Question 25: Were there two or three food dishes your mother or father made that were especially memorable?

Wow. I am really slow with these 52 questions! They will keep me going for a very long time, apparently, interspersed with other things to write about.

Food. So important to some people; such a challenge to other people. I do not remember my father commenting about food a great deal, except for his signature comment, "It's food, anyway." I do not know, but I conjecture, that having grown up during the Great Depression, just having food to eat always seemed like a blessing to him. Bread and milk for supper was fine with him. "It's food, anyway."

In this respect, he was a perfect match for my mother, for whom food preparation was the bane of her existence. She disliked cooking. She really didn't care about eating. As she would say, "Some people live to eat; I eat to live."  It was pretty normal, on a summer evening, for it to start getting dark, and for mom to sigh, "Oh, I have to make supper..." And of course, it starts getting dark at 9:30 or so on a summer evening in Alberta.

During the summer, we children were allowed to pull a carrot or pick a tomato, or a stalk of rhubarb as well as sneak a slice of bread, so irregular meal times were not hard on us.

Our meals were pretty repetitive: macaroni and tomatoes, a roast on Sunday which lasted for several meals during the week; fried potatoes; occasionally rice (which I absolutely hated as a child). Once in a while, Mom made her salmon casserole, which was my favorite.  It was made of macaroni, sauteed onions, a white sauce made with cheese, and salmon. (We never ate tuna; always salmon. I didn't have tuna until I was away at BYU.)

If Dad did the cooking, it was grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Which he made very well. Except for breakfast: if Dad made breakfast, it was cracked wheat porridge. If he was making it, I would awake to the sound of the blender cracking the wheat. It was a very noisy sound, but a very welcome noisy sound! My favorite breakfast by a mile!

Merry Christmas Family Time

Kelli gave me the BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!! She hosted the family Christmas party at her house on Sunday! She planned the menu and cooked the food! All I had to do was bring a bag of tortilla chips and a can of olives. That was the BEST. No getting ready, no cleaning up! She also gave us some lovely cinnamony almonds (that I am eating way more than my share of) but seriously, just hosting the party was a beautiful gift. Here are some pictures:

Jess, David, Josie, Patrick and Bruce

Kelli by the tree, Allen's mom Gloria and her husband, Rosie in front, Matthew on the far right

Jess, David, Josie, Patrick and Bruce with Rosie in front

Allen's mom and step-dad, Allen, and Matthew in the background

Stephen and Matthew. Andrew had already escaped upstairs.

Escaping--the best part of having the gathering at Kelli's house was that Andrew could escape upstairs! He sometimes gets tired of the crowd. When the party is at my house, he is just stuck when he needs some alone time. So, this was so good--he could escape upstairs.

Today was Christmas Eve. My morning started early, with a phone call that I THOUGHT was from Bruce's sister Tami. She lives in Seattle. Why would she be calling me at 5:45 in the morning? It must be an emergency! But actually, it wasn't even Tami--she had left her phone on the bus. (She was on the bus at 4:45 AM?!!!) A young man named Michael had found her phone, and somehow, out of the contacts in her phone, decided to call me. So I texted Bob and Cory and facebooked Tami and her daughter Shannon. So...she got her phone back. Later Tami texted me and said, "I just got my phone back! I will have a Merry Christmas--there are some honest people out there!" So happy ending to some stress that I didn't even know Tami was having until the phone rang so early!

I wanted to go and see my brother, see how he was doing after his surgery. So David and I drove up to SLC this morning, arriving at their house at about 11:30. I should have taken pictures but didn't remember to. Uncle Bruce was looking really good. Aunt Sara had a mango to show us--the tumor was actually bigger than that particular mango, and it was NOT a small mango.  Bruce says he is feeling pretty good and plans to go back to work on Monday. He actually feels less tired than he has been feeling for months. Aunt Sara has some magic elixir that she is going to use to treat Bruce with while they wait to get the pathology report back from the lab.  So, people, we can all pray for Bruce. They are planning to sell the condo and move back into the blue box on blocks, so we can pray the condo will sell too. They surprised us with a lovely lunch--roast and potatoes and gravy and the BEST salad ever! While we were there, a young man popped in. He came in the door. I did not know him. He said, "Hi David! How are you doing?" It was a friend from Mauritius. So that was fun. Anyways, a really nice afternoon with Bruce and Sara.

