He slipped from this realm one Saturday night as crimson June sun settled into gloam. Battle worn warrior, valiant fight, his long-lost family welcomed him home.
Music was his refuge, passion and love; working with the bands, perfecting their sound. Crisp melodies sent to heaven above floating like healing rain, down to the ground.
Now we are drowning in torrents of tears as rhythm of the bass drum fills the air. Memories flood our minds and fill our ears, his gentle voice whispers, “never despair.”
Listen to the sound man, you will soon know: Music will wash away all your sorrow.
Hello all. It’s admittedly been a tough week. This poem is dedicated to my dear cousin Steve Crumbacker, who passed away in Maryland on June 1, 2024. The news of his death was devastating for me, as he and his sister Patsy were huge part of my earliest memories in life. Back in the early sixties, our two families shared a duplex on Concord Street in the west end of Hagerstown. Even though we only lived there until I was five years old, I can still recall many of the memories we made with my sister Barb from that time….running around in the backyards and empty lots, Steve and his best bud Roy listening to Beatles 45s on the front porch, (deeply influencing my love of music), playing in the snow, and being terrified by their stories of how Bloody Bones lived in the attic and was going to get us! Back then, he was just a normal, all-American kid having fun picking on his younger cousins – nothing nefarious, just a little ornery. *smiling*
Steve was five years older than me, and he was a man of many talents. He was a renowned Nascar photographer, a highly regarded musician, and he worked as a sound engineer with many local and regional bands over the years. He was also a cat lover like me, and just the sweetest guy you could ever hope to have for a cousin. His memorial service will be held on Monday evening. I will never forget Steve and the many childhood memories of the Keller Family we shared over the years. You are in my heart always, dear cousin. I send all my love and prayers for comfort to his wife Kim and his only sister, Patsy. I love you both so much!
Xoxo Colleen
Mood: Sad Inspiration: “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles
Ecrits Blogophilia Week 49.15 – Psychic Hard Bonus: Use a lyric from The Guess Who (“Music will wash away all your sorrow.”) Easy Bonus: Incorporate the word nefarious
Hello, a quick Kyrielle sonnet this Friday evening. It’s been a short week due to Memorial Day holiday, but the workweek felt long.
The weekly writing challenge had me immediately thinking of our beloved Antietam Battlefield. I grew up in Washington County, Maryland and took frequent jaunts to the battlefield with my family when I was younger. My grandmother Ellen Christ Keller had a great uncle (I believe?) Benjamin Christ, who fought in the Battle of Antietam. It seems to me there was either a memorial or statue of him along one of the roads, I vividly recall driving down those old roads one hot summer day with Dad searching for it. I remember taking Katie there back in the 2000’s when we came up to Maryland for a summer visit, and she was quite fascinated by the stories of Antietam. Bloody Lane, Dunker Church, Lookout Tower and Burnside Bridge were always my favorites. So much history and stark tragedy, so many lives lost there in the deadliest battle of the Civil War. It is said that Antietam is haunted, often smelling of smoke and gunpowder at random times.
Since moving back to Virginia, Dan and I have visited both Antietam and Gettysburg Battlefields, two of the most famous battlefields in Civil War history. It literally sends chills down your spine, walking the grounds and imagining the horrors of what transpired all those years ago. Over twenty two thousand perished at Antietam, many on Bloody Lane. It was considered the deadliest battle in American history. It’s really cool that we are enjoying exploring the historic side of things at this point in our lives. We’re hoping to make some short trips to some other spots in the coming years.
We’re going to a graduation party for my niece tomorrow, so it will be fun getting together with family. And it’s supposed to be a beautiful day for a change, on the weekend. I’ll take it! Have a lovely weekend, all!
Xoxo, Colleen
Mood: Sentimental Inspiration: “1812 Overture” by Tchaikovsky I know this is a different war than the Civil War, but my Dad used to play this a lot for us growing up – incredible memories.
Ecrits Blogophilia Week 48.15 – Garden of Broken Dreams Hard Bonus: Incorporate a Civil War battlefield (Antietam) Easy Bonus: Mention a tombstone
Warm promise summer days wake to birdsong chalk art on sidewalks hopscotch and roller skates watching thunderclouds roll by seventies love songs on the porch wafting through our humble neighborhoods baseball cards, clothespins, aluminum spokes zooming down the alleys, hair flying free running with glee through the cool sprinklers blueberry snowcones at twilight star gazing in my backyard sweet childhood memories such innocent times and I wonder just where have they all gone?
Happy Sunday! I am a day late posting this for the Blogophilia – and for good reason. Last night I was sitting here at my computer working a storm came up. I had finished my double etheree and was writing up the content for my blog, when a windstorm of wild proportions descended. We’d had warnings for high winds, and to be honest, we get them quite frequently where I live in Virginia. As I was on a writing roll, I paid no attention to it, typing away and suddenly – whoosh, the power was gone! It was pitch black, and we scrambled in the dark to find our lanterns, flashlights and candles.
Scrabble in the dark!
We could tell this one was not a mere flicker of the lights, so we reported the outage, and it was the exact same area that ALWAYS goes out. However, it must have been serious because Dominion Power was reporting it was not coming back until 3 am at the earliest. So I had to modify my evening workout to a leg and abs workout in the dark (no cardio). Then I washed my face with bottled water and put my pjs on – we live on a well and therefore, have no running water when the power goes out. (Which is a major pain!) The cats were a little freaked out, following us around and wondering why we were sitting there at 9 pm drinking wine and playing Scrabble by candlelight, instead of watching television!
