Two funerals and a road trip….

I should probably apologize for my heading-it sounds depressing and somewhat disrespectful, but I’m not going to because both funerals were wonderful celebrations of long lives lived fully and honorably.

My father-in-law, Reed Luke Clegg passed away on June 2, 2015.  He was a month and a half shy of his 97th birthday.

He outlived his sweetheart by three years and had maintained his independence until just the last few days of his life. 

He was still driving his car at age 95.

He was a veteran of World War Two, serving in the Navy in the Pacific.

He loved this country!

If I could sum up his life in a few words, I would have to say he tried to live perfectly.  He did his best with everything he attempted.  Oh, how we will miss him!

You can read his obituary by clicking here.

♥

I’ve often blogged about “Aunt Mardene”.

Mardene Hall was the perfect aunt, living next door to us as we were growing up.  She was selfless and kind.

Everyone loved her!

She passed away on June 13, 2015 (early on the morning of dad’s funeral).

She never married, so we invaded her life and claimed her as our own (sorry cousins).

When our parents got sick and passed away, Mardene held our family together and became grandparent for our children and  their children. 

She loved the outdoors:  gardening, riding her bike, watching sports, enjoying the sunset.

She loved children!

(My grand-niece Karli made this beautiful flower arrangement for Mardene’s bike.  It was perfect!)

Mardene was also independent until the last few days of her life.  We moved her to an assisted living center, but she was only there a few days.  She quietly passed away at age 91.

You can read Mardene’s obituary here.

While we will miss them both, how comforting it is that they are both free from the ailments of aging bodies.  We know we will be reunited with them again some day.

Can you imagine the happy reunions they are experiencing right now?

♥

 

(The family-minus Ovidiu and some of the young grands.)

Since the funerals were back to back our daughter Heidi and family were able to be here for both.  (That is quite a blessing, don’t you agree?)

Her husband had to fly home to work after the first funeral, so I drove Heidi and the kids home to Oregon and then spent a few days with them.

We took two days to drive and had a nice long little road trip.

I didn’t take one single picture.

It has been a busy and draining start to my summer, but I feel very blessed that things worked out the way they did.

Now, if I could just do something about the HEAT!

(104 degrees today.)

JoAnn

 

Saying good-bye.

After record breaking rainfall in May (which meant postponing yard work until June), closing up my classroom for the summer, and trying to catch up at home (neglecting everything because of school) it has been crazy around here.

The last week of school is always a physical and mental endurance test.  Students don’t want to work anymore, it is often too warm in the classroom, and teachers have to sort, organize, and box up everything.

While I enjoyed my students, we were all ready for the change.

I will miss their hugs, cute comments, wonderful stories, and creative art work.

(And the fact that they don’t have a clue how old I am!)

My kind father-in-law passed away right before the school year ended.  His ninety-six (almost ninety-seven) year old body just wore out.  After falling several times, we admitted him to the hospital.  He was then put on Hospice and within a few days he passed away.  We celebrated his funeral on Saturday.  We feel blessed that he was able to go quickly and not suffer for a long time, but we will miss him a lot, especially sharing Sunday dinners with him.

My sweet Aunt Mardene had been living alone and was quite independent, but a week ago she suffered some mini strokes (we think), so we moved her to an assisted living home.  We fixed up her room and had it so cozy and comfortable.  Within a few days she also passed away. 

We are planning another funeral. 

She leaves behind a void in many lives, too.  She never married, but has loved, cared for, and supported three generations of nieces and nephews.

We flipped around our summer travel plans and daughter Heidi and family flew here instead of our going there.  I will soon be driving them back to Oregon.  We have enjoyed catching up with their children and don’t look forward to having to say good-bye to them.

We feel  blessed that both Mardene and Ken’s dad were able to be with us as long as they were (187 years combined), and that they were in pretty good health until the very end, but it has been surreal losing them both within a week of each other.

Even though we know they are now free from physical limitations and pain, and are reunited with loved ones who had gone before,

it is never easy saying good-bye.

We will miss them!

JoAnn

P.S.  The yard is getting prettier now with Day lilies blooming, the Daisies starting to open up, some annuals planted for color, and little Zinnia sprouts popping up.

Now, if I could only stay ahead of the weeds!

 

Last weekend we, like many of you, spent a lot of time visiting local cemeteries to honor our loved ones whom we miss.  We always put pretty flowers on the graves.  (Is that the custom where you live, too?)  The weather was wet and cool, with scattered showers throughout the day.  Our umbrellas hardly had a chance to dry out between stops.

All the rain we’ve had certainly made things beautiful and green, and the sky was quite magnificent with dark, brooding clouds mixed in with patches of clear blue.  Every time we thought the sun would triumph, those heavy clouds just pushed forward like hungry students at lunch time.  (Yes, we’ve been working on writing with metaphors at school.)

I always have a sense of gratitude for those people we call family and friends: Pioneers, hard working farmers, craftsmen, and teachers.  They remind me of what is (or should be) important in life.

The cemetery above is located in beautiful Heber City, Utah, about forty-five minutes from Salt Lake City.  The Clegg pioneers settled in this beautiful valley, nestled against the back side of Mount Timpanogos.  We love to visit there.

