The Best Laid Plans...Again

   I had good intentions...really good intentions. No, not about New Year's Resolutions (gave them up years ago). I had truly wanted to be diligent about blog-posting every Thursday. Then, two giants created a roadblock. Giant #1 (Google...Blogger's papa) and Giant #2 (Apple...my main technology connection and master) do NOT play well together, making creating blog posts on my iPad a teeth-grinding experience. And, I'm not doing this to be consistently irritated. I'm doing this because I enjoy writing the posts and sharing pictures of our world. Sigh.

Still, I've always believed "where there's a will, there's a way." And that "way" involved digging out my ancient, steam-powered HP lugger-of-a-laptop. Folks, we are talking Methuselah here! We can't even recall WHEN we bought it, but my Microsoft Office Suite is dated 2010 (works just fine...way better than the awful, horrible, terrible web-based applications used now). But, I digress...slightly...

Anyway, in order to get the lug-top up & running to help me create my blog posts without screaming obscenities and tearing out what's left of my hair (as typically happens when I use my iPad to try to post on Blogger), said lug-top had to update...EVERYTHING. That's what you get when you don't turn a device on for over a year. Big sigh.

So, I get all of those ducks in the proper rows, but before I can start to compose my first post of the year, life intervened. In the most difficult way possible. My wonderful, kind, sincere, considerate, encouraging, intelligent, funny, and loving older brother*, Terry (that’s him with us in that picture above)...who had been diagnosed with Parkinson's a few years ago...received an amended diagnosis that was a blow to all: he had Lewy Body Dementia. Then, almost before we could begin to read, research, and digest just what this cruel disease meant, he was gone. 

LaDonna, Terry, Jack, & Maredith

I did not intend for this first Thursday post of the new year to be sad, but that's the prevailing feeling. So, instead of piling on more words of our woe of having to say the final goodbye to this beautiful soul, let me just pop in a few pictures of happier days.

*Terry was actually my older HALF brother, as our father Sidney and his mother Lenore shared a whirlwind WWII romance, followed closely by a wedding in her native state of Pennsylvania (where Daddy was sent to Officers' Candidate School after enlisting in the Army Air Corps in 1943). Terry was born in '44, but the end of the war and the end of their marriage happened in tandem. To truncate a really long and complicated story (the ends-and-outs of which still elude me), he grew up in PA..in Williamsport, home of the Little League World Series, no less...with his mom and her family while I spent the first 10 years of my life thinking I was (and exhibiting all the common traits of) the oldest child in the family. 

I learned of Terry's existence when I was 9 or 10, during a Sunday drive to visit the Stewart clan on the farm in Whiteville, TN. As usual, I was reading…probably a Nancy Drew mystery, if I had to guess…when I realized that the conversation floating back from my parents in the front seat was being carried on in whispers. I heard the same name mentioned at least twice, so of course I asked “who’s Terry?” Thought Daddy was going to run off the road…could tell Momma was thinking hard and fast about what to say next. She finally said, “it’s time to tell them.” And so, right there somewhere on a back road through West Tennessee, I learned (1) Daddy had been married and divorced before; (2) Daddy had another child…a son…who lived in far-off Pennsylvania (hey, this was the early 60’s…it WAS far-off!);and (3) most importantly to my existence, I had an older brother! How thrilling! So many questions to ask: who, what, where, when??! Unfortunately, I started with “what:” what’s his name? Daddy said “John Terrell Lunn.” It was Momma’s turn to “run off the road,” only she wasn’t driving. NO, she said…can’t be…that’s Jack’s name! Daddy realized his mistake and corrected course: William Terrell Lunn…also named after his mother’s father, but he’s always been called Terry. After that exchange, even I could tell that more questions would not be appreciated at that time. So I swallowed them…and tried to imagine what it would be like to have an older brother come live with us (what I didn’t comprehend was that Terry would have been 19-20 by this time…beginning his own life with the Navy and college…and most unlikely to move in with a family he didn’t know). Jack was definitely in the car that day…and he would have been 6 or so…but he says he doesn’t have any memory of any of this.

Even though Terry lived in Tupelo when I was attending MSCW in Columbus (!), and then he lived in Cordova when Jack lived less than a mile away and we had just moved from Cordova to Collierville (!!), we didn't actually meet until we were both in mid-life. Still, that was NEVER an impediment to our relationship (other than feeling deep regret that our 3 parents...the ADULTS...made some choices in those early years that were not in the 3 kids' best interests). From the first moment he arrived at our front door in Collierville, I felt an immediate connection to my brother Terry. It was like I had found the missing piece to make the jigsaw puzzle complete! The fact that he and I shared nearly every single Lunn characteristic (hair color, eye color, complexion, a smile that "includes the eyes," a square chin, and an insatiable interest in learning anything and everything about anything and everything) made it so easy to accept that I was a younger sister as well as an older sister.

