2014 Family Reunion at Duck Creek

Setting the stage for our western adventure.  Panguitch.

Visiting with Marilyn's friend, cousin, and classmate, Kathy Pugh Chamberlain.
(Divorced from Jack Chamberlain, the meanest guy in the Valley when I was growing up.
She has a daughter Nancy, named after Jack's mother.)

And then it started to rain.

and rain.

The early days are the best days. . .

Ron the middle of Clare's kitchen.  She brings all this stuff up from Vegas in her little utility trailer.

Plenty of space.  Quiet.  YES! While we watch the rain.

Karen, Norm, DeRay, Eddy and I camp out (in our trailer and motor home--not one tent this year.
Where is Amy?) while the younger ones stay in $500/night cabins with a bathroom for each bedroom,
TV, heat and air conditioning;  what else?

Eating is our #1 entertainment and conversation topic.
Although beautician Karen who never takes a day off, did give me a great hair cut on the mountain.

Lynda checking the downpour from the popups.

Clare got dumped on good!

Ron and Lynda run for the cabins.

Ed's not dumb.  He eats inside.  He doesn't even like to get wet when he's swimming.

Not that they have a lot of snow on the mountain but the trees bend.

Even the pines.

Then the crowds descend.  From Hawaii came Wendy, Brett and Chris holding nephew Heber from Seattle.

OK.  What's so funny?

Kent and Karen Hugh come for the first time in three years.  He has been serving as a Temple President.
BTW, Karen is going to a wound clinic for a sore on her leg that hasn't healed for a year.  Compression and elevation, and it would be nice if she could stay off it but she can't.

Karen Hugh and Marilyn, classmates in Kanab.  Marilyn has lost 81 pounds since last reunion; Karen 45 pounds.

When Bill and Margo the presidents come, the t-shirts emerge.

On the back is a picture of the 12 original children, "Started 66 years ago by this loving family and as Eddy asks, "Do you love me?"  We all answer "YES . . .and the LOVE continues!"

On the front is the Pugh Crest Pugh Family Reunion 1948 - 2014

Duck Lake.  My only walk.

I want to crawl in.  Who built it?

Clare fell down watching the races.  Ice packs cure all.

Karen snuggling granddaughter, Penny, while Marilyn and Clare discuss business.

The chief (and only) star sour dough hotcake-and-biscuit-maker taking a break.
DeRay and I have the dubious distinction of being the oldest male and female, respectively, at the reunion.  DeRay turned 80 this year;
a woman never reveals her age but when Ed complained that he had never been to Maine
where Amy has been for a month,
I retorted: "Neither have I and I'm 100."
"You're approaching 80," he corrects.
A family joke because DeRay was always saying "We're approaching 80."
Sick of him acting like I am the same age he is
when I am two years four months and four days younger,
I took a stand and told him to let me be my own age right up until my birthday.

This picture is for Amy.  She worked with Brenda for the State when they discovered they were cousins.  "I had some cousins who changed their name from Pugh to Hugh."   Lucille on right.

No shortage of cobbler - or anything else!

Eddy, Janet (who had bypass surgery.  Nearly everyone has a diet theory) from North Carolina,
Judy from St. George, and Robby, going to Utah State.

Laughter

Games

Pets are people too.  Lucille's son, Bruce.

All the strong ones help Clare load up her trailer.  Games on hold.

Norm (holding granddaughter) gathers and cuts all the wood for the fire each evening.
Christina, Evie, & Anders from Gilbert, Arizona.

S'mores, hot dogs, of course.  Eddy only watches.

Sunday after most of them left, we went to Cedar Breaks.

Navajo Lake.

No Amy; No Brent; No kayaking this year.

Bill and Margo invited us for a BBQ ribs and meatballs.

The Last Supper.  Robby, Bill, Margo, DeRay and Ed.

I feel like Maynard Dixon when I see the clouds.  Driving home near Nephi.

It was very hard for me to camp at Duck Creek on Cedar Mountain

and not be able to hike to Mirror Lake, Cascade Falls,

 or my favorite 2-hour hike up over the top.

When we got rained out at camp,

we went for Mexican night to Ogden’s cabin.

Flashbacks of the long hike Brent, Eddy and I took up to the village

and down to Duck Creek Village

where we were still 4 miles from camp.

We asked a woman’s (when she came out of the outhouse)

permission to walk across her land.

It was getting dark and she could see we were in trouble

so she offered to drive us back to camp.

She had a keg of beer between us in the front seat of her pickup.

Eddy and Brent rode in the back.

We’ve always been grateful to her.

I did walk very slowly down to Duck Lake one noisy afternoon
to find peace and solace

but my legs hurt so much all night,

I decided it wasn’t worth it.

Sunday, DeRay, Ed and I drove to Cedar Breaks.

I felt sad when I caught glimpses of the trails

Amy and I hiked only last year.

Exquisite scenery you don’t see from the road or viewpoints.

Also, the hikes Brent and his family,

Amy and I took when we got caught in deluging rain.

To give up my cherished hikes has been a supreme sacrifice for me.

They’ve been my refuge;

My inspiration;

My reason to be there.
(Not being of the tribe.)

My restoration.

To lose that ability is like a slow death;

a sorrow; a grief deep inside my soul.

Then I thought of Lucille.

It took her an hour to walk to the bathroom ½ block from camp;

then she couldn’t open the restroom door.

She’s had both knees replaced;

one twice; a hip replacement;

numerous surgeries on her ankles and feet;

walks with built-up shoes, braces,
using two canes to balance her twisted body.

Additionally,

She’s alone.

Divorced.
Her children in homes of their own.

Her parents were killed along with another couple

in a tragic auto accident

December 1, 1960, leaving their three children

to fend for themselves.

Her younger brother suffered from a brain injury

when he was hit by a car while sledding.

The three siblings faithfully came to reunion each year

Until both Annie (my age) and Milton died too young.

And I complain?