Bye Bye Birdees Travel Blog

It's the holiday season.  So many things in our lives bring happy memories and joyous times.  I created the above memory box  in honor of our beloved A unt Mary .   A unt Mary wore the Christmas tree earrings every year as we celebrated a traditional Italian family gathering.  The pink fabric is a remnant of her favorite dress.  I placed a few pieces of her favorite jewelry that the family remembered her wearing.  It was a normal routine for Aunt Mary to make her daily rounds on the telephone to her circle of friends.  Many visits, we would walk in as she spoke in high pitched Italian to cousin Althea in the kitchen, phone at the crook of neck, standing with crutches, and preparing the meal for the day. The picture is an affectionate memory of A unt Mary chatting away. I made a few of these memory boxes for our family members as we celebrated her life 20 years ago. Each memory box, had similar items, a picture, a piece of fabric, and few pieces of her favorit

Do you remember that song?  It's the theme song for the Man of La Mancha.   If you don't, it's because it's from a musical based on the book Don Quixote. I was thinking about that song today.  It was my mom's favorite song.  I remember when I was six years old, my mom asked me if I would like to play the piano.  Of course I did.  I grew up in the 60's,  watching Ed Sullivan as brought musicians like Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, and the Beatles on TV.  What a dream, to be able to play the piano like them.  I dreamt of running through the black and white keys, pounding Rock n' Roll, playing with my feet, then jumping on top of a Grand Piano to finish my piece. Needless to say, it was dream.  My mom bought my piano when I was eight years old, hired a piano teacher, and I got stuck with classical music.  Good old Mrs. Colley was our neighborhood piano teacher.  Diligently learning the notes on flash cards, playing to likes of Schubert, M