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The boys have been on vacation the past two weeks...it's been nice having them home. Today is their first day back to school. I'm going to miss them. I hate that they are gone so long during the day...then off to practices for another couple hours...then doing homework for more hours...then it's time for bed. Not a lot of time for...family. I realize it more and more as they grow older...and more independent.
Easter was nice...lots of family, and food. Oh...so much food. We went to my aunt and uncle's...the kids played wiffle ball. The adults talked and laughed and...ate. The little ones played and ran around in diapers and tasted one of each from their Easter baskets.
Papa was there...he recently turned 95. He shared stories of when he was growing up...I love when he does that. His parents immigrated from the Ukraine (we always thought it was Czechoslovakia...turns out it wasn't!). They had...um...11 children? Somewhere around there. A LOT...how about that?
He asked me about my chickens and talked about how they, too, had some, "lots of chickens"...and a BIG garden. He told of how his mother, Maria Stoyka, made the best roast chicken "with lots of butter"...and homemade pirogi's. He talked of foraging mushrooms like his father taught him to...and sneaking homemade sausage from the cold cellar on a Friday (mother said no meat on Fridays!) and getting whacked on the head when she caught him. He talked of swimming in the river on Sundays...all day...then coming home hungry enough to eat cold pirogi then finding a quiet place in the grass to rest in the sun.
Papa's father was a coal miner...and a very hard worker. He worked in the mines all day...then at home the rest of the time. Papa said his father was an innovator...always creating things to make tasks easier...more efficient. I told Papa that's where he got it...he too is that way. He nodded in agreement. I love hearing about Papa's childhood...he always talks of it so fondly.
Another vacation...come and gone. Another holiday...come and gone.
Not all good...not all bad.
Not all black...not all white.
A gray day...to fit a bit of a gray mood.
3 comments:
it's always fun hearing stories from the past. good thing too for that is how we learn our hearitage in order to pass it on. and, usually we can learn a thing or two from those older folks.
I love those old stories! And as I was reading about Sundays at the river, eating good food, and resting in the grass, I wanted to be there too. What a life! And what a joy that you were able to spend some time with your Papa. :)
Sounds like a very enjoyable day.
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