2005 Archive

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22 December 2005—Now it’s Official

(Just some quick notes as we get ready for Christmas.)

As of 1:35pm yesterday, when the winter solstice hit. In practical terms, it’s been winter for a good many weeks, with two significant storms already.

We had a great time at the living nativity display at Ypsilanti First Baptist on Monday, despite the sub-zero wind chills. They used live animals, including a very friendly calf that apparently found something appealing about Daddy’s gloves and coat sleeves. Munch, munch.

Daddy’s weeks of overtime have probably finished. They’ve been a mixed blessing. We can always use the extra money, but the time and trouble have been a burden as well.

Yesterday Lydia, along with the rest of the 2nd graders at school, got to do a pair of singing performances, one in the morning and another in the evening. The songs all had to do with the character virtues which are meant to promote good relationships. Lydia didn’t have any solos, but was a good and enthusiastic songstress in her position with the others.

Just after school, Lydia went with Mommy and Daddy to the Kellogg Eye Center, where they ordered new glasses (regulars for Daddy, sunglasses for Mommy). Daddy has been using the same glasses since around 1994—incredibly, the prescription hasn’t changed—and is eagerly awaiting the new ones, which should arrive in a few weeks.

19 December 2005—Stille Nacht

’Tis the season, and it’s coming up fast.

Wednesday provided a unique occurrence at Sparks Club (our last one until January)—the special theme for the evening was “Silent Night,” and Mommy and Daddy did a duet in Council Time, singing “Stille Nacht” in the original German. A lot of the clubbers were amazed, and at least one adult logically asked if we’d met in our high school German classes. No, our classes were separated by seven years and 600 miles, we had to answer.

On Thursday we got a new dumping of snow, which made the roads treacherous enough that they let school out a bit early. Undaunted by the conditions, Daddy still made his 2.75-mile trek home (and drove back in for some more overtime after dinner).

Friday saw the final Girl Scouts event of 2005, with a crafts-and-awards evening at Allen. Lydia made both a hat and a sweatshirt—good ideas for the current climate!

Saturday had been the day we’d planned to have our early Christmas in Coldwater, but it got moved to Sunday. Hence we filled up Saturday with about a million activities, and actually accomplished all but a thousand of them. Daddy tried to tackle the nasty patch of ice on the top porch step, but had to admit defeat (two days later, his right hand is still aching from the experience—fortunately, it doesn’t hinder typing!). Mommy went on another cooking binge, and between us we also conquered piles of laundry and gift-wrapping. To top if off, Daddy went back into work for a few hours.

On Sunday, after morning services, Daddy and Lydia stayed there a while (it was Daddy’s turn for lock-up duty) while Mommy went home for a few items we’d missed in our typical morning rush. Then it was off to Coldwater, where we had an enjoyable time with the lion’s share of the Michigan Brattins (Brian and family were unable to make it, as was Uncle Roy). Lydia got a pile of new playthings, and Mommy and Daddy got some neat presidential portraits that they will probably trade for gasoline. Such are the realities of life. After a relatively brief stop in Ebeview, it was back to the east, and God granted us a safe trip home.

With more celebrations, more relatives, and many more miles looming, we anticipate a rather crazed week of getting things ready. We’ll update this when we can, and when we do, we trust we’ll have a fine Christmas experience to relate.

To anyone reading this, please accept fondest Christmas wishes for you and yours, and may you have a truly blessed new year!

12 December 2005—Have Snow, will Travel

On Friday morning we awoke with about five extra inches of snow on the ground, leading to the first cancellation of the school year. Lydia enjoyed the break, just as her parents used to. Mommy had a job interview that afternoon, and was able to leave Lydia at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Geddes, friends of ours from church. Mommy’s not terribly optimistic about her chances, but perhaps her follow-up e-mail to them—in which she alerted them to an error on their website—may improve things.

Saturday found us paying some long-overdue visits to family in the Lansing area (and, since we try to be efficient with our travels, we also visited a couple of area stores). First we had several good hours with Grandma Margaret in Okemos during one of her infrequent home stops. Then we had the same with Uncle Marvin and Aunt Katie on the west side of Lansing, or wherever they’re officially living; their abode is just over the line into Eaton County. The visits were enjoyable in themselves, but will also give us some valuable traveling practice, as the upcoming Saturdays are scheduled for even longer drives.

Alas, the busy-ness has taken a toll, and on Sunday all three of us were under the weather with at least one symptom each of poor health. Fortunately, after morning services, we were able to come home, have lunch, and do next to nothing for a good number of hours while Nature did her stuff. We miss having evening service this time of year, but this time we were particularly grateful for the lack.

As of this morning, things aren’t all better, but they’re much improved. We should be able to look forward to a good and healthy week.

5 December 2005—Dinosaurs on Parade

This was more of a back-to-normal week, in that it was largely full of the routine. In other words, it was harder to recall what happened. On the other hand, maybe it’s because we’re doing more work and getting less sleep, and we just can’t remember things clearly. Or maybe it’s the crush of events as Christmas approaches. Or maybe it’s just advancing age. Pick your favorite.

Mommy’s age advanced, at least officially, last Monday. In practice she stays just the same as she was at least fifteen years ago. The weather that day was rainy and windy, and we forestalled any celebrations for a few days, when we went for a rare dinner out at Old Country Buffet, which specializes in all-you-can-stuff-yourself-with.

Lydia had a fun event at school on Thursday, as a man came to put on a special display about Leonardo Da Vinci. Lydia has spoken knowledgeably about the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, and the great statue of a horse, repeatedly since.

The big event on Saturday was at the UM Exhibit Museum, as they had a special display for the kids called Dinosaur Discovery Day. Just as they had with their “creepy crawler” exhibit just before Halloween, they had special booths set up in lots of places. In one you could get the low-down on dinosaur diets, at another you could dig for fossils, and at another you could do dino-related arts & crafts. It’s all good fun, and entertaining, and we like to encourage this type of activity (just don’t ask about the coprolite).

On Sunday we had a treat at church, as our former pastor, Russell Kaufmann, was the guest speaker. His preaching style, while not dynamic, had a certain lilt to it that we missed. It was also nice to have him finally see Lydia, who seemed to delighted to meet the man who’d married her parents and baptized her Daddy.

We left church early to go downtown, as the annual Children’s Holiday Parade was to begin then. Lydia and Mommy were marching in it along with other representatives of the Ann Arbor Girl Scouts. Daddy hovered around on the sidewalks, taking pictures. When it was over, we watched the rest of the parade go by. There were a few more mascots for Lydia’s collection, including a blue walrus, a pig, and a couple of dogs, not to mention the dependable Rudolph, but she showed less interest in them than usual. Instead, she renewed her friendship with Ashlee Baracy, the current Miss Washtenaw County, and with perennial tail-ender Santa.

28 November 2005—Much to be Thankful For

Daddy left work at 2:15pm on Tuesday, and didn’t get back in until 9:15am today (whoa, did we oversleep!), which gave the family lots of time in between for interesting activities.

First, the reason for the early exit was that both Daddy and Mommy had appointments to get their eyes checked. We are thankful to note that things appear to be just fine.

Wednesday was a day off from work, from school, from Awana, etc., so we spent much of the day busy around the home. We got our first ‘permanent’ snow, which we got to enjoy on some outdoor errands. We had a delightful chance meeting with the Hackers (sans Tom) at a store; it seems they have yet to sell their house in Dexter, and make periodic trips up here from Indianapolis to keep things in order. We also got out to enjoy attending the Thanksgiving Eve service at church that night. Lydia was a feature in the “Who’s willing to share something they’re thankful for?” segment.

Thursday was Thanksgiving itself, and we stayed indoors completely, as the temperatures absolutely nosedived. Mommy went on a cooking binge, which eventually manifested itself in special brownies, corn bread, and pumpkin bars that Lydia could eat, along with a tasty chicken and other trimmings for dinner. Lydia loved watching the televised parade in downtown Detroit; we had toyed—not very seriously—with the idea of attending in person, but the high winds prevented the use of the big balloon characters, which would have been a great deal of the parade’s charm.

On Friday we had a jaunt downtown, to an open house at Keith Hafner’s karate studio. We have no real interest in the martial arts, but there were goodies available, some fun conversation, and a makeshift petting zoo set up (the miniature horse was a favorite, although Daddy was naturally drawn to the pig). Daddy had brought his juggle balls, and was an unofficial entertainer to the masses while we waited for the place to open; there was a lady present who was a decent juggler herself, and we shared some fun moments. Lydia got to add Mr. Hafner (who also juggles, by the way) to her “local celebrities she’s friendly with” list.

Saturday was a non-stop series of errands, but we started it with a trip to Briarwood so that Lydia could meet Santa again. Lydia’s been carefully jotting down things on her Christmas wish list, and recalled several when they met.

On Sunday, after church, we zipped downtown to the Michigan Theater, for the annual Christmas Sing, which is put on by the Kiwanis Club. It was emceed, as usual, by local radio personality Lucy Ann Lance, and featured some great music, some corny jokes (“How does a snowman get around?” “On an ice-cycle.”), and an appearance by Santa Claus. In the lobby afterward, we got to see Santa, and Lucy Ann, and befriend the new Miss Washtenaw County, Ashlee Baracy (right, from a different pageant two years ago). Alas, we discovered that Mommy’s camera has gone missing, and didn’t get any of the great shots we’d hoped to get.

