Hugues

One of the reasons we wanted to go to Brussels was to see our dear friend, Hugues, one of our first Rotary exchange students that lived with us years ago.  It was exciting to meet him in the square, and to spend a few hours with him.

And clown around with him.

So now we had our own private tour guide and he showed us all around.

Of course, he took us right away to “Manneken Pis,” the peeing boy, which oddly I had never heard about before.  He’s quite famous; you can buy statues with clothes for him; what a riot.

Hugues also showed us where to find the best Belgium chocolate, explained all the important government and international buildings and showed us some beautiful places.

Next time we go we’ll need to see his family and the area where he lives and works, but it was great to see him again.

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Thanks

Here’s a big whopping thanks for those who:

• Have been sponsoring precious children through the years
• Regularly write your child and encourage them
• Provide monetary gifts for Christmas and birthdays
• Pray for children and families
• Take a vacation to visit your child
• Encourage friends to do the same

Games

We had fun hanging out with our friends in Jackson.  There’s plenty to do, even without wifi or TV.  In this photo we’re playing Left, Right, Center.  My goal was to get rid of all the candy bars I had left over, and the scheme worked for me.  Everyone else won rounds of the game except me.

There’s plenty of time to sit and admire the mountain views.

We took our friends to see the Cunningham cabin, and I couldn’t avoid taking a few “through the window” photos.

We also drove them through the National Park.

Then we returned home and shot some pop cans with a bb gun.  We all found out it isn’t easy to shoot from a moving swing, but it was a lot of fun.

 

 

 

Eclipse

We had a great opportunity to watch the full eclipse of the sun at my dad’s home in Jackson Hole.  Some friends from Kansas–Gretchen and Jim–came to join us, as well as two of our kids.  Thankfully, the weather was great that day.

Paul and Jim set up tripods for their cameras and we watched the entire process with great enthusiasm.  We had free glasses from the library.

We saw the crescent sun in the shadows from a colander we had on hand.

And also in the shadow of the trees.

But the most exciting moment, of course, is when totality arrives and the beautiful horizon lights up in all four directions.

We could clearly see the corona effect.  Then, very soon, it was daylight again and it was cool to see a jet that had apparently come across the Tetons to view the total eclipse turn back to the North.

 

 

Loved By All

Here are more pics of my mother, the one I’ve been celebrating these last two weeks.  She was loved by everyone.  She was talented and willing to help others in many ways.  She taught piano lessons when we were young.  This nice photo at the piano was taken years later.

She learned how to cane chairs well and was wiling to help others with their projects.

I love this photo of her with two of the dogs.

And this one at the phone is typical of her–often conversing with friends.

Here she is with her dearest friend from college, Maggie:

My parents had many couples that were considered close, dear friends.  They also spent a lot of time with various groups of friends.  Here is my mother with Glen and Beth Exum.

And here she is with me!  This is the last weekend she came to Buffalo: in May before she passed away in July of 2001.  I’m glad we stopped briefly to have this photo taken.

 

Mah Jongg

I’ve been sharing photos of my mother this week because she would’ve been 90 years of age recently if she hadn’t passed away from cancer in 2001.  She was a very social person and was involved in many groups–bridge, sewing, Mah Jongg, Daughters of the American Revolution and Music Club, among others.

Here she is with some of her bridge friends in Kansas City (she is on the bottom left and the lady next to her is Jac, the childhood friend that was shown with her in an earlier photo):

She also played in two Mah Jong groups in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  They usually played in various homes but occasionally made a special trip together to play in public places, such as in Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park.

They played for “big money”–nickels and dimes (and occasionally a quarter)–but it was still exciting at least once when she had a perfect game:

A Mother in Childhood

Today’s pics are of my mother as a child.  Enjoy this great collection from the early 20’s and beyond.

I love this photo of her with her best friend, Jac (my mother is on the right):