It’s A Wonderful LIfe

This past week was a busy one. Pictures best tell the story of fun times with great-granddaughter, Emma, her grandparents, Merrill and Nancy Powers, her uncle and aunt, Dale and Kayce Powers, and her second cousins Michael and Ben.

The week included family meals together, lunch at Fritz’s where a train delivered lunch and great-grandma wore the hat intended for Emma (but she would not wear), throwing coins into the pond at the Westin Crown Center waterfall, ice-skating with Grandma Nancy, playing at Crayola Land, making princess crowns with Aunt Kayce, shopping at American Girl Doll, riding the carousel at Oak Park Mall, and a thousand other activities. (I’m pretty sure about this number. Although I did not keep an exact count, my tiredness confirms this.) All of us rang in the New Year – well, for Hubby and me, such as old folks do those late night things, and then we said good-bye to Ben who returned on New Year’s Day to Camp Pendleton following the surprise two-week leave he was granted. Great week!

Happy New Year to all of you bloggers and readers out there!

Haunted by the Past

It was an embarrassing moment!  I was vacationing in Colorado and decided to visit one of the places where our church teen group went to ice skate. As I walked around the lake on that beautiful summer day, I paused before a bench on which hand carved (aka graffiti) names and initials covered both the seat and back. In the middle of the seat, the deepest and largest carving had the full name of a young man in our youth group, a plus sign in the middle, and my full name carved below.

People who have common names can get by with putting their names out there. Years after the fact no one would have any idea which of the thousands of girls named Susie Smith might be referenced. But not only did my uncommon name stand out as one-of-a-kind, the name of the young man was also of the one-of-a-kind variety. I did not know about it when it was carved, but when I saw it that day, I had no doubt that it referenced me.

This past week I returned to that lake with visiting family, including a grandson who is a teen.  There are still benches by the lake. How grateful I am that they have all been refinished or replaced and that visitors to this little mountain community apparently now have some class. No names were carved on the wooden benches!

The Lake at Green Mountain Falls

The gazebo and bridge have been added since we skated there more than fifty years ago. The gazebo is used often for weddings.  The falls at the end of the lake are now blocked by a grate and the water goes under the road and flows to the creek. Still a cool place!

Geese and ducks swim on the lake and fishing is allowed. The limit is four fish per day, so in order to catch enough for dinner the whole family needs to fish – and be successful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: Future blogs will be posted on Mondays.