The Great Mother - Daughter Double Date

All photos today were lovingly captured by Bridget Anne.

Last evening, Bridget & I met our friends Cathy & Emily of Chili Cook-off fame downtown for a picnic on the Grand River. Afterwards, we set off for a walk in the city.


At one point, Cathy presented me with a Key to the City.


The mayor seemed surprised when we gave it back.


We stopped into a clothing boutique and the girls tried on these hats.


Cathy found a vintage 70's outfit that was calling out her name.


After watching the downtown swing dancing, we had to pose by the flowers and do some downtown mountain climbing.


We finished off the night with some pretty intense ice cream... oh, and some night swimming which unfortunately was hard to photograph.

Excitement Overload

This weekend was so outstanding that as I write this on Sunday evening, I'm filled with a little sadness that it's over - until I remember the words of Dr. Seuss and Edward's cross country coach - Don't cry because it's over, be glad that it happened. Maybe Friday night is catching up with me - I only got about 3 hours of sleep at the church women's retreat after a busy day of working, going to lunch with John, getting "lost" in Holland, talking and more talking. Many of these conversations still linger in my mind and I think of what a gift it is to be part of this church.

Saturday, I returned in time to celebrate Bridget's birthday by going to the wedding of an old friend and twin sister of my college roommate Linda - what a joyous occassion! It makes me laugh when I think back to how we screamed when we saw each other, my college roommate and I, because it doesn't happen nearly enough as she lives in New York. John, the girls & I had an awesome birthday supper at Olga's and came home for cake and presents. I then made 48 cupcakes for church right up until I crashed at about 10pm.

Sunday morning, my friend Cathy Withasee, of little red haired girl on the bus memory, gave me a package of little wax bottles with juice inside, Gracie gave me a handwritten note which is a wonderful gift the e-mail/cell phone days we live in and Pastor Henry talked about living in harmony.

My friends Linda and Joe came in the afternoon before heading back East so we could catch up - it had been a couple of years since we saw them and it was priceless to see them again. When they left, I stood in the driveway and waved until they were out of sight. Then Edward proceeded to beat me in 3 games of ping pong which is actually another exciting thing - I might feel bad if he couldn't beat his 45 year old mother...

Painting Pal

In the past, when embarking on various painting projects, both at home and at a friend's house, I have found it to be a fun project to do together. So when I heard my friend Cathy wanted to paint, I was totally game.


The amazing and fun Cathy Flinstone with her art deco vacuum cleaner

Many years ago, when I went to kindergarten, I had to ride the big yellow bus to the "big" public school. I will never forget a red-haired girl on the bus named Cathy who gave me one of those little wax bottles filled with juice. It was the most amazing thing in my little naive world from probably my first ever friend. I thought of that little juice bottle for many, many years and the little red haired girl named Cathy, who I lost track of the next year when I went to a different school. Last week while painting, I thought for awhile I had finally found her until I realized she was from Chicago. Oh well, I can still pretend.

Bridget just came home from school and announced that the nurse inside of her pulled off another "A" on a human body science quiz. High 5!

Spring's Bright Things

Flowers "won"

These yellow flowers and all that went along with them were a good antidote this past March to that time of year in the midwest that gets very wet and gray. They came out of one of those guessing games at the table at the Fernando Ortega benefit dinner where the winner gets to take the centerpiece home. I really tried to give it back, but then when they insisted, I thought how I could take a photo and share it with the world on the intertube...

I have spent the past couple of days listening to Fernando Ortega and painting in clean and bright colors with my friend Cathy who we saw Fernando with. She is such a kindred spirit! Fernando, painting, hanging out with friends - 3 of my favorite things for sure!

Cleaning and Shopping and Keeping On

John has been out of town this week, first to Washington DC, then to Arizona, so I have been motivated to do some deep cleaning. I spent about 10 hours on the kitchen cupboards and last night, I organized the 2 junk drawers. Doesn't that sound fun? It was!

