2018 Week 26: Summer Fun

Summer flowers are fun.

Not everything is fun and games, however. Moriah and two mentors worked long hours over the weekend on the tester they designed, and though they were at it into the wee hours of the morning, she was back at the job the next day. Such is the life of an engineer.

Moriah's summer job is with Near Space Launch, a company started by our neighbor. Several of the employees work out of his home. So occasionaly when Moriah runs into a problem, Mike takes his segway and cruises over to give advice and/or consult with the team.

Moriah looks like she's pointing to the tester they designed to check the tiny solar panels for the satellites they are bulding 

One day this week we delivered the office chair she had left in her room and I got to see her workspace. She has a wonderful view of our road. When I go for a walk I can wave and know that she will notice.

We've been following the World Cup, so of course I had to watch Argentina! Tuesday's was an exciting win!

Bee-keeper and bees have been busy. Michael harvested a goodly amount of honey this week.

We miss our ladies group fellowsip during the summer. However this week I saw two of the friends. The grandson of one of them entertained  and tricked us with a magic/illusionist show at a nearby library. 

young illusionist--Hunter Tabor

The next day, Friday, I got together with another friend and her grandson. Patryce and I had two months worth of catching up to do. Can you guess where we went?

Upland's  farmers' market summer offers a delightful array of produce, baked goods, and more as well as the opportunity to meet community friends. The food truck this week allowed for a pleasant evening picnic.

We watched Saturday's  Argentina vs. France soccer game with hopeful anticipation. But, alas, it was the end of the road for my "other country."

That afternoon we welcomed a group of Basque students who will be here through the month of July. We are hosting Jon and our grandson Elijah is staying with us also. Sam and Kristie, with Malachi's help, are hosting Xabi (SHAWvee), younger brother to the student who was with them last summer.

I do believe the boys are having a good time even if I cannot understand or follow the fast game they play.

Many more planned and unplanned adventures await them. The fun has begun!

2017 Week 38: Chores and more

What's happening at the Koch's?

This week I want to focus on Michael as I didn't include any of his activities last week.

He has accomplished a great deal this summer: painted sections of the siding; sealed the driveway; cared for his beehives. (Sadly one of them became infested with wax moths and didn't make it. There are five colonies left.)

The evidence

The latest project: felling dead trees, making sure they'd fall in a safe direction; loading and moving them; splitting the logs and stacking the pieces. 

Our resident engineering student giving advice

This is an ongoing project. Four trees down and four more to go. 

Stephan will pick up several of the right-sized logs suitable for the timber frame house he is preparing to build.

Not to mention all Michael's other ongoing involvements: robotics; pottery at the Red Barn; the satellite project; and very regular bicycle rides.

What's happening in other Koch households?

Last Sunday was Kristie's birthday. I'm borrowing this sweet photo of the royal treatment she received that morning. This weekend, the college boy came home so Sam and Kristie could get away.

Wednesday tap class was quite a mental and physical workout--trying to learn new steps and a new dance routine as well as remember the old one--but very entertaining as well.

Big teacher, little teacher

I popped in to visit mi hija Thursday and got some good pics of the family pets.

Top: Zeus; lower left, Ruff; lower right, Cleo

Signs of autumn greet me on gray days and sunny days, but the heat wave we are experiencing (several days in the 90's) tell me summer is loathe to leave.

Grading was my focus. Tests and homework packets were spread out on the counter most of the week. I discovered that listening to audio books makes the task bearable, even enjoyable.

I finally learned how to use an app to access library books, and now I'm on a roll, three in one week. At this rate maybe I'll catch up on all the recommended reading.

I lean toward memoir and biography. There are so many life lessons in these stories.
I'm curious, do you enjoy audio books?

The week ended strolling hand in hand with Michael through the numerous vendor booths, rows of rebuilt old cars, and food concessions at the popular and chaotic event in the neighboring town, the Ducktail Run. We settled on a sweet treat to share.

Looking old but happy

2017 Week 18: Surprises

This week we were intentional about recovery. For Michael it meant staying away from MadJax and robotics, and for me resting more to get over a cold.

Today I discovered these beauties growing by a side of the house where no one will see them.

We have a spy-bird, or rather a cowbird that spies on us persistently. He sits for hours on the deck chair by our window looking in (or perhaps watching tv with us).

Jude was with us overnight Tuesday and most of Wednesday, the day I came down with a cold.
Among many other fun things, we played Connect Four.

Surprised to win

Michael attended to chores on the homefront when and where possible. Heavy rain and cold weather most of the week hindered some.
However his first honey harvest of the season was surprisingly abundant.

A bigger surprise was when he went out and discovered that some of his bees had swarmed. He was just in time to rescue and relocate them.

Thursday evening was the opening of the graduate exhibition of the Herron School of Art. We went with Stephan and Karen to see our friend Stefan Eicher's MFA thesis work.

