Vote!

Lucie just entered an online contest at ourdolls.net and if you like her submission will you vote for her? please?

love,

Agelaius

After consulting with Mama...

This is what you've been waiting for...? Maybe?

(Let Geoff, Kathie, Karen, Gill stand for the families of thereof)

Do you like the ideas here? Do you have some corrections?

Mama thinks it is silly for us to (try to) be so "organized" but I think we need this:

SATURDAY: Mama with help from Geoff & Kathie

o Breakfast: Everyone is at home or on their way.

o Lunch: Sandwiches, Salad, etc.

o Snack: Tostadas and dip by Kathie - Upon arrival of the rest of the clan

o Dinner: Ham Dinner – Geoff with Mama in the kitchen, pumpkin pies by Kathie,

o Barrios and Hoyer-Greenlees clean-up (all day)

SUNDAY: Wilsaks with help from Mama & others

o Breakfast: Stollen by Karen, breads by Kathie, cereal, coffee, tea, etc.

o Lunch: Big Salad Sally & Danny Host – Kathie and Gill will bring soup

o Snack: Wine & Cheese Party by Gill & Rick

o Dinner: Turkey & Rice Dinner – Gill with Mama in the kitchen

o Wilsaks clean-up (all day)

MONDAY: Gages with help from Mama & others

o Breakfast: Stollen by Karen, breads by Kathie, cereal, coffee, tea, etc

o GOODBYE to the WILSAKS

o Lunch: Gages Host – Leftovers plus!

o Snack: Gages Host – what will it be?

o Dinner: Hamburgers & Mashed Potatoes – Karen with Mama in the kitchen

o Gages clean-up (all day)

TUESDAY:

o Breakfast: Stollen by Karen, breads by Kathie, cereal, coffee, tea, etc

o GOODBYE to the GAGES

o Lunch: Hoyer-Greenlees Host – Sandwiches, Salad, etc.

o GOODBYE to the HOYER-GREENLEES

o Everybody is back home! (Is your house clean? Mine isn’t!)

Tell me what you think and if you have any changes to make.

I've sent this via email as well,

Love, agelaius

Christmas Plans Reprinted but not redux

Dear Siblings:

Not sure what is the best way to communicate with everyone. You know I'm allergic to the phone! Anyway, I will also post this on the blob. Blog. Whatever. Anyway, I've talked to Mama and she wants to do the first night's dinner. I would like to offer either a soup and bread lunch on Sunday (I could bring my bread machine!) or a wine and cheese dinner. I don't know exactly how we're going to split things up nor how we can make a joint decision without all being together. Too bad things can't stay forever the same, but the times they are a'changin' and being the oldest my times tend to change first. So, let me know what you all think and let's see if we can get this worked out.

Love,

Gill

P.S. I'd love to be able to say let's just wing it but I think if we do that it will all fall on Mama by default and I don't want that to happen. And if Mama is listening in, I just want to say that it is not because I'm trying to "spare" her when she doesn't need sparing, nor am I trying to take away her hostess duties, it's more that I want to have a part in hostessing my family and if the mountain won't come to Mahammed for dinner then Mohammed has to bring dinner to the mountain!

Dearest Sibs:
Hmmm. Didn't expect such a reaction from mama when I told her we'd be staying at the hotel at Christmas -- "absolutely not -- I won't hear of it." I guess by the end of the conversation her ruffled feathers were a bit smoothed. Mama wants to know "whose idea was this" and "why do we think we need to do this"... My apologies Jill if you'd planned to write mama and I spilled the beans -- but I explained it was all arranged and we had reservations.

Two other things: Mama said she plans on making the first night's dinner (that would be Saturday, 26th) so maybe the schedule needs adjusting. Also, Daddy is taking a pass on setting up the Christmas tree -- which is not a big deal tho we perhaps need to warn Gigi & Alex not to expect it.

Also, we plan to return to St. Louis for mama's birthday which is a 5 day weekend for J & G in honor of Lincoln & Presidents Day. Somewhat in compensation for our short Christmas visit. I thought it was her 90th based on her age on my birth certificate but she says it's her 91st!
xxx
Karen

Edited Version of Christmas Plans

Hey, everyone!
My husband had a great idea. We'd like to host Saturday, December 26 dinner and have it be our wine and cheese party (with crackers and other nibbles (chocolate?) for those who need more) and then we'll just do soup and bread for Sunday's lunch. We'll even bring "children's wine" for those who are under 21. (Sorry, Dan, that means you too). Anyway, I'm not sure you care one way or the other, but it may affect dinner planning for someone else. Love you still.
Gilly