I did have a couple of birthday lunches with friends which felt like gifts to me as much as to them, you know? Deep in the recesses of my cupboards, I discovered some jam jars of my friend Lori on her birthday. So I took a cleaning break for a birthday lunch!

It turns out, my friend Cathy loves three-cheese Olga's as much as I do and we only ever eat them with our mothers. What's that all about? So we met at Olga's, and ended up shopping for a hot babe dress (for me) and pants and a bathing suit(for her). Those are the completely hardest things to shop for if you ask me, so it was a good feeling to have succeeded, and it was a plus to have had so much fun doing it. Another bonus: when I got home, Bridget approved of the dress! This is huge.

Note: I never knew I could have a hot babe dress, but I have been told since I am a hot babe, all of my dresses are hot babe dresses. Now that makes sense to me. :)

Memories of a Favorite Professor

Yesterday, John & I went to Calvin College for a luncheon to see Don Wilson receive the Faith and Learning Award. This award is presented to a former Calvin professor for excellence in teaching, spiritual impact, concern for students and lasting influence. I can think of no one more deserving of this award. Don was an anthropology professor and my freshman year at Calvin, he became my advisor even though I was a math major. I visited him often in his office where a 10 foot snake skin hung from the ceiling and the African masks, drums and other artifacts decorated the shelves and walls. He always had the best stories and I could talk to him forever. Because of him, I acquired a love for learning about other cultures. He eventually performed our wedding, so now John & I both have a lasting tie to him.

Today, he sends out over 6000 postcards a year, so every year on each of our family member's birthdays, we hear from him. We still see him from time to time, and he always has a story to tell. Read this article about him which shows what a unique person he is.

B.F.O.T.I.

Pearlie, 2008

As I approach the 2nd year anniversary of this blog later this month, I wanted to post this picture of a dear blogger friend on the opposite side of the world who has been here almost from the very beginning. We found each other's blogs randomly and soon recognized our love of the Bible, grammar, books, learning, and blogging. I loved this picture of how she blogs over there in Malaysia where she is 12 hours ahead of me each day. Every day! She is posed appropriately in front of her books, but I was surprised to see her in jeans. I don't know why, I guess I naively thought jeans were American while there on the humid equator region where she lives, she would be wearing something cooler. Anyway, thanks Pearlie for your blogging friendship. Someday, we'll meet for sure.

The Pre-Pre-B-day Party

This afternoon, I was able to soak in the warm fall colors of fall by hot tubbing with my friend Lori next to her Maple tree with bright red fall leaves. Usually, the leaves are gone by now, but it has been a warm fall. So now I will get to enjoy a warm colored birthday. Lori & I have marked grand occasions, her b-day, my b-day, New Year's eve, by having coffee in the hot tub in her back yard, and since I'm about to turn 45, we found it a good excuse to do it again.

She gave me these pictures she took last night of Bridget, her daughter Elise & friends in their costumes & with their candy haul.


Oh, and that ghost showed up again.

Breakfast at Panerra

This morning I met my friend Annette at Panerra for our "monthly" breakfast which has turned in to more of a biannual affair. We recounted our last breakfast during the great February blizzard of '07 where we drank coffee oblivious to the churning white maelstrom outdoors. When we finally became aware of the great distress outside, we decided that Panerra would not be a bad place to be snowed in - they have coffee, bathrooms, good food, and a fireplace. It is, as the Dutch say, gezelligheid.

So this morning, we sat by the fireplace, my baptist-buckeye-turned-reformed-prematurely-widowed friend and I, trying to comprehend life here in GR. A lady seated near us who was reading a book commented what a gift it was to have breakfast with a friend. And so it was, as 3 hours later we realized it was time to move on with our days. See you next month, Annette.

Old Dreams Remembered

This past weekend, the road I traveled to take the girls to their pool party led me to the home of my best friend from childhood, Martha. She is as "Martha" as they get - not so much in the Stewart sense of the word, but more in the Mary & Martha sense (and yes, her sister really is Mary and very true to form). When I popped into her kitchen, you would have thought I was the long lost queen of Prussia. I hadn't seen her in probably 2 years though we live 15 minutes apart. She proclaimed, "I think of you all the time!" and I know this is true because I think of her all the time too - someone who is so important to you in your childhood years is always there in your memory.

