A Garden of Poetry

The GARDEN ROWS - Poetry & Photo pages
The ARBORETUM - Photo Pages
Old Guestbook - view only; sign in at the GRAPEVINE.
Annie's Homepage
Russ's Homepage
MORE of My Fave LINKS
The Grapevine - My Facebook Page
Angelfire - Build our own FREE web site

Hi, My name is Yvette. Lots of people call me Vette or Vettsie. You have found your way into
A Garden of Poetry. My Garden of Poetry is cultivated by the diversity of my interests.
This is my second web site, begun in 1998. Until a few years ago, my first guestbook from my original GeoCities website (earlier in 1998), was posted here. Unfortunately, the link to the old guestbook that used to be here has been discontinued, so there is nothing to read or sign on this site. I suggest making a comment on my Facebook page. I have provided a link above, labeled THE GRAPEVINE.

My interests include writing, birdwatching, gardening, hiking, traveling, camping, bluegrass music fests, stargazing, history, genealogy, scrapbooking, exploration of cyberspace and its other explorers... but this barely scratches the surface of my interests. Growing raspberries and making jam is the most recent addition to this list. With the help of my friend, Anita, we made at least 21 pints of jam in July 2014.

If this is your first visit, you are in for a real surprise. There is a lot to see here, so if you can't stay long, please BOOMARK, or save to your FAVORITES file, so you can return easily. Although parts of this site are currently STILL BEING PLANTED, much of it has grown lush and rampant! Take time to wander through the rows of my virtual garden. Enjoy the photos and poetry.

THE LILY FIELD has been completed. To read the narrative of our 26 October 2002 WEDDING, click on the GARDEN ROWS link above, then click on the LILY FIELD link. Our wedding photos are on that page, so please enjoy them.
In November 2004, I retired from the State of Ohio after more than 30 years of service.

My daughter, MONICA was married 30 October 2004! I'm so excited and happy for her and her husband, Mark! In 2005, they began building a house near her in-laws in Fairfield County. AUTUMN 2014 is upon us and they are still working on it, although they have been living in it since 2008. Click on the Garden Rows above, then scroll down to the Olive Tree to see selected photos of Monica's life highlights.
24 Jan, 2009 Brigette & Monica near St. Patrick's RC Church in Honolulu, HI, for their cousin, Erik's wedding.
After returning from my US Navy sailor nephew, Erik's mid-winter 2009 wedding on Oahu (Honolulu, HI), I brought back the color of the ocean and poured it all over this home page, to represent that trip. In June 2011 they came to the mainland to visit. Erik wanted Gina to see all that is precious to him about Ohio, including our own North Shore, Lake Erie: Put-In-Bay and South Bass Island; Cedar Point, "Tecumseh," the outdoor drama near Chillicothe, a Columbus Clippers Baseball game, and a few family gatherings.
As of June 2014, I still did not have wedding photos! I finally got the wedding photos on the PALM TREE page by the end of summer 2014. I still have the tours and fun photos to complete the page, but at last I'm working on it!

By the way, Erik returned to civilian life at his home with his wife on Oahu, but as of Summer 2014, Erik spent the 2013-2014 school year teaching in Las Vegas, NV, where they both settled in for the 2014-2015 school year. Now, in early 2018, they have a newly built home in the Las Vegas area.

I was one of many poets selected to read at the Columbus Arts Festival poetry readings, between the years of 2001 and 2006. I did not apply in 2007. With a record breaking 55 applicants in 2008, I was notified that I was not selected to even audition for the 35 slots available. I last read there in 2009. I was not sent a notice to apply in 2010.

Without receiving any notice in 2011, they allowed me to audition for the festival on Saturday 19 March. I was notified that I was selected to read at the 2011 festival, but I admit I was up against some formidable competition! Many of the artists sang or had musical accompaniment. I find that an unfair disadvantage, as I am not musically talented. Consequently, the festival weekend arrived, and I never received anything regarding date and time to read. They should have just been honest about the whole thing and sent me a rejection letter! I really don't care if I ever go back, so I retire myself from poetry competitions. I had a good run while equal competition lasted!

My sister, Julie asked me to read my poems at Columbus State Community College on 11 March 2010 for Women's History month. I was her "show-and-tell" for WOMEN ALOUD. My humorous poetry was well-received, as evidenced by audience laughter! September through December 2010 and January through April 2011, I read a poem of my choice at each St. Aloysius Women's Guild meeting. The women enjoy my humorous twist endings. I love sharing my poetry and making people laugh, so as I suspected, it has turned out to be a way to get me to more meetings!


I was asked by my poet-friend, Bea to read poetry on 12 July 2014 at the Westgate Summer Jam. There was live music, and poetry read between the bands. It was good to see my friends Beth & Jetta in the audience. Poetry was not included in the 2015 Summer Jam.
READ ON!


THE PALM TREE(2009 Hawai'i trip)
THE MANGO TREE (1993 trip to the Philippines) and
THE FIG TREE(1989 trip to Medugorje, Boznia-Herzagovina - in former Jugoslavia) have been planted in The Arboretum.
See my Haiku poems in the NATURE & WEATHER row as of 10/3/2001


AUGUST 2014 HEALTH UPDATE and NEW PHOTOS OF DAD ON THE HOME & FAMILY PAGE - ROW 1 (USE LINK ABOVE) NOTES ABOUT MY DAD
A couple of days before our wedding (Oct. 22 2002), Daddy had gone to his Veterans Administration doctor for tests and they called that evening to say his bilirubin count was up (he was jaundiced). His VA doctor told Mama to take him to the ER. His gall bladder was removed in 1986, but he was continually having gall stone problems. They did an exploritory procedure Wednesday 23 October and actually repaired the problem the Thursday after our wedding.