Then came this morning, which started late, as mentioned. It’s Mommy’s birthday, for which we hope to do something special later.

Looking back over just this quick missive, we can note lots of things to be thankful for: health, safety, time off, old friends, our church, changes in the weather, food, entertainment, animals, our car, our home, music, humor, days to celebrate, etc. As the old song says, Count Your Blessings!

21 November 2005—A Flurry of Activity

Well, Lydia had school, Daddy had his overtime, and Mommy had three days’ worth of work back at Unibar—with the promise of more to come in December—but we had plenty of other things to make the week memorable.

On Tuesday we jettisoned our plans for a trip to Howell because we found ourselves absolutely swamped by the traffic here in town. It sometimes amazes us that we get any kind of gas mileage at all. We opted to go to Mallett’s Creek instead, and we were in time to take part in a special story-and-craft-time-for-the-kiddies. Lydia made a “trouble doll,” which in some culture somewhere is intended for children to tell their troubles to, with the promise that the doll takes those troubles away. We explained to her afterward that it was just a story, and that there is really only One whom we can really take our troubles to, with any hope of having them taken away.

On Wednesday we got our first snow flurries of the season, and on the way into church that evening Daddy took an opportunity to choke on a snowflake.

On Thursday there was a meeting that Mommy wanted to go to, so Lydia stayed with Daddy at work while the latter did a couple of hours of overtime. Lydia did her homework and spent some fun time on a computer.

Friday was supposed to have a fun activity for us downtown, complete with Christmas tree lighting and caroling. We got there only to find that the festivities had been moved about 1½ hours earlier, and the people still there were packing things up to leave. We were disappointed, but got some condolence in chatting with a street performer there, a devotee of contact juggling (wherein an acrylic ball gets moved all around the hand, but never takes flight, as shown here). Unwilling to waste an opportunity, we then headed over to the downtown branch of the library, where Lydia quickly made friends with a little girl in the young children’s activity area.

Saturday, after the usual errands, gave us the chance to get out somewhere, and we went on a return trip to the Kids ‘n’ Stuff museum in Albion. They have expanded tremendously since we were there last, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. They, in turn, we delighted with our offerings of grocery item packages for their pretend store.

On Sunday Lydia, along with a bunch of other happy youngsters, got to sing in front of the church. She is requiring less individual attention for such events now, and things tend to go well. Credit all around to the music teachers and performers!

In the afternoon, Daddy had another of his 4:30pm meetings—this time because of his Sunday School teaching—so Mommy and Lydia again headed off to the nearby Westgate library branch. That makes three significant stops at three libraries within five days. We’re so thankful for our libraries!

Mommy got a call from Grandma Dunham in the evening, and we got our vacation plans clarified: we’ll be staying home instead of traveling Thanksgiving. That’s okay—it can still be a good Thanksgiving even without a pilgrimage (yuk yuk).

14 November 2005—Big week with Girl Scouts

On Tuesday we headed over to Camp Crawford for the Look Up Night, which involved looking through telescopes and learning about constellations and things. We also got to create some crafts, including a “Big Dipper finder” and a painting with phosphorus.

7 November 2005—Fun with darkness

The week started with Halloween itself, and Lydia made her 9th and final venture as Dorothy, with pseudo-Toto in the picnic basket, as we went Trick-or-Treating through the neighborhood. We had a fun time making the rounds at the townhouses, at least until the rain hit. Even then, we persevered a while. Some of our neighbors really put on great displays—especially memorable was the ghoulish white face peering out of the back of a genuine hearse.

Wednesday was our annual Awanaval at church; Lydia—with Mommy in tow—played games and collected prizes, and Daddy ran the “Missile Man” (darts) game. We came away with a good bunch of souvenir hot dogs. We heard later that there were 175 children there altogether, including many first-time visitors; a very successful outreach!

Daddy got a special thrill on Thursday, with the simple event of his walk home from work. It’s getting quite dark by 6pm nowadays, and as he got to the farther end of Brown Park, he saw a bat zipping overhead, followed by a second, a third, etc. He finally counted eight of them. Daddy’s always had a special affinity for bats, and seeing them in their natural habitat was particularly pleasing.

On Friday we got a call from our good friends the Falks, inviting us to their home in Grass Lake for a bonfire. It was just us, them, and another family, but we had a jolly time as the conversation flowed and we gazed at the fire and the stars in turn.

A highlight from the weekend included Daddy earning his 6th gallon pin from the Red Cross. So we started the week with some people in vampire costume, carried along with some actual bats, and finished with some “real” vampires doing their stuff. Still, since they will make good use of his blood, it’s good to be one of their “victims”!

31 October 2005—Boos, and a few hisses

A quick stampede through the waning days of October saw us about as busy as the previous week, made all the more difficult with sickness striking both Lydia and Mommy. At this writing, they seem to have recovered nicely, while Daddy is wondering when it’s going to catch him.

Wednesday was Dress-Up night at Sparks Club, with Lydia’s Dorothy costume getting its fourth outing. Mommy was a sweet-looking tremendously tall mouse, and Daddy squeeeeeeeeezed into an old Domino’s uniform and pretended to be a delivery man, as he really was in days of old.

On Thursday we had a scheduled meeting with Lydia’s teacher, Mrs. Dennis. We didn’t really learn anything we didn’t already know, but actually that’s a good thing, in that we’re all on the same page. Lydia continues to enjoy school, and adores her teachers.

Saturday started off with an all-hands-on-deck workday at church. Daddy, being a new deacon and all that, was there to give his all (a quick Thank You to Elder & Mrs. Geddes for the lift!), which included leaf-blowing in the back, washing windows, and painting the metal poles supporting the doorways in the front. It was tiring, but Daddy had no regrets, especially as he learned a new skill or two in the process.

Later on, Dorothy made appearances #5 and #6, as we went to a pair of special events for the kiddies at Whole Foods and then Barnes & Noble. At the former Lydia got to scoop in some special snacks, and at the latter we listened to some “scary” stories and Lydia got to see again a favorite mascot, Clifford the big red dog. After this we went to Meijer, where we ran into an old acquaintance, local radio personality Lucy Ann Lance. We had a good, although brief, talk, and we promised that, unless we were away visiting relatives just after Thanksgiving, we would see her yet again at the Kiwanis Christmas Sing.

Finally—for Saturday, that is—we enjoyed the Harvest Festival at Crossroads Community Church. There were lots of good games, prizes (Daddy narrowly missed on the candy guess; he hazarded 181 when the correct number was 169), and food. Daddy won’t reveal how many hot dogs he downed—hey, it was fewer than this time last year. Dorothy, meanwhile, was out and about for the seventh time.

And Sunday, between church services, found us at yet another fun costume-filled festival for the younger set (#8 for Dorothy), this time at the Exhibit Museum. There were some creepy crafts, ghoulish games, and a smattering of sneaky snakes to handle. Actually, the latter were very nice animals—the python that Daddy held was particularly friendly, giving a very affectionate squeeze around his left arm—“It feels like a blood pressure cuff,” Daddy observed.

In all, we were very grateful for that extra hour!

24 October 2005—Busy, busy, busy

Whew! It’s hard to keep up these days with all that’s going on, but I’ll try to pin down the high points.

Monday was the final session of therapeutic horseback riding. It was an unusual night in two respects: (a) Lydia’s normal horse, Fable, was lame, so she rode Sympatico as a substitute; and (b) the riders were dressed up in costumes, and got to go Trick-or-Treating while on horseback. The T-or-T ‘houses’ were parents and volunteers. This was Lydia’s first time with her costume, that of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. There would be more!

On Friday evening we were at Allen Elementary, and enjoying their semi-annual Movie Night; the show was “Robots,” which had a good mixture of silliness, thrills and chills. We’re toying with renting the video to see it again and pick up more of the inside jokes.

Daddy started working overtime, and had to go in for three hours on Saturday to finish his weekly allotment. In the meantime, Mommy and Lydia went errand-running, including a trip to the new Salvation Army store, where they found some great bargains. After picking up Daddy, they went to church, where he had agreed to help clean up Fellowship Hall following a wedding. We were there for several hours, hauling things away, vacuuming floors, and (most of all) wrestling the walls back into position. Goodness, what a trial that was! Two days later Daddy’s hands and shoulders still ache. Still, it felt good to be a helper, and the mother of the bride pressed lots of leftover wedding cake upon us.

We left GBC and went to the Vineyard church in Milan for their annual Halloween alternative (Lydia’s costume got its second outing). They had lots of games and freebie food. We didn’t win any raffle prizes this time, but Lydia still had lots of fun with a pair of jumping rooms and showing surprising skill with the dart throw game: she popped balloons with her first two throws.

And finally came Sunday, our day of rest (heh-heh). We got to GBC early because Daddy was ushering. After a quick stop back home in which Lydia donned her costume for the third time, we attended a children’s event at the UTC clubhouse. There were some short videos, then a costume parade around a portion of Braeburn Circle, and then a terrific show by magician Jeff Wawrzaszek (right). When the festivities were done, it was a quick walk back home, doff the costume, and off to GBC again, as Daddy’s evening class was meeting early and there was an Awana workers’ meeting (that Mommy and Lydia attended). Finally, the evening service was taken by a special musical praise night/baptismal service. Lydia and many other children got to do some singing on stage, and she was also a special announcer of the evening activities at the beginning. She flubbed at one point, but gave a quick giggle and recovered nicely.

Needless to say, when we got home that night we slept like logs. Noisy ones. “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.”

