Thursday, October 22, 2009

Oops, I forgot to mention this in the last post...

The Quidditch World Cup is this coming Sunday. Games will be broadcast live at: http://www.collegequidditch.com/wc/ from 9:45am to 6pm (Eastern Time), in case you feel inclined to watch. I think it will be great fun!!! 

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Wyatt Earp has Alopecia!

Egads! It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it? My life has been out-of-control busy, but I’m on October Break now, inside and watching football (only getting the Vikings game, unfortunately, but hopefully I’ll get to watch them lose…) on a cold, drizzly day, and it seemed like it was time for an update. 
This semester has started… stressfully. But, as is usually the case, everything is working itself out for the best, I think. At the very beginning of the semester were auditions for Drama Department shows, and I went in with very high hopes since we’re doing RENT and a Streetcar Named Desire, both shows I adore. Plus the third show, Haarlem Berlin, is also a musical, so it was an exciting time to be auditioning. Of course, that made it all the more devastating when I got cast in nothing. Nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true, I got cast as the Assistant Costume Designer for Haarlem Berlin. But, while I enjoy costuming, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to be doing production-wise this semester. However, my friend Andi was cast in the ensemble of Haarlem but had to drop out do to scheduling conflicts and they asked me if I was interested in taking over her part. I was. 
Haarlem Berlin is an original musical written by one of the professors here at Vassar, with music by a guest artist. It was directed by a guest director from NYC. The music was beautiful (I have it on my computer. If you’re interested in an original cast recording, let me know), and unlike anything I’ve ever done before. And the process itself was taught me a lot about what it’s like to workshop a new show. The cast was a great group of people, and all in all I had a great time. We performed the first weekend in October, which means September was extraordinarily hectic, but it freed me up in time to get involved in student shows here, too. So I’m currently in a show called Our Hearts Were Young and Gay. It’s very lighthearted and hilarious. It’s set in the 1920s, and is about two 19-year-old girls, Cornelia and Emily, who go to Paris and have all sorts of absurd misadventures. I’m Emily, and I’m having a wonderful time. Rehearsal is probably my favorite part of the day.
In other news: Fencing is going really well. I’m the most experienced female sabre fencer on the team, which I was really worried about because it means I’m in charge of getting the girls ready to compete, I’ll be in charge of the roster/substitutions during tournaments, I’m expected to help coach them a little, etc. and I feel like I’m still learning so much myself that I wasn’t sure if I was ready to give other people advice. But the Alumni Match was the other weekend, and not only did I win undefeated, but I realized that I did have a lot of tips to offer the other girls. I’m pretty sure our squad is going to get killed at tournaments, but I think we’re going to have a fun time anyway, and I’m actually excited to be able to help them the way that all the previous sabre girls helped me.
The Quidditch World cup is next weekend, and it’s going to be incredible. Our team is phenomenal this year! And there are going to be 24 teams there from all across the country, and I think one from Canada. International. Awesome. I’ll let you know the results when we get back! 
In other academic news: I love my classes, as usual. I’m taking Sources of World Drama, which I enjoy immensely most of the time. We’re reading drama from a time well before the women’s rights movement, however, and I’ve gotten a name for myself as the girl who always brings up feminism. Ah well. It’s just like being back in high school in Fort. 
I’m taking a Seminar in Paratheatre, which is the study of everything theatrical that is not theatre. For example, religious ceremonies, sports games, and even everyday conversations, given that one behaves (or performs) differently depending on who they’re talking to (the audience). It’ very fascinating, but I sometimes feel like I’m beating my head against a wall because a main premise of paratheatre is that everyone has an individual definition of what constitutes a performance, so discussions can get very circular. 
Because my semester would not be complete without a class where I do yoga, lie on the floor and breathe, play acting games, and other strange things that I often think it’s funny I do in college, I’m also in the Actor’s Voice. So far my favorite days have been the one where we learned tongue stretches (I often catch myself doing them in public now, which would make my professor proud, but is more than a little weird…), and the day where we got to look at our own and others’ soft palates and learn how to lift them correctly. It was one of the most unsettling things I’ve ever seen, but it’s actually been really helpful, especially for voice lessons.
Speaking of, voice lessons started off a little rocky this semester because I’ve been so busy and wasn’t able to practice as much as I should have. However, now that my life is a little more calm, things are going really well. I’m singing some wonderful songs, including The Lonely Goatherd from The Sound of Music, because I’m a huge dork, but it’s SO MUCH FUN! My friend Charlie and I really want to do a senior recital together and we want to sing the Edelweiss duet. I’m so glad I’ve found someone else here who knows how to appreciate The Sound of Music. 
I need to go apply to my abroad program in New Zealand now, because I’ve been putting that off for far too long. But I hope you are all well and enjoying the early snow! I know I am!  

