Note

I posted three posts in one day--well, this makes four.

Someone's had a birthday

Here's a Happy Birthday shout out to a great young lady who is a bright light in our family! Love ya, L!  May all the important wishes come true!

Visit with Nielson Cousins

The day after the funeral, the Neilson cousins went to Pine Valley.  Our grandmother had been born in Pine Valley and Mom always took out-of-town relatives to see the place of our ancestry.  I believe all of us have been there before but it is a nice place to see again and again.  "If wishes were fishes," I'd love to own a place there and visit all the time!  :o)

Here we are at the grave stone of our ancestor grandfather.  There are seventeen of us Nielson cousins (not counting one who is deceased) and at the funeral, there were only four of us not in attendance.  What is the likelihood of that happening again any time soon?  Not likely.

A few had to leave before the Pine Valley trip but we in this picture represent some posterity from all five Nielson girls who married.  The gal in the orange coat is a relative but not one of my first cousins.  She was our good tour guide.

This is the house of another wife of our ancestor grandfather--the house of our ancestor grandmother does not exist anymore--and this house is pretty much the same house plan as our ancestor's so it was interesting to see.  This house had been moved down the street from its original place, kitty-corner to our ancestor grandmother's house.

It was a great day and we (I can speak for all, right?) thoroughly enjoyed our visiting.  Thanks to T for being our guide, relative and friend!

The next day, most of the cousins were heading back to their homes but two of my cousins and I went to Zion National Park.  What a beautiful time of year to go to Zion!  I need to remember that when it is "cold" (relative term), there are not as many tourists!  Zion is being loved to death and, in the prime tourist time, it is totally overrun.  But this time, it was a lot like I remembered from my youth--not a lot of cars, plenty of parking, and the feeling you have the park to yourself.   In my youth, we would go to Zion a lot for community, school, church and family events and now I go years without ever entering the park at all. I need to don my winter gear and visit more often before the shuttles run.  Anyway, the three of us had a nice time driving through the park and seeing the beauty that is Zion.

We had a nice lunch and visit at the lodge before these cousins had to leave, too.

Hopefully we can see one another in the not-to-distant future, along with the other cousins who could not make it this time.  It puts me in mind of our Pine Valley ancestor grandmother whose brother went to the gold mines.  She said she lost track of him because she did not have money for postage for letters to him.  It is too bad that we're "far enough flung" that it costs real money for travel.  Always that darn money problem.  Then if it isn't money, it is time or health or some other demand.  Bis aufs Wiedersehen.

Ringing in the New Year.

Traditionally, on New Year's Eve, we have a family party with just the five of us.  This year, too many of us had other commitments.  So New Year's Day, we had a very abbreviated "New Year's Eve" celebration.

Part of the celebration activities is to make a wish bag.  Years ago when the kids were very small, I got the idea from Nickelodeon (kids' TV). The kids decorated a paper bag.  They were supposed to then blow it up and pop it while wishing (hence the name "wish bag").  I've never thought about it until right now but it probably meant while wishing everyone "Happy New Year."  But I always thought of it like birthday candle wishes where you make a secret wish.  Be that as it may, I didn't think my children could actually destroy a work of "art" they'd slaved over, so I put noise makers, hats, and a gift in the bag and gave it to them at the end of the evening, just before wishing one another Happy New Year (like 9 or 10 p.m. back in the day).  Inside would be their New Year's Eve gear--hat, noise maker, lei, confetti or similar things--and a small gift.

This was such a hit, that we continue it to this day.  Pictured here are recycled wish bags--bags made in some previous year--filled with the "gear" and gifts.  This year, B spearheaded all this.

We actually donned the gear and rang in the New Year!

Later that day, we had my sister's family come for dinner.  Prime Rib. My thanks to B the cook.

We had a nice New Year's Day.

Happy 2010!

More on my recent state of mind . . .

