Washington DC

After Arkansas, George and I flew to Washington DC and spent a wonderful 10 days with Mary, Mark and Jackson in Harper's Ferry.  

On our first full day there, we drove into the city where we hoped to see the cherry blossoms in all of their glory around the tidal basin.  An unseasonable warm spring meant an very early peak bloom time but we did manage to see a few.

Even without the abundance of blossoms I saw last year, it was still fun to walk around the monuments.

A special favorite is the FDR memorial.

I love that they included his faithful dog, 

Mary in the soup line.

Jackson and the radio.  

My mother told me about listening to radio programs when she was a girl.  The whole family sat and listened together and when her grandfather, S E Webster, was tired of listening, he turned it off.  Didn't matter who else was still interested in the program.  

Jackson loves waterfalls.

A quick visit with Thomas Jefferson.

Jackson loved watching the fishermen.

A girl and her Dad!

First time visiting the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Very impressive!

A highlight of the day was our visit to Ben's Chili Bowl, which has been operating on U street since 1958.

Jackson was a little tired.

Mary enjoyed her meal.

I sat in President Obama's favorite seat.  It seems that he was a regular.

The chili was great but my favorite was the banana pudding.

At $10.99 it had better be good and it is.

As good as my grandma used to make!

I did make two 'meals' out of it.

Jackson's favorite thing was the bear out front.  

Because of limited parking, we walked more than a mile to get there. I loved the neighborhood around U street.  There are lots of townhouses with little postage stamp sized yards.  Another area of DC that would be a fun place to live!

Eclipse in Frederick, Maryland

Mary and Mark didn't get the show of a total eclipse but I really do love this photo that Mark took of what they did see.  It was cloudy there but the clouds do make for an interesting photo.

Mary reported that they did let out preschool early so  the kids could watch it. Most of the moms and kids stayed at the nearby park to experience it but the 5 year olds were much more interested in playing that watching an eclipse.

Seems about right!

Johnny says that in Boise, you couldn't really tell that anything happened.

So glad we were able to go to Arkansas to get the full experience.

The Great American Eclipse

Spending time with family and friends was icing on the cake but the real purpose of our visit to Arkansas in April was so that we could be in an area of totality for the April 8th eclipse.  The next one visible in the USA will be in 2044 and since we will be 90 and 92 then, we decided this year was the right time.  Neither of us were in the area of totality in 2017 and even though it was amazing to be in a 90% eclipse, everyone told us that being in the totality was a different experience.  In fact someone named Annie Dillard said, "Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him.

Lucky for us, Lonoke was just barely outside the area of totality so getting to a place where it would be total was easy.

George and I studied the maps and decided that we would drive north towards Heber Springs and look for a safe place, away from the main road.  

And we found it! Dekalb Road near Tumbling Shoals, Arkansas. 

We drove down a little country road and pulled off at a wide entrance to someone's farm.  We didn't block the gate or the road so we figured that we were in a good spot.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky. In fact it was hot!  Now it was just get comfy and wait for the celestial show.

I noticed a man drive slowly by us and then come back and stop.  I thought for sure that he was going to tell us that we had to move but no, just the opposite.  He invited us to come down to his house where he was going to throw a few hot dogs on the grill.  I love Arkansas people and really wish we had taken him up on the kind offer.

We had plenty of time to relax and practice using the filters on our phones.

This is how the sun looked at first.

Then the magic started happening.  Slowly, slowly the moon made its journey.

Gradually blocking out more and more of the light.

Instead of midday light, it seemed like early evening.

The actual time was 1:53 p.m.

And finally totality!

The 'Ring of Fire'

The temperature dropped dramatically.

Automatic outside lights at a nearby house went on

In 2017, in Utah the birds quit singing, but not here in north Arkansas.

However, the nearby cows quit mooing.

The 'star' to the lower right of the moon/sun is actually the planet Venus.

It was a moment I won't ever forget. 

