January 1st - December 31st
It has been a very hard year for us. I'm sure most of you have heard by now that we lost our daughter, Dawn, very unexpectedly on March 5th, exactly one week before we were supposed to leave on our trip to Greece with her.
Our last visit with Dawn was in October when she came to Helena for Halloween week.
Exploring the English countryside with us in 2014. We were heading across a pasture to a pub for supper. Dawn had also been to Germany for three weeks when she was in high school.
Dawn in the home of the Pilgrims in Leiden, Netherlands before they left for America.
Having lunch with Dawn in Leiden in 2019.
Lunch in Bruge, Belgium 2019.
Eating a Stroopwafel in Brussels.
Touring Ireland 2023
The wall between the two parts of the city in Belfast. Built during the Troubles. This tour was very interesting.
In Scotland with her friends for Dawn's 50th birthday, they were sampling scotches at a distillery. They gave her a to go pack since she was the designated driver.
Dawn had also been to Vancouver, New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland, Taos, Winterpark, Colorado, Washington D.C. and many more local places with her friends camping and kayaking.
Curling with her friends. She had an awesome group of friends.
Good times!
On May 3rd we held a Celebration of Life for Dawn at Falls Park in Sioux Falls where she loved to walk with her friends. Many of her friends, family and co-workers came and shared memories with us and we are very grateful to them all. We are also very thankful to everyone who called or sent cards. All of your kind words, shared memories and gifts are very much appreciated.
Ben and Keira and some of Dawn's cousin's kids.
Dawn was a huge Anglophile. She had been to London twice, once with her friends and once with us when we also toured the rest of the country with her. She could talk for hours with her Dad, often about English history, comedians and detective shows and she loved the Beatles. I guess she got the last one from me. These are two hangings she had on the walls in her house.
This one is from her trip to New York.
A few of her favorite t-shirts
The Beatles
This is a white board that was in Dawn's office at work. Her co-workers said she would draw a new picture and saying on it every couple of weeks.
Dawn was very active in many charities and fundraisers, including lots of runs for different causes, making quilts and wrapping Christmas gifts at the mall. But her favorite volunteer time was at Lutheran Social Services where she taught English and citizenship classes to new immigrants several hours every week for over nine years. The note below is from them. We are so very proud of her and miss her so much. 💔
This is her cute little house with the lovely English-style gardens she had been working so hard on the last few years. We sadly listed it for sale in May and closed on it the last week in September.
View of Dawn's bench and tree from the top of the tower.
Benny and Keira came with us to Yuma to pick up the RV.
We stayed for about a week so they could have some fun.
Later in May we drove down to Billings for my aunt's funeral and drove by the house where my Grandma and Grandpa used to live. Sweet memories.
While we were in Billings, we stayed at the Come On Inn. I have stayed at several of them, and I highly recommend them. They have a half dozen hot tubs outside every other room. It is so nice to have a hot tub just a few steps from your room, especially if you have kids with you.
We stopped here (rest stop near Chamberlain) Memorial weekend on one of our trips back and forth to Sioux Falls. The statue is called Dignity of Earth and Sky. It honors the Lakota and Dakota people and celebrates the state's 125th anniversary. It is 50' tall, weighs 12.5 tons and is made entirely of stainless steel. Internal LED lighting shines through the quilt at night.
We had not been up here since the statue was put up in 2016. It's a beautiful view of the Missouri River and a really nice place to take a break, go for a little walk or have a picnic.
On June 14th I attended my first political rally ever at the State Capitol in Helena.
This one just made me extremely sad.
Not the best picture, but I took it through the screen door of the camper. We see deer in the yard occasionally here. When the kids lived right in the middle of town, we saw them almost daily on the street and in the backyards where they had to jump pretty substantial fences to get in. It was not unusual to see a half dozen or more of them just strolling around town.
Yeah, Grandma bought us a swimming pool!
July 12th was Carter and Delaney's first anniversary, and they threw a party to celebrate with friends and family who had not been invited to their small wedding last year.
Father and bride
Mother and groom
Dallas and Benny playing by the creek down the hill.
John and Kathy
Little hobbit house the bride and bridesmaids stayed in the night before party. The guys stayed at the lodge where the party was.
One of the bedrooms had four little bunks built into the wall.
The shower in the bathroom was in a fake tree.
Plum tree Jeff's folks planted in Jeff and Hilary's yard for Dawn.
