Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Judy's Funeral


 

  I sadly had to take trip to DesMoines for Judy Kaufman’s funeral. I brought along my camera to document my trip. When I got there Saturday May 14th I saw Elle my granddaughter reading one of Dan Brown’s books the Da Vinci Code.

 


That evening my daughter Kristen took me out for dinner and a movie. After that long 5 hour drive from Chicago to Des Moines I was exhausted. I usually don’t go to bed early but this time I didn’t have a problem with it.

We all went to church Sunday morning and went out for breakfast afterwards. That evening we were supposed to have an eclipse of the moon so I got out my camera and took some photos. When it was fully eclipsed it turns red. They call it the blood moon.

 



 The next day was the funeral at 6pm. One of Kristen’s best friends, Kelly, came to town to stay with us for the funeral. I had made a video with all of the pictures I had of Judy. I had done an intro and put music to it. we all sat down and watched it before we went to the funeral home. I can't show you the whole video because the file is to big but I can show you the intro I did before the pictures of Judy started.


Before we left we all took pictures of one another. 

Kristen and Charles Brownell

                        

            Kris and her Dad Bill Kaufman

 


Kris and Kelly, Best Friends

 


Charles, Kris and Kelly

 


Kelly and her son Zaxton (Great People)

When we all got to the funeral home Charles stopped off at his father’s Grave.

 


 

 

Charles and my daughter Kristen have their plots right next to Charles father’s plot.

The next stop was the funeral home. I had my camera with me so I went into the parlor where Judy was laid out and took some pictures so those of you who couldn’t be there with us would know how she looked.

 


 

They did a good job of covering the black and blue marks where Judy fell and hit her head.


 

It was a weird feeling when I touched Judy’s face. Her skin was hard and felt like plaster. Of course I broke down and cried. Shawn was there and we both hugged and held onto one another for a while. All the great memories Judy and I had came flooding back into my head. It was hard. I am just glad I was able to be there with my son and daughter.  

 Soon everybody that was invited was there and the pastor gave a prayer service and talked for a while. Then he asked if anyone would like to come up and say a few words about Judy. Shawn was the first to start off and did a great job. He looked so handsome in his suit and tie. I told him, “You did a great job. You should be an executive.” Kristen didn’t want to say anything and I could see that nobody else was going to volunteer. I wasn’t going to go up there in front of a crowd and speak either but I knew I had to. I started out talking about “How Did We Meet.” Which I did on the intro of the video I did.

 When Planning the Funeral Kristen kept it down to the very close friends around 50 people. That gave her the option of having a dinner afterwards. This was the first time I ever had dinner in a funeral home. It turned out great. 


 

             The Brownell Family


 

Elle and her boyfriend. Elle is 21 now so will they tie the knot? We will have to wait and see.

After everything was over, we went back home. Kristen and Kelly made a couple of drinks and I joined them with my glass of water out on Kristen back porch. We had a wonderful time talking all night long. I looked at my watch and I couldn’t believe it was 2:00am in the morning.

  Kristen had planned on being at the cemetery at 10am the next day on Monday  to bury her Mom so I went along with her. It was just the two of us. That’s the way Kristen wanted it. Shawn called up sick with a fever so he couldn’t make it.

 



Kristen was lucky enough to find a plot right next to Judy’s parents at Chapel Hill Gardens, Des Moines, Iowa; Masonic Garden; Section: A, Lot: 293, Grave: 1.

 


Kris and I along with three other people from the funeral home lifted Judy out of the Hurst and carried it over to the grave. On the way I told Judy with a chuckle, “Judy you don’t weigh this much.” The Funeral home director said, “It’s the casket.” 


 

Kris didn’t plan on sticking around when they lowered the casket into the ground and I had to get going back to Chicago. I had a 5 hour trip ahead of me. I was so tired from everything that I couldn’t wait until I got back to my apartment. I thought a lot about Judy and I and all the good memories we had together. Tears welled up in my eyes quite a few times along the way but I made it back to my apartment.  

 

Saturday, November 20, 2021

THINGS I DON”T WANT TO FORGET

THINGS I DON”T WANT TO FORGET

 

As Michelangelo once said: “What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?”

 

Be grateful for your gifts. They are all around you.

 

Everything that has a beginning has an end.

