August flew by. We are settled in here, well it still feels new to me- probably because I was gone for 2 weeks in August. I went up to Santa Rosa to see my daughters. I say daughters but I only really saw one of them. I stayed with Drewy and her family for the whole time and it was wonderful. They have become an instant family in a way; their 6 year old is with them full time now, and his 14 yr old son has just come to love with them. Wow- 14 and 6...they have their hands full. But with rules, chores, bedtimes and family time I know they can make it work.
We all went to Yosemite to spread my mom's ashes. She died in 2011 but nobody ever got around to taking her ashes up there, so this summer it finally got done. I took a stack of pictures of her with me and we all looked at them and I told them stories about her. Drew talked about making Christmas cookies with her when she was small. And looking for lizards in the open space behind her mobile home park. And splashing in puddles. When it rained my mom would take Drew out to jump in puddles. I love when I hear her talk about it. Grandma was not always the nicest grandma...she would tell us to go home after about an hour of visiting her. When she came to live with us- well it only lasted about 3 months and she and I were both unhappy with it. She was a little harsh with the kids; with Halla, who was only about 5 at the time. She was also isolated; at the time we lived on 2 acres and not really close to anything- she was no longer driving and so was dependent on us for everything. For my independent mom- it just wasn't gonna work. My dad died when she was only 58, and she lived another 30 years- she went to South America, New Zealand, all over the place, on her own and with friends. She was smart and strong. Ha ha my hero. So anyway she moved to an assisted living place with her own apartment and was really happy there.
One of the pictures I had was her as a little girl in Yosemite at Camp Curry. The ranger identified it by the tent cabins and so we went there for lunch. Actually once we started up the mountains towards the entrance I started tossing out handfuls of her; I thought she must have loved the trip as she got closer...but ha ha the first throw came back in my face! And you know what? Those ashes are not fine lke cigarette ashes or fireplace ashes, much thicker...well never mind. I got better at it after that. We dropped scoops of her in so many beautiful places. In the afternoon I we stopped along the road and went swimming in the Tuolomne River, and I took the end of the bag into the rive and let it go under the water, then she could travel thru the whole park. None of the waterfalls had any water at this time of year of course, but the views were so magnificent! I was the only one who had been there before so it was really fun watching everyone else ooh and awwwe at every corner. It was a nice day.
Actually in the car I had so many reflective thoughts. I was in the back on one side sharing the seat with the kids, and Drew & Rex up front. I saw how life moves on, that the baton had been passed to the next generation. I wondered when I got so old ha ha. The parents were in the front seat and the kids and Grandma (me) in the back. I talked to my mom in my head; I told her all about Drew and her family, what we were doing- how they were all betting who would see a bear first!
I think I can add the pictures I brought with me to this post, so you can see my mommy. She started going to Yosemite as a kid, and my grandpa wrote stories about it. I think my brother has them, and in fact I think he wrote some of his own and is planning to share them with me and my sisters.
When he and my older sister were kids they went to Yosemite camping like my mom did when she was a child, and actually I went at least a couple of times but I was pretty small and don't really remember much- I do remember being really small and that a bear was walking behind us and my mom and dad saying just walk- never run from a bear. I think that was in Yosemite. I think after we moved to northern Calif we started going camping in other places- I was 6 years old when we moved up there, so yeah I don't remember a lot...or all my camping trips back then kinda ran together.
We camped all over northern California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, and one year we went to Wyoming and Montana. Every summer we went for 2 weeks- such a cool way to spend summers. One place we went to is called Jedediah Smith State Park Redwoods; it's just below the Oregon border in Calif, on the way to Grant's Pass. I loved it, and it became a place I took my kids growing up. I hope that they will do the same with their kids. I took Everardo there on a camping trip after we had been dating a couple of months...it was after summer so we didn't swim in the river, but we the summer bridge was still up and we went across and into the path in the woods. It's such a special place for me.
That path in the woods is the place I see in my meditations; I have one guided meditation that talks about a path on the woods and I can see it perfectly. We camped all the way up to Washington to see my brother in Tacoma, and then his daughter in Asland, Oregon....I learned that from my mom and dad, to camp, to embrace nature. Drew is going camping this weekend- it's the Labor Day 3 day weekend, and when we talked on the phone on her lunch break she was shopping for camping dinner foods.
Well this post was going to catch me up, but as always I got off topic and it became a post about my mom. She died on Sept 10, 2011. (9-10-11) We were with her. She had a long good life. She had tons of memories of her own adventures and those of all us kids. I talk to her all the time. I see her in the full moon, and ...in penguins ha ha. At the end she was in good spirits, but at tines was kinda transmitting from a planet far far away- know what I mean? And she called me over to tell me she didn't like how "they" (I don't know who "they" were), she didn't like how they were treating the penguins. It was just so funny- almost as funny as when I walked into her room and she had the tv remote up to her ear and yelled at me "this damn phone doesn't work"! Ha ha . Well in her time she saw phones be big clunky things, dial phones, then portable, then cell phones. She saw tv be invented, we had black and white and had to walk across the room to change the channel! Ha! My kids would die from that! In fact my first remote control came from a tv I bought from her- it was also my first tv in the bedroom tv. She was born in 1924- think of all the changes she saw! Last year I got a penguin tattooed on my arm; under it, it says Elly, and above it is the words "Oh well" which she said all the time in the last few years. Everardo says Oh well all the time. He got to know her and at first she didn't want to know him or like him because she loved my ex husband. But after she got to know him she couldn't help herself ha ha. And my ex husband came to her bedside just before she left us- she was so happy to see him, it was nice. She saw she could love both of them.
