The gold letters on the yellow ribbon spelled “Cousin”.
Left as a remembrance.
The sign that someone came and put the ribbons there as a tribute touched our hearts even though we didn’t know the person.
Steve and I saw the ribbon on a tree when we were walking in the park. Then we noticed the bench with the memorial plaque right by the tree. We’d not seen it before.
The obituary told how he passed, peacefully under an oak tree in Highland Park, after doing what he loved – hiking. He had a congenital heart condition. So young.
I came home and googled the name and if you click it you can read about his life. Christopher Emmons
The ribbon on the tree, the memorial bench and the message on the plaque, so poignant. Can’t even fathom how much his family misses him.
Puppets need a human (or two) to come to life. One to operate and even better with one to appreciate the effort of the puppeteer.
This puppet looks like a giftwrapped present. Surprise! It’s a furry puppy. Like a manual Jack-in-the-box without the organ grinder music. This particular puppet was Michael’s (12) and he’s passed it on to cousin Charlie (2 1/2).
Happy Eighth Birthday Maura Clare.Aunt Lala took this picture of Maura carrying her cousin Charlie
November 17, 2008 October 2016
Maura loves arts and crafts, swimming, piano lessons, dancing, going to the Children’s Museum in Pittsburgh and taking good care of her dolls. She brings a lot of energy and spirit to the party, that is for sure! Have a wonderful birthday, Maura.
Love from Grandma Frooey.
Hope you like your birthday blog. You can always check out some more photos of when you were little here on your 6th birthday blog.
What happened to ‘ I think I’ll be six forever and ever”?
Maura and I were at Laura’s house, folding the freshly washed baby things, trying out some of the new baby equipment. Laura said, “let’s do the giraffe puzzle that Aunt Mary gave me”
So we did. Matching tiny numbers to numbers. A and B giraffe.
Lori and Fredi at Ritter's Diner, Pittsburgh, last May.
A valiant fight! A wife, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a cousin, a granddaughter, a niece, an animal lover, a friend to many.
Her grandfather, Robert E. Van Sickle, was my mother’s brother.
As Aunt Nancy VS put it so well, ” a sad day for our family.”
When you hear the term”battle” in reference to cancer, Lori Lynn Baur Meli exemplified the definition. Despite metastaticbreast cancer, Lori planned each day of her life to the fullest. She sent us recordings of her singing a hymn or a Christmas song, always creative and musical. She and her husband Fredi went on her dream trip to Hawaii returning just Feb 7th.
They came through Pittsburgh last May and here’s the photo I took of them in Ritter’s Diner that night. It was right before she got to be honorary bat girl for the Yankees so it’s nice you can see the print on her shirt. She loved the Yankees. Especially Jeter. She called and asked if a newspaper could use the photo for a story about her and another one of the pictures from that night was in a show in the 1650 Gallery in Los Angeles last summer. Lori was pleased with the images so I felt pleased, too. And she made sure I got the photo credits in the paper and sent the hard copies to me in an envelope. Despite her diagnosis she was determined to live as long as possible, which is exactly what she did! She had a plan. Always. I will remember her first time in the batting cages in Connecticut a few years ago. She touched a lot of people. Here is an excerpt from her online journal– “Love really is everything. There IS nothing else. We have to let go off the other crap to begin to live in love and light, every day of our lives.” Her friend Jennifer pulled this clip- youtube video of Lori telling her own story.
A Bright Life Well Lived
Lori Lynn Baur Meli
A tribute.
She made the most
of the time she was given.
Columbus OH fall weekend. Erika’s first cousin Shannon’s daughter visiting from Pittsburgh. Looks like we coordinated their outfits. Maura will be 2 in a month. Find the eggplant!
1Their mothers' mothers are sisters. Maura Clare(l) and Parker Rose (r).