In honor of your passing, I just made tunafish sandwiches for lunch. I remember how you used to feed your cat Baby tiny helpings of your tunafish as you ate your sandwich. Because of this, I could never put onions in your tuna salad! Today i am sharing the tuna juice (the liquid from the can of tuna packed in water) with a new all black feral cat which Ron has named Napoleon. I call him Nappy for short; he has been neutered and had shots so he likes hanging inside more than out.

This once again is a year when craft shows abound the first week of December so I was crazy busy collecting my wares to take to the one at Cheltenham Center for the Arts. Today is the final day but I wanted to mention that I shares Sam's album of tissue paper art with the artist set up next to me and she was greatly impressed with her work. I also reconnected with Victoria Harding from the Bead Cellar who rekindled Sam's interest in knitting and supplied many beads for Sam's bead work over the years. The "We Miss You" box I sent to victoria included one of Sam's smaller tissue paper paintings!

The years really do fly by as you get older... News of The Boy in the Box who was discovered in 1953 in northeast Philadelphia has resurfaced with new findings due to genealogy and the discoveries have my brother Ron and I speaking a lot about our past... And Sam.
She is remembered in one way or another on a daily basis by us. RIP Mary Ethel Sherr Hanselman...

Happy 100th Birthday! You always wanted to be 100, in fact the last year of your life, you told everyone you were going to be 100 that year...We almost lost your cat Ba-be Girl this year to a bad gum infection but after the great care she got at the Cherry Hill Cat Clinic, she pulled through and gained her weight back and is as feisty as ever at 20 years old. Having her here is like having you here at times, so we don't have to miss you, only remember you!

It's December 1st, 2018 and in your honor, I participated in the Holiday Craft Sale at Cheltenham Art Center. I will be there again tomorrow before packing up all my handmade goodies and bringing them home... I also did the sale at Daylesford Abbey this year and sold one of the blue stone necklaces you made; the one with the silver interlocking leaf closure you got from Victoria. The woman who bought it LOVED it and loved the idea that you were 90 when you made it. So did I; no matter what age, you always knew how to put together a winning necklace design!

We just had our first December snowfall on Saturday - 4" total - wet, slushy but very pretty to look at back here in Hanselwoods. Sam's cat, Baby Girl, even ventured out on the catwalk to see what the white stuff was all about and used the cat door Ron put in for Redford to come back in. She's gotten quite brazen in her old age, much like her 'master' of many years!

Today they are having a fundraising sale of jewelry at the Cherry Hill Library (one of your favorite places) and they will be offering quite a bit of your hand strung beads and bracelets in the event! It seemed ashame for all your pretty creations to remain hidden away in a box when they could go to a good cause at a place you used to frequent weekly. Babe girl the cat is still here with us and has two new "terrorizers", Redford Underfoot and Cosmo the dog who visits with Ron from Florida. She even ventures outside on the cat walk every day for some fresh air and sunshine and still has to drink from the bathroom faucet. You and Sprague picked a good one! Speaking of Sprague Shope, she left us this year, so you may run into her...

Brisk and cold here but your cat, Babe, is nice & warm all curled up on top of the dryer; that is her new sleeping spot of choice. She is still spry and able to leap tall tables in a single bound... well almost... when being pursued by Redford. I think she must be about 16 years old now!

2016, 5 years since the passing of Sam and we are in the throes of re-doing her condo to rent. Ron and I believe she would LOVE the floating floors which have replaced the carpets and the freshly painted walls, new sink & john as well as a new garbage disposal. Sam always liked her home to look it's best!

We had Thanksgiving dinner again this year with Alan and Denise; Ron flew up from Florida with Cosmo and I made a Chocolate Decadence Cake for dessert. You would be so proud of what a nice cat Babe has become - she no longer bites the hand that feeds her! Since we would always celebrate your birthday on Thanksgiving, it seems only right to keep you filled in on the doings of the day.

Your birthday this year finds us without Stewart Underfoot who passed away October 19th, 2013. His grave is marked with Jimmy's old headstone (which we brought back from Bally). Baby, Ron and Cosmo are all here for this anniversary of your passing and as promised, I took one of your decoupage paintings to Alan and Denise when we went there for Thanksgiving dinner.

Will always remember the wonderful day we had at our mosaic workshop... and the Wonderful frame you created with Barbara's kiln cones. I have them on my supply table for all my classes... when I show them... I always mention you and the great frame you and Barbara created.

In honor of your 93rd birthday, I made your favorite cheese ravioli and meatballs for dinner tonight. Ron and I really enjoyed them and so did his new little puppy, Cosmo, who you would like a lot more than Smudgie Baby does... but she is improving each day. Stewie had his favorite Fancy Feast to celebrate your day.

Sam peacefully passed with Stewart Underfoot curled up next to her and her son, Ron and daughter, Barb at her side. She will be remembered for her lifelong creative output - last year one of her decoupage paintings won 3rd place in the annual Camden County juried art show - and her love of all things beautiful.