My Mom, Bonnie Walling

These past few days have been hard. A year ago May 22,  my Mom died. I started thinking each day what had happened last year. The first sign something was wrong was when my sister Jo called and asked if I knew where Mom was. Jo had a feeling Mom was in the hospital. Jo had been talking to her every day since Dad died less than 60 days earlier. Jo couldn't get a hold of her and the last time they spoke, Mom wasn't feeling well. Mary confirmed Mom was in the hospital. Each day we would get a report and it always sounded like Mom would be able to go home until one day the Doctors asked for a family meeting. Sherry came down from Wisconsin, Mary lives here in Davenport, but Jo and I had to conference call with our cell phones. They were asking us what our wishes were.  No feeding tube and we would take her home. I packed up my car and headed up early the next morning so that I could be there for a meeting with my sisters and the Hospice nurse at 4pm.  Hospice was pushing for us to put her in their home but we all knew Mom wanted to be home. I even told them, and our minister who was also there, that I didn't want Mom to be upset and haunt me later if we didn't take her home.  So it was decided she would go home the next day.

I was a little worried to see Mom so Sherry showed me a picture of her taken that day. I was happy for that because I was then prepared. Mom was awake and I believe she knew who I was. It was hard for her to communicate. I told her we were taking her home the next day and her eyes brightened as she was able to get out one question, tomorrow? I told her yes and she kept trying to say tomorrow.

She came home on a Saturday morning. Jo was to fly up that day but something happened to her flight, which I can't remember right now, where she didn't make it until Sunday.  Mom had several visitors Sunday. Christine, the minister came over and sang hymns for an hour. It was beautiful. I listened to her while I was cooking supper for the four of us. After Christine left, I told my sister's it was time to eat. We left Mom alone for less than ten minutes when Sherry got up from the table to check on Mom. Mom had passed.

Mom waited for all of us girls to be there and then waited for all us out to be out of the room when she left.  We all feel she died of a broken heart.

A little bit about Mom......
She grew up in the small town of Earlville, Iowa.   My grandparents decided to move to California when Mom was in high school so she ended up graduating there, in Pomona. She played the clarinet in the band and was to play in the Rose Bowl Parade but that year the parade was canceled because of the war. She was disappointed.  This is Mom in her band uniform.

They ended up moving back to Earlville and good thing they did so Mom could meet Dad. They met at a Lawrence Welk dance.  Mike and I try to watch Lawrence Welk every Saturday. It brings back memories. Mom and Dad always watched it and so did Mike's parents.
Here she is so happy when she was dating Dad. I believe he took this picture.

And then this happened.  Good thing they tried one more time for a boy because they got me!

She was a stay at home mom and spent a lot of time volunteering, playing the piano, and teaching the piano. She had so many students. We would have to stay in the basement or outside when students were over for their lessons. I always knew when a student made a mistake because those pieces were stuck in my head. She was still teaching piano the day before she went into the hospital. She tried to teach us but it just didn't work out.

She also LOVED to play the Zither. She couldn't plan any trips on Saturday's because that was Zither practice day. She would never miss practice.

I like the below picture of Mom on her 89th birthday. She looks so happy!

Unfortunately a few months later, a car backed into her as she was walking to her car in a Walgreens parking lot. She broke in three places. I thought that was it for her but she wasn't ready to go. I believe she thought they would never die. She was so strong willed that she recovered in less than four months. We were all amazed.



You can learn more about Mom around 7 minutes into this audio.
http://www.edwards-ucc.org/media/2016-05-27_Bonnie_Walling.mp3

Mom and Dad were married 66 years. Dad was 89 when he died last year and Mom was 90 when she died 56 days after Dad.

I wasn't sure if I was going to include the following picture but it is pretty cool to see how close they are now. You can see Dad's blue vault inches away from Mom.

They are together, once again.

Getting Closer to a Complete Kitchen and Fabric Farm Fun!

The counter top was put in Tuesday!

It is a solid Quartz surface. I watched the three guys put it in for awhile, but there was too much tension between two of them that I had to leave after I felt confident they knew what they were doing.  They were friendly to me but you could tell one guy didn't like another one. Oh well, at least I have counter tops!

Yesterday the plumber came!

