The Mother Road by Jennifer Allee

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Tara Jo

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What a great book.  2 sisters 12 years apart in age, embark somewhat reluctantly on a road trip from California to Illinois

Learning that their mother’s Alzheimer’s is progressing and each at a crossroads in their own lives, they set off across Route 66  to visit their parents learning about each other and themselves as they go.

They further explore their family relationships after arriving home, neither knowing what the next step in their lives should be.

I really enjoyed this book, the places on Route 66  brought back memories for me as well as the idea of going home, my current home is in California but I grew up in the midwest. So I can imagine without much prompting a similar trip, I even have a sister a decade younger than I am.

  • Print Length: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Abingdon Press
  • Genre : Christian Fiction
  • 5 out of 5 bookmarks
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Day 16 | Jan 16 | Two Things

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Tara Jo

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Two pairs of sneakers after a workout at the gym 🙂

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Hummingbirds = Love

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Tara Jo

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Hummingbirds were my maternal grandmothers favorite bird. i took these this afternoon and they always bring her to mind, she would have been 94 on feb 11, but she passed away in 2011. I am blessed to have so many hummingbirds at my house year round  and i try to keep the feeder filled with sweet sugar water, because i know when i see them flitting around that she is with me. growing up she and my grandfather were just a few miles away, a trip i took many times on my bicycle or motorcycle growing up. Even as an adult after i moved over a thousand miles away,  i still took time at least once a year to get back ‘home’ and visit with her.

My grandmother on my dad’s side was also a lover of animals and always had a dog around, she even once had a pet wild squirrel she rescued as an orphaned baby.  She would have been 95 next month. although she passed away in 1981 I was lucky enough to live next door to  her and spend time with her nearly every day for all of those 11 years.

Family is precious, you may not love all of yours all the time, but remember we only have each other for a short while and we don’t know how long that will be.  So tell them you love them, and spend as much time with them as you can.

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Day 14 | Jan 14 | Something Yellow

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Tara Jo

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The  Bat Signal on my daughter’s new sweater is yellow 🙂

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Day 13 | Jan 13 | Circle

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Tara Jo

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Circle 🙂 pretty self explanatory, but I decided to dress it up a little by taking the picture of said circle, through a slinky 🙂

Join the Photo a day challenge at Fat Mum Slim’s blog

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Day 12 | Jan 12 | Surprise

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Tara Jo

surprise weather

Checking the weather for tomorrow morning certainly gave me a ‘surprise’.  I live in southern california, it is not EVER supposed to be 26 degrees fahrenheit  at my house. celcius would be all right.. i could live with that.

even now i am bundled up in a big sweatshirt and fuzzy slippers over my regular clothes and socks because it is cold in my house…

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Day 11 | Jan 11 | Water

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Tara Jo

Pictures

 

i took a picture earlier today of a glass of water, but then  i remembered this sequence of images i took a few years ago when my nephew was visiting and i took him for his first visit to the beach…  i was torn between warning him about he wave coming in and taking pictures of his reaction.  as you can see, taking pictures won out.

 

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Day 10 | Jan 10 | 1 o’clock

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Tara Jo

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1 o’clock

at one today we ran to the Smart and Final store on my lunch break to get some baking supplies, my daughter runs a little cupcake bakery and has an order to be delivered tomorrow evening, so we needed to grab some stuff to bring her ingredient inventory back into shape.

sadly i am on a diet that eschews delicious cupcakes so i will not be the primary taste tester this time.

i also need to say that every time i see the C&H logo a little song starts going through my head…” C&H.. pure cane sugar, from Hawaii, sweetened by the sun’

Join the Photo a day challenge at Fat Mum Slim’s blog

 

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Day 9 | Jan 9 | Paper

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Tara Jo

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Paper, Priceless Paper

These used to be a common sight in a teenage girls backpack and notebook, i think now they are almost completely replaced by IMs and text messages. these are notes to and from my now husband when we were in high school.  each page a reminder of the fact that even 26 years ago we were silly and in love, much like today.

as i sit and read through them i can sometimes remember what was happening when they were written, there is the one that says simply ‘ i love you’, the one with the elaborate ‘font’,  the long drawn out 2 page conversation one night as we sat on his bed each reading a book on either end passing the page back and forth, getting sillier and sillier as we went.  and my personal favorite, the little ones with the times on them, that i sent with him the day he had internal suspension so he could open and read one for each of those long drawn out hours with nothing else to do.

I am glad we have these little reminders of those times, sometimes they seem so long ago, but a simple piece of paper can make them seem like yesterday.

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Day 8 | Jan 8 | Something beginning with ‘T’

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Tara Jo

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of course i could have gone with the obvious ‘tara’ (that’s me!) but instead we have ‘together’ this is the first time in many years all 4 of us girls have been together.  we celebrated thanksgiving with mom and dad and in this picture we are just about to fall over we are in the middle of laughing so hard.  why were we laughing you ask, who knows, it is enough to remember the laughter itself and the joy of being together and no doubt being very very silly.

i love my sisters and i wish we could all get together a little more often with one on each coast and 2 in the middle it takes a lot of effort to get us all together in one place at the same time.

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