Inheritance

"I had an inheritance from my father.  It was the moon and the sun.  And though I roam all over the world, the spending of it is never done."  Ernest Hemingway.

My Mother has been failing for several years with creeping dementia adding to the mix.  She has not been walking for a long time and has been in considerable pain for way too long.  A couple months ago we agreed that hospice care should be given as she was in way too much pain when she was awake.  She passed peacefully this week into another realm where she is with my father, grandparents, her cousins and her brother.

at her 85th birthday party with her good friend Ruth who is now 94.

My mother taught me to knit.  Knitting is a huge huge part of my life.  I remember her knitting sweaters with balloons on them, maybe a clown face. 

That's skilled intarsia work.  I don't remember her doing that once I was a teen though. hmmmnnn Maybe I just didn't notice or maybe she went on to other crafts  However she did make me a lovely lavender sweater in moss stitch that I still treasure and wear for warmth and comfort. 

There must be an awful lot of love stitched into that sweater as I have had it, worn it, washed it for over 20 years and it still looks and feels great.  

My mother taught me to sew.  My father bought her one of the first Singer Sewing Machines that did different stitches.    There were cams one placed into the top to make the stitches. 

Still a mechanical machine but so fabulous.  I remember sewing from patterns, and botching up making my own patterns but still loving sewing.  We made our own 8th grade graduation dresses.  That may have been in Home Ec classes but I remember she helped me finish it at home.  I went on to do art quilts and fun clothing projects.

My mother loved my cooking and I can remember her bragging about that to friends and thinking my putting the compost bin in the cutting area was so cool.  My mother was not a good cook.  She preferred spaghetti without sauce, maybe a little butter, but really no sauces on anything and often dry meat too.  We ate out quite a bit as a result but she always relished whatever I cooked for her.

I was enrolled in art classes at a young age, riding the city bus by myself Saturday mornings across Brooklyn to attend oil painting classes at Brooklyn College.  I'm impressed with the confidence in my independence and support of my love of painting I received through most of my young life.

I have an inheritance from my mother.  She bequeathed me the skills to create.  As I live and go through my life, the spending of those skills ever inflate.

Alice Bloom

Alice Bloom, 89, most recently of Middletown, RI, previously of Southbury, CT and forever of Brooklyn, NY passed away on Monday, January 20, 2014 and joined her beloved husband Harry, her parents and brother.

She is the mother of Ellen Kahn of Newport, RI and Susan Sarabasha (Jim Johnson) of Ithaca, NY, grandmother of Matthew Lent (Liz) and great grandmother of their children Bryan, Alicia and Andrew, all of California, and Aunt Alice to niece Helen Bloom of Belgium. Alice also leaves her cousins, and her friends in New York and Southbury.

She was most proud of her 25 years as a Comptometer Operator for the accounting firm then known as Price Waterhouse. She also volunteered with Hospice of CT when she lived there and loved playing Mah Jongg and Canasta.

A Remembrance  of Mom’s life, featuring her favorite foods, will be held at Ellen’s home on Gibbs Ave, Newport on Saturday, January 25.  Stop by anytime between 1 – 3 p.m.to have a bagel (if not spaghetti with no sauce. “What’s wrong with that? It’s good!”). 

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Alice’s memory  to the Grand Islander / Homestead Unit Activity Fund at 333 Green End Ave, Middletown RI 02842, or Beacon Hospice at 1130 Ten Rod Rd., Suite C-104, North Kingstown, RI 02852, to thank them for the extraordinary and loving care that Mrs. Bloom received, and to allow them to continue providing such care to others.  

Additional  information available at www.memorialfuneralhome.comhttp://www.memorialfuneralhome.com. .