Support Stella’s Place
Prayer Requests
Recent Comments
Lucille on General Discussion, Tuesday, J… Lucille on General Discussion, Tuesday, J… texan59 on “Why does everything hav… stella on A Peaceful Transition of Power… Lucille on General Discussion, Monday, Ja… Lucille on Farewell address from our Firs… Obama's Boyfriend on A Peaceful Transition of Power… Lucille on Farewell address from our Firs… hoosiertruthfan on “Why does everything hav… MaryNutmeg on General Discussion, Monday, Ja… stella on “Why does everything hav… jeans2nd on A Peaceful Transition of Power… hoosiertruthfan on “Why does everything hav… litenmaus on “Why does everything hav… glendl on General Discussion, Monday, Ja…
JUMP! DON’T JUMP!
https://pettopi.com/media/az/mythmb/8673754b902adf73/640/az3f5fae1d10333fc4.webp
LikeLiked by 4 people
In Utah I had a window about 6 1/2 feet up to the ledge, with an angle like the last pic. A Turkish Angora took up with us and our two Siamese, and her favorite place to sit was on that window sill.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I was going to post a photo, which looked like it was taken from around the 20th floor, of a cat that had leaped up to a very small sill on an open window. But the picture gave me such chills I couldn’t post it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My Mom died this morning, peacefully at home. It’s been expected since she came back from the hospital last week, she was just getting progressively weaker. She died one month from her 101st birthday.
For the last week the fat inside cat has been her constant companion, sleeping with her in bed and sitting on the chair or counter next to her, and today he was curled up in the blanket on her empty bed. The dogs didn’t pay much attention to her, she was a fixture in the house though Daisy used to lie under the counter when she was eating to catch anything she dropped. It was the grey cat and the fat cat who spent time with her, the fat cat by far the most.
She’s always loved cats and despite the Alzheimer’s she recognized the cats…didn’t recognize our GGS who’s been with her for the 8 years she’s lived with us…but she always stopped and pet the fat cat and, if she were around,the grey one. The retirement home she was in wouldn’t let the residents have cats so when she came to live with us she was happy to have cats again. She’d only been here a few months when the local arboretum sent out an email that a juvenile cat had set up shop there and they were looking for home for it. On a lark (who doesn’t need another cat?) I called and they said ‘come and get her’. When we picked her up she didn’t want to be carried but walked with us the 300 feet or so to the truck, hopped in and sat in my Mom’s lap until we got home where she set up shop and has been happy ever since.
Time to adjust to having our lives back again, we can actually do things together again, something we haven’t been able to do for more years than we like to think about. The cats seem to have already adjusted, the fat cat isn’t going into or trying to get into her room, we’re all adjusting to the new normal.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Sincere condolences, Czar. You were a good son. Bless you for it.
Losing our Mums and Dads isn’t easy. If you’ve taken care of them at home, you were intensely involved with all aspects of their lives. And you did it willingly and were glad to be of help to them in their need. But easy? No. Little of it is. Mainly because I was so exhausted at the time but I miss my Mom more now than I did when she passed.
If the memories of the good times outweigh the stressed times, thank God for the fun and touching remembrances and ask Him to help you lose the less than good. The cycle of life…may it treat you and Czarina well from here on out. God bless!
LikeLiked by 5 people
What you realize is that suddenly you are alone. Your are the pinnacle of your family and you are staring at being the next to slide into the abyss, you just hope you don’t have to put your kids through the same thing.
LikeLiked by 5 people
That’s exactly how I felt too. My half siblings and my father were all gone, and my mother was the last of the previous generation.
PS: My mother’s prayer was that her mind would be good until the end and her prayer was answered. It must be terrible to watch helplessly as that slips away.
LikeLiked by 5 people
It is, you know it’s inevitable, you stoke your denial by administering drugs the doctors say will slow the process and you rage against that inevitability. At the end you’ve bailing a boat with a tea strainer and you don’t recognize the person that’s left.
LikeLiked by 5 people
That’s exactly what my mom said when grandma passed. Now you know you’re next in line. I’m not always good with words about this kind of stuff, but I hope you can feel what’s in my heart.
