a sad goodbye

A week ago this past Friday, on March 16th, we said goodbye to my Father-in-law, Bill.

It was very unexpected. We received a call that he had fallen and was unresponsive. That was Monday evening. By later that night we found he had suffered a stroke, and by wednesday we received the news that his condition was very poor. By 1a.m. Friday morning he had passed.

There is so much about him that I loved, and so much I don't want to forget.

He loved to pick. and pick. and pick. After getting to know him better, it was easy to see where my husband gets it. And he was a jokester. My husband talks of how his dad would rig up different little booby traps to "get" them when they were younger. He also tells of the time when he and his Mom came home to a mysteriously dark house, only to find his Dad had been waiting outside to tap on the windows to scare the poo out of them. And there's the time my husband talks of when his dad took them up to the old covered bridge nearby and hid in the shadows with big pieces of sheet metal. When all the kids were on the bridge, he shook the sheet metal and it made a eerie ghost-like sound and scared them all to death.

And there were those sayings he liked to say ALL the time. "I've been better, just can't remember when" was one of his favorites we all heard on SO many occasions.

He loved history. He was a War Between the States history buff (I would be corrected if I said Civil War). He was a member of reenacting groups for years and could tell you any informations that you wanted to know (and sometimes even if you didn't want to know) about the War, or any other War, war plane, weapon, uniform... anything.

He was very proud of his family's Scottish heritage-- all things Celtic, for that matter. His family's decent was from the Stewart of Appin clan. He played the bodhran drum and penny whistles in two different Celtic bands and would break out into Celtic ballads or verse in a thick Scottish brogue with no warning. I loved it.

If you knew my father-in-law very well-- or even if you had even met him only once-- you knew that he was a storyteller. A certified, went-to-the-conventions, member-of-the-guild, storyteller. There were so many that I heard more than once-- more than two or three times, for that matter. I don't ever want to forget his stories but even now, only a little over a week after he has passed, I find that I can't remember the stories. We had a Halloween party last year and towards the end we had him tell some stories for the kids. (It was actually me who wanted to hear them, though.)

He is missed more than words can express. He wasn't my father, but I loved him. He accepted me into the family and I knew he loved me. There is a hole in our lives now that will never be filled by anyone else. It's going to take a very long time to move on.

Bill with my Brother-in-law

Bill is on the left, doing what he loved.

If you knew him well, you've seen this expression many times.

This is how we will always remember him. 

oh, that pipe.

We said goodbye to Bill at a memorial at St. Peter's Episcopal church, then celebrated his life by throwing a proper Scottish wake at a local pub. The Celtic bands he played in joined us to play and sing, and Bangers and Mash were served (his favorite). I think he would have been so proud.

{family) Aunt Vivian's recipe tin

I've posted before about my love for food, and cooking/baking, and where it's roots are. Knowing this bit of information about me will help you understand how excited I am about a little treasure I came upon while looking through some boxes at my parents' house this weekend.

Tucked away below some beautiful old glass dishes was a small pink tea canister FULL of recipes. This box had belonged to my Great Aunt Vivian. Now, when I think of my Aunt Vivian, I recall a home that was always full of wonderful food, yummy sweets, pretty hard ribbon candy that one doesn't see often anymore, a fridge stocked with glass-bottled Cokes, and listening to long talks between my mom and other family members at the table in an entirely blue kitchen. Blue. Everywhere. Blue flowered wallpaper, blue glasses and pieces everywhere, china plates with blue flower patterns hanging on the walls, and --now I was small mind you, but if I remember correctly-- blue counter tops and tiles. (Family, am I right? it's a bit blurry)

When my mom told me this little box had belonged to Aunt Vivian, immediately I said "But it's pink!?". She said that before the blue kitchen, there existed a pink one. And I will imagine it as wonderfully over the top as the blue one. I will always remember that great kitchen.

Right away I began shuffling through the clippings and little scraps of papers with recipes scratched on them. I found some treasures.