17 October 2005—Autumn proves itself

Not a major weekend, as far as events go, but everywhere we look we get little reminders of the passing of days, and the knowledge that Autumn has gripped us pretty well. The leaves are very picturesque, of course, and a lot of people’s attitudes toward life are inextricably bound up in the latest big football game. Our other Fall activities (Lydia’s school, Awana Sparks, Girl Scouts, etc.) are in what you might call 2nd gear. We witnessed the sad sign outside a Dairy Queen that it was about to close for the season, and our mini-golf haunt, Putterz, is now only open on weekends.

This morning we had our first sub-freezing temperature—a nasty 28°F—necessitating the wearing of gloves for the first time since, uh, that freak snowstorm in late April. Fortunately, Daddy had done his semi-annual duty of changing the innards of the screen door yesterday.

On Saturday Daddy rode with Mr. Savage (our Awana Commander) to the Leadership Training Conference over in Jackson; it’s always fun to hobnob with others of his chosen avocation, but he admittedly didn’t learn much. He suspects the format that they tried this year will be scrapped for next year.

In the meantime, Lydia and Mommy had much of the day together, which was enjoyable for both. Later in the day, we all went and had a round of mini-golf, wherein Mommy defeated Daddy for the first time ever, dating back fourteen years and probably fifty or more attempts. She collected four holes-in-one, several miraculous twos, and never had a really bad hole. Lydia had five holes-in-two and did a fine job of recording Mommy and Daddy’s scores.

The big event of the previous week was that Mommy’s temp job—the one that started at the beginning of August as an ostensibly 3-day assignment—finally ended on Monday; she has been very active in looking for a new one since, and we pray that a good situation will come up before long.

10 October 2005—Great Stuff at EMU Family Day

It was chilly, it was cloudy, and we were late getting there, but we had a fine time at the annual Family Day events at the campus of Eastern Michigan University. We spent some time watching the “Creatures of the Night” show of the Animal Magic program (proprietor Mark Rosenthal is shown at left, cuddling a sloth), and got to see lots of interesting critters. We even got to go pet a whacking big Burmese python named “Julius Squeezer.”

Lydia added two clowns (Cyndi and Razzles) to her list of these special entertainers she’s seen, and she befriended yet another mascot, Swoop the EMU Eagle.

We also took in Josh Casey’s juggling show; this is the third time we’ve seen him, and he’s always terrific. He got Lydia on stage as one of his volunteers for his ball-spinning routine, and she was a great little performer.

We didn’t get to the science exhibits we’d hoped to see, and the safety area was strangely barren (perhaps due to the weather), but Lydia enjoyed both a few good whacks at a piņata and a good long time in a ‘jumping room,’ and we briefly saw some antics of people on unicycles, and Lydia won some baseball cards at the tail-end of a prize raffle. Moreover, since these were his old stomping grounds, Daddy bored everyone with reminiscences of this building and that as they meandered through the campus.

Earlier in the day we had a good time at a Freecycle free-for-all at the home of Mrs. Fox, an old friend of Mommy’s (she and Mr. Fox attended Mommy and Daddy’s wedding way back when). We hobnobbed and picked up lots of goodies.

26 September 2005—Campout!

Autumn marched in (septembered in?), and with it came a big event for Lydia’s Girl Scout troop: a Saturday-Sunday overnight campout at Camp Crawford. Mommy, as troop co-leader, and Daddy, as troop camper, were along. The highlights included a scavenger hunt (wherein groups of campers went to different parts of the camp to find examples of animals, vegetables, and minerals), crafts, games, cookouts, and some training for outdoor sports.

Over all, Lydia had a really good time and did a fine job (she loved our platform tent, like those seen at the right, and told some of the goofiest made-up-on-the-spur-of-the-moment stories around the campfire). Mommy was her typically efficient and helpful self. Daddy, on the other hand, had some problems. For one thing, he fell rather short in the one task he’d been trained to do, namely, start a fire. Maybe the twigs were too damp, or something, because a lot of effort was for naught. (We ended up marching over to borrow the fire of a different troop—how embarrassing!) And second, while assisting at the tomahawk-throwing display, he flipped one like a juggling club and caught the wrong end, producing a nifty slice in his right index finger. Thank God it wasn’t worse—some cleanser, some ointment, and a band-aid met the need—because it easily could have been! Still, Daddy’s presence was useful, especially when it came to relying on his map sense. Arguably, it’s the only sense he showed.

Thanks to all the leaders who made it happen, and to Mr. Mullins and Mrs. Betzig for the equipment we borrowed. I honestly think we can look forward to the next overnight campout without much trepidation.

19 September 2005—Sparks Club XV

This time it was the week rather than the weekend that had the most items of interest; our favorite single memory was on Sunday, but I’ll get to that later.

Monday was, as mentioned, the return of Therapeutic Horseback Riding, with the reunion of Lydia and the horse Fable. Tuesday was Curriculum Night at Allen Elementary, and Daddy and Mommy were there, hobnobbing with Lydia’s teachers. [Special thanks to the Betzigs for watching Lydia during this time.] Wednesday saw us back at Allen, this time for a meeting with Lydia’s teacher, helper, and a boatload of other specialists; we discussed her progress and plans to make things work best in the future.

That evening was the return of Awana Sparks, with Lydia now a Climber (3rd-year), Mommy still pounding out the details as the Secretary, and Daddy taking the reins yet again as the Director (it’s Daddy’s fifteenth year in Sparks, hence the rather pretentious header above). We kept the actual work to a minimum, had an extra-long Council Time and a good round of “snowball fight” at Game Time, and distributed candy to all. [Thanks to all the leaders—some of whom are brand new—and especially to Mrs. Burgener for making the craft projects for the night.] This coming week we’ll be starting to work on sections and such.

Something bizarre happened at Daddy’s workplace on Thursday; the fire alarm went off, and all the folks on the 6th, 7th, and 8th floors stampeded down the stairs. We have fire drills twice a year, so there wasn’t any problem getting us all out, but when we found out later what the cause was, we all felt a mixture of amusement and disgust: someone had burned an English muffin in the kitchen of the 7th floor. Next time I hope the miscreant eats his/her English muffins raw.

We had a Girl Scouts leaders’ meeting on Friday, in which we nailed down a lot of particulars about the camping overnighter planned for the following week. Daddy has to put into action a bunch of things he learned last spring.

The weekend was a comedy of errands, largely due to straightening up the house. Fortunately, we had ideal weather for it: this was the last full week of summer, and we had a couple of energy-sapping 90-degree afternoons early on, but it dropped down to the low 60’s by Friday. It probably won’t be long before the furnace has to come out of hibernation.

On Sunday after church we went to our favorite McDonald’s for lunch, over near Dexter, and while Mommy was in line, she was recognized by someone there. It was Lydia’s cousin Chey, down from Pinckney with her church’s youth group (they were on their way to go play a round of laser tag). Mommy said that Lydia and Daddy were in the playroom, and Chey came in and we had a delightful, albeit short, reunion. Chance encounters are always fun, and this is our second one with Chey—some years ago we saw her at a rest area near Akron, of all places.

13 September 2005—Monday, Monday...

The weekend provided little news this time, filled as it was with errands on Saturday—with a brief bit of fun when we crashed the grand opening celebration at a local grocery store—and practically non-stop stuff at church on Sunday. The latter was our fall kick-off, and quite naturally was busy with meetings and other events: Lydia and the other kids started in on the new evening program, “Next Generation,” Daddy had his first morning with a new Sunday School class and served at a deacons’ meeting in the afternoon, and he and Mommy were both at the congregational meeting in the evening (Daddy just missed serving his first communion due to a geographic shift in the auditorium).

Monday was very eventful. It included the return of therapeutic horseback riding; Lydia’s got a new group of stable-mates, but is still atop Fable the Wonder Horse. The field outside was incredibly dry and dusty, and the five horses were kicking up big, thick clouds with every step. “It’s almost like fog in there,” Daddy remarked to one of the handlers. “Yes, but fog tastes better!” she responded cleverly.

Lydia also lost a tooth earlier in the evening; indeed, this one went from solid to loose to out in record time for someone who’s not a pugilist. Ah well, more work for the Tooth Fairy.

In a delightful irony, we went back to that grocery store last night to pick up a prize—Daddy had won a t-shirt in a raffle—only to find it advertising “Coke Zero,” some ghastly-sounding product that Daddy, now that he’s weaned himself off of caffeine, won’t touch. Mommy suggested taking it to her workplace and adding it to the collection of clothing to send to the Hurricane Katrina victims down south. Daddy agreed, with an “easy come, easy go.” In fact, we’ve donated quite a bit of clothing this way, and have spread the word among friends and acquaintances at church and among the Girl Scouts, and a great deal has been collected. We don’t have any strong connections to that part of the country, but we still feel a need to do something, and it feels good to have contributed in some small way.

6 September 2005—A Jolly Time in Whitmore Lake

29 August 2005—Final Flings and New Beginnings

Well, the weather has toned down its standard of hot-and-humid, and just in time, too, because of the flurry of activities starting up.

We were more than pleased when the missions conference was reinstated at church, and eagerly attended all the related events, including two nights of talks and displays Thursday and Friday, and then a big cookout at the Hayes’ home near Milan on Saturday. It was great seeing our old friends the Walls down from the Upper Peninsula and hearing them report on their doings.

