Living at home again

On Monday (28th) we headed home to Michigan and officially made it our new residence for the next month. We brought Mom home from the hospital on the first of July and canned our first jar of icebox, bread and butter pickles. This was the first of many jars made from the many cucumbers picked from the garden. On the 3rd we headed to Canada for a day fulfilling our promise to Julie and Buddy. It was the Saturday of 4th of July weekend so we got to go and participate in the races at the cottage. We had a great time with the kids, watching them race, and racing ourselves. I got crushed in the 13 and up sprint and cross country. Katie and I were in second place in the wheelbarrow race until we got half way and had to switch places... After the races, everyone headed back to the Baker's cottage and we went swimming for a couple hours. Then the day was full of games. We played frisbee keep away in the water and on land, Scott and I ran the horseshoe pit until Johnny B showed up, then we took a beating while adjusting to baggo

and the wind. The next day we came back and made meatballs, spaghetti sauce, and garlic bread, all from scratch. Grandma helped a little but Mom oversaw it all. Katie took notes like crazy to keep up with all the extra ingredients that weren't written down. We had 4 guests for dinner that night to showcase our creation. Needless to say it was a success. But in all modesty, it

was a good first attempt, definitely not up to Mom's standards, but a great start. From then on we were cooking up a storm! We have canned 5 plus jars of pickles every other day, made blueberry muffins, 8 batches of pepperoni rolls,

4 lbs. of Italian chicken, and a giant Oreo cake for Kim's birthday! We stayed with Mom everyday. Katie and I took the day shift and Russ took the night, giving her medicine every 2 hrs. None of us slept much, and other than sit by her side, the only way we passed the time was by cooking and entertaining all of the guests that came to visit Mom. This was a full time job in itself and by the end of each day we were just as tired as the day before. In the end, Mom passed with her favorite people by her side. As she passed, the world stood still, no one spoke and even the birds outside were silent. Moments after, the birds were chirping again and the church bells at St. Aidan's were ringing in the distance. It was a sad day and an unexplainable loss, but it was a beautiful passing all the same.