Sunday, August 9, 2009

family compound here we come!

hello everyone. long time, no write. i am sitting here on a beautiful sunday afternoon, getting packed to come to WI!

great video of the daredevel miss freya and her amazing water tricks!

i finished my senior leader program in may, with 4 days in DC, a very successful small group presentation, a very successful personal presentation, and lots of pictures with our new chief and all the other big whigs. we also got to take pictures at the podium where the secretary of agriculture addresses the press. then i took the train down to newark, and spent the weekend with K and L, M and D. we had a wonderful weekend--a day in manhattan and meeting with mag to see a wonderful dance performance, got to listen to declan play at a very cool restaurant, did the sidewalk sale, and had a great visit.
came home to work back to normal, and looking forward to a quiet august. not to be. july 20 we got a horrendous hail storm, and have been working with the insurance company ever since. they will pay to replace the roof and gutters, replace 8 windows, replace siding on the N and W sides of the house, and all sorts of personal property in the back. they totalled our camper, and there was some damage to the dodge. we have kept the camper, and will sell it on our own. they still sent us a pretty fair check.
after shopping and looking at all of our options, we decided to put a down payment on an outback (keystone) trailer, the smallest one they make. it is very cool. we'll get it in september sometime. it is about 23' long--and the bed rolls out the back wall. lots of storage, and a door iin the front to put your bikes inside the camper. the new lances were great--but way too expensive. so we're going to try a trailer, and see how we like it. david was wanting something bigger--so this should work.
we've finally lined out contractors for all the work--and should get it all done in september or october. the new roof and new windows will be a wonderful thing for this house. we are excited about that.
amongst all that excitement, dick and jane (david's brother) called last week to say that one of the lots that we have been eyeing in akaska SD was for sale. so david went up there this weekend (he rode his BMW--which he was jazzed about) and met with the owner, and did the SD way of buying property. the owner had given one of his friends the first right of refusal. but he bailed. so david just called to say we have bought it! akaska is north of pierre, about 1/2 mile from the missouri R. lake owahee. it is a teeny town, in rolling hills of sunflowers and wheat. the polar opposite of here. about 30 permanent residents, mostly single wide trailers, and a few stick built homes and it swells to hundreds during walleye season and pheasant hunting. a bait shop/restaurant/bar and one other not so good bar, and that is all for commercial activity. mobridge and selby is where you go for groceries and beer. i will be the second democrat in the whole town--which teaches me to bite my tongue and smile at the same time. it is a small city lot--about 60 x 130'--so not big enough for 7 airstreams. but it is getting closer to the ND property! we also know that we could sell it next year and make money--unlike many things these days. so, we bought it, for a very small price, and are excited. it won't be the summer residence, but will be the place to hang for fishing and pheasant hunting. we always stay at dick and janes, cuz we've been going up there about twice a year for 5 or 6 years. it is about the best lot in town--trees, privacy, nothing behind it but 12 acres of undeveloped land and the creek. we'll have to send pictures.....
we think we will leave here thursday after work, and then continue on to WI on friday. but that is subject to change. we'll keep in touch. we are so looking forward to seeing you all.

see you all on sunday the 16th, if not before.

love michele, david link and ruby

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Daredevil

We found a used swingset on Craigslist for cheap, so we got that for Freya yesterday. She's got a daredevil streak; she's already figured out how to make it more exciting. (And risky.)

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Hi Everyone-I will see many of you tomorrow and will be sharing this news, but I wanted to let everyone know-and use the Blog-that I have a new job. As you know, I have been looking around Aurora for awhile and have come close, but no cigar. This was the job I was working on in April. I was one of two, the job was given to someone outside the system and she was to start on July 6. I got a call from the new Administrator on Wed. asking if I might still be interested because the other candidate had withdrawn. My current department has been going through many changes due to trying to get all of BH following the same procedures, and for me it has gone from bad to worse. Many of the therapists are talking about leaving and setting up their own practices and I am getting blamed for all sorts of things. Dr. Crowder is making one move after another trying to save his skin (money). So I accepted the new position.

I will be the Manager of a large, multispecialty medical clinic in Kenosha. We have recently acquired some Northern Illinois practices, so I will be involved in that also. Its a big job and totally away from BH, so I am a little apprehensive about it-it will be learning my fourth job in four years. I know alot of the other managers and they are all expressing their happiness about me coming on board, so that is wonderful. Its about twice the commute, but a lovely drive and I can do almost all back roads. I will be starting early in August. Its a lateral transfer so no raise, but I just got a nice bonus so its OK. More later and love to everyone! Susan

Friday, May 22, 2009

End of Spring entry

There is an email for the OConnell 7 this AM.

Mom and Dad

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mothers' Day--5/10/09

Belated MD greetings to all,


Quiet, cool, breezy and cloudy day here!

Thanks for the phone visits which we've had over the last 3 days--and the messages you've taken time to leave if we did not answer.
We're getting the hang of the voice mail, but miss the visual signal we have to get something from Time Warner to restore our own message and recording.

Were Susan and Jay's guests for brunch this morning. So, as you might guess, we had a great and ample meal and time for some visiting. Did enough outside work yesterday to appreciate a day to do some relaxing. Went to Culvers for a takehome salad entre for our early evening repast. No need for another FULL meal!

A hint for you raised bed gardeners. I have implemented a new watering idea for our 4. During the past couple of summers I have been using a 5/8"soaker hose in the front flower bed under the living room window. Snaking it around I have about 3 east west lines and this has been a great way to water that area which gets all the sun with almost no shade--and it can water gently without tending for as long as one desires. So last fall I got some 1/2'' x
50' hoses along with a hand full of plastic hose repair male and female fitting and cut a hose into 4 10' lengths and put a fitting on each end. Then I joined ends together to make a loop tied with plastic wire straps which fits nicely into the 4' squares. I had some salvage 1/2" regular hose and made 3 custom segments and put on
male and female fittings on each end to connect the circles. It was easy to unscrew one end of each of the joiner segments to open the area between the boxes when I needed to mow between them.
So now I can run a hose from the farthest back yard faucet to one square and water the four of them at the same time. I have already planted bush beans, 3 kinds of peas, zuchinni and a yellow summer squash and some lettuce in the squares leaving space for
tomato, pepper, and egg plant transplants latter this month. You
westerners might want to think about this idea for your raised beds. The 10' foot circle should be great in Idaho, but you CO folks might be able to try this without as much cutting and end fitting installations. Hope you can visualize this!