Sunday found us in downtown Detroit, as we found out that the Detroit Science Center opens their doors to all on selected Sundays. We heard about it from the Morrises (whom we saw there at the beginning), and we spread the news to the Betzigs (whom we saw there at the end). Lydia was one of a handful of children to ride in a hover ‘car,’ and enjoyed her time floating on air. Other interesting items included a powerful magnet, an enormous lever (with which a person can lift a half-ton block of concrete), and a chess ‘playing’ (actually, just moving the pieces in a pre-set game) robot arm. We also spent a fair amount of time in a music and sound display on the top floor; it was hard on the ears at times, but had lots of stuff to keep curious children happy.

This morning marked Lydia’s return to school, as she is now in 2nd grade. She proudly wore her Eagles t-shirt and blended into the early activities very well. Her new teacher is Ms. Dennis, and she has some new friends to make, but also has several returnees from last year’s class, most notably Mrs. Webb. She reportedly got oodles of hugs from prior teachers on her way into the building. I trust that we’ll have a good report when the day is done!

Quick note: yes, she did! Lydia had a great first day of school, and we have high hopes for a really good year.

22 August 2005—Summer Vacation Dwindles

But, we’re not letting it go out with a whimper. Indeed, this was one of the busier weekends we’ve had this summer.

On Saturday we stopped in for an hour at a local Barnes & Noble bookstore, as they had a special craft demonstration (and later a story reading) for the kiddies, sponsored by the Klutz company, makers of, among other neat things, lots of Daddy’s juggling equipment. After this we motored down to Toledo to go to the COSI Science Museum. It had been quite a while since we were there last, and we enjoyed it immensely.

15 August 2005—Birthdaze

My goodness, but summer is slipping away fast. Lydia will start 2nd grade within a couple of weeks, and the Awana Sparks program will start up shortly afterward. Where does the time go? It’s probably a good thing that I’m chronicling our activities, because we can look back and say, Ah, yes, that’s what we did.

Daddy took Thursday off of work, as it was his 41st birthday. Mommy’s temp job got extended from three days to eleven so far, so Lydia—who was celebrating her 7½th birthday—spent it with Daddy. Alas, there was a lot to do, and much of it seemed rather mundane.

8 August 2005—Life, in a Nutshell

This weekend we were cheered to receive the following message from Grandma Dunham:

Dear All,

Sarah (Dunham) was born on the 6th. 7 lbs, l oz. 18” long. She is having lung problems and is in the ICU until they get it stablized. Katrina is fine. Becky went camping for the week with her other grandparents. Jeff exhausted! Pray for Sarah’s speedy recovery.

Love Jeri

Sarah entered the scene about a month before her original due date (making her size all the more impressive), so they’ll have to be sure to watch her closely. Lydia now has thirteen cousins, nine of which are girls.

But, almost as though to keep some kind of balance, we found out that our good friend Mrs. Betzig lost her mother that same day. We saw most of the family yesterday, and they appeared to be coping well. (They have the added stress in that their daughter Sarah is leaving on a trip to Italy with a friend.)

Along with life and death, we’ve experienced sickness and health. Mommy’s been working a temp job, which has resulted in Lydia’s staying at Grandma Spear’s house during the day. We think she must have picked up something from one of the other kids, as Lydia got violently ill late Friday night. Once again we thank God for our washer and dryer!

On the health side, we note that Daddy donated blood Saturday morning; his next one will earn him gallon pin #6.

1 August 2005—Gettin’ our Kicks on... I-94?

Okay, that’s obviously no song title (I thought of writing “Goin’ for More on I-94” but decided that sounded cheesy), but our handy freeway did provide us with lots of entertainment this weekend.

On Saturday we zipped over to Albion, to our old friends at Kids ‘N’ Stuff; we didn’t stay this time, but merely dropped off a bunch of grocery containers and the like to beef up their simulated grocery store. They were delighted to have them, and we liked being able to do them a good turn. It will feel rather strange, though, when we go back and ‘buy’ some of our own groceries!

Then it was off to Battle Creek, where we blundered around downtown (“Boy, you move away for 28 years, and they change everything around!” Daddy lamented.), finally picking our way through to the Leila Arboretum and Kingman Museum. The latter, which Daddy remembers from numerous school field trips, is a surprisingly small building, and they have to be very efficient with what they have. I would say that it’s not worth going all the way to Battle Creek just to go there, but it’s worth a short visit if you’re in the area for other reasons as well. When we were done, we eschewed a drive around the Arboretum in favor of heading off to the Binder Park Zoo. Daddy opted to drive through his old neighborhood on the way, and pointed out his old house, and Prospect Park, and this store (which is boarded up) and that restaurant (which has changed identities six times), and then it was off to greener pastures.

Binder Park was delightful. Of particular notice were the baby goat in the Children’s Zoo, the baby zebra in the Wild Africa section, and a delightful bunch of birds in the bird enclosure (also in Wild Africa). Alas, not all went so well, as Daddy—who’s having a hard time convincing his 40-year-old body that it’s not in elementary school any more—managed to wrench his shoulder doing a typical activity for him: crawling through a cement tunnel in order to get an up-close look at the rabbits. Two days later the shoulder is still calling him names.

On Sunday we headed west again, but this time just to Grass Lake, to spend an evening with our old friends, the Falks. Mommy and Mrs. Falk caught each other up on mutual acquaintances and recent activities. Lydia and Daddy found the four kiddies all eager to play and to show off their latest acquisitions, including some disgusting animals from the creek. (The frogs were fine, but those bugs and crayfish—yecch!) They have moved their pet rabbit, Whiskers, indoors for its own good, as they have regrettably discovered that they have a badger living on their grounds. (Badgers are the second largest and second nastiest members of the weasel family—ceding first place on both scores to the wolverine—and we can only hope that this one will continue to stay well away when humans are present.) It was nice being able to hold Whiskers in my lap and just stroke away. It was, as Mrs. Falk pointed out, just like a cat without the purr.

27 July 2005—We Love a Good Park

We had a long-anticipated reunion, of sorts, by catching the show of comedian/juggler John Park yesterday at Mallett’s Creek. We’ve seen him three times previously (the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival, the Hands-On Museum, and at Top of the Park). He did just about everything we’ve enjoyed in the past—including his great plate-spinning routine—plus a couple of things we’d not seen before, like a top notch display of cigar box juggling. He even managed to juggle clubs while riding his 6-foot unicycle, though he barely had headroom up there. He picked on a couple of ‘volunteers’ in the audience, as well as the entire community of Saline.

We stayed after to talk with him. It was delightful that he remembered Lydia by name, gave her a hug and called her “my biggest fan.” (Lydia had a drawing to show him, complete with applause blocks and a pile of marshmallows. You’d have to see his show to understand.) We recalled from last year that he was planning to move to Canada. He assured us he did so, and is still there, but makes it back to Michigan once a month and that he is “busier than ever.” He spoke proudly of his daughter—same age as Lydia—who is learning French. We discussed other jugglers, most of whom he knew personally, and I think it delighted him that we made the effort to see his show again and again.

Thanks for a great evening, Mr. Park!

25 July 2005—Splish, Splash

Lydia spent the week at yet another VBS, with our friends over at Knox Presbyterian.

The weather was often a story of its own, frequently hitting 90 degrees, with a thunderstorm every other day on average. (In fact, one of these caught Daddy on his walk home from work, and he had to take shelter at Grandma Spear’s house. Thank you, Grandma!) This is almost certainly the warmest summer since 1988.

Tuesday, 7/19, was the last of Lydia’s horseback riding sessions, until the fall semester. The weather was good enough for another outdoor ride.

Saturday was the big day of late. We drove first to Albion, to have another session at Kids ’N’ Stuff. Afterward we meandered down to Somerset Center, to the campground there, as there was a tremendous get-together of families from ours and another Sunday School class (er, ABF). Most of the attendees had been there for a day or two, and would be there another day; we enjoyed our six hours or so enough. After a bit of hobnobbing and picking up of loose threads (in addition to our regulars, we had old friends the DeVitos up from Florida, and even older friends the Lewises down from Alpena), we trekked over to the lake and enjoyed a good time splashing about in the warm, shallow water. We have lots of small shells and some interesting stones to remember the occasion by. Lydia made some new friends, and Mommy made friends of their parents. Daddy did goofy things like dig a hole in the sand and bury himself, thus endearing him to several young passersby. Once we dried off, we walked over to the nearby petting farm area—alas, the only thing worth seeing was the big black cow—and then back for a canoe rental (Mommy was feeling drained and opted out; Lydia did a fine job with her rowing efforts). Then after some playground time, it was back to camp to get ready for some dinner. This being delayed, Lydia and Daddy went on a hike in the woods, regrettably accompanied by hordes of carniverous bugs. After dinner we scampered home with a thunderstorm at our heels. Still, it was a good, if exhausting, day.

The highlight of Sunday morning was that a major shower was descending as people came to church. Daddy—with the approval of his superior—forsook his usual usher post and went out with a nice large umbrella (thanks to Daphne Adams for letting him borrow it) and ferreted people into the building in relative dryness. Mommy, her ever-present camera in hand, got, we hope, some nice shots.

Speaking of which, we won’t be able to add any more pictures until the next time there’s a good sale on film developing; when that happens, they’ll come in like a tidal wave!

