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Across the Fence:  how is Cindy Lou??  |
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westernhorse51
True Blue Farmgirl
1681 Posts
michele
farmingdale
n.j.
USA
1681 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 24 2007 : 06:23:22 AM
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Does anyone know how CindyLou is? I miss her & think about her. Im sure shes loving life Aaron but has anyone heard from her?? Libby, do you hear from her at all. I just hope shes well.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
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Marybeth
True Blue Farmgirl
6418 Posts
Mary Beth
Stanwood
Wa 98292
USA
6418 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2007 : 06:56:31 AM
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I did e-mail Cindy Lou because she was so helpful and kind to me. I heard back from Libbie telling me she was fine and would read the e-mail, but I have not heard from Cindy Lou. MB
www.strawberryhillsfarm.blogspot.com
www.day4plus.blogspot.com
"Life may not be the party we hoped for...but while we are here we might as well dance!" |
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MaryJane
Queen Bee
16411 Posts
MaryJane
Moscow
Idaho
USA
16411 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2007 : 5:54:24 PM
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How’s Cindylou? And Julie Bell? (In another thread someone had also asked about Julie.) And Mahri and Meadow? You are all so loving and big-hearted. I’ve learned how much your prayers matter! Somewhere in my first book is one of my favorite quotes that goes something like: “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a family. Whatever you call it and whoever you are, you need one.”
We’ve certainly needed our clan in the last few months….
I don’t know where to begin. Sometimes words don’t seem big enough/they fall short, or they diminish what really is. Either that or there aren’t words to describe what our hearts must endure, but I’ll try.
Julie signed on here full-time in 2004. (Shortly thereafter, it seems we all went through a divorce with her--hers.) Cindylou was already here. Eventually, it felt like everyone we loved was safe and sound. For a good long while, wondrous news filled our days. Cindylou’s hubby ran for city council and WON! Julie came boldly into her own after leaving her angst-filled marriage and blossomed into the most beautiful of flowers! She went off to culinary school in Portland and got straight A’s!!!! Cindylou decided to retire. (For those of you who still send her the occasional e-mail, you should know that she never did get around to fixing her laptop…she really is wireless!) Then Julie fell in love with Cindylou’s husband’s best friend, John Dickinson, who also served on our city council. For almost a year, Julie and John treated Moscow to the grandest of exquisite, amazing love affairs/romances anyone has ever witnessed (the stuff found only in novels). With marriage on their agenda, John had informed all of us that his days in Moscow were numbered--he would go wherever Julie went when she graduated.
But in Julie’s e-mail from a couple of days ago she asks, “Please think of me today and carry some of my grief so I can make it through one more moment. I love you, Julie.”
A small Idaho town mourns the loss of a big-hearted man Monday, February 05, 2007
LARRY BINGHAM
The Oregonian
It was 6 p.m. and already pitch dark as John Dickinson and his girlfriend, Julie Bell, drove along Interstate 84. They were approaching The Dalles when the car a few lengths ahead of them struck a dog carrier in the fast lane, slid out of control and smacked a concrete berm before jerking to a stop in the slow lane.
Dickinson, 62, parked behind the stalled car and jumped out to see whether the driver was OK. Joanne Sutton, 25, of Portland stumbled into the fast lane and collapsed on the pavement. Dickinson helped her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her until she regained control of her senses.
Then he led her back to his car and told Bell he was going to move the pet carrier.
This was Sunday, Jan. 7. The sky was clear, and a strong wind blew down the Columbia Gorge from the east, whipping the Columbia River that runs beside the interstate. It was too dark for any of them to see they had stopped on a bridge 35 feet above the spot where the John Day River enters the Columbia.
Bell, 47, had opened the passenger side door for Sutton to climb in when she heard tires screeching. She looked up. She saw a car careening toward them.
David Grant, 42, of Portland, had come upon the two cars and slammed on the brakes of his 1969 Pontiac Firebird. Bell knew the Firebird was out of control because the headlights coming toward her strobed in circles. "We're going to get hit," she said. It was all she had time to say.
