2017 Week 45: Special Days

Can anyone claim on their tombstone to have loved in this way? 

True love

Last Sunday, as I was publishing the blog post, thanks to energy from our generator, at the church, by candle light and the hard work of many, the annual Kidoli's spaghetti dinner was prepared and served to an unusually large crowd. (Maybe there was no other place to go in our darkened town!)

These cute young servers raise money to go shopping and fill Christmas boxes for children in other countries as part of Operation Christmas Child. Always a fun community event became memorable!

Tornadic winds hit the area not too far from us. Structural damage and power outages hit parts of Muncie and surrounding areas. This did not affect the building where I teach, but Michael could not work at the robotics shop as planned, nor Kayla at her dance studio across the street. The weather did not affect Monday dinner, tho' still cold and rainy. Friend and neighbor walked over through the mud.

Faithful guest, neighbor friend--Jasmine

 We continued the weekly art get together even with only three this week. I was determined to rescue some early failed or incomplete pieces from the first class where we experimented with washes and masking. I added some touches of color to bring out what I had meant to say. We tried out Leah's water color pencils and watched a tutorial on painting a grove of trees.

Watercolor practice pieces

Thursday, I spent the afternoon with Mother who seems to be doing well even though she'd had another minor fall. Again we read old letters, some of Aunt Margaret's with more details about a very difficult situation the missionaries had to confront and deal with back in 1960.

Contact with my high school classmates is ongoing, in fact I had two phone conversations this week! One with Helena who lives in Italy and another with Vicenta in Berazategui, Argentina.
Someone posted this old photo of our school.

Friday there were several posts that reminded me of a holiday I'd forgotten, Día de la Tradición to celebrate an era of Argentine history--the life of the gaucho (cowboy).

Gaucho on the right, painting by Emilia Cané, daughter of one of my compañeras.

The holiday commemorates the birthdate of José Hernández, the author of the epic poem Martín Fierro, about the life of the gaucho. I looked for my copy of the book we read and studied in school.  I also found another one given to me by a friend, parts of the Bible written in poetic style and language of the Martín Fierro. Both are so fun to read, wish I had more time.

Saturday, of course, was our holiday to remember and recognize our veterans. 

Stephan carved a sculpture of the iconic Iwo Jima statue for an event in Illinois.

Sunday was our belated family birthday celebration of Samuel's 39th! These are always special times together. My favorite moment was when Sam was going through all the photos I had scanned the day before--his life from baby to young adult. A small crowd gathered to enjoy, reminisce, comment. It is always interesting to hear what and how our children remember their life experiences. Photos are wonderful sources for details of events and surroundings.

Since he was 12 or so, Sam asked for a skateboard for his birthday every year. This time though he asked for "more of the same" the only one he got was the teeny tiny one Leah skillfully painted for him.