2015 Week 36: Pleasures and Pains

Those two Ps seem to be the normal mix of life on earth.
Mike has experienced a lot of the latter. A very painful shot on Thursday was an attempt to target the nerve causing the episodes, but after all the xrays and efforts to isolate the culprit, it was unsuccessful. "Come again next week."

Watching the birds that hover around the various feeding stations is one of the pleasures of life in our woods.

Teaching the sounds and basics of the Spanish language has become another of my rewarding experiences. Early on I teach the vowel sounds with skits that associate each one with a scenario. Photos in the classroom of the acting students are constant reminders of the correct pronunciation when tempted to revert to the English sound. As an added (or intentional!) bonus--we have a lot of fun doing this activity. 

Monday's Cast

Tuesday's Cast

Monday Night Meal is a pleasure we both look foward to, only slightly lessened by the fact that we can't ride together. For as long as I am teaching in Muncie I will go straight to the dinner from class.

We had a wonderful surprise this week. Our Chinese friend, Nanxin, has returned after being gone since December. She is now a graduate student in actuarial science.

Wednesday we caught a glimpse of our lovely daughter when we delivered some items to her house. She told us, however, that she was not doing as well as she looked--poison ivy was taking over!
I think she later ended up in the ER.

Thursday I walked again with my tall walking partner. Rebecca did not join us, but I did stop by after to see her.

Fridays, my neighbor-friend and I meet for coffee and a delightful hour-long chat.

Until the end of the growing season and before the cold weather sets in, my next two stops Friday-stops are: Victory Acres, to pick up our weekly share; and the Farmer's Market, to stock up on whatever else is available.
I am so enjoying the sunflowers I bought there and how they fit in one of Mike's ceramic vases.

This is a big weekend in our little town. Saturday is rummage day and crowds come from all over to our "Feria americana"--this American custom of putting out all our excess items and selling them for almost nothing.
SIL Diane really looks forward to it every year, even if she doesn't buy much. This time she asked me weeks ago if I would go with her. So we hit some of the favorite places. I think it's impossible to go to all of the yard sales. We ended up at Leah's where Kayla was selling baby-girl clothes, sizes 0 to 9 months.

Another Rebecca sighting, and Zeus, her favorite doggy.

Rebecca ate some of my "walking taco" and loved it!

More Labor Day weekend festivities to come. I'll report on those next week.

2014 Week 48: Festivities

Christmas decor began to appear this weekend. So far only the "anorexic" tree was trimmed. All other ornaments and seasonal items lay strewn all around me.  I will attempt to ignore the mess and finish this blog post.

 We enjoyed authentic Chinese food at the Monday Night Meal. Nanxin brought a great variety of bags of imported items and cooked everything in a "hot pot." She kept scooping out and passing around all kinds of interesting and very tasty items: beef that looked like bacon; bamboo shoots like white carrots; clear plastic-looking sweet potato noodles; a variety of greens; tofu cubes; dough balls (actually called 'Big Gluten Balls' on the bag!); and oh, so many more. We were well satisfied after that enjoyable culinary experience. Thank you, Nanxin!

This week Mike finally finished the last pour in the long road to repair his sculpture that he has been working on for over a year.

I didn't have to teach all week. Even so time was taken up with people and festivities. . . and a small necessary surgical procedure--a BCC lesion was removed under my right eye Tuesday morning. In the evening at Malachi's 16th birthday celebration, the drooping bandaid was quite obvious.

I had fun taking pictures and talking to family and friends.

Matt & Kayla                                                                         "What's Daddy doing?"

"Nanna loves me."

Baby peers meet. Rebecca Rose is fascinated by the boy her age!

Sam and nephew Ollie                                                                                  Rebecca Rose

Wandering Wheels, a wonderful place for a birthday party and sleepover. Something for everybody: swimming pool; ping-pong, pool tables; fuss ball; even a piano the little cousins can play.

Looks like the babies and little ones took center stage, but really the celebration was about this big guy! Love you, Malachi. We are so proud of you. Hope you had lots of fun with all your friends!

Diane spent three days with us, and on Thanksgiving Day the three of us drove north to Warsaw and had a lovely dinner with Mother and brother Alan's family at my nephew's new place. Thank you, Daniel!

Friday evening we bundled up and drove south to Noblesville where we walked around the Court House square admiring all 20 of Stpehan's ice creations set up by his six-man crew.
Here are only a few of my photos. I like the little girl admiring the train.

And a favorite "Frozen" character (I haven't seen the movie yet) from ones Stephan posted on FB.

Then we watched The Ice Man himself work on a four-block Santa going down the chimney.

We didn't stay till the end so here's Stephan's photo of the final sculpture.

A fun time for all!

Diane's poses

2014 Week 17: Big Announcement

I like this photo from Easter Sunday, I spied Matt and Kayla out on the deck, each quietly doing their own thing. We've found out that Matt is a very good photographer.

They were not so quiet on Monday, however, after they saw many ultrasound photos of their baby!!!

Sharing the news with grandpa                                                              Sharing with the world on Facebook!

The news blew up on Facebook. I posted the photo on the left and it got some 150 Likes!
Now we wait till August to meet our great granddaughter!

Mike is back into the once-a-week Tuesday evening robotics routine. Several times I've looked out the kitchen window in the evenings to see four or five deer grazing on the new grass growth.

Wednesday evening we enjoyed hearing stories from a young friend who's been living in South East Asia.

Thursday evening we attended a concert at Anderson University to support another young friend.

Friday I got to spend hours of fun with my youngest grandsons.

"It's raining"                                                                                "Yeah, the sun is out!"

We spotted some new flowers.

Saturday, while Michael was out on his bicycle attempting to reach 100 miles, his little sister Diane and I spent the day together. First, coffee at McD's, then a long time browsing in the Unorganized Bookstore. She loves bookstores!

I spent a couple hours working in the garden and planted three new starts.
I discovered so many lovely clusters of violets.

Sunday, some friends from Monday night meals spent the afternoon with us so Nanxin could experience Ivanhoe's atmosphere and food, and see our home before she returns to China. We taught her to play Hand & Foot, and she won!

As it seems this weekly post is not complete without an expression of art, here is the piece Nanxin chose from Mike's Klaytivity display.

Faces

Another week has flown by and I'm late again.