Yello!

Christmas, my child, is love in action. … Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas. ~Dale Evans Rogers

Christmas has come and gone at our house with much anticipated cards and letters from friends and family, the usual good food to eat and holiday gatherings. I surprised some with unexpected gifts and was surprised with some pretty cool gifts too. It’s been great having the kids home for various lengths of time over the holidays. We had a white Christmas and continue to get a bit more snow about every other day. If it warmed up enough to take the bike out that would be OK with me, but I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon. I took a couple of cute pictures of the animals over the holidays – Mika, as “Santa Paws”, in the Mrs. Claus outfit that Kalie got her and Jenna’s kitten, Boots, as he snuggled up under the Christmas tree. The stockings photo shows the Christmas stockings I made for the newlyweds and their pets. Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy New Year too!

To the outside world we all grow old.  But not to brothers and sisters.  We know each other as we always were.  We know each other’s hearts.  We share private family jokes.  We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.  We live outside the touch of time.  ~Clara Ortega

The two distinguished gentlemen I am standing with in the photo below are two of my big brothers, Glenn and Bill.  When I was growing up, my family consisted of three older brothers, an older sister, and a younger brother (who passed away as a three-day old infant due to a lung condition called hyland membrane). Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing two of my big brothers at a family wedding in Lincoln. So I decided I would include a post on this blog about them and some of the stuff I remember from my point of view. (One thing I have learned is that one person’s recollection of a time or event will nearly always vary drastically from another person’s memory just because of their personal perspective on the situation.) Since these two brothers are 12 and 10 years older than I am, my memories of them at home are from the viewpoint of a small child. I’m sure I probably bugged them a lot, like little sisters would, and most definitely was spoiled. Glenn was the one who would sometimes help get me ready to go someplace by brushing my hair, etc. And, I’m pretty sure, he once got a ticket when he got caught driving me the four country miles to grandma’s house when he was only 14. Glenn was always teasing and and fun to be around. Once he slipped a mouse into his lunch pail to surprise mom when she opened it after he got home. Bill was home for a couple of years longer than Glenn and I remember him helping me with my 4-H projects like photography and the calves. He also surprised me one time with a black bunny that was my pet (until our black cat found it!). I think I may have sat on Bill’s lap in the driver’s seat of the car a time or two to steer while we drove (slowly) the last 1/4 mile in the country to our house and I think I remember something about heading right toward the windmill until he moved the steering wheel in the right direction. After they both grew up, got married, and had homes of their own, it was always fun to visit – there were lots of fun times spent with my small nieces and nephews who are now all grown up too! I actually lived with Bill and Edith for a few months while I did my student teaching at Millard and then later for a couple of months before my wedding. One funny episode (now as I look back) was when Bill and I got into my car in his driveway and I backed directly into his little VW that was parked behind me and both of us were completely surprised that it was there. I’ve traveled to Europe with both of them: with Bill in 1971 along with the school group he was sponsoring as a young teacher to 6 European countries and with Glenn in 2003 along with friends and family to Ireland, Wales, England and France. They, along with my other brother and sister, were there as we struggled with the illnesses and loss of our parents and to form a different type of relationship as adult siblings. Now we see each other at family events like graduations and weddings and also make a point to spend time together. I’ve got new memories of recent events that make me smile – like driving his fishing boat in Alaska and later getting stuck in the sand on the beach in Glenn’s pick-up and taking in a Husker football game with Bill. One good thing about being a little sister is that you will ALWAYS have big brothers – no matter how old you get!

It was a beautiful fall week-end to venture out to visit the kids in Rapid City. We also took a Saturday morning drive over to Devil’s Tower just north of Sundance, WY. The fall leaves were in full color and we had a great time!

Elton John came to Omaha over the weekend and we went to see his concert. This was the fifth time we have seen him in concert over a span of more than thirty years – and he was every bit as good this time as he was then! The first time we saw him was in 1975 while I was still in college. We drove out to Denver and went with my cousins, Patty and Arlene, to the McNichols Sports Arena where we were treated to a four hour music marathon. The concert began promptly at 8 pm and ended when it was nearly 1 am. Although Elton gave his band a rest, he never left the stage that night except for occasional episodes of piano bench throwing and breaking! The second time we saw Elton John was in Lincoln at the Devaney Sports Center in the early 80’s. We saw him again eight years ago at the Civic Auditorium in Omaha when we took all three kids along. The five of us happened upon an Elton John concert a fourth time in London in 2000 as we walked through Hyde Park. He was giving an outdoor concert in the park so we plopped down on the grass and enjoyed the music. So last Saturday night marked the fifth time we spent an evening with Elton John.

