My father died four months ago yesterday. I am finally able to walk well enough (I broke my leg pretty badly on May 31st), so last night at sunset we went up to the beautiful and quiet grade crossing at Plainview, in the foothills south of Boulder. My dad’s favorite spot for train watching.

There’s a wonderful long view of the plains to the east, and the first steep slabs of the Rocky Mountains to the west. This is the main rail route that climbs out of Denver into the Rockies and west. We were there to scatter the last of his ashes right on the tracks.

Incredibly, as we were driving up we saw that there was a long freight train coming. We raced up and I had less than a minute to get the ashes on the tracks!

My vision was that every train passing over would take a bit of his ashes with them on their journey. So I was thrilled to actually see a train there when I placed them. (As I learned from many train watchings with my dad as a kid, often you wait around a lot and nothing comes.) It was the perfect train for dad; a mix of all kinds of freight cars instead of the long line of coal cars more usually seen.

I couldn’t tell which of two tracks the train was coming on, had zero time to decide, and I was initially disappointed that it was not on the one I chose for the ashes. But it was still pretty dramatic to have a train come through exactly when we were there.

It began to slow, and came to a stop right before us. To me it felt kind of dreamy/uncanny; there didn’t seem to be any reason for it to stop there. I was crying my eyes out and telling my dad farewell.

Then we realized that another train was coming the other way on the other track!!! It turned out to be only four engines coupled together. It thundered through just feet from us, right over the ashes, and I couldn’t help feeling eerily like it was some kind of honor guard salute just for dad.

After they went by, the other train moved on until the whole place was quiet again, just us and the sunset. Until the next train. Perfect, Dad.

Bidding is closed. The final bid was $1175  JAM

This is a fabulous sculpture of a PRE mare by Brigitte Eberl, produced in fine bone china bisque by Horsing Around and newly custom-glazed by Karen Gerhardt.

If you click on any image above, a gallery will pop up where you can view them at larger size.

I am holding a best offer sale of this piece. It’s my first time trying this process so bear with me through any glitches! Here’s how it’ll work:

1. Bidding will be only via email sent to Karen: Email Karen
2. The highest bid in an email received before 9:00 pm MOUNTAIN time (that’s 2 hours earlier than Eastern, 1 hour later than Pacific) on Wednesday, September 7th, 2016, will be the winner.
3. Starting bid is $950.00. I will pay shipping.
4. Bidding must be in $25 increments only. (You can’t place a bid of $955, for example. It would have to be $975.)
5. Your full name and mailing address MUST be included in your bid email.
6. You must include the THREE initials you want me to use to I.D. your bid. (They can be not your actual initials/anonymous if you like.)
7. Your bid will not be accepted if you haven’t followed all the above rules.
8. I will periodically update the high bid amount with the initials of the person holding that bid, right at the top of this blog post. I will not respond/reply to each individual bid email. If you’re holding the high bid, it’ll show up here with your initials.
9. You can raise your bid as many times as you like, via new emails, up until the deadline.
10. High bidder will be contacted after the deadline. Payment must be made in full by September 27, 2016. Paypal is preferred (no Paypal e-checks) but personal check is also accepted. If mailing a check, make sure it will arrive before the deadline. Failure to pay on time will result in loss of the piece, no exceptions.

Thank you for your interest and best wishes in your bidding!