I thought about grandma & grandpa's orchard in Cashmere all day today.  It's the day of your birth, my wonderful father.  I'm sure it was a sunny, eastern Washington spring day.  The trees had lost their blossoms as the buds began their journey to become fruit in my grandpa's apple orchard.  I can imagine your mother, my grandma Alma so anticipating your long awaited birth. And so, a baby boy, John Robert Gerry arrives to join his waiting family, my grandpa & grandma Gerry and his big brother William.  Two darling boys, Billie and Johnny growing in the orchard in the Cashmere
valley in the loving arms of a beautiful little family.  As I stopped to soak in the presence of the farm house, the yard full of flowers and old trees, I could see you all in that lovely home and feel the warmth of the nurturing in my life that began that day with the birth of my much loved, always missed father.  As the farm house remains on that Flowery Trail hill in the Cashmere valley, so also the memories of my family, Grandpa Bill, Grandma Alma, Uncle Bill and you, my father, in the beautiful apple orchard in Cashmere---

Mother's Day

It's a beautiful sunny day here at The Lake House.  The snowball hedge is a white wall of lovely blossoms, the roses ready to bloom and the air filled with the fragrance of the lilacs as they fade. Our week-end would begin with a visit to the nursery, our tradition to pick out hanging baskets, flowering planters or roses for your gift.  Then dinner on the patio of our beautiful gardens.  It should be easier this year but somehow it isn't.  I guess I just don't know how to do Mother's Day without a mother. I don't know how to get past the the hole in my heart, that place that belongs to you, my mom, that place that no one else can fill.  And yes, our traditions of celebration that will never be the same. And so today, I'll let my mind flood with memories of you mom and all you mean to me.  The tears will flow, joy and sorrow living together and I will celebrate, with a grateful heart, my sweet mother---