Houses, birthdays, life

Karin's Sunday bouquet, May 23

Sunday afternoon, I drove up to Winona Lake for a very special birthday party. The missionary neighbor we called Aunt Margaret, turned 100 May 25th. Jim and Margaret Marshall moved in next to us in a big 15-room house in La Carlota, our first location in Argentina. I was only five or six. The last couple decades of their lives brought the two couples together again in the same neighborhood and during their final years they lived in the same health care residence for seniors. Margaret survived them all. She always said she wanted to make it to her 100th birthday.

It was so good to see her again after more than a year!

My friend Darlene also had a birthday this week. We don't get together very often, so it was good to share lunch and conversation at Payne's.

Michael had been coming down with a serious head cold. He rested Sunday, but Monday was back working on Stephan and Karen's house. When I went there for the weekly dinner, my phone was dying so I only managed to get one photo of the progress.

I borrowed this photo from Karen's blog to show what Michael has been doing all week. He cut the metal siding to fit and install around the nine windows. The urgency is to complete all the high work with the lift and avoid renting the expensive equipment for another week.

Michael is unstoppable, even when fighting a cold. If he was home and it wasn't raining, he found time to mow. Look closely and you will see him in this pic.

Robotics slowed down considerably, which allows him to give so much time to the house-building.

Meanwhile, I try to make the most of all the time alone, walk most days, meet with friends, write and more.

Jane and I enjoyed the rhododendrons and other blooms on our walk together Tuesday to the bridge over the Mississinewa River.

Wednesday was Michael's 50+27 birthday, as he prefers to call it,emphasis on the 50! He caught up with me, but I cannot keep up with him! He worked all day, of course. So, I invited Moriah to stop by for a quiet evening. We played an extension of Splendor, and we let him win! ;-)

We heard from our other girl, happy to be reunited with her family and enjoying her assistant editor internship job.

Kendra and little sister Katie; Kendra, Katie and Zach

When I visited Leah on Thursday, I was introduced to three new kittens. She runs a well organized cat maternity hospital!

On my daily walks, I see interesting sights. Honeysuckle always reminds me of childhood, sucking the honey from the blossom. On a rainy day, I found this interesting puddle. Best of all is the time to think and pray.

Sam has been working on his house to finish and make it PERFECT (he has very high standards!), but now it is for sale as they plan to move nearer to the Greenfield schools area where Kristie works.

House for Sale

After many weeks of fewer TV evenings (or at least ones when we were awake enough to watch an entire episode) we finally finished the Foyle's War series.

This week I also listened to Eric Metaxas' biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer--powerful warning for our times.

Preparing for Christmas

It's beginning to look like Christmas. We had our first snowfall at the beginning of the week. 

I dragged totes and boxes out of the attic and began decorating slowly. 

Windowsills were the first to welcome a few Nativities.

Of the three on the kitchen sill, Leah's clay miniatures is my favorite.

Christmas greeting mailings have begun in earnest. Delightful responses and annual letters are trickling in. I treasure each one. Cards are extra special this year as they give way to online communication.

Our card is dedicated to remembering Mother and the art legacy of her last few years of life (1921-2020).

One attic box, that I'd not opened yet, was labeled Mother's tree lights and trimmings. I found some fifty ornaments, most of them crafted by Aunt Gladys from colorful beads. This is only a sampling. It was fun to pack them up and send them to her daughter for the grandchildren. (Dad and Mother looked after Gladys in her final years, so ended up with many of her things.)

 

Michael and I made time to walk nearby trails a couple times this week. I am thankful for his encouragement to get out, and especially grateful that he is mostly pain free and we are able to do this together. 

He even went on a longer and more difficult hike with a friend. Saturday bicycle rides are still on, though fewer riders and shorter distances.

I was going to keep Christmas simple this year, but once I got everything out, inspiration took hold. Then with Rebecca's help, in no time we had two trees decorated and more in progress!

