Category Archives: Family

The connection: My grandfather and son

January 28, 2014 NewEngland_Muse 2 Comments

Memories. Sometimes they pop up with no fanfare. They come to the front of your mind when it is triggered. My Pepere Gervais, french for grandfather, passed away many years ago. I have great memories of him. His ability to beat anyone in checkers. I mean anyone. It became a game of will as grandchild after grandchild tried to win to no avail. Another memory is of my pepere, mom and I crossing over the border into Canada to watch live professional wrestling. We were all fans and to this day my mom and I carry on watching.

But this past weekend a new memory popped up thanks to my son. His favorite deodorant at the moment is Old Spice, he has worn it for a while now. My grandfather wore Old Spice. As a child I would love to go visit him and go into his room and smell the scent for I loved the smell and I loved my grandfather. It was always great to spend time with him.

So yesterday as I was getting ready to leave the house my son walked by and this memory of me visiting my grandfather popped up. It made me smile. My son gave me some money to pick him up another stick if I stopped by anywheres on the way home. Telling my husband in the truck, he said I have some new deodorant in the closet he can help himself.

And while I told my son afterwards about this, I still got him a new stick. For I love the scent and thanks to him he reminded me of my grandfather. I hope he wears Old Spice for very long time. Even though they never met, they are now connected.

Cockatiels, Family, Twpiece

Twopiece

February 23, 2013 NewEngland_Muse Leave a comment

A lot of people have asked me how my first bird ended up with his name. Twopiece and Maxie came home with me in the spring of 1998. Their previous owner had returned them. Why I do not know. Their age was unknown as well as their names.

While Maxie was named by my young son her bonded mate was a different story. As in most families that include pets naming is something major. You can’t just give the animal any name. This takes some thinking. There are times that some names just fall into place and suits the animal.

When my son named Maxie she well looked like a Maxie to my son so it was a no brainer. Twopiece was different. I was in the car with my husband and a friend one day.

Me: “I can’t seem to think of the right name for my male tiel.”

Friend; “ I know what you can call him.”

Me: “Really? Go on.”

Friend: “You should call him Twopiece. He is about the size of a two piece chicken meal deal at KFC”

All of us busted out laughing for it just struck us as funny and we continued to where ever we were going. But that did stick for every time I looked at my little male bird that name kept coming up. He was not particularly very big. Maxie was twice his size.

Approaching him one day I said, “Good Morning Twopiece.”

He looked up and started to sing. Now of course this is not earth shattering but the name suited him so well. It has stuck and now I can’t even remember the other names I had tossed around in my head after bringing him and Maxie home.

Twopiece is not the average name one would call a pet regardless of the species but I can truly not see him being called anything but this. It fits him like a glove..

Birds, Family, Therapy Warriors

My Therapy Warriors

February 16, 2013 NewEngland_Muse 2 Comments

Due to a recent surgery it is hard for me to sit up for long periods of time. So today I will be sharing some of my little therapy warriors with you all instead of a long post.

This is my sole finch Cosmos. Finches live anywhere between the ages of 5-8 years old or at least that is what I have been told. But when he lost his mate last year I was sure he would be gone within a few months if I did not replace her. Yet he is still among us and living at the ripe old age of 13.

These are my keets, Cory and Snowball. I rescued them in May of 2011 when they were a year old.

These are my tiels who have been my true therapy warriors over the years.

Twopiece is my first bird ever and he adopted me in 1998. I am not sure how old he was when I got him but he has been with us for close to 15 years old. He is my buddy.

This is BJ and my sweetie pie. We got him when he was four months old in April of 1999.

This is Angel, my feisty little man. He was also adopted when he was four months old a year after BJ came home.

Nye is the son of Twopiece and Maxie. She came home with Twopiece in 1998 but we lost her a few years back. Nye is the perfect combination of his parents. He looks like his dad but has the girth of his mama.