[jdviole2]

More photo expansions today. The first picture is similar to ones you have already seen. Helena raking leaves in the front yard of our first house. Helena had saved most all of the money she had earned from the three jobs she had held since High School. I had some saved. We pooled our money and put a down payment on this house because it was close to both our parents houses and we were familiar with the surroundings. The total cost of the house was 18 thousand dollars. Our monthly payments were one hundered and thirty dollars. It was a junky house but for us it was a dream come true. We painted the inside, and put new carpeting in. We used Helena's savings to buy new furniture for the house. Certainly not the most expensive but it suited us just fine. Helena loved working outside. She planted a lot of flowers (you have seen some shots of her with her tulips and iris). Of course in the fall we had to rake the leaves. Boy did we have fun doing that. We would rake them into a huge pile and then, just like we were six years old, would run and jump into the pile. We would rassle around and generally get covered with leaf fragments. The only hard part was stopping the play before we started to undress each other. (Occasionally I would get her pants-n-panties down a bit and flash the neighborhood) Then while we cooled off we reraked the leaves and bagged them. Shoveling the snow in the winter worked much the same way only substituting a pile of snow for the one of leaves. Every once and a while a small handful of snow ended up down the back of her pants/underwear. She would always get me back. This one was taken in the 70's. The next picture is Helena at Scotts Bluff National Monument in western Nebraska. This was a "marker" on the way west for the settlers. Near the bottom of the monument you can still see wagon ruts worn deeply into the soil. There is a trail to the top. And a road. We drove to the top and walked down. I think I have a picture somewhere of Helena on the trail. When we got to the bottom I insisted that Helena sit and rest while I walked back up to the top and picked up the car. Whenever we would visit historic locations, like this, we would spend time before researching the sights and then time there talking about the history. Helena was always interested to learn about what we were seeing. She became quite an expert on a great many things in our life together. This would have been in 1991 on her Birthday vacation that I have talked about. The third shot is self explanatory. On our first visit to Hollywood the Universal tour was toward the top of Helena's list of things to see. She was hoping to see a bunch of stars. All she got on the tour was a long distance view of Lindsay Wagner (Bionic woman). We did see other minor personalities but no really big stars, at least she didn't. We actually got to see bigger celebrities at home. Vincent Price visited a store near us once promoting a cook book he had written. We went to see him and Helena got to meet him. He was very sweet to her and she really got a kick out of it. I am fascinated by special effects and have been fascinated with stop motion animation since I was a kid. I talked so much about it that Helena finally asked me to tell her how it was done. After an afternoon of explaining I set up my camera the next day and she spent about six hours animating a dance with eight pair of doll shoes. When we got the film back she was thrilled and I was proud because the dance looked almost perfect. Very sophisticated work. She had heard me talk about Ray Harryhausen, an acknowledged genius in stop motion animation. Once he was to make a personal appearance near to where we lived. Helena urged me to get tickets to all the events. (There was a lecture, a screening of two of his movies, and a cocktail party). All were enjoyable. The highlight for both of us was the cocktail party. There were not as many people there as I expected there would be and we got a lot of time to talk to Mr Harryhausen. I mentioned to him the dancing shoes that Helena had animated. He asked her about what technique she had used and they talked at length about the art of stop motion. I can't tell you the feeling it gave me to see Helena and the top person in the field together, "talking shop". She never directly said but I think she was very proud of that. I know I was so proud of her. That was in 1992. The next picture is a little deceptive. Helena looks like she might be unhappy here but she really isn't. She is a bit tired. The dejected pose is just her resting her head on her hand. The beginning of the trail is way back at the beginning of the valley you see behind her. We were about half way to our destination. And then of course we would have to walk the same distance back. By the way Helena prefered walking up the mountains rather than down. It had nothing to do with breathing (though in the Rockies it can be a struggle) but with her feet. We always wore hiking boots (except for the one very memorable vacation when she insisted on doing all the packing and forgot to bring MY boots but instead got two pair's of her boots) and on the downhill leg her feet would jam the toes up at the front of the boot and by the time we got down her toes always hurt. The yellow coat she is wearing (and you have seen in many other pictures) was her mom's coat that she wore on vacation. For years Helena wore that coat on her vacations too, in memory of her mom. This picture would be from the early 80's. Next we see Helena at Alberta Falls in Colorado in the early 80's (note Helena is wearing her moms yellow coat again). The falls is a little over three quarters of a mile from the trailhead. It is a pretty easy walk. You get to see some very nice aspen forest (especially like this in the fall when they have turned color). From here we would always continue on to either Lake Mills or Loch Vale. Both moderately difficult hikes. They were never too hard for Helena though. There is another hike that she really liked where you got to see three lakes. You start with a short easy slightly uphill hike to Nymph Lake (lots of water lilys). You continue on a very steep climb before you get to Dream Lake. Then another steep climb up to Emerald Lake. She made all of them without complaint. We took our time and rested whenever either of us tired out. We always ate lunch on the trail and had snacks with us. One trip we were coming back from Mills Lake (and had just passed these waterfalls) when we met a newly wed couple from Texas coming up the trail. They asked how much further to the lake and were a little unhappy to find out it was farther than they had hoped. I pointed out the dark clouds gathering around the mountain top and suggested that they not make the climb to the lake. There is a real danger of lightning in the mountains. Right after we got to the parking lot and into the car it began to storm. A few minutes later the newly weds appeared. We had them get into the car with us. They were parked at the lower parking lot and still had another half mile to walk to their car so we gave them a ride. Helena (the old married woman) and the new bride were talking together about who knows what. The husband and I were talking about other things they could see on the vacation. Just then the rain stopped and "corn snow" began. If you don't know that is a type of precipitation that looks like hail but instead of ice is made up of small balls of snow. That was another event that Helena remembered and talked about a lot. The last picture for today is another one of Helena (in the yellow coat) from the 80's just getting ready to continue the hike. Its funny how some pictures have such an emotional impact for me. This seemingly normal picture brings me to tears. I think it is just the look on Helena's face as she gazes up the trail. I feel the warmth of the sun, I can smell the pine forest and clean crisp autumn air, and I anticipate the feel of her hand as I helped her up (as I always did). This picture looks so much like I have seen her a million times that I feel like I could reach out and stroke her hair or kiss her cheek. One of my favorite pictures.