Christmas Vacation Plans

Dear Siblings:
Here's what the Wilsaks are planning for Christmas vacation. We are going to drive down to St. Louis on Saturday, December 26, arriving around 3 p.m. We will check into the Crowne Royal at the airport and then come over to Mom and Dad's. We will prepare dinner. Given the usual chaos of hugs and other greetings, I would suggest that we open presents after dinner. Part of the reason we are staying at a hotel is to spare Mama trouble, and part is because I'm missing my kids and want to spend as much time with them as I can - plus the hotel has an indoor pool.
On Sunday, December 27, I hope Karen will have stollen for breakfast :-) and then we will provide cheese and crackers (and probably soup) for lunch. If it's past noon, we can have some wine tasting to go with our cheese tasting. ;-)
On Sunday, December 27, Wilsaks will do the clean up after dinner. On Monday, December 28, we'll drive home - but not too early so we can all have breakfast together.
In between all this food stuff is conversation and silliness; I'm hoping that Kathie and Ruben can be with us for most of Saturday and Sunday even if they have to work on Monday. We could even have a pool date on Sunday afternoon. If this sounds all right to all of you, I will write to Mama and Daddy and tell them this is what we've planned.
Love,

Gilly

LucieCat a little late

Here's Lucie, a little sleepy, in her minimalist cat for Hallowe'en choice - no make-up, just ears and a tail. Fortunately, Rubén had just bought her a black jogging outfit the previous Saturday. She's not one for Trick or Treating so it was just de rigeur for school.

Thanks for starting the discussion on holiday food/cleaning responsibilities, Geoff. Not sure if I can read your schedule...I don't have to work on Saturday or Monday (yeah!) so I'd like to volunteer a soup/bread/salad meal. Do the Wilsaks leave Monday afternoon? is that what the blue parts of the schedule mean? and the Gages on Thursday afternoon? Gill and Rick are you staying at our house?

Did I miss some emails? or is everybody just getting T-day taken care of first? Our refrigerator is PACKED with food, you'd think we were having more than just Mama and Daddy - but I told Mama she only gets to make stuffing and bring 2 avocadoes and Lucie and I are doing the rest.

love and let me know what other plans are made,

Agelaius

Parades, Evaluations & Christmas

(updated 5pm Sun)

We just got back from the Royal Oak holiday parade, and it was lots of fun. bagpipes, fire engines, high school bands, unicyclists, horses, bands, reindeer and Santa to bring up the end. This guy was making his cupcake this summer when we went to his yard sale, so it was kinda neat to see the finished product.

We had our first parent-teacher meeting (the day before I had my performance review. yawn) and the teacher (Mrs. S. S for Stankiewicz. And his kindergarten teacher was Mrs. M. M for Mazurkiewitz.) was very excitable (2 classes of 28 kids between two teachers. Glad she has lots of energy) and very pleased with Alex. Reading at mid-year 3rd grade level, doing well with math (not really tested) and behaving and not over-reacting. So we're very happy too. (as for me, my evaluation was OK too. Might be doing a project next year where I get to be a team leader! Team of two (counting me), but hey!)

And we have our tickets for Christmas. We're coming in Sat 26 Dec @ 8:00 AM (NW2545) and leaving Tue 29 Dec @ 1:55 PM (NW5670). We'll be staying at Sue's friend Jan's house, so that there will be more space in the house, and we'll be renting a car, so no need to pick us up. We're going to supply one meal (we'll probably do Chinese again), but we need to schedule that out -- I think we should make a detailed plan for meal and cleanup before we get there. So maybe something like this? I'll update the table with corrections and suggestions.

I tried to list who was here when, according to the e-mails I've seen (that's the blue bits), and who's doing dinner. I've not tried to do lunch yet, or even think about breakfast, which I would think is going to be free-for-all, unless we should credit the Gages, if Karen's bringing Stollen again (I hope)

Day	Wilsaks	Gages	Barrios	Hoyers	Lunch	Dinner	Clean
Sat 26 AM
Sat 26 PM						W	H
Sun 27 AM
Sun 27 PM						H	W
Mon 28 AM
Mon 28 PM						B	G
Tue 29 AM
Tue 29 PM						G	B
Wed 30 AM
Wed 30 PM
Thu 31 AM
Thu 31 PM

Halloween at the Hoyer/Gages

Dear Family,
Here's Jackson in his totally recycled outfit (full length leather coat from Unique Thrift for $7.99, "boots" from discarded Santa spats, suspenders from the Partners in Mime, Inc. costume stash...sometimes it pays not to clear out the basement...) Who is he you ask? Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly -- an online sci fi serial he likes. He went trick or treating with two guys and six (!) girls from Edison. Nobody knew who he was dressed as but they threw candy. Gigi is more recognizable as Pikachu -- more recycling -- thrift store hoodies! She went trick or treating with Emma (I was called to understudy at Zarko but then at the last minute didn't have to... tho I did fill in the next day. Quite a challenge to fill in at the last minute because the show keeps changing!)

I caught up with Gigi & Emma and went with them to our neighborhood party dressed as a genii (a costume I'm working on for Vaudeville Caravan) -- who knew that turbans would be so hot? Meanwhile Richard was on boyscout parking lot duty because he didn't think it was fair to ask the boys to skip Halloween. Why would Northwestern have a football game on the evening of Halloween? Anyway, we had a great time at our neighbor's house and we have a huge stash of candy left because nobody was answering our doorbell for most of the evening!

