To Remember Means to Never Forget

     Happy Memorial Day all~~ Today is the day when we honor our veterans, soldiers, and those that were special to us. It seems logical to our "tiny" minds that we should live forever, and when one of us leaves abruptly or someone finally gives up their fight, we are left with a simple question, "why now"?  Death is not within our realm to understand, and unfortunately all of us will reach that destination. The Merriam~Webster dictionary's definition of the word memorial is: serving to preserve remembrance. 

     This is what each American all across the United States has done today; to preserve remembrance. I remember my mother's parents, used to have the coolest garage in Danvers, Massachusetts, equipped with a TV, lawn chairs and astro-turf. Whenever we were being annoying, we found ourselves in the garage. Strong memories must have meant that we were there all the time.

      My Dad's parents were from Minnesota, and sadly I don't have too many memories of my grandfather, but my grandmother Vera, lived right on top of Lake Minnetonka.  I enjoyed many memories of times on Lake Minnetonka, sunburns, ugly Northern Pike fish, ice fishing and my grandmother's Kool-Aid cookies.

     Now I am a mother and a wife, my memories have married with my husband and his family. Our children have given us memories, that paint the canvas of our lives. Just like the ebb and flow of a ocean tide, we live. Today was a rebirth of something new and a sweeping out of something old. A new beginning!  I noticed the beauty in life, and I planted my very first "to be herb garden, pictures to follow". We get so wrapped up into life, that we forget to smell the flowers and just be grateful.

     Tonight, I made a pasta salad, recently, Vermont has been in a heat wave the past couple of days. Today was at least 90 degrees. Gratefully, I can say, I was a part of it, right in the thick of it, not inside watching the world have fun. A little secret about me, I can easily be a wallflower. That is the old me, the new me raked the cotton out of the yard and planned for a super cool herb garden.

Summer Pasta Salad

1 pound box of pasta, any kind will do, my hubby favored the tri-colored rotini
2 tomatoes, diced
2 green peppers, diced
1 red onion, diced
2 cans 2.5 ozs sliced black olives
3/4 cup Golden Italian dressing
1/4 cup Pizza Patch
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
2 tsps onion powder
3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
kosher salt to taste
fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to the manufacturers directions.drain and set aside. On a cutting board chop parsley until fine, set aside. Rinse cutting board and chop, red onions, green peppers and tomatoes. In a large bowl combine cooked pasta, tomatoes, green peppers, red onion and drained sliced black olives. Season with garlic, onion powder, pizza patch, salt, and black pepper. Finish with chopped parsley,Golden Italian dressing and parmesan cheese. Toss and chill.



Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. ~From a headstone in Ireland