Grandma Oma's World

Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some ”    Charles Dickens Today, I have one of those days when I am thinking of the many blessings in my life. As I was reflecting I found that most of my blessings are not really from the material things I worked for so hard for 35 years, but all my blessings come from family, friends and the simple things in life. I am blessed for - My children for becoming independent and self sufficient at an early age of 18. I have a happy smile when I see the family they have created on their own and what a wonderful job they are doing in raising their children.    My parents for giving me all the love, care and good values in spite of them suffering through the hardships of wars.   My brother and sister for sharing the childhood we had. Friends - What would one do without them? They are always there to share joys and sorrows. They are the ones who always ask: &qu

The guilty look Yesterday morning when Ellis, my daughter's family golden retriever, went out for his morning trip to the back yard, he had a confrontation with a skunk. He lost the battle. It was 6:30am, and I was still asleep in my apartment on the lower level of our home in Buffalo, NY. I woke up to a strange, rather unpleasant odor that was spreading in the room and coming from the vents of the heating system.  I thought it was maybe the odor from the furnace as it was just starting up. Suddenly, my daughter Michelle, comes running down from the second floor apartment with little Gabriella and  Brianna in tow: "Mom, please keep the kids, Ellis just got sprayed by a skunk and our place smells terrible!" By this time the cloud of smell was spreading through every crack, vent and opening of this 1902 old triplex. There was no escape other than going out to the freezing cold. At once, we all started googling for solutions - the sooner one starts de-skunking a d

I have a large family in Serbia, too. My brother, sister, nephews and nieces, cousins and all their families still live there. Each time I return for a visit, it feels comforting to be welcomed by all. In addition it is very reassuring to find that most things are still the same. My brother still lives in the same house where my grandmother was born: the furniture, decorations and paintings are still in the same place as they were over 150 years ago. No one rearranged anything. Even the books in the bookcases are on the same shelves, some leaning sideways, some tucked behind others, and a set of outdated red encyclopedias in Hungarian  are taking up a whole shelf.  And my sister, too, still lives in the place where she lived in when I left the country in 1965. However, the nieces and nephews and all the other young relatives have their own places not far from their parents. So, here are some of my family members, but there is a lot more of them, I just need to get photos of them.

Tomorrow is my brother, Elemer's, 69th birthday. He lives in Futog, Serbia, and of course, I procrastinated long enough to send him a card. It would take at least one week for the card to get there, so instead of sending him a card, I decided to put it on my blog and make it a permanent birthday present. Elemer in Novi Sad The two of us in 1944. Aww..... Our mother holding Elemer, 1943 or 1944

While I was in Buffalo, NY, I visited my older sister and her family in Canada. Through her,  I am blessed with with an army of relatives - at least fifteen people including partners. She and her late husband, Sveta, immigrated in the 50's, and raised their family in various places in Canada to finally settled in Cornwall, Ontario. Although, my sister took care of me when I was a baby, I did not remember her. We reconnected again in 1966, when I came to USA. Since then, we have kept our sisterly contacts, visiting and calling one another whenever possible. My sister, Ildiko My nephew, Vuk and his friend Lucy My sister and her grand daughter, Adan St. Lawrence River, view from the deck View from the boat on St. Lawrence River

Since the end of August I have been in Buffalo, NY visiting my daughter and her family. Here, I have two grand daughters: Gabriella, almost 5 years old and Brianna, almost 2.  Here are some pictures of us in Buffalo. Brianna, Gabriella and I My family in Buffalo A happy day at merry-go-round Brianna and Gabriella show of their Halloween costumes