Then home, where Patrick and I started peeling and boiling potatoes and cutting onions for the perogies. Then the dough. While it was in the fridge, Josie and I ran off to mass at the Episcopalian Church, St. Mary's, and then stopped at her house (weird to see a whole apartment complex pretty much deserted!) to get her rolling pin and perogies form thingies.

Then home where the whole family was pitching in to make a great big mess and then clean it all up and eat the perogies. We ate EVERYTHING. It was good. Delicious.

Rolling the dough

Using the little thingie to shape the perogie

More dough rolling skills

Each (adult) child has a job to do

David putting the finished pastries in to boil

Had to take his sweater off to do the frying--splish splash goes the grease

Patrick, Josie, David, and Bruce with the finished meal ready. I did not take a picture, but Bruce cooked the bacon, so he helped too, FYI. Onion and chive perogies in the back, cheese and bacon perogies in the front.

Evidence that I was there, too. And that we had the yummiest vegetables, cherry tomatoes. BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE.

Then downstairs, where the kids posed in front of the tree wearing their ugly Christmas sweaters:

Josie, Patrick and David

Then we opened our presents, tried to Face Time with Abra, which ending up not working really well, but it was HILARIOUS! Slow-mo talking and lots of freezing of faces in odd positions. Nice to see her face even if having a conversation was pretty much impossible.  Then Bruce went to work, and we are all having quiet time before we go to midnight mass at St. Joseph's Francis Catholic Church in Orem.

So, a pretty great Christmas Eve, actually!

It's the most horrible time of the year...

Well, I don't want to be a Debby Downer, but seriously, I am so glad that Christmas is almost here...because that means it will be OVER. I can't wait.

Christmas is sooooooo hard for me. I wish I loved it, but I don't. I mean, I love that Christ was born. I love the Christmas story. I love nativity scenes. I love Christmas music SO MUCH. I love Christmas lights. But that is all.

I detest Christmas trees in my house. I like to SEE beautiful Christmas trees in other people's houses, but I don't like them at my house. They just are so messy and take up so much room. And I suck at decorating them. Thank you to Josie and her friend Lydia, mostly Lydia, who put up my tree and decorated it this year. I have gone downstairs and looked at it twice. I have not turned the lights on it at all. I suck at Christmas trees.

Presents are the WORST. I hate buying presents. I do not choose well. Most of my memories of Christmas involve people looking at presents from me with this look on their faces that says "Huh. What am I going to do with this? Seriously? This is what you got me?"  And of course, ask any of my siblings, I have a loooooong history of not being very good at receiving Christmas gifts. Like, causing people to be in tears, crying into their pillows in their room with the door shut on Christmas day. I have been that good at totally decimating people through my reception of their gifts.

So. I dread giving gifts and I dread receiving gifts. Ugh.

This year, the lead-up to Christmas has involved the following:
Nov. 3 - my mother-in-law's cancer is back, my cousin Nola's cancer is back
Nov. 16 - my mother-in-law's death
Nov. 21 - my mother-in-law's funeral
Nov. 27 - visit Nola in hospital, seeing that clearly she will die
Nov. 30 - funeral for my friend Milan's wife Lorinda (auto-immune disease)
Dec. 4 - my cousin Nola dies
Dec. 8 - my brother diagnosed with liposarcoma
Dec. 8 - my cousin Margaret's husband Clarence goes in for an emergency to find out what is wrong
Dec. 11 - my cousin Nola's funeral
Dec. 11 - my friend Susan's daughter Sarah, who was diagnosed with colon cancer during her prganccy, dies the evening before her 34th birthday, which also happened to be my 58th birthday (Sarah and I both have birthdays on Dec. 12)
Dec. 12 - our student Yvonne's father dies of a massive heart attack, leaving 5 children orphaned since their mom died of melanoma 5 years ago
Dec. 12 - my cousin Margaret's husband Clarence is diagnosed with inoperable stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme (brain tumor)
Dec. 16 - Patrick and I attend Sarah's funeral (He is friends with Sarah's brother Dave)
Dec. 19 - should attend funeral for Yvonne's dad, but have book launch in Murray
Dec. 21 - my brother will have surgery done on his liposarcoma

So. Not feeling too Christmasy.