This week we decided to replace the fading fake geraniums which we have used in the 6 pots on the racks in front of the living room window with real plants. So the green pots were painted "trim" brown and the transplants were put in.

Using one piece of 1/2" soaker hose I made 6 smaller circles which would fit inside the pots securing them with the plastic wire bundle ties. With fittings at both ends, the 6 can be watered at the same time. Some of the soaking water will fall to the ground, but as this area in under the awning, it will have value there, too, as rain does not reach it. These are the same pots which Susan attempted to water for us one time when we were gone until she realized the realistic looking geraniums were fake! These will be place in the plant holder tomorrow--more later after we try the watering scheme--because we know NO rain reached this area...

Enjoyed our 2 night /3day stay at the Elkhart Lake Osthoff House Resort for our retired educators' convention. Mom told most of you about it. We led off the days with a nice lunch visit with Susan and David at a Sheboygan river front sandwich shop, en route on Tuesday.

Mom has her first cataract surgery day, 5/23--the second follows about mid June. More on this later.

Our desk top is for a tune-up. Using the laptop tonight with the highspeed, but won't try to get email into this unit. Will respond to e-mails we find when we get the desk top back tomorrow.

Congrats to Magdalena on her commencement next weekend!

Love and prayers to each and all,

Mom and Dad

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

We are still adjusting to both of us working full-time for "real jobs." Its an adjustment, but going well so far. We did decide to purchase a vehicle which has less than 150,000 miles on it, so discovered and settled on a Ford Freestyle. For the car buffs, they only made them till 07, and now they are called the TaurusX. Big station wagon, essentially. We got a pretty simple one to keep the gas milage good and it has less than 25000 miles, so we should have a couple of good years.

Bridget came home Thursday night and we took her back on Sunday in time to take the lunch cruise on Lake Mendota. We managed to get it in during a break in the rain and although it was pretty cool and damp, the boat was enclosed somewhat and the lunch was quite deluxe. This was an Evans parent day. We then went to the Union and met Colin's new friend, Amanda, who is a sorority member where he works. She is very nice and we behaved ourselves and I think she liked us.

Back to work, working on the battery backup for the sump system just in time for our soggy weekend. One is installed and hopefully the next will be soon. We had several lakes in the yard, reminiscent of last June.

I should know by the end of the week if I will be offered the job of Manager of the Kenosha clinic. The other candidate is having their interview tomorrow and they will decide. I had a panel interview with 8 people yesterday and they told me that I made them feel very calm, which sounded promising to me. I just want to get offered the job, so whoever is praying these days, add me in.

Well, have to get some work done here, so back to the grind! Love, Susan

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Being busy in Big Bend 4/26-09

Greetings to each and ALL---

First order of business: New email address joconnell18@wi.rr.com as we now have high speed internet!

First bonus: Being able to see the Middle Fork Easter Egg Hunt without
the long loading time. Glad to see the searchers in their Easter best and the improvements which were evident in your garden SPOT! Freya you are a great egg locator!

Pleased with the phone visits we've had with Kevin, David, Michele, Matt, Susan, Mark and Maura in recent days and since our Easter Sunday meal and visit. Admit we've not sent too much email in the
busy outdoor days we've had such good weather.

Biggest chore in the last week was getting fallen branches from winter winds and a couple of days of trimming and sawing low branches around the yard to get a pile out to the street which the village workers put thru the chipper on Friday. That was preceded by a lots of raking of leaves which we carted to the village compost pile in 4 big plastic fabric
tubs which contain about 4 bushels. A record should have been kept of the trips--but was not. Regardless, it is better than burning.

Mom saw her new ophthalmologist last week and will be getting a time for her first cataract operation soon and the second one should follow within 2 or 3 weeks. She is pleased that I had a thorough audiology test at Great Lakes Hospital ENT clinic and have ordered hearing aids.

Glad to have had first hand and blog reports on the O'CLong Colorado visit from both the hosts and the guests. It surely was a good time.

Grateful for Domino's report and do hope that she has been able to keep abreast of all her obligations and opportunities. Really sorry that Mark was unable to get to her play.

We've been in touch with Ed and he is still busy with a lot of follow-up thing. Told Mom in a call this week that he has planned a trip to Minnesota to see some friends and will be in California for Erin's graduation and Julie hopes that he will be able to stay there and have his birthday celebration.

Charleen and Bob are coming up to be with us for the day on Thursday of this week. We still have some Grandma and Grandpa O'Connell
stuff that we should go over again to determine how to deal with it.

Mom hope to go to Dubuque soon to have the same kind of meeting with Pat and Ed to go over some Doll material that she still has.

Mom had her 3rd visit with Susan's friend, Dr. Barbara Murray, who is exploring whether some new medicine might be helpful for memory improvement. At this time the dosage is provided by using a patch which is changed daily. For the first month she took a daily pill. The doctor is positive and encouraging as the trial continues. The the next appointment is after a 2 month period--the earlier ones followed for shorter periods.

