Tag: cards

The End of Summer

Although Summer isn’t over in the Northern Hemisphere until mid September, for all intent & purposes in the US, it ends this coming Monday, our Labor Day. For me, Summer ended two Wednesdays ago when school began. But that hasn’t stopped me from having some End of Summer Fun this weekend.

Amy (my sister) and Rachel (her partner) arrived in Ohio on Thursday morning. I didn’t get to see them until I got home from work, but when I did, I gave ’em both big hugs. I hadn’t seen ’em since January. We took a nice walk in town and just outside of town heading down to the river. And for old times’ sake, we played a game of Pooh Sticks. Amy won, or so she claims. 😉 We agreed that it’s a lot harder to play Pooh Sticks on the “new” bridge than it was on the old one. It’s so hard to see over the edge.

We popped in to Indians Pizza on the way home and Rachel decided that maybe some ice cream before pizza was in order. None of us had our money with us, so we agreed to get ice cream cones on the walk home with the pizzas when we went to pick them up. We returned home to wait for Becky & Deanna’s arrival.

The goal was to play cards & eat pizza. But after our long walk, the girls and I were hungry for pizza already. With some discussion, we came up with what to order. A large deluxe, a large sausage pizza, half with green olives, and a small BLT pizza. Yes, you read that right – Bacon Lettuce & Tomato pizza. I’d heard rave reviews from it at lunch, so I wanted to try it. Others were willing to try it as well.

When the pizzas were ready, the girls and I walked back to Indians Pizza, this time with money. Rachel also ordered a Buckeye Classic ice cream cone and I got a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone. The Buckeye Classic is peanut butter ice cream with little candy buckeyes and chocolate swirls. Of course, since we had ice cream cones in hand, that left Amy to carry the pizzas…

The pizzas were a hit, even the BLT pizza, which is basically a bacon & cheese pizza that, after baking, gets some mayo squeezed onto it, then is topped with lettuce and tomato. After we had our fill, dad retired to his little nest and we ladies sat around the kitchen table for playing Shanghai Rum. Amy sat out of the playing of the game, but she kept score and stayed in the conversation. Although we ran out of time before finishing all of the rounds, we had a lovely time. Mom won with me coming second. Becky, for a change, lost.

Friday was another work day for me, but as soon as I was able to leave, I did. There was a box of food on my kitchen table and a note on my counter. I was to take the food on the table plus some bags of perishables from the fridge and head for the lake with clothes enough for 3 days. This I did and I got to the lake around 5pm.

Mom’s brother Doug and his family were supposed to be joining us for supper, and they made it eventually. Dad grilled burgers & dogs and Aunt Charlene brought “wheels” (which was one of Grandma Anderson’s big family recipes – basically wheel-shaped macaroni with a milk & butter sauce). The wheels were good, as was the rest of the food. My cousin Gregg and his wife arrived even later, but we were glad they could make it. Amy hadn’t met his wife yet and Rachel hadn’t met either.

We spent the evening chatting & laughing and eventually we all gathered around the fire for more chatting, laughing, and singing. It was a very pleasant evening.

The main reasons the girls are in the area was that their friend was getting married and having a bit reception/party for friends. So Saturday was the day Amy & Rachel headed to Cincinnati for the wedding reception. They were picked up by another pair of friends who were coming down from Toledo. (They originated, like A&R, from the Twin Cities, but also like A&R, were visiting family while in Ohio.)

Once they were on their way, the folks and I headed off to the Piqua Heritage Festival. The past few years I’ve missed out on the festival because I’ve either been up in Detroit with judiang and elsaf or hanging out with A&R at home. So it was nice to get back to the festival. Although the crafts and recreations are neat, I mostly go for the food. I had a peach smoothie, crawfish etouffe, Moose Tracks ice cream, and a lemon shake up. I also bought a loaf of sour dough bread and some kettle corn popcorn for munching on at the Lake.

After a short hop at home to pick up a few essentials, we returned to the Lake where we’ve been relaxing ever since. The girls will be returning around 3pm and we’ve agreed we’ll let them grill supper. I wonder if they’re amenable to that… 😉 Belay that – they have just arrived! Woohoot!

This has been a very pleasant End of the Summer. Let’s hope The Start of Autumn is just as pleasant!

Rest in Peace, Grandma Kitty-Cat

Phyllis A. Lowry was born October 12, 1920. Her parents, Harold & Lova ended up having 9 children (2 boys, the rest girls) who grew to adulthood. Phyllis was there in the middle of the pack. In 1938, she graduated from Newton High School, along with her soon-to-be husband, William M. Short. You can see the class photos on the third floor of Newton Local School. Phyllis is the one who looks like me, only with curly hair and no glasses.

