Lovely Ways to Remember

[Marcelle123]

After reading some of the threads in this sub-forum, especially one about remembering one's Mother in the garden that she loved ('Christmas came & went' by @patilo 33) - thank you so much), I thought of a way to cope with the pain of my Mum's loss, by trying to see new blooms through Mum's eyes and being briefly united with her in thought and in love.

I was talking to my elder sister, who asked me what Mum liked in the flower line, and I remembered that Mum particularly loved the combination of yellows and blues - e.g. delphiniums and yellow snapdragons, cornflowers and Welsh poppies. So my sister and I are each going to plant up a pot of bedding in yellow and blue as a way of honouring Mum's memory and hopefully helping us to feel a bit better.

It would be lovely if people on TP could remember what their loved ones liked and share with us special ways they have of remembering their lost beloved relations, friends or consorts.

This thread would then be a general 'in memoriam' to those we have loved and lost.

Thank you for reading, and thank you in advance for any replies. xx

 

[Izzy]

What a lovely idea @Marcelle123.

My mum (she had vascular dementia) died in 2011 just weeks before her 94th birthday. The week she died we were due to take her to Pitlochry for the week to see three plays. She loved the theatre and going out for meals. We took her to the theatre at Pitlochry at least 3 times during the year - our week in the summer and usually for weekends at Christmas time and some time in the spring. The drive up to Pitlochry is beautiful and always makes me think of my mum.

Bill died in July 2016. He loved lots of things but music was one of his great loves. We were founder members of the Musical Memories Choir here and Bill loved the rehearsals and the concerts we gave. He sang his heart out - whether he knew the words or not! He continued to attend the choir right up until the week before he died. The collection at his funeral went to the choir so we could get something in his memory. So far we have two pull up banners which we take with us when we sing at care homes etc. Bill's photo is on one of them. We are still trying to finalise new concert folders which will be bought with his money. I have a lovely photo of him and a little paragraph to put with it inside the folders. I still go to the choir as a volunteer and I'm the secretary of the group. Bill is still very important to the choir members who knew him and any time I want to remember him singing all I have to do is go to the videos I have of the choir singing and there he is. Wonderful memories.

Bill's ashes are in the same grave as mum and dad are buried in so I 'see' them regularly.

 

[LadyA]

When we bought this house in 1999, it was, literally a plain little concrete bungalow standing in a bare field! The previous owner was a farmer, not a gardener. My husband planted every tree, bush and flower on the place. There are about 14 apple trees, as well as plum, pear, cherry, hazel, holly and lots more. Some of the primroses he planted still bloom bravely. And the miniature daffodils pop up too every year. Even the colour of the house - pale creamy yellow, with green trim - was chosen by him, and I just get the paint redone every few years.

 

[Marcelle123]

Music and trees - lovely ways to remember. Super posts, Izzy and LadyA - thank you.

 

[love.dad.but..]

Mum died in 2013 dad last year. I am not materialistic but I do like possessions that though not valuable were mum and dad's that remind me of them and their interests. I would always find mum in the garden when I called round so when I sold their house I managed to lift some of mum's favourite primroses...the traditonal churchyard type...A young cherry tree she had planted a few weeks before she died...fruit bushes always abundant in fruit...would have moved their very old Bramley apple tree if I could have, always given loads of fruit to eat and freeze...and most precious I managed to take cuttings of her lovely honeysuckle ....all these things have taken hold in my garden. My greenhouse that mum and dad treated me to a few years ago always reminds me of seeing them both in their greenhouse pottering away. All mum's sewing stuff and dolls house things that she made...so clever.

Dad.. faith always very important to them both....his Latin mass DVD always reminds me of him and the Gregorian Chant music cds he did for me...so peaceful and reflective. Growing his masses of tomatoes and cucumber...he grew up pre war then with rationing and couldn't bring himself to pinch out anything. Going with him to pick some to take home as if I was his little girl again...middle aged woman!And all his handwritten college workbooks from the 40s I have on shelves he had such wonderful handwriting.

Sorry...now I come to think of it so many things...I could go on and on! Oops looks like I already have! What a wonderful thread to start thank you...provoking warm wonderful memories

 

[Selinacroft]

A simple dog walk in places we used to go together

 

[patilo33]

Mum and her blue flowering hydrangeas where admired by all and sundry. And.... you've jolted my memory Marcelle....singing....mum would burst into song spontaneously. i can do that and remember her without tears.

 

[Marcelle123]

It's so nice to read these memories. Thank you very much, @love.dad.but, Selinacroft, and patilo33.

 

[malengwa]

Mum was incredibly creative. She painted and she made and iced cakes. I'm gathering all the photos...There are hundreds of them... into a digital book as a family memory.
I'm doing the same thing for the photos we had if mum at her funeral. I'm gathering them to make a book of mums life for my dad. I am thinking of doing it like 'this is your life' red book, as mum and dad watched that programme every week.
Mum loved music too, and she went to theatre shows. She wasn't really a gardener though.

 

[Greyone]

After reading some of the threads in this sub-forum, especially one about remembering one's Mother in the garden that she loved ('Christmas came & went' by @patilo 33) - thank you so much), I thought of a way to cope with the pain of my Mum's loss, by trying to see new blooms through Mum's eyes and being briefly united with her in thought and in love.

I was talking to my elder sister, who asked me what Mum liked in the flower line, and I remembered that Mum particularly loved the combination of yellows and blues - e.g. delphiniums and yellow snapdragons, cornflowers and Welsh poppies. So my sister and I are each going to plant up a pot of bedding in yellow and blue as a way of honouring Mum's memory and hopefully helping us to feel a bit better.