Nearly three weeks later, a play opened in an old vaudeville theater on Main Street in the college town of Moscow, Idaho. Patrons waiting for tickets lined the sidewalk where clumps of frozen snow reflected the red-and-yellow lights of the marquee.
The play "Touch," about a man whose wife goes missing and is later discovered murdered, was about to begin when a woman in a flowing black dress appeared in a spotlight on the stage. Andriette Pieron, one of the founding members of Sirius Idaho Theatre, said she was doing the night's announcements because fellow board member John Dickinson could not. Her voice cracked.
Dickinson taught at the University of Idaho for nearly 30 years and served as head of the computer science department, but in retirement, he developed a passion for theater. And passion, say the people who knew him, drove all his choices.
He was a man who refused to be compartmentalized. He favored Birkenstocks, shoulder-length white hair and a liberal town, yet he lived in a state known for its political conservatism.
Here was a guy who told the director of one play he auditioned for that he couldn't easily tap into his anger because he could count on five fingers the few times in his life he'd been genuinely angry.
After a former graduate student, Sami al-Hussayen, , was accused of terrorism and immigration fraud and jailed under the Patriot Act -- in a controversial case that drew national attention -- Dickinson was so shocked at the reach of government that he ran for public office. He was elected to the Moscow City Council.
Soon afterward, a jury found his grad student not guilty of terrorism but deadlocked on some of the immigration charges. Al-Hussayen agreed to be deported if the government dropped the remaining charges.
Meanwhile, Dickinson's proudest moment as a councilman, he told Mayor Nancy Chaney, was getting stop signs placed at an intersection where children routinely cross. "I don't mean this to sound demeaning," Chaney said. "But John had a childlike joy that is so uncommon in grown-up people."
With his white hair, electric-blue eyes and exuberant gait, Dickinson was a fixture on Main Street in Moscow. If he wasn't at the theater -- some nights he'd stay until 3 a.m. working on sets and lighting -- he was at the One World Cafe coffee shop or the town's cooperative-owned grocery store or the BookPeople of Moscow bookseller or the Red Door restaurant.
After the play, patrons walked to the Red Door to remember a man not easily pigeonholed.
The restaurant, with its dramatic red walls and black-and-white-tiled floor, was where Dickinson joined fellow council members for a beer every Thursday. Twice divorced, with three grown children and three grandchildren, Dickinson dined at the Red Door on nights he wasn't eating Newman's Own Organic Ginger-Os and drinking whole milk at home.
The two college students who shared his house knew he was home if they heard his booming laugh upstairs. It told them he was watching "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" or talking on the telephone, usually to his girlfriend in Portland, whom he talked to every day. Teva Palmer, 20, said Dickinson lived life as if were a big kid. "We would tell people we lived with him and they would say, 'Oh, you live with an old man.' And we were like, 'Are you crazy? He acts like he's our age.' "
Dickinson refused to let them pay rent or utilities, and he donated his City Council paychecks to the theater. He baby-sat a grandson every Tuesday and never sat opposite Bell at restaurants but always by her side.
"I say he swept me off my feet and never set me down," said Bell, who met him a year ago. After they began dating, she often asked him, "Are you for real?" Dickinson was not ashamed to kiss her hand in public. He liked to read aloud to her and once text-messaged during a rehearsal for "The Death of a Salesman," saying, "You're in my heart every moment. . . . Act II is beginning."
The last time Bell saw him he was walking away from her, down a dark interstate road.
The car spinning toward them slammed into the side of Dickinson's car, throwing Bell into the berm where she hit her head and fractured her tailbone.
When the Oregon State Police arrived at the scene, more than 30 cars had stopped behind the collision. Bell and Sutton were whisked to The Dalles where they were treated for minor injuries at Mid-Columbia Medical Center, but not before Bell told the state trooper that Dickinson had gone to move the dog carrier.
Grant, driving the Firebird, said he never saw Dickinson in the road. Troopers say Dickinson must have either been bumped by Grant's car or saw the car coming and jumped out of the way. He would not have realized -- until it was too late -- that he had jumped from a bridge.