The kids always have lots of friends over for the 4th to shoot off a few fireworks. They have a great location to watch the fireworks going off all over the valley in all directions.
My flowers are just going crazy. I also have about 70 lilac bushes from shoots I dug up and transplanted around two sides of the property. They are starting to come really well after a few years.
I took all the kids to the Last Chance Stampede Rodeo in Helena. As usual Benny is a happy little trooper and Keira has her pout on because something didn't go her way.
Benny lining up with Pastor Jason to get baptized. There were over twenty in line to get baptized.
Keira getting her birthday cake lit up. Nine candles this year.
Keira's birthday party for her friends at Lewis and Clark Beach.
Hilary made Benny a spiderman skateboard for his 8th birthday per his request.
We had some airline credits to use up so Wednesday, September 3rd, we flew to Boston to spend three weeks in New England and do the few states we hadn't been to yet.
Thursday, we walked a few blocks from our hotel to the Boston Commons.
I thought the wavy sidewalks were so interesting.
Parked along the sidewalk next to the Boston Commons.
Entrance to Boston Commons
Frog Pond is an ice-skating rink in the winter.
The Embrace is a sculpture honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. There was a homeless man sitting next to it getting rousted by the horse patrol.
Walking through the Boston Commons and the Boston Public Gardens.
The swan boats.
Statue of Paul Revere on his horse, one if by land, two if by sea.
From the gardens we walked down the Commonwealth Avenue Mall to the Prudential Building. The mall is a sort of wide median 32-acre, 1.3-mile-long park with huge shade trees and historic statues, lined on both sides by Victorian brownstones. It connects the Public Gardens to the Emerald Necklace Park in Boston's Back Bay.
This is the old, original fire department building along the walk.
Trinity Episcopal Church at Copley Square
Its reflection on the John Hancock Building, a 60-story glass giant across the street.
Come on, John! We do not have time to shop!
We finally made it to the top of the Prudential Building for The View.
View of the Charles River and the Harvard Bridge over to MIT in Cambridge on the other side. Harvard is inland some from MIT and we went there another day. There is an interesting story about the naming or attempted renaming of the Harvard Bridge. I'll let you google it.
MIT campus in Cambridge
Back toward the Commons where we came from and the Longfellow Bridge at the far left over to East Cambridge and Charlestown.
Fenway Park where we are headed next.
Part of Emerald Necklace Park in Boston's Back Bay.
Public Gardens
Part of the Emerald Necklace Park.
Arriving at Fenway Park for our tour.
The "red seat" marks the longest home run hit (502' deep into the right-field bleachers) in the history of Fenway Park by #9 Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived. He hit 521 homeruns and was a relentless champion for children, a pioneer in the development of the Jimmy Fund at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Research Center. I love people who use their success in life to make the world a better place.
In 2001 Manny Ramirez hit a pair of tape measure home runs on June 23rd. One measured 463'. The other sailed over the Green Monster net and Landsdowne Street. This was estimated to have traveled 501' in deference to Ted Williams 1946 "red seat" home run. After the 1946 season the Red Sox won 104 regular season games and came within one victory of a championship. Seven light towers were installed and the first night game in Fenway Park history took place on June 3, 1947. Before a crowd of 34,510 the Red Sox rode a pair of Ted Williams's RBIs to a 5-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Here is John sitting in the top row of the Green Monster seats.
In 1983 Carl Yastrzemski "Yaz" #8 legendary leftfielder played his final (3,308th) game, at the time the most ever played in the history of the American League. He played 23 years with 452 home runs and 646 doubles.
In 2015 Fenway Farms planted rooftop gardens on the third base side of the ballpark above Jersey Street. With 2,400 sq. ft. of growing space, 6,000 pounds of organic veggies and herbs are harvested annually. They are served in the ballpark's various restaurants and concession stands.
At the end of our tour, there was a small museum with famous jerseys, bats, baseballs and other interesting (to John anyway) history. Next, we headed back to our hotel for a rest.
When we walked back to the Prudential Building for the evening views, we stopped in at Cheers for a beer. It was wall-to-wall people inside with a gift shop and memorabilia on the walls.
We also stopped in the Boston Public Library for a quick look around.
It was massive. It contains 23 million items.
John was feeling very much at home in the reading room. Knowing him, I thought we might be stuck there for a while.
We finally got back to the Prudential Building by dark. This is a view toward Fenway Park in the center and Charles River to the right.
