-
Snowmen Hanging In There
Tuesday has to be the best day, my favorite day; it is Esther and Jacob day. For a few hours I have them in the center of my attention. Their voices, bursting energy, spontaneous laughter and curiosity are with me. This is a recipe for a successful day: mirth.Tissue falling everywhere! We cook, create with playdough, design with pastels and paper and we chatter. Songs that I love to sing fill the car on the way down to the house only to be interupted by counting buses, both school and rapid transport. Seseme Street’s Count vonCount would be oh so proud of my charges. Snipping corners for the perfect look.Each week we…
-
Leif Landed First Day
I love today. The calendar has it marked as Columbus Day. Oh the memories of childhood elementary school drawings and the smell of crayons are still carried in my mind. There were the stories and songs of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria sailing the ocean. Somehow these brave crews found the West Indies and are credited for laying claim on the Western Hemisphere. I always pictured a career group of sailors from Genoa working together, sharing food and chores: organized and cordial. And then I had humor thrown into the vision. In my Dad’s hometown in upstate New York live a cluster of Norwegian octogenarians. They love…
-
“They Helped Me Up” Staff Sergeant Eddie Peoples – DoD Blogger’s Roundtable
Staff Sergeant Eddie PeoplesHow do I start? This story is about one of our own, a hero for wearing his country’s uniform, a “Defender” in his one words and certainly a model for caring! United States Army Staff Sergeant Eddie Peoples came home on leave from Vicenza, Italy with his family to care for and see his ill father who had had a stroke. Stopping in the branch of the Sarasota, Florida Bank of America, he saw a robbery “go down” and elected to get involved! More defending to do and children to protect (two of his own were with him), he described himself as on call 24 hours a…
-
Clumping
It is Sunday. I got up this morning in time to say good-bye to hubs. I got dressed. Sipped some coffee. Made breakfast for the boys. Nursed the baby. Then we headed out the door! Time for church. One of my favorite activities of the week. Today was my first time putting Baby *L* in the nursery. He will be 5-months old this week. Wow how time flies! So there we are standing in the church nursery entry. We checked in. I gave them the rundown (including a bottle that I admitted was more for my own humor as he refuses to take one). They gave me my pager. I…
-
What Are We Sharing with Our Young People?
What a great opportunity! I had been invited to talk to a high school government class about my military service and it turned out to be a fun time! My daughter-in-law Becky is a teacher (so is my wife and another daughter-in-law,). Becky had some high school juniors with a unique assignment to interview someone who was employed or had been employed with the US government. My military experience provided an opportunity to tell the kids about you, our military community! During the class I introduced myself and then they each had questions to ask! They asked some great ones! For example, what was the most traumatic moment you saw,…
-
Coming Back After Being on the Bench for a Bit
Today is a big day for me and the rest of the team for MilitaryAvenue! I am able to return from a short time away due to medical issues. I seriously missed my communication with you our friends on MilitaryAvenue, whether on the site, Facebook or twitter! After being in top health for so many years of flying I never considered the possibility and impact of multiple surgeries, long hospital stays and pain medications. Although, the pain meds have created some great moments of humor for the family, friends and me! Always trying to find a bright spot from a bad thing can be a challenge and I use humor…
-
The Day I became a Mom
7 years ago today I became a mom to a beautiful blue-eyed, pink-skinned, 8 pound, 21 inches of love, baby boy. In the few days following his birth I would hold him amazed that this little baby was given to me to love, take care of, and to call my son. Then with a little bit of humor I often wondered when his mother was going to come get him. Could I possible be this little boy’s mother? Wow, I was a Mom. The emotion was conflicting and overwhelming. Yet my heart was OVER FLOWING with an amazing new love. He’s no longer 8 pounds. The eyes are more of…
-
Great Travel Weekend in the Great Lakes
Planning to travel? Need a reunion getaway after a long deployment? We recently had the opportunity to travel to Petoskey, Michigan for an extended weekend getaway for an anniversary (can barely count the number on both of our toes and hands)! What a great time and we saw some new parts of the world we had never seen before! We have lived overseas in Central America and Iceland and visited South America, the Caribbean and Europe. We have also lived in numerous US states from the Puget Sound of Washington to the Low Country of South Carolina. After retiring from the Air Force we relocated to Michigan to be near…
-
Spilt Black Berries
We have a wonderful wild blackberry patch in the “back 40” of our land and they are at the height of their season! We have had a couple of nice rainshowers recently and they are black and fat and I love them in the winter on my cereal and in my muffins. Right now we put them in salads and other wonderful summer dishes. I grew up on a “Berry Farm” and we often call ourselves a Berry Pickin Family. But I get ahead of myself since before they can proceed into my bowl of many types I have to pick them. Now these are wild berries; not in neat…
-
Some Days Just Were Not Meant to Be
Yesterday started kind of normal; I went to church and came home to a snack (more of a snack than dinner since I was fixing and eating it while my bride was out of town). Then I decided to mow the grass which has grown a bit with all the rain we are getting. I started mowing and the tractor made some loud noises and I looked back and realized I was plowing versus mowing! One side of the mower deck was digging this neat trench in the grass. Pulled the tractor into the garage and realized I needed a new spindle on the left side of the mower (just…