BUT in good news, had a great book launch yesterday for the Christmas songbook I have been working on with Marv Gardner and Vanja Watkins!  Here we are with Marv's sister Donna, her husband, daughter and daughter's family:

Back to Alberta Again

My cousin Mary and I had thought that our trip to see Nola in the hospital was good enough, so we didn't need to go back up for the funeral. But every now and then, Mary would text me and say, "If you change your mind, I can go..." so when our cousin Priscilla's daughter Lisa, who lives in Rexburg, posted on the Alberta/Utah Express Facebook group that she was going, we were tempted to go as well--we would not have to do the driving, there would be no wear and tear on my vehicle, so we bit the bait! All we had was a four hour drive to Rexburg, and after that, we would just be riders. Easy peasy.

This was a super fast trip--Mary and I drove to Rexburg on Wednesday night after our monthly Hymn Sing at the library. We got to Lisa's house at almost 12:30--which by then was Thursday morning--so that her husband Phil could look at our load and decide which vehicle Lisa should take. Then we drove over to my niece Elizabeth's house to sleep on her hide-a-bed. Elizabeth waited up for us, and we looked at her super cute apartment quickly and then popped into bed.  I heard Cody get up and leave for work, then Mary and I got up and buzzed over to Lisa's leaving Elizabeth and Bridget still sleeping.

The weather was awful. Horrendous. It started snowing in Northern Idaho and did not stop. Sometimes it was kind of better, but mostly just completely terrible. Reminding me THIS IS WHY I DON'T DRIVE TO ALBERTA IN THE WINTER!!!!! Lisa handled her little car like a rock star. (It is manual transmission and she drove all the way.) Scott Navratil did the navigating. Mary and I held the back seat down. We saw semis in the ditch. Like THREE at once. Another time, a state trooper closed the road momentarily because two semis got stuck while one was passing the other, so they blocked the freeway.  By the time we got to Alberta, it was blizzard conditions and seriously, we could not see. But Lisa--she is amazing! "I am so thankful for the white lines on the road!" "I am so thankful for rumble strips!" "I am so thankful for semis--even though they make it worse for a couple of minutes when they pass, after that they leave a trail through the snow that I can see!" "I am so thankful for my car! It handles so well in the snow!" Such a gratitude attitude kind of girl. So neat to get to know her.

We arrived in Raymond after ten hours on the road from Rexburg, which could have been worse, I suppose. A neighbour had brought Priscilla a big pot of chicken noodle soup and a big green salad to feed her company, so we ate and I had a shower, and then went to bed.

We had to leave for the funeral at 7 AM. Blair and Priscilla took Mary and I, and we stopped in Lethbridge to pick up Helen. Lisa drove her sisters, so they would have a chance to get to visit with each other. Then a few hours of driving to Calgary through the fog, and we arrived at the destination for the funeral.  It was nice to visit with cousins for the time before the funeral, and to be able to give hugs to Mark and the four children.

Dyllen, Holly with her daughter Merryk, Mark, Austin and Carter

Cousins: Ron and Janeane Meroniuk, Myrna, Priscilla Proctor, Mary Phillips, Lori and Jim Olsen

Ron, Mary, Donna Nilsson, Darrel Navratil, Me, with Janeane in front

Back: me, Kerry, Darrel, Dwayne, Rod, Priscilla, Mary; in front Lori, Donna and Rita

 I missed getting a picture with Helen and Lavon in it, but they were also there, as were Colleen and LeRon.

