Farewell Ella

As many of you know, we have some interesting characters that live in our neighborhood.  I have written about them a few times before on this blog.  Well unfortunately, one of them, Ella, passed away earlier this week.  We love Ella - she is a spirited, no-nonsense, feisty, independent lady who understood that life was not always easy and that it was important to know your neighbors.

The first time that I met Ella was when she marched over and knocked on our door one fall day.  She announced that her name was Ella, that she lived across the street, and she was sorry it took her so long to introduce herself. She explained that  she thought that she was going to die before her 85th birthday, because that is when her mom and sister had died, and therefore did not want to bother us if she wasn't going to live much longer.  But since she was obviously going to make it to 85 (her 85th birthday was the next day) that she thought it was about time that she let us know who she was.  And from that a friendship was born.

Ella was originally from Maine and  believed that Maine was the best place on earth. She would not be caught dead eating an apple that was not from Maine.  Washington apples were beneath her.  In fact, she felt so strongly that Maine apples were the best that she brought us some just to prove it to us.

Ella was also an instigator.  Last summer, she some how talked my husband into breaking in to our other neighbor's house (Wyndell) just to check on him.  Imagine an 87 year old woman and my husband trying to climb in through a window!

Ella was good to us.  She made us laugh. She gave us advice (whether we wanted it or not).  She shared in our joys and our upsets.  Oh that Ella!  We are going to miss her.