Week#13 (12/08/2024): My time in Yosemite ends with a bittersweet mood.

I certainly hated to see my final week end in Yosemite.  It was a beautiful week with cool mornings and warm afternoons.  Yosemite Falls was flowing with water (the first since soon after I arrived.) In fact, my final day, Thursday,  ended with a rainbow shining over the middle of it.

Do you see the rainbow?

Madeline and I spent Thanksgiving day at the library as she built a Christmas Tree using old books.  My part was to hand her like-sized book as she built the tree (ha!).  It was so fun to help her do this!  Isn’t it cute . . . who knew you could make a tree from books!

The next day we went shopping for decorations and other sundry items in Mariposa and Oakhurst. We found lights and other things to make Christmas come alive in the library.  A beautiful poinsettia, some lights and a little garland.  When Virginia came in on Monday she was both surprised and excited!  Who wouldn’t be.  Take a look at the end result.

We also added (Okay, well Madeline added) another important member to our library family. . . the Raven.  Just like the Ringtail Cat, we have a fellow raven who comes daily to sit on the window and we listen to his calls to his friends.  So, we just had to add him to our family.  Here he is enjoying a flight from the rafter . . . 

The Research Library Raven

My last week here was filled with moments with some of the best folks ever.  I’m so lucky to have met so many great and inspiring people.  And many will be life-long friends.  These moments are truly blessings in this volunteer life!  (Mary Simmons – we will be talking soon!)

We continued our work on the Alpine Collection which is my final library project.  Elizabeth will be here another couple weeks and I have no doubt this will be completed before she leaves.  Then it will be Madeline who will re-arrange the stacks to integrate this collection into the entire collection.  

What a great group picture of the volunteers with the Research Librarian and her sidekick Maraca. Notice the sign . . . It says “In a world where you can be anything be kind (and then they crossed out ‘kind’ and added Mara.)
On my final day, Librarian Virginia came dressed in full uniform as did Maracca. What a sweet pair they are.

And they put together, with the help of Elizabeth and Madeline, quite the spread for a perfect last day of sharing with friends.

Elizabeth came in early to set up things. I arrived to a spread that beat all spreads. What a perfect way to end my time here. I loved it and feel so grateful!
This 4-layer vanilla cake was the BEST ever. I’m not telling how much of it I ate but rest assured every bite was just superb.

Check out of our friends who came by to say ‘so long’ . . . 

Meet Caroline and Mark

Madeline, my fellow volunteer, composed a YouTube video of some of my experiences here.  What a great gift this was and you can watch it if you like by clicking on the following link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abUcaAMMTF8

Please forgive all errors, take care of yourselves, stay safe and blessings to all.

Hugs, Mara

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