The water that night was 40 degrees. A cold snap followed the next week, sending temperatures lower. Sherman County sheriff's deputies looked by boat but found nothing. A search by Multnomah County sheriff's deputies with a sonar device found no sign of Dickinson tangled in the pilings of the old bridge under the current one. Skamania County, Wash., offered divers, but they were not deployed because they couldn't see in the murky water estimated to be 100 feet deep.
Last week, dogs trained to smell for decomposing bodies were scheduled to scout the area, but temperatures sank again. Sheriff Brad Lohrey said deputies will continue to search on days when the weather permits.
The day before Dickinson disappeared, he and Bell stopped at Robert Greene's bookstore and searched for a cookbook for Bell, a student at the Western Culinary Institute. Dickinson said he'd enjoyed spending the holidays with friends and relatives and looked forward to the trip to Portland to take Bell back to school.
Dickinson also said he was excited about the play "Touch." He said he'd wept when he finished reading the script.
Although Dickinson found the opening monologue moving, that was not what Bell thought of while sitting in the dark theater on opening night. She was struck when the lead character, mourning his wife, wondered whether the smile on her face came from her heart -- "her great, big, ever-expanding, loaded-with-the-spirit heart."
That was when Bell thought of Dickinson. There was never any doubt he would venture into the darkness to move the pet carrier. Not with his heart.
_______________________________________________________
We’ve given Julie what she always gave us. Food, flowers, love. Cindylou made the comment, “This must be why I retired, so I can take care of Julie.”
Julie loves to set a table. I asked her last week if we could make her something. I’m thinking we could make signature circles and I’d see to it that each circle becomes part of a bigger circle and eventually a round tablecloth. If you want to participate, please choose any color of the rainbow for thread. (Julie loves color when setting a table.) Trace a circle the size of a CD onto a piece of off-white muslin and leave the edges raw. Send them here to me, 1000 Wild Iris Lane, Moscow, ID 83843.
Meadow continues to be a medical miracle. Mahri is simply amazing. Her mother is proud of her--I just know it. I will give you more specifics after I check in with Stef’s mother.
Bless you all. Hold your loved ones tight. MaryJane |
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Marybeth
True Blue Farmgirl
6418 Posts
Mary Beth
Stanwood
Wa 98292
USA
6418 Posts |
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Mumof3
True Blue Farmgirl
3890 Posts
Karin
Ellenwood
GA
USA
3890 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2007 : 6:48:06 PM
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Oh,my heart has fallen. I cannot imagine the feeling of loss that Julie is bearing. What a blessing for her to have such wonderful, loving friends. She will be in my prayers, as well as Cindylou- so she will be able to shore up her friend.
I am so glad to hear that Meadow and Mahri are doing well. I cannot wait to make a mini version of my doll for the doll swap for Mahri. (Or Meadow!)
Thank you MaryJane, for letting us know.
Karin |
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mima
True Blue Farmgirl
1573 Posts
1573 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2007 : 8:22:11 PM
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| Oh Im so so sorry!let me know if there is anything we can do. I just love you guys and I know I don't know you but I really wanted everyone to be so happy! I really am sorry for julie! i hope you are alright too Maryjane! You have had quite a rough year too! Hugs!!!! |
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Luzy
True Blue Farmgirl
922 Posts
Luanne
Pueblo
Colorado
USA
922 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2007 : 8:57:50 PM
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I'm just speechless. I'm so sorry. I was just thinking about Cindy Lou and Julie just the other day and wondering how they were doing. I feel so sad for you Mary Jane, cause I can tell you love and care deeply for your friends. You are all in my prayers. Hugs, Luanne
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May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am. |
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lamarguerite farm
True Blue Farmgirl
649 Posts
missy
Battle Ground
Wa
USA
649 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2007 : 8:58:58 PM
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My heart is hurting for Julie Bell right now. I'm so glad that she has Cindy Lou. I'll never forget seeing them walking away holding hands at Farm Fair and dancing together. And Julie's glowing face and sparkling personality. I just can't imagine losing the love of your life. My thoughts and my prayers are with her!! Is there somewhere I can mail a note or card to Julie or should I just mail something to the farm?