One friend told me that his chickens went into their coop.

Another reported that her horses left the pasture and went into the barn and got in their stalls.

Where we were, the 'totality' lasted over 4 minutes.

And you could take off the protective glasses for this part.

Finally the 'show' was over and the moon moved on.

We had a front row seat to the "Great American Eclipse of 2024!

I read this on-line about why people are so enchanted by a total eclipse 

"A eclipse is a chance to be reminded of our place in the solar system and the cosmos - something that, no matter how stark our differences, we still share."

For me it was also a moment to be in awe of a Heavenly Father who worked it all out just right.

Lyrics to a favorite song came to my mind.

It passeth all my understanding

How it all worked out just right

The distance that we live from the sun

The stars that shine at night.

We may prove that it was just an accident

But how did it begin?

It passeth all my understanding.

Family = Home

 I so enjoyed our days in Lonoke getting to visit with people I love; people who have been a part of my life for so many years.

First day we were there we met a group of my Lonoke Class of 1971 friends at the Grumpy Rabbit.

How I love these dear friends who I have known literally all my life!

Danny Chivers, Me, Barbara and Jim Fitzhugh, Barbara Jones Chivers, Ross Moore, Karen Lewis Mashing, Pam Cordell Landis, Amos Pack, Mike Pack, Shelia Childress Johnson, Elaine McElyea Anderson, Carolyn O'Bannon, Kirt Fort, Ronnie and Sherry Wallace, George

I don't think I've ever had a personalized menu before.

Also met some new 'cousins' that have joined the family in the last few years.

Mary, wearing the red dress, who is the wife of my 1st cousin twice removed, Logan Dewitt and Logan's sister Ashlynn .  

Darling girls!

George and I drove 2 hours down to Monticello, Arkansas to visit my 1st cousin once removed, Amanda McGraw's family.  

1st cousin twice removed, Tabor's wife Hannah had become my Facebook friend and I really wanted to meet her and see their cute little baby Tatum John.

Well worth the drive through the delta!

My cousin Amanda, her husband John David, son Tabor, wife Hannah holding TJ, and daughter Kelsey.

I loved meeting these new cousins....however many times they are removed! If you are keeping count, Tabor John is my 1st cousin  3 times removed.

Poignant meeting with the husband of my cousin Joy, who passed away two years ago, as Charlie has stage 4 pancreatic cancer and isn't doing well at all.  I remember Charlie when I was just a little girl since he and Joy dated for many years.  The thought of loosing him is painful.

With his two daughters Amanda and Leigh Ann and Leigh's husband Mark.

On a happier note - my youngest 1st cousin Robin Moore Lewis has two new grand-babies that are just darling.  She retired from teaching after a long, illustrious career and is a full time care taking grandma.  Lucky her!  And lucky babies!

I am sorry I haven't gotten to meet her son and daughter in-law but maybe next time. And I'd love to see her daughter Scarlett....

Robin holding Graham and her son, Mitch holding his son,Caden.

George and I also had a great dinner with my Depriest cousins but I forgot to take a photo of the whole group.  Janie's son, Tommy, and daughter in law, Anne, have restored one of my favorite Lonoke houses.  My Grandma Boyle lived next door and I always thought it was just a beautiful house.  They have made it a show piece with beautiful woodwork and lovely arches! I totally love it!

Ronnie and Janie Depriest Raper, Tommy and Ann Swint

I am truly blessed with the best cousins!

 

Happy Easter!

 I've been busy for about the past year scanning our thousands of slides.  It is truly a labor of love!  So many sweet memories of the past years.  Just look at my cute little kids celebrating Easter through the years!  Some years we didn't take a photo and we stopped taking slides the year Scott was born but these photos are treasures to me.

1979

Sweet little Mary.