Friday, we followed the Freedom Trail and stopped first at the Massachusetts State House overlooking the Boston Common. There is a statue of JFK out front to the left of the main entrance. Following are some interior views.
The Great Hall of Flags honoring Massachusetts soldiers from every city and town.
Civil War Army Nurses Memorial
Statue of Mary Dyer, one of four executed Quakers known as the Boston martyrs by the General Hooker Visitors Entrance on the east side.
Directly across from the State House by the entrance to the Commons is the Soldier and Sailors Monument, a tribute to Civil War soldiers.
Just a block down the street is the Granary Burial Ground est. 1666, the final resting place of many American Revolutionary heroes, including Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, nine Massachusetts governors (two in the same tomb) and the five victims of the Boston Massacre plus, Benjamin Franklin's parents. Ben's parents ran a soap and candle business with a home above their business where they raised Ben and his twelve brothers and sisters. And I thought four kids above a bar was bad. I can't even imagine. Slaves were brought to Boston by 1638 and most of the colonial governors owned slaves. Most houses in Boston in 1687 had one or two slaves. I bet the Franklins didn't have room for slaves!
I always find old cemeteries so fascinating. This cemetery was established in 1660 and has over 2300 gravestones and tombs. The last burial here was in 1880 with an estimated 5,000 people buried here.
Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. I bought the book for the grandkids while we were here.
Over 40 Hull-Quincy-Sewall family members were buried in one tomb over two centuries. Also, the teacher who taught John Hancock his penmanship is buried here.
Our next stop along the Freedom Trail is the oldest cemetery in Boston, the Kings Chapel Burial Grounds est. 1630. Over a thousand people are buried on less than half an acre right in the old downtown surrounded by buildings. Approximately 500 headstones and 50 footstones remain and 36 of 78 tombs are marked. Like most of Boston's burying grounds, it has always been under municipal control, not affiliated with any church. John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, is buried here, along with Reverend John Cotton, Mary Chilton, the first woman to step off the Mayflower, and William Dawes, one of Paul Revere's compatriots on the famous ride. Dawes was one of several men who rode out to warn Hancock and Adams and the Minutemen that the British were coming. Their memories have been overshadowed by the fame of Paul Revere, probably due to Longfellow's famous poem.
Faneuil Hall is a popular historic marketplace with all sorts of vendors and street performers.
Quincy Market is directly behind Faneuil Hall with over 25 local eateries with everything from seafood to international cuisine. We had lunch here.
Paul Revere's home is the oldest standing structure in downtown Boston (circa 1680).
Across the street this statue honors the starving Irish people who migrated here during the Great Potato Famine.
1713 Old State House, site of the Boston Massacre, is the oldest public building in Boston.
The Old North Church where the lanterns were hung.
Copp's Hill Burying Ground est. 1659 was the second oldest cemetery and the largest in Colonial Boston. It was on a hill in the North End overlooking the river. The British used this hill as a vantage point to train their cannons on Charlestown during the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. The sexton who hung the lanterns in the old north church is buried here and two puritan ministers closely associated with the Salem witch trials and Edmund Hartt, the builder of the USS Constitution, which is moored directly across the river.
Walking across the Bill Russell Bridge over to Charlestown. It has dedicated walking and biking lanes on both sides. Bill Russell played for the Boston Celtics and won more championships in the NBA than any other player.
View of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge as we walk across the Bill Russell Bridge. The harp-like cables symbolize unity, and it is named for civil rights leader Lenny Zakim and the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Bunker Hill Monument on top of Breed's Hill with statue of Colonel William Prescott.
The original plan was to use nearby Bunker Hill, but they switched to Breed's Hill and stuck with the original battle plan name.
Old Ironsides - USS Constitution
Below deck.
Further below deck.
Saturday, we took the train to the town of Quincy where we hopped on a tour bus from the visitor's center. It took us first to John Adam's birthplace 1755 and....
John Quincy Adam's birthplace 1767 just next door on the same farm, now surrounded by the city.
I'm just sitting in the shade waiting for John to wrap up his history discussion with the park ranger.
Next the bus took us to Peace Field, constructed by a sugar plantation owner in 1731 as his summer house. It was purchased by John and Abigail Adams along with 75 acres in 1787 for 600 pounds. It was occupied by four generations of the Adams family until 1927 when Brooks Adams died. It was then sold to the Adams Memorial Society, and the National Park Service acquired it in 1947.
