I've been trying something new. I'm trying to use Tumblr, another blog service, to feed a daily photo to this blog. I'm not super fond of the way I have to do it, but it's working. I know I could do the same thing with Blogger, but Tumblr makes it super easy and super super fast to line them up. I can crank out a whole year's worth in no time.
If you're interested, you can see our Tumblr at ourdailyphoto.tumblr.com. I'm going to drop an occasional video and quote and other stuff in there now and then.
Almost all our photos, if you like any of them, are on our Wal-Mart photo account. I set that up so family far away could access the photos and have them printed if they so choose. You can find that here. I've tried other photo sharing options, but I have so many, none of them have the space I need. Wal-Mart is the only place that lets me store them and share them.
Onward and upward.
So, how have we been lately? Well, if you had asked me a few days ago I would have said blah, blah, blah, having a bad week, kids blah blah blah and so forth like I usually do. But now, I'm really really not doing so well.
My grandfather, one of my most favorite people ever, passed away Tuesday night. He had been having trouble breathing, but they thought they had that fixed. He had literally just moved into the nursing home. Literally, just that afternoon. Finally in a place where he could rest, relax and have others take care of him. But he laid down for a nap or something and just drifted away.
In my other blog, I'm on a angry, guilt ridden rant. So on this one I want to be positive and share good memories and pictures and stuff. So bear with me because I'm probably going to talk a lot the next few days.
I remember when I was little, going to my grandparent's house was a highlight of my week. I don't honestly remember if we went every week, but we went a lot. Less as I got older, but often enough that a big part of my childhood memories are in that house.
When we were real little, my grandfather liked to take home movies. This was in the days before video cameras. He had a film camera and he had to use these big, bright lights. If he wasn't taking videos, he was showing them.
My grandfather and I never really talked much one on one. I don't remember him doing that much with anyone. What he did seem to like is having a house full of people. With his kids and his kids' kids, it didn't take much to fill the house. He liked to barbecue burgers when the weather was nice. Order Valentino's pizza or KFC is it wasn't. He played cards. All the time. If there was enough people, there was always a card game going on. I don't remember what game it was. I do remember trying to learn so I could play, but I just couldn't get the hang of it.
He liked college football. Especially Notre Dame. If there was a game on, the TV was playing it. Heaven forbid Nebraska and Notre Dame were on at the same time on different channels, because Husker fans were going to miss it.
When I got married, he was very supportive. One of the few times I had a real conversation with him was with my wife (or were we not married yet, I don't remember.) It was just us at his house and we got to talking about money. I don't know how we got on the subject, but he just seemed excited to share with us everything he had learned in his life about handling money and checks and credit and everything. He just poured it out. That was one of my best days. It was the first time anyone had had a real, adult conversation with me on their level and not talking down to me.
There's so much of the holidays, all holidays, that are intertwined with memories of my grandfather. Christmases, Easters, Independence Days, on and on. When I was younger, the family LIKED being together. They LIKED having holidays together. And we had them ALL together. And my grandparents were the center than held everyone together.
I'm off on a rant now. I knew I would. I'll cut it off here, but there's more to come.
