Halloween

Costumed PEPS party, Ballard trick-or-treating, family & neighbor visits, glow sticks, kitties & flashlights -- a great Halloween.

G'ma

Thinking of my G'ma, who left us last night, one month before her 93rd birthday. I think of her poise & feistiness, sharp wit & perfect pork chops, handwritten postcards & garden flowers, full laughter & impromptu dancing. She lit up our lives with so much beauty & celebration.

I wrote the above on October 3rd, the day after G'ma passed away, but have been unable to finish any kind of post, writing things & then erasing them, never really finishing. I don't know how to describe my feelings of loss. A loss which is multiplied by the feeling that with it comes the end of an era -- the end of the G'people era (G'pa left us in 2007).

The G'people era was truly golden & includes some of my very best memories. Garden parties & playhouses, brunches & happy hours, croquet & badmitton, & always delicious food & lots of laughter. Growing up vacationing on their multi-acre estate in Lake Oswego was a childhood dream come true. There were trees to climb (& get stuck in, just ask my sister), a garden to escape in, a big grass field to play with cousins, fresh berries & peas to eat, & a hidden playhouse with our own mailbox. The adventures & memories are too many to name.

Even after reaching adulthood & saying goodbye to their home in Oregon, we continued the golden days & evenings at their beautiful little home in West Seattle. When G'pa died, many things changed but I realized how much of the golden hues were due to G'ma, with her quick wit & infectious laughter, things that remained even as her memory faded.

One of my favorite photos of G'ma -- dancing her way outside as the sun sets at our wedding.

G'ma & G'pa on their 65th wedding anniversary.

And this, just the best photo of them.

I am so happy to have a few memories of G'ma with Blakey. She thought he was great fun.

I'm going to sign off now before I start crying.
Leaving with a photo from the golden days -- G'pa & G'ma with the four grandchildren on the front walk of their Egan Way estate.

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"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

October

October is a favorite month of mine, as fall comes to the northwest with brilliant colors & sunshine-filled days. Warm drinks & pumpkins, cozy boots with skirts & tights, chilly mornings with chimney smoke, mums & cabbages & bright leaves in every hue. I love it all. Right now, as I write this, the wind has picked up & is swirling leaves across the ground, tossing them up to a stone grey sky. Since taking my job with Heifer, this season is also one of the busiest as we participate in the Combined Federal Campaign & gear up for holiday giving & events. This October was even busier than most with multiple events surrounding the visit of Heifer's West Africa Regional Director, as well as trips to California & Little Rock. During all this Levi was also attempting to give reviews to 25 employees.
On October 2nd, exactly one month before her 93rd birthday, my Grandma Mary passed away. Within a week, the Winston/Whetstone family flew in from Anchorage, DC, Santa Fe & Oregon to celebrate & remember G'ma. I will share more about this in a separate post.

For now, some photos of October events.

California -- a lovely time at Hidden Villa, making plans, carving pumpkins, hosting volunteers, hiking in the hills & remembering that I have amazing colleagues (even if I only get to see them twice a year).

Then I got sick of my hair & chopped it all off. Fortunately a friend on Facebook posted about donating hers to Pantene's PonyUp program & gave me the idea to donate 8" of my hair to help provide wigs for women fighting cancer. Win-win.

  Mid-October included a week of hosting Rashid Sesay, Heifer's West Africa Regional Director, in Seattle. Five presentations, including a dinner & a much coveted invitation to the Microsoft campus. Rashid is currently very busy working on a multi-million program proposal for the drought & famine stricken Sahel region of West Africa. It's an amazing project that will reach across four countries and provide new techniques for land & animal management to slow down the desertification that affects the region.

Our nephew Myles' first birthday!

PEPS (Program for Early Parent Support) babies' birthday party.

A whirlwind 48 hour trip to Little Rock -- a dear friend's wedding, a couple meetings at good 'ol HQ, & much needed silliness & snuggles with Catherine.

Pumpkin Patch outing with PEPS friends!

More to come soon about October...

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"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

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"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Celebrating G'ma

We were fortunate to have so many wonderful Winston/Whetstone family members fly in soon after Gma's passing. Most special for me, my cousins flew in with their families (Kyra & Alex from DC, Ryan, Mart & Nora from Anchorage), & cousin "Auntie" Bridget from Santa Fe. This provided some very much needed time to reminisce, laugh, & simply be together. It's pretty rare that we're all together & I can't put into words how good & comforting this time was for my soul.

We started the weekend at our house, Blake & Nora getting cousin time & the girls finding silliness and tears while sorting (& modeling) some of Gma's most iconic clothes.

Saturday morning was a lovely breezy walk along Alki with just the cousins (& kiddos), followed by warm drinks, then a trip to sort & choose the last of the household items from Gma & Gpa's estate. There was lots of goofiness to keep our spirits up.

And this, perhaps the most representative piece of art (by our own Steve Winston) that always hung in the G'peoples' home (on a much better backdrop than recycling bins).

Saturday afternoon we drank wine & made toasts, sorted photos & modeled scarves, opened G'ma's jewelry box & chose pieces, all the while remembering & telling stories, laughing & shedding a few tears.

The black & white above is Alan, Blakey's Opa, when he was a little boy.  :)
The photo treasure of the day was when Aunt Kathy came across this photo of G'ma as a baby. And then Nora showed us how much she looked like her.

Four generations.

 
The weekend ended with a life celebration of G'ma (& G'pa) at my aunt & uncle's home.

 The Winston legacy.

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"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

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"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."