We will be in Elkhart Lake, WI (Sheboygan County) at a resort hotel for our 2009 Retired Educators' convention. May try to connect with the Sheboygan folks if it won't conflict with David's homework schedule!

Last week we went to an afternoon showing of "Slumdog Millionaire" at an Oak Creek miniplex. No review here.

Susan came to show us their new Ford Free mini-SUV and Grandma really likes it especially the green color! A very impressive set of wheels!

Have had a very rainy weekend. I worked outside on getting soil ready for an exchange in the raised beds yesterday morning, but the rain came just before noon. There was 2.5" in the gauge when we set out for mass this morning. It has continued to rain most of the day--over an inch when I checked late this afternoon. I did get some weed&feed spred yesterday morning before breakfast, so hope it wasn't spoiled by the rain--but things really looked very green by today's last overcast light.

Best wishes to all you scholars as the end of your school year nears!

Good luck to all the job seekers, too!!

Love and prayers, Grandma and Grandpa

Monday, April 13, 2009

Thanks for the great video, Casey. We can never get enough. Freya keeps looking more and more grown up. We had a very nice Easter gathering. The cousins who came got a chance to catch up with each other, as did the siblings. Everyone seems to be doing OK, despite some significant adversity. Having been poor in the past is certainly helping with our current situations!

Jay took the kids back and I got a night off. Jay is going to have a late start, late evening on Mondays, which started this week, so he got to drive to Madison. Bridget and I had spent Saturday applying for summer jobs for her and actually had fun. Hopefully, something will pan out. Colin will be staying in Madison if he gets his wish. He's ready for some freedom!

We're hoping for some 60 degree weather this week, which would be wonderful. The cool weather has lasted long enough. That Boise green grass looked awfully good, and the new flower beds look great. Have a great week everyone!

It's Been a While!

We hope everyone had a great Easter. We're sorry to have missed the get-together many of you had! We had one of my good friends and her husband and two year-old daughter over for lunch and the little girls got to have an egg hunt in the back yard. It was extremely fun! Here's some video--you'll notice I have made a new (small) flower bed with asters and goldenrod, as well as a Chinese seven son flowering shrub. They're very small, but hopefully the summer will be good to them.

Love to all!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Your Prose Are Immortal, But My Love for You Is Even More Immortaler!

Oh boy, so much has happened in my life I hardly know where to begin. I’ll leave out classes since they’re less exciting and I’ve been much more focused on other things recently. 
Well, Quidditch hasn’t quite started again because we’ve run into a bit of a road block about where to store our hoops once we make them. And the weather’s been pretty crappy. We’re hoping to have mini games with area kids this weekend, though, and I think it will be really fun! Also, the Middlebury Quidditch website has been updated, and it looks great. This is our part of the page if you wanna check it out: http://collegequidditch.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=138&Itemid=138
Fencing is over. I finished the season fencing B strip, which was a bit of a joke. I tried, but I was fencing girls who’ve been fencing since high school or earlier, so I was just happy if I got one touch. Nevertheless, I’m excited for next year, fencing A strip is going to be hilarious. Good thing we only have one or two tournaments first semester.
Voice lessons are going well. Tomorrow I get to sing for Kelli O’Hara! She’s currently starring in the Broadway revival of South Pacific, and she’s been nominated for three Tonys. She’s coming to Vassar to give a master class and recital which I auditioned to sing in and I was one of about a dozen student selected. I can’t wait! I hear she’s incredible!
Lastly, my play, Metamorphoses, just ended. We had a great run! By the end the set, which is basically a huge pool, was no longer leaking, the water was warm, almost no one slipped on the slick steps/deck/pool, and the set/lighting design was gorgeous. We were lucky enough to have 5 pretty much sold-out performances, and some great audiences. Jason Alexander (George Constanza from Seinfeld and that one courier dude from the Brandi Cinderella) even came to see it one night! And he gave us a standing ovation! We were ecstatic. Unfortunately, now it’s over. I already miss it. The cast was just an incredible group of people and I love them all. Our cast party was last night and it culminated in a huge cuddle-lump on the couch that was almost impossible to extricate oneself from. I think that’s a pretty accurate metaphor for the cast, actually.  
  I’ve got three huge papers looming, but I’m not going to worry about those right now. I’d rather think about spending next Sunday with the Tosa Gehreds in Central Park, and the Sunday after that seeing August: Osage County on Broadway, and the Metamorphoses cast and crew reunion dinner, and the Miyazaki movie marathon, etc. I’m feeling very contented, if a little melancholy. I love you all.  