By the way, birds have made a nest in that fern. It is fun to watch.
The plumber got the sink working. Yippee, no more washing dishes in the bathroom! He hooked up the gas stove and plumbed the dishwasher although, we have to use an extension cord to use the dishwasher because the electrician hasn't come yet.

We have one very happy cat, Binx. He will only drink water out of a facet and struggled finding us at the right time to get a drink in the bathroom. We are usually always in the kitchen and can turn it on for him.

We ate our first meal tonight. Here I am cooking, without a glass of wine because I have to go to Church later to help polish the hand bells.

We have the fridge plugged in but since the electrician hasn't been by, it is in the living room.

And we still don't have lights in the kitchen. I am second guessing getting pendant lights. I don't really like them and I think there will be too many hanging lights around here. I love recessed lights but was talked out of getting those for over the peninsula.  The two holes on the right, right above the window will be the eyeball lights. They are recessed but have a part you can move to direct the light where you want it to shine.  The two lights at the top of the picture is where the pendant lights will be and the last hole, will be a flat ceiling light. Hopefully I will like this.

The electrician will be here Monday. Exciting times.

Last night we had tornados all around us. I forgot about all the tornados they have up here in Iowa. Luckily, we can hear the sirens. They are extremely loud and scary.  When I was taking care of Dad last year the sirens went off and I ran into his bedroom and asked him what should we do? He said "nothing". So we didn't do anything. Of course when they went off last night, I ran outside to take pictures. Everything was yellow for awhile.

We had extreme gusty winds and some rain. The wind was the scariest and I always have nightmares about tornados.  Luckily, all of our dead trees made it through. That is what Mike was worried about.

Today I went to the Fabric Fun Farm to take a class on painting fabric. My friend was teaching it and they offer this great fun once a year with different types of fabric classes. Before I left, I told Mike I wasn't feeling very creative today and was struggling thinking of what to paint on my fabric. He suggested this, his drawing

He thought maybe it looked too much like a bunny, so I drew this.

I had a great time there. The following picture is of my friend, Terre and some of her art which is painted fabric. Isn't that beautiful?  She quilted the fabric and the gold is the paint.  Sitting next to her is my other new friend and neighbor, Carolyn.

We are actually in a barn where there were stations to learn new fabric things. It looks empty but it was very busy before this picture. We were one of the last courses of the day.

I showed everyone what Mike wanted me to paint and they all thought that was cute. I am not sure if they thought I was really going to do that, but I did. I told them Mike was getting a cat pillow for Christmas. As I was painting this, I thought out loud that it looked really elementary. All agreed except Terre. She said all art is beautiful.  Notice the added footprints. This was a suggestion from a person across the table. She also asked me if I planned to paint a garage. I was a little confused because since I have been painting the whole house, I thought she really meant my garage. I then figured out she was telling me in her own funny way that I was wasting paint by making huge piles of it on my palette paper.

The reason why I had huge piles of paint on my palette paper was because of my second piece.

Everyone thought it was beautiful! I think they were worried about me when I did the cat. I surprised myself.
All the other artists were painting birds and trees and other beautiful things but I can't do that. It would end up looking like the cat.

When I placed my two pieces together, I realized I had just made the back for the cat pillow. Mike will love his Christmas present!

Now that I look at it, my abstract actually looks like skyscrapers in the sky.

And, one more look at the kitchen. Before and After.

Mother's Day

I joined the handbells at Church. My first practice was terrible and I couldn't see my notes. I didn't even know what my notes were. I still can't remember how to read music but, I can count! After that first practice the director moved me to two notes that I could figure out. The note above the top line of treble and the note above it with a line through it. Those turn out to be G and A. Below is a picture of the notes I first started with but then I took Jane's notes.

I don't know if you can tell from this page but I barely rang. The director said that is harder than playing all the time because you always have to wait and then know when to ring. Remember, I know how to count.

We played on Mother's Day and I only forgot to ring maybe three times. They were very important times and when I didn't ring, I lost my place. Luckily I knew the song enough to know another one of my very important parts was coming up. I rang and all was good. It was over before I knew it.
I played bells over ten years ago with teenagers. This was a little more difficult and was thrown right in with the experts. We don't start practice again until Fall.

After Church Mike and I went to his parent's farm to celebrate Mother's Day. I was really excited about having a home cooked meal, since I haven't cooked in months in a real kitchen. I enjoyed sitting at their table and watching Mike's mom cook for us! I should have taken a picture of her lovely large asparagus. YUM.

