Category Archives: Whimsies

Cool at Night

Posted in Whimsies by

Indian summer is on its way
It’s cool at night and hot all day
Ain’t no black clouds filled with rain
Santa Ana wind blew them all to Maine. — Written by Kelly Jones, performed by Poco

According to Wikipedia, Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. The US National Weather Service defines this as weather conditions that are sunny and clear with above normal temperatures, occurring late-September to mid-November. It is usually described as occurring after a killing frost.

Well, I don’t really care what the definition of Indian Summer is according to Wikipedia, because in my book, Indian Summer begins just as soon as the days are still hot but the nights are cool. When I need to put on an extra blanket at night if my window is open, why then it’s Indian Summer. That’s what the country rock group Poco told me back in 1977, with the release of their song Indian Summer off their album by the same name.

And, by the way, under the rare circumstances when I hear the song, I am immediately transported back to the University of Colorado and I am 24 years old. But I digress.

It might not yet be Indian Summer — either by Wikipedia’s definition or Poco’s — but man-oh-man, you can feel it coming. It’s in the air.

Court told me on Sunday that September is his favorite month. I know exactly what he means. While I don’t love that the days are getting shorter, I do love that the nights are getting cooler. While I don’t love that my petunias are looking leggy and I keep forgetting to water them, I do love that the tomatoes are starting to ripen and I have been able to eat some of my homegrown jalapenos. While I don’t love that seeing my grandkids is mostly limited to weekends because they are all back or almost back in school, I do love that down to each and every last one, they were all excited for school to start.

Can you tell?………………………………

addie first day of school 2015

Addie starts 7th grade.

Alastair starts 5th grade; Dagny starts 4th grade; Maggie Faith starts 2nd grade.

Kaiya starts 2nd grade.

Kaiya starts 2nd grade.

Mylee starts kindergarten.

Mylee starts kindergarten.

Indian Summer aside, I will tell you that there was never a year – not a single year – that I looked forward to being back in school. I disliked school from kindergarten through graduate school. Even getting new crayons and the smell of the mimeographed papers we were given on the first day didn’t offset my reluctance to hear the school bells ring that first time. But at least we didn’t start until after Labor Day. So, while I’m delighted they are happy to be back, I will miss seeing as much of the grandkids as I did this summer.

1378403626000-NUP-156962-1336-rAs I said, I understand why Court likes September. I think fall is my favorite season. I love the changing colors. Jen and I always make a trip in the fall to listen to the elk bugle in Rocky Mountain National Park, and this year Bec will be joining us. And, of course, there’s football. If you are a sports fan at all, you can’t help but get excited at hearing Carrie Underwood sing about waitin’ all day for Sunday night. And if you can boast the fact that your major league baseball team is the very worst in the United States, you can’t help but be ready for some football.

If only winter didn’t follow fall. Still, it’s hard to complain when you spend the bulk of winter in Arizona!

Living Bread

Posted in Whimsies by

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. – John 6:35

searchFor the past few weeks, the Catholic church took a break from the allegedly written-on-a-deadline Gospel of St. Mark to hear St. John’s discourse on the bread of life. Our gospel reading concluded at yesterday’s Mass, and I must admit the final part of that section of John’s gospel gives me a great deal of peace.

I’m going out on a limb with today’s blog post because it is not my goal to alienate any of my readers. I respect all of the different ways that people worship God. Still, Catholic Christians are very often belittled by other Christian faiths for our beliefs, and it seems like yesterday’s reading from John’s gospel provides some background on one of our most important teachings.

In his homily our pastor pointed out that Jesus tells his friends “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst…..Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”

In yesterday’s conclusion of the discourse on the bread of life, Jesus asks the people, “Does this shock you? The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

And it was true, because at that point a number of his followers stormed off in disgust. And, as our pastor pointed out, Jesus did nothing to try and dissuade them from leaving. He clearly did not say anything like, “Come back friends. I am not speaking literally. Everything I’ve just said is symbolic.” Instead, he let them leave. He turned to his closest friends and asked them, “Do you also want to leave?” They assured him that they were there until the bitter end because, as Peter said, “You have the words of eternal life.”