After an afternoon escaping the heat at the library, we finished off the day back at Knox Presbyterian, where they were having a carnival to cap off their VBS week. They wisely decided to hold their festivities indoors, and there we enjoyed a smattering of games, some time yakking with friends old and new, and dishes of ice cream. It was a terrific time for everyone there, and a credit to the volunteers at the church. Oh, and Lydia, along with other students, got to sing a couple of the songs they’d learned that week—what a great performer she is!

18 July 2005—Holy Toledo!

Lydia’s VBS simul (our church in the morning, another church in the evening) went well, as did the programs as a whole for both places. By the end of the week, Mommy and Daddy were both valued unofficial helpers at the evening program; Daddy even got to do a Sheldon Rhodes juggling skit for Lydia’s class on Thursday.

On Friday Mommy had her first job interview in ages; she wasn’t overly positive about her chances, but we can hope for a surprise.

Saturday was stormy much of the day, which cut down on a lot of intended activities. We did manage another visit to a nearby bowling alley, and Lydia improved her previous score to a 35.

Sunday was our busiest day of late. We went to church early to take part in the special prayer meeting relating to the capital campaign. After the service we got things ready for a trip to Toledo, to take in a Mud Hens game at Fifth/Third Field. We really lucked out, money-wise, as we were able to park for only a dollar, and upon arriving at the ballpark, a couple immediately offered us a pair of tickets, free of charge (they were expecting another couple, who apparently no-showed). We bought a third ticket—for $6, down from the original $8 price—from another fellow in a similar situation, and in we went.

Our reason for going on this particular day—and we valiantly kept this secret from Lydia—was that there would be a character representing one of Lydia’s favorite TV shows there, namely, Dora the Explorer. Before seeking out our seats, we stood in a very long line to see Dora. It was worth the wait, though, especially as we got near enough for Lydia to see what we were waiting for. “Ook! Ook!” she squealed, too excited to use proper English words. “It’s Dora!” Needless to say, we got several pictures of the happy union.

In fact, it was a banner day for mascots. Lydia also got to hobnob with Max & Erma, the representatives of a restaurant chain of the same name, as well as the Mud Hens’ own Muddy, plus a recent complement named, so help us, Mudonna. Can’t wait for the photos! Kudos to all the people who can wear such costumes in such beastly weather.

Speaking of which, the day was unusually fine, with nary a drop of water, despite the taunts of the Weather Channel. The previous day’s game had been cancelled, so we got there only to find that there was a double header going on (due to the schedule change, they had to start the first game an hour earlier, so we missed several innings; then we were in line for several more, by which time the visiting Buffalo Bisons had a 10-1 lead). The Mud Hens lost that first game, 11-3, but overcame a 3-0 deficit to win the second game, 7-4. Daddy’s record remains intact: every time he goes to a ballpark for the first time, the home team loses (3 major league parks: Tiger Stadium, Veterans Stadium, and Comerica Park; 3 minor league parks: Ned Skeldon Stadium, Oldsmobile Park, and now Fifth/Third Field); on the other hand, the home team has almost certainly won each time he came for a second visit (Tiger Stadium, Ned Skeldon Stadium, and Oldsmobile Park). Parenthetically, Daddy has been to one NFL football game (the Lions got shut out at home), one college football game (EMU managed to tie 3-3 at home), and one college hockey game (Princeton lost at home on a last-second play). A dreadful record!

Fifth/Third Field is a beautiful place, and includes a fun game area for restless kiddies, as well as a well-stocked souvenir shop; Lydia spent a little of her “short-term trip” cash on a key chain and a postcard.

As an added bonus, Lydia and all the other children present were able to run the bases after the game. Alas, at the time when the kids were assembling down on the field, both Mommy and Daddy thought that Lydia was with the other, so a somewhat frantic search ensued. By the time Daddy had circled the ballpark, Lydia had finished her trek around the infield (she had been detained, until Mommy’s arrival, by a member of security, thanks to Mommy’s accurate description of her). It was a frightening few minutes, but all came well of it.

11 July 2005—Happy Birthday, Camel

The soaring gas prices—regular unleaded got to $2.49/gallon last week—may have a beneficial effect on our car (which we christened “Camel” because it’s a Caravan—yuk, yuk), namely, that we’re driving it less and it may well last longer. On Saturday it got to the venerable 150,000-mile mark. The most miles on any of Mommy or Daddy’s previous cars was 156,000+, so we’ve got high hopes that the Camel will soon set a new record, and go well beyond. All the same, the gas prices have often made us yearn for something with less of an appetite.

The same phenomenon has made it necessary to seek our entertainment closer to home. In times past we might have zipped up to Flint, or to Battle Creek, or perhaps south into Ohio to take in a zoo or something. Nowadays we’re staying pretty much within the city limits.

On Saturday we had another trip to a local bowling alley, and Lydia got in another game. Alas, everything went wrong. Not only was the establishment trying their best to pretend they were a disco (suffocating darkness punctuated with swirling bright multi-colored lights, and ear-splitting “music”), but the bumpers seemed to grab Lydia’s ball and not let go. She scored a 25. Nevertheless, she had lots of fun as usual.

5 July 2005—Trying to Beat the Heat

With few exceptions, the last dozen days have been real scorchers, with nasty humidity, and have given an energy-sapping quality to our daytimes. Daddy took a week off of work (they were going to toss him out bodily soon, because of his accrued vacation time), but admittedly didn’t do a whole lot. Still, we had some highlights:

Friday, 6/24, Lydia’s week at Day Camp up at Camp Linden ended. It didn’t go as well as we’d hoped, but Lydia remembers fondly the games, the songs, and the swimming she participated in.

Also on Friday we went to a graduation party in Milan for Bryan Herman, who was once one of Daddy’s Awana clubbers. Lots of good food, good music, and good company to enjoy.

On Saturday, 6/25, we attended the tail-end of a Vacation Bible School at First Christian Church in Pittsfield Township. They wisely decided to move the final picnic indoors, as the heat index was in the throat-clutching 95 degree range. Kudos to Pastor Vollink and all the others who made it happen (one of their volunteers works with Daddy in the UM Office of Development; small world!). By the end of the day—no great surprise—Mommy and Daddy had become unofficial VBS workers.

In the evening we journeyed down to the Ypsilanti Evangelical Friends church, as they were promoting a drive-in movie night. In what is normally a softball field, they had a large screen erected and broadcast a Veggie Tales video (“Minnesota Cuke”—okay on its own, but even better if you have seen the Indiana Jones movies to get all their inside jokes). Regrettably, the mosquitos were making too much of a meal of us, so we eschewed the stands and got into the car, with the windows up (mind you, that made it easily 100 degrees in the car, so we had to roll them down every so often). The sound was broadcast such that we could pick it up on FM 91.1 on our car radio. It was quite an event! And, just like with Daddy’s drive-in experiences of old, we got to play on the playground equipment with other kids before the show went on.

Sunday, 6/26, saw a very busy morning at church. Not only was Daddy ushering, it was also communion (and with the concurrent benevolent gift offering—the first time Daddy ever collected for that); moreover, this was our final Sunday with the Bucher family, whom we’ve grown very fond of over the last five years; also, our old friends the Ewoldts were there to see their new grandchild, and we got to see Craig, Beth, Ben (and Becky), and Heather (and the little one, Jackson). Not only that, but this was the finish to the week of On Goal soccer camp, with resultant stories, testimonies, and videos.

After a quick lunch, Lydia (okay, Daddy too) got to do some cooling off in a neighbor’s sprinkler before the family returned to the library. We love the library, but our main reason for going so often of late has been to escape our kiln of a house in these nasty-weather days.

That evening at church, Daddy was voted in as a new deacon; it’s a great honor!

On Tuesday, 6/28, Mommy had a very brief temp job, and dropped off Daddy and Lydia near the Hands On Museum. After they had enjoyed the place for a couple of hours, they walked to the downtown branch of the library for a short visit. That evening it was time again for Therapeutic Horseback Riding. The weather was playing foul with us again, but while waiting for the “All Clear,” Lydia and the other riders got to groom their horses, which seemed to be an enjoyable time for all concerned.

On Wednesday, 6/29, we went to the Colonial Lanes, and Lydia got to enjoy a free game of bowling (a special offer for area kiddies). Using bumpers, but no ramp, she scored a 53, and picked up the spare once. She tried both the 6 lb. and 8 lb. balls, and preferred the former, often throwing it like a discus.

We returned to Colonial Lanes on Friday, 7/1, and Lydia improved her score to 55.

Saturday afternoon found us at another favorite local haunt, the mini-golf course (formerly Putt-Putt, now Putterz—good grief). We all had some tough luck, but didn’t do too badly; Lydia got a hole-in-one.

The main highlight of the day was our trip to Whitmore Lake to watch the fireworks. The official show had fireworks launched from a barge in the middle of the lake; there were also seven unofficial displays at the same time at different spots around the lake, and several were quite enjoyable. We were nestled on the grass at the local Methodist church, and though we endured the odd mosquito bite, we had a jolly time of it.

Finally, on Monday, July 4, we went to the annual parade in downtown Ypsilanti. The airplane flyovers were great, as were the displays of marching bands, churches, civic groups, politicos, and military folk. We sat alongside a friend of old, the former Mary Ann Heim (who attended the same college & career class that Mommy and Daddy had way back in the early 1990’s); now Mary Ann King, along with her husband and two kids (Kyle and Ashley).

In the afternoon we took advantage of a coupon and had a free day at a local swimming pool. This was Lydia’s first time in one without her trusty life vest, and we were very proud of how well she did. There was a scary moment when the floating ring she was on tipped over, but she hung on commendably and everything was fine. Mommy, as is her wont, found some adults to talk to. Altogether it was a great way to beat the heat.