Lucille’s right, you were a good son…..and in that knowing, things should now be much easier. You did great honor for your mama Czar. You did good.
LikeLiked by 4 people
The credit goes to Czarina who did just about all of the heavy lifting. When her mom was dying she went to Florida to take care of her so she could die at home with family rather than alone with strangers. A disappearing grace.
LikeLiked by 2 people
❤️ to you both.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My sincere condolences Czar.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, Z…I’m so sorry to hear this. I know she led a long and interesting life – you must tell us about her later. She had to be a good soul to love our kitties!
LikeLiked by 3 people
When we transferred to Germany from Oklahoma in ’61 we had a cat, Will-Will, that we took with us. We had to pay to ship him to Germany, the government wouldn’t, and he went by air from Oklahoma City to Frankfort, Germany.
We were staying at a gasthaus in Miesau, Germany, while waiting for our furniture and housing to gel. I think my father picked Miesau as there was a detachment of the Polish labor battalion there and we joined them for about every meal (and between) at the Comet Bar.
As my father spoke fluent Polish, most of the labor battalion were WW2 vets and my father had worked with the Free Polish military during the war we had great friends.
In the process of getting housing we were told that we couldn’t keep Will-Will, cats weren’t allowed in housing. After some negotiations the Polish troops took him, housed him in their barracks and when we left in ’65 said good-bye to him – he’d gained about 5 pounds being pampered, an American guest cat in a Polish military barracks eating rodents and kielbasa.
LikeLiked by 5 people
I’m sorry, czar. It is not easy to lose your mother, no matter how old or sick she is. It is comforting to know that the cats were there to keep her company and lend a little warmth and affection. You were a good son to your mother. God bless you.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Czarina was the star here, for the last few years she took care of her needs and basically sacrificed a lot of her life and spare time.
When the assisted living facility called eight years ago and said she was becoming a problem and had to go Czarina didn’t even blink, she threw a few clothes into a bag and off we went to Florida to get her, wasn’t even any discussion.
It was about 220 miles one way, we got there, rented a U-Haul truck, packed up her entire apartment ourselves, loaded the truck and came home in 2 days. Not bad for two people in their mid-60s…but then Czarina has always been after our staying fit…ish.
it’s been a long slow grind to this point, isn’t easy watching someone deteriorate to the point where she can’t manage even the most basic personal tasks. She’s known for years where her condition was headed, she
asked the doctor early on for a pill that would help her just slip away but as long as we can be monetized, or until the government takes control of our lives literally it’s a no-go.
You feel a bit guilty feeling relief that someone’s passed but you can temper that with the knowledge that the person passed some time ago, you were just tending a body until it decided to pass.
LikeLiked by 4 people
How lovely that your mom spent her last years in a comfortable home where she was safe and had the cats to keep her company.
LikeLiked by 6 people
We don’t…or didn’t…send anyone in the family to a nursing home as we both have firsthand know\ledge of what they are and, after the COVID, so does everyone else.
LikeLiked by 5 people
My mother’s wish was to die at home, and that is what happened. I am glad that I was able to have her in my home, safe and loved.
LikeLiked by 4 people
It used to be that the process of dying at home amongst family was the norm but now it’;s become sort of icky, we’ve established institutions to take care of the ‘problem’ out of sight in a sterile and anonymous place.
LikeLiked by 3 people
My dad was cared for at home too, and you are right. The thing with mom was that I was still working full time and there was nobody else who could stay at home with her for a lengthy period. My cousin came from Oregon and my elderly aunt came too, so they could be with her when I wasn’t, and we had a hospice nurse every day for a visit. Mom only lived another 2 weeks after going into hospice care.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Hospice out here is spotty at best and Czarina has a wealth of knowledge from her previous career so she led the way and I provided the muscle and we got it done. In hindsight it doesn’t seem to be as bad as it was living it.
LikeLiked by 4 people
I’m sorry for your loss czar, and glad that you and czarina were able to take such good care of your mother. I’m with Wee, I bet there are wonderful stories to be told, and I hope that you will share a few in coming days.
