In remembrance.

Four years ago today my mum passed away.

Here are a few very random things that remind me of her and memories, some quirky that I don't want to be forgotten in the passing of time.

* My mum was born on 22nd December 1930 in Nottingham and came to live in Cornwall after her wedding to my dad in 1953. (There is a post about the wedding but I don't know how to link to it.)

* She was bought up a Catholic and wanted to be a nun but became C of E when she married.

* One part of her Catholic upbringing meant we were never allowed meat on Fridays, it always had to be fish!

* She went to Rome to see the Pope John Paul II about 8 years ago and was delighted.

I do hope my elder brothers appreciate me putting this photo on here!

* She was quite fit and healthy and full of joy de vivre. She belonged to a walking club and went on weekly 5 mile or so walks right up until the day before she collasped with a stroke, 2 days before she died.

* She loved to dance and would do so at any given occasion especially at weddings. She even joined my older girls on their dance mats, she was probably 72 then! After I dragged her along to participate in a 5 hour aerobathon she took up line dancing and this became her weekly night out, without my dad, again this was right up until her death.

* She loved to sing, often this was in a Hilda Ogden (Coronation Street) fashion, of course she didn't mind being referred to as Hilda Ogden as Coronation Street was one of her favourite programmes along with Dallas. You could also guarantee a phone call on your birthday and pick up to the strains of 'Happy birthday to you' Other favourites were 'Ave Maria', 'Pie Jesu' 'Edelweiss' and 'Meet me in St Louis'

* The worst singing and dancing memory I have is when she went to Spain in 1981, her first holiday abroad, she came home with the 'Birdie song' record in Spanish which had to be played, danced to and sung over and over again lol!

* She had no fear, trusted everyone and spoke to anyone. I had to nag her into being more careful going out at night as she would think nothing of walking the dog at 2 in the morning.

* Her favourite flower was a deep red rose but she loved daffodils as well.

* She did the crossword in the newspaper everyday and wouldn't be very happy if you beat her to it! She enjoyed doing jigsaw puzzles and watching quiz shows.

* She adored ballroom dancing and ice skating and would have loved 'Strictly come dancing' and 'Dancing on ice' as Torvil and Dean were her favourites.

* She was 73 when she died and it's such a shame that she never got to see Lily as I believe that she is very much like her. I like to think that she is watching over us though and have had white feathers fall in front of me whenever I have worried about anything. This happened a lot in the first few months, indoors as well, not just to me but also to my eldest daughter. I happened to mention it to someone, this was about a month later, as I thought it was strange and she said it's apparently a sign that the deceased is okay. I looked it up on the internet and there are loads of stories about it. It certainly made me feel a bit better at the time and still does when it happens. Please don't think I'm la-la, I'm quite sceptical about things normally but also throughout her funeral there were massive rainbows in the sky one after the other, which is also a sign apparently, bizarre I know!
* I have only used old photos in this post as those are the ones I can cope with, anyway the images were so much nicer in the 50's.