This weekend we are going to three different high school open houses and Jackson has the first of two high school tests on Monday. No school today so I worked on the yard and Jackson coached Gigi on her soccer skills (gym is not her best subject...) Tonight we're going to St. John's choir practice -- we're going to sing in the Advent Lessons and Carols again.

On another holiday note: we are planning to travel to St. Louis also on the 26th but will probably stay a little longer driving back on the 31st. We haven't found a hotel yet but Richard will report on his research soon. Shall we plan a pool party?

xxx
Karen

Happy Hallowe'en

Well we had 30 kids over two hours come by the house, while I played the Vierne really loudly, and handed out candy. Alex came home with 130 pieces of loot, and he and Sue seemed to have had a pretty good time romping around the neighborhood.

We had hoped to go for a walk earlier that morning since we had arranged for a babysitter) but it was cold and windy, and ended up going to the art museum (Avedon photography exhibit). And then some nice polish food (Sue had pierogis, sausage and golopkis, and I had a liverwurst sandwich with mushroom soup).

But now that the time change has come, I'm hoping that it won't be so hard to get going in the morning -- seems like it has been very grey this year so far. :(

I hope you all had a fun Hallowe'en, and we'll see you each soon.

Aunt Carol's Memorial Service

What brought us together was sad, but it was very good to get us all together and spend time together.

Mom flew in Friday night, and Uncle Stuart drove in shortly afterwards. We spent a lot of time jawing, and they seemed to have a good time reminiscing.

On Saturday we drove out to Gross Point (to the same Unitarian Church where we had Judy's service) and had a small gathering where Tom, Don, and Gail, Mom & Stuart talked a little, and then we scattered her ashes under a little japanese maple in the garden. Then off to a little restaurant where we sat and talked for hours, and then back home, where Mom and Uncle Pete jawed even more.

Sunday morning, we decided to visit Don and Linda in Ann Arbor instead of going to church, so we kited off there, meeting up with the whole clan again, and Don took us out to a fancy Sunday brunch (mmm oysters), and talked for hours (and listened to a jazz quartet), and then back to the house for more jawing (though Alex was getting squirrelly, so I spent a lot of the time watching him climb trees).

Then Gail & Ira left for the airport, Uncle Pete drove back to Midland, Tom and Chris to Okemos, and we drove mom off to the airport. Of course her flight ended up an hour late, and the bread company was closed by the time they got home, but it sounds like everything was all right. And we were so happy to see everyone.

Why are weekends where you have a nice relaxing time over so quickly, but ones where you scurry around like crazy seemingly enormous?

finally...

I know I've taken a long time to participate in the Christmas vacation discussion.

I guess I was waiting for the other shoe to drop:

A few days ago we found out that Bowood is staying open between Christmas and New Year's Day (in previous years it was closed for a week) and so I have to work the day after Christmas.

I've asked for Saturday off and if I can get a sub that would mean 4 days off but I'd have to be back working on Tuesday and probably so will Rubén - so we won't be traveling this year. I've encouraged Mama and Daddy to go ahead with the plan to be in Naperville, traveling by train, and I think they will do that, if you give them some loving encouragement and a promise to pick them up in Joliet.

Mama would never say this but I think having everyone in St. Louis would be a lot for her to handle. Well actually she did in a way say it to me: "I always think that I'll be able to do it and then it's kind of hard."

The other news is that Bowood will be closed for a week - in January, just 2 weeks before Rubén's yearly enforced vacation when Norm goes to the islands! I guess I'll clean the house.

so, that's the news from here,

K & co.

It's been quite busy chez nous for a while. We were able to visit Uncle Pete en famille last week for Ruth Anne's funeral, and got to see Holly, Cinny, David and more of the grandkids than I can remember (Austin, Kristin & Colin, Matthew and Alexandra). It was a moving service (some corny stories from friends, Nice warm eulogy from Holly and a real tearjerker from Cinny) and then a nice lasagna lunch in the church basement, with all the white haired congregation. We were able to spend an hour or two with everyone at Uncle Stuart's house, but we had to run to pick up Alex from school, so we said goodbye before the scattering of the ashes.

Then at the end of the week we drove up to Gaylord for our annual fall color tour which was a fun time -- we went to the same cabin we've been in for 3 or 4 years now -- four bedrooms with two lofts for the kids. We were 7 adults and 8 kids this year, so it was a really rollicking time. And quite cold. Saturday it didn't get above 40.

And then we came home early to get the house ready for the new windows we had installed on monday (I had Columbus day off, Alex didn't and Sue worked. weird) but they replaced all 18 windows in 4 hours, and I like them, though we had some mis-communication, and didn't get new sills which I'm now kicking myself for. sigh.

And as Alex came home, he told me (and there was a note from his teacher) that he is now reading at spring term 3rd grade level. wow. What stopped him was needing to write his comprehension, which slowed him down. But he was able to identify all the 316 high-frequency words. Our little genius.

