Tuesday morning, I picked Ramsey up from his 12-day stay at Cinder Hills Kennel. They always treat him so well!
Before heading home, I had a teeth cleaning appointment at my dentist's office in Flagstaff. Once again, a clean bill of health.
Several members of my brother John's San Marino High School Class of '81 suggested that we submit John's bio and death notice to the San Marino Tribune. I sent an email to Mitch Lehman, the editor, with John's bio and the photo of him by the Deschutes River in Bend. Mitch was very accommodating and only asked for the original electronic version of John. My sister Carrie sent that to me and I forwarded it to Mitch. And Voila! The Thursday Edition!
It was time to get a pedicure at 66 Nails Spa in Williams. I made an appointment for Wednesday. Jennifer and Will are from Vietnam and opened a store front shop several years ago. Jennifer also is a barber. She cut Tom's hair last month.
I selected the deep red nail polish once again. Perfect for Valentine's Day! Tom and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day on our 20-month anniversary --- February 15. February 14 was a windy and snowy day. So, we had dinner reservations at the Red Raven Restaurant at 6 pm. I had a rare filet mignon with sauteed mushrooms and onions and Tom had a favorite lamb stew.
My family members in Los Angeles have been watching the weather forecast for the February 23 Celebration of John's Life. Southern California has been having a lot of rain. Wendy and Kai's home is not conducive to hosting 120 people in the rain! So, over the weekend, we made the decision to change the venue to a nearby church, Church of the Angels.
Sunday morning, Peter created a revised flyer --- with the location change due weather concerns. Monday morning, I distributed this flyer via Facebook, Private Messaging, and e-mail.
Tuesday morning, Libby Beatty, Jan Chumley, and I had breakfast with some of the Highland Meadows ladies at Pine Country Restaurant. Jan has caught the pickleball bug, so she joined us at 10:00 am for play in the Rodeo Barn. We found a surprise this day. A Williams city truck was parked right in the middle of the barn!
We did a "work around" and created a new court at one end of the barn and a "dinking game" court along one of the walls.
The Tuesday Highland Meadows breakfast was at Pine Country Restaurant. Seven of us enjoyed a nice meal!
Several people have been boarding their dogs at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel kennels. They have had positive results. I decided to board my three dogs there for five nights. It certainly beats driving the 100 round-trip miles to Cinder Hills Kennel. A big storm was approaching Northern Arizona, so I took them in a day early. Glad I did, as Tom and I met white-out conditions the next morning.
The usual 6 1/2 hour drive was expanded to 9 hours --- Kingman got a foot of snow and Interstate 40 was closed for several hours. We had lunch at Carl's Jr in Kingman.
It never snows like this in Kingman! We arrived in Pasadena at about 5:00 pm. The Reve Motel was our destination for three nights. We had a wonderful Italian dinner at a local restaurant.
All day Friday was set-up day for John's Celebration of Life. My truck helped take items from my sister Wendy's home to the church hall. All of the family participated.
Wendy and Carry did an excellent job creating easels and photo collages of John's life.
Terry brought the program for the service. It was beautifully done! The weather was going to be perfect and Church of the Angels is so picturesque.
Friday night, Tom and I stopped by Peter and Terry's home in San Gabriel for some adult beverages. We then went over to Terry's mothers home for dinner honoring the Doan Family February birthdays.
Saturday, we all gathered at the church by 12:00 noon. The caterer was busy setting up the food and drink and we were testing the slide show and movie presentation. John had written a short screenplay and his acting friends produced it --- to be debuted at the reception. How wonderful is that!
The Celebration of Life was standing room only. There had to be over 150 people in attendance. That little church was crammed.
Three of my siblings shared stories and remembrances of John. Wendy talked about John and the wonderful November last year in Bend.
Carrie chimed in with some wonderful memories of the two of them growing up together and a summer backpacking trip to Europe.
Peter brought his wit and story-telling humor and charm to the celebration. Yo, bro!
Other contributors to the sharing were San Marino High School Class of '81 friends, neighbors, actors, and work associates. The service was over two hours long --- with so much love, laughter, and good cheer.
After the service, all of the attendees walked over to the church reception hall for Mexican food, drink, and comraderie. Donna, David, and Meghan Bernstein were there. As was Barbara Coad and Honoria Vivell.
There were almost 30 friends from John's SMHS Class of '81.
Two friends, Erik and Tom, were given John's two surfboards --- to continue riding the waves.
It was a beautiful day, but emotionally exhausting. After the event, Tom and I just headed back to our motel room. We made arrangements to have breakfast the next morning with Peter and Terry. Peter had picked up John's ashes and I was charged with taking come of the ashes and memory shells to Israel. John always wanted to go to Israel.
Monday morning, Tom and I checked out of the Le Reve Motel and had breakfast at Chez Shelton in San Gabriel. We headed back to Williams at about 10:00 a.m. My neighbor, Libby, had already texted me a photo of our home with several feet of snow.
It was so nice to have a four wheel truck to plow right up the driveway 😊😊😊 and into the garage!
Tuesday morning, I picked up the dogs at the Grand Canyon Railway Kennel. They seemed fine with the five-day stay. The manager there, Debbie, is a nice friend to have! It sure was easy to not drive the 100 miles round-trip to Cinder Hills Kennel.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019, is the 100th anniversary of the Grand Canyon becoming a National Park. Several of us Highland Meadows ladies wanted to participate. So, Judy, Jan, and I headed up there around 10am. Judy drove. We enjoyed some of the exhibits.
And, then we listened to some Flagstaff school choirs singing patriotic songs. I even had a photo taken with Teddy Roosevelt. He is looking good for his age!
The three of us stayed until the cake was cut. Jan and Judy had a piece. I passed.
We got home about 3:30 pm. One of my high school friends, Laura Furnace Hawks, is interested in buying a home in Williams. She and her husband visited the area in 2016. She asked if I could look at some properties. So, Tom and I looked at two properties with realtor Bill Lewis.
We tried to see a third property, but the key lock box did not work.
One morning, we had a beautiful sunrise. Lovely!
I an so fortunate to have such a great fan club :-)
While walking Libby and Kelsey, we captured a great view of Mt. Humphreys in our neighborhood.
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