1981

Mary and baby Matt

 And a very young looking Marilyn and George

1983

At our new house in Fort Collins, Colorado

1985

Sweet little curly headed Johnny joined the family

1987

Fort Collins backyard with the daffodils blooming

I have often said that I wish I could have a magic portal to let me spend just one day with my cute little children again.  One day would probably wear me out but it would be a wonderful way to get tired.  Looking through the 2000+ photos from the first 13 years of our married life, I am so happy to see all the joy we experienced.

What a life we have had!

15 Years

My mother died on March 23, 2009 - 15 years ago tomorrow .  I wonder if I will ever get over the urge to to call my mother and tell her about what is happening in my life or to ask her a question.  I suspect not.   

One of our church leaders once spoke about the 'tender mercies of the Lord'.  The circumstances surrounding her death are among my most cherished 'tender mercies'.  The 5 months between my Aunt Mary Finch's death and my mothers were very difficult ones for her.  She and Mary had been inseparable for many years.  They shopped together, ate together, went to the movies together and saw each other every single day; often multiple times a day.  In October 2008, I spent 6 weeks in Arkansas when Mary was sick.  My mother visited us in Idaho for Christmas.  (I asked her to come for Thanksgiving and stay through the new year and she looked at me like I was crazy.  She never was away from home for that long).   In March I made the trip to visit her in Lonoke.  After arriving on Thursday night we spent the next few days enjoying time together.  She did water aerobics while I ran.  We went out to eat with family and friends. On Saturday we shopped from one end of the mall to the other looking for the perfect bathing suit for her and a new wallet.  She ordered a new TV and a new chair. My cousin Janie and her husband Pat had us over for dinner that evening.  The only hint that all was not  well is when I suggested we go visit my Uncle Dick and she said she was too tired.  She wasn't too tired to make me another batch of black eyed peas since I had finished the ones she made before I came.

On Sunday morning I heard her get up about 7:00 but I didn't get up for another hour.  When I walked into the living room, she was in her chair and I thought she had drifted back to sleep.  I got the paper which was folded at her feet, fixed my breakfast and sat down to eat.  Suddenly she started making a strange snoring noise.  It was unusual enough that I went over to check on her and found that I couldn't wake her up.  I called an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital in North Little Rock.  A CT scan showed a massive bleed on her brain with no hope for a meaningful recovery.  She died the next day, having never regained consciousness.  Had I not been in Arkansas, I would not have had time to get there before she passed away.  We would not have had those perfect few days together.  I will forever be grateful for the 'tender mercy' of that time together and of holding her hand while she passed through the veil to eternity.

In her honor and memory, I'd like to share some quotes about mothers and some photos of our last Christmas together plus some photos of early times with her.  Moma and Daddy had been married for 4 years before she got pregnant with me.  I know that I was an answer to their prayers.  My childhood was blessed by their constant love for me; my adult life by their  unending support.

"What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes part of us."– Helen Keller

Time may move on, but there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss my mother. The day she died is not just a date on a calendar, it was the day my very existence changed forever

“Whenever I am missing you, I also remember how fortunate I was that you were in my life. I wouldn’t trade those moments for the world” – Cindy Adkins

"The mother memories that are closest to my heart are the small gentle ones that I have carried over from the days of my childhood. They are not profound, but they have stayed with me through life, and when I am very old, they will still be near."– Margaret Sanger

I wish heaven had visiting hours so I could see and speak to my mom again. I miss her so much.

“Love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. To have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.”– J.K. Rowling

“Grief and love are conjoined, you don’t get one without the other. All I can do is love her, and love the world, emulate her by living with daring and spirit and joy” – Jandy Nelson

 To my mother in heaven, thank you for always loving me and guiding me. Even though you are no longer here with me I can still feel your love guiding me. You are always in my heart. I love you and miss you dearly

There are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart."– Mahatma Gandhi

“There is something about losing a mother that is permanent and inexpressible—a wound that will never quite heal.”– Susan Wiggs

“My Mother is a never-ending song in my heart of comfort, happiness and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune” – Graycie Harmon