The Belle of the Ball

By Belinda

I don't even know her proper name. She's Kevin's grandmother, of proud Russian stock, whom I've really only come to know as Baba. I heard about her long before I met her. She sort of grew into a kind of legend as Brenda came home with tales of Baba and her growing affection for her.

She is formidable and feisty--and, like Brenda, I can't help but love her too.

Can't you just tell from the look in her eye that she is a force to be reckoned with? Since all of my friends fit that description I was predestined to be drawn to her zest and sheer "life!"

Would you guess that she is 87?!

When we were all planning our wedding attire, I asked Tina, Kevin's equally vivacious mom, if Baba had her dress.

She laughed in a way that said there was a story to be told. Sure enough, Baba's dress had hung in her closet for some time, about 50 years! It still had it's original pricey price tag. It had been bought by her own mom-- and never worn. Baba tried it on and it was perfect.

After the wedding dinner, when the dancing began, Baba took to the dance floor with her walker. And she danced up a storm!

You can tell from the photos that Tina has some of the Baba spirit.

When I grow up I want to have some Baba in me. :)



 






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Voyage

Image
Note from Belinda: I read this prayer yesterday and again today--and then I read it to Susan after cell group, when we were having our "second cup" of decaff coffee together. I knew that she'd love it. She has a framed picture on her office wall of a little blond haired girl in a sail boat on a stormy sea. A fatherly sailor,with a weather beaten face; in a gray sou'wester, holds her close, as he capably mans the tiller. This prayer reminds me of that picture and influenced what I wrote earlier today, when I used the metaphor of ebbing waves to describe a lack of consistency and my desire to crash over the sandbar into the peaceful pool on the other side.  ( Susan sent me a link to the painting, which was done by American impressionist Robert Reid in 1888.  It hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in NYC.) Be bless ed by the beauty of this prayer. OH LORD OF THE OCEANS, My little bark sails on a restless sea, Grant that Jesus may sit at the ...
Read more

Samson Beaver and his Family

Image
I first posted this in 2009, a little show and tell about one of my favourite photographs. Back then it hung on a wall, but now it's in my bathroom where I see it every morning! I'd forgotten the history behind the story, researched when I first posted this and thought that current readers might enjoy it--a story from a time when this land was still being discovered, not so very long ago. This photograph was taken by Mary Schaffer; artist, photographer, writer and naturalist, in 1907. It is of a Stoney Indian named Samson Beaver, with his wife Leah and daughter, Frances Louise. I bought the photo on a postcard, on a trip to British Columbia and it hangs framed, on the wall I face when sitting at my laptop. I love it. Don't you just feel as if you could gather Frances Louise up in your arms and cuddle her? I get a deep sense of peace and happiness when I look at this family, sitting in the grass of a long ago fall. They are dressed in their best, beautiful c...
Read more

Ere Zij God--Glory to God in the Highest! A Dutch Carol

Image
By Belinda This beautiful Dutch carol was shared today by a friend of Dutch ancestry, on Facebook. I had never heard it before but absolutely loved it. It moved me deeply, especially at the end after the crowd leaves the church and then breaks into spontaneous singing again around a brazier, with the sound of chiming church bells in the background. Listen to it with headphones or a good speaker to get the full effect of the harmonies. And happy first Sunday in Advent!
Read more