Mrs. J is doing so well and hopefully on to the next phase! Prayers Up!
THBB,
DeleteNot lecturing, but no time like the present. Besides it's kinda fun and a little bit scary to realize both how long and short of a time span it is between now and then. No time like the present I guess.
The Beef Wellington was excellent, Mrs. J did a great job. Since I was her sous-chef, I got to help and was amazed at how relatively easy it was. And the Pinot Noir went well with it also.
Thanks, Prayers are deeply appreciated.
juvat
It is a good reminder and well taken, Juvat. All of my grandparent's generation has now passed and of my aunts and uncles, only my sister's brother is still alive and he is in his mid eighties at this point.
DeleteTHBB,
DeleteAs is my Aunt. Although she's still pretty active and up to date with things. I got the info I asked for by texting her the picture and asking. She got back to me via text within a few minutes. She's always been a favorite of mine. I didn't post it, but I have a picture of me as a baby sitting in her lap on a family trip to their cabin on the Russian River in California. I thought that was kinda cool.
juvat
That Wellington looks delicious. Same for the Pinot, which is my favorite. I hope you saved me some. I am rather jealous of whomever has those cooking skills at chez Juvat. I've done individuals with a piece of filet, but never the fill roast since my wife HATES mushrooms in anything.
ReplyDeleteAs for Mrs. Juvat, as promised, daily decade still dedicated.
Tuna,
DeleteMost of the time I'm the cook. Mrs J is the baker, so the Beef Wellington was hers. The next night was Prime Rib and that was my responsibility. Not wishing to beat my chest, but it turned out fine. I was sorry to hear yours was "Well Cooked". Bummer.
The Pinot was excellent, although as you can see in the picture it needed a bit of straining. We had our surviving wine maker over for dinner last night and had another bottle of it. She was impressed.
I appreciate the prayers, Tuna, they appear to be working. Still a long way to go though.
juvat
She seems to be in good spirits, and that is not only a big help towards a cure, it's a blessing as well. My best to all of your family. I pray that your prayers are without worry, but filled with confidence in His grace.
DeleteTuna,
DeleteShe's got some ups and downs which is to be expected, but she seems to be hanging in there. There's a bit of worry in me, but I trust he's got a plan and will reveal it at some point.
juvat
Ah beef Wellington, a favorite. Many blessings to you and yours as we move forward into the unknown.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Boss. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip also.
Deletejuvat
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! And what a great looking BW.
ReplyDeleteLSP,
DeleteTasted even better, thanks.
juvar
Thank you, God, for looking after the Juvats!
ReplyDeleteStB,
DeleteI appreciate the prayers. Thanks. They seem to be helping and therefore, successful.
juvat
Juvat, late catching up with "things" after New Year's. Very good news about the reduction of Mrs. J's tumor. Great picture of the crew, but noticed the absence of Miss B. Hope she was only taking a "siesta".
ReplyDeletePrayers Up will continue to be offered in 2024.
Best Regards,
Cletus
Cletus,
DeleteYep, my mistake, Miss B will figure prominently in next weeks post. Doing quite well, but still has the Gastro tube. Got to figure out that conundrum. MG and Younger Brother are doing well. Miss B is doing well and showing quite a personality. Dog appears to be her favorite word at this time. (Might have something to do with 6 dogs in our abode at this point, who knows?)
juvat
Happy New Year and prayers continue for your lovely lady!
ReplyDeleteThanks Old NFO and Happy New Year to you also.
Deletejuvat
We continue to pray for you and yours. We too, have found bottles of Pinot Noir. The last of the 2018 year from my son’s vineyard. Using Photomyne for three boxes of photos from the twenties and thirties of my family in Corsicana! Happy New Year to all my digital friends!
ReplyDeleteAnon,
DeleteThanks, much appreciated. Thanks for the suggesting Photomyne. I'll look into it.
juvat