Celebrating A Life

Earlier this week, our family lost another beloved member, my aunt Jean Day. Aunt Jean was one of my Dad's two sisters. His other sister, Jewell, passed away a few years ago. My aunt Jean lived her 82 years in the Alton and Godrey, Illinois areas working 40 years for Shell Oil Company. She loved to travel, crochet and keep a stash of chocolate.

Over Labor Day this year, we packed our five selves in the car and traveled to St. Louis to help celebrate my Dad's birthday. On Saturday of that weekend, we ventured over to Alton, picked up my Aunt Jean and headed up the Great River Road. We dined at a family, favorite restaurant, The Finn Inn.

It's not nice to take a picture just after the food arrives. Your subjects are...well, busy ... my Dad and Bart are on the left, and my Aunt Jean and my niece, Ellie on the right.

The catfish and buffalo (fish) were divine. Ellie prefered the fries.

We learned just a few weeks ago that Aunt Jean had become very sick and she declined rapidly. My breath catches as I think of the two family members we've lost this year, so I will turn to the positives, as they are always so many.

Following the services, our family gathered for lunch at one of my aunt's favorite restaurants - Red Lobster!

Table one includes her son, Jerry, my husband, Bart, our cousins, Ted and Joy on the left. On the right are two of Ted and Joy's kids, Kevin and Shelley, and Alice, Jean's husband, Walt's sister.

Table 2 hosts Ellie and my sister-in-law, Leslie on the left. My sister, Pam, my Dad, Jim, my brother, Marty and David, Alice's son, all on the right.

Table 3 - the boys!

It was wonderful to visit with Ted and Joy. This has been a difficult time for them and I know they seeing everyone and having two of their three children with them.

Kevin, who lives in New York City, Shelley, from Tennessee and her daughter, Brianna.

Aunt Jean, thanks for those bottles of Coke, some of the only soda I had as a child. I guess you figured out that I knew where your stash of chocolate was following my weekend stays. I also remember studying the map of the United States in your basement that had push pins marking all the states you had visited with Uncle Walt. A white one for once, with a red pin added for twice. I can only imagine the wonderful memories that map holds. We will all miss you.

The Legend of the Piasa Bird

As a child, I knew when traveling on the Great River Road just the right time to look for the Piasa Bird. At that time it was about halfway up the road to my aunt's house. It was painted high up on the cliff wall - a famed, colorful, scary birdlike beast!

The Piasa Bird is now closer to Alton and resides on the cliffs above the Indian Caves, at least that's what we always called them. My father investigated those caves as a boy.


Now they are fenced off for safety.

The great bird has been repainted above the caves and a sign tells of it's legend. An explorer, Jacques Marguette, in 1673, discovered a painting of two "water monsters" on the bluffs of the Mississippi River.

Later in 1836, John Russell, a novelist, wrote about a legendary dragon-like creature the Piasa, "the bird that devours men."

Devours men? Oh, dear. Women? Children??? The original paintings were Native American. What led to the telling of this story? Was it passed down through the generations? Surely the story of the creature was greatly enhanced through time? Wasn't it??? Is there a kernal of truth? It's what makes seeing the bird depiction so interesting and why so many people stop to investigate.

The Great River Road

Over the Labor Day weekend, my husband, my kids and I traveled to St. Louis to visit my family. On Saturday, we loaded up a crew: grandpa, aunt Pam, us and two cousins, Marshall and Ellie.


We drove to Alton just across the Mississippi River on the Illinois side. My parents were both born and raised in the neighboring town of Wood River, Illinois and two of my aunts lived on the north edge of Alton up The Great River Road.


The River Road has many family stories woven into it's path. It is also well-known for the bike trail that follows the road north through many quaint, little towns.

As a child we drove the river road many times each year on the way to my aunt's homes up beyond the cliffs. This day we picked up my father's sister, Jean and headed up the road to Grafton, Illinois. Along the way we passed the turn-off to Piasa Creek where my grandfather had built a fishing cabin with his father. Many 4th of July's were spent at that cabin.





In Grafton, we ate lunch at the Finn Inn, which has a unique atmosphere...



All sorts of Mississippi River fish keep you company in large tanks at the end of the booths. We devoured fried catfish and buffalo, corn fritters and fries. Yummo, as long as you could keep your mind off your cholesterol level.

