Every day is Mother’s Day

A Mother….surrounded by her loving children, grandchildren, family and adoring husband—this is bliss and this is my life.

I am overwhelmed with all the love that our family showered on me today and every day.

I had an early Mother’s Day celebration when a package arrived from Mila and Owen.  Enclosed was a lovely card….

….and cookies handmade by Mila.  Each cookie was not only a work of art, but they were also heathy and super delicious!

Love sent from the east coast…. 

A fun and festive message from Calvin and Alison….

….and from Luc!

We were fortunate this year to be in Colorado, so we could also celebrate Mother’s Day with our dear sister, Kathy, and her daughter, Tonia.  Kathy and I made meatloaf in honor of her and Danny’s mom….and my adopted loving Mother, Jeanne Graybill.  We used the meatloaf recipe that she had given to me many years ago.

Stella painted a lovely picture of a couple dancing.  She told us that she painted it in celebration of Danny’s and my beautiful dancing—and us as a couple.  We will treasure it forever, and think of Stella every time that we see this special picture on the wall of our home.

Marina sent her Grandmother’s Day love from half way around the world in Japan where she’s enrolled in an immersive Japanese language school. 

Love sent to me from the west coast….

Precious little Hannah sent flowers and her love to me!

We arrived in Boulder at Candice’s new home on Sunday. Candice prepared a wonderful Mother’s Day dinner, and we celebrated with Candice, Adam, and Stella.

Candice outfitted us with Arizona Monster 300 gear for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day—exactly what we have been wanting since we live in Arizona and had been at Candice’s AZ Monster 300 inaugural race this spring!

A special heartfelt message from Candice….

These words from Candice are very meaningful to me as all of our children have voiced a similar sentiment at various times in the last few years.  I am so proud of each and every one of our children and grandchildren.

Being a Mother, Grandmother, and wife is the most fulfilling thing in my life.

I feel fortunate to be surrounded by all this love.  Thank you to all our family for all your precious love….

Spring in the desert…..

Gene Kelly in our family (i.e., SOREN!)

PROUD GRANDPARENT ALERT!!!

 

Soren's performance at his school play.

We were blown away.  He is such a natural!  He was funny, he moved well, he sang great, he was very engaging with the audience.  

Click on the next photo to watch it here:

 

Happy May Day 🌸🌷🌻🌺

May Day is a day for flowers, sunshine, and love….

May Day has been a special day ever since I was a little girl.  All six of us siblings would make colorful baskets with construction paper and glue.  We would fill our baskets full of flowers from our Mother’s garden.  Then when our Mother was inside our home, we would place the baskets outside the front door, ring the doorbell…and run to hide in the bushes.  

We would wait with eager anticipation for our Mother to open the door.  Every May Day, without fail, she would look right and left and then say in a perplexed tone, “I wonder who rang my doorbell.”  

She would ignore the nearby rustling bushes where all six of her children were hidden. Then just before she closed the door, she would glance down and discover six beautifully handmade paper baskets filled with an abundance of spring blossoms.  

This was the moment that we all were waiting for.  She would exclaim, “Oh my gosh, what beautiful flowers.  Who could have left these for me?”

At that moment, we would all jump out of the bushes.  She would gather us into her arms and give us all big hugs and kisses.  

She would place all our flowers into an assortment of vases, and there our May Day flowers would stay until all the petals died and fell upon the multitude of tables and night stands throughout our home.

Through the years, I have kept the May Day tradition alive.  When our children and grandchildren were very little, I showed them how to cut and glue together paper into the shape of a basket.  And how to fill the baskets with spring blossoms for a special May Day surprise to be left outside the front door.  

For decades I have heard the doorbell ring on May Day, and have exclaimed, “Who could have left all these beautiful flowers for me,” only to be surrounded by our dear children and grandchildren jumping out of the bushes.  I have always showered them with hugs and kisses.  And the spring blossoms would adorn our home for days on end.

This year on May Day, in my heart, I heard the doorbell ring….in memory of all the May Days of my past.

I went outside and I found that our friendly elk, had eaten most everything brightly colored in our mountain property—but much to my surprise, I found that they had left some beautiful May Day blossoms for us!

 

Since the elk had failed to make us any paper baskets to place the flowers inside, we didn’t shower them with hugs and kisses.

Danny does another face plant

Last October, on one of our old standard hikes above our little hamlet of Pine I did a face plant.

Broke my wrist.  

Six months later, we're back up in Pine and did this hike again.

And I did another face plant....in almost the same place on the trail.  

I'm sore in several places, but I don't think I broke anything.

We had decided that after my first fall I should use hiking poles.  So, I was using hiking poles this time, and I think they broke my fall just enough.  All I got was a swollen lip and a sore wrist and ribs.  

Sheesh.  

I have to admit, mom, that I used some bad language.  I'm sorry.

The good news is that we can see steady improvement in my speed and stamina since my heart attack a year ago January.  We enjoyed the two-hour 3.5 mile hike with 400 feet of elevation gain.  Even my fall didn't stop us from enjoying it.  We weren't tired at all at the end of it. 

I've got to keep working at it.  Otherwise, my body will deteriorate and we will not be able to keep ourselves as healthy as we want to keep ourselves so we can enjoy many more years together.

So, tomorrow, we're dancing.  Do something every day.  That's our philosophy.  

 

 

Boots on the ground….on Easter morning

We went on our first hike of the year in the Tonto National Forest—on our favorite trail a few blocks from our cabin, the Pine-Strawberry Trail.

And we wished our children and grandchildren much happiness and peace on this holy day.

It was a glorious way to celebrate this blessed day!

Our bags are packed, we’re ready to go….to our cabin!

It is quite an endeavor to pack up all we will need until November and move to our “summer home.”

As Owen says, “You guys are reverse snow birds.  When it’s hot in the spring, you go north.”  He’s right, we’re headed north to our cabin in the Arizona mountains where it is cool enough to enjoy the outdoors and go camping on the Mogollon Rim whenever we want ALL SUMMER LONG!

Our last morning at Nuestra Casa we rode our new electric trikes on the golf paths behind our home and took this photo as the sun was rising.  It was a glorious bike ride!

It’s gotten warm enough (97 degrees) that the flowers and cacti in our yard in Leisure World are blossoming.

The day before we left for the cabin we found a bird sitting on nine little eggs….nestled inside a pot on our back patio.  She looked well protected by all the thorns on the cacti surrounding her.  We wish that we would be there to welcome her babies into the world. 

Happy nesting little mama!

We (both trucks and all of our belongings that we’ll need for the next six months) made it safely to our cozy cabin in the mountains.  

It will take us several days to unpack, but it feels like home to us as we sit on our back deck and wait for the elk to come by and welcome us home.

Just as I finished writing this, a small herd of elk came by and said, “Welcome home!"