Fond (Tearful) Farewell

Uncle Jim passed away on Tuesday. The funeral was Thursday. It's been a whirlwind couple of days. My sister Joan and Dad coordinated flights so I could pick them up at the airport and drive to Johnstown for the Wednesday night viewing and Thursday morning service. Another sister drove 4 1/2 hours to get there. Two brothers also came a distance as did my son Nathan. It was important to us to pay respects to the Uncle that kept our family gathering together every summer since as long as I can remember. I know my cousins, their kids, and our kids know each other too (at least the ones who attend often), and that's a privilege. We're so grateful for his efforts!

The service was wonderful. A good send off -- with lots of boating references. Uncle Jim was a Navy man back in world war II and loved taking his kids and then grandkids to a lake on his big boat. The grandchildren's boating stories added much needed comic relief as they tried to squeak out remembrances and tributes to their Pap. There was much weeping, tearful sobbing. Aunt Marion was the anchor to her dear grandkids. They all promised they'd look out for her now and be there for her. That while they were absolutely going to pieces and she getting up to hug and comfort them and help them back to their seats. She is amazing. My cousins too, Aunt Marion's kids did so well through all this. They've been comforting others even through their own loss. Let me share their daughter Marge's words to me in an email a day or two before Uncle Jim passed...

Mom is hanging in there like a rock, she very rarely leaves his side, during the day Jim, myself and the grandkids stay close by, but she refuses to have anyone stay with her at night. Through this whole experience I am thankful that he is not in any pain, and that we have the time to let him know how we feel. I am also thankful that there is no need to try to make up for lost time. My brother and I have had a lifetime of giving and receiving love from Dad We will be able to say good-by to him and have no regrets.

And that's how it was -- they spent the last month (and probably much more) enjoying every last day with their dad. I believe he was ready to sail away, cross to the other shore and be welcomed by Jesus into that everlasting kingdom which holds all the best (better than we can imagine) of this world and none of the trouble.

I'm going to go there someday too. You?

A Photo Blog

Three little munchkins.

It's starting to feel like summer's last hurrah. Here are some fond memories from our Cousin's Reunion. Many thanks to, who else?, some cousins...

No Pictures???

Oh man, I'm searching the camera card and not finding pictures of the cousins reunion. Six little kids, thirty adults, swimming and splashing, eating and playing games, tractor rides and catching up chats...none of it documented on my camera. I guess Tom and I were otherwise occupied. I'll bet one of the cousins will share. Meanwhile I've got pictures in my mind and memories in my heart -- good times.

Here's a photo (or two) from the day before. One little cousin with his mommy. Same little cousin slipping down the slide to daddy.

Oh Brother...

Rereading this blog I can't believe how melodramatic I can be. I just finished reading The Shack by William Young. That's my excuse or explanation for my melancholy (among other things). Whatever. I'm over it...sort of...and here's the only part of yesterday's blog that gets to remain...

I'm dying for a closeness with God -- we all are, just sometimes we don't know it. But my Heavenly Father doesn't want to see me pining for Him when He's right here. Rather he wants me to pant after Him, to delight in Him, to revel in the love and grace lavished on me. You too. He wants that for you and me. He says to us in His Word, "Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

All the petty earthly petitions I bring before Him, those things aren't the desires of my heart they merely make up my wish list. My heart's desire is to see Him clearly, follow Him nearly, and love Him dearly...above all else.

Cousins Reunion Coming Up Real Soon!

Nothing motivates like company coming. We've accomplished lots. But, if I had my way one last thing would be done. All the shutters on our old white farmhouse would have been painted tiel green -- just a subtle change from the current shade of forest green. But alas, that's not going to happen. And I'm okay with it because...

To achieve that we'd have had to sacrifice moments like these...


And risked missing scenes like these...


Instead, we've taken time to smell the flowers...

Seven Days Later

Seven days and one big project later... That's my excuse for not making time to blog all week long. Instead I painted the ceiling, walls, and floor in a little guest room at the back of the house. Tom helped put up a border, Davey boy helped with touch up -- a quasi second coat, which is what you do when you're too cheap to go buy more paint. It's done, looks fine, and will sleep two when we have the "Cousins Reunion" here in a couple of weeks.

That room (like every room in this house) has a history. When Tom and I were first married it was a cluttered closet. The whole room was being used for storage. It was off the largest nicest bedroom of the house. Which, once upon a time, was most likely a parlor and the little room was a bedroom. In the early 70's it was a spacious bedroom with a walk-in closet (that you couldn't walk into for all the stuff). That was when Tom and I used to visit "the farm" on weekends -- driving four hours to sweep the cobwebs and dead flies (me), mow the lawn (him) and swim/fish/row-the-boat on French Creek. One night I had a dream that we had a baby girl. We named her Lavender, and she slept in that little back room off "our" bedroom.