A couple interior rooms.
The Stone Library built just to the left of the house and gardens is considered the first and oldest Presidential Library in the country. John Quincy Adams requested in his will that it be built from stone to be fireproof. It was completed in 1870 by Charles Francis Adams and houses personal papers and over 14,000 books that belonged to John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Charles Frances Adams, Henry Adams, and Brookes Adams. It has John Adam's copy of George Washington's Farewell Address and the Mendi Bible presented to John Quincy Adams in 1841 by the freed Mendi captives who had mutinied on the schooner La Amistad and whom he had successfully defended before the United States Supreme Court. Henry Adams wrote his nine-volume The History of the United States of America 1801-1817 here. Nine volumes to cover 16 years! He must not have left out a single tiny detail.
Looking back toward the Peace Field house.
Sunday, we drove to Concord, Massachusetts to the Old Manse where the grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson lived. On April 19, 1775, Reverend William Emerson, known as the patriot preacher, witnessed the first clash of the Revolutionary War at the Old North Bridge downhill from his 1770 house, which is now a beautiful visitor center. Ralph Waldo Emerson grew up at the Old Manse and wrote his essay Nature there. Nathaniel Hawthorne lived there for a time and wrote Mosses from an Old Manse. Henry David Thoreau was a frequent visitor among others, and it became a gathering place for American literature and philosophy and social reform emphasizing the goodness of humanity and a deep connection with nature. We could use a little more emphasis on that nowadays.
Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson 1837
The shot heard round the world that started the Revolutionary War.
Burial site of British soldiers at North Bridge.
Buckman Tavern (1709) overlooking the green where the Lexington Militia spent a long time waiting for the British to arrive.
John in front of the Minuteman Monument neat the visitor center and the Green where the Battle of Lexington took place.
Monday, Sept. 8th
View of Whaleback Lighthouse from Fort Stark in New Castle,
New Hampshire.
New Hampshire.
Fort Stark Historic Site is a former military installation on Jerry's Point (aka Jaffrey's Point) on the southeast corner of New Castle Island that served from the 1700s through WWII defending Portsmouth Harbor. It's a nice day use park with picnic tables and a beach.
Views from the picnic area.
"Breath soft, ye winds ... ye waves in silence rest."
Marine Memorial honoring New Hampshire service members lost or buried at sea during WWII at Hampton Beach near our hotel on Ocean Boulevard.
New Hampshire State Capitol in Concord Tuesday, September 9th.
Rotunda of the State History Museum
Built in 1852 by Abbot Downing Co. Concord, NH.
We had an interesting tour of the Canterbury Shaker Village 20 miles north of Concord.
Wednesday, Sept. 10th, we were at the Maine State Capitol in Augusta.
View from the second-floor patio of the main front entrance that is not used due to a busy street and no parking on that side. The view extends across a huge park that I assume was separated from the capitol grounds when the street was put in.
Maine is as big as the five other New England states combined and contains over 500K acres of state and national parks. Maine produces 90% of the US toothpicks. I imagine you can get billions of toothpicks out of one tree.
L.L. Bean headquarters in Freeport, Maine
View from our hotel room on Ocean Avenue in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
These two cars were parked at our hotel when we got home for the evening.
Statue of John Ford in his hometown of Portland, facing where his father's pub once stood. It details his films on the base which is made of granite stones from Monument Valley. Born John Martin Feeney, the statue is in the historic Irish neighborhood of Gorham's Corner.
Thursday, Sept. 11th
Streets in Portland.
Battery Steele 201 at Two Lights State Park on Peaks Island was completed in 1942 to protect Casco Bay and Portland Harbor. It was the largest battery ever built anywhere in the United States.
We took a scenic cruise around Casco Bay at Portland, Maine.
Fort Gorges is an abandoned 19th century military fort on an island in the bay that was completed in 1865. No battles were ever fought there, and no troops were ever stationed there. It is now a park accessible only by boat. It was modeled after Fort Sumter and had 56 emplacements but was only used for storage during WWI and WWII.
Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse 1897 on a ledge jutting out from Fort Preble in South Portland.
Sailing lessons
Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth is Maine's oldest lighthouse, commissioned by George Washington and first lit in 1791. It sits at the entrance to Casco Bay within the 90-acre Fort Williams Park and is one of the most photographed lighthouses globally. The movie Snow Falling on Cedars was filmed here in 1999.