My son-in-law Billy came, and I talked with him. He and Mark were bicycle riding buddies back in the day when Billy was a young man. He said he would talk with the family, but probably not stay for the funeral. He asked if Abra and Piper were coming, and I said that I thought they were--Darrel thought they would be driving up with Marci.

Mary and I met Leola and Scarlett, and swapped Christmas presents.

Me, Scarlett and Leola

 Kelli had sent a rather large box of gifts for Amy and Scarlett--we almost left it behind because Lisa's car was so full. But we took it, after all--Mary insisted she could make room for it.  Amy's gifts to us are lovely paintings that she made--Leola unwrapped the one for us, just because she wanted to see me look at it, which I found highly amusing. This is what was inside, a beautiful painting and an easel to display it on.

Lisa was Amy's leader in young women's a long time ago, and Leola was the Sunbeam teacher for Lisa's daughter at the same time. So I snapped a picture of the two of them together! (Which caused all kinds of jealousy on Facebook when other people who know Lisa from when she lived in Calgary were like "What!!! You are here!!!")

Lisa and Leola

I connected with my sister Colleen, with LeRon, and found they had actually been the ones to bring Abra and Piper. Billy came and found us briefly, and I took some pictures of Piper and her dad.

Piper and Billy

LeRon went into the chapel to save a seat for us, but Colleen had him come be with the family--maybe she should have saved that seat! After the family prayer, Colleen, LeRon, Abra, Piper and I deliberately stayed back to be near the end, to let all the many nieces and nephews of Nola go before us, since we were just cousins. Well, Colleen was so worried they were going to run out of room for the mourners, and they DID. The usher put Colleen and LeRon in the last remaining space, and then the three of us, plus Kimberly Olsen Blum and her husband Tyler (old friend of Patrick's from High River), had to go and sit on the STAND. Which became really uncomfortable for us when the chorus of women came up to sing, and we were IN THE WAY. (Piper handles situations like that so gracefully. Proud of her.)

The funeral was amazing. Amazing. Perfect.  Billy, Piper's dad, stayed--wish we had known that, because we would have had Piper sit with her dad. She would have enjoyed spending the time with him.But mostly, I was just so happy he stayed, because the funeral was so, so, so good. So life-confirming. So demonstrative of the faith and hope and joy with which Nola lived her life.

Mark spoke and it was beautiful. Heart-wrenching, but beautiful.  His main points: You always have a choice, when trials come. You can shrink or grow. You shrink from the trial, shrink from the pain, and you become smaller and weaker. Or you accept the trial, and by so doing, you gain strength and you grow. Nola was a grower, not a shrinker! Secondly, trust the plan. God has a plan for you. Trust it. We may not understand it. It may not make sense to us, but trust it. So beautiful.

Then there was the family dinner.

Colleen, LeRon and Mary

Piper just can't be serious!

Even her serious pose is not very serious

We were going to go to the Calgary Temple at 6, but it was just too hard to get away from so many people to visit. So we abandoned that plan. Priscilla's youngest daughter Kayla got stuck in snowy, icky traffic after an accident on the highway slowed traffic. She was singing a solo in a concert in Edmonton, which she could see she would be late for. She called in tears "Did I make the wrong choice to go to the funeral?" she asked. Her mom said, "Well, you made the choice to come, and I am glad you came. We will pray for you." There was nothing else we could do to help her. So we prayed. Her director rearranged the order of the program, and though she was late, Kayla got to sing her solo.

Blair had to drive a different car home from Calgary, so Priscilla drove her sister Donna, me and Mary back. It was nice to have a chance to visit with Donna. She wanted us to stop in Lethbridge to see her husband Earl at a craft show, so we did that. Got back to Raymond in time to go to bed.

Donna showing off a cedar chest Earl made

Earl Nilsson and some of his wood work

Saturday morning, it was my birthday. Blair cooked turkey sausages and scrambled eggs with cheese on top for breakfast to start our day. He and Priscilla and their daughters sang the MOST AWESOME birthday song ever for me. It has a lovely, polyphonic part which then is followed by a harmonically beautiful rendition of the regular "Happy Birthday" song.

