Memorial for Mum
this Saturday, November 28th at 2 p.m.
St. Luke's Episcopal Church
2245 Huguenot Trail, Powhatan, VA 23139
In lieu of flowers, you can make a donation in her name to Cambiando Vidas, one of the organizations she built houses with in the Dominican Republic.
Snail mail: Cambiando Vidas, PO BOX 5015, Brookfield, CT 06804
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| Taken on Mum's 80th birthday, by John Morgan, author of Grasshopper Notes. Mum believed the world would be a better place if EVERYONE read John's blog! |
Last night, surrounded by family and friends. our dear priest, Sandi Kerner, anointed Mum with oil and gave a blessing. Ruth said, "Mum, we love you and want you to stay. But if you need to go, you can go." And she did, at home, surrounded by loved ones.
I am so grateful to have had this blog to document our conversations and adventures together. We had many cups of tea, and lots of laughter. Since Mum's move here, I have spent almost every evening with her, knitting and having tea, watching Jeopardy and Castle and all her other favourite shows.
For her 80th birthday, I did a special blog post, so I won't repeat those photos here. This is how I want to remember Mum:
Me:What are you doing, Mum?
Mum: Oh, just breaking up this concrete.
I should say that she did this with a sledgehammer, by hand! That was Mum.
Mum was many things to many people. She was memorable wherever she was, with whomever she was with.
Daughter
Sister
Wife
Mother
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| At Christmas time. |
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| Another Christmas time. :-) |
And a bit later:
One summer, Mum had all the grand kids for the week:
She used to give the kids surgical gloves to blow up:
She was "GranAnne" and doted not just on her biological grandchildren, but adopted their friends as well!
For Christmas, she decided to give her grandchildren "an experience," so for a few years, she took them to the Japanese restaurant:
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| You could say that FIRE is a good dining experience! |
For the past 3 years, it's been skiing.
Builder
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| Birthday card from this year. |
Mum & Ruth helped our friends Rachel & Carlos when they were building their house. Rachel took the next two photos:
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| Grouting. |
Knitter
She was an expert knitter, and had taken to making Plarn bags; plastic "yarn" bags:
She taught me to knit, & I made her this prayer shawl:
World Traveler
I would drop her off at the airport, and off she went!
Off to Habitat Builds in Poland, Hungary or Cambiando Vidas in the Dominican Republic. Or to see friends.
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| South Africa: Demonstrating that we are British. We love nature & we are NOT afraid of lions! |
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| Another trip to Australia with Prim & Judy. |
Friend
At Mel & John's son's Josh's wedding:
After I got the Lake House, friend Prim came from Australia for a vizzie:
Baker
Singer
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| She sang with the Front Royal Oratorio Society. |
After she moved, we'd come back up to watch fireworks:
One year it rained and we had the whole place to ourselves!
At The River House
When I moved to the River House, I got to spend more time with Mum:
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| In "her" chair, with Maggie & Millie. |
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| Dog tolerator. |
In my office, Millie on her bed:
She came to help me clean windows:
On my birthday, we'd had a lot of snow. She made it down the road, but couldn't get up the last mile of driveway. That didn't stop her, of course!
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| See? Flowers and prezzies. |
Her birthday at the River House:
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| 2011, my last week there. |
Birthday Gal
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| This is from Mum's surprise 65th b-day party |
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| At her house in Bentonville, with Pioneer Sister's famous chocolate ganache cake. |
Mum's birthday in 2014:
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| This past year she was in Scotland & celebrated in the Orkneys. |
She Loved to Laugh
Ruth gave Mum a yoga shirt:
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| Mum loved tai chi & tap-dancing, but referred to her yoga class as "Torture yoga." "I don't like all the bendy-pretzlely moves." |
Church Christmas dinner:
I don't know what we were talking about, but here's her response:
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| The Anne Holliday Eye Roll captured. |
We LOVE you, Mum!!!
