Laura’s bench marker was placed yesterday. 
I found the quote among some clippings that Laura had saved. It was written by Rossiter Raymond around the turn of the 20th century.
I went to see it for the first time at the cemetery today as did the girls and Joe and Natalie. It was very moving to see it there when I drove up — the black and the shiny newness stand out among the weathered grey around it. And her name in big letters there brings the reality home. But I like how the bench and the lettering and etching turned out. I worked with a drafter to create an art nouveau motif. Laura liked the style, particularly in graveyards, which she frequently photographed when we traveled.
Natalie and Joe took the girls to the Lily Library today where they donated some signed books by Mo Willems, a local author, to the Laura Kulp Memorial Storytime.
Laura’s birthday was a few weeks back. Naomi made a birthday card for Laura and the girls let it go on helium balloons.
Lots more happening. I lost my camera cable, but Natalie and Joe are visiting and brought a loaner cable, so I finally transferred 4 months of pictures onto the computer. I’m motivated again to post photos to the photos section soon (when I have a moment). In the meantime, a few highlights.
We still had winter snows not that many weeks ago. Winter really dragged on this year, but spring popped when it finally arrived.
Naomi has begun to draw “realistically” and to read and write.
Lily’s art has become sophisticated and creative with perspective and concept. Here’s a princess looking in the mirror.
Lily can now read “easy readers” well and is enjoying listening to chapter books. She received “Josephina”, an “American Girl” doll for her birthday, which she picked out herself. The backstory for this doll is that she’s a mexican american girl whose mother died. There are books that go with the doll that she loves to have read to her that, among other things, are about grief and ethnic traditions. Wow.
Lily has learned to ride a bike, although she doesn’t want to ride anymore because she can’t stop without crashing.
Naomi is happy running after her for now.
Lily turned 6 (yes that’s an apple pie). Naomi turned 4 last week and celebrated while we were visiting Virginia for spring break. For Easter we had fun hunting eggs with friends.
My Dad is turning 80 and we all went out to eat the night before his open heart surgery when we were down in VA. He’s in rehab, doing well, and expects to be home early next week.
Right now I’m working non-stop to get new plants in the ground. Joe has been invaluable in the field. And Natalie has been thankfully helping with the kids, food and such while she is recovering pretty well from major surgery herself. I couldn’t be doing all this planting without them. More on the farm another time. Here’s Joe with some grape plants.
(A reminder to email readers that bigger versions of the photos are available on the website by clicking on the images.)