Alas, moments after we got home a beastly thunderstorm rolled in and dished our plans to go to an outdoor concert of Sousa music. For that matter, the latter was probably cancelled. The best-laid plans, don’t you know....

15 June 2005—Therapeutic Riding is Back

The next session of Lydia’s therapeutic horseback riding began yesterday, 6/14. She’s got some new riding helpers, and three new fellow students, but still has the same delightful horse, Fable (right). Lydia enjoyed herself as usual, Mommy had a nice conversation with the parents of another of the riders, and Daddy watched the proceedings and enjoyed the company of Licorice, the stable cat.

13 June 2005—Getting Grilled

This week, as we look forward to the end of spring as well as that of Lydia’s time in 1st grade, we can rest up a bit from another busy weekend. In between pants of breath as we cope with some of the nastiest humidity we’ve ever battled (a typical day’s weather is 90 degrees with a heat index of 70, with a short thunderstorm to provide brief respites of relief), we took part in the annual co-op wide yard sale. Mommy got the bright idea of having a cooler filled with soft drinks and bottled water, and selling them along with clothes, books, toys, and knick-knacks. It turns out that we sold a lot more liquid refreshment than anything else. Lydia opted to make a couple of purchases of her own from the neighboring sale.

When this was done, we headed back indoors for a quick cleansing (even Daddy thinks that three layers of sweat and two of sunscreen are pretty gross) and then drove to Dexter to an open house for one of our church’s graduating high school seniors, Eric Leonard. Eric, who was one of Daddy’s earlier Sparks clubbers, has, like the rest of his family, been very active in many church activities, and the open house had tremendous attendance. Nevertheless, they had more food than attendees (but if everyone had eaten like Daddy, that might not have been the case). Mommy stayed under the backyard tent and chatted with grown-ups, and Daddy and Lydia played with other kids. This is fairly normal.

After church on Sunday, we had a similar get-together to attend, this time a farewell party for the Bucher family. They are moving to Indiana in a few weeks. We’re going to miss the Buchers a lot; three of their kids have been in Sparks, and all five are delightful. Much thanks to the Sowders for hosting the gathering. Once again there was plenty of good food, good conversation, and fun stuff for the kiddies.

6 June 2005—Organs, Rings and Rainbows

On Tuesday, 5/31, an amazing item showed up on Freecycle, the on-line group that Mommy has been so actively involved in (basically, if you have something you want to get rid of, and it’s too good to throw away, but too much trouble to sell, you mention that you have it available, and the first person to read about it that wants it just arranges to go collect it; neat, huh?). A gentleman on the north side of Ann Arbor desperately needed to get rid of an electric organ. Mommy called Daddy (“Do we want it?” “Yes!” “Do we have space for it?” “No.” “Do we want it anyway?” “Yes, we’ll make space!”), and, with the help of a rented furniture dolly and a muscular teenager next door, we collected it and wrestled it into the living room. My goodness, was that heavy! But we plugged it in, and tried it out, and it sounds great, and it even looks terrific when it’s not in use. We’re all hoping to be able to learn some of the basics.

Friday, 6/3, found us at Lydia’s school for their annual carnival. There were games to play, moonwalks to bounce in, kids to impress with our juggling, and raffles to blow money on. It was a jolly time!

Saturday, 6/4, had some great memories to it. We spent much of the afternoon over at the Hands On Museum, one of our favorite haunts. A special attraction was a performance by the “Bubble Man” (in real life, the director of the Whitmore Lake library, Ron Loyd), whose show had the familiar qualities of being both educational and entertaining, and also, as the showman put it, “Kids, do try this at home!” Hence, there are things that we’re going to want to give a try next time we’ve got the materials out.

After we left the HOM, we headed over toward a restaurant where Daddy was to have a meeting with one of the church deacons (after 14 years of ministry work at church, Daddy has been asked to serve as a deacon himself; the meeting was to discuss the matter). On the way there, we found that a new store across the street from the football stadium had lots of goodies—mostly edible—available to the public and we made a quick stop for information and an early dinner. After dropping Daddy off at his meeting, Mommy and Lydia went back to the store, and Lydia got to bounce in their moonwalk for about an hour.

Sunday, 6/5, was Mommy and Daddy’s 13th anniversary; it was also Uncle Roger and Aunt Marian’s 18th; it was two days after Uncle Brian and Aunt Julie’s 10th; it would have been Grandma and Grandpa Brattin’s 43rd; the real applause was for great-Grandma & Grandpa Crabtree, as it was their 63rd! To celebrate them all, and also for cousin Nicki’s recent graduation from high school, there was a terrific shindig out at aunt Laura’s house in Coldwater. Great aunt Shary (in from New Mexico) and great uncle Roy (up from Indiana) were also there, making 25 family members, plus gaggles of Nicki’s friends and a few friends of G&G Crabtree.

The weather was the big story of the day, at least once most of the party had broken up. It was unbelievably hot (about 92 degrees) and humid, and at one point it grew unnaturally dark. We switched on the Weather Channel, and saw that a massive storm was marching in. Since it wasn’t raining yet, nor even windy, and Laura’s property had a large open space to the west, we went outside and watched the encroaching storm. Daddy and uncle Roger, in particular, mused about the strength of it, and reminisced about similar incidents in the past. (Mommy had the good sense to want us indoors.) Still, the fascination we had in seeing the amazing storm brew up right in front of us made it hard to leave, and secretly some of us were hoping to see a funnel-cloud (the storm did, in fact, spawn several confirmed tornadoes, in Indiana, north of Lansing, and in Saginaw, and possibly elsewhere). Then, as a great deal of dust was being violently blown about just the equivalent of a block away, Laura demanded, “Get to the basement!” and we all stampeded thither. There were some scary moments, especially hearing the wind from the fireplace, and sitting in pitch blackness when the electricity went off (twice). Still, a few moments later, the storm front (traveling some 50 mph, with gusts clocked at 70) had gone by, and now we were getting a terrific drenching. The rain basically fell sideways, as the wind didn’t die down for quite a while.

Roger and family headed home, basically following the same path as the storm. Debbie and family headed home, to the safety of the east. Shortly after we did the same. We had rain most of the way, and could see several places where the severe winds had damaged some trees (there was one just north of Laura’s home that was in the river, with a telephone wire pinned under it). Perhaps the weirdest part was when we were within a couple miles of home, we saw an amazing rainbow to the east-southeast. We could see both ends of it, and there was a fainter second rainbow outside of it. Inside the main rainbow the sky looked white, and outside it was dark blue. Can’t wait to see if our pictures of it come out! The bizarre thing was that it was still raining all the while.

Should we try to wax poetic and say something about the beauty within the storm somehow reflecting the marriages being celebrated, or something like that? Nahh. We’ll just notch it up as a memorable finish to a memorable day.

Quick afterword: the storm did cause some havoc in our area as well, including depriving several areas within Ann Arbor of electricity. Lydia’s school was cancelled the next day because theirs was one of the areas so affected. (Things were worse up in South Lyon, as there were sixteen consecutive telephone poles knocked down in the same direction; a mighty wind that was! Their entire school system was closed for the day.) Fortunately, this meant that Lydia could do something she’d long wanted, namely, to visit her previous school and see her old teachers, principal, and friends. She and Mommy went and had a delightful time.

31 May 2005—A Little Catch-Up

Things roll right along for Lydia and family. I wrote a couple of weeks ago that Lydia had come down with a fever and missed a day of school; actually, the fever was a rather stubborn one, and kept her out of school for three days altogether. She and Mommy eventually went to a doctor, who said that this strain of sickness (high fever with no other symptoms) was making the rounds. She has, mercifully, enjoyed good health since.

On Wednesday, 5/18, Mommy and Daddy had a meeting with Lydia’s teachers and helpers at her school. Everyone there was pleased with Lydia’s progress. (Special thanks to Anita Engel for watching Lydia during this time.)

On Saturday, 5/21, we drove up to Lansing and had a fun visit with Lydia’s great aunt Katie and great uncle Marvin. Marvin has, in retirement, expended much energy in the collecting of telephones. Recently he has even acquired and installed an old wood-framed telephone booth—complete with working pay phone. It was fun to experience one of those again, but leaves me wondering how anyone could ever have changed clothes in it.

Monday, 5/23, saw the end-of-year ceremony for the Girl Scouts at Lydia’s school. Lydia and her Brownie troop got 1st-year pins.

On Wednesday, 5/25, Lydia had the final session of therapeutic horseback riding. We’re hoping (expecting?) another session to begin soon, but we don’t have the details yet.

16 May 2005—Hither and Yon for Girl Scouts

“To be busy is to guarantee a good deal of one’s health,” a wise man once said. We try our best to live up to that; it’s almost frightening to see how full our calendars are, and for how long in the future. Let’s see, what happened this last week? Some highlights include Lydia’s horseback riding on Wednesday, her fourth session, and the first one where Daddy was able to attend. My, she enjoys it!

Thursday Daddy took the day off of work to be able to help move furniture and boxes out of the way (special thanks to the Betzig family for letting us borrow about 20% of their garage for all of our stuff) so that workers could come and drill holes in our walls and install insulation.

On Friday we got hit with our first really good thunderstorm of the year, complete with golfball-size hail.