As Mylee would say, “Ta da!”

It doesn’t shock me that people have trouble believing that the bread and wine in which we partake every Sunday at Mass is the living body and blood of Christ. That concept is beyond our understanding. In fact, many Catholics, including those partaking in Holy Communion each Sunday, struggle with this idea. What really is surprising when you think about it is that even people like me who believe in our church’s teaching on transubstantiation take it so for granted. If my feeble little brain could really understand this mystery that our church teaches, at each Mass when the priest holds up the host and the wine, I should literally be falling to a prone position as the living God is raised before me. Instead, I pay attention as the priest blesses the bread and wine, and then my mind might wander to what time the Broncos are playing.

No matter what you believe about Holy Communion, it is comforting to know that God cares for us as he did the Israelites in the desert when he fed them with manna.

As an aside, yesterday’s conclusion to St. John’s bread of life discourse was accompanied by that ever-popular letter of St. Paul in which he tells women to submit to their husbands. For the most part, homilists avoid that one like the plague. Oh Paul. The good news is that it was offset by the beautiful words from the Old Testament Book of Joshua in which Joshua tells the Israelites, “If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve……As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

So, as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. Amen. Alleluia.

 

Saturday Smile: Bus Ride

Posted in Whimsies by

Micah sitting busMontpelier has a circulator bus. It is a free ride that makes its way around the town, stopping at places such as the state Capitol, the grocery stores, and the community college. The entire ride takes about an hour. There is a stop right in front of Heather and Lauren’s house.

On Thursday, I told Micah if he was good, I would take him on the bus after his nap. When I went to get him from his nap, literally the first words out of his mouth were, “Can we go on the bus now?”

Heck yeah!

We waited on the front porch for about 45 minutes before the bus made its appearance. We boarded the bus and got ourselves settled. As soon as the bus started rolling, Micah began singing — full-voiced —

The wheels of the bus go round-and-round, round-and-round, round-and-round…..

Join in everybody!

The bus driver, who had probably made the circular trip around Montpelier 150 times that day, didn’t even crack a smile. The woman sitting behind us, however, laughed out loud. So did I.

For the entire hour, Micah sat and watched Montpelier go by. Asking many questions.

Micah bus

A few more pictures, just for fun…..

Papa and Micah are working hard in the sandbox.

Joseph enjoys a cinnamon sugar donut for breakfast.

Bill and I walked into our house last night about 9:30. We had a wonderful visit to Vermont. But there’s no place like home.

Have a wonderful weekend.

 

Friday Book Whimsy: Murder at the Breakers

Posted in Book Reviews, Whimsies by

imgresI’m a nut about historical fiction, so when I came across the first in a mystery series about life among the rich and famous in late 19th century America, I was hooked. Murder at the Breakers, by Alyssa Maxwell, is easy mystery reading at its best.

Fictional protagonist Emma Cross is a second or third cousin to New York industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt. Her parents have moved abroad to be artists and have left Emma in the hands of the Vanderbilt family. While fairly distantly related, she is considered a member of the family and invited to all social activities among the rich who have their vacation homes in Newport, RI. The Vanderbilt home is called the Breakers.

The Breakers actually exists, and was really the vacation home of the Vanderbilt family in the late 19th Century. In fact, many of the rich New York Industrialists had homes in this area, so the fictional series is set in fact.

In this novel, Emma is attending the coming out party of the daughter of Cornelius and Alice Vanderbilt – a party that is documented to have actually taken place. However, in this fictional story, Mr. Vanderbilt’s financial advisor is murdered. Emma’s brother is found drunk and passed out in the bedroom from which the murdered financier was pushed, and quickly becomes Suspect No. 1.

Emma sets out to prove that her brother was not the murderer, and comes across a variety of interesting characters in the process.

The story reminded me much of Rhys Bowen’s fun “Her Royal Spyness” series in which the protagonist is 34th or 35th in line to become Queen of England. The main characters are alike in that, while distantly related to royalty (actual or perceived), they are nearly paupers. The series are both fairly light-hearted mysteries with elements of romance.

