Mom's Visit to Colfax... and a Tribute to Aaron

Last week Mom came over for a three-day stay.

We've had these extended summer visits with Mom before, but this was our first one since moving to Colfax.

Michael slept upstairs on an air mattress so that Mom and Emma could bunk together in the basement. I think Emma enjoyed having her Grandma as roommate for awhile.

Our first morning was spent at the Farmer's Market in Eau Claire. Though we have a large garden and have been successful with many things we planted (like beans and cucumbers), some things haven't done as well. Emma's potato garden was a complete loss (moles, possibly?), and the carrots have been very shabby.

These are the kinds of treasure that can be found in abundance at the Farmer's Market.

It was a warm day, but we enjoyed the browsing. A couple of guys sang and played guitar. We ran into several old friends from Eau Claire, including a couple of the kids' former teachers.

After shopping at the Farmer's Market we headed downtown for Summer Fest in Eau Claire. Several city blocks were closed off so people could shop, socialize, and enjoy a variety of booths. Emma and Michael liked the booth at left, which gave away popcorn, balloon animals, and temporary tattoos to those interested.

There was also an antique car show. Michael decided that this orange car was his favorite. I'm sorry I can no longer recall the make or model-- maybe a Model T? (Uncle Bob, can you help?).

I was impressed with this car too-- because of a painted detail it had. You can barely see what I'm talking about in the photo at right (look on the black by the rear window-- same height as Michael's head), but someone has airbrushed the whisper of a woman's face onto the paint.

You can see it better in the close-up photo below.
I had to play with the camera angles to get it to show up this well... the air brushing is very subtle. I have never seen this kind of painting done on a car before. Usually it's all stripes or flames or eagles... you know the drill. Nice to find that there's artistry and originality in the world of car detailing-!

I included a picture of the car below for Kenny, Beth, and Stephen. I bet they know the name of this guy!

It seemed a little out of place, but there was also a (small) petting zoo, complete with baby animals, on a patch of grass in the downtown area.

The menagerie included this young zebra and camel.

Leila enjoyed sitting on the grass by the other babies (but no, Leila is NOT for sale!).

Further down the street we found "Chalk Fest", a fun event where local artists sketch chalk drawings on the sidewalks.

It had rained that morning so I was unsure whether this festival would take place or not... but things dried up quickly. It turned out to be a sweltering hot, sunny day.

It was interesting to see what the different artists were working on. Nothing was done yet... they were all works in progress. Someone was selling sidewalk chalk for children, so Emma and I even left some chalk scribbling of our own on the sidewalk, for posterity. I was reminded of my trip to Arkansas, when Kenny and I drew chalk drawings outside on Don and Hope's patio.

My personal favorite was this one of an oriental girl, her eyes cast down demurely.

While Mom was with us she helped me work on my canning. You can see the fruits of our labors (so far) in the photo at left. I've done green beans, beets, three kinds of cucumber pickles, watermelon rind pickles, and pickled green beans. I've also been freezing other things, like roasted peppers, shredded zucchinni, and a variety of berries.

Our tomatoes are starting to ripen, so pretty soon I'll be making salsa and tomato sauce (for canning).

As you can see, Jon's going to have to build me some shelves, because this little hutch can't support more jars!

Dad's sister Margy and two of her children (Heidi and John) came for a visit while Mom was with us. They had trouble finding the house... we've been here long enough to sometimes forget how remote and confusing the path to our house seems, the first few times you look for it.

But they eventually found us... and we had a nice visit. Thanks for stopping by, Aunt Margy!

Unfortunately we had sad news at the tale end of Mom's visit. Our friend Aaron Bourget, Jon's co-worker at MJ Electric, was hit by a car and killed. He was only 28 years old.

Aaron and his wife Kate had been over to our house just a few months earlier. I posted pictures from their visit on this blog... they have a daughter, Olivia, who is very close to Leila in age.

Kate and Aaron were expecting their second child. She is only three weeks away from having the baby.

Aaron's sudden death is hard on many levels. He died the night of his 10 year class reunion. It was also the night of his first wedding anniversary.

Aaron was confident, fun-loving, and generous. He let Jon's horses stay with his own horses when we didn't have a better place for them (and they stayed for free). He was one of many horse lovers who made the big group ride past Sally's house in Holcombe-- one year we watched those dozens of horses walk past her house and stop at her barn for rest and water before continuing on-- it was something to see.

Aaron loved living out in the country and had really accomplished a lot for someone his age. He had just built a new pole shed-- the biggest one I've ever been inside. He and Kate held their wedding party in that shed. The party was memorable... long tables spread out in rows, Aaron's mother passing out slabs of blueberry cheesecake that she'd made herself. I was immediately impressed by how open, friendly, and happy she was. It was obvious that Aaron was the apple of her eye.

His Amish neighbors attended the reception as well. It stood out, since I've never seen Amish people at a Catholic wedding party before. I don't think that happens very often. They kept to themselves, but stood in line, got plates of food, and ate and talked like everyone else. Aaron made sure they had a place to sit, and that no music was played while they were there (I assume that was out of respect for them).

So strange to see Aaron's mother and the Amish neighbors again a year later... this time for Aaron's wake.

Unfortunately newspaper reports of Aaron's death made it sound like he was passed out in the road when he was struck. For the record, people who saw Aaron that night said that he had NOT had too much to drink. Apparently he had been having chest pains. He may have had a heart attack that night. I don't know if we'll ever know for sure. But it wasn't the way the newspaper made it sound.

I had planned to stay in Rhinelander awhile after bringing Mom home from her visit. But the news of Aaron's death and our uncertainty about when the wake and funeral would be seemed to call for a change of plans. I let Emma know that we would be dropping Grandma off and then coming right back. She was disappointed to hear that we couldn't stay.

After thinking it over I decided that another way to do it would be to drop Emma and Michael off with Grandma in Rhinelander... if Dad could bring them back in a few day's time. Dad thought it over and decided that arrangement would work out fine, since they already had plans to head in our general direction later that week for cousin Brett Linskey's wedding.

So when we took Mom back to Rhinelander, there were two extra sets of luggage in the trunk of our car.

We stopped at Bud and Jane's house for a quick visit before heading to Ladysmith. Mom wanted us to see a little antique / fabric store that she'd discovered.

We got Mom home safely. It was odd leaving Mikey and Emma behind, but they were excited for the big adventure of staying at Grandma and Grandpa's by themselves.

While they were gone we attended Aaron's wake and funeral. Bud and Jane watched Leila for three hours while we attended the wake (and Leila was happy and good for them... what a relief! We weren't sure how that was going to go).

Mom and Dad brought Michael and Emma back Thursday night. Leila was SO happy to be reunited with them... and so were the neighbor kids (who came over while Michael and Emma were still unloading their things from the car).

It sounds like everyone had a good time; the kids came back loaded with school supplies and new toys... and if they were naughty Mom and Dad decided not to tell me about it.