Weekend Musings ~ BFLO

What a whirlwind weekend last weekend was.
Full of swirling emotions, travel, old friends, family I hadn't seen since I was a kid!
All culminating in Buffalo, or BFLO in these days of acronyms.

A lovely gift from my cousin, I have been wearing it every day.
I love the little jingle the buffalo's make when I move my arm.

I arrived to town for my brother's memorial service. He had suddenly passed away 2 weeks prior, and it was last weekend when the memorial service was scheduled. I arrived to my cousin's place, I will call her Host Cousin, late in the evening, trying to prepare for the potential turmoil of the weekend. But to my surprise and delight, her place was nothing but a haven of peace and tranquility. I was immediately drawn to her dining room table. A puzzle! 

A puzzle! I was drawn to it and found it strangely calming.

Now, my mother used to do puzzles. Or maybe not 'do' them but, had them out and in progress to mess with in the off chance she got a minute to sit down. I seldom remember them finished. There usually was one going at any given moment somewhere in our full of stuff house. But, I hadn't attempted a puzzle in YEARS. Like, maybe over 15 years....back when it was kiddie puzzles, when the kids were little. And these days, who has the patience to sit still without the TV or phone or computer (without falling asleep soon after sitting down) ?? 

So it was quite out of character for me to be so drawn to it. But, I couldn't help myself.

I sat down, looked at it, chatting with Host Cousin, catching up. Almost without trying, I just looked at a piece, picked it up, and snapped it right in to place. I found a piece that fit, in about 30 seconds! I said to myself, 'huh....that was strangely satisfying. Let's see if I can find another.'

We had a nice evening catching up. My sisters showed up with fish fry, of course, that is what is done in BFLO, it being Lent and all, and my nephew's school has a fish fry every Friday. Well we were brought baked fish, us being 'health conscious' ladies. (I secretly could have gone for some nice deep fried fish and french fries, but okay, I am 'health conscious'. I ate every last bit of potato salad and mac-n-cheese so, got my cheats in anyways.)

By the end of the evening, I had enjoyed a wonderful visit with Sisters and Host Cousin, and was ready for some rest. And I had fit several pieces of the puzzle together and tidied up the edges (found pieces where they didn't belong, yes I just went ahead and took over this puzzle.). I had to chuckle to myself at how much I was enjoying this puzzle thing.

My quarters for the stay were fabulous. What a gorgeous quilt, made by another Wonderful Cousin, from Kimonos and Obi's (the obi is belt portion of the kimono outfit). My Host Cousin lived in Japan for a time, and so wonderfully had this made from very special pieces of some of the kimonos and obi's she had. 

Warm and relaxing quarters with a great history. 

Thankfully there were layers of blankets beneath as well, as BFLO at the end of March was quite chilly. More on that later.

We had decided to host a gathering to celebrate my late brothers life at the funeral home before the short service on Saturday. But the weather emulated the somber feel of the event. Well, actually it was quite typical BFLO weather, so maybe it was just my mood that was somber.

I never remember this view, the one I always saw on the way home, as being somber until that day, and I guess it was just the mood of the day. I was actually trying to get a picture of the plants there, they were lovely I thought, all brown and swaying in the breeze. But when I saw the picture, the electric towers stunned me. 

And then there they were. The GI Bridges. Always a welcome site growing up, that meant I was almost home. They used to be green, forever in my mind green. And now that they are blue. It seemed somehow foreign to me. Modern, surreal, strange.

I had driven over these bridges countless times. It is the only way on or off Grand Island. If we went anywhere, it usually involved going over the bridges. 

But blue was so different. It was then I really did feel like a visitor to my hometown. I only visit. And rarely. I hadn't been there in over 8 years. This added to the surreal feeling of home, but not home. The grey day did not help. 

We had ordered cupcakes for the memorial service, as it happened to be his birthday that day. A lovely coincidence, we thought we should celebrate more than be somber. So we had to get there a bit early to get the little notes I had printed in the containers with the cupcakes. 

I am not sure why we decided to undertake such a big task, right before having to greet people, mostly strangers to us, as we did not really know my brothers friends. There we were, popping the cupcakes, all 88 of them, into little plastic containers and slipping the piece of paper in there, and putting the lid on having to wait for the 'click, it is closed sound', which after 20 or so cupcakes got more and more difficult to do. 

So we were popping cupcakes in containers and running around like crazy, and setting up the room where we had his guitars and photos, and get the music set, a playlist of his favorite bands. I do think it was a great representation of our brother. Here is my first ever video upload to my blog  ~ a quick look at the venue before anyone arrived.

So much set up. Then so many people. 

If no one told you how hard it is to greet strangers and have them tell you how wonderful your brother was and tell little stories to give you a glimpse of the brother you never saw and didn't really know very well, well it is hard. Draining. Why did I not know this and that, about my brother? At one point I found myself huddled in the corner catching up with some old friends and not wanting to jump in the stranger fray. 

We did meet some great people, some great friends of my brothers, even his neighbors came to tell us what a great neighbor he was.  Memories shared, like that time he saved a kitten from a thunder storm. Tenderly picked her up as she was hanging on for dear life to a bush that was almost under water. He loved that mean cat. He was the only one who could pet that darned thing.
The pictures and music were so well received though, and we did love to meet his good friends, band mates, neighbors. A glimpse in to his life, to celebrate all of it. It was all worth it.

The memories we shared were all in celebration of a guy who left this world much too suddenly and much too soon. I do wish he could have seen all the outpouring of love, the family that traveled from far that we hadn't seen in forever, the appreciation everyone showed of knowing him, even if it they didn't know him that well.  As I said, he was a private person, but he just couldn't hide his warmth and good nature. That was repeated over and over. Always had time to chat, and help out if needed, a great band mate, a guy who kept in touch with his old friends - one who was even scheduled to meet up with him just a few days before this memorial.

I could go on. But instead want to share how wonderful it was to see so many people, to have time to catch up with old friends, and cousins who traveled from out of state. We had a nice dinner afterwards and visited, and laughed and loved.

Then back to Host Cousins for a much needed unwinding and decompression. And more puzzle, of course. I was making progress, and still surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I found it so soothing and relaxing. (I was leaving the cat hair for Host Cousin, however. That I just couldn't get me head around.)

I had a good night's sleep, though I ended up sleeping in a tee shirt, sweatshirt, my yoga pants and socks. I didn't even get hot. The weather had definitely taken a turn. When I woke up I realized what happened. SNOW!

Welcome to BFLO!

The drive to the airport was grey and grim, Host Cousin had to scrape the ice off the car.

And the views at the airport not much better.

We had to move to the de-icing section before takeoff.

First pink foamy stuff, then bright green foamy stuff. The question formed in my head - did he miss a spot?? What if he missed a spot??? 

I must admit, I was glad to be leaving. I certainly do not miss the weather in BFLO.
And I sure was glad to see this view, knowing I was almost home.

I vowed I will be keeping in touch better. Well, I will try.
Thinking about losing a brother so suddenly makes you realize just how life goes by so fast, and then can change drastically, in an instant.

I so enjoyed catching up with family and friends. Why do we not make time to do this more regularly? Oh, I also enjoyed the 2 boxes of Girl Scout cookies one of my friends gave me (her girls were selling them, bless them!). One box gone in 3 days, I REALLY have to get back to working out......

I will also be getting a puzzle. Hubby actually liked the idea of having a puzzle to work on together. Heck, he even found a place where we can have puzzles made, as the artist and entrepreneur in him peeked out.

So thank you BFLO, for a weekend of love, memories, old friends, family, snow, and puzzles.