Ok so here's some pictures of her. I'll have to catch you up on everything else later. Viva
We all went to Yosemite to spread my mom's ashes. She died in 2011 but nobody ever got around to taking her ashes up there, so this summer it finally got done. I took a stack of pictures of her with me and we all looked at them and I told them stories about her. Drew talked about making Christmas cookies with her when she was small. And looking for lizards in the open space behind her mobile home park. And splashing in puddles. When it rained my mom would take Drew out to jump in puddles. I love when I hear her talk about it. Grandma was not always the nicest grandma...she would tell us to go home after about an hour of visiting her. When she came to live with us- well it only lasted about 3 months and she and I were both unhappy with it. She was a little harsh with the kids; with Halla, who was only about 5 at the time. She was also isolated; at the time we lived on 2 acres and not really close to anything- she was no longer driving and so was dependent on us for everything. For my independent mom- it just wasn't gonna work. My dad died when she was only 58, and she lived another 30 years- she went to South America, New Zealand, all over the place, on her own and with friends. She was smart and strong. Ha ha my hero. So anyway she moved to an assisted living place with her own apartment and was really happy there.
One of the pictures I had was her as a little girl in Yosemite at Camp Curry. The ranger identified it by the tent cabins and so we went there for lunch. Actually once we started up the mountains towards the entrance I started tossing out handfuls of her; I thought she must have loved the trip as she got closer...but ha ha the first throw came back in my face! And you know what? Those ashes are not fine lke cigarette ashes or fireplace ashes, much thicker...well never mind. I got better at it after that. We dropped scoops of her in so many beautiful places. In the afternoon I we stopped along the road and went swimming in the Tuolomne River, and I took the end of the bag into the rive and let it go under the water, then she could travel thru the whole park. None of the waterfalls had any water at this time of year of course, but the views were so magnificent! I was the only one who had been there before so it was really fun watching everyone else ooh and awwwe at every corner. It was a nice day.
Actually in the car I had so many reflective thoughts. I was in the back on one side sharing the seat with the kids, and Drew & Rex up front. I saw how life moves on, that the baton had been passed to the next generation. I wondered when I got so old ha ha. The parents were in the front seat and the kids and Grandma (me) in the back. I talked to my mom in my head; I told her all about Drew and her family, what we were doing- how they were all betting who would see a bear first!
I think I can add the pictures I brought with me to this post, so you can see my mommy. She started going to Yosemite as a kid, and my grandpa wrote stories about it. I think my brother has them, and in fact I think he wrote some of his own and is planning to share them with me and my sisters.
When he and my older sister were kids they went to Yosemite camping like my mom did when she was a child, and actually I went at least a couple of times but I was pretty small and don't really remember much- I do remember being really small and that a bear was walking behind us and my mom and dad saying just walk- never run from a bear. I think that was in Yosemite. I think after we moved to northern Calif we started going camping in other places- I was 6 years old when we moved up there, so yeah I don't remember a lot...or all my camping trips back then kinda ran together.
We camped all over northern California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, and one year we went to Wyoming and Montana. Every summer we went for 2 weeks- such a cool way to spend summers. One place we went to is called Jedediah Smith State Park Redwoods; it's just below the Oregon border in Calif, on the way to Grant's Pass. I loved it, and it became a place I took my kids growing up. I hope that they will do the same with their kids. I took Everardo there on a camping trip after we had been dating a couple of months...it was after summer so we didn't swim in the river, but we the summer bridge was still up and we went across and into the path in the woods. It's such a special place for me.
That path in the woods is the place I see in my meditations; I have one guided meditation that talks about a path on the woods and I can see it perfectly. We camped all the way up to Washington to see my brother in Tacoma, and then his daughter in Asland, Oregon....I learned that from my mom and dad, to camp, to embrace nature. Drew is going camping this weekend- it's the Labor Day 3 day weekend, and when we talked on the phone on her lunch break she was shopping for camping dinner foods.
Well this post was going to catch me up, but as always I got off topic and it became a post about my mom. She died on Sept 10, 2011. (9-10-11) We were with her. She had a long good life. She had tons of memories of her own adventures and those of all us kids. I talk to her all the time. I see her in the full moon, and ...in penguins ha ha. At the end she was in good spirits, but at tines was kinda transmitting from a planet far far away- know what I mean? And she called me over to tell me she didn't like how "they" (I don't know who "they" were), she didn't like how they were treating the penguins. It was just so funny- almost as funny as when I walked into her room and she had the tv remote up to her ear and yelled at me "this damn phone doesn't work"! Ha ha . Well in her time she saw phones be big clunky things, dial phones, then portable, then cell phones. She saw tv be invented, we had black and white and had to walk across the room to change the channel! Ha! My kids would die from that! In fact my first remote control came from a tv I bought from her- it was also my first tv in the bedroom tv. She was born in 1924- think of all the changes she saw! Last year I got a penguin tattooed on my arm; under it, it says Elly, and above it is the words "Oh well" which she said all the time in the last few years. Everardo says Oh well all the time. He got to know her and at first she didn't want to know him or like him because she loved my ex husband. But after she got to know him she couldn't help herself ha ha. And my ex husband came to her bedside just before she left us- she was so happy to see him, it was nice. She saw she could love both of them.
Ok so here's some pictures of her. I'll have to catch you up on everything else later. Viva