I thought it would be a quick pop-in, but it turned out to be and hour and a half visit, and only this short because they were getting ready to leave for vacation that afternoon and I had a splitting headache. We talked about the past year, the things our kids were doing, the trips we had been on, the difficulties of getting older. I remember playing with "Barbies" in her purple bedroom and we both dreamed that someday, we ourselves would be married with families and live in Grand Rapids. And what do you know, it came true? And now, the playmate who I had dreamed with about our families has had a hysterectomy? Am I that old? An especially great thing about Martha is how she became the Nurse she was destined to become, and how we eventually always talk about health issues, and it was good because now I know of some things I need to attend to. I found out other things from her like how one of her daughter's good friends had been killed tragically during the past week, and how one of her daughters doesn't like math, how she has actual blue hydrangeas in her back yard, and how she doesn't even know what a blog is. We sat on the benches that her Dad made until the bright sun made us hot. She had to get ready to go, and I had to go back home.

I left happy just knowing that she was still there.

Happy New Year!

Blessings to you all in 2007!!! We have had a restful weekend and last night, we had friend's over to help bring in the New Year.


Part 1 of the evening - the girls made a gingerbread house. We also played pool and DDR which stands for Dance Dance Revolution. Maria, Lori & I also escaped for a bit of winter hot tubbing.


Waiting for the ball to drop...


Keith & Lori toast the New Year.

10,000 Steps

Yesterday, I met my friend Ruth for a walk through the neighborhood. I always walk in the afternoons and she told me she would like to go with me some Wednesday afternoon. So we met somewhere between our houses and her pedometer was already at 6795 steps for the day because it was 1:30 pm.

6,795 so far

Do you remember a few years ago the big thing was that to get your proper exercise in for the day, you should walk at least 10,000 steps?

When we were walking, Ruth spotted this ahead and said, "That better not be a dead animal,"

and the good news is that, no it was just 2 chunks of ice, otherwise I wouldn't have posted it here because as we also discussed, this blog is all sweetness and light.

At the end of our walk, she was at 10,230 steps for a grand total of 3,435 on our walk. So good job Ruth... way to get those steps in for the day!

So Ruth gave me these verses to think about when we are stepping about:
Job 14:16 "Surely then you will count my steps."
Proverbs 14:15 "A prudent man gives thoughts to his steps."

Thanks for the Birthday Wishes!!!

On the eve of the great day, John & I went over to Calvin to see Sense & Sensibility as performed by the Calvin Theater Company. I always get a kick out of watching plays in the Gezon auditorium because you are so close to the stage and the actors. Indeed, at the beginning, the actors sat in various planned empty seats throughout the audience and began talking in their British accents. I tried to break through the personna of Mrs. Dashwood, who sat next to John. She did tell us she was from Estes Park, Colorado, but when I asked her how she got that accent, she said she picked it up when she came to Calvin. I then proceeded to tell this stranger how I had gone hot tubbing today in the snow as if I were the only person ever to have done such a thing.

So as the play went on with the Dashwood sisters developing their love affairs using their prospective degrees of sense and sensibility, I grew exasperated of their growing despair and lament of the failures of their loves and I accidentally let out a big snort. It was past 10:30 pm and I thought it time to go home already.

We finally did make it home, and I was still awake at midnight when it became my actual birthday. I didn't feel any older. As I later told a friend, you are always the same age in your head. Mom & Dad called me in the morning and mom sang Happy Birthday, but Dad said, I'm not going to sing. I said that was okay by me.

I arrived at work to a dark office, and even though we already had a party on Wednesday, I still felt like there were surprises lurking. Sure enough, my office was decked out in signs and balloons and 5 little gift bags with Goobers in them. It was a fun morning with everyone seeming to be having fun on my birthday.