From then on we referred to that room as little Lavender's room. And a couple of years later, when I was pregnant with my first child, we teasingly called "it" Little Lavender. Lucky baby turned out to be a boy so he wasn't saddled with that colorful moniker. I wouldn't have done that to a girl either, honest; but it was great fun teasing about little Lavender.

If I'd ever have had a little girl I wonder if she'd be as cute as these three...

Bruce Family Reunion 2008

Erma Bombeck:
You hear a lot of dialogue on the death of the American family. Families aren't dying. They're merging into big conglomerates. Another year, another (somewhere near to the) 4th of July reunion for the Bruces. There seems to be some confusion as to how long my Uncle Jim and Aunt Marion have been hosting the reunion. I remember when Aunt Marion's parents summered in the cottage by the pond and a duplex cottage with a big swimming pool in the front yard was summer digs for their children's families. A picnic pavillion and a little wooded area separated the two homes, with a wooden foot bridge for connection. Now Jim and Marion occupy the cottage, and the old duplex has been replaced by a lovely home for one of their sons and his family. A big old farmhouse sits nearby -- year 'round home to their daughter and her family. The picnic pavillion, the foot bridge, the pond and the pool have been constants for as long as I can remember. In fact, I learned to swim in that pool when I was 7. My Aunt Marion sat on the side and instructed me. I did just what she said, and glory-be, it worked. I was swimming back and forth, back and forth in the shallow end of the pool, couldn't get enough of it! Oh, sorry for the rabbit trail -- I was going to say that we've been celebrating family with a Bruce reunion picnic for more than 40 years. How many more than 40 I can't say, but I think it may be more like 50. Someone ought to nail that down.

Uncle Jim has had some serious health issues this past year. It was a blessing for us to enjoy his company at the reunion. And I know it was a joy for him to have us come.

We also took time out from the festivities to remember and honor Aunt Helen who passed away this year. She had been a colorful member of the family and some fun stories were shared celebrating her life and honoring her contributions to our family.


Alex Haley:
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.

For Beth (and others) -- Wish You Were Here

I'll get some shots of the tree nursery as soon as we remember to take a camera out there. Until then, here's a reminder of what you're missing -- but the picture didn't capture just how much we're missing YOU! Or did it???

New Schedule

Minor setback. Okay, so one of the fields might be done this week. We got rained out Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Then we had a luncheon date today (Wednesday), followed by watching the little munchkin. The rain dried up enough that we got to play in the pool until Mommy arrived. Then, back to the tree nursery for us. Yeah, it's looking like one field might be finished up and another started before Tom's vacation is over. Not all three fields as previously planned. I mean hoped for... as in pipe-dream!

I'm exhausted. Gotta be up and heading out to the north forty by 7:30 a.m.
Good night.

There's Work and then There is WORK!

Tom is on vacation -- it's his working vacation. One week to do all the projects that require more time than a fella has on weekends. You should see the list I made him! He loves it when I make him lists. (You believe that?)

This is the time of year when the tree fields are begging to be tended. Mow. Shear. Cut out the losers who grew double trunks as well as all the trees with weeviled tops. I do the mowing. I like to mow. It's hard, but still, I like to do it. The tree fields all have to be mowed by hand, push-type mowing, because of the bumpy lumpy terrain and the unfortunate spacing of the trees. The weeds are thick enough that I can't see the holes where trees were dug out until I or the mower fall(s) in one. So rather than zipping up and down rows and rows of trees it's more like a herky jerky wrestling match to keep the mower in line and on task.

I had my back adjusted last week to prepare for such hard work. As long as it's aligned I'm not hurting myself by push mowing -- that's what my chiropractor says. (Of course I didn't tell him what I told you in the previous paragraph about holes and uneven terrain and such. That will remain our secret ;) By the way, I know that my doctor is a chiropractor, but most people around here go to a quiro-practor. What's up with that anyway?

We worked from 8:30 to nearly 11 this morning. Plunged our sweaty bodies (eeeeww) into the pool (it's okay, we'll add more chlorine), and now we're doing easy work through the heat of the day -- like blogging! Tonight we'll get back at it. By the end of the week all of the fields will be done. (You believe that?)

I told Tom years ago that if we got a pool we'd get a lot more work done. Turns out to be true!