Chasing Time With Loraine Koski: December 2017

No word from me since April 2016?…Well, that seems like forever ago. What’s been going on? Two familial high school graduations. Two Memorial Day weekend visits from Mom & Dad. Two Thanksgivings. Losses. (How could George Michael have left us on Christmas Day?...) And turns of events, the likes of which, it is said, we have never seen. Leaving me often feeling wordless, frozen in place, craving images of peaceful scenes in faraway, yet familiar, places.

HOWEVER, in the spirit of my historical predecessor, Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose hefty, annotated memoir Pioneer Girl has me enthralled of late, I will do my best to compose a thumbnail catch-you-up. Since Laura would probably frown at my meager text, I shall compensate by crowding the page with photographs. (Hmm, imagine Ms. Ingalls Wilder with blogs and Facebook!...)

With my "Pa" & "Ma" (Floyd & Betsy) in Marquette, Memorial Day weekend 2016.

With my "Almanzo" (Jim) at Remich, Luxembourg, September 2017.

While not everyone feels this way, Jim and I love a wide-open weekend that allows for plenty of roaming around town on foot, and almost every such weekend we happily encounter the iconic Phil Niemisto, dapper downtown window-washer and floral maestro of the Pocket Park that now bears his name.

Phil in his Pocket Park, May 2016.

Accolades for Phil, downtown Marquette, July 2017!

On a June ’16 weekend (or was it a lifetime ago?), our love of music had us whirlwind, first-time-traveling to Boston, where founding-member Beach Boys and Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, along with Brian’s stellar touring band and the Boston Symphony Orchestra offered up a not-to-be-missed, mesmerizing run-through of the entire “Pet Sounds” album, book-ended by Brian, Al and associates delighting the capacity Symphony Hall audience with cherished blocks of Beach Boys hits.

That same month brought the Moving Wall, the traveling half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, to Marquette, Michigan. Jim and I made sure to locate the names of local boys who paid the ultimate sacrifice—among them Robert Derrick, Gary Haley and Benjamin Larabee.

The following month, I was honored to present the super-sized story of my Elden’s True Army Tales book to guests of the Michigan Iron Industry Museum.

On the last Saturday of July ‘16, Jim and I had the unexpected good fortune to cross paths with my World War II Gold Star research fan and our very busy State House representative, John Kivela, at the Marquette Lighthouse 150th Birthday Party. As we walked him to his car (he had a typically full schedule in his Upper Peninsula district that day), he enthused to us about the lighthouse, as well as some of the many items on his agenda for the months ahead.

On Saturday afternoon, July 30th, 2016, Marquette celebrated its lighthouse's 150th birthday and the signing over of the vacated U.S. Coast Guard property on which it sits by the Department of Homeland Security.

Per one of our most cherished traditions, Christmas Eve found us at Marquette’s Park Cemetery, placing fresh flowers at the grave of Pvt. Leo Robinson to mark the anniversary of his World War II sacrifice in Bastogne. Upon returning home, we would again watch the Band of Brothers episode bearing that small Belgian city’s name.

If you'll forgive me for skipping the rest of our U.P. winter, I’ll jump ahead to an unseasonably warm Saturday in mid-April of this year when, despite a lingering foot injury, I propelled myself through an early morning 4.2 mile run along the Lake Superior shoreline. I had signed up to be a remote participant in Pat’s Run, which takes place annually in Tempe, Arizona, benefiting the Pat Tillman Foundation. (If you don’t know about Pat Tillman—or the foundation—you should.)

Just over two months later, Jim and I were among a handful of people who gathered at the Marquette Regional History Center on a rainy weekday morning to hand off, or welcome, for permanent display, the Purple Heart, Distinguished Service Cross, and funeral flag of Sgt. Alvar Liimatainen, our city’s most highly decorated fallen serviceman of World War II. A pilgrimage to “Oliver’s” Park Cemetery grave with his Lower Peninsula guests made this months-in-the-making exchange complete.

Mood swing. July marked the one-year anniversary of a “break-up” Jim and I never saw coming. Like Carrie Bradshaw’s break-up by Post-It note on Sex and the City, only minus the Post-It note. This one was belatedly chalked up to the cumulative effect of acts of terrorism, an E.U. crackdown on enforcement of something called the Schengen Agreement, which limits the length of visits by citizens from non-E.U. countries. With an old friend’s time at a premium, “bread and butter” coldly and definitively trumped the collaboration, camaraderie and adventures one can never put a price on. BIGGGG ouch. We were on our own.

So I did the only thing I could do. Started trip-planning with a vengeance. Literally. (Don't let the happy face below fool you.)

Did someone say "Heidelberg"?

Now, if you'll allow me to pause just a moment, I'd like to send a shout-out to Normandy, France for being our September 2016 soft place to land.

Port Racine, September 2016.

Avranches, September 2016.

Two Koskis tested their Deutschland solo wings a bit in September of this year with several days spent in the Black Forest area. With G.P.S. and my collection of maps, there seems to be hope for us!

Where in the (Freiburg) world are Jim & Loraine?!!!

That confidence boost is all the more welcome with serious preparations underway for our scaled-back version of the “kaput” tour-guide trip, now slated to happen in summer 2018. (It’s all about you, King Ludwig II of Bavaria!)

Neuschwanstein, 2015--so close & yet so far! (Although also much less crowded from here!!!)

Best. Black Forest Cake. EVER. (Kurcafe, Fussen)

Incredibly sadly and unbelievably, my research fan and our State House Rep friend, John, with all those plans for the future, was no longer with us by the time we flew to Dusseldorf on August 30th of this year, an incalculable loss to his family, and a great one to this community and his district. Jim and I carry him with us in our hearts.

My understanding of the no-Post-It-note breakup, meanwhile, continues to elude me, making this girl all the more grateful for the musical legacy of George Michael. (“I don't understand it; for you it's a breeze,” he somehow already knew 31 years ago…)

Anyway, from my Little House to yours on this December Saturday – Cheers!

Contemplate & carry on.

Exploring along the Siegfried Line (German/Belgian/Luxembourg border) with like-minded Belgian friend Carl Wouters (left) and American living in Germany Doug Mitchell (behind the camera), September 2017. (Courtesy of Doug Mitchell.)

Bread and Butter Days, 2004