We took the firetruck tour around the city.
Portland Observatory 1807
Vermont State Capitol in Montpelier on Friday, Sept. 12th.
Statue of Ethan Allen at the entrance.
Governor's Office
Vermont State History Museum.
Saturday, Sept. 13th
Setting out Saturday morning, we pulled over at a roadside park to check it out.
Turns out it was a March of Dimes monument in memory of those stricken in the first infantile paralysis epidemic in the U.S. Vermont 1894. "Remembering those afflicted with polio, those who cared for the afflicted and the success of the polio vaccine. Original dime installed at Mount Mansfield, Vermont (1956), the highest peak in the Green Mountains and in the state." The plates on each side of the base are for the 48 states.
The Stowe Historical Society Museum is on Main Street with their first cemetery directly behind it.
The Old Yard Cemetery established in 1797 on a piece of land donated by the father of a 12-year-old boy who died in a flood.
This sign was in front of the pub downtown just a few short steps from the cemetery.
The homes around town were mostly built between 1810s and 1830s.
Next, we headed to Ben and Jerry's.
I'll just say that it was a dairy nice tour.
Some of my favorites, the shows and the ice cream.
At the end of the tour, we got samples of their newest flavor Ultra Violet with marshmallow swirls, fudge flakes and gluten-free chocolate cookies. It was pretty good.
After the tour we got to walk the grounds. This is the cemetery where all their retired flavors go to die.
Just a few epitaphs:
Bovinity Divinity -Where do all cows go when heaven gives the word. This flavor kicked the bucket when angels took the herd. 1998-2001
R.I.P. Ethan Almond - In memory of nuts and Green Mountain Boys, here history shuts the pint lid on their joys. 1988-1988
Dastardly Mash - Here the brazen Dastardly lies. Some say that raisin caused its demise. 1979-1991
Fossil Fuel - Fudgy dinosaurs galore got all dug up till there were no more. A flavor redesign might be do-able, but fossil fuel is not renewable. 2005-2010
Chocolate Peppermint Crunch - Alas, this flavor, sad to say, met its fate on fudgement day. No minty bliss nor chocolate sphere could save it, which is why it's here. 2013-2016
Ethan Allen Homestead in Burlington, Vermont
The views out the window in Vermont were starting to get colorful.
Hear the Sound of Music at the Von Trapp Family Lodge.
We just stopped here for a quick walk around the grounds. It is 2,500 acres and absolutely breathtaking. We didn't even go inside the lodge and I very much regret that. I really didn't know anything about it, but I have been reading up on it and I would love to go back and just stay there for at least a few days. It sounds amazing.
There were ten children, and it is currently being run by the last living child with his son and daughter.
Views of Lake Champlain from the boardwalk in Burlington, Vermont.
Sunday, Sept. 14th
The Waybury Inn near Stowe, Vermont also known as the Stratford Inn on the Bob Newhart Show.
The leaves were just starting to turn in Vermont.
Norman Rockwell Museum just outside of Stockbridge, Vermont.
His studio
His home
The grounds and the views were so beautiful.
The hydrangeas all over New England were huge and absolutely gorgeous.
There were all sorts of sculptures all over the grounds.
The museum.
We were excited to be in Stockbridge. We were planning to eat at Alice's Restaurant because, you know, "You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant."
Unfortunately, it turns out, Alice's Restaurant is closed. She died about a year ago at the age of 83.
Bummer! For her and us.
We toured the Mark Twain home. No pictures were allowed, but it was a very good tour.
Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. We also did a quick tour of the Connecticut State History Museum across the street. (Monday, Sept. 15th)
Back side of Capitol.
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
How we measured up against the pros.
No matter what size you are, they have a basket at a height so you can dunk it.
Tuesday, Sept. 16th Springfield Public Library and Museums
The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Lots of sculptures in the central courtyard.
It is just one museum in a complex of five museums of art, history and science all included in one ticket.
We quickly zipped through the others, but we really came for Dr. Seuss.
Wednesday brought us to the 1904 Rhode Island State Capitol in Providence. It had the third largest self-supported dome in the world at the time, after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome (where we have been) and the Taj Mahal. We might have to add that one to our bucket list.
While in Providence, we toured the John Brown house. Not the abolitionist John Brown. This John Brown was a merchant, politician and slave trader. Together with his three brothers they founded Brown University on their family's former estate. He laid the cornerstone of the first building on campus in 1770. The house was built 1786 to 1788.
