A morning serendipity!

This morning as I walked at the Y, a lady came up to me and said, "Aren't you Barbara Radmacher." "I bought my first house from you...on Lemon Street in Corydon."  (My Auntie's house...oh! what precious memories!)  I said, "Yes, and I remember you and your little boy were going to have a Happy Meal on the front porch that first night."  She said, "Oh, yes, he loved that front porch swing.  He's 21 now.  He was 4 then." 
Wow!  17 years...... 
Thanks for the memories.  They have put a smile on my face today that just won't quit :)

Memories of Christmas' past

another blessing (and there have been many!) to my downtime due to back pain, has been an opportunity to go through old pictures. I found some treasured memories there :)

Gregg Allen's first Christmas - 1967

My brother, Scott, and Gregg cleaning the mixer blades - 1969.

Michael's first Christmas - 1970...with Grandma Fern. She was always on the floor playing with the kids...or in the kitchen, of course!

Gregg with my Grandma Kemp & her heavenly sugar cookies - 1970.

Gregg & Michael - Christmas morning 1973. I think this is my all-time favorite Christmas picture. They were sooo delighted to see a train under the Christmas tree that morning :)

Bill & Gregg on "Train Day"

Michael & Gregg playing with the train :)

The boys Christmas tree - 1975. pretty sad, isn't it? but we all had such fun putting it together.

Jason & his cousin Reed - Christmas 1976. They were such a cute two-some. That's my precious Dad & SIL Judy in the back.

the boys - 1978

games on Christmas afternoon...can almost smell the Mexican Wedding Cookies Mom Fern always kept in that tin in the forefront of this picture. Ummmmmmm!

Niece Shannon's (now Shannon Oakes) first Christmas.

Our niece Rachel & Jason - Christmas 1980. (the previous Christmas Rachel was only 3 weeks old)> Finally, some girls in this family :)

Niece Kelley (now Kelley Delaney)- Christmas 1982




love the memories....hope to make more this year!

A Christmas visit to NYC

Bill & I just got back from a visit with Jason & Laura and Lil Johnny Cash in NYC.  Great time!!!  The  Saturday night before Christmas at Rockefeller Center is an experience!  Wall-to-wall people on the plaza around the skating rink and THE tree made it hard to get good photos, but I captured a lot in my memory mind!  I loved it!!  Thanks, Jason.

Jason led the way.  It was great to have a 6'4" guy to hang on to.

The true scope of this scene is impossible to capture in pictures.  The 74-foot tree, the figures, the flags, the skaters, the giant dancing snowflakes, the angels, the store windows, the excited crowd........it's magical!

Yes, that is indeed Bill Radmacher in the center of all the hoop-lah of NYC.  Jason, Laura, Bill & I attended the broadway show "Lombardi" -- and we all loved it.  Check out the web site....it's getting great reviews.

We did some fine dining in beautifully decorated restaurants X 2 (sharing with niece Rachel on Sunday evening which was a special treat!).

Well, I just couldn't wait for LJC (Little Johnny Cash) to get her Christmas present so we went ahead and let her open one of the two.  I had a hard time deciding which one, but decided I was most anxious to see if she would "take-to" a new bed, as she's already pretty stuck on her autographed pillowbed.  She jumped right in and snuggled down quickly.  Now Jason has promised pictures of the gift she will receive on Christmas morning.  Stay tuned.................

This shot is just a block from Jason & Laura's apartment.  A 76-story (i think)

new construction, pretty skyline and beautiful sky.  Lovely!

AND extra special additions to our visit were the Sunday morning worship service at Jason's church, John Street United Methodist, and the Vespers service Sunday evening.  Wonderful services.  Special memories made here!

Cookies! Cookies!

                        COOKIES!

                            COOKIES!

  COOKIES GALORE!

Can there be a finer afternoon than one spent making cookies with
your grandchildren?  I doubt it!  Avery and Lydia had a blast mixing
and designing these lovelies, and I was delighted to watch it happen
and handle the clean up.  Too sweet!

We Four and no more!

Scott is probably the most "stuck on tradition" person I know.  He loves reminiscing of days gone by and will never understand why "it all had to change."  Last night was the first time Gregg, Jason, Scott and Michael had been together in a lonnnnnnggggg time.  Scott couldn't wait to get a picture and it was most important that he say "We four and no more!"  ---guess you daughter-in-laws better just move out of the way!  The quote actually comes from Scott's Great-grandfather's era...He and his two brothers and a brother-in-law formed the "company" that became the Keller Manufacturing Factory and that was their slogan... "We four and no more!" 

