A Wedding Reception

Posted 02/21/2018

We spent the morning with everyone here at the house, finishing up all the prep work for the Reception, then took everything over to the neighborhood Clubhouse to set up. There was still a lot of snow on the ground and on the road; in fact, when we arrived at the Clubhouse, the sidewalks weren't cleaned up yet so we had to do a bit of shoveling before it was safe for all the guests to arrive!

With lots of help from family (the Greens, the Meyers, the Whiteads) and friends (the Sabris), we managed to get everything ready in plenty of time, and then it was just a matter of waiting for all the honored guests to arrive.

And arrive they did! Friends from school, friends from church, friends from the neighborhood ... all here to bring wishes of health and happiness to the young couple.

Tabea, Adam and Mary at the Celebration

Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Lots of chatting with James and Tabea, lots of chatting amongst all the attendees, lots of good food to snack on, and lots of comfortable furniture to hang out on.

Grandma Meyer and Grandpa Green Relax!

After the party was over and everyone pitched in to help clean up, we all headed back over to the house for an awesome lasagna dinner. And then Mahlon connected his laptop to the big screen TV and we were able to watch some football! 

Grandma and Grandpa Meyer Back at the House

So we all sat around watching football and waiting for Deb to arrive (she had been working).

Grandma and Grandpa Green with Cousin Isabelle

And then (unfortunately) it was time for everyone to leave.

Cheryl's Birthday

posted 02/12/2018

We celebrated Cheryl's birthday in our traditional manner -- grabbing some sushi from our favorite restaurant and taking it home so we could spread it out on the fancy table and then sing the Happy Birthday song before opening cards and presents.

Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of the event. I was kind of distracted by all the yummy food!

But here's a set of very poor photos to give you an idea of the fun we were having.

Christmas 2017

Posted 02/12/2018

Christmas Morning

As the day begins, we all gather in the living room to see what Santa Claus has brought...

But eventually we get dressed because we can't sit around the house all day in our PJs!

Christmas Dinner

Cheryl is ready to do some cooking!

A Beautiful Christmas Dinner

Post-Dinner Relaxation

Relaxing with crochet after a wonderful dinner.

More blankets for a cold winter.

A Rousing Game of Clue

James tries to get a Clue

"Wait! I'm not finished yet!"

"Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen with a Lead Pipe."

Hmmm...

Contemplating the Clues

In lieu of gaming excitement, Deb finds a comfortable resting place

Solving the Annual Christmas Puzzle

James and Tabby puzzle it out

Family discussions while puzzling

James is trying to make some progress

Maybe it'll go faster if I lean over the table....

Home-style German Cooking

posted 01/30/2018

James and Tabea really wanted to cook us a home-style German dinner, so they did.

James and Tabea having way too much fun in the kitchen.

To add to the celebration, they gave us a wonderful table decoration. You may have seen something like this before: it has candles with blades overhead which turn the carousel containing the wooden people.

Heat goes up, Carousel turns!

The meal consisted of meat, potatoes, and red cabbage. It was very yummy! I'm always a big fan of the "meat and potatoes" diet, and this time, we had the added treat of the traditional red cabbage (which is very good).

Traditional German-style Dinner

I'd say more about it, but I'm so full from eating it --- and the subsequent pies -- 

Pumpkin, Pecan and Apple pies!

-- that I must now go take a nap.

Good-night!

The Motel Life

Posted 01/21/2018

Relaxing at the Red Lion

This is the life.

The Red Lion Inn, which (apparently) has a vibrant, colorful past as the motel-of-the-week in the back-room poker game at Moe's, changing hands as often as the maids change the sheets, has been my home-away-from-home for a couple months now. Known for it's "affordability", it's casual, free-and-easy nature, it is a haven for those who have neither the inclination nor the finances to afford the best of what Tucson has to offer.

Its clientele include pensioners on holiday, students on field trips, and young families on extremely limited budgets. The rooms are comfortable and clean (just don't look too closely at the well-worn cabinetry). The staff is attentive and friendly. They serve a free breakfast in the morning and free snacks during "happy hour" (4 - 6 pm). They have (affordable) laundry facilities available for customers. They have a jacuzzi, a pool, and a miniature putting green.