Friday, March 27, 2009

snow day

i'm feeling quite behind the times, now that i have actually seen facebook--courtesy of colin, and i just read an article about it in real simple--by a woman who participates at arms length. blogging is pretty 21st century for me!
susan did a great job of chronicalling our week. it was very fun, very relaxing, and we laughed a lot. ruby and link loved having someone else around to get petted by, fun to finally have shelly and chris meet another sister, and great fun to talk about college and walk around the CU campus with some college kids who i know. lots of good food, just a little crap for colin on his birthday, and lots of discussion about susan and my fears of exposure and not using the ski lift guard in front of us.
i did have 2 root canals on monday, after a week of pain. so i had took M and tuesday off this week. then worked on wednesday, and it blizzarded on thursday. it started very early thursday, and i did go into work, but left by 11 am. they closed our office at noon, which was far too late--cuz the roads were horrible, and the wind made for white out driving. it took me an hour to get home--which is usually at 12 minute drive. so today we had a full snow day--got about 18" in our yard. lots of snorkeling by the dogs, and the snowblower got yet another workout. so i've had 2 short weeks at work. i have a briefcase full of work, but i didn't do too much today. it was far nicer to read magazines, and watch all my children, and do a bootcamp work out!
this weekend should be quiet--a lot of snow has melted so far. we are about to build a raised vegetable garden bed--i wanted to do it last year--before ms. obama--but we never got around to it last summer.
we're going to go see bruce springstein at the pepsi center on april 10, with a friend of mine from work. we'll be in the nosebloeed section, but i've finally convinced david that this could be our last chance to be rockers with the e street band.
we did watch W last weekend, which was pretty interesting. chalk up his political career to "i'll show mom and dad". wow.
well, time for pizza tonight. take care everyone--

love--michele, david, link and ruby

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Rating the Hotel Sornell

Hi Everyone-

I am finally sort of relaxing after our wonderful week in CO. We started out at 3:45AM on Saturday the 14th and left at 7:15, arriving in Denver promptly at 9:30AM. We were picked up by a beautiful black Silverado 4X4 which has a big cargo area for our five bags, 2 snowboard bags and 3 carryons. Saturday was pretty quiet. Sunday Michele took Bridget and I to her neighborhood exercise class that she told us later was really a boot camp type class taught by her personal trainer neighbor who does triathlons. That was followed by a walk with the dogs and a late lunch with Shelley and Chris. Monday we headed up to Boulder for some sightseeing and shopping. Tuesday, Jay, Colin and David spent the day fly fishing while the girls golfed and prepared a corned beef, cabbage and Smithwicks Ale dinner. Michele and David worked Wednesday, so we went to the golf course. We had a wonderful grilled steak dinner for Colin's birthday followed by an ice cream cake.

Thursday, we got up early again and headed to Denver to catch the ski train to Winterpark. The ride was beautiful and we got there about 9:30. The kids rented helmets and hit the slopes on their snowboards. Michele, Jay and I took the shuttle into town and then came back to the mountain where we faced our fears and took the ski lift up to the beautiful restaurant at 10,000 feet. High anxiety, but great views. We had a nice meal and came back down the mountain to meet up with a very tired Bridget and Colin to catch the train back to Denver.

Friday we lounged around for much of the morning, then all of us played another round of golf and went to the brew pub for dinner. Colin was happy to get carded and the waitress brought him a birthday treat.

Saturday we re-boarded the Silverado and headed to DIA for an easy flight home. The kids went back to Madison to catch up on "homework", they said. I think a week with the old folks was just about enough. It was so nice in ET that we did some yard work and put the pier in. Our boat lift guy comes early to Potters Lake so we knew we had that job to do as soon as the ice went out. We woke up to the pier being in this AM, so it worked out.

We got some more yard work in Sunday before I left to pick Bridget up and head to Dubuque. We stayed with Bob and Charleen and had a great visit with them, Cathy, Chris and Keri. The funeral was sad, but very nice and we had good visits with the Vandermillens, Barb and Dennis, Peter and Aunt Pat and some of Mom's old friends. We were glad we went. I drove Bridget back to Madison, helped her get some groceries and headed home.

I had heard from Susan Kneser Kearney before we left saying she would be in town so we met for dinner last night. We spent a couple of hours catching up and really enjoyed ourselves. So, I did alot of picking up around the house tonight and getting my paperwork in order. Jay starts his new job next Monday, so he is scurrying around getting stuff done for that.

We highly recommend the accomodations in Denver and the hosts can't be beat! They are fun, funny, upbeat even with tooth pain-Michele got 2 root canals the day after we left after being mis-diagnosed by her dentist and given pain meds. And the bed and hot tub are great.

Hope everyone else is doing well. It was good seeing the Wisconsinites that came to DBQ. Have a great week.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

hi everyone--i'll try this again. i am at home this monring, making sure that my remote access to the FS network is okay--after converting my laptop to windows xp. so far so good. i'm pretending i'm david--sitting around in my underwear drinking coffee--conducting business! he is in san antonio for the past 4 days--due home late tonight. so i have been batching it. i did go to my second dancing class last night--solo. i did okay. i danced a lot with the lady teacher--after she made herself start leading. didn't quite get the "cha cha cha", but i'm sure when i get my partner back next week, i'll be fine. david actually had a lot of fun the first week. he is quite a dancer, and he loves the ladies as you all know!
things here have been good. we had a fast but really nice visit with david and charlie. had a very nice weekend with M and D. a free day at the zoo--which was pretty overwhelming for me. but a fun way to spend my 52nd birthday. shelly went with us, which was also fun.
we are doing great with shelly--she just got a job at a local hospital, working full time in the emergency room, and going to school full time. she is making it on her own, and she and her dad have been doing very well after a rough fall with little communication. so that is all good!
i did apply for a job in albequerque-- a job i've been watching for 3 years, after the director retired, and the region decided what to do. it is the director of lands and minerals, a GS-14/15, which is rare, and david would still be able to keep his job with wagner, and work down in their office in alb. after much soul searching, and research, we decided to pull my application. our relocation service has changed, and of course, our house wouldn't have appraised out at what we'd like right now. so we are staying put. hard decision, but we are happy with it. we don't know what 2009 will bring for david. oil and gas has really tapered off in CO, and that has shown up in his 2008 salary. so, we're better off with fewer unknowns.
i've started a boot camp right in our neighborhood. one of our new neighbors is a personal trainer and we asked her if she would do a boot camp for her neighbors. we meet every sunday morning, and it is usually 4 or 8 of us. it has been very good--mainly lunges, free weights, exercise all stuff, steps. my tricips feel it today. but it is teaching me some new stuff i can do on my own--which is my favorite thing.
i'm taking it a little easier on walking the dogs. link just has such a hard time with his hips if we walk every day. so our walks are shorter. and i keep him on the leash, so he doesn't run as much. i did sneak out with ruby by ourselves last week, and he barked (i'm sure) the whole time we were gone. he'll be 12 next month, and he's an old man with the heart of a puppy! ruby is feisty as ever--just got a spring haircut, and is now speaking for her meals. she loves to kindof gurgle, so i'm having her do it every day. it always makes us laugh! we are so easily entertained.
saw slumdog millionaire, and gran torino lately.
well, i'd better get over to my office now that i know that everything works!
we love youu all.
love--michele, david, link, and ruby