Who’s the boss? Rudy stepping on Bobby’s head…
Since it was relatively cool outside, there was no problem sleeping (temperature wise, that is). However, we both kept waking up, peering up at the ceiling fan in the darkness to see if power had come back on. And of course, our luck would have it that still no power restored at 8 am when we crawled out of bed. The cats were a bit out of sorts. So Dan went into hurricane survival mode, drove to get us bagels and hot coffee. He also salvaged our Easter hams and took them to his office refrigerator (which fortunately still had power).
This was quite inconvenient for us both, as we are both working under the April 18 tax deadline and have LOTS of client work to do. Plus I was in need of a shower and a functional bathroom, so like I did for the past 3 power outages, I packed up the necessities, my computer, phone, chargers and we headed to his office. (Which conveniently has a functional shower, as luck would have it!) I told Dan, hey – it worked like a charm the last 3 times we headed to your office in a power outage, so why not? He got a chance to work while I had a decadent shower in an old but clean bathroom (who cares, I felt like a million bucks after)! And no sooner did I step out, fresh and fully dressed, than Dan said “Power’s back on!” Our neighbors had texted us. Maybe I should have done this last night, lol.
Curling up on the recliner with Dad
So we were out of power for a total of 18 hours. This evening I will have to determine what needs to be thrown out. The freezer still looked good, no ice had melted and the ice cream and meats were solid. I will toss eggs, mayonnaise, sour cream, dairy type things and any leftovers. It’s an inconvenience, but nothing like what we used to experience in South Florida with the frequent hurricanes. It kind of derailed my weekend a bit, as I did not get the amount of work done I wanted to. I’d planned on a nice 6 mile run this afternoon, but I’m just too exhausted today. So I’ll listen to my body and just take things as they come. The cats are tired out and catnapping as usual!
I was afraid my poem was completely lost – I didn’t remember saving it. Fortunate, when our power returned, the poem was still intact, but the blog verbiage was not. I think I was just musing on how many memories and blessings I have from my childhood in the very early 70’s – such a carefree time on Guilford Avenue, cruising the alleys (Keller Alley as we deemed it), dodgeball under the porch, reading books on the front porch, baseball in the gravel driveway, tag, freeze, Simon Says, playing in the cool basement, watching fireworks from the playroom window…. I have so many engrained in my mind and heart, and I am so grateful for them!
Catnip dreams! (Bobby Moonlight)
The takeaway this week? Be grateful for what you have, look at them as blessings, and take things in stride. I am so glad this power outage did not happen next weekend, as we have a hockey game Saturday night and are hosting Easter dinner on Sunday. So listen up …. Aeolus, oh God of Storms, please be kind to us next weekend! Have a great week, everyone.
xoxo Colleen
Mood: Nostalgic Inspiration: “Summer Breeze” by Seals & Crofts
Ecrits Blogophilia Week 39.14 Topic: Where Have They All Gone? Hard Bonus: Use a song title by the singer Pink (Humble Neighborhoods) Easy Bonus: Include a baseball card
Thomas Jefferson said, “I cannot live without books.” As I wrote my poem this afternoon, I looked around my home office and discovered how true that quote is for me! I am sitting here, literally surrounded by books. I have been collecting them since I was a child. My mother took us on weekly trips to the library, where we loaded up on books. My father drove the Bookmobile, which was very cool as a kid! So books are kind of in my blood. I find it hard to let go of them sometimes, but I really need to – because I’m running out of room for them! Among the treasured books in my collection are several books of poetry and childhood books from my parents, a literature book from my Uncle Bobby, my 11th grade English textbook from Mr. Hershey’s class (not sure how that ended up in my collection…), and many poetry books from the masters to online friends who have self-published!
I’m always reading a book, my current book is “Echo in the Bone” by Diana Gabaldon from The Outlander Series, which I absolutely love. It’s almost 1,000 pages and it’s taking me a while to get through it, a little bit each day. How do I find time to read with such a busy schedule, you ask? Well – I blow dry my hair and read at the same time, that is how!!! That can get a little tricky, but I make it work. Since I’m usually always working at work or around the house, I try to multitask with things like reading. I very rarely have time to curl up on the sofa to read. I am hoping that my life can slow down a bit so that I can do more reading, though.
I buy my grandkids books ALL THE TIME! I had a stack of them waiting here when they came to visit for an early Christmas, and I plan to mail them next week so they have them in time for Christmas. I know that Katie will carry on the tradition of story time each night, it is such a wonderful thing for kids. Dan and I took turns reading each of them a book each night, no matter how tired we were.
Maybe since we are staying put this holiday season, I will hope for a snow day so that I can settle in with a cup of hot tea by the fire and do some reading. I wish you all a restful season full of happy reading! xoxo Colleen
Mood: Mysterious Inspiration: “In the Hall of the Mountaing King” – by Edvard Grieg
Ecrits Blogophilia Week 23.14 Topic: It’s A Good Life Hard Bonus: Quote Thomas Jefferson. (“I cannot live without books”) Easy Bonus: Use the word “Liberty”
Colleen Keller Breuning 