Remembering my Mother on Thursday

The Garden in Bloom

Today marks the 13th anniversary of my mother's death.  It has been a long 13 years, but I still miss her every day.  I have written about my mother here and in various other posts. 

I spent a quiet morning, reminiscing.  Later, in the afternoon, I went to the cemetery to visit her grave.  I took a bouquet of flowers, but the in-ground vase was covered with grass, and when I pulled out the grass, I found it was full of mud from the recent rains!

Mud Filled Vase

Not only was the vase filled with mud, there was mud wedged between it and the opening of the hole in which it sits!  I tried using a twig to dig out the mud, but the twig broke!  Finally, after some effort, I managed to loosen the mud and tugged out the vase, emptied the mud, washed it off (there are taps at intervals, around the cemetery) and filled it with fresh water for my flowers.  When the grounds people remove the flowers every week, they are supposed to turn the vases upside down in the openings, so they don't fill up with water and mud, but, I suppose that's an extra job and they don't always do it. 

I said a prayer at my mother's grave, and stayed there for a little bit.  It is a very peaceful setting, although there is a fairly busy road nearby:

The View in One Direction

I chose this particular spot in the cemetery for her grave because of the view of the mountains in the distance.

In this cemetery, the grave stones are set flat on the ground, which gives the cemetery a park-like feel:

The View in the Other Direction

I was pleased to see that, although the vase was full of mud, my mother's grave stone was not covered by mud as it had been on a previous occasion:

Mother's Grave Stone

I felt a bit restless when I left the cemetery.  It was a sunny, bright day and I felt like driving somewhere, but I didn't know where I wanted to go.  So, I went home!  I tried taking a nap on the sofa, but, I couldn't fall asleep.  I rested, though, until Dancer came to remind me that it was time for his tea! 

Brunch had been a pita bread (from the freezer, warmed up in the microwave; counts as two servings of carbs) and some of the mackerel curry I had made, earlier.  In the evening, before I had my cup of tea, I had a snack of cucumber slices and salsa.  It wasn't quite as satisfying as tortilla chips, but the cucumber "chips" made an OK substitute.  Dinner was the leftover sole, with broccoli, carrots, and corn (measured out 1/3 cup frozen corn, before cooking).  There is another serving of broccoli and carrots, leftover, for tomorrow, but I ate all the corn!  So, today was not quite low carb, as I had two servings with brunch and one serving with dinner.

Dinner: Sole, Corn, Broccoli, and Carrots

For dessert, I had a small peach.  We will not count the carbs in that!  But, it was better for me than what I really wanted, which was some type of pastry, or cake, or pudding!

Friend R called and we chatted for a bit.  Later, I video chatted with my daughter.

Today, I am grateful for:
- Having my mother for as long as I did
- Being her daughter
- Being able to visit her grave
- Memories
- My daughter, who is so much like her grandmother

How was your Thursday?  What are your plans for Friday?  Can you believe that already the first week in February is over?