Christmas Planning

Whoops! I knew I should have logged on earlier. Anyway, here goes the opinion from the Wilsak household. I would love to have everyone over to our house, but I don't want to go through the same disappointment as last year. That means, if the St. Louis contingent is really going to come - let's go for it! If the Barrios' and Hoyers (mainly Daddy) really don't want to travel, then let's try St. Louis again. Our kids have dentist appointments on December 29 so we wouldn't stay as long as we used to anyway. Hotels are certainly fine on our end; but I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. The main crux of the matter is that everyone has to say honestly what they really want for the vacation.
So...let's vote for the options.
Option A:
I'm offering our house again for the time period from December 26 to January 4 - come for two days, three days, whatever - we'll just try to overlap us all on one day at least.
Option B:
The Wilsaks, Gages and Greenlee/Hoyers stay in a hotel during the nights and stay at Mom and Dad's during the day.
Option C:
We all stay at Mom and Dad's during the day and crash on the Barrios' floor at night.
Option D:
A combination of B and C - meaning some at Kathie and Ruben's and some at a hotel.
Option E:
We all descend on Mom and Dad; with Rick and Gill camping at Kathie and Ruben's at night; as we have in the past just not as long.

I think it will be very important for Kathie and Ruben and Mom and Dad to make their desires known first since most of these options depend on their thoughts. Kathie - can you talk this over with Mama and Daddy?

Sue, let us know how soon we need to decide for you to get plane tickets. We can go to the phones (quelle horreurs!!!) if we haven't heard from each other on the blog.

Love,
Gilly

Early planning

I'm sorry to start the Christmas process so early, but we need to think about plane tickets if needed. So how do you all want to spend Christmas (or the day after.....) this year? Options are going to St. Louis, but mom was heard to say "I don't know how I can manage it". We can stay in motels/Kathie's and have the dinner elsewhere. Or we can go to Chicago, but then there's travel hardship for the St. Louis folks (and time off for Rueben?). I would invite everyone to Detroit, but that's the least promising plan. Gill- Will the kids be home after Dec. 25th? It's fun to have everyone together, but I understand if it can't happen. What do you think?

Labor Day Vacation

So we went on an epic week long vacation before the start of school: Uncle Pete loaned us the use of his timeshare in Belleaire (which has the very excellent brew pub "Short's," but not much more) for a week. The timeshare is actually on a golf course, but we travelled up and around Torch Lake hiking and swimming. All very much fun. Notice how calm the water is! That's Grand Traverse Bay. Sue got in some practice skipping rocks.

Then we met up with our camping buddies at Sleeping Bear Dunes and camped for the weekend, spending some more time hiking and swimming. Here's the van all popped open for sleeping. Didn't rain this time, but cool enough in the evening that I think I'm glad we were in it.

So What's the plan for Christmas?

There she is! Thirteen!

After some delay...

...here I am back in the blogosphere again. Summer did not leave much time for contemplation or yakking. Mondays off with Lucie in school and here I am back again.

Lucie has turned 13 and started 7th! with the greatest of ease and a calm aplomb (do those rhyme?)

We had no Mexico trip this year - too many horror stories to contemplate the risk. I really miss that feeling of connection to the other half of our family. Rubén talks to them 2 or 3 times a month but I really want to be there. We just assumed we would be going this year until this spring - and decided against it after seeing video footage on the Zacatecan on-line newspaper of snipers in Fresnillo!

But we did have a little vacation in Arcola/Arthur Illinois, visiting the Amish community and staying in a fancy bed & breakfast that served a 7-course breakfast - vegetables and flowers being the mainstay of the repast. It was a great break from work and chores and we enjoyed the lovely weather - windy and bright!

love to you all, agelaius

The Nest Empties

Dear Sibs:

We have just completed our first week as empty-nesters and so far we haven't killed each other! Our "vacation" was driving the kids to school: we took the long way, I-55 down to St. Louis for two days with Mama and Daddy, then straight down to New Orleans. (Depressing) Then east to Florida where the hurricanes (3!) pooped out before they got to us. Doesn't it look like Meach?
Dan's school is small but very state-of-the-art. We stayed long enough to get him settled in his dorm, stand in line forever for registration, buy supplies and listen to surprisingly good speeches at convocation. Then an emotional good-bye (on our side) and off to settle the second departing child. It was very, very hot and steamy in Florida, but got more comfortable as we went north until it was very nearly chilly in Illinois. Sally is, of course, an old hand at this going away to school thing, and we were soon on our way again. The oddest part about being empty nesters is locking up the house at night. There's no one to wait up for!

Love,

Gilly

Alex's summer fun

Here's Alex at the cool sculpture park (with looping arty videos) in St. Louis (see Karen's blog)

We also had a fun time at the local Scottish Highland Games. Here's Alex trying to lift the heavy weights for the 'farmer's walk' after the heavy events. Weigh over 200 lbs each! His knuckles scraped the ground after that.....

I woke up on my birthday to this cool Lego greeting that Alex made for me

Finally, Alex's first trip to a big amusement park (Cedar Point). He's having fun with Aunt Nora.

More from me....