I recommend Murder at the Breakers to anyone who is a fan of mysteries but not interested in dark and sinister storylines. I found the book highly entertaining, despite the fact that I figured out the perpetrator early on in the book. But, after all, I read A LOT of mysteries.

Here is a link to the book.

Thursday Thoughts

Posted in Whimsies by

Grave Matter
imageWhen we walk from Heather’s house to downtown Montpelier, we pass an old cemetery. It’s very small and the graves are very old. I like to create stories around interesting things, so in my imagination, these are graves of soldiers from the War Between the States (which is what New Englanders call the Civil War; southerners, on the other hand, refer to it as the War of Northern Aggression). Apparently Vermont had a strong presence in the fighting of the Civil War. The stones in this cemetery are those old, very flat markers that make me think about ghosts and people arising from out of the grave. Many of the deaths occurred in the 1860s, so I might be right.

Little Grocers
imageI mentioned in yesterday’s post that there are no chains in Montpelier. I’m not talking simply fast food chains; I mean there are no chain restaurants, retail establishments, grocery stores…..nothing. All locally owned. While that adds to the cost of your purchases, it’s very cool that  Vermonters are supporting Vermonters. There’s a little grocery store about two blocks from the house that sells beer and pop and a small amount of grocery items. Just like the little Mom-and-Pop stores in Columbus, where I grew up, there is also a meat counter where you can buy sandwich meats and a few other meat products. They make delicious sandwiches. As I waited yesterday for our sandwiches to be made, I wandered around the store a bit. I noticed many of their products were from Vermont. For example, the only ice cream they sell is Ben & Jerry’s.

image

 

And the only cheese they sell is Cabot….

image

Nothin’ wrong with that.

Sweatin’
I grew up in Nebraska where summertime means hot and humid. But I guess I’ve lived in the dry western climate long enough that sweating almost as soon as you step outside is new to me. There are good and bad things about humidity. The lawns are lush and green without the need to water. On the other hand, the mosquitoes are big enough to carry Micah off with them. Every evening he informs me, “I have a mosquito bite on my butt.” What has particularly come as a surprise to me is how long it takes things to dry. At home, I wet my hair in the morning and in 10 or 15 minutes, it’s dry. Here, it might take all morning. But my skin is moist, even if I do have mosquito bites on my butt.

Imagination
While Joseph and Micah like technology as much as the next kid, it pleases me to no end how much they enjoy make-believe games and playing outside. Yesterday morning, after we returned from a trip to the crepe restaurant, the two boys turned on the water and spent an hour-and-a-half washing their wiggle cars — and getting themselve soaking wet in the process. That’s the beauty of being a grandparent. I have the responsibility of keeping them safe while their parents are at work. But keeping them dry — nope. Have at it boys.

Ciao.

A Little Capital

Posted in Whimsies by

imageMy daughter-in-law Jll was the first to give me a heads-up about Montpelier following their first visit to Heather and Lauren’s house. It’s very pretty but surprisingly small, she told us.

And so it is. In fact their motto is “A little capital goes a long way.” I looked it up. It’s the smallest state capital in the United States. Fewer than 8,000 permanent residents according to the 2010 Census. My guess is it’s also one of the prettiest.

From what I can see, New England in its entirety is beautiful. It also has the nicest people you would ever care to meet. Our first experience with this was shortly after we disembarked our plane in Manchester, New Hampshire, after a long day of travel last Thursday. Bill had retrieved our luggage. We were walking through the airport, looking every which way but forward. Suddenly I saw that it was too late to stop Bill from running into an airport employee walking towards us. The woman quickly veered out of danger. Instead of being cranky as, say, I would have been, she laughed and told us not to worry because she dodges folks all day long. Altogether nice people, those New Englanders. Even the other night when Joseph unintentionally hit his car door on the car parked in the next spot at Dairy Creme, the driver merely scowled a bit and tossed off a sarcastic “thanks a lot” instead of pulling out a concealed weapon as could possibly have happened in the Wild, Wild West of Colorado!

Montpelier isn’t just a small town; it’s a one-of-a-kind small town. What do I mean? Well, for example, in addition to it being the smallest state capital, it also has the unique honor of being the only state capital in the U.S. without a McDonalds. Without any chains, in fact, save one ubiquitous Subway. Even Montpelier couldn’t escape a Subway.

