Farewell Aunt Dot & hello snow

Soon after Miss Veeka arrived on these shores, my Uncle Ed passed away and she came with me to his funeral on a sunny March day, adding much light and joy. She fulfilled this duty again on Thursday when we had a funeral at the same church and same grave site locale for his wife, Dorothy Duin, who passed away Dec. 9 in California. Her family flew here (from California and London at no little expense) to have a pre-Christmas funeral and so we all showed up on a sunny-but-wintery day of 40-degree temps to say good-bye. It was so odd to be back at the same places we were at nearly three years ago when we said good-bye to Ed. Instead, this time it was Nancy who gave the farewell sermon instead of my father.
It being Dec. 17, I was the only member of the family who got there as tickets were at a premium this crowded time of year. The first photo is of Veeka posing with Nancy and Alex, one of Dot's daughters with the only grandchild. After the funeral, we all went to the lovely home of one of the St. Paul's Lutheran Church parishioners who put on a great spread. The second photo shows Veeka on Alex's lap. Sadly, I am not sure when I'll see him or his aunts/my cousins again.
Speaking of which, they are stranded here as we speak due to the lovely two feet of snow we are receiving as I type (on Dec. 19). All the flights in and out today have been cancelled. Turns out we have tickets to Seattle and for a time, I was unhappy that I could not get us out of here until Christmas Eve. Now I am very grateful we are not leaving for another five days because the airports will be horribly jammed at the beginning of the week with all those poor folks who could not get out today. I put Veeka in her old snow suit and photographed her romping around the backyard. Problem is, I forgot to buy her new boots and her feet were way too small for the tiny boots we crammed them into.
I did, I will add, teach her now to make a snow angel.
The big mercy is this is all occurring over the weekend, so no one has to get to work for two days. The snowplowing in town has been lackadaisical at best, so at present, my car is trapped in my garage as the alley is piled high with white stuff.