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Friday, April 18, 2025

Birthdays

50f /10C this morning, mostly sunny, very breezy. 81f right now. Too warm for me.

Today is the birthday of two very special people--my oldest son and my English granny. My son turns 56 today, and my Granny would have been 131. She died in 1993 at 99 and a half years old. I thought I would post a few favorite photos of each of them. They shared a kind, thoughtful and giving way, quiet personalities and a keen sense of humor. George never met his great grandmother, sadly. Back then the miles were just too much for us to afford travel, and of course Granny's health precluded it for her.

First, my Granny. This photo is labeled "60th birthday". She was visiting us in our little house in Centreville, Virginia, in 1954, back when Centreville was a crossroads with a gas station, hardware store, and a general store, and a bar or two. Today it's a suburb of DC and is a huge, sprawling place.

This was also Easter Sunday that year, which explains Granny's lovely hat. Like this year, Easter was very late in 1954.


I don't remember this event, of course, as I was not quite 3, but surprisingly I do remember Hurricane Hazel that occurred that same year, because it was the first time I had seen hail. I remember the ice pieces were huge in my little hand. I also remember Mom talking about the "eye" of the storm. But Hazel occurred on October 15 of that year, so I was 6 months older by then.

Below is my mother and her siblings with Granny. I am not sure of the year, but I believe it was around 1980 when Mom made one of her trips to England. Standing, Aunt Dodo, Uncle Ted (for longtime readers of John's blog By Stargoose and Hanglands, this was John's father, and the man who coined the term that came to name the blog). Next to Ted is my mother, June. Seated is Aunt May, the oldest sibling, then Granny, and Aunt Grace sitting on the arm of the sofa. Aunt Grace passed away in 2022, at 102 years old. 


Now, my son George: He's the adventurer in the family, taking annual weeklong hikes through the Rockies,usually with his daughter Grace, pictured with him here in Wyoming a few years ago.


One of George's annual New Year's morning photos. He hikes to the top of a mountain near his home in eastern West Virginia every New Year's to greet the dawn and the year.


And last, George with his family, taken last year when he was attending the annual banker's conference at the Greenbrier Resort. He cleans up pretty good!




Thinking of them both today.Granny is probably sipping tea from a bone china cup in heaven. And George? He is on his annual trout fishing kayak trip on a beautiful secluded river that flows through our West Virginia mountains. A perfect way to celebrate his birthday, I think.


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

8 comments:

  1. ...I hope that you inherited Granny genes!

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  2. What wonderful photos of the two birth anniversaries today! It's great to see the connection with your cousin, John, also a blogger only in England. Your son has the right idea of how to celebrate, pulling in some fresh trout as he kayaks along. I just saw kayakers on the Colorado River in Utah last week! None of them were fishing however.

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  3. Nice way to honor both of them.

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  4. Happy Birthday to your handsome son. Nice that he shares his day with a greatgrandparent even if he never knew her. You seem to have very longlived relatives. I hope that you got those genes too.
    I hope you have a lovely Easter.

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  5. A fine family record. I love to read these and get a bit of a shadow of how your family works. Yes, they clean up very well. And I love the rug. I also have a kayaking offspring, and it amazes me what they can do with those boats. I struggled with a canoe.

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  6. Happy Birthday to granny and son.
    Today, 19th, is granddaughter’s birthday.

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  7. Thank you, I enjoyed this very much. To memories and hellos! To Birthdays.

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