AS MUCH as anyone I have known, Jody Glynn Tressler Elliott has dedicated and poured herself into tasks and loving sentiments for the benefit of whoever is lucky enough to be close to her. Such tasks include hard labor.

JoAnne and I spent a week at the "new" cabin. It was a work in progress, may always be, but obviously will be a family shelter of love and laughter and become a nest of memories. I contributed some, like chopping a forest of weeds. But they'll grow again, to be chopped again.

My best memory sees Jody on hands and knees, scraping and smoothing dirt, pounding bricks, wiping a sweaty forehead, stretching an aching back, all to construct a backside walk. Jody's brickwork is perfect, professional, and ought to endure for years, long enough for her and John, kids and grandkids, to walk on the way to yard and dock.