In Minnesota Remembering Erika

Before we left on our trip I had five of these little flip books made to give to family members tomorrow at the "Celebration of Life" luncheon/memorial for DH's mother, my MIL, Erika. There are approx. 30 photos that span her life from WWII in Germany when she met DH's father to last December when we were all last together, before she died in January of this year. Photos of Erika with her grandson Allen from when he was a baby till he was 21 years of age. She lived with him from age six months until HE went away to college! Photos of our summer and winter visits in MN with all the family. Erika laughing, hugging, talking, walking, enjoying life as we knew and loved her. It will be a bitter-sweet day of remembrance. I hope my little book offerings give something to be remembered for many days and years to come. ***************************************************************************** Trip Update: Finally I am in MN, having arrived this evening The ride here from So. Dakota was LONG and sometimes boring, although I helped with the driving (2 hrs of it...out of 10???) I also am embroidering bits of felted felt I brought from home making ATCs...the So. Dakota and WY and Montana influence: American Indian, colors, are showing up in them too. Fun car art. Fun car art making. We had most fun in the Grand Tetons...we so love those mountains and are awed each time we see them. Some precious moments at Jenny Lake, and then Yellowstone where we saw grizzly bear, and black bear, and many many buffalo. DH took me up a mountain that at the top it said we were at the top of the world. I believe it too. In Montana. the road was long and windy and scary as all get out. but I have to admit it was beautiful And we saw a bunch of cute brown furry marmots there at the top! Down the hill was Red Lodge where we spent the night...and DH had looked up at home for quilt shows along the way and found one there. He is thoughtful that way. An art quilt show at that in an art gallery. Some very nice work too. But they didn't want me to blog the photos I took. Drats! And last night he took me out to dinner to Red Lobster for my birthday. I ate way too much and it was good. Salmon AND shrimp grilled. Yum. Today we stopped in a Cabella's in Mitchell and I bought myself a gift of a pair of light cotton pants. Fit nicely and size small! I liked that best. They were $50 marked down to $30, then I learned that if I signed up for their credit card I could get $15 marked off more. And they gave me a free Cabella's baseball cap. Then DH came by and she asked if he wanted a card too and if so they'd knock off another $5 or $10 ...the pants wound up costing me $11. Can you believe that??? That made for a happy birthday too. Oh and DH got a free gift too, a little compact tool gadget with a flash light and he gave it to me so I got both free gifts. Well it IS my birthday. May as well milk it for all it is worth! LOL On the drive from Montana we went through Custer and were at Custer's Last Stand site...on the anniversary of the battle there. We saw many American Indians in full regalia on horse back as part of the reenactment. It was quite moving to see the bit we did. Would have been nice to have had the time to see it all. Now we are at his sister's house, have eaten dinner and soon I will collapse into bed. Tomorrow I help Karen prepare food for the luncheon on Sunday. She has bins of photo albums out to be gone thorough to make a display of Erika's life...and for others to look through. I see all the art I made for Erika all over the house here. It's a bit weird not having her here. I had a fantasy driving up that I'd put my new Cabella's cap on her head, and then of course I realized that that would not be possible. She is missed. If life on the road was not exciting enough I received a phone call from the police in the town I live (yeserday) telling me that my office building and office were burglarized! Many offices on our block apparently were. Nothing seems to be missing from my office. But they broke the glass pane in the door to get in and rummaged around in my desk, Fortunately they left computer printers et all there.