2017 Week 50: Lights and trees

Upland Depot Park

The week began with one of my favorite events: Kayla's students' dance recital at Cornerstone for the Arts in Muncie. She was directing and/or dancing with her students in thirteen acts.

One of Kayla's favorite dance classes is musical theatre. This year they performed Mary Poppins.

"Let's go fly a kite"

Our own Kristie was in the adult ballet class, a first for her! 

It was college finals week. I met with each of these students individually one last time.

That evening we enjoyed another of Stephan's meals with friend Gina and her cute and boisterous little grandsons.

Finally, Tuesday, when grades were turned in, I dragged out all the Christmas stuff from the attic and decorated one tree.

The "anorexic" tree

 Meanwhile, Moriah spent the entire day completing assignments and studying for finals, with very few breaks or interruptions. Way to keep plodding, Moriah! That takes grit!

What a fun surprise to look out my writing area window in the loft and discover that Michael had put together the lighted deer. He says it was the only one he saw this season. Not a successful hunting year.

Michael also put together our big Christmas tree and strung new lights. (Photo of decorated tree will come next week.)

Thursday I took off for Winona Lake again to spend time with Mother and encourage her in the long recovery phase. That evening they had a carol sing and devotion in the activities room across the hall from her. She'd had her hair done that day. That makes her happy. Can you believe that at 96 she still has a reddish tint?

This time I spent the night in Ivan and Kim's guest room and had a nice visit with them.
Friday the 15th I was reminded that 60 years earlier was our grandmother Hoyt's funeral in Winona Lake, IN. We were living in Evans City, PA, that year. Mother was great with child, Ivan, due in a few weeks, so we did not travel with Dad.

 I was able to enlarge the photo on my phone and show Mother the various ornaments including the new one in the center, a house to represent their current occupation HP Home Rescue.

Our favorite activity together is to read old letters. This time I had the last batch from Aunt Margaret to finish up, a smattering from the years 1963-1966. I learned many interesting details, such as the exact date of my final departure from Argentina, December 20, 1963, a very different Christmas that year.

Meal times I join Mother's table. The long waits allow for fun interaction with the residents. The lady on the left was also a missionary in Argentina. And once upon a time I taught their daughter in the third grade of the Escuela Cristiana Evangélica in Río Cuarto, Córdoba.

 From one nursing home to another. . . Saturday, back home, the big event for me was the Dancin Divas' (or was it the Tapping Divas) performance at the University Nursing Center nearby.

 I think we agreed we'd take a better photo if we planned on it before the performance instead of an afterthought. At least we are all smiling, like we should be while dancing, which is hard to do when you're concentrating on the steps!

2016 Week 14: More Surprises

A week ago we were commenting on surprise spring weather.

It happened again. We woke up to snow yesterday.

Monday morning our dear friends stopped by for a goodbye get-even game of Hand and Foot and then made their way back to sunny Arizona.

That same day we had surprise visitors from afar. Son Stephan called to say his friend Otieno, from Moody Bible Institute days, was passing through with his family on a visit to Taylor University.

The Oduor kids posing                                                Joined by parents

Otieno is from Kenya, Barbie grew up in France. So we had a lot of fun talking about language and culture. I learned the word Muzungu. Who does it apply to in these photos?

Yet another gathering, and food, on the same day. Monday Night Meal, of course. This time the delicious food was enhanced by spring flowers  and especially the lively conversation of many more guests than usual, including Kristie and the boys!

Tuesday afternoon Spanish class was very privileged to have Ignacio Aguirre visit and give a fabulous presentation about his beautiful country--Chile. He has been involved in tourism most of his life and is the co-founder and director of ChileDTour. He is endorsed as one of the best tour guides ever. We fell in love with Chile.

Sorry, these are the only two photos I captured, mostly for the different varieties and names of their fish and seafood.

Wednesday I dropped off some personalized coloring pages for Leah. This is her current favorite hobby. The back story is that she has been so tempted to color her dress!

Coloring page in the making

The rocks Leah paints come to life when Rebecca is there.

Friday evening was the kick-off of the Barton Reese Pogue Poetry and Arts festival with a workshop led by Shari Wagner, the current Indiana poet laureate and poetry readings around the theme of "Love is in the Air."

In other years I was involved in the planning and participated more. This time I only helped judge the adult original poetry and interpretive readings on Saturday morning.
Our church was transformed for the occasion with art displays throughout, various sessions, and the closing ceremony in the sanctuary.

Top left--winning youth art piece; Musical entertainment by Victoria Markum; Love is in the Air; High School ceramics

Michael had another very full week with robot workdays and another promotional luncheon midweek. Even so, he took off several hours to go with me to the Latin Night season finale of the Marion Philharmonic Orchestra--¡Viva la música! My students and I were offered complimentary tickets. Only two were able to make it. ¡Qué lástima! The others missed out on a wonderful evening.

Pam and Victor Fancher, and Sarah Ramos-Torres

Sadly, Michael had to go all the way back to Muncie to finish off the evening with the PhyXTGear-faithfuls who continue to do necessary repairs and improve the performance of Sir Plus in preparation for the upcoming State competition, April 14-16, in Kokomo. He didn't get home till 2:30 a.m.!

Can you believe we are retired???

2014 Week 50: Varied forms of art

A whole week without seeing this cutie! Had to borrow a pic from Facebook again--"Tummy time."