Priscilla and the girls singing to me

We packed the van, deciding what to take and what to leave because there was too much to fit! I told Scott, my cousin Dwayne's son, that I would set him for THREE DATES with Josie's friend Lydia. We all looked at pictures of Lydia and everyone agreed it was okay to set her up with him. (Smile.)

Scott Navratil and Mary

After Lisa got a father's blessing from her Dad, and we had family prayer with another beautiful prayer by Priscilla, we were on the road. About an hour and a half later than planned! Clear roads, smooth sailing. Lots of talking and laughing and music and fun in the car.

Me, Blair, Lisa, Carrie, Megan, Priscilla and Mary

Scott suggested we could keep on going and get home in one day--that he would be happy to drive. So we popped in to visit Elizabeth and family first. Bridget and I spent a lot of time making "phone calls" to each other on our "cell phones."

Elizabeth, Bridget and Cody

And again, with me and the Riries

Scott drove from Rexburg to his house, then I drove Mary home and then myself home and my second fastest trip to Alberta was over. (The fastest was last summer when Josie and I left to take Malachi home on a Sunday morning, and we were back on Monday evening.)

Thanksgiving break day four: Taber and Grassy (192 miles)

In which I make a fool of myself. Again. I am so good at that sometimes!

So, on Saturday morning, both Donna and Bernie were planning to go off to Nanton with a friend for a Christmas bazaar. They were planning to leave at 9:20 to be at Nanton by 9:30. At Donna's house, Mary was up earlier than I was. She and Donna were chatting while Jim was cooking a lovely breakfast of pancakes and waffles (and no mealworms! or ants. or crickets--which, if you know Jim, you can appreciate) and I got up and joined them.

Jim, Donna and me

Jim wanted us to take a bag of fungus to his sister in Ogden. He and Donna just got back from flying to Texas, and he had taken a little bit of fungus with him then, so he could ask the customs officer about it. So he assured us it was fine. Fungus is fungus. It is not a fruit or vegetable, so there is no ban on importing it.

This particular fungus only grows on diamond willows that grow above the 52nd parallel. It is used to treat migraine headaches, which his sister Kathy suffers from. But it costs a lot of money in health food stores, so Jim thought, why not harvest my own to give to her? So while his sons went up north to hunt deer and elk and moose, Jim went hunting for fungus, and he was successful.

Speaking of deer and elk and moose, I took a picture of Mr. McLean, who stands guard over Jim and Donna's front door. 

And also, Jim wants to be buried in an elk hide. Or a moose hide. One of them. He is saving one for that purpose. He does not want a coffin. Just wrap him in the hide, and that way you don't have to bury him as deep, and he will decompose faster. And then you can harvest the worms and eat them, I suppose! Jim is a back to nature kind of guy.

Well, after discussing funerals and burials and fungus and other interesting things to talk about at breakfast, Mary and I were on our way.  We drove to Greg and Bernie's to pick up Abra and Josie.  I stopped at their house, and went and rang the bell. And knocked. And rang. And knocked. And Mary came and helped me. And then I walked out on the little ledge by the front window to look in the house. And that was when I was like...Greg and Bernie don't have a little ledge...

But somehow the house next door didn't look right either. So we drove back to Jim and Donna's, and Jim called Greg and he said that Bernie had left, and they (the friend named Karen and Bernie) were on their way to pick up Donna, and he and my girls were just sitting there chatting. And they heard no doorbell and no knock, so what house did I go to?

Then, as I was going back to the van, Bernie drove up and we snapped a selfie in which she looks great and I look terrible, and then we laughed. "How did you find our house in the dark last night, and then you can't find it in the light today?" she wondered, and laughed some more. Indeed, how? Life would be dreadfully boring without me being ridiculous once in a while!

Bernie and Me

Then we were off to actually Greg and Bernie's house for some more teasing from Greg. As he hugged each of the girls goodbye, he said, "We might as well just give you girls a key!" (Twice staying there this year. It is becoming a habit!)