Here are some pictures of the farm. I love it here. Peaceful like my sister's place.

This is Janelle's garden. YUM again. Mike had to till one row to remember how it is done with that old piece of garden equipment. We ate radishes and asparagus that night.

This is their dog Shela. She is spoiled and very well loved. She prays out loud before getting a treat and she actually says Amen. She is a smart dog.

We were sitting on the patio when Mike noticed a very large furry animal going into the machine shed. We were not sure if it was a ground hog or something else like that. We headed down there to get it out. I had my camera in hand when it was to run out but it never did, so I went in and took pictures of other things.

I forgot to take a picture of what we gave Janelle for Mother's Day. It was a pot full of beautiful flowers from Stuart's greenhouse.

Janelle gave me a dead piece of a bush from her yard.

And I LOVE it!!!

The rose was given to me at church.  The vase I bought at a garage sale down the street and as I carried it home, the neighbors asked me if it was a beer mug.  I think it should be sometime.

This was the first Mother's day without my mom. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Maybe because I could still celebrate with Mike's mom Janelle.
I should have taken a picture of her! I did take a picture of Mike's Dad, Larry.

Happy Mother's Day Larry!

Trying To Catch Up

As I mentioned earlier, Mary and I went to Black Earth, Wisconsin last weekend to visit Sherry and Stuart and to get plants for our yard. Pictures do not do the greenhouse justice. It is one my favorite places to go. Besides visiting my sister, brother-in-law, and nephews, it is one of the most relaxing, peaceful places to go.

Sherry was telling us about their opening day of the greenhouse. This is what she said.........

I found one white-haired lady on the floor and I was scared!  But she was only taking a photo of one of my pot creatures from a better angle!

One lady was so excited about some plants I started for her that she kissed me on the lips – yuk! – and then apologized for her chicken breath from lunch.  She almost fell over getting out of her car, so I think there was more to the lunch than just chicken.

One couple was driving by and saw our sign so turned around and stopped in and had never been here before.  The woman was asking me about geraniums when the church bells tolled (they do every 3 hours).  She started crying!  She said it was so beautiful in the greenhouse and that the church bells put her over the edge – she felt like she was in heaven.  She insisted it was tears of joy.  She bought a lot of geraniums and is going to tell all her friends about us.

And our friends down the road with the chickens, turtles, tortoises, and other creatures came in as they always do with fresh eggs.  He has given me rare succulents in years past and wanted to see how they are progressing.  But on the way to see his special plants, he found a bright yellow mushroom.  We get them periodically and I think they grow on the wood chips in the potting mix we use.  He was so excited about the mushroom and was asking me what type it was – like I grew it on purpose.  I let him dig it out and he was so excited that he didn’t want to see any plants after all.  So I got a dozen fresh eggs in exchange for a bright yellow mushroom!

Sherry is the succulent expert. She had over 250 varieties. 

What are the pot creatures she mentions? Well, Sherry is very creative. She made Clayton Potman years ago and he is always pictured with Stuart on the postcard they send out to the customers.

The dog is the one the white haired woman was trying to get a good picture of, when Sherry found her laying on the floor.

Here are just some of her other creations. I wish I would have taken more pictures because there are so many she made.

Stuart grows some of the most amazing things. I asked him what his favorite, most unique plant was and he couldn't answer that. Too many to choose from.  

Sherry showed me some of the flowers and plants that only Stuart grows in the area.

Sherry said last year a woman came in with just a leaf or some part of this plant and told Stuart that she needed 20 pots of it for this season. He had never had this plant before, campfire coleus. He made 20 pots plus more to sell. I grabbed one for my mother-in-law.

I told Mike to get his shovel out because I was headed home with a carload of beauty!

Once everything is blooming in the yard, I will take pictures.  

The night we stayed in Black Earth, we decided to have a beer with the Grumpy Troll in Mt. Horeb. This is the town where the trolls live.

This church is right across the street from them, where the bells toll every three hours and makes you feel like you are in Heaven.

Other pictures of their yard and views from the house.

If you ever get a chance to go to Black Earth Wisconsin, you should visit the greenhouse.

http://www.vermontviewgreenhouse.com/