LikeLiked by 4 people
There are, we will.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Especially the one where she found herself out of work because of the hostile corporate takeover of the Luftwaffe!
LikeLiked by 3 people
I thought it was interesting that my grandfather was brought back in 1937 by the German government because of his deep knowledge of the Russians and then again by the German government in ’55 for the Heer due to his deep knowledge in the Russians…
They could keep their WW2 medals too, all they had to do was remove the swastikas from them.
LikeLiked by 2 people
So sorry to hear of the loss of your mom, czar. She must have been so proud of you.
Can you imagine? She reared a son who turned out to be her greatest gift in life!
Our Lord must have been so pleased with her, welcomed her right in those pearly gates,.
Bet she has a few stories to tell…
LikeLiked by 3 people
So sorry to you Czar, and also Czarina who must have had great love for your mom as well. The only thing you take with you is your love, and you both, actually all 3 of you, had and still have plenty of love as shown by your kind care for each other. May God lighten your grief by remembrances of your love and happy memories.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Every now and then I think about which of my 3 sons I’d end up with ‘if’. One’s completely out of the running and the other two are at opposite ends of the social spectrum. I’d probably go with the youngest as he’d need the money the most and would, if for no other reason, keep me above room temp for that. We are, if nothing else, a very practical family.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Czar, I want to extend my sincere condolences on the loss of your mom. She is at peace and I know from your words that you find peace and comfort in that. Czarina is a treasure worth more than silver gold and diamonds, you are both blessed, but I suspect that you are doubly blessed, what a special woman you have.
When my mother in law’s mom passed, other than the physical loss, the long goodbye, she said the awareness of the “God Line” was a very strange sensation, there was now no one between her and God, it became a more direct relationship. In a right ordered world she was next in line, she said she found intimidation, strength, peace and just a weirdness in that. Now it has been almost two decades since her mom passed and she is fully in the peace mode ❤️.
Peace and love to you and Czarina 🙏🏼.
My funeral song.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Nope wrong song.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Well perhaps your mom had a terrific sense of humor. Both times I double checked it was the correct video put it in the search engine and it pulled up the right song JJ Grey and MoFro The Sun is shining.
One more try.
My life does not reflect the poor guy in the other video (thank you good God).
LikeLiked by 2 people
Last try.
Stella feel free to delete the duplicates. Hopefully the right link will post.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, perhaps the triplicate was meant to be the one, they’re both appropriate, all considered. She was from a strong family.
In WW1 her father was shot down over Poland in an observation plane and became a Russian POW. He was imprisoned in western Russia rather than the far western areas and took the opportunity to learn Russian and about the Russians. After a couple of years, the Revolution having caused a lot of confusion in the various levels of government, he’d become such a fixture in the camp that he could take advantage of the lax security, slip into a work party dumping garbage outside of the wire and escape by slipping away.
It took him over a year but, masquerading as a displaced peasant, he walked across a good chunk of Russia and back home to eastern Germany. The family knew he was coming as he;d stop and do some work somewhere and use some of the money to have a picture taken and send it home…we still have one. Fast forward 25 years and he’s a Brit POW in Belgium and Mom’s sneaking back into Thuringia behind the Russian lines smuggling out her two younger sisters and her Mom. She hung in there and wasn’t going easy.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wow Czar. You come by your tenacity through your bloodline. Awesome story about her father and her. Imagine how strong your mom had to be to make it into Thuringia (willingly) and to rescue her sisters.
My hat is tipped.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is obvious why he didn’t need a wimp of a wife.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s family.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LikeLiked by 3 people
Fierce looking fellow! Would you want to get into a physical altercation with him over placement of a mask?!?!?
LikeLiked by 2 people
No ma’am, I would not!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Had a pure black cat who looked just like that, only worse.
That look meant you’d best run; she followed up on that look.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Have 2 black cats, myself – brothers. One long-haired, one short. The short haired one has “someone in there.” Seriously. There’s someone in there…….
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hmmmm…
LikeLiked by 2 people