My sweet grandmother or "Nona" as we called her, passed away this week from a long battle with Alheztimer's. I love this picture of her when she was my age, so full of life. That's still how I remember her, full of life. She lived in my little town of Truckee California with her parents who came over from Italy in the 1920's (Giovanni Moro and Enrica Scaramella Moro - and I thought my name was Italian). She and my grandfather ran a shop called "Besio's Apparel" for 34 years together. I remember going in there after school to drink a coke and play on with the pretend cash register they had in the back. Every Tuesday night, my brother, sister and I would walk to their house for dinner. We would eat, play games, and watch TV. She was quite the cook: homemade stews and raviolis were a regular menu item.
Nona was the one who taught me how to water plants. I remembered that this week when I took one of our house plants off of a stand and put it in the sink. She would always take a spounge and clean off each leaf, she thought that it made the plants happy; that it tickled them. She and my grandfather were two of the most active people. They would take daily walks around Truckee and collect old arrowheads. She would take pride in mounting these arrowheads on mats and then would frame them and put them up in her house. By the time my grandfather died in 1997, most of the walls of their house were covered in arrowheads. I just think of the wonderful conversations and times they had just walking everyday.
They were also the ones that taught us to fish. We lived by a river growing up and Nona would come down to our house (which was in their backyard) and would bring a styrophome container of worms she would purchase at the corner store. We would sit on this big rock for hours with our shoes off and our feet dangling in the water trying to catch fish.
My family and I are grieving the loss of this wonderful woman, but are also celebrating her wonderful life and how she so generously gave to everyone of us. It's wonderful to think that she has her mind back now and is up in heaven making the most WONDERFUL raviolis!
This is from a few weeks ago at the GGCC tournament. Wayne won a Calaway Driver and Blair won a T-shirt....yay!!!
Hiking: Looking toward Asheville. The leaves are starting to change...
Our Studly Dog
Blair & Denton
That's right, I got to meet Donald Rumsfeld! My friend, Tara
The girls!
Kara's second: Mia . Check out her favorite glasses!
Tina's baby Zachary... can you say cheese!
Will and Rachel Sherman! I got to visit Bill's church plant
JJ and Jennica!
Typical Besios...
At Nona's reception
Welcome to Freedom Lane; Asheville, NC!
We live at #7...
Here's our front porch. This is a very southern feature. We
Mom's attempt to garden. Her herbs are actually surviving...
Come on in!
Here's the living room. There's usually an area rug, but
This is where we sit at night and I get to chew my bone!
Here's the back yard. I can't wait for the grass to start
More living room...
Here's where mommy makes daddy dinner...
...and here's where they eat it.
Here's mommy and daddy's room...
...and their bathroom.
This is where mommy teaches oboe lessons. Sometimes
Guest bedroom
Guest Bathroom
That's right! Our #1 pooch actually passed obedience school. Here she is enjoying her certificate, which seems to be the manner in which she enjoys many of our household items. We still have hope for Denton. Though she doesn't come on command outside our house, we're hoping that will click soon. I can't imagine what raising kids are like after trying to teach this dog one simple command: come. How can you resist this face?