Happy 3rd Birthday to Logan

                                                                                    

a dubious salute  ... We all enjoyed celebrating Logan's 3rd birthday.  What a precious little boy!!

Grandma Lisa's pirate ship cake was a true masterpiece!  "Great job, Lisa!"  (There's a story going around that this was the 2nd creation....I'm not sure what dastardly disaster destroyed #1)

What pirate can resist a blazing sword fight?  ...which frightened MeMe to pieces!    

Whenever Logan needed a break from sword fighting, he just dropped to the floor.  Notice the new and beautiful hardwood floor at Derrick and Kelley's ...accolades to Frank, Joe and Derrick.

....and I just can't resist adding this picture of Miss Kitty (aka Piston) napping on the keys.  She just loves to sleep on the computer keys...which is fine UNless you're trying to use them!                                            

"Good morning glory!"

The sun coming up on our Japanese Maple tree this morning was such a beautiful sight.  As I looked at it...thinking     "morning glory," I recalled how my Dad greeted me any morning he was at home when I got out of bed...."Good morning, glory!"  I didn't like it then, but oh how I treasure that memory now.

Easter blessings

Another blessed Easter!  Upon arising on Easter morning, the sun was streaming through the windows and you could see it was going to be a gorgeous day.  I snapped this picture of the sun shining on my porcelain eggs (gifts I received many years ago from my special mother-in-law Fern).  The basket is resting on a doily crocheted by my mother.  Special memories carry on, don't they?  On....and...on...and on.  Yesterday, we made more memories....family and friends sharing together at church and at our Easter get together.  I love the quote from Sir John Bowring, "A happy family is but an earlier heaven."
Grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws, and friends.....a special time together. 
Conversations......food.....egghunts.....bubbles.....baseball.....more food.....more conversations.....a great time.

And we remembered and thanked God for the true message and miracle of Easter.  Christ is risen!  Christ is risen, indeed! 

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far to small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

by Sir Issac Watts

Christmas memories

My dad always put the lights on our Christmas tree. I can still see him trying to untangle the mass of twisted cords and colored lights. He would spread the strands out on the linoleum floor of our living room and admonish us kids repeatedly, "Don't step on the lights!" ... "Don't step on the lights!" I always wondered why he hadn't put those lights away more carefully the year before so they wouldn't be so tangled. This thought comes back to me most clearly every year now when I play the 'untangling game'. Those darned strands have a way of intertwining despite the care taken in putting them away the previous year!
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I remember trying and trying and trying to get to sleep on Christmas Eve...knowing that morning would come sooner if I could only get to sleep; yet, finding it impossible to get my body to cooperate.
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Grandma Kemp's cookies! Always made with such infinite care. Santa's, Christmas trees, stars, camels, bells, gingerbread men...covered with red, green, white and yellow icing (made from scratch, of course!) and decorated with tiny silver candy balls, red or green sugar crystals, raisins and chocolate chips. And were they yummy!
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I fondly remember last minute shopping trips with my dad. His boss always gave them a cash bonus on Christmas Eve and we would make that last trip to the Corydon Fair Store that evening. Dad always spent more than he should on extra gifts for everyone for fear someone would be disappointed come Christmas morning. We all knew how much he loved us and, that if money were no object, the world would have been ours. Still....I always felt like the luckiest girl in the world come Christmas morning.
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I remember the great excitement and anticipation I felt when Bill and I lived in Evansville and would prepare to "come home" for Christmas.
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Christmas candy...chocolate covered creams, orange slices, all flavors of hard candy, coconut bon-bons, caramels, horehound, peppermint sticks...ummm! ummm! Candy was another purchase we usually made on that last minute Christmas Eve shopping trip. One year on Christmas afternoon ALL of the candy came up missing. We searched everywhere....through the kitchen, living room, all the torn-off ribbons and wrappings...no candy! Then my mother had a heart-thumping thought..."I didn't get the candy bags mixed in with all the paper trash I took out to burn, did I?" Well, lo and behold, a trip through the back yard to the pit where we burned our trash revealed our candy......melted into a mound of 'candy ash.' Woe! Oh, woe! We can laugh about it now, but then it was crying time for sure.