Once you invite me to blog, I can't stop -- this is three in a row! But mostly just to share photos.
Here's me in LA for the Clown College auditions I was running...

and here are some photos of our great visit to St. Louis including the sculpture park and a visit to Union Station...

and last of all a photo of the present Aunt Jill had waiting for Jackson at home: his very own STRONGBAD wrestler mask!!
(google Homestar Runner...)
xxx
Karen

This post should come AFTER the next one...

...because I was trying to organize the photos around the writing and they seemed to have a mind of their own glomming up at the top instead of sitting next to the text describing them, so....



Here are the Door County photos -- we went up to Fish Creek to see "A Day in Hollywood A Night in the Ukraine" featuring my CCU clown friend Kevin as Chico Marx! We got as far as Sheboygan (where Jackson's rocket club launched this past March) on Friday, we were biking in Peninsula Park by Saturday afternoon, and saw the play in a BEAUTIFUL theatre on the lake that night. A ferry trip to Washington Island on Sunday and then heading home. A great trip!

Next up: on Thursday I'm off to LA for another Clown College Audition, teaching the same workshop I did here and in NY and Philadelphia. In August I might get to go to San Francisco!

But best of all, by Saturday, we'll be visiting St. Louis, seeing all of you that we didn't get to see on the 5th of July!

Update from Chicago... and Evanston... and Door County....

We spent quite a few days in June pre-
paring for the Evanston 4th of July Parade -- creating masks and a giant crocodile with Zarko Theater run by our friends the Montenegros. Richard was the croc's tail and Jackson was an awesome jaw, doing the sound effects with a battery powered megaphone. Gigi & I wore papier mache masks which had pretty much dissolved by the time we ended the parade. Yes, it rained for the ENTIRE PARADE! But J & G were real troupers and survived the ordeal. Jackson enjoyed the role, Gigi's favorite part was making friends with Zeke, Sonya's chihuahua. Luckily, lovely weather again for the 5th of July spent in Naperville...

Meet the Newest Members of our family...

Dear Sibs:

June was overwhelming - sorry I haven't written.

I began writing this before July started - really! But here we are almost half-way through July.

After school finished May 27th, Lucie was sort of at loose ends - but became more focused with her new mania - Pleasantown. Her favorite website/blog lately has been ourdolls.net which is run by 3 sisters who have been playing dolls for about 15 years now and have an amazing repertoire of stories with their dolls. We've never agreed to the American Girl view of the universe - a little too much marketing and manipulating ($88 naked!!!) but Lucie decided to save up her money on her own. This is the first time (honest!) that she has wanted something enough to decide to save up, so we agreed. Meanwhile, she convinced me we should start making clothes for all the dolls who were going to move in (she'd found patterns on the internet). Then we got totally incensed and turned-off (again) by the American Girl monopoly by this story oneofthosehorriblemoms.blogspot.com/2007/03/fake-out.html but that also gave us a way forward - we went to Michael's and now let me introduce you to Felicity (on sale and courtesy of a kind lady giving us an extra coupon - only $11.60).

Now I don't want to say she's in any way tyrannical, but we did spend most of June making her wardrobe, rearranging Lucie's room to make her home next to Charlotte and Mariella's house and Perkin's stable...then when it got too hot to be upstairs, moving down to the living room (Grandfather's Plantation) and then finally, Felicity set off for the basement to found Pleasantown on some (hastily) cleared shelves. After which she sent for Nan, her sister, who came from a Christian bookstore! So, now Lucie really needs to get on with the plans for the yard sale/miniatures & art sale which will fund the town (and pay back some loans).

Meanwhile there was a two week span of incredibly hot weather where I came home completely mufflered (Rubén's word for exhausted) and unable to do anything but eat and fall into bed. So, we've fat last become a unanimous early morning family - Lucie has always been dragging in the morning - finally she realized this was the only time to encounter a mother who could listen and respond relatively cohesively. (I don't know if this will continue into the school year but one can always hope!)

Other than this - work is good, garden is going great guns, house is still okay but the roof leaks, Rubén is painting the house into a museum, and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.

love,

Agelaius

Mosquito Coast

I'm sure when you think of Michigan, you're more likely to think of mosquitoes than slugs, but we had far more slugs than mosquitoes this past week when we spent 4 days up near Sleeping Bear Dunes. (Like this wonderful fellow here, whom I discovered, slowly descending from the roof of the screen tent. None of us had any idea that slugs were capable of dangling from silk and falling into your coffee).

It rained every night, and was cold (the high was 60F) and grey every day. Bleah. This was our trial run of camping in Sue's mom's camper van, and though we stayed dry, it is a little cramped for sleeping, especially after putting all the food back into the van at night. Have to work some things out still. We generally had fun though: the people we camp with are great, and we got out to the dunes which weren't totally crawling with people because of the weather.

But now we're back in Sunny Detroit, which is a great relief, slowing drying out.

You don't even want to know what they did!