 

Fun is Fun

And

Done is Done

Nobody Lives Forever

But

We All Shine On

 

"If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die but real love is forever."

 

"In the Cosmos there is no refuge from change."

 

"Let me not seem to have lived in vain."

 

“Never, Never, Never take No for an answer from somebody that doesn't have the power to say Yes in the first place.”

 

There are two Wolves

And they are always fighting

One is Darkness and Despair

The other is Light and Hope

Which Wolf wins?

Answer: Whichever one you feed.

 

Someday, Someday my dream will come. One night you’ll wake up and you’ll discover it never happened. It’s all turned around on you. It never will. Suddenly you are old. Didn’t happen. It never will because you were never going to do it anyway. You’ll push it into memory, then zone out in your Barcalounger being hypnotized by daytime TV for the rest of your life.

 

SUCCESS IS NOT FINAL, FAILURE IS NOT FATAL

IT IS THE COURGE TO CONTINUE THAT COUNTS

WINSTON CHURCHILL

 

 

THIS IS RIGHT ON THE NOSE. .......READ IT SLOWLY... I DON'T KNOW WHO WROTE IT, BUT I AM GUESSING IT WAS A SENIOR!!! I FIRST STARTED READING THIS AND WAS READING FAST UNTIL I REACHED THE THIRD SENTENCE. I STOPPED AND STARTED OVER READING SLOWER AND THINKING ABOUT EVERY WORD. THIS IS VERY THOUGHT-PROVOKING. MAKES YOU STOP AND THINK.

AND THEN IT IS WINTER You know. . . time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years.

It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my mate. Yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went. I know that I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams. But, here it is... the winter of my life and it catches me by surprise...How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go?

I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like. But, here it is...my friends are retired and getting grey...they move slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse shape than me...but, I see the great change....Not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant...but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd be.

Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat anymore... it's mandatory! Cause if I don't on my own free will... I just fall asleep where I sit!

And so...now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!

But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I'm not sure how long it will last...this I know, that when it's over on this earth...it's NOT over. A new adventure will begin!

Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn't done...things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I'm happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime.

So, if you're not in your winter yet...let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly! Don't put things off too long!

Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether this is your winter or not! You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life...so, live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember...and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!

"Life" is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one.

LIVE IT WELL! ENJOY TODAY! DO SOMETHING FUN! BE HAPPY! HAVE A GREAT DAY!

 

 

 

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

“You Tested Positive.”

Well after I got both Pfizer vaccine shots at the Veterans hospital on January 19th and Feb 7th in 2021, I thought I was free from worry about getting the Covid Virus.

It all started last Saturday when I was at the casino playing craps. I felt fine when I walked in. After a while they turned up the air conditioning and I began to shake. I was freezing. I felt like I was coming down with something.

 When I got home Saturday I could feel that it was starting to go down into my lungs. I wasn’t worried because this has happened to me before because I use a BiPaP machine at night for sleep apnea. And I get infections but later on that night I started to get a horrendous headache. On a scale of 1 – 10 it was a 9. I had a hard time sleeping all night. I got up at 4:30 am and waited to see if some aspirin would help, it didn’t. I finally called the doctor on Sunday morning and asked for antibiotics which he gave me. He told me to come to his office Monday morning which I did. He gave me some pain pills for the headache but that didn’t help. He told me to give him a call the next morning on Tuesday if I still had headaches.

 Because I had such severe headaches I couldn’t eat anything all day Monday and part of the day on Tuesday. So I called my doctor back and he told me to go to the emergency room so I did. It was a 4 hour wait in the waiting room. I started falling asleep when they called me into the emergency room. They took some tests and the doctor came back and said, “You tested positive.” "Positive for what,” I asked her. “You have Covid,” she replied. Well I was totally blown away. “I had both shots,” I told her. “We are going to give you Regeneron. It’s an antiviral. You don’t have to take it,” she said but I told her to go ahead and give it to me. The Regeneron was no big thing. I was feeling OK then but now as I am writing this I feel nauseous and have a fever of 100.4. God I hope this goes away soon.  

 

 UPDATE Aug 31st 2021:

 The Doctor Just Released Me From Quarantine.

