The great thing about June (we are so close after all) at my kid’s school is that for the last four weeks of term they have as many Spirit days, and activity days as they can legally cram into the month. Costumes and get-ups, theme days, outdoor play days, splash pad visits, and movie nights. It’s the best time to be in elementary school if you ask me. We’ll, all except the sweltering heat found in a three floor school from 1918 with windows that don’t open all that much, nor does the school have AC. The kids come out at the end of day soaked to the skin in sweat. Cherry red cheeks, sweat soaked clothes, and wet hair plastered to their very hot heads. I feel bad for them about that. My oldest is on the ground floor which is partially sunken into the ground, but my youngest is trapped up on the third floor where it gets so hot, and sticky, and smelly from all that lingering sweat from unwashed pre-teen bodies from the classrooms surrounding hers. Ugh. Gross.
But the first of many theme days is upon us. I did not see that many participants on our way in this morning. I do believe that the rain, and grey gloom might have curtailed some people’s desire to dress in beach wear today. A bit chilly for a sun dress, or board shorts, and Hawaiian shirts. Although this time next week temperatures will soar up into the thirties, so maybe enjoy the coolness while it lasts.
Our Lilacs took the very four days we were gone to bloom, and either away for the whole year. Nice. Didn’t even really get to smell them, nor enjoy them visually. Makes sense, my wife’s birthday is just around the corner, so no wonder ours have all died off. Cool, cool, cool, cool.
So yeah, Great Grandma Pike passed away last Thursday very early in the morning. My eldest was still gearing up for the last three stage performances, and a cast party, and then our four day bender in BC with my side of the family. So we opted not to tell them until our return. I had them booked off school for Tuesday, due to our red eye flight late Monday night, so we told them then, and they cried. Then slept for four hours and woke up ok. The funeral is this Sunday afternoon. GP lived to be almost 97.5 years old. Very nearly made 100. High score! Way to go Scoop Pike!
While I realize her passing is sad, she went into a home with worsened dementia after suffering a COVID infection at the hands of her three day workers from the farm, all of them contributed by not wearing masks, going out when told not to, and bringing germs back into the home of a house bound 94 year old woman. So we mourned her loss when the flood gates on her dementia opened post infection, and she no longer recognized us, or knew where or when she was living. We’ve had several years to come to terms with her worsening mobility, and cognitive capabilities. It was, as they say, only a matter of time. She went peacefully in her sleep, or so I’m told.
She will be buried at the family plot at the Locust Hill cemetery next to her long departed husband Jack, her son Gordon (died at age 12), and her other son Frederick Pike whom passed in February of 2024 of multiple cancers. Thinking of you all. Ciao Bella!
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