Dear Sibs:

Thank you so much for your prayers and good wishes. This little bump in life's road came up quickly so I haven't had time or energy to let you know what's going on. The short version is that after two weeks of discomfort (no pain, which is why it was a surprise) I went to the doctor, was sent for a CT scan, and when we got home from that found phone messages saying "you've been scheduled for surgery on Monday". Well, a message like that puts the imagination in overdrive, so when we found out it was "just" my gallbladder coming out, we were quite relieved. We then went to the doctor, learned waaaaaay more about gallbladders than we wanted and then got set to face Monday. My darling Sally was a brick, and took over for me at VBS so I didn't worry about that. My darling Rick, though, had to sit in the family waiting room for more hours than expected since my surgery went longer than expected. Originally, the doctor had expected outpatient surgery and then home at 3:00 if all went well. As it happened, I wasn't out of recovery until just before 5:00. Fortunately, I don't remember much about it. The doctor was very good as were all the nurses and staff at the hospital, but I did want to go home. It took two days to recover enough, though, so I didn't go home until Wednesday. The worst part of the sending me home process was talking to the surgeon who was determined to show me pictures! I'll just say this; no more Polish sausage for me!

Now I'm feeling better; but I'm still wobbly and moving very slowly. Sally has taken over the catering duties and Rick very kindly slept on the sofabed so I could have our whole bed to slowly toss and turn. It's very comforting to feel even just a little better because then there's hope that I will eventually get back to normal. Whatever normal is. I even stopped taking the prescription painkiller because it was making me dizzy, and I've found a little Tylenol is all I really need. Now if I could just stop being squeamish about the incisions.....

Happy belated 25th to Karen and Rich. I had big plans for our 25th as well, but the weather kept us from doing anything besides go out for dinner, but it was a nice time together anyway. Maybe we should all just buck tradition and make a big deal out of 26 instead of 25. I'm sure Rick could come up with another way of looking at 26 to make it the biggie. Sally just said, put it in base 26 and then it would be our 10th anniversary!

That's enough from me.

Love to you all,

Gilly

FROM THE HOYER/GAGE HOUSEHOLD:
Today we sent Jackson off to Makajawan Boy Scout Camp and I thought you'd like this photo. He's looking a little fierce as befits the early hour and the annoying mom snapping photos. Maybe also a little nervousness about going away from home. But we survived 7th grade and now we are having an unscheduled summer... this camp is the only thing Jackson is signed up for tho we've got Fridays scheduled as Beach Day and he's taking a couple of trombone lessons. Geneva is just doing piano lessons plus one week of EcoExplorers Camp. She's taking a break from ballet but here
is a photo of her on the day of her spring Ballet Concert. So I give you cloudy and sunny weather with these two photos... And I'd send you a fabulous photo of me & Richard at our 25th Wedding Anniversary Party except that it didn't happen, too much else going on. There is a two week window of our garden looking fabulous with the peonies and iris and sage and we always THINK we'll have a garden party but it always coincides with end of school crazy time. Maybe we'll have a July 16 25yrs+1month party. I am bouncing around the house doing a little sewing, little cleaning, a little weeding and getting a lot done but never able to say "There that's DONE!" Meanwhile, here's a garden question: why do the weeds that come up look exactly like the plants you've planted, ie., cottonwood sprouts next to the marigolds, grass in the iris leaves, etc. Probably evolution but it's so obnoxious. (A little voice repeatedly chants in my ear when I'm searching for grass in the iris, a rhyme Geoff told me to distinguish btwn. reeds & grass, can't remember the whole thing, Sue will have to send the rest: "...and grasses, like a**es have holes!") Richard in the meantime is up on a ladder removing a forest of maple trees growing in the gutters. After all it's Father's Day. I have a whole list of house chores we're going to get done while Jackson is busy up in Wisconsin but tomorrow Gigi and I are going to the Montenegros to make giant puppet heads for the 4th of July parade. Well, I'm doing the papier mache, she's having a playdate with Zeke the dog.

Jill, best wishes for tomorrow, we are praying for a quick surgery and speedy recovery.
Kathie & co. we are planning to visit St. Louis from July 16 - 21 and hope to spend time with you!
xxx
Karen

Dear Sibs:

Isn't techonology amazing? Even though we used a disposable camera (film) I was able to get a CD of the photos so I could post this. As you can see, I probably didn't even get Dan in the picture since he was in the second to last row. Perhaps even more amazing is the person in my photo who is apparently taking a picture of the proceedings with her phone. I can't imagine it was much of picture!

Gilly

P.S. Check out Sally's website; she's posted some castle pictures. She'll be on her way to Scotland on the 7th and then home on the 15th. Yay!

On Stage

Here is Alex singing "I want to be a Producer" during his Spring All-School Musical. He was shy on stage, but did a fine job.