Friday, March 6, 2009

Hi Everyone- I think we are living in an alternative universe right now. I think I hope we are, anyway. So far, no layoffs at Aurora, but freezes on management positions, two of which I was in line for, no merit increase for managers and above, and a new initiative to cut $4mil out of the Behavioral Health budget system wide, which means huge, but as yet unknown changes for our department. I think my job is pretty safe, but I was really hoping to jump ship. It may still happen, but I wish it was right now. Jay is still waiting for a few things, a state job in the prison system and a federal job with the Census bureau which both look promising. We are all talking about how this is not where we expected to be at this time in our lives. I know very well it could be alot worse, so there is definitely gratitude for that, but what a weird world right now.

Looking forward to escaping to Denver next weekend to stay at the Sornell Spa. Both kids are pretty burned out on Madison classes, so are looking forward to some combination of golf, snowboarding, shopping, hiking, and celebrating Colin's 21st. At this point, I don't care if I spend the whole week in the hot tub looking at the sky and turning into a prune.

Well, have to get back to my Keith Olberman/Rachel Maddow addiction. We did hit an ET basketball game last night with some friends which was fun. ET won and they play CMH in Wilmot tomorrow night. Thats about an hour south of us, so we may not go, but it would be fun, even without being able to watch Colin.

We're hoping that our sumps keep up with tomorrow's rain and that we can get our battery backup sumps in place before we leave. The lake is really high. Love to all, Susan

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Can't let February end without at least one more entry!

Greetings to all!!

Domino set a fine example to begin the month, but guess being a short month, it was difficult for all of us to make time to blog on.

Used the snowblower for the first time in about 6 weeks last Saturday afternoon. I waited until about 4PM and worked until just dusk to deal with the 7/8 ". Glad the machine remembered to start on the first pull!

The month ended with here with some morning snow and ends with cold, but blue skies and sunshine. It also ended nicely for us. In a phone visit with Mark on Thursday we learned that Capri was to be in a play on Friday evening and this afternoon.
It was a musical adaptation of Robinson Crusoe for young people coached by an itinerant staff from Missoula , MT which is contracted by the Jefferson County Arts Council to offer a week long workshop which includes these performances. The Gehred-O'Connell children have been involved in earlier years and it has to be fun. After auditions on last Monday, Capri was chosen to be Robinson and a flock of other young talents played a variety of characters. We were pleased to join Mark and Monica for the performance and to have visits with them. Calvin was working at the Fireside so we did not see him.

It has been a busy week during which Mom has had good phone visits with Kevin and Michele. Learned from Kevin about a visit Domino had with Magdalena at Mount Holyoke and Declan's weekend musical gigs in a location near South Orange. Shorter visits with S and J have let them know if we are to be doing any travels like today. They are busy getting ready for Spring Break in Colorado and Michele is busy preparing for their arrival!! Got more details on David's school schedule in another phone visit.

We began the week with our Monday evening Bible discussion lesson--only three more to go. Much of the day was devoted to TurboTax and sorting records and preparing responses to the Scripture discussion topics together.

Tuesday was a heavy duty day with early Bl0od Center
appts. Our iron was OK, so we were both able to give. Then it was back to Waukesha in the afternoon for our haircuts and after supper I drove to the Sienna Center in Racine for adult education series program which featured a WI persons who is with the Madison Capitol Times and the Nation Magazine as a political feature writer. He is John Nichols and is frequently on NPR. His topic was "A Moral Foreign Policy" centered on his hopes and expectations that one will be emerging! Good.

Three Ash Wednesday masses made it necessary to do some extra sacristan duties after we attended at 8 AM. An almost spring like day made an afternoon errand and visit with a friend at a Muskego Nursing Facility quite pleasant.

Mom helped with a funeral meal on Thursday and would have had one today, if we hadn't gone to see Capri.

Friday morning we were at the Ophthalmologist at Great Lakes for Mom's yearly check-up. She was told that the macular degeneration was stable and that she should locate a local
doctor for cataract surgery as he was being transferred and could not schedule it there before he leaves. He believes that this procedure will improve her vision substantially. She has an appointment on Monday 3/2 with our primary care Dr. to
discuss the findings and recommendations of Dr. Murray so plans to ask him for recommendations for the recommended eye surgery. The next visit with Dr. Murray is in about 3 weeks when she will help with an evaluation of the use of Aricept.

