Sorry there hasn't been anything posted for a couple of days. It has been, at times, very chaotic, emotional and downright tiring. It seems like life is starting to settle back into a regular groove again though, so maybe a quick synopsis of what has been happening here these past few days.

    We buried my mom last Thursday morning. An emotional time of course, but also a nice way to remember her and to say goodbye. All of her children, all eight of us, managed to make it to the service as well as a whole bunch of her grand kids and great grand kids. There are sure a passel of us, not all by any means, but it was nice to have lots of family around. There were also several of my friends who showed up for the service and that was also a real comfort to me and to some of my family who have known them for a long, long time also.

   After the indoor ceremony, it was off to Fort Logan for a short ceremony out there. She is to be buried with my dad in the military cemetery so it was also a nice reminder of where he is and that they will now, once again be together. Cold outside, but sunny and not to windy. But we were all glad that it wasn't a long ceremony out there in the cold. I stayed a little bit longer to wander around and take a few pictures.

     We had a nice lunch for every one who wanted to come back at the assisted living building my mom had been living in. It was nice to have a little more time to talk to family and friends in an atmosphere more conducive to conversation. It was also fun to see some of the younger great grand children running around the place with all of their cousins. Some of whom they had never met before.

    A bunch of us met up later that evening for a meal over at my nieces place. A couple of beers or a glass of wine and we could finally unwind from the stress of the day. It was hard to say goodbye to her, but the memory will certainly live on for a very long time. We also worked a bit on dealing with the mountain of photo's that she had accumulated over the years. Hard to figure out a way to divvy them all up but for this first cut it was pretty much decided that if you were in the picture then it would go to you. Ones with multiple kids in it would have to be decided on a case by case basis. It was a long process but also fun to see some of the photo's from way, way back in our childhood.

    Next day, Friday, it was down to real business with another 4-5 hours spent on photo's and scrap books. Next came several hours of parcelling out mom's jewelry collection. Most of it would probably fall under the term 'coustume jewlery' but she did have quite a bunch of pretty nice stuff. Even most of the other cheaper stuff though was pretty neat. We divided it up by spreading it out onto 7 tables and then drawing cards for each pick. It was a very long process as we had to put out new collections several times. I didn't actually draw for a whole lot of it, being a guy, and having no kids, there wasn't much there that excited me, but I picked out a few things to remember her by and then let the others pick out the rest. My sisters really got into that.

    Our final job of the day was to deal with all of the coins and coin collections that mom had bought and acquired over the years. I guess we could of paid someone to sort through it all and sell it or at least get a total for us, but no one wanted to wait 6 months or longer for that to happen. Not because anyone needed any of it now of course, but just because we all just wanted it to be done. So we once again spread it out over all the tables in the room and then made 8 numbered signs, one for each kid. Then we all, there were 7 of us, started putting stuff into each pile as we thought best and as evenly as we could as far as basic quantity rather than quality or monetarily. Once it was all parcelled out we all took one last look at each pile to see if there was anything that looked extremely out of place and then we all drew one card from 1 to 8 and we each got that pile of swag. Maybe not the best way but in the end I think it was as fair as we could make it considering we each had an equal chance of drawing any one pile, and no one really knows for sure what any one pile contained. So in the end it went a lot smoother than I thought it would and a whole lot smoother than I have heard other families do. I was rather proud of my brothers and sisters for being able to do this hard task in a manner that was as fair as possible. I guess one way to look at it is that none of us went away completely satisfied with how every thing was parcelled out, but on the other hand, none of us stormed out in a huff with a promise of going and getting a lawyer. My brother 'L' did an amazing job over all and should be roundly applauded for doing as good of a job as he did. Now there is only some bank accounts and things like that left to do, and that will involve a lawyer and a few months to clear up, but it should all be settled before the end of summer.

     Since that process took all of the morning and most of the afternoon as well it was now time to start thinking of something to eat since it was now nearly 4:00 p.m. A few of us went over to El Tejado, a local mexican restaurant for a beer and something to eat while a few others went back to my nieces place for a meal of home made chili and corn bread. I had a small meal at the restaurant in order to say goodbye to a couple of people who were heading home afterwards and then went on over to my nieces for a little bit more food and a beer.