My cousin Tiffany took this picture of us at the graveside. I think it captures the moment well and I'm thankful she sent it to me. Initially, I copied the photo directly from email and it was huge. I said, "I do not know how to make the picture smaller but in a way it is fitting that it is so over-sized for the blog space--that is kind of how the whole passing of my mother is in my life anyway." However, I think I've fixed that problem but I felt like the sentiment was still valid--this has been an over-sized event in my life.

My sister chose the floral arrangement for the casket and I thought she did a wonderful job. It was not what you see everyday--the colors were oranges, yellows, rusts, creams, and that "family" of colors because it reminded her of the inside of Mom's house.

I can't believe it has been two weeks today since Mom passed away. It feels like both yesterday and long ago. Time seems to just be flying by all around me while I seem to be moving slowly forward, working on loose ends, with emphasis on the "slowly."

I feel I write one "thank you" note just to think of two others I should write. Today, I made calls to establishments about Mom's passing and I paid Mom's bills. I've paid them over and over again and, for some of them, today was the last time. It feels a bit disorienting and surreal for me.

Slowly I'm trying to reclaim my house from the chaos of the past few months. I'm slowly digging out from Christmas, although I'm still enjoying my Christmas trees--Christmas sped by too fast for me to enjoy them then.

I don't know that I'm very productive at my slow pace. I just try to keep moving or things are keeping me moving. I guess that is what happens when a person has a husband and children in the home and has commitments outside the home, too. There's always something or someone needing attention.

I'm enjoying the rain, probably because it makes me feel like staying home and puttering, which I would be doing anyway, but the rain somehow gives me some kind of justification.

A life well-lived

My mother passed away in the early, early morning hours of the 6th of January, at the end of a mortal life well-lived.

As I said at her funeral, it is an impossible task to try to capture her essence. It is also impossible to try to describe my mother in any brief way and yet, I have also found myself, since the funeral, at a loss for words when I sit down to blog about her passing.

So I thought I might show photos spanning that well-lived life as a tribute to her.

My mother is the child on her mother's lap. Mom would have been not quite two years old. She was the baby of the family so her parents and all of her siblings preceded her. There was quite a reunion, no doubt.

Always up to something . . . .

Mom told me

some photographer was passing through town and so Mom, of her own accord, walked down to get her picture taken and had to wait HOURS.

The high school drummer girl . . .

I think this is her senior picture.

A college girl.

A school teacher.

Those girls . . . . a close group.

Mom's parents' golden wedding party. This is a proof but I always liked how Uncle Lloyd and Mom were talking together.

Mom with her beloved dad.

My folks on their wedding day.

New parents . . . . and what a cute baby I am!

The little family in their "new" house . . .

My folks.

All three children present and accounted for now.

Thanks to some relative (maybe Uncle Clark?) for capturing this shot.

Three seemingly angelic children . . . .

Our family photo--we were outside in front of our little white house when this picture was taken--maybe by some passing photographer.

My folks sent out this photo for Christmas that year.

Our family in the old family home.

The family with Aunt Mae

Mom and Dad

The family at the beach in California.

My graduation.

Sweet Adelines

I was home from college for a visit.

Home for another visit from college.

J's graduation

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!

An edited family photo, pre-grandchildren.

Mom and Dad

J's college graduation--now there are grandchildren.

Proud to marry off an old maid . . . .

Holding down the fort . . .

Mom on her own. Dad passed away about sixteen years ago.

A picture of Mom waiting for my family's Easter egg hunt that we must have held at Mom's house that year.

Christmas time, I think 2007, so Mom had had her knee surgery and her moves from assisted living to assisted living but was finally at Beehive. God bless Beehive.

Mom has passed away.

Mom and Dad are together again.

This picture is so "them" in their later years.

No more dementia, no more deafness, no more diabetes, no more arthritis, no more bad joints, no more cataracts, no more glasses, no more canes, no more starvation, no more digestive troubles, no more falls, no more strokes, no more surgeries, no more pneumonia, no other physical troubles ever, ever again.

Like one lady said to me, "So glad to hear your [parents are] well again." Hear! Hear!

We will miss you both for the rest of our mortal lives.

God be with you 'til we meet again.