We appreciate that Tim has been sending some suggestions and tips on mental exercises that Dr. Murray recommended for Mom. We've worked a little on Sudoka--I'm am getting a little comfortable but still rely on paper and pencil for some prompting. Perhaps we will have to have an open Scrabble game we can return to for a short time each day. TurboTax has some elements of brain challenges!!

Mom has had some phone contact with the Dubuque O'Connells and the Vandermillens this week.

Mom's Boise birthday pictures have been developed and we plan to get copies sent west this next week. We took them to Ft. Atkinson today .

Mom has already gone to bed, so she won't be adding anything tonight. Hopefully, Happy Spring and happy traveling/visiting

Love and prayers, Mom and Dad

Sunday, February 1, 2009

To identify a fire, step 1: look for fire

Happy February! 
Another semester, another blog post. Here goes:
My classes this semester are cool so far, though definitely more work intensive. I’m taking voice lessons, still, which are always a good time. 
Sustainable Landscapes, which is more landscape architecture oriented so far than I expected, but has been fascinating. I have to take water samples later today so that we can find out exactly how polluted campus water is. Cool. 
Native American Women, which has been a throwback to my elementary days when I wished I was Native American. It’s incredibly fascinating, sometimes hopeful and sometimes, probably more often, very depressing. But a good class.  
Sources of World Drama, we’re currently in Romanticism. We just read Victor Hugo’s “Hernani”. The first half is great, the heroine is combative and active in deciding her fate, which is refreshing. Then in the second half she randomly decides to become a whiny, helpless damsel in distress. It’s unfortunate.
And The Actor’s Craft, which has been fantastic. We play theater games and do crazy exercises. 
Extracurriculars have been just as wonderful. 
I’m still a starting sabre fencer. I won two bouts at our last tournament, which is quite good for me! However, I just found out that if we don’t recruit any new sabre fencers, I’m going to be our A strip fencer when my friend Julie goes abroad next semester. AH!!!! Not cool. 
I auditioned for the Drama department again and got into Metamorphoses. It’s the show I really wanted to get into and I’m looking forward to it very much! The callback was one of the most incredible and hilarious things I’ve ever done: me and two other girls had to act out a sacrifice without words. We got about 8 minutes to plan it and then we performed it. We chose to do a human sacrifice and we really went all-out. Fantastic. 
The biggest news, however, is that I just got my application approved to go abroad next year! New Zealand, here I come!!!!!! 

 

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Can we say it is still a new year?

Happy almost February!

Great that Susan who really has had the most on her plate got the blog started for 2009! Thanks.

Knew that there should be something from Big Bend before we head west Friday. There have been a lot of things we've promised ourselves we should write about, but I guess all the pre=Xmas snow really de-
railed those hopes.

Some of our cruise highlights have been discussed briefly with you, but we haven't been able to share as much as we were primed to when we returned. It was great in every detail. The entire trip was almost 1000 miles and the ship moved mostly at night, but there were a number of days when the most scenic areas were passed right after breakfast and we still were able to make the usual daily stop early enough to have a guided tour with either our shipboard director of a local guide and return to the ship for lunch and then have time for some local exploring in the afternoon and get back to the ship by dusk. Most village/city stops were near the city center, so walking to the busy areas was quite easy. Many were locations where there was little WWII bombing so they were really "old Europe". We saw some great churches, beautiful town squares where large Xmas market booths and stalls were being stalled. Saw much evidence of Roman rule prior to the late 400's. Visited one museum in Mainz which centered on archeological discoveries of Roman commerce and fighting ships which were used on the Rhine. We passed thru 66 locks, some as deep as 85 feet and the highest point on the trip was slightly over 1300 ft about sea level.

The last full day was in Amsterdam where we had a canal tour in a covered boat--much classier than the one we had experienced in 1975. We had a choice of two museum, the Riksmuseum which has all the old Dutch masters which we visited in '75 and a fairly new Van Gogh museum, which we chose. It was a winner and was a nice follow up to the exposure we had to his Provence years last year in and around Arles. Have our photos interspersed between the ship's plan of the day and extensive lunch and dinner menu in an album we hope we can share with you before too long.

All we can remember between our trip back home and when we had such a great day at Mark's on 12/26 and the reprise we had here during the weekend, was all the snow we dealt with. Glad we've had a break from
that in 2009--so far.

Glad we had a chance to have a nice dinner with Susan, Jay, Colin and Bridget on a cold Sunday before the semester started and while Susan was involved with her recovery program. The day before we left for Arvada, Colin and Bridget came over for
a fine visit before they headed back to school. We were sorry that we didn't have another chance to see more of the grandchildren before their activities began again.

Our long weekend in Arvada was great! When David met us at the airport on Saturday morning the sun was shining and it was already almost 60. Every day it was warmer and it was over 70 when Michele drove us back to the airport on Tuesday. Hoping to have something special for us, Michele planned to take up to the zoo on Monday, MLK day, a federal holiday. It turned out to be a free day and the place was mobbed with parents with preschool age children in wagons, strollers, etc. Being warm and free was a real deal. Luckily, we were able to get the last wheelchair for Grandma and we did quite well steering her between all the child carrying vehicles. It wasn't until we decided to head for the exit that I realized we had been going down hill around the exhibits and the route back was pretty much up hill! IT WAS A ZOO!

