Summer Dream 2006

The morning starts with showers, will it every be dry again? Then off to Harley. A soft front brake and Rocky Mountains to descend, discretion puts on a new set of brake pads. And back to visit, to listen, to learn and to remember.

Uncle Wally and Aunt Mary, a fascinating pair, a geologist and a paleontologist. Together they scoured the earth and have done many things to bring the past to life for the rest of the world. Mary, the educator turned archeologist to spend many hours exploring Mesa Verde, cataloging ruins, specimens, lives of ancient past, the Anasazi. Dropped by helicopter in late 70’s, alone for the day in remote Mesa Verde, to explore, to discover, to record. And Wally, traveling to all corners of the world, geology studies for the US Government. Many, many stories, some too much for timid travelers, and all full of adventure.

World travelers most of their lives, adventures I only read about. This is my family; from whence must come my own spirit of adventure. We reviewed so many photos. Mary told so many stories, countless stories, generations gone before. Would that we humans could do a better job of capturing our past, to pass on to the future. I will never remember a fraction of what I learned. But I learned, that dad was a prankster, a side I never saw. That Scottish ancestery which I have craved for reasons I do not know (bagpipes perhaps) was fleeting in days past but through Mary is now rooted deeply in Andrew Oswald, my dad’s grandfather, born in Scotland. And a photo – proof now irrefutable.

And the German lineage on my grandmothers side, the Farmer family and farther back.
Delightful, memorable, sad for it to end. I loved this visit and what dear Mary has done to help bring heritage to life. And my dad’s father who plied the St Mary’s as a dentist, an error, he was a physician and his brother James was the dentist. And together they served the frontier in a mobile fashion.

And today, cousin Caroline, a veterinarian from Cornell, out of Loveland practices in a mobile clinic, calling on the frontier folks of Colorado. Walking the footsteps of the past. She stopped by on a journey to Canada. This cousin of mine is the primary vet to the famed Iditarod, the great dog sled race of the North. A fascinating lady in her profession. And Jonathon, Julie, Dan and James we met yesterday. And talk made photos forgotten. Memory fails me too.

It was a wonderful and memorable day.