A Bit Off Topic… 3


My mother  is a really special lady.  She is an incredibly brave lady.  She came from a little town, on the side of a mountain, in Washington.  Leavenworth is the name of it.  She was born last and number 10 from struggling, but loving parents.  She married a kind of wild guy and headed for New York after getting married.  And there they led their gypsy life, compliments of the U.S. government.  Crossing the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.  Zigzagging back and forth across the United States MANY times.

I think what makes my mom who she is, would partly be due to her family.  Her father was born when “men were still men.”…. in other words cowboys.  You can read about one place Grandpa Bart, or B.Y. freighted by horse and wagon HERE.  H e also homesteaded in Alberta, Canada.  By the time my mom came along, he was quite old and had settled in Leavenworth, Washington.

My grandmother immigrated from Norway at the age of 4.  She was a very industrious and devout Christian.  She was a seamstress by trade and she could create just about anything.  She knew the meaning of the depression saying, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

I see in my mom a bit of both her parents.  I see her drive to see and try something new from her father.  And from her mom I see her creativity and ingenuity.

My mother’s maiden name is Couch.  In our home we sat on “sofa’s” or “davenports.”  We never owned a couch 🙂  The Couches are having a family reunion near my mother’s home town of Leavenworth, Washington this summer.  Out of the ten children, there are only two remaining… but there are certainly many, many more family members!  I’m not able to attend, but Mom and Dad are going. Everyone has been asked to bring old pictures to share.  I have taken Mom’s old pictures and made a little show of them, and they are posted below.

Now you may be asking yourself, “What in the world does this have to do with Labradoodles?  Why did Heidi post this on the Pine Lodge Labradoodle website??”

Good questions.  This has absolutely nothing to do with labradoodles.  Except that without my mother’s moral support and continual encouragement I probably would not be raising these dogs.  And my dad’s great help around here.

And… well… it’s on this website because I’m just not all that techy.  I needed a place to post this for my mom to see, where it would stay.  The music in the video are some of my mom’s favorites… and I had to buy them off of Amazon.  Facebook won’t let the video remain on their site because of this.  So where should I put it???  On my website of course.

So… if you have read this far.. I’m impressed!  You may or you may not be interested in the old family photo’s in the video below.  For my Couch Family, I hope you enjoy the show.  I’ll have it and the photo’s available to you digitally 🙂

 


3 thoughts on “A Bit Off Topic…

  • Donna H

    Wonderful story! Your family history is of interest to me as it provides information relevant to your character. This is important as it’s a reflection on you as a breeder. I love family history and genealogy.

    Couldn’t view the video, it gives an error that the owner might have removed it.

  • Tif

    That was great, Mom. I also couldn’t view the video on my iPad or iPhone-maybe you need to click that button again? But on my computer it worked fine. You may have to remake it when you get a more recent picture of us this September! 1995? Really? Love you.

  • Kary

    You did a great job with this. It even plays on my iPad which doesn’t happen very often. Did you change the format to make that happen? Too bad you can’t make the big Couch reunion!

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