Flat Mimi Goes to San Diego....Post Views....23,461

      A few weeks back, Flat Mimi came to visit me via the US postal service.  She has a class project to hang out with me for awhile and see what life is like in the Pacific Northwest.                                         After sharing some homemade chicken soup with Gram G she hopped into my purse to go exploring.

 We checked out Gram's favorite store, Fred Meyer, and her favorite department.....the gnomes.  

 We walked through a local nursery.....more gnomes.....Oh, No!

We walked through the neighborhood and admired the lovely white-blossomed trees.

Right before Easter we got all the ingredients together to make carrot cake to take to the Miller family get together.

Angie,Jake, Flat Mimi, Micki, Debbie

Where's MY carrot cake??

But first we went to Easter service....

ON TO SAN DIEGO......

 Tuesday morning we packed up and headed out to the airport with cousin, Angie.....

 The security line was VERY long

 But we made it to the plane on time.....had to buckle in..

Saw a great view of a great mountain on the way to San Diego.  WE were on the way to San Diego, NOT the mountain... A mere 2 hour flight and we land.  Bill drove us to Gerry's and then headed back to work.  

 Gerry taking us for frozen yogurt.....Jude, Gerry, Gemma, Angie....

"Mom, I hear Gram G is in town.  We better be seeing her soon!"   Baby Berklee/Amanda

    This has been a good 3 "Flat Mimi" days in the life of Grandma G.

"Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.  Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep.  Your love, Lord, preserves both people and animals."  (Psalms 36: 5 & 6)                                     

Happy Easter.....Post Views....23,400

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!!

       On this Resurrection Sunday I thought it would be nice to include pictures from Israel on my trip there in 2007.  It was soothing to me to review the pictures and to recall the events.

VIEW OF THE OLD CITY

THE WAILING WALL....

PARTITION BETWEEN THE MEN AND WOMEN









ANCIENT OLIVE TREES IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE....

JUDEAN WILDERNESS 

"'I tell you',Jesus replied, 'if they [people]keep quiet, the stones will cry out'.

THE EMPTY TOMB

 A LONE FIGURE STANDS 

SUNRISE ON THE SEA OF GALILEE

This is a good Easter day in the life of Grandma G.

"Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen!"  (Luke 24:5 & 6) 

Decompressing.....View Posts...23, 365

   

   I am home again.....back from a quite nice Midwest spring day to ......RAIN.  But that is OK because today they are in the throes of a winter snow storm.   

(If you don't get the cartoon then you don't know what Midwest winters and springtime are all about.) 


     Monday, after getting packed for a trip back to Wausau, I had lunch with 3 dear friends.  We chatted about many things while determining who was the youngest. (Not me.) 
     Son, Al, drove me part way to meet son, Burt.  Having picked a spot to rendezvous Al and I passed him up.  Al said the driver was too tall and thin to be Burt.  
     That evening I was treated to a high school choir concert in which grandson, Devin, sang a lengthy solo for a lively song.  
He is also the lead singer and guitarist for the Christian youth band,
             "Without Excuse".


     The flight on Tuesday went smoothly, quickly and comfortably, having an aisle seat.  Watching the film, Star Wars:the Force Awakens, with a few interruptions, passed the 3 and half hours. (Though I could not figure out the relationships of the characters.  Need to see it again on the big screen.) Shortly before we landed the attendant announced there was a special guest on the plane.  A lady who was celebrating her 100th B-day was traveling to Portland. 
__________________________________

    Today for me is a mixture of descriptive words.  Jet Lag.  Time Warp.  Decompression.  Refocus.  Processing.  Evaluating.  Resting. Unwinding. Overwhelmed.
    There was so much going on in several layers while "up north" that I have not had time to settle my mind and emotions.  It takes a few days to get back into "Couve-groove" from any trip. This one was more intense than most.  So some comfort food, Star Trek and Waltons episodes, checking schedules of summer activities, a brief walk around the park, picking up a week's worth of mail (mostly recycling), some stretching exercises and
mindlessly surfing the web has helped "decompress" some of the stress.  Though, only more time will fully allow everything to settle in. 

         My favorite "English yard" house in the park....

 SURPRISE!!!

Flat Mimi (my granddaughter) came to visit a couple weeks ago via US postal service.  She is visiting VC and Gram G for awhile for a class project.  She and I will hang out for a few weeks and then she will travel back with            
pictures and adventures to share with her class in Wauwatosa, WI. 


Enjoying homemade chicken soup with Gram G

Ready for her first adventure....

Attending an Irish choir concert in downtown Vancouver

This has been a good 3 "decompression" days in the life of Grandma G.

"From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee,when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I." (Psalms 61:2)

Joys and Sorrows....Post Views....23,302

       On Sunday, March, 13, 2016, my younger brother, almost 69, passed away after an 11 year battle with Pick's disease.  (Pick's is a rare form of dementia caused by the deterioration of the brain's frontal lobe. The onset of the disease is unknown. The patient is deprived of his ability to talk and eventually cannot function on his own.)

     I received the news on a rainy afternoon, but during a "sunbreak" with lovely sunshine and blue sky bursting through the  gray clouds.

     I was able to get a good connecting flight into central Wisconsin on Tuesday afternoon. (I was comforted at the airport by a quick

chat with a fellow playing guitar and learning a friend I haven't seen for almost 2 years was going on the same flight.)  In Wisconsin I was welcomed at 9 PM  by my 17 year old grandson who  drove me to his family's home to stay overnight. (His parents were on "spring break" with 2 other sons in Alaska.) 

 Wednesday I was greeted by SNOW and then by Indianapolis family in the early afternoon. 
They had driven 400 miles and stopped to take me the next 100 miles north to Park Falls.  We were somewhat concerned because the national weather forecast had issued a winter storm warning for the next 24 hours and predicted up to 8 inches of snow and icy roads.  We decided to go anyway and were rewarded with simply "wet" roads and a few flurries.

45 years ago....a young Nick with his bride, Sandy, her dad and mom, our mom, Gertrude, and our dad, John.                        

Sandy and Nick about 5 years ago.  Their last dance together....with some encouragement by Sandy.                                                    We sisters, Georgia, Betty and Kate with Nick.

 A Military Salute at his service on Thursday.

It is always good when the eagle flies over.....

A bald eagle flew over the church just as we were pulling up.   

(Photo of an eagle taken 3/14/16 by grandson Cory in Alaska.  His dad, Burt, who was visiting there, grew up with Nick Jr. in Park Falls and was cousin, classmate and good friend.)

"On Eagle's Wings",the last song sung at Nick's service.  

Military honors and snow covered evergreens at his interment.

FAMILY

wife, Sandy, sons, Nick and Gary

Nick and Kathy
Sons, Joe and Alac
Gary and wife, Jo


      sister-in-law, Betty

sister-in-law, Sandy
nephews...
Jon, Al, Eric

JAROSINSKI SIBLINGS...9 OF 11

Joan,

                                                                      Georgia, Kate, Betty

John, Rose, Paula        

Fred

          Nick

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Interludes of Rest....

 Reflecting on winter beauty

Playing Mexican Train Dominoes at the midnight hour

Visiting with Louie

Visiting guitar-playing

friend, Jamie...

First "selfie" at 83 years

California swinging Baby Berklee pic....

      Playing "Upwords" with Betty on a chilly Sat. evening

Wishing a grown-up Burt a Happy B-day in Alaska!!

      Burt                   Burt, Jen, sons Josh and Cory and friend, Becca
                                                                                             ........Denali.....

This has been a good 7 "joys and sorrows" days in the life of Grandma G.

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die'."  (John 11:25)