Castle in the Clouds

I love preserving old photos, especially those from my childhood. If you're wondering, I'm the short girl in front wearing the blue bibs and the pink shirt.  My hair is curly and short.  Not a good look for me.  Thank goodness the picture is mostly blurry and you can't see how truly horrible I looked in that particular hairdo. I'm standing with my cousins and my little brother, Jason; he's the baby that's being held up by my cousin, Lee Ann. Next to me, standing a few inches taller, is my cousin Michael Todd.  I have to put both names down because to many of us he's always been Todd.  Yet, there are a fair number of people that call him Mike now.  One of the perks of being a grown-up, I guess.  Todd (fine, Mike) is six months older than me. Me & Michael Todd in our younger years. Back to the original photo... Standing behind me is my cousin Tina.  In the very back, hidden by her big sister, is my cousin Angie. On the end, in the ...

It was a long eleven days.  On January 3, 2018, my dad went into the hospital to undergo a heart catheterization. This was in follow up to a stress test he had completed in late 2017.  He could have had the procedure done before the holidays but opted to wait.  Frankly, he felt fine and thought the heart cath would perhaps reveal the need for a stint or two, if that. Well, the heart cath showed that there was a significant amount of blockage and narrowing of the veins. While he sat in recovery, my sisters and I followed his cardiologist to a monitor where we could see the ink pumping - or not pumping as some of blockages were causing 90% occlusion - through his arteries and veins.  The cardiologist was very thorough, counting off the number of stints that would be required to fix the many, many problematic areas.  My sister stopped counting at fifteen, and we hadn't even looked at the third major vessel yet.  Suffice it to say, dad was termed "high ri...

I thought it might be fun to pull together some old Christmas pictures. An old scanned photo from when Ken and his sister, Ronnie, were little.  That's their dad in the front. I'd say this one was taken in the mid- to late 70s. Me and my dad.  Mid-70s. Am I crying or laughing?  I bet I'm crying.   Early 80s.  Pictured here are my mom and dad, my two brothers, and me. I have no idea where this picture was taken.    This one makes me laugh!  Let's see.  My Uncle Steve and Aunt Monica with a few of their kids, my siblings and me, and another random nephew (David). My grandma is walking into the frame.  I don't recognize the house.  What I do find funny, though, are the poses my cousin, Jessica, and I are modeling.  She's in the red dress and I'm in way too much pink.  From the mid 1980s, if I had to guess, which I do.  Holding the fire truck is   my youngest brother, Jason. ...

For the first time in a long time, Dad is single this Christmas. I point this out only because for the past few years he's had a girlfriend to help him Christmas shop for his kids and grandkids.  Knowing that he would probably find shopping for thirteen grandchildren, five children, two daughters-in-law, and one son-in-law rather daunting, I volunteered to help him pick out some gifts. For the record, I tried talking him into only buying for the grandkids.  My siblings and I are well aware that he's on a fixed income and that buying for us is a burden he shouldn't have to worry about.  But he insisted on getting each of us something small. I also want it to be known that buying for that many people is not an inexpensive venture even if you're trying to be frugal.  Christmas is so expensive!! After we finished shopping, we decided to get some lunch.  Instead of hitting up Burger King or Arby's, both of which he had coupons for, I treated him to some Apple...

Once upon a time there was a family that would plan annual rafting trips down the Pere Marquette River in Baldwin, Michigan.  They picked this particular river because it was near the family's favorite summer vacation spot.  Purchased by the sprawling family's patriarch and matriarch (my grandparents), the wooded lot sat on a narrow, sandy two-track road a fair distance outside of town.  Every summer during the warmest months someone would pick a date and notify the family of this family reunion style event.  Someone would call dibs on the trailers - there were two of them on the lot at this time, one trailer suited to a trailer park and one suited more for camping.  The rest of the family would pitch tents wherever they could manage. My family lived two and half hours away from the trailer.  In fact, most of the extended family lived near us and traveled just as far.  Three of my grandparent's children had opted to live in or near Fostoria, Mich...

I stopped by Grandma's little trailer to do more than check in on her. I had high hopes of getting her to agree to let me record her answers to a few questions. To my delight, she was willing! We used my cell phone to record these StoryCorps audio files.  

When it comes time to plan our family vacations, Ken and I try to think of someplace we haven't yet taken the boys. With how fast they're growing up, we know our family-of-four vacations are fast approaching an end. It's a thought we don't verbalize too often, but it's an inescapeable fact that our children will eventually move away from home and start lives of their own. That is the goal, right? Our oldest boy starts Eighth Grade this fall. According to my fingers math, this means we most likely only have five more summer vacations with him. After he graduates, I'm sure he'll be anxious to run off to college or, at the very least, look into getting a place of his own where Mom and Dad's rules need not apply. Forgive me while I weep. I know there's also a possibility that one or both of the boys could get jobs when they start driving that make vacationing even harder. Oh, and what about sports camps and the eventual girlfriends I imagine they...

This was a first, but hopefully not a last. My sisters, niece, and I had a Girls Night Out this last Saturday. What made this particular outing unique was that it included my niece, who is only 8 years old. (Or is she 9 now? I should know this, right?) This meant our Girls Night Out was alcohol-free. Instead of drinking and dancing, which is usually what happens when us girls get together, we were singing and dancing without the benefit of any alcohol-enhanced rhythm.  Just to be clear, though, the lack of adult beverages didn't lessen the pleasure of the event. Sugarland put on a great show. The stage looked amazing and rather steampunky. These pictures, taken with my sister's cell phone, don't really do the set any justice.  As the title of tour - The Incredible Machine - suggests, it incorporated gears, keys, and other bits and pieces of machinery.  In fact, I wish our pavilion seats would have been closer to the stage so we could have gotten a better look....

And, no, it wasn't me! It was my darling hubby.  I'd like to say the surprise party was actually a surprise, that I somehow managed to pull it off, but it wasn't.  In defense of those who happened to let it slip, it's very difficult to hide anything from Ken.  I knew he'd figure out something was up when the money started disappearing from our checking account. Here he is just after walking into my brother's pole barn where we were holding his birthday bash.  I should probably add that if he hadn't known about the party before pulling into their driveway, the dozen or so cars parked all over the place would have given the game away. But he knew.  So whatever. After he had a chance to mingle for a little bit - and share his grisly "how I tried to cut my fingers off" story - it was time for presents.  I had to be rather selective in choosing pictures for the blog.  Then it was time to cut the cake.  I was hoping by doing this earlier rath...