Thinking pretty much of David and Charlie and their trip this week and Mom called Arvada about an hour ago and they were safely there! David reported a good trip, so far.

We were in Madison, unexpectedly, yesterday. The husband of a woman your Mom and Aunt Charleen met in Milwaukee when they came here to work died and we went to the funeral. We had remained in touch with them, not as closely as Charleen an Bob have, but they were generally part of the group when we met C and B in Madison for lunch over the years. We had a good driving day and enjoyed a good visit at the post funeral luncheon. Managed a short Trader Joe shopping stop, as well.

Had a phone visit with Mark last night and learned that his job offer is still in progress. He has a business trip to San Francisco next week, so a lot of us will be traveling. Tonight, Kevin called and we had a long visit. Big topic was Declan's satisfying experience at Rutgers and that they had been able to go to Mystic, CT over the last weekend and get a new bass violin. They will be checking to see if we can't come there to hear some of his concert work later in the spring which they will try to have in conjuction with a graduation party for Magdalena. It appears that the Mount Holyoke graduation program has a very limited ticket supply, so there is not room for much more that parents, so
a party sounds fine to us!

I did get my copy of Rick Brimeyer's book on the Cub's 2009 season and was about 3/4 finished with it, but I forgot it at
Michele's so she is going to send it back with David, so I won't be able to share it with Matt next weeks. It is a nice read, probably not a Pulitzer candidate!

Glad Michele and David have recovered their e-mail. Thanks for your update yesterday and most assuredly for your great hospitality last week.

Mom had a phone visit with Susan tonight, as well.

One more item, my cousin Kathy Staerk let us know this fall that she had retired again--early from Il public schools, this time from a 3rd grade spot at her parish school for the last 6/7 year. When I sent her our Xmas greeting, I suggested that we try to meet her for lunch some week day, now that she was less involved. In her Xmas message she suggested that we come to her home is Lake Villa, IL
on a January Saturday. We did it on the 24th. Three of her
4 children came, as well. We had a very nice visit in her recently
remodeled home on a 5 acre plot with a little pond behind the house. She has 2 girls and 2 boys. The eldest daughter is married with 3 little girls and lives in the St. Louis area. The other 3 are unmarried and 2 live in the Chicago suburbs and the last lives in
Waukesha and works for Johnson Control. They are three very nice young folks--late 20's early 30's. The 3 of them were very interested in learning more about their grandfather,my dad's oldest brother, Dan, who died when their mother was quite young. Most of you can remember visiting their mother, Aunt Ruth, and
seeing the doll house her girls had. Kathy is a god mother to one of you, but we're really not sure who.

Really looking forward to being with the birthday girl--and her parents next week!

Guess that is more than enough for tonight. God Bless you all!!

Love and prayers, Mom and Dad

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Happy New Year! I can't believe its midway through January already. I decided to go back to work last Monday the 12th and although it was a very stressful week, I felt fine and kept a good energy level. While I was gone, a plan that had been in the works for some time started coming together. Aurora has never really figured out how behavioral health was doing financially and they have been paying the therapists alot of money and giving them lots of support staff. Well, they finally figured out that our area is about a nine million dollar loss every year. The VP in Milwaukee, who is a friend of mine, has been charged with cutting that by four million. That means cutting salaries, pushing therapists to see more people, cutting their support staff, whatever it takes. The whole process will likely take at least a year, but I was assured last week that they are looking to me to help realign us and cut these losses. Doubtless, I will be less liked by the jerks who already don't like that I am there, but I do have a good support system throughout the system. The same forces that basically helped shut Jay and I down with our clinic are in place and affecting Aurora, but the contracts were set up long ago and haven't been changed to deal with the changed environment. I may end up with a bigger job when all is said and done.

So, that's happening. Jay's looking for a position to help cover things and we both agreed that H&R Block was not it. In the meantime, he has been very busy with fixing cars, worrying about sick dogs and taking care of me.

I have spent the last two Sundays going to my yoga class, then going with Bridget to the spa at Lake Geneva and doing regular workouts and ending up in the hot tub and steam room. My knee is still stiff, but my range of motion continues to get better and I am walking normally and building stamina. I am very pleased with the outcome so far.

The kids left for Madison this afternoon and we have been busy putting things back where they belong. They both made the Dean's List last semester, and made sure they relaxed as much as possible for the past month. They both worked alot at Alpine which will help this next semester, but managed to have quite a bit of fun also. Bridget had her two roommates down for three days and they snowboarded and shopped. Colin worked, played Halo with his friends whenever he could, spent a weekend boarding at Indianhead in Northern Wi with his buddy, and worked out at the gym. It was really nice to be off when they were home and we did have a lot of nice time with them. We are scheduled to go out with both of them to Denver over their spring break and hope to golf, ski and fish and celebrate Colin's 21st!

So, it was great to see everyone that was here for Christmas. I am jealous that Mom and Dad get to go to Denver and Boise in the coming weeks. We are looking forward to watching as much Inaurguration stuff that we can this week, probably with our new buddies Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman. These last few weeks of Bush/Cheney have been pretty hard to stomach. They both need to be admitted to a psych hospital, along with their staffs, to deal with their delusions. I just want them to go far, far away.

So, hopefully, we will start to get some more posts as people return to normal, or hopefully we do. It was great seeing all the kids returning from their far flung pursuits and doing so well. Hopefully, you are all enduring the snow and cold and soon it will be spring. We love the snowblower. It has made life much more bearable! Love to all, Susan