What a blessing to have children around with their enthusiasm, energy and childlike perspective!

Rebecca found this set of blocks. I was about to throw them away until she found a place to display them, and sounded out the letters to read the word. After that she read NOEL in several other places. 

The robotics team meets only Tuesday evenings now until January. Two former students (PhyXTGears' president's daughters) were the stars in the play "Christmas in Comfort" at The Commons Theatre in Alexandria. More than twenty youth were involved. We went Thursday. It was fun to reconnect with these girls and their family.

On my to-do list I had written, "Visit Darlene." Saturday she called and I stopped by. What a good thing it is to keep old friendships alive!

We value our young friends too. After church Sunday, we picked up some Holiday carry-out meals at the Lion's Club and invited ourselves to eat with Sarah in her little rental house. Sweet visit.

Later in the day, Moriah stopped by for a visit. Always welcome!

So, what about the rest of the family?

Stephan and Karen have enjoyed hiking, trying out their new trekking poles. The most recent venture was at Kokiwanee.

Ha! I just read the caption under Stephan's Facebook header: "A goofy ice sculpting homesteader blessed with a lovely wife and gracious Lord." (I wonder how long that has been there?)

Leah is hanging in there, her skin still healing from radiation. She found out this week that she needs cataract surgery sometime in the near future.

Sam's Life Skateboards business is flourishing. Checkout the new website. You might find a gift there for someone on your Christmas list. Most recently Life Skateboards partnered with Josh Garrels--musician friend!

I may soon announce a translation partnership for my book in progress.

Sunday's message entitled Preparing for Christmas and the choir and orchestra performance of "Dawn of Everlasting Light" was inspiring and beautiful.

How are you preparing?

Surprises

Some weeks back I found a long-forgotten bulb in a paper bag, so I planted it. A beautiful surprise awaited us. Daily we watched it grow, first a long stalk, then one by one these nameless beauties.

Memories from years ago also surprised me. I'd been going through Mother's diary and came across a detailed account of their travels when my parents were the age I am now. It was the last time they visited the places where they'd lived and served for most of their lives. That in itself is interesting, but there is more. I was on that trip along with my brother Ivan and his family. I located the buried photo album to revisit that pilgrimage. Since then I've been scanning, enhancing and digitizing the old photos. Here are a couple favorites.

Reunited with my BFF Mirtha, January 1997

Enough for this week's Memory Monday.

Tuesday, I met with an Upland friend who helped me adjust to life in America thirty six years ago. We enjoyed a vegan lunch at the new Rabbit Food Café in a neighboring town.

My friend Darlene

I keep plodding on with writing goals, bringing back the stories of my early years in Argentina. This week I focused on finishing the chapter about the locust invasion we experienced when I was a toddler. 

Tuesday and Thursday evenings and all day Saturdays, the robotics shop is a buzzing busy place. You can glimpse some of the activity in this video--Kicking-off the 2020 build-season.

Thursday I joined the Upland/Matthews Working group of Thriving Families/Thriving Grant County in their meeting to talk about how they could support the PhyXTGears team and then we had a tour of the shop.

I spied a grandson among the busy robot-builders! He can always sense when I am about to take a picture. 

Fridays I look forward to the lunch hour with fellow-writers. Our hostess showed us these small musical instruments she used to play. Do you know what they are?

Saturday I ventured far to visit and celebrate with a young mother, her son's first birthday. The bad weather forecast held off, and I made it there late but safe.

Life is different this month: Moriah gone all month; Michael totally absorbed designing, building, mentoring;  I have more time for household chores, cooking, and writing. Sorry to say, I have failed to walk and exercise. How has winter affected your routines?

Mini Vacations

A week of many outings. . .
Memorial Day we walked the many aisles of the Shipshewana flea market. It was a beauiful sunny day. We enjoyed it with Diane.

A lovely bouquet of peonies welcomed us when we arrived back home. It took me all week to figure out who had left them. Thank you, Petey!