People fly flags; they sit on their front porches and greet passers-by; they grow magnificent gardens and share their harvest with others; they know their neighbors’ names and the names of their children; they let others go ahead of them in line; the sound of farm programs comes from car radios. Sunday night I was walking with Micah as he rode his trike down the sidewalk near his house. A police car drove by slowly, then came to a stop. Oh oh, I thought. Was I going to get busted because I was carrying a gin and tonic? But no. The cop reached into a folder and pulled out a Montpelier Police Officer sticker and came over to hand it to Micah, who was understandably thrilled. In other words, they are Small Town America at its finest.

Sunday night we went to the park right behind Heather and Lauren’s house because they were hosting a concert. It was the night of Micah’s birthday celebration, and Micah does love him some music. He sat quietly, absolutely enthralled with the band, tapping his hand in absolute perfect time with the music. Perhaps predictably, the music was provided by the Big Bang Bongo Brass Band, a weirdly pleasant combination of bongo drums and trombones (and other brass instruments). Micah — being a percussion fellow himself — asked to join the people dancing just in front of the band. Despite being totally outside of her comfort zone, Heather took him up front to dance. There was Micah hobnobbing with others such as the senior citizen wearing the tie-dyed t-shirt bearing the Bernie For President logo. (Not surpringly, Bernie For President signs are everywhere. This is, after all, Bernie country.) See what I mean? Mayberry with a hippie twist. Altogether delightful.

Joseph pretends he's a Cabot cow.

Joseph pretends he’s a Cabot cow.

Yesterday afternoon Bill and I took Joseph with us to tour the Cabot cheese factory. The tour was interesting and the samples were, of course, extraordinary. But the best part was lunch afterwards. Bill asked the Cabot people for a recommendation of a place for lunch. Sarah’s Diner, behind the hardware store, the young woman told him. We walked to the hardware store, expecting to see a diner sitting behind it. Nope. You had to actually walk through an old fashioned, small town hardware store, and the tiny diner was in the back. Two tables and a four-stooled counter. Four or five things on the menu. The owner, Sarah, was all by herself. She took orders and then went behind the counter to cook your food. I was looking around for Aunt Bea.

image

If it wasn’t for the absurdly long and cold winters and the fact that I can’t get cell or data service for the life of me (although the I must remind myself I have T-mobile and I think they have something like three cell towers in the entire United States), I would find it a pleasant place to live. I still don’t think I would wear a Bernie For President shirt, however, tie-dyed or not.

I could grow used to the maple creemies, though.

This post linked to the GRAND Social

Birthdays and Haircuts

Posted in Whimsies by

Micah’s birthday was yesterday, and he turned 3.

We celebrated with his extended family on Sunday night, including parents, his brother, all but one of his grandparents, a dear family friend, and his Aunt Andra and Uncle Emmett. Everyone got the memo that Micah likes trucks and other vehicles, because his presents included a bulldozer, a fire engine, and a cement mixer (or, as Micah calls it, a mix mixer).

Yesterday, however, the emphasis was on the boys getting their first-ever haircut from a for-real barber (complete with a revolving barber pole). Up until then, all haircuts had come from their mama, who understandably had trouble cutting off very many of their curls.

I was tickled by the fact that 6-year-old Joseph had a clear idea about what kind of hair cut he wanted. Apparently he had seen it on one of the high school aged camp counselors this summer. Buzzed short on the sides and left long on the top. Mama Lauren was on board; Mom Heather could barely stand to watch them cut off Joseph’s curls.

Here is what the boys looked like before they took their seat in the barber chair…..

 

Joseph before haircut

Joseph before haircut

 

Micah before haircut

Micah before haircut

At first, Joseph wasn’t too sure about the clippers. When he realized it didn’t hurt, he relaxed and let the barber have his way. It didn’t take too long before little Joseph looked like a grown-up boy…..

Joseph and his barber, Todd.

Joseph and his barber, Todd.

