ok, so today is memorial day and i have the entire day off. it is 9:00 am and i am still in my robe, having just finished reading the paper on the back deck with a lovely cup of hazelnut coffee and the faint trill of birdsongs. we are comtemplating a trip with cayle to the cincinnati zoo- but i could easily lay around the house and do next to nothing except read, sleep and eat. it will be strange to go to cincinnati and not be able to drop by and see ernst's mom or dad. i believe that lisa has just sold their place in madeira, and that the will is in probate. i still find it hard to accept that ernst lost both his parents within the last year- BOTH. his mother always had someone that she needed to take care of- her mother-in-law, her children, the sister with the brain tumor, her father, her husband. and when they were all gone, she died before she could simply enjoy life on her own. we live in her father's house on the lake. ernst has many memories of family times here- both good and bad. we still find vodka bottles, both intact specimens as well as broken pieces, to remind us that grandpa and aunt ginny found refuge from the world here with the help of copious amounts of alcohol. maybe today we should plant a tree in honor of ernst's parents- like we planted a forest pansy redbud a few years ago in honor of sister sylvia (of the brian tumor). yes, today, it may be fitting to just sit here at home with our memories, on this memorial day.