I talked to my Mum last night and she was telling me that her and Pop went for a two day motorcycle trip into northern Wisconsin.  I felt bad they had decided to go without me but I’m enjoying my time spent with my brother here in California.  Mum talked about her perception as they were riding through many of the rural areas and the small towns.  Since they made this trip over the Memorial Day weekend one of the first things she noticed was how small towns celebrate Memorial Day. 

She said they seem to have a real understanding of what Memorial Day is truly about.  Small towns display flags down the center of town, in the cemetery’s, parks and even many of the homes were displaying flags on the front of their homes.  Many of the towns were celebrating the day with parades lead with Veterans, floats, fire trucks, high school marching bands, motorcycle caravans, community potlucks in the parks, contests and just general community involvement.

Mum said it just made her feel good to see the simplicity and the coming together of the community.  Anyone can see it doesn’t take a lot of money to make these things happen, just community involvement.

Mum said, riding into the country and seeing the family farms, some large, some not so large, crops planted, animals grazing in the pastures, gardens being planted, lawns being mowed makes one realize the real importance of life.

Mum said she realizes not everyone can live or would even choose to live in small town America or rural America, however it would serve us all well if we practiced a little of what they have in our lives.  By that she meant the community involvement, the simplicity, the orderliness of things and to take some time to reflect on the more basic values.

After the worst five days of my little gnome life I have finally made it to my brothers apartment in California, and let me tell you… I am not pleased.

When me mum told me that I would be traveling either first class or priority, I had envisioned a dry martini and freshly roasted peanuts.  http://www.lowfares.com . Instead what do I get?

Packing peanuts.

She mailed me!  Can you believe it?  And to top it off, I had to spend the night in the post office all by myself until my brother could finally sign for me the following day.  Let me tell you this: you do not want to know what goes on in a post office after hours.

My brother assures me that on our trip to Ecuador I will not be subjected to ingnomaine treatment, and that we will indeed travel by air.  In fact, he said something about an overhead compartment… I believe that is like a penthouse, only for airplanes? I wish Mum had checked out this site before she shipped me.  “Cheap flights for a low fare.  I probably still could have traveled first class. http://www.lowfares.com

My brother asked me if I wanted to go along with him to Ecuador to meet his wife and daughter.  My sister-in-law Carmen finally got her visa and is ready to come to California to live with my brother. 

I asked Mum and Pop and they said I could so I’m starting to pack my suitcase, digging out my passport, checking out what cloths to bring (that won’t be hard because all of my cloths are the same).  I hope I won’t have any problems getting through customs.  Sometimes they say I look suspicious  and need to go through my suitcase.  I’m sure they let gnomes go in and out of the country.  I’ll need to get a hair cut and I really should work on my tan a little. 

I’m so excited, I’m counting down the days.  My Mum and Pop are going to pack me up and send me on my way to California just in time to leave with my brother.  I don’t really like to fly but I’ll try to get the seat by the window and also the exit.  This is going to be a really long airplane flight so I’ll need to rest up good before I go. 

I’ll be taking lots of pictures so I’ll post them when I get back.

I’ll tell you lots of other stories about my Grandpa and Grandma but first I need to tell you about the last week with my Grandpa.

Every year all of my family, Grandpa, Grandma, Aunts and Uncles, cousin and even second cousins would go to stay at a resort in Northern Minnesota for at least 3-4 days.  We have done this for years and years.  We always have so much fun.

Grandpa especially liked this time at the lake.  I think it made him feel special to see all of his family together in one place for even a short time.  We all played in the water together, ate our meals together, played games together.  We even bought fireworks and one of the evenings we would shoot them off and they were almost as good as the 4th of July fireworks.  Every year we would have a big auction to raise money for some good cause like the Arthritis Foundation (you see my Grandpa had arthritis very bad), Make a Wish or whatever charity we choose.  After the auction was over, we’d all sit around the fire pit and talk about who we were going to donate the money to this year.  My Grandpa loved that auction and he’d ask lots of time during the day, “when is the auction going to start”?  Two of my cousins were the auctioneers and they were really funny and we’d laugh a lot.  It was a lot of fun.

When my Grandpa got sick and had to go into the nursing home he was very sad because he thought he would miss the family get together.  We told Grandpa not to worry, we’d get him from the nursing home and take him to the lake.  We knew it would be a big job to take care of him but he enjoyed going so much we wouldn’t have gone without him.