 Tuesday I met with another good friend to celebrate her 81 years, still looking lovely.

Meanwhile, Michael, Team 1720 and friends were celebrating an open house for the only graduate this year.

Kaylee

Wednesday was our last tap class until we resume in August. Rebecca entertained herself by building and decorating her little corner. We rehearsed and recorded several routines, so that, hopefully, we can practice some during the summer.

Thursday, we'd talked about going out on the tandem after I got back from exercise class, but a sudden hail storm foiled our plans.

Friday, a friend and I were going to visit Mother during ArtCare hours, however she had scheduling conflicts, and Michael happily joined in. We had a delightful time coloring alongside the elderly residents, and after were served a good and abundant meal in the Quiet Room next door. We hadn't known about that availability before.

The art teacher pointed out several of Mother's recent paintings that I had not seen yet. Here are three of the five.

It was another bright and sunny day so we took Mother outside to see all the lovely flowers and sit in the gazebo for a bit while we talked to Ivan out in Vegas.

Next we drove to Middlebury in Amish Country and strolled the streets and shops.

Saturday, I rose early to keep my paid-for commitment to run the National Trails Day 5K in Muncie.
I was happy to meet two people I knew, younger-than-me, obviously. We each won first place in our age/gender cateogory!

That afternoon, Michael had another outing planned, this time to a typical MidWest town festival--Dunkirk Glass Days. We watched glass ornaments in the making, listened to country music, shared an ice cream cone, and simply enjoyed being together.

Definitely a week of memory-making, rather than exploring memories from the past. However, all the travel time together allowed us to read or listen to a couple books that impacted our thinking. I've  often heard that reading is essential to becoming a good writer. So, perhaps it was not a lost week.

2018 Week 48: Appointments and Celebrations

Almost every day for a week I've had medically related appointments. It either says I'm falling apart or I'm just very efficient and schedule these to get them over with--annual physical, blood draws, dentist, cataract surgery post-op, and a root canal retreatment. None were photo-worthy!
However, most days there was also occasion to celebrate and prepare for the Advent season.

Michael is very  wise and careful with how he spends his time. Sunday afternoon he finished filling in the cracks in the driveway while the weather was mild.

He also takes advantage of breaks in the weather to get some bike riding in.

And it's the last week for deer hunting so father and son have been out nearly every morning early regardless of the weather. Stephan brought in a large doe on his last day.

Michael tackled a huge job--resurfacing our new-after-the-housefire sectional. The faux leather had begun to disintegrate and peel. We bought the fabric and had someone lined up to reupholster it all, however through a series of very unfortunate life circumstances, the person was unable to do the job.
As is his custom, Michael researched all the options and decided to try a paint-refinish method. He worked long and hard. The two different colors he ordered never achieved the perfect match. Now it looks gray. What do you think?

About my week:

Monday morning was tap class. We're preparing four routines for two upcoming performances.

A special little visitor entertained us with her tap routine.

Later that day, instead of the usual exercise class, we had a special dinner to thank the two Taylor University students who led the program.

Wednesday, yet another celebration lunch with a couple of friends.

Only a few Christmas decorations have made their way to their rightful spot. However, Thursday I began to drag the boxes out of the attic, sorting and assessing mice-damage.

A couple Facebook pics tell me some family members are way ahead of me.

Saturday, Diane joined us for a favorite event to open the Christmas season--Sing Noel at Taylor University. We had choice seats close to the aisle where students performed a joyful ethnic dance, and our friends and neighbors danced to lovely waltz music.

Since we were in the same building where Moriah spends most of her waking hours, we surprised her after the event. She showed us several of her projects for Circuits class, her most demanding and time-consuming. They are counting down the days till the end, truly hoping there is life after Circuits!

Every attempt at conversation these days begins with, "Are you ready for Christmas?" By now you've guessed my answer. What about you?