For his part, Micah didn’t really care what his haircut looked like, he just knew he wanted to be sitting in the chair getting appropriate attention. After all, it was his birthday. He was very good and not wiggly enough to cause the barber much angst. His haircut wasn’t as great a change as was Joseph’s….

 

Micah has the wet-head look while he gets his curls trimmed.

Micah has the wet-head look while he gets his curls trimmed.

 

 

imagePapa got his hair cut as well, but he didn’t look cute enough to warrant a photo.

Afterwards we went out for burgers, cheesesteaks, fish-and-chips, and pizza to celebrate before going home to rest. Let me just tell you I have never before seen pizza dunked into catsup, but who am I to judge? It seemed delicious judging from the fact that they ate the entire pizza. When there was only one little corner of a piece left, Joseph assured me there was just that very same amount of space left in his tummy. Thank goodness. It seemed to fit. And, we also had pizza for dinner last night. Joseph ate four pieces of sausage and pepperoni. A McLain, for sure.

Call Me Ishmael

Posted in Whimsies by

When Bill and I first began thinking about our summer trip to Vermont, we thought a trip to Montreal — only a couple of hours from Montpelier — would be fun. We discovered, however, that our passports had expired. Well, this led to that which somehow didn’t lead to us sending in our passport applications in enough time to get our passports back before we left.

Oh, oh. New plan. Moules e frites atimage an outdoor cafe in Montreal some other time.

Friday we got a text message from Heather asking if we would be interested in a whale watching tour out of a beach near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Now THAT sounded like some kind of fun.

So Saturday morning we all arose at 4:15 in order to arrive in time for an 8:30 sailing of a whale watching boat. Do you have any idea just how lively and happy 3-year-old and 6-year-old boys are at 4:15 a.m.? Very chipper.

And so we all were after some coffee and a Dunkin’ Donut. Or two.

It was the first such tour for any of us, and we were not disappointed. The tour boat was not large but we had plenty of comfortable space up on the top deck. I am not ashamed to admit that I had some serious concerns about a very busy 3-year-old boy on a four-hour whale tour. My concerns were unnecessary, as both boys were engaged and happy to be part of the whale watching team. For our parts, we hung on very tightly to 3-year-old Micah who — I’m happy to report — did not even come close to going overboard.

We motored for quite some time — long enough to generate concerns that maybe our whale watching would be a bust — before the crew told us that there were dolphins up ahead. I expected perhap a few dolphins to provide meagre entertainment. However, what we got was an amazing dolphin experience featuring somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 dolphins. Seeing dolphins at all is not a given. In fact, the tour guide (a somewhat misleading description since she clearly was an educated biologist) said this was only the third or fourth time this summer that she had seen dolphins at all. She went on to say that the average pod size (pods are the term for groups of dolphins) is 40, and there were literally hundreds. They swam and jumped and surfed in the wake left by the boat. They entertained us for probably 45 minutes before the crew said we would continue on in our search for whales. It was awesome, and had we only seen the dolphins, I would have been content.

However, we saw much more than merely dolphins. We saw two separate humpback whales who, suffice it to say, were nothing short of magnificent. They blew water through their blowholes. They entertained us by swimming a bit and then coming to the surface to make sure we knew they were still there. After a minute or so, we would see them do a deep dive in which their tails would be the last thing we would see go into the water, indicating they were going for a deep dive and we wouldn’t see them for a minute or two until they would come up for air. And they would come up very far away from where they went under. I’m making it sound like a choreographed show like you might see at Sea World, but it was all natural and entirely fascinating and entertaining. We also saw a fin whale and a Minke whale, two varieties I had never heard of. But in my book, the humpbacks were the stars of the show.