Josie, Greg and Abra

 Then we picked up Piper and we were off to Grassy Lake. And to my sister's farm out in the boonies of Grassy Lake, so let's say about 150 miles.

At Colleen's house, Craig made us lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and Colleen's home bottled peaches. Then we all just did what we wanted to do. Some people visited. Some people (Josie and Piper) napped. Some people (Abra) played the piano.  Around 3:30, Michael took Abra and Piper home, and then the rest of us lazed around until it was time for a lovely meal and then we ran to Taber.

Josie and Mary still had some shopping to do. Josie wanted nanaimo bar mix, but there was none at the Co-op. Colleen was sure they would have some at IGA, but nope. We came back nanaimo bar mix-less. But with plenty of chocolate and chips.

Then we went to pick up Abra and went to the Saturday night adult session of stake conference. The Torrie men would be singing, and I should have snapped a picture of them, but didn't. We saw a row near the front that was not very full, and the lady sitting there nodded that we could take that row. Well, that lady was Jackie West! And beside her was Al, her husband. They are dear friends of my parents, now 83 and 85 years old, and their daughter Joan was one of my besties growing up. So we had a lovely chat, and I took a picture of them. Their family used to hoe beets for my dad, just so they could teach their kids about hard work. And four of their daughters (which is actually all of their daughters) grew up to marry Alberta farmers.

Jackie and Al West

Then, I saw Connie Jensen Grigor another dear friend, in the row in front of them. When her husband stepped out, I slipped up and sat by Connie and put my arm around her and we had a chat and took a selfie. Abra had told me about a lady who sat by her in Relief Society one day, and told her how dear her mother and grandmother were to her, but she did not remember her name. Well, it was Connie, Abra told me, recognizing her that night. Connie was once the little girl whose broken heart was helped through the love of my Aunt Ethel. We go back a long, long ways with Connie in our family. And, for my girls (thinking of Pat and her two Freds) Connie has been married three times, and two of them have been Walters. (Her first husband also died in a drowning accident. And technically, she has been married four times, actually, because she divorced Walter #1, and then remarried him, after which he died. So I guess that makes three times married to a Walter. Her present husband is a Walter as well.)

Connie and Me

Taking pictures with people was so much fun that I just kept doing it--we had arrived early to get a good seat, after all. So I took a picture with Arlie Bowman and Barbara, who is Jackie's youngest daughter.

Arlie, Me and Barbara

And a picture with Patsy Sparks, who was my primary music leader. She was so fabulous in that role, and is my muse. If I am a good primary music leader, and I believe I am, it is all due to Patsy. She also was my example playing the organ, because she was not the best at it, but if they needed her to play, she did it with a smile, even smiling broadly if she made a mistake, instead of cringing. Patsy has meant a lot to me, music wise. I also talked to her husband, John, but did not take a picture of him. Like, I talked to him not at the same time! I was not rude!

Me and Patsy

When I was all sat down and ready to behave, Colleen leaned over to point out my piano teacher, Gail Layton. Honestly, I would not have recognized her. And then I said, "Where is Jerry?" because I did not see him with Gail. I was afraid he had died. But Colleen said, "Right beside her." Totally did not recognize him! So I quickly ran over to chat with them. More people who really influenced my life. Gail was set up on a blind date with Jerry, and fell asleep on their first date--a drive-in movie.  She didn't like him, but felt so bad about falling asleep like that, so she accepted a second date. Her parents were appalled when she decided to marry a farmer, and predicted that it would never last. They spent 44 years on the farm before selling and moving to town.

Jerry and Gail Layton

I eventually sat down and behaved myself. Michael and Craig did remind me, "Auntie Myrna, you are supposed to sit down and be reverent." Oh, oops. Okay.