It would be lovely if people on TP could remember what their loved ones liked and share with us special ways they have of remembering their lost beloved relations, friends or consorts.

This thread would then be a general 'in memoriam' to those we have loved and lost.

Thank you for reading, and thank you in advance for any replies. xx

My mum was a great gardener and she loved to tend the garden during any free moments. When we were arranging the flowers for our dad's funeral mum said that there was nothing nicer than red and yellow, meaning roses and daffodils. She always had them in her garden and for our father's funeral. So we had them at her funeral and always remember to take them on her birthday, which is also her wedding day. That is the simplest and best way I remember her.

 

[Grannie G]

My husband liked all things green in the garden and the countryside. He liked flowers too but really loved shades of green. He also liked old trees and often wondered about the people who lived when the trees were planted.

Charles Dickens lived in this area and when Dhiren passed old trees he wondered if perhaps Charles Dickens had seen them too.

Edited to add...................

I have just this minute read the following on FB which makes Dhiren`s love or old trees more meaningful. I had no idea.

"The origin of the term "Tree hugger"
The first tree huggers were 294 men and 69 women belonging to the Bishnois branch of Hinduism, who, in 1730, died while trying to protect the trees in their village from being turned into the raw material for building a palace. They literally clung to the trees, while being slaughtered by the foresters. But their action led to a royal decree prohibiting the cutting of trees in any Bishnoi village. And now those villages are virtual wooded oases amidst an otherwise desert landscape.

Not only that, the Bishnois inspired the Chipko movement (chipko means “to cling” in Hindi) that started in the 1970s, when a group of peasant women in the Himalayan hills of northern India threw their arms around trees designated to be cut down. Within a few years, this tactic, also known as tree satyagraha, had spread across India, ultimately forcing reforms in forestry and a moratorium on tree felling in Himalayan regions."

 

[Marcelle123]

Thanks for your posts, malengwa, Greyone & Grannie G. xx

I shall never think of 'tree hugging' in the same way again. What heroism.

 

[Marcelle123]

I play the fiddle and in the past I've made up traditional-type tunes for it. I haven't the energy now - but at some point this year I am going to compose a strathspey in honour of my mother, Margaret.

 

[Izzy]

I play the fiddle and in the past I've made up traditional-type tunes for it. I haven't the energy now - but at some point this year I am going to compose a strathspey in honour of my mother, Margaret.

How absolutely lovely!

 

[Grannie G]

I play the fiddle and in the past I've made up traditional-type tunes for it. I haven't the energy now - but at some point this year I am going to compose a strathspey in honour of my mother, Margaret.

Wonderful.

 

[jaymor]

My husband liked all things green in the garden and the countryside. He liked flowers too but really loved shades of green. He also liked old trees and often wondered about the people who lived when the trees were planted.

Charles Dickens lived in this area and when Dhiren passed old trees he wondered if perhaps Charles Dickens had seen them too.

Edited to add...................

I have just this minute read the following on FB which makes Dhiren`s love or old trees more meaningful. I had no idea.

"The origin of the term "Tree hugger"
The first tree huggers were 294 men and 69 women belonging to the Bishnois branch of Hinduism, who, in 1730, died while trying to protect the trees in their village from being turned into the raw material for building a palace. They literally clung to the trees, while being slaughtered by the foresters. But their action led to a royal decree prohibiting the cutting of trees in any Bishnoi village. And now those villages are virtual wooded oases amidst an otherwise desert landscape.

Not only that, the Bishnois inspired the Chipko movement (chipko means “to cling” in Hindi) that started in the 1970s, when a group of peasant women in the Himalayan hills of northern India threw their arms around trees designated to be cut down. Within a few years, this tactic, also known as tree satyagraha, had spread across India, ultimately forcing reforms in forestry and a moratorium on tree felling in Himalayan regions."

That’s wonderful Sylvia.

Must admit to being a tree hugger and there are some wonderful trees to be found at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. There is a particularly nice one on the walk down to the beach there so it’s a hug on the way down and a hug on the way back.

 

[Grannie G]

Thanks Jay @jaymor

Do you remember Helen [33] She was a tree hugger too and used to laugh at me because I could only hug clean trees.

 

[jaymor]

Thanks Jay @jaymor

Do you remember Helen [33] She was a tree hugger too and used to laugh at me because I could only hug clean trees.

Here I am having a hug,

 

[jimbo 111]

My husband liked all things green in the garden and the countryside. He liked flowers too but really loved shades of green. He also liked old trees and often wondered about the people who lived when the trees were planted.

Charles Dickens lived in this area and when Dhiren passed old trees he wondered if perhaps Charles Dickens had seen them too.

Edited to add...................

I have just this minute read the following on FB which makes Dhiren`s love or old trees more meaningful. I had no idea.

"The origin of the term "Tree hugger"
The first tree huggers were 294 men and 69 women belonging to the Bishnois branch of Hinduism, who, in 1730, died while trying to protect the trees in their village from being turned into the raw material for building a palace. They literally clung to the trees, while being slaughtered by the foresters. But their action led to a royal decree prohibiting the cutting of trees in any Bishnoi village. And now those villages are virtual wooded oases amidst an otherwise desert landscape.

Not only that, the Bishnois inspired the Chipko movement (chipko means “to cling” in Hindi) that started in the 1970s, when a group of peasant women in the Himalayan hills of northern India threw their arms around trees designated to be cut down. Within a few years, this tactic, also known as tree satyagraha, had spread across India, ultimately forcing reforms in forestry and a moratorium on tree felling in Himalayan regions."

 

[Grannie G]

Here I am having a hug,

That's some tree @jaymor