 

Sunday, August 15, 2021

It Was Fabulous

Aug 7th 2021

 Trip #5



It was Fabulous

  At 69 years old I decided to go to a nudist camp. I always wanted to go to one so on May 26th 2015 I decided to go to Sun Rays Hills nudist camp in Wisconsin. It was a blast and I was hooked on being a nudist. I just fell in love with being able to walk around outside under the sun totally naked. I went three more times after that in July 11th 2015, June 18th 2016 and in August 22nd, 2017. You can read all 4 of my trip reports on them that I have saved.

I don’t know why I didn’t go in 2018. I think it was because it was a cool summer and I hate being naked and cold but I remember saying to myself, “I’m going to the nudist camp this year 2019. But that was not to be. On March 22nd I came down with Bell’s Palsy. That paralyzed the whole right side of my face. I looked like I had stroke. It was terrible and that lasted for 8 months. I so wanted to go back to the nudist camp though but I would have to wait until the summer of 2020. But in March of 2020 the Covid Virus struck and they gave everybody a stay at home order. “SHIT,” was I ever mad about that. We had to wear masks for the next year and a half. I never got the virus but in June I came down with what they call 3rd Nerve Palsy. It paralyzed my right eye and it gave me double vision.

 I am getting older now and I want to have as much fun as possible with the time I have left. In 2021 they lifted the mask mandates and everything was getting back to normal. So in August of this year of 2021, I was determined to go to a nudist camp.



 The owners of Sun Ray Hill nudist camp had sold their nudist camp to a rock quarry company. “NOOOOOOOOOOO,” I screamed when I saw that.

 



  So I went on the internet and saw one called “Lake O’ the Woods,” family nudist club in Valparaiso, Indiana. I had heard good reviews of this nudist club before but I had never been there. I looked it up on Google Earth and found that it took 1 ½ hours to get there. That was about the same amount of time it took to get to Sun Ray Hills in Wisconsin.

 

   So on August 7th 2021 at the age of 76, I got out of bed at 7am. “Oh man, I just want to go back to sleep,” I said to myself but I’ve been through this before and once I get going I am OK. I packed a cooler with pop, sandwich and some pretzel rods and off I went. I had the GPS set up in my car so I didn’t have to worry about getting lost. It was all tollways all the way there.

 After an hour and a half my GPS said, “You have arrived at you destination.” I was at a gate and I saw a telephone. It said to dial a number and then this woman answered. I told her, “This is my first time and I want to join.” She said, “Come to the office and sign in.” “OK,” I replied and the Iron Gate bar rose up and I went in. Right away I made a right turn and saw all of these naked people. “OH COOL,” I said. There was this small parking lot where I parked my car. I really didn’t know where the office was. All I could see were all these naked people playing in the swimming pool. I saw a building beyond that so I headed for it. Sitting right outside of the club house was this naked woman sitting at this desk. “Can I help you,” she asked. “I would like to sign in.” I sat down at the desk and at first all I could see was her breasts. I know one of the rules is not to stare so I made an effort to look straight at her face as she was talking. She asked me for my driver’s license for identification. When I pulled out my wallet I couldn’t find my driver’s license. “Holy Cow,” I can’t find it. I was totally freaking out. I looked further and found an ID card I got from the Divers License place and gave it to her. “That will do,” she said but I was still freaking out about my driver’s license. I answered all her questions and paid her $50 for the day visit. This man was standing right in back of me as I stood up. He handed me a map of the nudist club and a copy of the rules of the club and went over them with me. He was pointing to show me where everything was. This was the first time I got to look at what was around me.

 



The club house where we were looked over this beautiful lake that was sounded by 200 acres of wooded forest. He told me, “There is a mile and an half of trails that you can explore that goes all around the lake.” “Oh that’s the first thing I want to do,” I told him. He pointed to the entrance to the trails. It was kind of hidden so I am glad he told me where it started or I would never have found it.

 



 He told me that there were two spots that you have to cover up because it is exposed to the local street but there are signs that tell you when to do it. He showed me on the map he gave me. “Just take your towel with you,” he said. “OK,” I said. He told me lunch is served at 11:30. I had just arrived at 11:00 and I wasn’t interested in eating besides I had my cooler in my car if I got hungry. Both the woman and the man were extremely friendly. I loved that because I had some problems with one of the owners of the Sun Ray Hills nudist camp in Wisconsin back a few years ago and he almost spoiled my whole day before I even begun, I almost walked away and went home. I was happy that I came here to Lake O’ the Woods in Valparaiso.