I wish we could of been at the Reunion. I'm glad everyone else could make it. Any all-family pictures? We'll try to get together with everyone over the summer. Here's to good health for everyone!
Otis

The Fledgling Flies the Coop

Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Dan Wilsak graduated from Naperville Central High School.
Thursday, May 21, 2009. Dan Wilsak gets to sleep late for the first time in ages.
Life doesn't get any more exciting than this!
With 700 plus in his graduating class, we watched kids march onto the football filed for half an hour. 30 minutes of red caps and gowns! Then the speeches. None were memorable enough to take our attention away from the ambulance and fire truck that came to take away an elderly gentleman on the other side of the stadium; his graduate was summoned from the seats and she ran over to where there were loading him into the ambulance and then came back for the ceremony. Must have been quite emotional for her! Anyway, then the loooooooong list of names. The two students reading the names had several Micheles pronounced as Michaels and a few Daniels pronounced as Danielles. Otherwise, all went well. It was very crowded in the bleachers; all those people who saved beaucoup seats and then skedaddled as soon as their kid got his/her diploma. Phhoey! I actually brought along our cell phone (you didn't know we had one, did you?) and called Dan afterwards to tell him where to meet us. It took us so long to get out of the bleachers (we could actually see him down on the field) that he called me to ask where we were. Now we're off to Missouri. See you tomorrow!

Love,

Gilly

Sorry it took me so long....

Hello everyone...
I'm heading out to Philadelphia in a couple of hours so what better way to avoid packing than to do something that's been on my list for a loooong time!?!

We are planning to see all of you in Bennett Springs at the reunion. We are leaving Friday after school (do you know mama actually tried to convince me to pretend she was ill so I could get my kids out of school on Friday???) and will go as far as Springfield, do the rest of the trip Saturday morning.

May is our month to travel. Jackson & I just got back from a weekend in Sheboygan -- "Rockets for Schools" -- where we launched The Pillar of Autumn, which Jackson and his teammates have been building every Monday and Tuesday since February. I'm off to Philadelphia at 4 to do another Clown Audition Workshop for Ringling (I did Chicago in the fall and New York in April). Then after the reunion is the 7th grade trip to Springfield -- not an overnight, just there and back in one day which is exhausting! Something every weekend...including Gigi's events in Chicago: up next is her ballet concert on the 31st.

Kathie you can look at my profile and see that the Smiling Twins you sent came up beautifully -- it's been a great year for spring flowers and now the lilac is blooming. Still nippy tho. Will it be summer already in Missouri?

Looking forward to seeing all of you!
xxx
Karen

ATTENTION!

Hello Family:

Let's get organized on the reunion FOOD thing!

Email me now so I can sleep peacefully,

love,

Agelaius

Happy Mother's Day Day

We had a lovely lunch of enchiladas with Mama and Daddy - it was a little cloudy and cool but fine for our first outdoor meal of the season. Hope you all had a great celebration as well...

We tried to call you Gill, to make reunion potluck plans - were you out to dinner?

Geoffrey has promised to share his rock collection here, but not yet I guess. I hope you are feeling much better!

We started out as pretty active bloggieurs but I guess life got in the way.  We don't twitter or myspfacebook either...

Still no news from the Chicago contingent...but there's a rumor going round that we'll see you all in Bennett Springs? Hope so,

love,

agelaius

Sanibel Island

Tch, here it is more than a week after we're back from Florida, and I've not posted anything. You'd think this was the round robin, or something.

Sue's step-mother has a time-share on Sanibel Island, and she offered it to us this year, so we spent Easter week in a condo right on the beach. It was very nice. There are , actually, too many shells on the beach, so that you can't comfortably walk barefoot without constantly watching where you are putting your feet. The water was nice warm gulf water, and we saw some skates and dolphins. (And the first day we arrived we read in the local paper about a boy who was presumably bit by a shark -- on the west side of the island by where they were dredging, but it did color our appreciation for the sea life!) We saw lots of birds, we went to Corkscrew swamp and saw alligators and Roseate Spoonbills, ate lots of fish, played shuffle board, and spent a lot of time sitting on the beach. And, of course, burnt on the first day, even though I tried hard not to. 

Sue got up to see a couple of sunrises, and I got a good picture of the moon rise. Alex played a lot in the surf (and the pool -- I'll accept that as a good way of getting him off the beach when it's getting darker and cooler), and generally had a pretty good time. All in all a very relaxing week. 

Garrison Keillor off-radio

Dear Sibs:
So last night we went on one of our "date" nights to see Garrison Keillor at the Mac (theater at College of DuPage). It was just his one man show and it was pretty funny. About a third of it was a story from his latest book - I had read the book so I knew what was coming. It was still pretty funny but I wish it had been billed more like an author reading. Although, that couldn't have commanded the price, I suppose. Rick says the advantage of season tickets is that by the time you go to the show you've forgotten what it cost and can therefore enjoy the show. * Unfortunately, the price is printed on the tickets, so I didn't let him see the tickets. It was funny nonethe less. I got the time wrong, but we have a teenage son who was willing to load the dishwasher and take out the garbage while we rushed out the door - and got there with five minutes to spare. Check out Sally's website for photos - she has the family camera and just posted some good ones.

*If the Gages ever read this blog, they will recognize the Asparagus Aspect!

Happy Easter Monday!

We celebrated a wet Easter with Mama and Daddy  with a non-traditional (hey - that's what we had in the house!) menu: ginger-marinated short ribs, Italianescher lettuce from the garden, and lemon-meringue pie for dessert. Then we hunted the eggs that Lucie and Rubén had made. It's still a bit gloomy out today so we are hiding out inside instead of "going to Emmaus" - no gadding about today!