     I had brought along a change of clothes just in case we got done at a reasonable time so after an hour or so there seeing everyone, I took off for Boulder and the weekly contra dance up there at the Avalon. A pretty nice evening all in all, nice enough to change into shorts anyway. The Grouchy Geezers + 2 were playing that night and Rick Smith was doing the calling. Lots of people there and at one point there were a full 5 lines, so maybe 150-180 people in all. A very nice turnout for this time of year. I was extremely tired but dancing with all those happy and smiling people really helped me feel settled again. I got a chance to dance with many of my friends whom I haven't seen for more than 7 months and even got to dance with a couple of new ones. What amazed me was that the altitude didn't seem to bother me much considering Boulder is nearly a mile high and I've been basically at sea level for a long, long time. A long drive home after the dance, but definitely worth the effort.

     Yesterday was a day for just hanging out, sleeping late and then doing errands. On my to do list was to go pick up some new boxes and a roll of tape so I could box up all my photos and other swag in preparation of putting them in my storage locker until I'm back this summer. At the same time I needed to pick up a new e-reader somewhere, as mine had suddenly decided to quit a few days ago, and I was really feeling lost with out being able to read a few chapters every day.

    For some reason, I'm blaming fatigue, I ended up buying a brand new 'Nook' at the store and bringing it back to my friends place. I had already unwrapped it and was getting ready to charge it up when George asked me, 'wasn't your last one a Kindle?'. Well duh! Of course it was, what a bonehead I was not to even think of that. So it was back to the store to return that one and then off to find a Kindle. Of course they no longer sold them at the place I had bought the Nook at because a lot of retailers had stopped selling them when Amazon wouldn't let them sell them at a discounted price. But I ended up going over to a Best Buy and found they still had a bunch there, so I managed to pick up a Kindle Fire there. Much nicer than my last one of course, and more expensive too..... of course. But I think I'll be happy with it once I figure out all the bells and whistles on it. Does anyone know any 8 year old kids out there that can give me a lesson?

    Having gotten a good sleep the night before I was up for driving all the way to Fort Collins in order to have dinner with a friend up there and then go on to the contra dance also. A very nice dinner with good conversation and decent food and then to a very nice night of dancing with all of that crowd up there. Again, it was very nice to see and dance with so many people I hadn't seen for so long. Some I'm in communication with on facebook and email of course, but it always so much nicer to see and talk to them in person. More of a problem with the breathing up there for some reason, but I think most of it was because the smell from the last time they varnished the floor was still pretty strong and really plugged up my sinuses. A good dance though and a pleasant, if long, drive home afterwards. One nice thing is that I always sleep pretty good after a dance.

    Today has been very slow and peaceful with a light breakfast and time to read the Sunday paper. My friends took me out for a late lunch a while ago and now everyone is feeling like it is nap time. We were headed for 'Sushi Den', a local sushi place that is outstanding, but they were closed for renovations and additions, so we ended up over on S. Gaylord Street at 'Japon' instead. Equally good sushi and a very quite leisurely hour or so there.

   Just going to hang out for the rest of the day reading and taking my nap. I'm going to do a small load of clothes here so I don't have to take home a bag of dirty laundry. Turns out that I am actually flying out at 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning so tomorrow is really my last day here. I'm having lunch with a few friends up north and then going on to Longmont to put my stuff away in my storage unit. Then, if there is time, I'll go see a movie with George and have one last meal with him and Marge tomorrow night. Over all it has been an okay time here considering, but I am so ready to get back to the trailer and get back on the road and doing stuff again. I'm really sad that I missed the 'Bug Stomp' dance in Charleston this weekend, but am already looking forward to the one next weekend in NW North Carolina.

    So I hope that pretty much catches me up on everything and that isn't sounding to much like a soap opera. I'll be back to posting photo's as soon as I can... so until then.