Obituary

Marge on her 92nd birthday last September

Margaret V. Carmichael

September 29, 1921 - April 5, 2014

 

Margaret V. "Marge" Carmichael passed away peacefully on April 5th 2014 at the Hospice House Woodside in Pinellas Park. She was 92.

She was born in Philadelphia, PA. to John and Anna (Fitzmaurice) Donnelly and was preceded in death by her loving husband Reginald "Ray" Carmichael.

The Carmichaels retired to Florida in the 1980's and lived in Ridge Manor. After her husband's death, Mrs. Carmichael moved to Clearwater to be near her son, Gerald "Jerry" Carmichael and daughter-in-law Vickie (Manning) Carmichael.

She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, two nieces, and a nephew: Maureen (Farlow) Adair of Audubon, NJ, Cheryl (Donnelly) Hanrahan of Las Cruces, NM, and Martin Donnelly of Lansdale, PA.

A graveside service will be held at 11:00am, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell with her husband. Arrangements are under the care and direction of the Moss Feaster Funeral Home in Clearwater, Florida.

Friends and family may sign the guest book at www.mossfeasterclearwater.com

Margaret Carmichael

We've spent a lot of time and energy over the last year to ensure that Jerry's mom had a comfortable life. Our job ended yesterday at 12:20 when she took her last breath.

RIP Marge (1921-2014)

Marge's Tree

I believe I have put up my last tree for the season. Marge has a collection of cool vintage glass ornaments. Sadly, we loose a couple each year because they are so fragile. I added deco mesh to her tree this year which doesn't leave room for all her ornaments so I basically did just vintage and left off her newer stuff. She was very happy because she can see the lights.

You can see she likes a more traditional look with multi colored lights and ornaments The CNA said hers is the biggest tree they ever seen in the ALF, lol. I hadn't even considered downsizing her tree but maybe next year.

Lunch on the Beach

Jerry and I both had a Monday off recently - he for Columbus day and me for a canceled appointment - so we took my mom to lunch at Clearwater Beach. We ate at Frenchy's on Rockaway. Competative  parking but great view. Food was above average for a casual fish joint.

 

 Can't go to the beach without putting your toes in the sand. That's easy when all you wear are flip flops and slip ons :)

After lunch we stopped to visit Marge at her ALF.  It was a very nice day.



Marge Turns 92!

Happy Birthday! The facility where she lives had a party for her on the Friday before her actual day and we got a better photo that I will try to remember to scan. Here's Jerry helping her open her Belgium chocolates.

Just a random shot of orchids from my yard. I took them to the nail salon when I got my last pedicure.

Happy Mother's Day 2011

We had a lovely mother's day gathering today. The weather was absolutely perfect - warm enough to enjoy the pool but not too hot to sit outside.

Cousin Lea, first-cousin-once-removed Erica, and first-cousin-twice-removed Sarah, my mom, my mother-in-law, and of course Jerry and I spent the afternoon together.

Sarah and Jerry were the only ones in the pool. It was about 83 degrees. Another couple degres and I will be in there too ;)

Jerry had hamburger, hot dog, and polish dog duty. Sadly, I got a photo of my mom, Marge, and Lea but it must have been accidentally erased because it wasn't on my camera when I downloaded the photos.

Eddie was conscripted to deliver a mother's day card, lol.

I made my first maccaroni salad and it was good. I also made BBQ beans, and an orange cake. We have watermelon and the best salsa from Publix - it was roasted corn and black bean salsa. Basically a simple meal so we could all spend time together.

New Year 2011

Today we gathered at cousin Erica's house to eat black-eyed peas and exchange Christmas gifts.
Cousin Erica who let her daughter Sarah dress her today and that's why she has 4 pins and 2 necklaces on :)

Cousin Sonya helps Sarah with her Hello Kitty gumball machine

Cousin Lea with MIL Marge.

Jerry, who had a relaxing time watching football and eating.

Mom with Don, Cousin Lea's hubby.

Sarah with a pink ukelele that some of you might recognize.

Tommy, Cousin Sonya's hubby.