I had an impromptu lunch at Panerra with a friend who e-mailed her birthday wishes. Then the UPS truck dropped off a box with something called an Electric Kettle from my mother. I have to say that this is a bloggable topic in itself, so I will leave it at that for now.

It is almost supper time now and when John gets home, we will continue...

The Celebration Goes On

Last night, I made this excellent recipe for chicken which comes from my friend Maeghan who lives in Kuala Lumpur. It was unbelievably good and so easy to make and the kids loved it too! Such a good thing to have when you're almost 44!

So then to top off the pre-b-day festivities, I went hot tubbing outdoors today with a friend of mine. It turned out to be one of those picturesque hot tubbing days we had always jokingly wished for when the snowflakes are coming down gently from the sky as you sit in the soothing hot, bubbling water. And now, my old bones and muscles are feeling great.

So then, to further celebrate the aging event, a friend at work sent me this song sung recently by Julie Andrews who played Maria in the Sound of Music even though I'm not this old yet:

Malox and nose drops and needles for knitting,
Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,
Bundles of magazines tied up in string,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Cadillacs and cataracts and hearing aids and glasses,
Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses,
Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the pipes leak,
When the bones creak,
When the knees go bad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad.

Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions,
No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,
Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals they bring,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Back pains, confused brains, and no fear of sinnin',
Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin',
And we won't mention our short shrunken frames,
When we remember our favorite things.

When the joints ache,
When the hips break,
When the eyes grow dim,
Then I remember the great life I've had,
And then I don't feel so bad.

Ms. Andrews received a standing ovation from the crowd
that lasted over four minutes and repeated encores.)

Another Blogger is Born?

One exciting thing I found out on the camping trip was that a friend of mine from our church, Diana, just started a blog called Extra Grace Required. She is from Seattle and is the youngest of 4 daughters like my friend Lori from Massachussetts. And since I'm the oldest of 4 daughters, we have a bit of a unique connection there. Oh, and her dad is a Nether who landed in the 50's which is another resemblance we have. That's slang for Dutch immigrant if you don't know. So go check her blog out. Right now. It will be fun. Signed, The Oldest Sister Who Knows Better. JK!

Thank You for Loving Us

Yes, John, Bridget & I made it home in one whole piece - actually better than before! You can put me down as a wilderness survivor now. We camped for about 24 hours in the Manistee National Forest north of Ludington, Michigan with about 28 people from our church in a rustic camp (ie. no plumbing or electricity). I have found if you are conservative in your drinking habits, you can get by with only having to use the pit pots twice in a 24 hour period.

We enjoyed the beauty, peace, and quiet of God's earth and great fellowship while we were there.


Lake Michigan is spectacular!





We had a great time together.


Bridget's little head is in the above picture in the choppy waves. (There were 2 adults out there with her who must have been under water at the time.)


The sunset. As romantic as watching the sunset sounds, you end up with about 12-15 bright sunspots in your eyes.


The Campfire. This gives you the earthy smell.


The music.


We sang praise songs around the campfire with 2 guitars, a mandolin, the djembe (jimbay). The drum beat had a mesmerizing effect, and I was sitting next to Diana, the one who sings the harmonies with the band. I don't think I ever actually sang a straight tune, but it was fun. Nobody took me up on the idea to come up with a new tune for Kum-bay-yah, but we didn't have to sing the old one, either. When Justin prayed, I remember he said, "Thank you for loving us," and I thought yes, thank you, thank you, I can't believe I get to be here.

The World Keeps Spinning

God, Brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world." Psalm 8:9

Reflect the light, originally uploaded by Sharon-雪人.

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur

My friend Maeghan is a Christian who lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which is exactly a 12 hour time difference to us in Michigan (EST). It's fun when she writes at the end of the day and I'm just starting the day, or if I write at night, she is already in the next day. The irony of this usually strikes me on Sundays when she has already gone to church and I am still in my PJ's. Kuala Lumpur is the home of the 2nd largest building in the world, shown above. I asked her once if she ever goes there, and sure enough, she does meet with clients there sometimes.

