It was a busy weekend & today was a nice, quiet day working from home.
Saturday was the estate sale at my G-maw & G-paw's house. My sister & I had prepared one another for the fact that is was going to be difficult to have complete strangers digging through & purchasing things from our grandparents' home. Thankfully it was busy & there weren't any annoying customers, & we only had a couple really rough moments (the sale of the clock that chimed every hour in their Lake Oswego home & the little bird painting that hung in the bathroom). It was amazing the multitude of neighbors that stopped by to tell stories of our grandparents & especially nice that my folks' neighbor, Brit, showed up with the female members of her wonderful family in tow. We all had some lovely, reminiscing talks with both neighbors & customers alike. Sidenote: my G-paw died this winter, but I want to clarify that my G-maw is still very much with us & currently adjusting well to her lovely apartment at the Merrill Gardens retirement home. This month just signified the end of their home together after 65 years & a necessary clean-out of much of their estate.
Sunday was spent with the other side of my family, at the memorial service for my Great Aunt Kathy. It was wonderful to have the sun shining, illuminating the stained glass windows at Queen Anne Presbyterian Church.
Saturday was the estate sale at my G-maw & G-paw's house. My sister & I had prepared one another for the fact that is was going to be difficult to have complete strangers digging through & purchasing things from our grandparents' home. Thankfully it was busy & there weren't any annoying customers, & we only had a couple really rough moments (the sale of the clock that chimed every hour in their Lake Oswego home & the little bird painting that hung in the bathroom). It was amazing the multitude of neighbors that stopped by to tell stories of our grandparents & especially nice that my folks' neighbor, Brit, showed up with the female members of her wonderful family in tow. We all had some lovely, reminiscing talks with both neighbors & customers alike. Sidenote: my G-paw died this winter, but I want to clarify that my G-maw is still very much with us & currently adjusting well to her lovely apartment at the Merrill Gardens retirement home. This month just signified the end of their home together after 65 years & a necessary clean-out of much of their estate.
Sunday was spent with the other side of my family, at the memorial service for my Great Aunt Kathy. It was wonderful to have the sun shining, illuminating the stained glass windows at Queen Anne Presbyterian Church.
My mother & aunts put together a wonderful glimpse into my aunt's life. Both Aunt Kathy & Uncle Hal (passed away in 1994) were gifted artists. Here are little houses (one for each grand-niece & nephew) & a Noah's Ark for my mother, all built by Uncle Hal & painted in tiny detail by Aunt Kathy,
My aunt loved miniatures--here is her 18 room dollhouse. This weekend is when the majority of the Gowey family will take special items home from the "Kathy Boutique." The choices & fairness make for quite the process in a family over 30 people. While it will be sad to breakup the dollhouse, I look forward to having some of TK's miniatures for my own dollhouse.
I had to share this photo from the collage at my aunt's service. This is my sister, myself & my cousin Robert (also one of my good friends) on the train my Uncle Hal built at their cabin in Index. The locomotive was powered by a lawn mower engine.
And finally to today.It was wonderful to wake up to the beautiful snow this morning & to have the option of working from home. Levi suggested I pick up firewood, as we tend to lose power here very easy, so I took a break in the middle of the day & drove to my grandparents' house. I gathered wood, fed the chickens, walked the property, & remembered the Gowey elders gone.
The chickens gave me two little presents.
I spent the rest of the afternoon at the dining room table, doing research for the upcoming Heifer University I am facilitating. While working at home was relaxing, there was lots around to remind me of family memories, including the cup of tea I had in honor of my Aunt Kathy & Uncle Hal.
This turned out to be quite the lengthy update!I'm hoping to follow-up soon with Mandy's suggestion that I share more of the family treasures I now have in my home.
And one more story to share: Levi saw a recent comment & asked "Who's Katie & Ryan?". It was wonderful to mention that in addition to attending middle school together, "Katie is one of the blogging girls." I love all the girls I have met or reconnected with through the blog world (& Kristen!). And like most of you, I'm hoping for more snow tonight.
Sweet dreams, my friends.
Sweet dreams, my friends.
5 comments:
how full your life has been these past weeks and months. this was such a great post, eliza. i love reading about what you've been doing and thinking about, and seeing your wonderful photos. and, oh my goodness! that photo of you three on the train! couldn't be cuter. i love how you share your life here through your beautiful, heartfelt writing. i love you!
With what you've wrote it sounds like you have and had some wonderful & creative, loving people to look up to!
Congrats on the Heifer donation also!
such a wonderful update Eliza it can't be easy to say goodbye to so many special people in your life. Your family really sounds incredible, so much sweet history and that picture of you guys on the train is priceless! Glad to hear that you are doing well through it all. Hope to see you at the blogger cookie exchange in a few weeks!
I had so much to catch up on your blog! I too am glad to have met you in this little blogging community we have. :) I look forward to getting to know you better.
You have shown tremendous strength these past few months. I imagine your Grandparent's belongings being treasured in their new homes, even though it was hard to part with them.
I've been thinking about you (and the rest of your family). Not really sure what to say, but my thoughts are with you. I really enjoyed the photos, especially the one with the train :)
Umm... I still like snow, but... hmm... this winter has been a bit much
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