The light returns

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Dear Friends,

The last four months have been very difficult as we watched my father slowly fade away, and lost Jack's 40-year old niece to a sudden heart-attack. Robin died two days before my father. We visited my dad frequently, and even managed to have a day when all four siblings and my mother spent the day with him, which he did appreciate. The end was quiet and peaceful, and we had a beautiful funeral in the local church on December 10th.

The previously scheduled baptism of one of the great grandchildren followed the next day. The circle (or is it a helix) of life continues. Thank you for all the supportive messages we received. It was a great help to be here, as most of you had gathered. When the holidays are over, I'll start working with my mom on sorting through all the stuff in her house. My younger brother and his wife are coming for a visit today, and we are planning to cook dinner for mom at her house.

Christmas is a three-day holiday here (X-mas eve, X-mas day and the day after X-mas day). We celebrated in various constellations so that my mom would not have to sit alone at home. Jack and I hosted a turkey dinner the day after X-mas day in our new apartment. It was really nice to have enough room to easily seat seven for dinner, and even have a few seats left over. The dishwasher made cleanup easy, and doing without one for five months have made us more appreciative of the convenience. I'll do a separate blog entry with pictures on the area and building we moved to in the near future.

Winter arrived a month earlier than usual this year, and we have had snow on the ground since early November. We have also had the longest period of below freezing weather since 1839. It snows a little almost every day, and daytime temperatures range from about 26F on a warm day down to about 8F on colder days. Standards for snow removal have definitely deteriorated since I lived here last. I think everyone assumed the early snow would melt away, but it never did, resulting in icy sidewalks and lumpy roads. We are now past the darkest time of the year, and as my sister pointed out, the snow really helps to brighten up the landscape. We currently have about 6 hours a day of daylight, with the sun rising in the southeast and setting in the southwest. We gain about 2 minutes a day of daylight right now, and expect to start noticing the change by the middle of January. The rate of gain picks up as we approach the equinox.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year to all of you!

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Comments

[Rebecca Hillwig]

Hey Ann, I love reading your blogs. It makes me feel as if I am there. I look forward to seeing more pictures! So sorry to hear about your father and Jack's niece. I cannot think of this life without my parents but I am also realistic about age and death. That is what makes it so hard to accept the death of someone so young, and to something that has always been associated with old people. Again, I am so, so, sorry. My mother has been battling with a cancerous tumor on the hip so things for me have been pretty scary and crazy as well. I am hoping for the best and pray every day that she will concur this hurdle. On a lighter note, my holidays were good and I think I put on a few pounds...ok, maybe more ;0). The holidays came so fast and will be gone before we know it. Man, I haven't had a chance to even think about what happened. With what has been going on in your family I know it has to have felt that way for you. Well, I am off to make snacks for this afternoon and evening to celebrate the new year. Happy New Year to you and to all of your loved ones! I will be thinking of you in the new year and hoping that this next year finds you well and happy. Take care and my thoughts are with you always, Love, your friend, Rebecca

[Maggie Conley]

holidays
Good to hear from you. The holidays for you must have been particularly challenging with the loss of 2 close relatives. I remember that after my Mom died the holidays were particularly challenging. I tried to do everything she did in terms of cooking certain dishes, etc. and that was exactly the wrong thing to do. Not that I did a bad job -- just that it made us miss her more since her death was so fresh. Its funny though -- now years later I relish recreating some of her dishes to help keep her memory alive. I hope that for you too holidays will get easier and become a time to keep memories alive. Christmas vacation for our kids is about over and though we've had fun with out of town visitors for about 1/2 of the 2 week Christmas break -- its nice to have things quiet down. It's been cold with snow in the mountains (making for nice skiing) -- but none in town. Do you do any skiing there? Enjoy the New Year -- and the longer days that are coming.. Maggie

[Mavis Kent]

Happy New Year
Happy New Year to you and Jack and Aaron and your families. We are reluctantly getting back to work today after having a great holiday. With the holiday behind us we will turn to planning our Scandinavian visit. Carpet in the office this week and hopefully finally occupancy next week. Lots of snow there and lots of rain here. Things are good. Look forward to the next blog.