Grandpa didn’t like it at the nursing home and everyday Grandpa would ask the nurses in the nursing home, “how many more days before I get to go to the lake?’  He only had to stay in the nursing home for one month before he got to go the family reunion.

When the time came, my Grandma and Uncle picked up Grandpa from the nursing home and up to the lake they went.  Grandpa had such a good time.  Because there were so many people there (maybe 50-60) Grandpa even got to go for a boat ride.  Some of my cousins just picked up the wheelchair with Grandpa in it and put him in the boat.  Everyone fussed over Grandpa.  Grandpa would sit up on the hill so he could watch everyone playing in the water. Everyone took turns and would come and sit by Grandpa and talk to him and bring him snacks to eat. 

The last night we were at the lake we had the fireworks show.  Maybe I am just imagining it but I think those were the best fireworks I have ever seen.  Grandpa had to stay up late to watch them.  When they were over he still didn’t want to go to bed so we all gathered on the hill around grandpa and watched a lighting and thunder show across the lake.  It was beautiful. It never did rain by us though.

Finally Grandpa said he was tired and wanted to go to bed.  Then in the middle of the night Grandpa got really sick and my Mum, Aunts and Uncles took him to a hospital nearby.  From there an ambulance took him to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  Everyone else stayed behind to pack up all of our things and start getting ready to go back home.

Grandpa never saw anyone again.  By the time he got to Sioux Falls, he was in a coma.  We all stayed by his bed and held his hand.  I think he knew we were there with him.  Later that day Grandpa passed away.

Mum says that God let Grandpa stay with us just long enough for one last trip to the lake and when it was over God took him home. 

Everyone went to Grandpa’s funeral.  It was sad because we knew we’d have to go on without Grandpa but happy because we all got to spend his last days with him.  How lucky is that!.

My cousin Sherri wrote a “Tribute to Grandpa” and I want to share it with you because it explains just how lucky we all were to spend that time with him.

John Veld (1919-2000)

Family Reunion

…Just say those words and you are bound to evoke sympathy. Many people will even come up with a sarcastic,”Oh ..lucky you!”

Yes. Lucky me! I am lucky and blessed to be part of the Veld family. We are a family who makes it a priority to be together. Year after year, we have 4 or 5 wonderful days in cabins by a lake – and you know what we do there?

We make memories.

And how lucky for us all that those memories include my grandpa. Grandpa was always there, sitting under a shade tree – watching us play. You see, my grandpa knew the importance of family. And he wouldn’t miss the reunion for anything.

Last weekend was no exception. The only difference is that Grandpa had to leave a few hours early. He had another family reunion to go to.

And now he’s making memories.

And there’s someone sitting under a shade tree – watching Grandpa play. And since Grandpa knows the importance of family. That’s a reunion he wouldn’t miss for anything.

That tribute says it all! – I miss my Grandpa.  Some other time I’ll tell you some more good memories of my Grandpa.

Boy did I work yesterday! I know you must think that most of the time I stand around with my hands in my pockets but not so yesterday.  Mum and I spread 40 bags of mulch in the gardens.  We had bought 60 bags so we will have to finish up the other 20 probably sometime today.  What a dirty, exhausting job that is. When we called it a day, all I wanted to do was take a shower, take two aspirin and relax. Today my back is killing me.

We also planted rows of carrots, radishes and lettuce in the vegetable garden.  Is it my imagination or are they putting less seeds in the packets these days?  We had to go to the store and buy more seeds because there wasn’t enough seeds in the packet to even complete one row.

We did get the last of the perennials planted, however we do still have to plant the Bitter Sweet Vine.  Mum said Pop has to help her with that one because she needs a really big hole dug.

Today I’m going to help Mum pull weeds from the large perennial garden.  She said that there are also a lot of plants that needs to be separated.  I guess I’ll help with that also but OH MY ACHING BACK!

Also today is the day each garden gnome must take it’s place among the gardens.  Hopefully they’ve all decided where each is going to stand on guard.  We’ll see, because usually what happens is after everyone is in place one or two of them decide they don’t like where their standing and run to one of the other gardens.  Next thing you know there’s 3 gnomes in one garden and none in other gardens.

In a few weeks I’ll take more pictures so you can see the progress the gardens are making.