When the Torrie men sang (LeRon, Wayne, Eugene, and 7 various Torrie sons) it sounded beautiful which was of course only to be expected. Well, the Stake President referred to their song when he spoke, and said, "Marvin and Guinevere would be so proud! I could almost see Guinevere sitting down here on the front row conducting the music!"  At this, Jackie, sitting beside me, touched my hand. I looked at her, and she had a look of utter confusion on her face. She said "How is Guinevere?...is she...alive?"  I said, "Oh, no, Jackie, she died."  More confusion on her face, then she said, "Oh...I get it!' (The Stake President could "see" Guinevere...not actually see her!)

And then Josie and I took Piper and Abra home and took silly pictures with them,

Piper just can't resist being silly!

and then we drove back to the Torrie farm and took silly pictures there.  So, about 42 miles back and forth to Taber. This day a total of 192 miles.

Josie gave Eric an egg. Which he was very happy about.

Michael, Josie, Craig, Mary, Eric, Colleen, LeRon

The next morning, we packed up and began the drive home. We did stop and deliver our fungus, meeting Jim's brother-in-law in Ogden, and so after a total of 805 more miles, we were home in Orem!

Total trip miles: 2212.

Goodbye, sweet Nola

Well, I was getting ready to blog about the next day of our vacation, but then I found out that Nola died. We were planning a family fast for her this weekend, but then last night I got a text that she was not expected to live that long, but that we would still all fast together.  I am so sad that she is gone, even though it was really clear to me when I visited her last week that she was going to die.

I forgot to write in my post about her that when she and Mark and the doctor met together initially in early November and her tests came back so incredibly indicative of death, that Nola said, "Well, it looks like we are going on another grand adventure, and I get to go first."

So, here is what Mark posted on Facebook:
On Friday December 4, late in the evening, we all gathered around mom to enjoy her last mortal smile. At 11:45pm she finished the climb to the top of her staircase and ran to greet family & friends from years past.
Today we have cried together, laughed together and shared in the peace the gospel of Jesus Christ brings to our lives. We love her and miss her and have faith in God's plan for her and all of us.
In the words of our mother: "This is a new adventure and I get to go first!"

We were at David's play tonight, It's a Wonderful Life--kind of bittersweet, it matches my mood. We left as soon as it ended because I had been texting with my sister Arlene and my cousin Mary during the intermission, and I felt like I needed to call Arlene.  She missed a call from Lori--she didn't want to call her back. It is a hard time to talk on the phone.

Anyways. Just feeling grateful for my cousin Nola, who I have known for all HER life...since mine started a few months before hers did. Sad to see her go. I hope she has the grandest adventure of all!

Thanksgiving break day three: V-ball and grandchildren (47 miles)

We left Calgary going straight south on 14th Street, to Canyon Meadows and then to MacLeod Trail. That was a familiar route to me, since that is the way I usually drove home after the youth dances in Calgary back in the day.

We headed to Okotoks, where our first stop was to visit our cousin Lavon (Helen's younger sister). First, we tried to call our cousin Garwin (Uncle Leo's son) before we left Calgary, but we only got an answering machine. (I have emailed him a couple of times before we went to Alberta, but had not heard from him.) Lavon was busy but glad to see us. Here we are together:

Mary, Myrna Lavon

We were lucky because Lavon's youngest daughter Heather was there visiting for American Thanksgiving week with her brood of lovely ladies: Sadie, Miley, Taya and baby Cecily.

Sadie, Heather with Taya, Miley

We did not get to see Cecily because she decided it was naptime, but it was fun to have a short visit with them. They live in Kansas City at the moment. Mary enjoyed some one-on-one time with Smiley Miley:

Mary and Miley

And also Garwin called Mary at Lavon's house, so they had a chat, so that was good. While they were busy on the phone, I checked out the facilities, which I have used at Lavon's house before, but it looked rather different in there because sometime in the past few years, Heather painted a mural on the bathroom wall while her mother was not home. Surprise, Mom! At least Heather is a good artist, so Lavon did not mind. (Although I do not know if Heather knows how objectionable baboons can be...I was glad this was not a real one in the bathroom with me...)