We are leaving Thursday to drive to KY to be with the love of his life, my sweet SIL LaDonna, and to attend his Celebration of Life service, so I'm actually posting this Thursday's post on a Thursday. Will wonders never cease...

I'll do my best to get my act together when we get back next week and post a Thursday's Child post on our trip to KY. Fingers crossed the lug-top co-ops!

Here’s a link to Terry’s obituary:

Now Where Was I?

Hard to believe that two and a half years have passed since my last post. Time flies…as they say, right? It will take more than one post to catch up, but I want to start somewhere…and I thought sharing some snaps from our “Celebrating My 70th Trip” last month would be a great way to begin.

 

After flying into Minneapolis for a few days of sightseeing that included a Green Line tour of the Twin Cities, an afternoon at the Mall of America (where I found a yarn shop!) as well as a road trip to the South Dakota state line to put our feet on the ground and breathe the air*, we boarded Amtrak's Empire Builder at St. Paul's Union Station for the next leg of our journey to Whitefish, Montana and Glacier National Park. 

Not quite so “Mighty Mississip’” in St. Paul, MN

Minnesota State Capitol Building in St. Paul

“Oh look, dear…it’s a yarn shop!”

Getting closer to our 50 states in South Dakota

Amtrak Lounge for Empire Builder

The overnight trip and brief stops allowed us to also check North Dakota off our 50 states list. 

Overnight cabin 730C

“Good morning, America…how are you?”

By the time we reached Montana, I had my 50th, with Thomas earning his when we got to Idaho.

To see as much of Glacier National Park as we could without having to drive the popular “Going to the Sun” road in the challenging summer traffic, we boarded the Xanterra Red Bus “West Side Crown of the Continent” Tour, Duration: 9.5 Hours. 

Our tour followed the Red Line on this map,
courtesy of Glacier National Park Lodge site

It was a clear, beautiful, almost cloud-free day that allowed for fantastic views and pictures, especially when the guide removed the roof of the bus (!)…but it soon became challenging to stay cool under the relentless sun. Fun fact—The vintage (read that: un-air conditioned!) 1930’s 16-seater Red Buses of Glacier were made by the White Motor Company and are Model 706, the third generation of tour buses in Glacier National Park. 

We began the morning on the shores of Lake McDonald, where the mist rising from the clear water was mingling with remnants of smoke from the forest fires in nearby Canada.

We inched along through construction and single-lane traffic on the first portion of the Going to the Sun road until we came to the smoother, paved area that made the ride more bearable. After a couple of photo op stops, we made it to Logan Pass on the Continental Divide.

“Logan Pass is the highest elevation (6646ft) reachable by car in the park. It is extremely popular with visitors and the parking lot is generally full…” Nat’l Park Service

Beargrass

Monkeyflowers

“At Logan Pass, Reynolds Mountain and Clements Mountain tower over fields of wildflowers that carpet the ground throughout the summer…” Nat’l Park Service

When we stopped for a lovely lunch at the blessedly air-conditioned Many Glacier Lodge, I was thrilled to choose my souvenir of the day: a loosely woven wrap with artist drawings of the wildflowers of the Park…which was immediately pressed into service as a head covering for the rest of the tour. In addition to the majestic mountains and endangered glaciers that are mainstays of the tour, we delighted in the profusion of lovely wildflowers and the wildlife, including ground squirrels, marmots, big-horned sheep, mountain goats, deer, elk, and a cinnamon black bear that was the size of a small grizzly.

Many Glacier Lodge for lunch

Snapped this one through the open roof of the bus

After the excessive temperatures (folks, it was HOT!) created problems for trains on overheated tracks, including a derailment east of us in Havre, we cancelled the rest of our train trip and continued on to Seattle in a rental car with an overnight in Spokane. It actually turned out fine since we got to see parts of the country we would have missed otherwise…including an absolutely clear drive-by view of Mount Rainier. Amazing! To finish off our trip, we stayed in the Pioneer Square area of Seattle (along with multitudes of Taylor Swift fans!) and did all the touristy things: monorail, Space needle, and Chihuly Gardens and Glassworks.

It was all about Taylor…everywhere!

We’ve done planes, trains, and automobiles…time for a monorail!

Skies had turned Seattle-gray by ticket time

Looking through the glass floor of the Space Needle 

Last sunset in Seattle…from room at Pioneer Square Embassy Suites

And now? Where are we? We are back with M at her home in Auburn, GA, where we’ve been for almost a year since selling our house in Loganville. We said then we’d give ourselves at least a year to make some decisions about our next move while dealing with some health issues. We’ve been extremely grateful for the space and breathing room she’s provided, and we are very happy here in our cocoon. We haven’t made any plans for another move…yet…so, stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I’m still gardening (just in a smaller patch) and still knitting!

Finished shawl in the Supernova MKAL 

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*In order to qualify for the All 50 States Club, one must “put your feet on the ground and breathe the air” of each state. Check and double check!