She had a daughter, Rebecca (called Becky) and son, William Michael (called Mike). She had five grandchildren: Mick, Bill, me, Amy, and Deanna. And five great grandchildren: Chris, Brandi, Taylor, Sydney, and Braden. And she had numerous pets throughout the years.

When Amy and I were little, we were lucky to live in the same town as all of our grandparents. And to distinguish between them, we started calling Grandma Short, Grandma Kitty-Cat. After all, she had a cat (Marshmallow) and Grandma Anderson didn’t. Yes, even as children, my sister and I were very sensible. Grandma Kitty-Cat also had a dog, a vicious little Pekingese called Happy. I think because Happy + kids = Happy Bites, we tended to fixate on the cat more than the dog when thinking of Grandma.

Grandma Kitty-Cat worked at the local library for most of my childhood. Many times she’d get to take the old children’s books home that the library was replacing. I have several of those beloved books in my collection now. To me, it was only natural to go to the library and read or borrow books. And when Grandma went to the library for her own reading, she’d take two big bags of books in and come out with two big bags of books. I know, I’ve had to carry them before.

Grandpa Short died in 1982, much to the surprise of everyone. Grandma carried on, however. And it wasn’t long before her youngest granddaughter arrived into our lives. Soon Deanna and Aunt Becky moved in with Grandma. It was Deanna and her friends who started calling Grandma Kitty-Cat (now owning more than just one cat) “Granny.” With Aunt Becky herself becoming a grandma, “Granny” worked out great for distinguishing between the generations.

Granny and her sisters (there were 7 Lowry girls total, don’t forget) were avid card players. Granny has even been known to get a little upset (heh – understatement) during a really riveting game of cards. Dad was most likely scarred from these early card playing days, but Becky inherited her mother’s love of card games. And so did all of her granddaughters. Just ask judiang sometime about playing cards with the Shorts. 🙂

When dad retired from teaching, Granny discovered she had breast cancer. Dad now had more free time on his hands, so he was able to take her to chemo and various doctor’s appointments. Granny decided she could have two reactions to the cancer – laugh or cry. She decided to laugh. And she beat the cancer.

Granny was feisty that way. She did things her way. She wasn’t afraid to argue with you. But she loved absolutely. Despite her conservative upbringing, she accepted Amy as a lesbian and loved Rachel as another granddaughter. They were just her “girls.” She accepted judiang as a friend, even though her own father would probably have turned over in his grave to know she’d befriended a black woman. Granny was evidence that old dogs could learn new tricks.

Granny was a staunch Republican, but she loved her liberal minded family just the same. Oh, she’d still argue and complain, but she knew we didn’t always agree with her politically. And she would joke along with us about her conservatism. During the 2000 elections, she said to me “I don’t care who you vote for, as long as you don’t vote for Gore.” So, of course, my advice to her in 2004 was “I don’t care who you vote for, as long as you don’t vote for Bush.”

Granny wasn’t big on expressing herself. Whenever I’d say “I love you, Grandma” she’d reply “I know.” Amy and I realized that this was just how she said “I love you, too” back.

Just before Christmas of this year, Granny wound up in the hospital for one condition, only for them to realize her blood chemistry was all screwed up and she was close to death. She got over that issue, but was too weak to return home. So we got her into Covington Care Center, a local nursing home. The folks there were very good to her and she complimented them often. Her goal was to get strong enough to return home to see her cats and “the damn dog.” But other health issues kept coming between her and her goal.

Her last stint in the hospital was when they finally started to figure out what was wrong with her. It turns out the cancer from her breast had made its way to her bones. It’s quite possible that many of her recent health issues were due to the high levels of calcium in her blood brought about by the cancer. And we were warned that this was going to be painful.

Yesterday morning, Granny was at the Home and in pain – her back mostly. They called my father to see if they should issue her morphine and dad said yes. We wanted Granny to be as comfortable as possible. The nurse gave her one of those under-the-tongue morphine pills and rubbed her back. Granny thanked her and said she thought she’d take a nap. At 10:10am, she passed away. She was in no pain.

We’re having the viewing and funeral on Sunday. Amy’s coming in tonight (yay!) and Rachel’s coming in tomorrow (yay!), so we’ll have the whole family together for this event. On Monday, we’re having a private family interment at the cemetery. I think I’d like to say something that day, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to without crying.

If you get a chance, next time you read a book or pet a cat or play a nice game of cards, think about the feisty ladies like Phyllis/Mom/Grandma/Granny and the wonderful impact they’ve had on the lives of others. I know I certainly will.

I’m gonna miss my Granny. She was the last of my grandparents. She was a lover of books and of cats and of card playing, and probably the main reason I, too, am a lover of books and of cats and of card playing. I love you, Grandma! (“I know.”)


Phyllis “Granny” Short, 1920-2006