The two boys were as fascinated as their parents and grandparents, and couldn’t have been better behaved. They did take time out for a nap…….

image

 

imageAfterwards we went into Portsmouth and had lunch at a place called the Beach Plum, which served a variety of food, including the most amazing lobster rolls I have ever tasted. The lobster came out of the nearby waters, and you could taste the freshness….

image

Our day of whale watching is one I won’t soon forget. And I was happy to share it with our family…..

image

Saturday Smile: Hugs and Kisses from Vermont

Posted in Whimsies by

After a long day of travel on Thursday, Bill and I arrived safe and sound at the home of Heather and Lauren about 9 o’clock at night Vermont time. We got held up by a serious storm in Orlando which prevented us from departing on time. Now that’s what I call thunder and lightning! The boys were in bed, but we saw them bright and early Friday morning. Lots of smiles and hugs. Joseph had his last day of camp, so Papa and I spent the day with Micah, who turns 3 on Monday. He’s a very busy boy. We visited a bakery, a hardware store, and a market. We pushed lots of trucks, rode lots of vehicles, and used lots of imagination. One of us tired himself out. image   Joseph and his class had a little ceremony to celebrate the end of camp. It was fun to have the rare experience of attending something like that with Vermont grandchildren. image

Joseph showing off his star!

Joseph showing off his star!

Have a great weekend.

Thursday Thoughts: The Wednesday Edition

Posted in Whimsies by

Is it Thursday?
You have probably picked up by now that I publish something I cleverly call Thursday Thoughts each Thursday. Random thoughts about random things. You probably also realize that today is not Thursday. Why am I publishing my thoughts today instead of tomorrow? And more important, why do I feel compelled to call it Thursday Thoughts even though it isn’t Thursday? There is no good answer to the latter question, except for the fact that I am in love with the alliteration of the title. I could have called this post Wednesday Wonderings or Miscellaneous Midweek Minutia. But I didn’t. As far as the first question, I will tell you now not to expect a posting on Thursday, thoughts or otherwise. The reason for this is that Bill and I will be traveling to Vermont on Thursday. Our travels will take us all day long, as our plane leaves DIA at 6:40 a.m. MDT and arrives Manchester, New Hampshire at 4:55 p.m. EDT. We will then get in our rental car and drive another two hours to Montpelier, Vermont, where our family resides. If all goes well, I will be kissing and hugging our two grandboys by 8 o’clock Thursday evening. Pray for us!

Can I Return This?
Yesterday morning I went to Target just after they opened at 8 a.m. I bought a few things in preparation for a day with grandkids. Since the store had just opened, there was only one checkout stand available. The clerk, who appeared to be new, cheerfully checked me out, but when it came time to pay, the credit card machine was confused and wouldn’t work. She called for help, and the problem was quickly resolved. When the clerk told me the amount due, it struck me as kind of high, but I got distracted by the credit card machine problem, and paid the amount she said. When I got to my car, however, I looked at my receipt and noticed she had charged me twice for my toilet paper. Being Target, however, when I went back into the store and headed directly to the customer service station, they quickly rectified the problem without question. Two things struck me: First, Target is amazing at how quickly they handle returns, and handle them without question. There is no way she could know that I hadn’t simply put one of the packages of toilet tissue into my car. I love that. Second, I am horrible about paying attention to what I pay for things, particularly groceries when I go through self-check. I wonder how many times I have paid twice for something or paid the wrong price? I’ll bet many, many times.

Grand Opening
At long last, Bill has finished the playhouse. Well, except for a few finishing touches. So today, since we had all of our Denver grandkids visiting, we held the grand opening. The opening included a ribbon cutting ceremony (well, it was actually yarn, but with three pairs of scissors doing the cutting), a speech by papa about how much he hopes the grandkids will enjoy playing in the house he built for them, and some treats, including regular pretzels, peanut butter filled pretzels, and sliced peaches, which Maggie Faith and Kaiya prepared. All in all, it was a grand ceremony. And the kids spent the entire day playing either inside of the playhouse or in the sandbox underneath the playhouse. Even Cole got involved in the festivities. He especially likes using sand as confetti. And pretzels.

20150811_105738

This photo looks a bit creepy what with the blurry heads peeking out of the windows; kind of like a horror movie complete with ghosts. In reality it was Alastair, Kaiya, Mylee, and Magnolia peeking out, with Dagny ready to go down the slide.

playhouse 1

playhouse 3

By the Way….
If I should miss a day or two of posting, don’t panic and think I’m back in the hospital. I am simply enjoying our trip to Vermont. My plan is to continue posting, but one never knows….

Ciao.