I never realized how advanced Malaysia was as a civilization until I met Meaghan which just illustrates what an ethnocentric American I am. Then I remembered the Petronas Towers and duh, tall towers must have people & businesses in them, otherwise why would they be there? This is yet another case of me being awakened to the size of the world. I was thinking of something like the nearby country of Sumatra where my friend Linda went on a mission trip after the tsunami. The pictures she showed me were of a devastated country, of course.

One of the interesting things I learned about Malaysia is they have these stinky fruits called Durians, pictured below.


photo by Maeghan Ng

These fruits have such an obnoxious odor that they aren't even allowed on airplanes which is why you never see them in the US. I think they look like undersea creatures. Evidentally, they can have kind of a custard-like inside for which you have to acquire a taste. Last week, Maeghan & her family had them for her birthday, and I told her oh, if I was there, I would have made you a cake!



You can wish Maeghan a late happy birthday on her blog, here!

Friendship

Toni brought baggies of fermented goop to work a couple of weeks ago for us along with a recipe which instructed us to squeeze them, burp them, add more ingredients to them and basically babysit them for 10 days! My imagination smelled right through the plastic bag she gave me which in turn made my stomach feel weird. But she gave us a sample of the bread she made from this goop and it was really quite good, so I proceeded with the experiment. Ten days later, I made the bread, called Amish bread, and I was happy I did.

Then Sharon looked up the recipe for a "starter goop" on the internet, but we decided it would not be the same if you made it from scratch. She said the kind you get from a friend has a "history", and I liked how she said that because it is kind of like how we share a history with our friends. But then I thought about how so many of my friends in these days wouldn't want to be bothered by a recipe that takes 10 days to make, or rather, I wouldn't want to bother them. Or maybe the problem is that I just don't want to be bothered to put it in baggies and make copies of the recipe and bring them over to my friends. We are in such a rush. We don't share our history. And we are not Amish.

But for awhile, we Family Institute people are babysitting our dough, recycling it back to each other, and making our bread. The bread becomes so precious when it is finally made that it can hardly be wasted. Sharon could only spare us each a 1/2 of a piece that she made with applesauce today because her son loved it so much, but yet she really wanted us to try her new addition. We were so excited about it. And we are becoming old friends with Amish bread in our history.

A Cool Thing

In church yesterday, we sang an old hymn, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and the band added a tin whistle which was so great. I was very, how should I say it, touched, inspired, moved? It was just that good.
So after church and our great Mother's Day outing, I was at home checking in with one of my blogging friends on the total other side of the world, I mean a perfect 12 hour difference in time zones, so that I could probably dig straight through the center of the earth to get to her house, and she had already posted an entry for Sunday since she is 12 hours ahead, and what do you know, she said, the song in church that really touched her today was, are you ready for this? Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing!

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Yorkies

I saw a car on my way home from work the other day with a bumper sticker that said Yorkies are like potato chips...you can't eat just one. I looked in the back seat of the car and the lady had 3 Yorkies in there. I immediately experienced a flashback right there on 68th Street to the times I've spent with my friend in New York riding around in her jeep because she also has 3 Yorkies. They were always so excited to be riding in the car with their master driving them around and you could just tell the 4 of them were used to being together like this because I would just end up with 3 little doggie butts in my face.

Sparks

Did you know that Wintergreen Lifesavers emit blue/green sparks when you bite on them with your mouth open in the dark? I tried to demonstrate it to some of my co-workers in the bathroom today at work, but they must have been doing it wrong because they did not see the sparks. I saw the sparks in my mouth. I'm a believer in the sparks. At this point in time, they are not, however. I actually found the scientific explanation for it. It is called triboluminescence or TL which is light resulting from crushing or tearing. When the sugar crystals are crushed, the negatively charged electrons break loose and end up crashing in to nitrogen in the air and causing the blue sparks. You should try it sometime. It will light up your life.