Visiting Mom, who is ill (trip #3 of 4)

Another delightful visit to St. Joe to see Mom and Dad (will use Grandma and Grandpa here per usual in these posts).  But a sobering note:  between our May and June visits:  very little noticeable change in Grandma.  This time:  her color wasn’t nearly as good, nor her energy levels; what’s happening to her suddenly seems much more real.  But her attitude, spirits, willingness to burn energy entertaining us:  just amazing.

On arrival . . . getting some knowledge.

Caught up with Carol at beginning of our visit. 

For this trip:  Kerry and Luis met us at MSP airport and were with us the entire time.  It was important to all of us that Luis had a chance to see St. Joe, the farm, the area . . . his only prior visit was this pleasant trip (during which our movements were way too constricted by wintry weather).

I put together this little movie with the photos from our visit:




Thursday 23 July

Easy travels, everyone on time; stopped at grocery store in Algona; PJ put together a fine supper for all.  Carol still in St. Joe, wrapping up her visit – so nice chance to catch up with her a bit.  Watched Doc Martin!!  Round 1 of rhubarb pie was a big success.

Friday 24 July

Mom 'n me admiring Dick Erpelding flower bed on a lovely afternoon.

Late afternoon visit to the hill farm.

PJ and I went to Mass with G&G.  PJ, K and Grandma went to Algona mid-day – visited Chocolate Season, the Chinese restaurant, etc.  Luis and I took Carol up to the halfway point to Minneapolis, where Maeve and Beau (met him for first time!) picked Carol up for the rest of the trip to Minneapolis (and eventually onto Nome).  So Luis and I had 3.5 or so hours in the car (half with Carol), which was a fine opportunity to chat about this and that.  Grandpa was doing some mowing at the home place and also up on the hill.  Hot, muggy weather; Grandpa took Luis and me up to the hill farm in early evening to get a sense for how his old childhood-growing-up place could catch a cooling breeze not available in St Joe itself (let alone the farm where we grew up).  It’s a neat place, and the breeze-on-hill effect is very real.  Pot roast supper; Twins game; Grandma led K&L through a nice review of her photo albums – nice moments indeed.

Saturday 25 July

Cookie-baking team . . . 

. . . with regular breaks for photo album review (finished cookie-product visible at right)

Visiting Caroline.

Working on cookie baking in the morning.  After dinner all six of us visited Algona – spent a little time poking around in an antique store on Main Street for starters.  Then toured the POW Museum – this was for the German POW camp in Algona during WWII – they do a really nice job with the place.  Next up:  a delightful visit with Caroline Bormann at her apartment.  Back to St. Joe where we relaxed and watched the Lawrence Welk show – pleasant.  Some cards in the evening; our hosts napped; we were all pretty tired!

Sunday, 26 July

On our Sunday road-trip - an evocative, lingering visit to where G&G raised their family.

Coffee, cinnamon rolls, oatmeal per usual for breakfast – always nice to sit and look up the hill at that time of day.  10a Mass; brats for dinner.  Lovely weather.

Mid-stage of high-stakes Chinese checkers match

In mid/late afternoon we embarked on a lengthy car tour:  Grandpa driving, PJ and I in front seat, K&L with Grandma in the back.  Wanted to give Luis a look at various of the places around the parish (but of course I always enjoy this kind of thing myself, a lot).  Spent some time at the farm where Grandma & Grandpa raised us – a beautiful afternoon, we wandered around a fair amount.  (Unlike last month’s visit:  Grandma pretty much just rested in the car this time, which made us kind of sad.)  Evocative.  Drove past the house where Grandma grew up; drove around Clarence Bormann’s farm; drove around the Capesius homestead (and admired their sweet corn); Grandma thought it would be nice for us to see the Grotto in West Bend so we added that to the trip – Grotto was closed but one gets a pretty good sense of the place even with the windshield tour of the perimeter.  Lots of talking and laughs as we drive, and drive.  Grandpa can be an entertaining driver, especially when encouraged a bit by his passengers.  This was memorable, nice.

Digits indicate order of finish.

And then we settled into the evening.  PJ makes dinner happen – quite a bit of work, a late roast pork supper (after our extended road trip), she frees up the rest of us to just relax.  Kerry, Luis, Grandma and I play Chinese Checkers – Grandma’s traditional favorite.  Then we switch to a game I’ll call “Piku” – something they acquired via a friend of Therese’s in Austria when visiting Europe way back when – simple, fun, for some reason the competition, the company, the circumstances made this warm, gentle, full-of-laughs.  A wonderful sunset, we kept sneaking to the patio to take a look, it fit the mood perfectly.  EMG was doing his computer stuff, joining in the conversation and the laughs as the evening progressed.  Had our snacks, and tried to re-create the traditional Bormann beverage (bourbon, apricot brandy, 7-Up); not bad at all.  It made me happy to see my mom laugh.  And to laugh myself.  A late supper, dessert, the most pleasant conversation until nearly 11p.

Our next fun-game.

A great day.

Monday 27 July

PJ and I went to Mass with G&G; Kerry & Luis got themselves checked out of the hotel and came down to St. Joe.  Fr. Kollasch stopped by after Mass and enjoyed the baked goods and we had a very pleasant chat about all sorts of things.  Including a strong hint from Grandma to Luis that a proposal would be quite in order!  Fr. Kollasch was inspired to sing a little ditty.  PJ put together dinner, and – after some tugging goodbyes – we were off to the Minneapolis airport and our return flights.

The trip was that mix of heartbreaking and wonderful.  We are so lucky to be able to make these visits.  Told Grandma we definitely will be back to see her . . . though for the first time the sense is that time with her definitely is running shorter . . .

Reluctant departure . . .

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