"He laughed" (60 x 55")                         "the Opposite of Fear" (60 x 84")                             "The You in I" (60 x 72")

He welcomed us warmly and invited us to break bread together, while cutting into carefully carved grenade-shaped butter.

Three large oil and acrylic canvases covered the wall behind him and lining the floor below a row of bullet-casings become pencils. The deep and layered significance of the exhibit, in his words:

"Violence, whether physical or psychological, is sustained by the act of 'naming'--placing people into categories of 'the other' based on a singular difference in identity. Art, by its very nature, works best when it breaks a viewer's categories of visual certainty and ability to 'name.' My work seeks to break the 'violence of naming,' by breaking the 'naming of violence,' and in the process explores the multi-valency of identity and the human connections between people." 

I especially liked the painting on the right which is based on a historical photograph--in the midst of war, surrounded by grenades laying about, fellow humans share tea.

On the way home we were delightfully surprised by the food at a new restaurant in Hamilton Town Center--Fresh to Order, F2O. 

Before the rain and cold set in, earlier this week, I took a walk to see what surprises awaited in our outdoors.

Here are  photos from two weeks before.

And the pond area two weeks apart.

After the successful swarm-rescue, Mike put out a notice on FB to let him know of any swarm-sightings. Today after church he responded to a swarm-alert Karen texted. So he has successfully populated yet another box he made last year for just such an occasion.

Did your week hold any surprises?

2016 Week 21: New beginnings

It has been a week of settling into new summer-break routines--resuming regular exercise opportunities and working on daily writing goals.

Monday, on my way up to the studio where we have our tap class, I noticed one beautiful big amapola (poppy). By Friday, there were several.

The same day, Michael invited me on a tandem ride! Couldn't turn that one down! The last time was a year ago. We didn't go very far, but his leg pain returned so no more tandeming that entire season.

This time we had a perfect pain-free ride and began to entertain the possibility of another tandem vacation this summer. We've done that at least five times, the last time was in August of 2013 to Northern Michigan and Mackinac Island.

On the first leg of a tandem-only circuit trip in 2008

I don't think we will ever attempt the tandem-only camping like eight years ago.

Tuesday, a thirty-minute drive to town for my every-six-weeks hair appointment, even though my lovely hair dresser lives across the road from us!

Wednesday, last year's walking friends got together for our first walk of the season. We admired the finished building at Taylor, stopped by one of the ladie's home on the way, and ended up at the coffee shop.

 Can you guess which pastry was most tempting?

At the senior's lunch there was a Remembrance Table. Do you know what each item symbolizes?

 Thursday, May 26th, Michael caught up with me in age! We're not big on celebrating our birthdays so, of course, he wouldn't miss a regular robotics work evening. I surprised him with his favorite dessert, a blitz torte, and his adoring student-fans brought cupcakes and ice cream. There were only a few present. The others don't know what they missed!

For days he's been making a special "bee house" so they have a place to go when they begin to multiply and swarm. He put together some 34 frames ready for the honey bees to build their combs.

He is much like the bees, always busy and productive!

2016 Week 16: Busy Bees

The robin looked at me and said, "Spring is definitely here!"

I picked the last of the daffodil/jonquil/narcissus, all the late-bloomers in that family, and enjoyed them all week.

Monday night Mike pulled an all-nighter to rendezvous in Illinois at midnight with the shipment of bees he had ordered from California. They had been delayed in Nebraska due to snow.

So Tuesday morning he was busy installing them in their new home.

 He's been closely monitoring their adjustment and progress.

Mike delivered Sam and Kristie's bees that same day and guided that transfer. Their busy bees have a lot more native wild flowers to feed on.

Robotics has slowed down considerably. Perhaps the beesiness busyness helps overcome the disappointment of not going to World Championships this year.
But it's just like Michael to keep active and exercise as much as possible.

And with warmer weather comes mowing season.

 Mommy Kayla and Nanna Leah stay busy running after a 20 month-old who thinks she's in the "terrible twos" (smile).

In time-out

 My life hasn't slowed down yet either. Saturday was an interesting day. You might say I keep the Sabbath. It seems that's usually the day I do something very different and forget about teaching, the house, and the usual.
The night before I decided to sign up for a race and join Debby, my consuegra, Kristie, and Elijah who was running his very first 5K. The day was so beautiful, my time was surprisingly okay for not having run in many months, and we had a lot of fun together. We agreed that we'd like to find more opportunities like this.

It was a color run. Elijah especially insisted on covering himself with every color possible.

Then I got a surprise phone call. A friend from our time in Europe, even from before we were married, said they were on their way to Taylor University for a granddaughter's recital that very evening!!! So we were delighted to get cleaned up and meet them there. So many fond memories of 40 or 50 years ago...
Actually our Stephan was named after her first husband who passed away 25 years ago already. We enjoyed hearing the story of how Diane and Cliff met a couple years after their spouses died, and also meeting members of her new family of 22 years now.

Amazing how many of our friends from the past make their way through our little town.