On Saturday we went to the Toledo Zoo as part of a special Girl Scout outing; this may have been Lydia’s first time on a carousel without an adult nearby. Memorable also were the display on dragons and the hungry chameleon.

Sunday saw us go back up to Camp Linden for an open house, which included a guided tour of some of the more important parts of the camp. Lydia is scheduled, after the school year ends, to go their to ‘day camp,’ and it was good to see where she’ll be doing various activities, such as swimming and boating.

Alas, Lydia, who had been feeling lethargic and had no appetite during much of the day, spiked a fever Sunday night, and we gave her some medicine and sent her off to an early night’s sleep. She awoke Monday looking and feeling much better, but we decided to give her an extra quiet day at home to make sure everything’s okay.

25 April 2005—What a Difference a Week Makes

Remember that perfect weather for the field trip just a week ago? Well, this weekend, we got a freak snowstorm. We were promised 4-6 inches (we got two, but hey, the thumb region got a whole foot); we had to dig out our winter coats, to say nothing of gloves, boots, and snow brushes for the car.

Lydia enjoyed the respite from spring, and made her first snowman—one of those eight-inch quickies that Daddy often constructs—out back of the house.

The newspaper had a great headline: “It’s beginning to look a lot like... April?” We have joked about seeing the first robin of winter (and boy, did it look confused), or toyed with the idea of calling it “Indian Winter”. In any event, it was short-lived: the snow was all melted by Monday mid-afternoon.

We had other fun activities this weekend, notably Saturday, including a trip to the Exhibit Museum with our old friend Mrs. Schaffer (who makes periodic trips back to Michigan from her home in Washington DC), and then joined our Sunday School group for an afternoon of bowling (Lydia’s first time without a ramp; she did pretty well and enjoyed herself) and then a get-together at one of the family’s homes (the Adles in Saline).

21 April 2005—Lydia the Cowgirl

For many years now Mommy has been hoping to get Lydia involved in therapeutic horseback riding, and just recently a group that provides such a service (in nearby Dixboro Township) had an opening for her. Last night was Lydia’s first session, and she had a terrific time riding a horse named “Fable.” When they were done, she and Mommy zoomed over to church for our last regular night of the Awana season (keeping their perfect attendance records intact!). Thank You’s are in order for Liz Betzig, who gave Daddy a ride from work to church, and to Pam Schelkun, who took over Mommy’s secretarial duties for the first part of the evening.

18 April 2005—Sparks Field Trip

What a beautiful day we had on Saturday for the Sparks Spring field trip! We went to the Matthaei Botanical Gardens on Ann Arbor’s east side, and our troop eventually consisted of seven clubbers, two clubbers’ siblings, and an amazing eight adults. We were hospitably treated to a tour of the conservatories—including jungle and desert habitats—and were enthused by plants with leaves bigger than the director; other plants that provide people with chocolate, vanilla, coffee, chewing gum, etc.; plants that eat insects; just all sorts of good stuff.

When the indoor part was over, we went on a hike on one of the walking trails. We enjoyed the streams, the swamps, the impressive crop of skunk cabbages, and, most memorably, the snakes.

Daddy was fortunate enough to find all three of the snakes that we encountered. The first two were garter snakes, and Daddy decided to catch the second one to show to the clubbers. Unfortunately, the poor thing was definitely frightened (or maybe angry), and responded by taking a healthy chomp of out Daddy’s finger. Still, no real harm done.

As we neared the end of the trail, Daddy found another snake; this one didn’t have the garter’s familiar stripes, but was a dull gray. It didn’t move away, but kept its head perched up in an attitude of warning. If you looked closely enough, you could also make out it’s signature bumpy tail. It was a genuine rattlesnake! The Massasauga, the only poisonous snake in Michigan; Daddy had expressed a desire at the beginning of the hike to find one, as he’d never seen one in the wild. What a thrill that was!

Daddy called over the others in the group, and we all got a good look at it (it was only about five feet away) before we moved on. Back in the offices, they told us that ours was the first Massasauga sighting this year.

5 April 2005—A Fun Weekend

Lydia’s spring break concluded with a fun and energetic weekend. First, on Friday night, there was a performance by the Gratitude Steel Band in the basement of the Ann Arbor District Library (Main branch). Lydia was up and dancing the congas, macarenas, limbos, and other fun stuff. She got to try out some of the band instruments, and made sure to get her hugs with the musicians at the end. A library employee assured Lydia that she was the best dancer there! When it was done we still had an hour, and—since we don’t get to the downtown branch very often—we left with two bags full of books, videos, and DVDs.

On Saturday we went to the brand new YMCA building; they were celebrating Kids’ Health Day, and had some great activities. We watched several youngsters from the Chinese community do displays with dragon costumes, with parasols, and finally with diabolos (like big yo-yos that can leave their strings; a favorite side-pastime of jugglers). Lydia enjoyed the gymnastics area and did some tumbling and balancing exercises, and the great comedian/juggler Josh Casey did a routine. Finally, we went for a dip in their new swimming pools. We had a great time!

29 March 2005—Easter Family Get-Togethers

There are still some bits of piled-up snow that are bravely hanging on, but on the whole, we can say without doubt that spring is here. And this generally makes for renewed hopes, to say nothing of safer drives.

With these things working with us, we took part in three different family get-togethers this weekend. On Saturday everyone (except Uncles Brian, George, and Dan, and Aunt Marian) went to Laura’s house in Coldwater for a combined birthday/Easter party (not only Lydia, but her cousins Caitlyn, Anthony, and Chey have their birthdays around this time, not to mention Great-grandpa Crabtree, Uncle Roger, and others). While there Roger invited us to his home in Midland for Easter dinner, and we accepted—a Roger-cooked dinner is not to be missed!

After church on Sunday, we piled into the car and zoomed to Midland for an enjoyable afternoon. Lydia can be rather picky, but she certainly liked her portion of roast beef. While there we were asked if we could transport Lydia’s cousin Tyler down to Aunt Debbie’s home in Pinckney on our way back to Ann Arbor. This we were glad to do, and it was a very enjoyable ride. The stop in Pinckney itself was brief—everybody was exhausted—but nice, nevertheless. We left with invitations to come back to go fishing and use our telescope, and stuff like that. Our summer calendar is already filling up remarkably, but we should do our best to squeeze in these family visits!

21 March 2005—Spring Marches In

Life has been very busy these last several weeks, as winter has wound down and spring has made some tenuous steps. Lydia has had her usual bunch of school activities, and the other stuff—Sparks Club and Girl Scouts—have become more active of late.

A quick stampede through the “been there, done that” file shows that Lydia had a special Girl Scout trip to Petco, a local pet shop, on February 28, and was given a tour of the place. She got to pet an animal or two, and got lots of good information on them.

March 2 was Backwards Night at Sparks Club, wherein clubbers (and some leaders) wore uniforms backwards, walked in the hallways backwards, had some backwards games, and the Council Time events were done in reverse order. It was a bit of a trial for the leaders, but lots of fun for the kids.

Lydia, as part of the Kids Choir, got to sing in the Sunday morning service on March 6; Daddy missed it, as he was out sick the whole weekend.

March 10 was an Open House at her school, and Lydia got to take Daddy around and introduce him to all of her teachers (most of whom he’d met before, but that’s okay).

Friday, March 11 was a special event at school: Book Character Day, and all the students (and teachers!) dressed up as favorite characters from books. Lydia wore a cardboard box on her back to resemble a turtle’s shell, and a rabbit mask: she was the tortoise and the hare!

March 12 was the annual Sparks-a-Rama contest, and our club had sixteen players facing off against two other teams in seven games that we do in Game Time. We finished third, but not very far back of the other teams; moreover, our clubbers played well, played fair, and had a good attitude throughout. I’d call them all winners!

When Sparks-a-Rama finished up, Lydia and her family drove to Detroit to visit the Belle Isle Aquarium (notch it up as zoo #26), which is scheduled to close in just a few weeks. It was extremely crowded, but that had the benefit of making us go slowly and thus giving us the chance to read all the information and truly appreciate each display.

March 13 saw the Girl Scout “Birthday” celebration at the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum, which is one of Lydia’s favorite hang-outs even without extra incentives.

March 16 was Sparks Parents Night, and we got lots of parents come to mingle, ask questions, watch, and participate in the night’s events. Daddy did his “Lesson on Faith” with his juggle eggs.

On Friday, March 18, Lydia got to go on a field trip with her class to Kensington Metropark, which is a wonderful place. She especially likes the farm there, and seems to share her Daddy’s fondness for pigs. Later that night was the Girl Scout carnival at school; Daddy brought along his juggle balls and clubs and was an unofficial entertainer.

Lydia spent practically all day Saturday, March 19, at Troop Leader Mrs. Morris’ home while Mommy and Daddy drove to Howell for Girl Scout training.

And finally, Lydia and the Kids Choir got to sing in the Sunday morning service again on March 20. This time Daddy was healthy and on the spot. She was terrific!

28 February 2005—Back to School

Last week was Lydia’s Winter Break, as the public schools took a week-long hiatis. Alas, Lydia didn’t get to go on any fun vacation trip, since both Mommy and Daddy were working. Instead, she spent the first four days at her old day care place, with Grandma Speer. Still, she enjoyed that.

And worse, Lydia didn’t spend Friday there, as she got a touch of either food poisoning or the stomach flu on Thursday night/Friday morning, and even Grandma Speer couldn’t have her come to her house like that. Mommy’s a temp and can’t take time off of work so easily; Daddy usually could, but was the only one of the four regular workers in the office that day. The only solution was to bring a sleeping bag and some things for Lydia to do, and have her camp out in Daddy’s little cubicle at work.