Then it was back in the van and once again following the long and winding road that leads to the massive and beautiful grounds of STS.  Holy cow! Big building with so many gyms for various sports.  But, also a theatre, so that is good. (Where Big Fish is playing, if you recall...) But we were there for Volleyball Provincials, and here is the proof:

Mary and I were appalled to see the $10 per person entrance fee! We were happy to claim Senior status and get in for $5 each. And we were happy that our girls pleaded poverty because had they paid $10 each, they would only have had $10 for food (which would not have been enough given the prices) and they were there for a long time! Including lunchtime. We easily found them on the bleachers and settled in for the tournament.

Malachi, Abra and Mary in back. Piper, me and Josie in front

I was trying to take a selfie of us, but Piper said, "No, let me take it, Nana. I am a teenage girl, so I know how to do this." And she did a good job!

We watched Deklan play. He did his best. Most of the time I understood what was happening, although sometimes not. I was going to remember all the odd things that Piper called out that made no sense to me but are apparently the vocabulary you use to communicate with the team. Unfortunately, I do not remember a single word.

Deklan is the guy in the air, with the 5 on his back. I think it is a 5.

 I am not a very good action photographer, but Josie got some action shots of Deklan at play/work, so the one above is one she took.

After the game, were waiting to find out how Deklan's team had scored, and so we took photo opportunities in the hall. We were right outside the theatre where Big Fish is playing, so their poster became our backdrop. I especially like this one: STS presents...

Billy, Piper, Deklan, Me, Josie, Malachi, Abra

Abra wondered why Billy, her ex, was in the picture, but actually, I asked him to be in the picture. He is the dad of the kids, right, so it is good for them to have pictures with both parents in, I think. Even if they stand far away from each other.

We also took just a bunch of random pictures, like these:

Love this picture of Abra and Malachi!

Malachi and Piper

Piper has the hardest time being serious. Her silly streak just likes to show up!

Same thing, switching out me for Mary

We went to meet Amy, Leola and Scarlett at the Oktotoks Dairy Queen. Billy and the boys only stayed briefly because Deklan had to play an unscheduled tie-breaker game, because in the Round Robin tournament, they tied with another team. As it turned out, they did not win that game, so that meant they came in 7th in the province. So they did not continue on to the next day of play, but 7th in the province is really good, I think.

When Scarlett walked into the Dairy Queen, she saw me, and got a great big smile on her face and came over and said "HI!" and gave me a hug, and it kind of melted my heart. She was really sweet. They have taken her off sugar to help her to calm down, and even though Josie had ice cream, she did not whine or cry at all, just drank her milk and was a happy girl.

Scarlett

Mary and Amy

Leola told me that Amy always wanted to have a grandma who really cares about her--Leola's mom had dementia, and Ron's mom had died--"and her wish came true" Leola said. So I am that grandma, which I am happy to be. Still kind of funny that I am her grandma and I am younger than her mother.

Leola, Amy, Scarlett, Abra, Piper, Josie, Me

Scarlett and her mom

Then, after thoroughly embarrassing Josie and Piper because apparently they were trying to close the restaurant and we were the last ones to leave--which totally went over my head--we said goodbye and were on our way to High River to spend the night. If you remember, none of our phones were working, so our friends in High River were wondering where we were. We were on our way, that's where we were!

Piper had made arrangements to stay overnight with her cousin Shelbie, so we dropped her off first to maximize her time with her cousin. Then we dropped Abra and Josie off at Greg and Bernie's, and last of all, Mary and I went over to stay at Jim and Donna's. We are lucky to have good friends in High River!

Piper and Shelby stayed up pretty much all night. At 3 AM, they went and woke up Shelbie's dad, Barrie, to ask him to take them on a snack run to 7-11, and he is such a nice guy, he really is, so he just did it. As for the rest of us, we chatted with our host families, and then we went to sleep.

Not too many miles that afternoon:
Calgary to Okotoks = 23 miles
Okotoks to STS and back = 10 miles
 Okotoks to High River = 14 miles
Total for the afternoon and evening = 47 miles