Don't they look full and happy?!?!

You may have heard of Grafton this summer, when it flooded. This isn't the first flood for Grafton, yet it's unique setting keeps it's residents determined to stay. So determined many of the homes and businesses are built on stilts.

Grafton has grown significantly since my more youthful days. This lighthouse is new as are many restaurants, and art and antiques shops. With it's proximity to St. Louis, the beautiful drive to reach it, the curious shops and wonderful food, Grafton has become a popular destination town. For me it remains woven into my memories. I so enjoyed taking my kids there.

I have a few more stories for from this trip: the legend of the Piasa Bird and the Geode Man. Coming soon.

A Garden Tour at My Sister's

My sister, Pam, loves gardening and a few years ago completed the Master Gardener program in Indiana. She now lives in St. Louis and has been transforming the yard of her new home. It is gorgeeeous, simply gorgeous!



This little bed greets you as you drive up. It's at the front edge of the yard telling you there's more beauty to see.

Pam has been working inside and outside on making her new house an inviting, beautiful, refreshing home. She added a picture window to her family room looking out over the back yard and here's what you see.

Walk out onto the patio and this burst of color and texture grabs your attention.

As you stroll into the backyard, you're greated with all kinds of lovely plantings. The mulch she uses is this new stuff called "Black Gold". It's not oily, I swear! It's like a black peat moss or rich, dark soil. Only it's magical, because she says it stays in place and seems to control the weeds better than traditional bark mulch.

Look at this...those weepy, bushes that are really trees are just too cool!

Do you see that bush in the back with the fushcia flowers? That little number has caught the eye of my husband. He wants to plant them here in Kansas.

They are Crepe Myrtle (with my poor spelling I first typed Crape Myrtle...drop the first e...now there's a plant you want in your yard - ha). I've been asking around and what I've learned is they are a little tempermental here... a little too windy and a little too cold in the winter. They will grow here, but every few years they decide they are perennials instead of bushes and die back to the ground. We can live with that, 'cause you need to keep the guy who does all the heavy lifting very, very happy! If he wants some Crepe Myrtle, he's getting some!

Touring gardens is inspiring, with different plant varieties to investigate. How it's all put together, for me, is the most intriguing part. Pam has that gift. She is able to group plants in ways that make a whole garden bed interesting and beautiful. I love watching her gardens evolve and am currently plotting a way to extract her creative genes and inject them into me...we are sisters, so it should work!

A Spring Beauty

Spring in St. Louis, where I was born and lived until college, comes two weeks before spring in Kansas. Because of this, and I imagine other horticultural factors, they have a prized tree that is rare in Kansas.


The dogwood.

These two beauties are outside my brother, Marty and his wife, Leslie's, family room window.


This gigantic, gorgeous, white dogwood is in my sister's backyard. For two days, I drove my family cah-razy pointing and talking about every dogwood I saw...gagillions of them! I admired, considered, commented, praised, and longed for the dogwoods.

I daydreamed and yearned for dogwoods on the hours-long drive home, until I reached our driveway...

Only seven months in this spot and this crab apple consoles me.

Birthdays: Party on Lemp Road

We hit the highway after school on Friday and headed to St. Louis. We have quite a few family birthdays in April and May and they needed some more celebrating! We especially needed to help my sister, Pam and my brother, Marty celebrate their birthdays. Pam, the oldest of the four siblings, was born on May 6 and Marty, 2nd in line, was born two years later on May 7.


We descended upon Marty and his wife, Leslie's house.




Our dinner included marinated, grilled pork tenderloin and seven layer salad...yum. The best part, of course, was dessert - baseball cupcakes made by Pam and a to-die-for Carrot cake.





I need to find a way to fold up and pack to bring home this incredible antique dining table. It seats 14!!!

Pam receiving a birthday hug from Ellie, Marty's daughter.

Marty was simply filled with glee about celebrating his birthday.

His birthday kisses came from Abbey!

Dane was sporting a birthday watch and thinking about cupcakes.

Spencer got some prized money for his birthday from Grandpa and is surrounded by cousins, Marshall and Ellie, and Aunt Leslie.

It was a wonderful weekend!