Easter Greetings 2014

Hope all of you had a very Happy Easter, with family, friends and loved ones.

Easter Sunday afternoon was a very mild 76 degrees here, and we had a wonderful potluck dinner out on the patio.

Granddaughters Justine from Southern California and Joanna from Nashville, were both home for Easter this year, much to the delight of my daughter Christine, their mother!

Justine Adele, Grandma Nancy Adele, and Joanna 

George Rowell from Kingsford was also with us this year.

Everything was wonderful, the family together is always the best, and the little ones make everybody smile. Norene brought our favorite dessert -- Strawberry Roll, and Rylie enjoyed helping to make sure everyone received their piece!

Relaxing after eating Easter Dinner on the patio

Here comes Rylie with Norene's Strawberry Roll

Rylie passing out pieces of Strawberry Roll

Alanna

George and Nancy

Happy Springtime -- Summer is coming! 

Memories Through Music

written by Ron Osterberg

        My wife Georgie sang wildly well.  Everyone said that.  Unusual for an Irish girl with Boston roots, she sang the sad ballads of Ireland without crying.  She liked those songs and she liked Irish foot dancing, but her favorites were Broadway musicals.  She knew most and sang them beautifully.

        The song she sang best was “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” from Kismet.  Many singers recorded that song, but none sang it as sweetly as did Georgie.  The song also helped spark a near riot.

        Georgie sang it in a singing competition hosted by a famous local nightclub.  The event was well promoted and many singers competed.  Entrants had their own cheering sections and Georgie’s included her sister Dot, a tough sexy broad.  Private booster groups didn’t help though.  The owner’s niece won.

        When they announced the winner, Dot, with support from a few burly new friends, went ballistic and shouted her sense of injustice.  Other entrants and their fans chimed in yelling that they rigged the contest.  Bouncers scurried around trying to calm the crowd, but they did little good.  Georgie and I left.  Dot said later that we missed much fun.

        The song that drew Georgie and I close was “Fantasy on Greensleeves.”  Before we married, I was a student at UCLA and she lived on the other side of town.  A local radio station played Greensleeves each evening and most evenings I called when it came on so we could listen together.  As we fell in love, it became “our song” and, together or apart, it always brought us back to those days and to each other.  It still does.

        Another song that Georgie loved was the hauntingly beautiful “Malagueña Salerosa” sung by Bud and Travis.  Maybe it was her favorite.  She never tired of telling listeners of the times we saw them live at the Troubadour and the Ashgrove in Los Angeles.

        Shortly before she left us, the song “Georgy Girl” came out and, naturally, she liked the ring of a song with her name in it.  About the song, she said, “That’s me.  People don’t know the real me.  If they did, they’d like me better.”

Happy Anniversary Georgie
April 30, 1961

Hey there, Georgy girl
There's another Georgy deep inside
Bring out all the love you hide and, oh, what a change there'd be
The world would see a new Georgy girl.

Happy Birthday, Ramona

Ramona’s Best Ever Birthday
April 25

        The trial deciding who got custody of Ramona was not going well for her father.  In despair, he jumped out the courtroom window.  Men stopped him, but it didn’t matter since he was only on the second floor and soft bushes ringed the building.

Ramona

        Theatrics like that convinced the judge that this was no run of the mill custody trial.  For her well-being, he temporarily sent Ramona to a children’s home.  Her fourth birthday was a few days later and she had no party.

        Each year Ramona wished for a normal party where kids brought presents, she blew out candles and everyone sang “Happy Birthday.”  One year she got the singing part.  Her mother took her to a local bar where patrons sang Happy Birthday to her all evening.  That wasn’t what Ramona had in mind.

        Ramona spent several years at a Catholic boarding school. Each year on her birthday, nuns brought out a small after dinner cake with ice cream.  The events lasted maybe ten minutes and they were not what she had dreamed of.  Never having an iconic birthday party left a void in her life.

        The void was still there years later when the Hammer family took her to a restaurant for her birthday.  Lori and I were at one end of the restaurant table separated from Ramona, Matt, Sam, Mike and Steve at the other.  Matt showed Ramona a card trick and Steve showed her another.  Giggling, Mike and Sam showed Ramona their tricks.  The four boys took turns telling jokes and they all laughed.  Ramona’s clear easy laughter floated to the rafters.

        Walking in, they were a grandmother, a son-in-law and three grandsons.  Soon they were five kids who couldn’t stop laughing at each other, at themselves and at life.  All four boys lightly competed for Ramona’s attention and she loved every microsecond of it.

        Ramona had a knack for making others laugh.  That night others made her laugh.  Laughing together creates an intimacy of the spiritual kind and that’s what Ramona and her boys had that evening.

        During her birthday party Ramona had no doctor visits, no cancer bumps, no waiting for medical test results, no chemotherapy and no radiation treatments.  Instead, she had four happy handsome boys who loved her very much and who made her laugh.

        Later through wet eyes, Ramona declared that it was her best birthday ever. The void in her life was gone.  Five months after the party she left to make the angels laugh.  Last I heard, she had them rolling in the aisles.

Happy Birthday Ramona --
from her husband, Ron Osterberg