I thought this description of a platter that was on display was interesting.
We stayed in a little apartment here four nights overlooking Narragansett Bay in Newport, Rhode Island.
Thursday, Sept. 18th
Driving around Cape Cod.
Woods Hole's Rachel Carson Memorial in Newport.
Nobska Point Light on the southwestern tip of Cape Cod has been shining since 1828, but this one was built in 1876. It was automated in 1985. It is visible 17 miles out to sea.
JFK Memorial in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
Touring the Breakers Friday Sept. 19th.
Touring The Elms in the afternoon.
We did the Cliff Walk on Saturday morning to see lots of the beautiful
Gilded Age mansions from their back yards along the ocean. The 3.5-mile path runs along the Atlantic from Bailey's Beach to Fort Adams State Park
The Breakers
The Chanler Inn is a historic mansion hotel right at the north end oof the Cliff Walk.
New Bedford Whaling Museum
Little pub down the street from our hotel.
Sunday, Sept. 21st
View of the Plimouth Plantation from the top floor of the fortress.
The long houses the natives built to weather the winters.
The Plimouth Grist Mill
Pilgrim Memorial State Park in Plymouth.
The Plymouth Rock was a bit of a disappointment. I don't think it was all that big to start with and it has been chipped away for souvenirs and moved and broke in half and mended. Well,
you get the idea. So, it was finally put in this big cage to protect it
Plymouth Rock
The Mayflower II in Plymouth Harbor
Plymouth Bay
The Burial Hill Cemetery behind the church was established in 1622 by the pilgrims. The last burial here was in 1957. It's huge over rolling hills. The oldest known surviving stone is 1681. The first markers were carved wood and did not survive.
Monday, May 22nd
John said, "This will show my high school counselor who told me that I would never make it to Harvard!"
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
This place was not really John's cup of tea, but I thought it was really cool.
Rose Kennedy Garden in Christopher Columbus Park in the North End of Boston with 104 rose bushes, one for each year of her life. It's a peaceful, secret garden within the larger Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, a series of parks created from a former highway. The parks are always awesome, and they are my favorite places.
The Columbus Park Trellis.
Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park on the Boston Harbor in the North End near Long Wharf and Faneuil Hall. Our last day in Boston. That makes 49 states for us. We only have Hawaii left. Hopefully, we will get there sometime in the next year.
Back home with the kids.
Benny, Ava, Keira and Kiwi.
Dallas and Benny.
My second No Kings Rally at the State Capitol.
Even the dogs were fired up. Well, maybe not so much.
This is a puzzle that Robin gave to Carter at Big Sky on his 3rd birthday when we first took him skiing. He is almost 27 now and he still loves to ski.
The salon is open for business.
Tierney did Delaney's nails.
Tierney did Delaney's nails.
Tally did my nails for Halloween.
The trick or treaters.
So long Terri, friend and classmate of John's. She passed on my birthday. It has been our great pleasure to be counted among your friends,
Sign I saw on our trip to Boston that made me think of Dawn. She was forever getting me birthday cards about margaritas and this year was no different. Even though she is gone, I found our birthday cards when going through her stuff. She had already bought them way ahead, mine with a margarita and John's with beers from around the world. 💞
It's a busy road from Quartzsite to Yuma. We got back to Yuma November 15th.
I left on an adventure by myself the day before Thanksgiving. I drove over to Apache Junction and spent a few days with my good friend Julie and got together with several other old friends while I was there. It was very fun to see them all again.
We drove up to Tortilla Flats on Thanksgiving Day.
Everything was closed, but it was a very pretty drive, and it was fun to have a look around.
Canyon Lake
One night John suggested we drive into town and look at Christmas lights, so we did. Then one day he said, " I think we should drive up to Helena for Christmas." So, we did.
The grandkids didn't know we were coming, so it was a big surprise for them. 😀
Hilary bought this puzzle last year after Christmas with the intention of giving it to her next Christmas. So, she put it under the tree this year and we all opened it together and put it together as a family in her memory. I always get ornaments for the kids every year, so this year I got one for Dawn, too. I got the leg lamp from the Christmas Story movie because that was her favorite Christmas movie.
From our family to yours,
A very belated
Tarra
New Address
1315 Valley Speedway Road
Helena, MT. 59602
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