Love and Blessings,
Missy
If you have a dream, even if you don't feel qualified to accomplish it, just try your hardest.-Maggie Jensen
http://18happyhens.blogspot.com
http://LamargueriteFarm.etsy.com |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2007 : 9:22:12 PM
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Sending love and healing light to Julie. I cannot imagine how this feels.
Humor is the prelude to faith and Laughter is the beginning of prayer. -- Reinhold Niebuhr
http://farmstyle.blogspot.com
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therusticcottage
True Blue Farmgirl
4439 Posts
Kay
Vancouver
WA
USA
4439 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2007 : 9:24:06 PM
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My heart is breaking for Julie. I can not even imagine the pain that she is going through. She is blessed to have a friend like Cindy Lou and all of you at the farm. I will keep her in my prayers.
The Rustic Cottage Etsy Shop http://therusticcottage.etsy.com |
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westernhorse51
True Blue Farmgirl
1681 Posts
michele
farmingdale
n.j.
USA
1681 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2007 : 9:52:00 PM
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oh my God.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2007 : 9:59:14 PM
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Oh my gosh...tears running down my cheeks...what a tragic thing to have happen to such a sweet person. She will sure be in my thoughts and prayers..the signature circles are a great idea. Do you want just our signatures on each circle..or more than that?? I wish there was more I could do.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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MaryJane
Queen Bee
16411 Posts
MaryJane
Moscow
Idaho
USA
16411 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 06:09:41 AM
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Thank you for your responses and prayers. Right now Julie is in an airport headed for home. The other man, "love" in her life, whom she still referred to as her "Daddy" suffered a massive heart attack last night. I think he was in his mid-seventies. So, yes, cards here to the farm (I know she'll love them) and signature circles of love--anything you can fit on them ... maybe not buttons but embroidery, lace, rickrack, and your name of course, Aunt Jenny. I cherish all of you. This will mean a lot to Julie. And to those of you who knew Cindylou when she worked here, she is ONE LOVIN' WOMAN!!!!!!!! (She uses more explanation marks than you've ever seen in a letter.) Think of her too. Anything you send to them here will be delivered. Love and life!!!! MaryJane
P.S. Julie is a quilter. I'm remembering one of the pieces she made for her Daddy (about 3'x3'). It was a bunch of different ties (his ties), cut into many different shapes, then crazy quilted together using maybe six different stitches, with tie clips, cuff links, and buttons attached all over it. It was a wall hanging. |
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westernhorse51
True Blue Farmgirl
1681 Posts
michele
farmingdale
n.j.
USA
1681 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 06:19:56 AM
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consider it done!!
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
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73gypsy
Farmgirl in Training
14 Posts
ellery
louisville
kentucky
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 07:03:24 AM
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Gosh, I just joined this group, but there is such a familiarity with everyone, I'm so sorry for Julie's loss. It is a terrible tragedy. I am going to light a candle for her right now.
Also, I would like to do a signature circle for Julie, would bead embellishment be okay? as I don't embroider or quilt.
If dreams were lightnin, thunder was desire, this ole house woulda burned down a long time ago~
john prine |
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Mountain Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
806 Posts
JoAnn
Colville
Washington
USA
806 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 07:11:42 AM
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Words cannot express the sadness I feel. Big hugs to you all. Julie and Cindylou helped make Maryjane Farms the special place it is. I miss them. JoAnn
I've always been called a dreamer, but I never listened. I did what others dare not do--lived my dream while they watched. Unknown |
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MaryJane
Queen Bee
16411 Posts
MaryJane
Moscow
Idaho
USA
16411 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 07:32:20 AM
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Yes Gypsy, bead embellishments would be grand as long as they aren't too bulky for setting things on, since this is going to be a tablecloth. Bless you.
JoAnn, you probably have CL's contact info, yes???? I know Julie and CL adored you. Aren't you the one who slept on the trampoline with CL and shivered all night!? |
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LadyCrystal
True Blue Farmgirl
593 Posts
Alicia
Rhode Island
USA
593 Posts |
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Patsy
True Blue Farmgirl
592 Posts
Illinois
USA
592 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 08:18:33 AM
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My heart weeps for her. He sounds like he was a wonderful and vibrant man. A gift from God to the world.
