We are home. It was a very long drive yesterday. We had planned on two 7 hour days but the snowstorm blew that plan to pieces.
On Saturday we drove 150 miles in 4 hours so yesterday we had 950 to drive! It took 14 hours with short stops for gas, breakfast and dinner. It amazes me to think we were in Massachusetts yesterday!
It feels good to be home!
We woke up to 2 feet of snow - a record for Lee, Massachusetts (the old record was one inch!)
What a nice day today has turned into - sunshine, blue skies, just a scattering of snow surrounding the fall colors still on the trees.
We are in Pennsylvania now - don't miss Massachusetts at all!
Should be home tonight.
Yikes - we are trying to get to Albany which looks like it may not be snowing yet.
I am so pleased we were able to attend the memorial for Elise. It was held at the Unitarian Church in Swampscott, MA. It was a beautiful service.
So many of her friends - colleagues, clients, and neighbors were there. Elise was a friend and mentor to all. I am sure, her husband, Roger felt surrounded by love.
Whether it was someone reading from her high school yearbook inscriptions or coworkers telling how she mentored them or clients telling how she was such a good friend - the theme was the same - Elise was loved by many and every single person felt loved by her.
A reading from Patricia Lynn Reilly was read that so encompassed how her friends saw Elise:
Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is a woman, a woman who honors her experience and tells her stories, one who refuses to carry the sins of others within her soul.
Imagine a woman who believes she is good, a woman who trusts and respects herself, who listens to her needs and desires, and meets them with tenderness and grace.
Imagine a woman who has acknowledged the past's influence on the present, a woman who has walked through her past who has healed into her present.
Imagine a woman who authors her own life, a woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf, who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and to her wisest voice.
Imagine a woman who finds the Divine in herself, a woman who imagines the Divine in her image and likeness, who designs her own spirituality, and allows it to inform her life.
Elise was very humble and saw herself as a work in progress. Everyone I talked to after the service felt as if Elise cared very much about each and every one of them.
It was such a blessing to spend time with her friends remembering her life.
We are on our way home trying to outrun the winter storm predicting 6-8'' of wet heavy snow! Say prayers for a safe drive.
Looking for Halloween ideas - would you be able to go down your basement and find a brand new tuxedo shirt and bow tie? Okay let's say you had one in your basement could you walk downstairs and know exactly where it was? Only Kim!
We made dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls after school today - we had such fun. I love sharing my love of baking and cooking.
This trip has been so much fun - days filled with family, love, memories, stories, laughter and fun.
Being able to see the girls off to school and talking with them about their schoolday has been such a blessing to us.
Spending time with family is so wonderful.
We are having such a good time being Aunt ME and Uncle Pat. Today we got to see a tennis match.
They pulled it off! Our niece didn't have a clue that her husband and two daughters had been planning a surprise birthday party since July.
Her parents, Jim and Cindy, and Pat and I traveled to New Jersey to be a part of the surprise. It was such a nice party. They can be proud their daughters planned such a wonderful day. The cakes and decorations were spectacular. Their sweet friendly personalities made everyone feel so welcome - it was so nice to be here with them.
Now I don't know about you but how would you like to find four extra guests coming home with you after a party with no warning? In this family it was just another night to have fun. We all sat around talking and telling stories till well past my bedtime. Now we will enjoy their compay for a few days.
Cindy and I made a new friend at Goodwill - Brother Dear stayed at the hotel - Pat drove us and took pictures!
We are on our way to a memorial service in Massachusetts for my cousin, Elise.
These pictures do not show the Allegehny Mountains as we are seeing them - it is a cloudy day but the colors are beautiful.
We had such fun at the pumpkin farm. Jesse, Caroline, Javier,Ayva, Joanna, Sheala, Papa and I all spent the afternoon in the sun. Face paintings, horse rides, making ropes, taking pictures. It was a great time had by all!
We had such fun going to Lillie's swim meet. It brought back memories of Joanna and Caroline in high school swimming meets. Mary's parents were there and it was nice to see them.
We had a good chance to chat with Anna, learning she chose to play the flute in band this year and today got to play a duet with her private music teacher. She has a Geography test tomorrow on countries.
After the meet we went to their house to have pizza. Lillie really had fun swimming and it was their last home swim meet. She also told us she is going to play her trumpet at Carnegie Hall in January with her band. I told her how few people get this opportunity and Mary asked Lillie how she was chosen and she said, "Hard work!" She also has a Geometry test tomorrow.
We missed Bruce because he had to work. But it was a fabulous evening. Hope they have good tests tomorrow!
Pat says we took "a little ride in the neigjborhood" of course if you call the whole State of Michigan our neighborhood then he would be right.
It was such a beautiful ride filled with a few antique stops, sunshine, bright yellow, deep burgandy, orange, smells of fall, Traverse Bay, great music blaring from the radio with our windows rolled down. We are almost home!
We were going to go camping but decided to drive around and see the color all over the State on short daily trips.
I do love Michigan.
We had such fun playing with Ayva. She played "My name is Chubby" with us. I brought these long fingernails to put on her but she didn't like them.
She was cheering on Inge which made Caroline happy. She danced for us. She ate a good dinner.