April 2004 Daddy had hernia surgery. He's doing fine. He MUST be fine, he's still aggravating Mama! His SECOND EDITION World War II Navy memoirs, called "ONE MORE SEA STORY," is now in print. SEE LINK ABOVE

Two of Daddy's 3 sisters & a brother-in-law, passed away in 2013. Dad's youngest sister, Sue and her husband, Dave are all he has left of his family's generation, besides a few of his first cousins.
In the wee hours of the morning of 12 March 2014, Dad was admitted to Mt. Carmel Hospital in Columbus, OH after having had a heart attack at home the night before. On 19 March they sent him to a nursing home because he wouldn't do his therapy so he could go home. He was supposed to come home on 7 April, but he didn't, again because he would not be physically able to get around the house without help. He seemed to think his age exempted him from having to re-learn something he learned a lifetime ago! They sent him to another nursing home, this one completely covered by the US Veterans Administration. On his 90th birthday, 2 May, we had a party for him there. Sometime after that, it seemed to me that he had an epiphany of sorts, that he really would not be able to go home if he is unable to get in and out of bed, etc. It didn't take him long to be able to do that! In early July we were working on making space for him to go back home with Mom. VA hospital furniture was delivered, Mom, Julie and I brought him home 15 August, 2014. He passed away peacefully while napping mid-morning of 12 December, 2014. Mom was nearby. Mom chose a pretty gold-toned cube-shaped receptacle for his cremains. Now he's Jack-in-a-box!
Mama turned 89 on 7 Oct. 2016. She died peacefully in her sleep on 21 March 2017.
Dad's cremains were buried inside Mom's casket at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Columbus Ohio.
May they rest in the peace of God's eternal light.


The pictures originally on this home page (1997-1999) were taken at the Gardens at Gantz Farm in Grove City, Ohio, where I was a volunteer for about 12 years. You can find these pictures (and those from the DARBY VALLEY GARDEN CLUB) 1999 flower show on the HERB GARDEN page, from the ARBORETUM directory. The Gardens at Gantz Farm celebrated its 10 year anniversary 8 July, 2001. The link (and others) can be found above on my MORE LINKS page. You can find links to other web sites on the above mentioned subjects on my More Fave Links page.

My fondness for CARS and drag racing has recently resurfaced. The stripped shell of a 1965 Chevy El Camino (acquired in Summer 2000) was hauled away 5 Sept 2001. The body of a 1965 Chevelle Malibu (acquired March 2001)received the engine, transmission and some interchangeable body parts from the El Camino. Our original plan was to fix up the El Camino, but then we found out how badly the body was rusted. The Chevelle is Mark's fave car, but they are hard to find. When he found this CHEVELLE body, it was as though it was meant to be! As of May 2012, he has been able to make enough money at his auto parts delivery job to get the Chevelle not only roadworthy, but looking pretty good, too! He has replaced the Canadian 305 engine twice, now having been fitted with a 60-over-350.
During the autumn of 2014, Mark traded the 1965 Chevelle for a 1983 Malibu.

A LESSON IN FAMILY MEDICAL HISTORY
I have just one more thing to add about my exciting life. In October 2007, as I was preparing for a hysterectomy, my younger sister, Annette was found to have uterine cancer. Her hysterectomy was scheduled 3 days after mine, the day I went home from the hospital. I had not known beforehand that I also had uterine cancer. My gynecologist found out when she got the pathology report. These events started Mama thinking; her maternal grandmother, Louise Brosmer Trapp, had died of uterine cancer in her early fifties. Both Mom and her mother each had their last child soon after turning forty, and both had hysterectomies not long after. The uterine cancer had not yet appeared in them. I have four sisters, and I am the oldest, followed by Annette. Our three youngest sisters all had hysterectomies early in their adult life: Mary, because of severe endometriosis at 25, never having borne a child, and Jenny & Julie by their mid thirties, after bearing 3 children each. So Grandma Scoles, Mama, and my three youngest sisters all had hysterectomies before their mid-fifties, the time of life when cancer set in for Great Grandma, myself and Annette. Annette and I had radiation therapy but no chemotherapy. The best thing to come of all this is the fact that we can prepare our daughters and future generations to avoid unnecessary tragedy by having timely hysterectomies. In 2014, I found out from my first cousin, Mary Anne, that she also had uterine cancer. She is in the same line of succession as we are, through her Dad (our mom's brother). She later joined a study which revealed those of us susceptible to uterine cancer are also susceptible colon cancer, as are our brothers.

Annette had given me a St. Peregrine medal before I started radiation. St. Peregrine is the patron saint of those with malignant tumors - cancer. WE ARE CANCER SURVIVORS. St. Peregrine, pray for us!
Thanks for stopping by.

Be sure to sign my GUESTBOOK; click above on THE GRAPEVINE before you leave. Also, FOUR of my six siblings, Russ, Annette, Jenny & Julie, at one time all had their own web pages! Now you will find links above to only Annie's and Russ's. Please come back soon to see how I'm doing!
The GARDEN ROWS and THE ARBOR are the directories to my different PAGES!
Last edited 9/7/2015.

Email: vettsie@juno.com