Not only was the scenery delightful, but we felt a closeness to those we have lost, kind of like a small connection of Heaven on Earth!

Have a wonderful weekend.

P.S.  Five more days of school….I think I can, I think I can….

The garden has a gate

Yesterday my husband hung this new gate on our fence.

(He built it.)

The good news is that it will help contain little grandchildren.  The bad news is that now the rest of the fence needs a new coat of paint to match it.

I wish I could say that all the yard work was done, but there is always so much to do.  We have had a lot of rain, which has made it difficult to work outside.  I have a lot of perennials that had to be cut back and thinned out since they tend to take over a space.  You can see a dead pile of discarded flowers  in the corner of the photo (oops).

The raspberry patch is starting to take off, too.

(This rain has been wonderful for the plants!)

The rose bushes are starting to get pretty.

Don’t you love it when things start to come back to life?

Other news….

Somebody just turned three!

 

Happy Birthday  Miss Olivia!

Great job at the dance recital Brookie and Maddie!

Good luck Joshua with your T-ball!

More news coming…..

JoAnn

 

Rainy day geraniums…and an unusual cinco de mayo party

I’ve been so looking forward to having a Saturday.

I had big plans to work in the yard.

Three flats of pink and red geraniums are waiting for a new home.

 

(Intermountain Farmers’ Mothers’ Day sale- 12 flowers for $12.99.)

It looks like I won’t be digging in the dirt today.

It’s raining outside.

Everything is wet.

I usually like the rain.

(I just needed a few dry hours.)

Oh, well.  The moisture is necessary and it’s a bonus that things are pretty and green because of all the rain.

It will just take me a little time to refocus my mind and make new plans for the day.

*     *     *     *     *     *

We had an unusual cinco de mayo party.

We love borrowing traditions from other cultures and incorporating them in to our lives.  Many of my students share these traditions with me at school and I love that!

With gluten free objectives and  post surgery diet restrictions, our menu was less spicy and fun than it normally would have been.

(I hate to admit that we had grilled hamburgers and potato salad.)

But…

We did have some killer homemade guacamole dip and fresh salsa!

And a LOT of fun.

The kids had fun with the piñata.

We even had a tortilla toss.

Robbie cheated and toasted his tortilla (cheaters never prosper), but the winner was Karl, who’s tortilla went up over the house and landed in the front yard!

(Please imagine red and pink geraniums in that flower bed.)

It has been a great start to the month of May.

I have four more weeks of school left and then summer vacation will be here.

Many reasons to celebrate!

Hope you have a great Mother’s Day weekend!

JoAnn

P.S.  Did you know that I completely forgot to change my calendar for the entire month of April?

 

 

Life’s Little Adventures….

Recently some of our children went to Moab, Utah for a fun get-away weekend.  The beautiful red arches and unique desert plants made a scenic backdrop for a fun adventure of hiking, climbing, and enjoying nature’s miraculous wonders.

While some of the grand kids were free to explore and climb, others needed a little more guidance and control.

(I used to hate to see kids in harnesses, but I’ve since learned how helpful they can be.  Besides- wearing a backpack is kind of a cool thing.  Right?)

 

This earth really is stunning!

 

It’s been a crazy week here (you might call it a wild adventure). 

We’ve been testing at school.

Our daughter had surgery.

A friend had a miscarriage.

Ken’s dad is struggling to adjust to his new assisted living apartment.

A brother-in-law lost his brother (much too early).

There have been plumbing problems.

AND SO ON.

Sometimes life is just plain hard.

Don’t you wish you could control which adventures you got to have?

Since we really don’t have any choice in the challenges that come our way, isn’t it nice that people offer support to each other?

 

I’ve seen a lot of love- from shared dinners- to flowers- to offers of babysitting.

(While I was taking dinner to my friend, someone else brought in a lovely meal to our daughter’s family.  Caring seems to go full circle.)

This journey of life is much better if we look beyond our own problems and help each other.

source:  pinterest

Thank you to all of you for the thoughtful things you do!

I’m going to try and be more aware of ways I can help others, too.

JoAnn

P.S.  Thank you for letting me share your photos, Liz!

P.P.S.  Prayers go out to the people of Taiwan and Nepal, with devastating earthquakes.

 

Spring time… (except for that one snowy day)

After a very mild winter, we have experienced a lovely Spring.

The blossoms really delivered.

They were stunning.

 

Even from inside the house, the view was delightful.

(I don’t have good luck with window shots-too much light for my camera.)

 

And then it snowed.

First we had 60 mile an hour winds, followed by black rain from all the dust (wish I’d taken a picture of the dirty cars in the parking lot at school-sort of looked like the jeeps you see after an off-road event through the mud).  Then the snow started as we headed home from work.  It snowed about six inches here.  It looked like the snow storm we had wished for back in December.  

It was quite beautiful.

Thankfully, it all melted the next day.

The new Spring weather called out for a little door wreath.

(My Saturday haircut just happened to be a few blocks away from Hobby Lobby.)

 

It has been nice being able to work in the yard and being outside.

 

Don’t you love Spring?

JoAnn