Blessed are those who love the soil,
Patsy
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JudyBlueEyes
True Blue Farmgirl
657 Posts
Judith
Spokane
Washington
USA
657 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 09:11:08 AM
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(((((Julie & CindyLou & MaryJane))))) Hugs and prayers to all at Mary Jane's Farm. May God Bless you and hold you and keep you. FarmGirl Hugs, Judy
The Rooster crows, but the Hen lays the egg. ~ Texas Proverb |
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Mountain Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
806 Posts
JoAnn
Colville
Washington
USA
806 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 09:41:14 AM
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Yup I am trampoline girl. Cindylou and I had quite an adventure on the trampoline--for most of the night. The coyotes were howling, cold air was coming up through the bottom of trampoline.I can still remember Cindylou asking me if I was cold and wanted to go into the bunkhouse to sleep. I said you betcha! So we dragged the sleeping bags wet with dew, made our way to the bunkhouse and crawled under the down comforters--heavenly. I do have Cindylou's contact information. Thanks
I've always been called a dreamer, but I never listened. I did what others dare not do--lived my dream while they watched. Unknown |
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Photobugs
True Blue Farmgirl
363 Posts
Pamela
Post Falls
Idaho
USA
363 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 10:07:58 AM
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Oh such sad news...I had just been thinking about Julie and CindyLou and wondering how they were. The two of them so kindly met me and friend, Karen (our Kindred Spirits Chapter of two at that time) at Farm Chicks Show for lunch just before they left the farm for their adventures. Both as sweet a pie! Very down to earth and easy to be with.
Please pass on my deepest sympathies to Julie. And give her a big hug from me.
I too would like to make a circle of love for Julie. How far from the edges should we keep our embroidery? Do I understand right that you are making a yo-yo style tablecloth? If so, there will be a running stitch and then they are pulled up tight...so our decoration should be centered with a wide border, right?
Pamela
http://homesteadmercantile.blogspot.com/ |
Edited by - Photobugs on Feb 25 2007 10:08:46 AM |
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grace gerber
True Blue Farmgirl
2804 Posts
grace
larkspur
colorado
USA
2804 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 10:39:44 AM
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This is so sad to hear that another women is going thru the pain of such loss. I will get to work on my circle right away. I lost my love eleven years ago this week and seeing the out pouring here reminds us even in our darkest hours there is light shining for us. I give all my prayers to Julie and Cindylou and those who are caring for them thru this dark time. Much love to all !
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com |
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MaryJane
Queen Bee
16411 Posts
MaryJane
Moscow
Idaho
USA
16411 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 10:42:16 AM
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| For the circles of muslin, I intend to simply stitch them either by machine or by hand <1/4 inch in from their raw edge onto a main piece that is the "tablecloth." I'll leave them flat and the edges raw like we do on our farmgirl totes. They don't fray much when washed and I know Julie likes the looks of the raw edged 4"x4" squares on our totes that have "Farmgirl at heart" embroidered on them. Thanking you in advance for all your lovely circles! MJ |
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smoothiejuice
True Blue Farmgirl
6309 Posts
Jessica
Bloomington
Indiana
USA
6309 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 11:30:37 AM
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| Thanks for clarifying this MaryJane, I had asked a few others about this, I should have gone to the source. You are so sweet to do this for her. I hope it brightens her day and lifts her spirits. |
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Nancy Gartenman
True Blue Farmgirl
9093 Posts
Nancy
West Seneca
New York
USA
9093 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2007 : 11:57:29 AM
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This is just to sad!! And now her Daddy. Thank you Mary Jane for writing such a touching update, must be hard for all of you there at the Farm. Going backward is out of the question, so I guess going forward is the only way to go.
NANCY JO
www.Nancy-Jo.blogspot.com |
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Across the Fence: how is Cindy Lou?? |
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how is Cindy Lou??
