Happy birthday Gloria

Today Gloria would have been 97 years old. I particularly love this photo of her because it puts me right back to the evening on the back deck when I took it. It was a gorgeous summer evening and we were sitting on the back deck enjoying a glass of wine. At that time our chickens free ranged over our entire backyard. (They have their own space now.) She loved watching the chickens and was very concerned that we would not eat them. I promised her we would not, that we only eat their eggs. This particular hen was Barbara. She was very friendly and social. She and Audrey, another chicken, ruled the roost. Gloria had been talking to them and telling them how beautiful they were. Mark put Barbara on her lap and she stayed there for quite a while as Gloria pet her. She talked about having chickens when she was little, but she could not remember much about them. She remembered a lot more about her dad’s hunting dogs. I think we could all repeat the story.

From the time we purchased our house 8 years ago we looked at the woods across the pond and wanted to purchase them. Finally last fall the property was put on the market and we jumped. It was a convoluted process, but finally a few weeks ago, we closed on the acreage.

While she was living with us, every single day Gloria would talk about how beautiful and big our trees were. She used them to determine the weather, “look, how still it is, there is not a single leaf moving”.

We used money from the settlement of her estate to purchase the property. My goal is to build a little gazebo on that side of the pond and dedicate it to her. It feels like it was her gift back to us. Now when I look at the woods, I know they are safe and protected as long as we live here and I always think of her and look at the treetops to see if they are moving or not.

Happy birthday in heaven Gloria. I know you are celebrating with all your siblings, your parents and beloved Lazaro. Thank you for the woods.