Saturday, October 27, 2007

DONATIONS

Hello everyone,

Well, Team Carter arrived back in Los Angeles to find fire and brimstone aplenty. The sky is scorched red all day long casting an eerie red hot glow over an already surreal time... these days are strange indeed.

Colorado was magnificent. Decidedly cool to this decidedly hot. The mountain air was crisp, there were Bear sightings and good friends, hot coco, fires burning, autumnal bliss. Jigsaws and slippers, old friends and good food.

It was, perfect.

Being back in LA, has left a little to be desired, as you can imagine. Falling leaves and dirt roads replaced with falling ash and cement gutters, is well, less than fabulous... and yet, it is, somehow good to be home.

So then. Many of you have been asking about where to send donations to, and i apologize I have been so tardy about this... but I am finally getting down to business and sorting this and that all out.

The WYLY COMMUNITY ART CENTER is where we are having donations sent. This place is truly remarkable- it is a true labor of love, that our old friend Deb Jones has built from the ground up. It is an art center in Basalt, Colorado that holds classes for young people and teaches them to foster their creative side.

The best part of donating to this place is that it is still small enough that every little bit will help DRAMATICALLY. The Claudette Carter fund can and will make enormous things possible for them.

So.

if you are so inclined, and i hope you are- here is the info to donate:

CHECK:
Make your check out to Wyly Community Art Center
and in the Memo- put Claudette Carter Fund
mail it to: PO BOX 4707 Basalt CO. 81621

CREDIT CARD:
Simply call in your card info at 970-927-4123. Tell them how much you'd like to donate and please make sure to remind them it is for The Claudette Carter Fund. Or you can email deb with the info at deb@wylyarts.org

DIRECT BANK TRANSFER:
as if! Actually, Deb can help you do this as well, if you want to Alpine Bank is set up for direct wire transfers, so all you do is call Deb directly and she will give you the routing number at the bank. Deb can be found at 970-927-4123.

If you'd like to check out the website feel free: http://www.wylyarts.org/

And that, is it. Thank you all so so much in advance, or if you have already donated- then I'd like to thank you!

I will be in touch again in the next day or two with the final details regarding the LA memorial next Sat the 3rd in LA at 11am.

So much love to all of you

xoxo

Chase and team.



Thursday, October 18, 2007

LOS ANGELES MEMORIAL

i just wanted to let everyone know that the LA memorial will definitely be November 3rd in Los Angeles. We will be holding the service in the Palisades at our dear friend Gail Strickland's house.

It will be early in the day, around 11am ish. Details to follow.

The Basalt memorial was spellbinding, absolutely breathtaking. Magical, healing, wonderful.

Today is our first day to do nothing. We are all still in our PJ's doing a jigsaw, reading the newspaper... relaxing. I don't feel much like writing today, but when I do I will fill you all in, in spades.

So for now- the third is the word.

so so much love

Chase

Friday, October 5, 2007

BASALT MEMORIAL

It is official, the memorial for mom will be held Saturday Oct 13th at 11:30am at the Roaring Fork Club in Basalt, Colorado. (www.roaringforkclub.net)

If any of you are coming and have not contacted us yet, or if you still need accommodations or whatever, please don't hesitate to call us.

We are leaving on sunday, via car(s) and we will be staying for 2 weeks or so.

As far as the LA memorial goes, we are thinking Nov 3rd... but all details to be determined... one memorial at a time... good grief.

In terms of everything else.... well, i don't quite know what to say. Somehow I thought all this would be a relief, easier somehow, but all I can say is that this is much, much harder. Sometimes I feel like I can barely breath, but most times I just do whatever is exactly in front of me, and that seems to be a fairly functional way to accomplish things.

Been going thru pictures, been packing for colorado, been canceling credit cards...

sigh.

its all a lot.

just want to get to colorado, relax and see everyone who loves mom the most. Till then I wait, deal, and try not to explode.

So look forward to seeing all of you in Basalt, and in LA. And, till then,

as always we will remain

The Team

HEAVY HEART

I've dreaded this email for a long long time. And I cannot bear it if this is the first you are hearing of this news- my hope was to try and call most of you first, but circumstances demand prompt communication, and so.

Mom passed away last night at around 6:40 pm. She was peaceful when she went, and surrounded by her family. Yesterday morning she had trouble waking up, and it was clear she was having trouble breathing. We called the ambulance and they took her to cedars where repeated attempts to get her breathing on her own failed, and by late afternoon she was hooked up to a ventilator. Mom had been very clear with us since the beginning of all of this, she DID NOT want to be on machines of any kind, and thankfully, that made our decision an easy and swift one. (i mean, as easy and swift as that can be....yikes)

They gave her a little morphine, took her off the machine, and within 15 minutes she was gone.

I think we all thought she had some more time left in her, and hoped that maybe she would wait for Colorado, but, apparently it was just time.

Obviously, we are so sad, and miss her, and shocked (which, in light of the past few months seems hard to believe that i could be shocked by this, but, I am.) And I think I am maybe even a little relieved- that she is out of pain now, and out of the miserable state her life had become towards the end. But we had such a good day on Monday, i just never thought when I woke up yesterday morning, that this was how the day would play out.

We have spent today with family and friends staying close, holding on tight. Being a Team.

So.

Apologies, but I need to tell you all some details of plans and schedules and all of that- so take a second, focus and lets get to it:

Firstly, we have decided that we are going to go to Colorado this weekend, as planned. We wont take the RV, and we wont take mom, but her ashes will meet us there.

Secondly, we will be having a memorial service next weekend in Basalt. We are still working out exact details, but it seems that it will be SATURDAY OCT 13TH. Somewhere in the Roaring Fork Valley.

Thirdly, we will have a second service in Los Angeles in a few weeks. Right now I am thinking NOV 3rd. But will need a little time to confirm that as well.

You are all welcome to come to Colorado, of course. It is an extremely treasured time of year there. It is however, difficult and can be quite expensive to get to, so please don't be upset if you cannot make it, we would love to see you in LA.

I am in the process of setting up a fund for mom at the Wyly Art Center in Basalt (www.wylyarts.org). Wyly is a wonderful community art center that brings art instruction to the mid valley. It was a place that mom really loved, and while we could give money to a cancer foundation or something like that, at Wyly every little bit will really make such a huge difference. So please, in Lieu of sending flowers or food, or whatever else, please save your money and send it to Wyly. It will take me a few days to get that organized so please please give me some time and I will let you know where and how.

And I think thats it. I will write more soon. Again I so apologize if this is the way you have found out this news. Email is so not the way I wanted to get to you all, but with plans to be made, and especially those of you traveling to Colorado, I just needed to.

My mom was a magical woman, and she blessed us all. And I, for one, will miss her each and every day, for the rest of my life.

Thank you all so much for staying with us on the incredible journey. You have been our rock.

Whether we see you in Colorado, or in LA, we will see you soon, and we will always always remain,


Team Carter.