There are so many to share, so please bare with me. I may go a little overboard with photos. I love old things, and I have fallen in love with this tin of fun.

There were an high number of wrappers from things like Carnation canned milk, and Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk, and an even higher number of clippings from the newspaper.

I am going to try these!

I even found a recipe that, I assume, I had sent to her. This one was written in my hand, and it is a recipe that I've made several times.

And in a little bundle paper-clipped together, I found, along with some other things, a recipe written by my mom, and a note to my Aunt Missy.

Could they have made food MORE unattractive in photos back then?! ha!

Here is a fun little bit about making colored flames in your fire by using things like Lithium Chloride and Copper Sulphate. Um... ok. Crazy! I actually want to see about this.

There were lots of recipes for things I have never heard of before in my life!!

"yuck" what the first thing I thought. But these look similar to russian tea cakes.

"yuck" also entered my mind with this one. Might be like a custard?

um, I don't know... but I'm just curious enough to try this one. It sounds sort of like a cheesecake-type dessert

What in the world is corn pudding?! There were more than a couple recipes for it.

There were also some family favorites tucked in with all these other interesting recipes.

These were ALWAYS at her house at Christmas time. 

This Dump Cake is different from the one we make now. This recipe uses a cake that has been baked and you break it up and put cherry jello over it, then cherries and whipped cream. 

I had never heard them called "Preacher Cookies" until this past Christmas when my cousin told me. 

this is the same recipe as above. We always called the No-bake Fudge cookies.

This was a little group of recipes that, i assume, was given to her by someone she knew.

I thought this one was too funny...

 I can't figure out quite what this next recipe is for. It calls for a peck of green tomatoes and 3 pounds of onions, cabbage, vinegar, a gallon of cucumbers, pickling spices and sugar. Chow-chow maybe?

There are a lot of recipes in this box that I'd like to try. 

Interesting name.

I haven't had this in so long... I need to make some soon!

 And there are some things that I just think are cute...

even a couple little doilies in the mix :)

 I don't know where all of these recipes came from. She may have not written them all out herself, but I love looking through this little treasure box. It's like a glimpse into her daily life. I wish she was still here so I could ask her about some of them. Sometimes I feel guilty about holding onto little things like this around my house. Little papers, and clippings from magazines. Little drawings and doodles that I've stuffed into boxes and envelopes. But one day, when I'm gone, I think that those are the things that those I've left behind will cherish as I cherish this little box of recipes.

Aunt Vivian and her twin brother, Midian. 

Aunt Vivian and Uncle Richard, her husband.

**EDITED TO ADD:

Aunt Vivian in her ALL-pink kitchen!

A little change... maybe?

This blog began in an attempt to show the goings-on in our lives as Zach and I planned for our wedding. I still have lots to share, but I was looking at my page today and am now wondering if I should change the tag line-- because I am now a Landrum. And this thought led to another- I think it may be time to revamp this blog into something a little more presentable. I think it needs a more stream-lined look, and a tag-line change. We will see what happens. I think I may need to ponder this for a while.

So you may see a few changes to this before it is finalized. "Please pardon our mess!"

{life} Family Slide Show Night

In my journey of becoming a Landrum, I have found that the family in which I grew up, and the family in which my fiance grew up, have one great thing in common: We have a very strong connection to, and desire to learn about and uphold, our heritage. In my post about a cake recipe I touched a little upon my connection with my family and our closeness. Well, Sunday night I had the honor of getting a glimpse into the past of my future family, the Landrums.

We had my fiance's mother's side of the family over to our house to watch a collection of slides that was recently found. I was able to sit and listen to my future mother-in-law go back and forth with her brothers about what they remembered of their family when they were growing up.

It was a military family. They traveled a lot, and saw/lived in many different places.  My fiance's Grandfather's plane was shot down in Vietnam. They are very proud of where they have come from.

It was an amazing evening filled with lots of great food, laughing, love, and reminiscing. I thought I would share a few shots (or a lot) of our evening together.