Hey! I figured out how to get on this thing again! (Thanks, Geoff). We've been doing very uninteresting things like taxes and figuring out how to pay for college without selling any stocks since they aren't worth as much any more. Dan has decided to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (I think spelling aeronautical is going to be a bit like Daddy spelling Alburqurque). Anyway, it's in Daytona Beach and he's planning to do a double major in aviation and A & P. Which is not, contrary to all appearances, a grocery store. A & P stands for airframe and power, or something like that, and means mechanics. He graduates from high school on May 20. My baby is leaving!!!!!

Sally is still in Denmark seeming to have a great time. Her boyfriend is visiting so we haven't heard from her lately. I tried to mail her a refill of her allergy medicine and had all sorts of problems with the post office. Well, that's what I get for telling the truth on the customs form. I ended up mailing it to her boyfriend's house and hope he managed to smuggle it into Denmark.

Explaining the Speech Meet...

The Bellarmine Speech Competitions are a tradition in the Catholic diocese here in St. Louis (don't know if they have them in other places) and Rubén and I found out about them last year at this time when we were visiting different schools. We thought they'd be something that Lucie would be interested in and good at - and it starts in 6th grade! But at OLP (Lucie's school) there is such a stiff competition for spots that the 7th and 8th graders filled up the first 3 competitions of this year. Lucie missed out on the February one because she didn't bring the form home, forgetting that her parents were very excited about this opportunity, even if she was sooooo doubtful.

So this was just about the 3rd time we insisted that she follow through with something (kicking and screaming) the other times being when she was scared of being with high schoolers at the Summer Arts Institute (they divided them up on the first day!) and then when she cried everyday of the first week at OLP. Both times we concluded "I told you so!" but it was sure difficult. This time it was much harder since this wasn't a $$$ commitment or a major life changer - but we had made the commitment and had even gotten help from Lucie's teacher to let her participate. Ooooh, she kicked up a fuss - her part of the duet had a couple of longer speeches that were hard to memorize. But the dialogue she had down VERY quickly, with expression and gestures. She was Mrs. Noah trying to keep a Bee off of the ark since Noah had once been stung (on the bottom) and had forbidden any bees to get onto the ark.

She practiced alot - mostly at school with the parents and teachers who had volunteered to coach, so we had only heard her half of the speech (and all of the complaining) - so we were THRILLED to hear her and so impressed by Kate's and her work! (speaking objectively of course). It was a very long day - 10:30 to 3:00 with only a 20 minute break for lunch - we were shut into classrooms and listened to 8 speeches (also duets) so we ended up very tired.

Now we have spring break so we are very relaxed!

love Agelaius

Spring?

We finally made it outside after spending quite some time with Alex's reading homework, and his drum practicing. And while it was sunny and high 50s, that doesn't really mean spring for me. Alex summed it up "It looks like fall [with all these brown leaves]" But when Sue came home (she was ushering for Sweeny Todd) I schlepped over to Jim's and picked up some ice cream/custard/frozen yogurt, so I guess it must be spring.

And over Easter we're heading down to Sanibel Island, where Sue's dad has a timeshare. Hopefully we can keep the touristy riving around to a minimum, and just spend time on the beach. I haven't yet figured out what I'm going to do for reading material (something thick like Don Quixote? hit a used book store when we get there?) and while the allure of my co-worker's new Kindle (e-book) is pretty strong, I think that $300 is too much just for beach reading.

Happy Spring! and Congratulations to Lucie!

Our household has been consumed for the past four weeks preparing for L's debut in the Bellarmine Speech competition.

Here she is with her partner Kate, far left, who played the Bee to her Mrs. Noah. Her friends Anna and Doxy also did well.

I'll explain later, time to zzzzz....

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We went off to the St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Royal Oak. My favorite bit of green here. On the other hand I was laughing very hard at the belly dancing club walking in the parade.

What I learned, was that Ireland must be an island full of dogs, because the parade was crawling with people walking their dogs in the parade. There must have be 300 or more dogs. It was amazing, It just went on and on.

So of course we had to top off the day by going out to eat (Greek Salad) and then going off to the 

store to pick up some pie pans for the dessert auction for Alex's school. Sue signed me up for two fruit pies, so I made two apple pies (and the recipe was crazy -- 3 pounds of apple for a 9"pie -- I used 10" pie pans, and had enough apples left over for two large turnovers and for the apple fritter Sue made for breakfast this morning). And the auction went off today, and I was highly miffed that the other apple pie on display wasn't as big as mine and sold for $130, while mine (which was later, so more people had left) "only" sold for $75. Needless to say, I did not bid on anything.

But we have some crocuses up, and the irii are beginning to poke above the ground, so I'm hoping that spring is really here, and my expected one-more-snow will be short. 

Monarchs are flying north!

Spring has sprung if the Monarch have flung--From Mexico's Pines to the Midwest Vines. Hooray! Otus