On the downside, the buildings are relatively old and not very well insulated, sound-wise. Water rushing through the drains can be heard very clearly. The air conditioners are outdated and in need of replacement; in fact, the one in my first room failed after a week or so.

The parking is kind of wonky depending on how many people are checked in. Several teams of contractors were staying there and their trucks and trailers filled up a lot of spots. Then there were some folks driving rental trucks. Some nights it was a challenge to find a good spot -- but that's mostly because my latest rental car is a bit bigger than my last one, and people aren't leaving a lot of room between spots.

The free breakfast was certainly adequate, consisting of eggs, sausage, biscuits, waffles, cereal, fruit, yogurt, various breads and bagels, muffins and occasionally pastries. Plus fruit juices and (of course) coffee.

I try to keep from going overboard on the food, restricting myself to simple proteins in the morning and a sandwhich or bagel for lunch. The other members of the team (who are local engineers) generally go out for lunch every day, but that's not for me. I can't eat that much food, and I generally try to minimize the amount of time I'm not working. A five- or ten-minute break for a quick sandwich or apple is enough for me. Plus I can't rationalize spending that much money for food I really don't need!

My daily schedule is essentially getting up at 5:30, eating breakfast between 6 and 6:30, reading news and catching up on Randstad emails from 6:30 - 7:15, driving to work at 7:15, arriving at 7:30, working til 6:30, back to the hotel for dinner by 7, Skyping with the family between 7:30 - 8:30 (or so), then getting to bed by 10 pm.

The routine doesn't change much on Saturdays, other than doing laundry from 8 - 10 in the morning before heading to the office to work from 10:30 - 5. Then relaxing with some movies or websurfing til time to Skype with the family again.

Sundays are (mostly) spent with Jeanne and her family, going to church and then going out for lunch and then visiting with Stan and Ellen and then just hanging out before heading back to the motel to start the whole week all over again.

I'm on my third room now. The first one was a simple room with a bed and bathroom and mini-fridge and overhead microwave; the second one was a very nice suite, with a separate living room, a full kitchenette (with full-sized fridge) and large closet and two televisions, one for the living room and one for the bedroom (but the one in the bedroom didn't work very well). The third one, herein pictured, is the simple room again. But at least it has decent WiFi.

The first two rooms did not have decent WiFi. They were in the back of the motel complex and kept losing signal, so we had to resort to old-fashioned telephone calls sometimes. It was really annoying. I do like to see my family's lovely faces when I'm talking to them!

Speaking of which, I can't wait to get home for Christmas!

Glasses ...

... or No Glasses?

Meet Doug the Wonder-Car!

Posted 01/20/2018

While I was gone on my little trip to Tucson, Cheryl found an incredible deal on a car to which we could not say "No".

Meet Doug.

Doug the Toyota Corolla

Doug is a cute little Toyota Corolla which is in remarkable shape with far fewer miles than are normal for a car of its vintage (2001). It has been sitting around for a few years in a neighbor's garage just waiting for someone to drive it into the ground. Like us!

Here's the deal, though: we don't have room for Doug and all those other cars, especially the non-functional Subarus. Something has to go. We simply don't have the room for 7 cars.

So we made the (painful for me) decision to get rid of the non-functional cars.

I didn't have much time, especially for any such foolishness as taking pictures of the carcasses and advertising to sell them on Craigslist (my go-to place for car sales), so on Saturday afternoon I just called the car disposal people. Unexpectedly, they said they could come pick them up that very night! And they did, too. This guy drove over from Lansing with the tow truck and put one of them on the trailer part and attached the other one to the end of the truck (so he could tow it) and by ten o'clock that night, both cars were gone.

It hurt a bit. I had high hopes to find time to fix those cars back in the summer, but I'd made a deal with myself that if they weren't up and running by August, they never would be (because there is just not enough time in my life for such things), so as of September 1st, their days were already numbered. And now they're gone.

Meanwhile, Doug is the newest member of our automobile menagerie!