As I listened to all of his familiar songs, I felt almost as if I were spending the evening with an old friend. After all, Elton John had been there for many momentus occasions throughout my lifetime. Thoughts of college take me back to Der Loaf and Stein on “P” Street listening to Bennie and the Jets, Pinball Wizard, Saturday Night’s Alright, Rocket Man, and Crocodile Rock blaring on the jukebox. Our wedding song was Your Song and the recessional was Bitter Fingers, by John and Taupin – of course. Elton John was still there when our kids were small with the soundtrack of Lion King hooking a whole new generation on his powerful vocals and mastery of the piano. And who can forget Elton John at Diana’s funeral comforting the world with his tribute to the princess with Candle in the Wind. Elton John has been pounding out music for the past thirty-eight years!

Even though the music is still the same, a few things about his concerts have changed over the years. When the crowd swayed en masse to a ballad in the 70’s, people held lighters…on Saturday cell phones were waved in the air instead. In the 80’s we had to check our camera at the door as no photography was allowed…on Saturday people were snapping photos with their cell phones and digital cameras. In the 70’s, we watched him smash multiple piano benches dressed in outrageous outfits and flamboyant glasses…on Saturday he didn’t break anything, had no glasses and wore only a mildly outrageous outfit. 🙂

On the other hand, there were many similarities between the concerts. Drummer Nigel Olsson was still pounding out the beat as he has from the beginning, as well as long-time band member Davey Johnstone on the guitar and back-up vocals. Also, as with every Elton John concert we have been to, he was a masterful performer who definitely gave us our money’s worth and a night to remember!

To see the movie of Elton playing Burn Down the Mission, click here. The file is big, so be patient.

Last Friday something happened that probably will never happen again…a house drove by! A farm house about 1/2 mile south of ours stood empty for the past couple of years and was recently sold. Our neighbor bought it and moved it a mile west.

My new puppy. I’m thinking of calling her Mika. Any housebreaking tips? 🙂

In the midst of wedding preparations, we slipped away during Bike Week for a couple of days at Sturgis. Francis protested that we really didn’t have the time to go, but I really wanted to and he finally agreed that we just needed to take the time for us. We had a great time – Thursday evening at Full Throttle listening to Jackyl and Friday night at the Buffalo Chip listening to Blue October and Chris Daughtry. A trike show was featured at Thunder Road. The music was good, the bikes were fun, and the people were awesome as we made some new friends and connected with some old ones during our stay at Sturgis.

We laughed the hardest though over the continuing challenge of camping and dealing with an air mattress. To give you a bit of background regarding our camping experiences at Sturgis…two years ago we borrowed an electric pump and adapter to plug it into our pick-up only to find it didn’t seem to work. Francis spent about 20 minutes blowing the air mattress up the old fashioned way and had to rest for another 20 minutes after becoming lightheaded!!! Last year, we thought we were smart when we stopped in Rapid City to pick up a bicycle pump to alleviate our air mattress blowing up dilemma…only to find that someone had neglected to put the plug back into the air mattress after they had used it last. So we took the plug off the end of our ice cooler and wrapped masking tape around it in an effort to wedge it into the hole in the air mattress as a make-shift plug. Well, it worked pretty well except that a few hours into the night we steadily kept losing air until we were laying flat on the ground by morning! So this year, we thought we finally had figured this air mattress problem out. Francis got me a 4-minute bed-in-a-box for Christmas with the intention of taking it along to Sturgis this summer. It had a pump with it and built-in plugs that fit – our mattress problems were over… or so we thought! We first put up our small four man tent and then starting blowing up the new air mattress outside the tent. To our surprise the air mattress quickly blew up into a tall, queen-size inflated bed! Now our problem was getting this monstrous air mattress into our small tent. I tugged from the inside and Francis pushed from the outside as a neighboring camper wandered over laughing hysterically as he snapped pictures of our futile attempted to get the giant mattress into the tent. So Francis decided to let some air out until it was spongey enough to push it into the tent. So when it was time to retire for the night, I crawled into the tent (which was entirely consumed by the air mattress inside) and immediately rolled off the squishy, partly deflated mattress and got wedged between the mattress and the tent wall! Francis answered my yell for help and dived into the tent to rescue me which only caused me to become more tightly lodged between the mattress and the tent wall. He couldn’t even see me!!! He finally got me pulled out and the rest of the night was spent trying to sleep on the squishy mattress without getting rolled off again. Next year we need to try again to finally get this air mattress thing right – I mean, how hard can it be? Any suggestions?

When you were born, you were crying, and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so that when you die,you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.  🙂