After the kitchen was cleaned and all the wrapping paper mess was cleaned up, Sonya, Sarah, and I went to Putt Putt Golf.

This is Sarah doing the happy dance after a hole-in-one!

Admission to miniature gold includes a soft serve cone from their ice-cream store.

It starts out all nice and neat but then..............you get this!

Finally, Sarah trying to plant a chocolate kiss on Sonya! lol

Christmas Day 2010

Eddie waiting patiently for his new toys that he is SURE are hidden under that tree!

I splurged and bought roses for the dining table and the it turned out we had to move them to the sideboard because they blocked our view, dah.

I only put out my largest nutcrackers this year. We were busy with the bathroom remodel with stuff strewn about the house and with too many "things" the house felt too stuffed.

Oops - photos out of order. We had a Christmas breakfast/brunch this morning, then opened gifts, then later in the day I cooked dinner. Here the dogs are enjoying sausage strata and raspberries.

Mom helping Marge open her gift.

Jerry with a new package of cigars.

Me with no makeup and a little tired from having stayed up late the night before to prepare breakfast.

Funny things - Eddie waited long enough and went under the tree, grabbed a gift bag & pulled it out from under the tree, then took out the toys.

Daisey with my newest nutcracker - i LOVE it!

Eddie, exaughsted from the brunch & playing with so many new toys, gets a much needed massage from Marge.

Eddie with his new stash of toys. Don't worry - Daisey did get to play with one. Woody slept through the day except for the parts with food.

Wedding, Birthday, & Office Party

Last weekend mom, Daisey & I traveled over to the east coast of Florida to perform the wedding of friends. I know these folks because a) they are Ratbone volunteers and foster home, and b) they are friends through the internet rat terrier social networking I belong to. This was my first time to meet and I married them! lol

What is better than a rat terrier on top of your wedding cake?

Widdle Kiara - love visiting a house full of rat terriers.

Their Nala Belle. Beautiful dog and I know the owner of the mother and siblings of this dog.

We returned on Sunday which was Mom's birthday so we made a side trip to the beach since she had never been to an Atlantic beach. Took her 75 years to get there! Whoops, did I just tell her age?

Daisey enjoyed the beach despite the wind, mist, and cold temp.

When we got back to Clearwater we then picked up Jerry & his mom and went to Bonefish Grill in St. Petersburg for mom's birthday dinner. Cake is from Publix and it was yummy!

Goofy photo of mom blowing out the candles - sorry mom. hee hee

Yesterday was work Christmas party and pot luck. I brought Paella. I even included a few Alaska scallops from my treasured stash!

Thanksgiving

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving day with friends and/or family. We had turkey dinner at my mom's condo. It was a quiet day with just me, jerr, my mom, and jerr's mom Marge.
Jerry and Marge at the partially set table (yes, there was more food to come )

Jerry and I after dinner and dessert. We didn' bring a dog with us because Jerry was worn out from working 19 days in a row, most well over 8 hours, and i've been down with a sinus infection which turned to bronchitis. No one was up to walking them.

It's Florida so we had keylime pie (yummy) in addition to the traditional pumpkin pie.

Easter Sunday

Daisey was the chosen one today and got to go wtih us to my mom's house for dinner. For the observant folks, yes that is a Valentine's dress. I was in Arkansas for Valentine's day so she never wore it :) The bad news, for Daisey, was that a trip to granny's involved a bath first.

The Easter dinner table. We had turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, white beans, corn, cucumber salad, biscuits, cornbread, and peach cobbler.

My plate. Notice there are no sweet potatoes. I don't eat orange foods. Wierd, I know.

A collection of scraps left over from everyone's plates.

Daisey eating her Easter scrap dinner. We brought some turkey home so the boys got a bite too. They are all passed out for the evening, LOL.

Sarah wanted to walk Daisey so I taught her the proper way to hold a leash. She thoughrt Daisey was strong.

Photo of my mom and my cousin Lea. The photo of MIL Marge and cousin Erica came out too blurry to use. Jerry was unhappy with me taking a photo of him in the recliner so I didn't post it. His eyes were all red from the excessive oak tree pollen - lots of people are a mess.