Fortunately, it all worked out fine. Lydia spent much of the time watching videos on our portable video player, and drawing pictures and playing with her Leap Pad the rest of the time. She stayed nice and quiet, and was no trouble.

Best of all, she seems to have recovered her health completely! And, I’m glad to note, the stubborn colds (mostly showing up as laryngitis) that Mommy and Daddy have wrestled with for a week or so are now subsiding.

We went to Coldwater on Saturday, delivering a supply of Girl Scout cookies, and generally hobnobbing with Grandma Brattin and Grandma and Grandpa Crabtree. Grandpa is making some nice progress on his knees, having recently been upgraded from casts to braces. He gets up and about without help much of the time. Grandma Crabtree is perpetually exhausted, but tries to stay cheerful, especially when Lydia’s around.

Sunday we made it to church—no car breakdowns this time—both services, in fact. In between, Lydia and Mommy went to Lowe’s and sold more Girl Scout cookies, together with troop leader Mrs. Morris and her daughter Lauren. I understand it went well.

21 February 2005—Musings

A highlight of the week was when Lydia got to go on a field trip, of sorts, with her class. They went over to Pioneer High School, which must house an impressive science lab, because they have an in-house planetarium. Lydia thought that the display might frighten her, but she made it through just fine. Daddy has always loved planetaria, and is hoping to have Lydia along on more visits to them.

Sunday—my, what a day!

It’s a strange experience being helpless, and being dependent on the goodwill of others. Here’s the quick low-down: Mommy wasn’t feeling well, and decided to stay home. Lydia and I drove off to church. We made it half-way there when the car gave up the ghost in the left-turn lane of an intersection. Daddy tried repeatedly, but couldn’t get a sound out of it. (We’ve suspected for some time a hidden electrical problem, but no mechanic has been able to unearth and cure it.) Lydia and I got out and started walking toward the nearest store, with the hope of calling Mommy for help and/or advice. A van immediately pulled up and the occupants offered us a lift. Daddy put his sensitive male ego aside and agreed. The family—a very nice bunch named Blackburn—transported us in comfort to Meijer, and Lydia quickly made friends with the two 9th graders in soccer garb in back.

From Meijer we asked for a phone and Daddy called Mommy, who, despite feeling lousy, contacted AAA to get a tow-truck, and asked of our next-door neighbors for a ride to (a) join us at Meijer, and (b) take us to Firestone, the one handy auto service place that was open on a Sunday. Our neighbors, the Mesropyans, were great friends in need that day.

At Firestone they gave our car a good looking-over, couldn’t find anything wrong electrically, but recommended some work on the fuel injection system. We mulled it over, and gave them the okay. We took a bus home after a quick jaunt through Briarwood Mall.

A couple of hours later, Daddy took another bus back and picked the car back up. Then back home, then off to a car rental place (again with a rare Sunday opening), then, after some adventures getting out of their parking lot—did I mention that it had snowed about five inches that day?—we made our way to a gas station (the rental was empty) and finally over to the dealership that handles our car, to drop it off.

By this time it was nearly time to get ready for the evening service at church, but Mommy hadn’t had any of her much-needed rest, and we all needed a decent dinner, so we drove home, instead.

It makes a person wonder. I believe there is order in the universe, that things we cannot control (with the possible exception of natural phenomena) have meaning. What could possibly be the reason for our car breaking down on our way to church? Could it have been that God didn’t want us to go to church? It hardly seems likely. Maybe he wanted us to become better friends to our neighbors (Daddy later shoveled out their parking space as well as ours), and gave us this chance to do it. And, it should be noted, it would have been much worse if we’d broken down the day before, when we made a return visit to the Splitz Gymnasium in Canton.

So, bad things happen sometimes. It’s always good to find God’s loving hand in the back of it.

14 February 2005—The Magnificent Seven

Lydia is now a 7-year-old. Many times during the day her Mommy and Daddy were thinking about the events of seven years before, especially the part where a doctor first announced, “You have a beautiful baby girl!” How true!

After a doctor’s appointment, it was off to school, for Lydia’s final day as Star Student.

Then Daddy, who had taken the day off work, took Mommy to work (and was introduced to all of Mommy’s co-workers), then did several other errands, including a stop at the Red Cross to donate blood. When it was time, Daddy went back to Lydia’s school to be her guest reader. Daddy was popular with the kids, not only from his reading of “Three Cheers for Tacky,” but also by showing some fun stuff with his juggle balls.

After school there was the meeting of Lydia’s Girl Scout troop, and Lydia shared some chocolate birthday cupcakes that Mommy had made.

Unfortunately, the day didn’t end there, as Lydia—who had caught a cold earlier—woke up late that night in agony; her nose hurt, her ear hurt, and she kept asking to go home, when we were already there. Mommy called the doctor, and we were advised to take her to St. Joe’s pediatric urgent care. Fortunately, we had a good nurse and a fun doctor, and Lydia was feeling much better when we left. We had to make a stop on the way home to pick up some medicine (which sure tastes better than the stuff that Mommy and Daddy remember!), and then finally home. What a day!

On Saturday we caught up on our rest, and hardly did a thing.

7 February 2005—Gymnastics, revisited

Lydia got a new experience on Saturday, February 5, as she and her family went to the Splitz Gymnastics center in Canton, to take part in their “Open Gym” time (wherein non-members can, for a nominal fee, try out all of their gymnastics equipment and have the help and guidance of their instructors). Lydia moved well from balance beams to parallel bars to trampolines, but she most enjoyed the pit that was filled with foam blocks. We hope to go back, as we’d like to see Lydia make improvements in her balance, coordination, and confidence. Besides, it’s lots of fun!

4 February 2005—Early Birthday Surprise

25 January 2005—Drive-in Movie Night

On Friday, January 21, we had our second (soon to be an annual occurrence?) Sparks Club Drive-In Movie Night. Lydia wanted a rocket instead of a car, and Daddy helped construct one—we’ll have pictures soon! The movie we watched was Joseph—King of Dreams, and it was terrific! A hearty Thank You to Awana Commander Russ Presswood for organizing everything.

24 January 2005—Coping with Snowstorms

This has been an amazing winter for snowfall; we’ve already had at least four separate snowstorms, and the total accumulation is something like four times the usual allotment. Still, we dress warmly, we drive carefully, and we get by.

The biggest snowstorm yet rocked the state (and really pummeled the northeast a day or two later) on Saturday, but it couldn’t make us stay indoors. After Daddy brushed off the van, shoveled out the driveway, the front steps and our portion of the sidewalk, and then brushed off the van again, we were off on a round of errands.

First stop was the Fantastic Sams barber shop. Lydia sat in a chair normally reserved for those getting elaborate hairstyles, and watched patiently as Daddy got shorn. Before we left, she trotted out a joke that she and Daddy co-produced: “Where does a pig get a haircut?” “I don’t know. Where does a pig get a haircut?” “Fantastic Hams!” When Lydia tells a joke, her bright eagerness is about half the enjoyment. Now if I can get her to stop following it up with “Get it?”

We then journeyed to Value World for some clothes; some for Lydia, but also, for a change, for Mommy, to beef up her winter wardrobe now that she’s working again (she’s scheduled for an 11-week stint at Unibar, where she’s done office work several times in the past).

Then off to Meijer, where we ran into an old friend, Mark Frisch. He and his brother Paul don’t drive, and were exceedingly glad to get a lift home in the unpleasant weather. Always good to be able to do someone a good turn.

Then came Sunday, the day of rest—hah! We’re usually running around like crazy on the Lord’s Day. In between the morning service (in which Lydia and other Kids Choir members sang a couple of songs) and evening service I think Mommy sat down once, and that was for a quick Sunday dinner. She got up from this and busily set in with cooking lunches for the next few days, and making a batch of Lydia-friendly cookies. Lydia, after dinner, did a couple of pages of homework before getting in some much-needed playtime.

So, in essence, not a really noteworthy weekend, in that we never left town, and never went to any new or favorite old haunts. But “real life” is interesting—and busy!—in its own right. Now we get to go back to work and school to get a little rest.

17 January 2005—Things Get Back to Normal (?)

With January comes a general return of the normal routine; Lydia goes back to school, Daddy goes back to work, and we all get back to Sparks Club on Wednesday nights.

On the other hand, some things haven’t been so predictable....

We’ve had some things happen to keep things interesting, notably at least three significant snowstorms (two of which closed the schools and one which closed Sparks Club); we’ve also had days in between when the temperature soared and turned everything to slush. There was one day when we were totally fog-bound, and we thank God for His protection on that day.

4 January 2005—Happy New Year!

Lydia and family wish all who read this a happy and prosperous 2005. We spent the Christmas/New Year break quietly at home, punctuated with some day trips to see some people whom we felt we owed a visit. We saw Mr. Mike Dean in Grand Rapids on Wednesday the 29th, then Miss Moffitt and Miss Moffitt in Kalamazoo on Friday the 31st, and turned around and drove south to visit the Knowlton family in Dayton OH on the 1st and 2nd. In the course of these visits, we also picked up Lydia’s 16th science museum (the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum), we had a return trip to the Cincinnati Zoo, Mommy got in lots of conversation, Daddy ate too much, and Lydia lost both of her upper incisors, which gives her an amazing new smile! Expect pictures before too long!