"I'm 4 months old today!"

 I'll try to fill you in on Michael. He gets in some form of exercise almost daily, preferably cycling: indoors, on rollers; or outdoors, a bit more challenging. Little by little (poco a poco) he sees improvement--can go a little further before feeling pain and even then it is not intense like before.

He works very diligently on the bronze piece now in the polishing stage. His 'other woman' is very beautiful!

One afternoon a week, Wednesdays, he spends time making 'art' with the youth at the Red Barn. After our tap dance class, Kayla and I both had the same idea, we stopped by to see how it was going.

Stephan was away for a few days making ice art at a competition in Ithaca, New York.
His piece was very difficult to photograph. Can you see the face, two hands and the bass?

All About That Bass

Thursday was my last class so I took a quick snapshot, only one. Then I enhanced it using http://www.picmonkey.com/. I am delighted with the result and amazed at how it represents the different personalities and the fun we had together. Their final exam is on Thursday. We still do not know about next semester's enrollment.

Saturday was an errand and shopping day for me. I went to a craft fair to purchase a couple gifts from the Heavy Metal lady. She takes antique silverware and makes a great variety of jewelry from parts and pieces.

Diane and I had lunch there--wonderful homemade soups and sandwiches.

Again this week, I focused each morning on the Verse of the Day, preparing my heart for Christmas.

Day 8: John 14:6--JESUS: the only Way to the Father; the Truth; the Life.

Day 9: John 15:5,8--the Vine, we are the branches, if we stay connected, we naturally bear fruit.
But if we don't, we can't do anything. So, much fruit proves that we are His followers.

Day 10: Deuteronomy 18:15--the Prophet, the one we must listen to.

Day 11: Isaiah 7:14--Immanuel (God with us) the promised son to be born of a virgin.

Day 12: Galatians 4:4-5--the promised sign was fulfilled in due time, he was born under the Law in order to redeem us from the requirements of the Law, so that we could be adopted as children of God!

Day 13: Matthew 2:4-6--King Herod heard about the prophecies from the Magi and wanted to learn more. His motives were evil. He inquired where the child was to be born so he could eliminate the threat of being replaced as ruler.

I heard an astounding fact this week. A math expert had his students do a study of the probability of all the prophecies concerning the Christ being fulfilled. The result was one in a hundred billion, Only Jesus matched up perfectly!

2014 Week 34: The Week's Miscellany

Health issues, decisions, disasters and more. The good and the bad always hand in hand.

Monday was Mike's follow-up appointment with Dr. Sundaram at IU Health in Indianapolis.
The good news: no traces of cancer! The potentially bad, more sarcoidosis nodules detected on thyroid.
We visited our friend Sara (fellow Circle Tour rider) over lunch and she shared her venison stew with us.

I was asked to teach a Level 1 Spanish course at Ivy Tech, and have been asking God and others for direction and advice. I promised to give an answer by Monday night. I said yes.

Tuesday, our friend Jenni gave us both massages to relieve our hip and back issues. She is very skilled

That evening I went to an orientation for adjunct professors and received the texts I will be using.

Wednesday I received the Master Syllabus and the next day met with the Department Chair and Assistant Coordinator to fill out a hire packet. So, here we go, plenty of work (and fun?) ahead. I will be teaching Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 - 9 PM.

Mike got on his bike again and rode 12 miles! He's gone out two more times this week, and feels better, although the hip pain comes back and slows him down.

Thursday evening our young friend from Little Rock, Arkansas, arrived to spend the night before moving into the dorm at Anderson. He was rather worn out from driving all that way but stood around long enough that we persuaded him to play a game of Hand and Foot before retiring for the night. What were we thinking? He beat us soundly.

Calculating the final scores                                                      Gloating

That night severe storms and heavy rains hit our area. A neighboring town got over 9" resulting in serious flooding. We had a little over 5" and no real damage.

The weather was very timely for the new parents. Matt was sent home from work and could go with Kayla to second doctor appointment for baby Rebecca. She had lost a bit too much weight by Tuesday, but is gaining now.

Schools were closed for 'rain day'! Skye took this picture of their flooded back yard.

More babies! Leah was up all night acting as midwife for her beagle Cleo's first delivery. A rough time--two live births but the last two puppies were stillborn.

Saturday we both left the house shortly after 8 a.m. Michael had an event where the robotics team showed off their robots at a family fest. And I went to grandson Malachi's cross country meet. As a sophomore he is now on the varsity team. It was not the best day for a race--soggy ground and hot and humid weather. Uncle Stephan was there to offer encouragement.

Then I headed to the Broadway house to help paint, or at least touch up some spots.

Bye, bye, Broadway house after 13 years of good memories!

On the way home I just had to stop at Kayla's and hold Rebecca again. Still so tiny and such a doll!

All week, at various intervals, Michael has been working on his latest piece of art, preparing it step by step for an eventual bronze casting. Over the months he has spent hours and hours painstakingly perfecting even the smallest aspect. Finally all the parts were assembled onto a 'tree' for the series of coats before the wax melting stage. Alas, this morning disaster struck (most likely Brutus the cat) and the shattered pieces are irrecoverable. This is the only memory we will have of a long anticipated beautiful work of art.

Mike is still recovering. The cat may have a different home soon!