Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Pictures from the Last Post







Dance, Dance Wherever You May Be




Happy St. Patty's Day - tis a day to wear the green and dance a jig. I've always thought it was lucky to be born Irish and I've often wondered how my dad's mom and my mom's dad each decided at the age of 19 to cross the vast vast ocean and come to America. I've wondered how they had such grit to leave everything they knew and venture into the unknown. But I'm glad they did and they each lived to age 89, which was quite extraordinary for people born in 1869 and 1874. They witnessed so much change in those 89 years, what stories there would be to tell. If only I had listened when I had the chance. But that is the way of life - the youth think they know more than the elders until they are the elders and they realize they don't yet know half of what they should................We have our elder here at our home right now. Bing's mom, Milli, is 98 now and lives alone in an aprtment in Minneapolis, a few miles away from her daughter, Sue, and Sue's husband, Dan. Sue is on a ten day medical mission in Guatemala, so Bing picked her up and brought her here for the ten days. Milli is just as sharp as ever but seems smaller and weaker now. She's legally blind and very hard of hearing and now uses a walker most of the time. But that's pretty good for 98! We'll hit a couple of casinos while she's here but probably won't stay as long as we used to. Sue sent along a pair of headphones that connects right to the TV and amplifys the sound for Milli so we don't have to have the speakers on so loud. That's really nice ................I've included a few pictures of some activities between my last post and now - In early March, we took the three local grandchildren to Klondike Days in Eagle River. It's a winter festival that celebrates the olden days in the Northwoods. Also, the tapping of the Maple trees has been completed. Bing and Tony and the three little ones put in the 65 spiles and we now await the generosity of the trees for the sweetest harvest of the year..........................P.S. I couldn't get the pictures up from the Klondike Days but I'll add them when we figure out how to do it!