Only Once a Year

It comes but once a year, but what a wonderful time. Thanksgiving is our time for the family to put aside all their activites and concentrate on one thing - Family.


We had our annual feast, 3 turkeys, one a regular "Butterball" with stuffing and two were a newcomer. Beth and Mark smoked two birds which were delicious. Then throw in a couple large hams, and all the various side dishes. Mashed potatoes, gravy, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, corn, a huge platter of califlower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts smothered in cheese sauce. Add some home made rolls, real butter, (I know I am forgetting items!) sweet potatoe casserole, ........ then bring along a bunch of pies, homemade of course, apple, pumpkin, cheesecakes, pumpkin cheesecakes, new and totally awesome apple crisp pie, pumpkin cookies and various other items!!



Every year our "clan" grows, this year I think may have been a record - we had 30 bodies for the initial dinner. But as kids grow up, their "friends" come with them, our numbers swell! I have to say tho, there were only three who were not family.
What a thrill for me to watch this happen over the years. As all those grandkids were coming and going yesterday, I thought back to the time when it was our kids only, running through the house, our numbers were so few compared to todays numbers!

Now comes the time for the leftovers, in the long weekend following, family comes and family goes, playing games, eating leftovers and sharing love.

Thanksgiving is probably our second favorite holiday, with the first being the Fourth of July! Christmas falls a close third but because of time constraints, the hustle and bustle of the season, and the chances of winter storms, I think Christmas is only appreciated for it's gifts, the reason we celebrate it and one more reason for a "big" meal!

Another year, more wonderful memories with such a large and loving family. May we all take these times to heart and treasure them, and know how special and rare they are.

Until next time.

The END is COMING!!

Gottcha with that title, huh?!

As we near the middle of November and the end of 2009, I want to note that this year has flown by! (As they all do)

But as the end of this year approaches, I am thinking of what I want for next year. I am going to make a better effort at doing those things that I “should” be doing. Writing in my journal, renewing old friendships, cooking new dishes, letting go of some of those things that tend to pile up, going to the temple a lot more often, and the list goes on and on!

Our annual Thanksgiving feast is coming, all the family is looking forward to this. Then rapidly on to Christmas. Our summer was eventful, going to Albuquerque, which I really want to repeat! We spent several weeks parked at Tom’s cousin’s home in the SLV while he helped him with his potato harvest. I doubt if Tom will do this again, but he might!

In October I was out before sunrise (which is not normal for me!!) but found the sunrise

simply stunning as I was traveling to Pueblo on Highway 50.

How could anyone ever tire of the absolute perfect beauty of God’s creations?

Isn’t life marvelous. . .

Until next time.

Rio Grande Scenic Railroad

Take a wonderful trip, take a steam engine from Alamosa to La Veta. What a beautiful trip. When you do this, find out what days Michael Martin Murphy has concerts and take the train for his concert! Worth every penny!

This Is the scene in the fall from Fir, at the top of La Veta Pass. The only way to see this concert is by train, the only way to see these views is by train. Summers are spectacular! But Michael Martin Murphy makes it all better!

San Luis Valley of Colorado - what a beautiful place. We are here during the annual "Harvest Moon" which is always beautiful wherever you are - but last night as we were going down the Navajo Trail (Hwy 160), that beautiful moon came up and gave us the most incredible show. The lighting was so perfect, with everything clear from the cold air, and with harvest still in full swing throughout the valley.

Give Me A Break!!

John, James, John, John, William, John, John.... How could there be so many JOHN McCormick's in the world - much less in Beaver County, Pennsylvania just in the early 1800's??!! If there are any left in Ireland, it's because they moved back there from Pittsburgh!

I have been trying to get McCormick genealogy done - even though we know a large portion of it. It's been so many years since I have done anything on it - I have to re-acquaint myself with all of them again. And in 1800, they didn't use the middle names, if there was a middle name. How to tell one John from another??? And what is Pittsburgh now, was Beaver, was Ohio Township, was Hopewell, was Second Moon Townships! So knowing the name changes, is about I have to go on right now.

So again, I sleep with names, they dance around in my dreams. They all know I am looking for them, they are so very close. We have old NON-identified pictures of this family, I will get to know them all a bit better and I think I will be able to identify some of them.

The Family is planning a reunion next summer, I would like to have a good amount of genealogy put together for everyone. I will do some type of book(let) for each family. We have two members of the "older" generation left - then we will be the "oldest" generation. We have had a divorce this past year of one of our "long time" families of this generation. One of the sad things, they had been married a long time, so both would have had many memories of the McCormick's. But now one is gone by choice and along with her has went a lot of memories and stories that the young one's would want to hear in a few years. One of the losses of divorce. We have lost another member of that older generation, Tom's mom. So we continue to lose those memories. We are on a mission to preserve some of those stories now.