  After he finished telling me everything he said, “Have Fun.” With a smile, I went to my car and got undressed. “Oh this is fabulous,” I said to myself. It was sunny and in the 80’s and I was now totally naked and free to walk around. The first thing I wanted to do was walk on the trails through the forest that surrounded the lake. I entered the spot where the man told me the trail started. It was a small narrow trail that had some steep inclines. I am glad that I was in shape after exercising all these 26 years after I had my heart attack. But as I was walking through the forest I kept worrying about my driver’s license and it was spoiling everything. Finally I said to myself, “Stop worrying about the driver’s license and enjoy walking through this beautiful forest in the nude. Luckily I talked to myself early on and I was starting to enjoy walking naked through the forest. I was half way around the lake when I saw two beautiful deer. They saw me and leaped off into the woods.

 



  You don’t know how gorgeous it was walking through forest in the nude unless you where there with me. One of the things that I was really aware of was the silence. It was so quit. It was fabulous. I was so happy that I didn’t miss out on this experience. There were signs along the way that told you were to go so you wouldn’t get lost. Near the end of my mile and a half walk through the forest I had to cover up because I was at a spot where people can see you from the local street. I never saw any cars going by and it was just a short distance and then I unwrapped my towel and got nude again. I had been alone in the forest except at the end when one guy ran by me. “How are you doing,” he asked. “I’m doing pretty good,” I told him.



 I crossed a small bridge and I was back at the nudist club.

  When I got back they were still serving lunch outside on a couple of grills. “You want something to eat,” this one man asked. “Yeah, I’ll have a hot dog,” I told him. “That will be a dollar,” this woman said. I was surprised. I thought it was free since I paid $50 to get in to the nudist club but it was no big deal. I told her, “I’d have to go to my car to get some money.” I don’t know why I ordered a hot dog. I haven’t had one ever since I had my heart attack. It was one of those foot long hot dogs. It was really hot when I bit into it but it was good. I had brought one of my cokes back with me when I went to get my money. When I was on the trails in the forest my stomach started to growl so the hot dog hit the spot.

 There was this picnic table right next to the beach on the lake so I sat down and started eating. It felt so wonderful sitting there outside in the nude having lunch while I looked out over the lake. Some people were sailing on what I can only described as a wide looking surf board. They were standing up on it using a double sided paddle, paddling around in the middle of the lake in the nude. I thought about trying it but I decided not to.

  Since this was a family nudist club, I wasn’t surprised to see that a couple of parents brought their kids with them. They were in the lake just having a ball playing. I only wished that my parents would have raised me as a nudist. I remember one night back around 1982 when I was married, my wife and I went over to see my dad who was living alone in an apartment. We got to talking and my father told us, “The one thing I never got to do was to go to a nudist camp.” “Well why don’t you go then,” we told him. My wife and I had been talking about going to one at the time and I even had a list of the nudist camps around the area. I told him that I would send him the list so he could go. About a year later I asked him if he went and he told us, “No.” 10 years later he was dead. My wife and I never did go to one either. In 2015 I was writing down my memories and I thought of this story about my Dad. I didn’t want to end up not ever having gone to a nudist camp like my Dad so that year in 2015 I made my first trip to a nudist camp and it was fabulous. I just wish my Mom and Dad would have started taking us to one when we were little kids.

 I finished my lunch and I started thinking about my driver’s license again. It was starting to spoil my day. So after I ate I went back to my car and looked through my wallet again. “THERE IT IS!!!” I yelled out. When I was first checking in at the desk with that naked woman, I guess I got distracted. Anyway I was thrilled that I found it.

 I decided to check out the swimming pool. All the naked guys and gals had a volleyball game going. I’m not much into that so I just watched them as I got into the pool. Oh the water feels so good when you are nude. I swam a little and then laid out on the lounge chair. The sun was hot so I had to get back in the pool again a couple of times.

  I was so glad that I had gone to the nudist club. I had a blast. By 4:30 I was getting burnt to crisp so I got dressed and drove home. I hope I get another chance to go this summer. I like it to be in the 80’s so I don’t get cold.