Enjoying New Life and Remembering Past Lives

After six days at Arcadia Lake, we pointed the motor home northwest to make the four-hour drive to the panhandle of Oklahoma. We have commented that the wind blows more and harder in western Oklahoma than anywhere we have traveled. Today was a perfect example of that awful wind! It was a tough drive for Mark, with constant side winds of 30 mph and gusts to 40. There is a flag the size of a house in Woodward, Oklahoma, and it was flying straight out as we drove past. Side winds like that are the hardest when driving a big metal box like a motor home down the highway.

We had gotten to spend time with our Oklahoma-City-area relatives and we made this windy treacherous trip to visit our Mothers. They both live in the panhandle of Oklahoma, 15 miles apart. They are good friends, so we got to see both of them for the next week. At 92 and 90 years old, they've known each other since they were in college together more than 70 years ago!

We don't take a lot of pictures during family-time weeks like this. But we did have great weather while we were visiting, so we got to spend some time outdoors. There are some new additions at the ranch. We are most excited about the arrival of a new great-niece, but we didn't ask permission from her parents to include a picture of her. So instead, we'll include a photo of this colt that was born about the same time.

The ranch also has baby kittens this spring, and Denisa loves playing with kittens!

We'll also include a picture of the newest ranch dog. Mark's brother and sister-in-law found him on the side of the road on Christmas Eve. He was left for dead with a zip-tie tight around his neck. But he was still breathing, and now he loves his new life on the ranch.

The swallows are also back this spring, perching under the front porch and swooping down to catch unsuspecting bugs.

It was fun to watch them gather feathers to line the inside of the mud nest they had built under the porch roof.

We could see that the female was trying the nest out for size and comfort, but we don't think that eggs have been laid yet.

It was nice to watch the pair flitting around the porch, ready to start another new family in their new home.

Just like the swallows, our nephew and his wife are building a new home for their new family. We drove the nine miles to take our Mothers to see the progress on their log cabin that now has windows and inside walls.

As you can see, the Indian blankets are in full bloom this summer on the Oklahoma prairie.

With all these pictures and talk of new life and flowers, we come full circle with the other reason for our trip to the panhandle of Oklahoma. We arrived with silk flowers for decorating graves for Memorial Day. Denisa's 90-year-old Mother decorates over 30 different graves at four different cemeteries. She had been working on this project all week, and Denisa went with her to help with the last 19 graves.

We started this blog with the awful wind, but we are glad to report that in the days after that we got to enjoy some of the nicest spring weather we ever remember in Oklahoma. We're also enjoying the signs of new life around us while remembering the lives of those in the cemetery. Even though it's now a late greeting, "Happy Memorial Day to all!"