As much as I would love to just concentrate on genealogy, we find ourselves trying to take care of family issues again. Some things happen that are simply out of our hands, and when one person continues on a path of self-destruction, it's so very sad. Added to this is the fact that this person is not in touch with reality, and there is no convincing them of reality. It's just a terribly sad time for all of us with a lot more sadness ahead. I hope that those who know us, know that we love this person more than life itself, and would do whatever we could to help. But sometimes, others can't help. And how it hurts to see one of your children be hurt, and continue to be hurt. The tears that mom and dad can't stop, the pain we can't heal and the future we can't prevent. These are the times that I am so thankful for the plan of salvation, the knowledge that we are ALL a child of God.

Potato harvest is just around the corner, we leave this week to help out again. Because of all going on here, we really don't want to go, but are obligated to go over. We are hoping to bring back sacks like we did last year, although we may not be able to. There are not as many "taters" this year as last. And not as "cheap". Last year I filled so many sacks, each sack was filled by either Tom's cousin's wife or myself. A lot of work! And I am getting so lazy in my old age!

I hope to scan many (old) pictures while I am over there, I wanted to do that last year and never got to it! Maybe this year. . .

Until Next Time!

July 31, 2009 and summer is on the downslide. The days are getting noticeably shorter, evenings come sooner and dawn comes later. We have been so fortunate to be able to go to Albuquerque to spend a couple days with Carol and Randy – and we all left the same day. Randy being sent home and we headed back to Del Norte! We went through such incredible country going down and coming back up. Going down, we went through Chama, NM, down Hwy 84 to Hwy. 96 to Hwy.550 down to Albuquerque. The best part was Hwy 84. Coming back, wow, took 550 back up to Hwy 4 which goes past Jemez Indian Ruins, Jemez National Monument, Valles Caldera, and Bandelier National Monument. All spectacular. Worth spending two or more days going through, we went too fast!

Tom’s older sister, Peggy, had to have emergency surgery again today. She constantly seems to build up scar tissue and plugs her up. I think this is the 4^th surgery she has had because of this problem, just in the last 5-6 years. Always before, we have been with her but this came on her so fast, we just waited it out here. Our daughters were there as was Tom’s younger sister. She scares me, last surgery we came so close to losing her. About 2 days after surgery, she crashed and ended up on a ventilator in ICU for about 2 months. Her doctor said he had never had anyone so critical pull through. But because of all this, they developed a real good relationship, and he really does care about her as a person. And this time she had signed a “no ventilator” thing – which we don’t agree with! She has very weak lungs, and that is what shows problems first - usually. But she almost always has complications following surgery so hope this time will be different.

We are looking forward to going home for a bit this coming week, if only for 3 days – it will be good to see everyone. That is the worst part, not being close to our family.

Until Next Time……

July (Again)

We are in the small town of Del Norte again, leaving the heat of Fremont County behind. Although it's been cool and rainy at home ever since the day we left! That's okay, when it's 100 over there, it will probably be about 80 here. Last night the low was 47 degrees. Good sleeping weather!

We initially left home June 21 and headed to our usual 4th of July camping with all the family. We had two daughters and families who were not able to attend this year. Boy we missed them. Carol and Randy are in Albuquerque where he is working, Emily is with them. Jamie,

Shawn and Jarred didn't have a way or didn't want to come up. I wish they would all get their own camping gear, they are adults now and needs to take charge of their own lives! But we sure missed them. Katie came up when she wasn't working, but she has her own vehicle and tent. Beth and Mark couldn't come, his mother (Alice) fell and broke her ankle and had to have surgery on it so they had to stay and take care of her. So we are hoping that all will be up there next year! Rick, James and Kip McCormick came up one day, as did John and Linda McCormick. Rick came up one other day also. It was wonderful having some of the extended family up there! Every year we take a picture, in this one of course, Katie was missing and we could have had the valley McCormick's in it too.

Every year my feelings become stronger, as the day comes for everyone to leave, we are left behind and it becomes harder every year to see them all leave. Even though we (for the most part) all live close - this annual event has become to dear to me, and the years have flown by with this being about our 15th year of doing this. I know that the next 15 years will find Tom and I much older! I also know how short these years can be, and it makes me sad. It's something I would like to spend eternity doing, all my family, together, in this small forest park, playing, eating, laughing, napping and just enjoying each other.

As we sit over here in Del Norte, I enjoy spending time with my cousin - I also was always able to spend days with my aunt, but she died this past winter. Her husband is here, and we get to see him. What a nice family they are also. I am very much at home in Del Norte, is it because this is where I was raised, my grandparents lived here, my great-grandparents homesteaded here, or is it deeper? I just feel like this is where I should be. My poor husband doesn't share these feeling of love for this community!

So until next time...