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.
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.
Gorgeous view, looking east across Lake Washington to downtown Bellevue & the Cascades.
Don't the boys look so cute in their argyle jerseys?
Not only did we get in a nice ride, but the boys finished putting in our new garage door opener,
