Against the Gates of Hell

  It has been a long time. The election left me the need to reflect further than a mirror allows. The school year has kept me busy so that the Silver Sneakers class is seldom but much needed. Simon is still living with us but now is in communication with Adrianna and April. We were at her last cheer leading at Waverly High and she was over for Halloween going out with Simon. He has done work inside and outside the house to make improvements. Phillip was up the end of September for Andy Wegener's wedding which was in Lake Fenton. We attended the service and enjoyed the reception at the Fenton Brewery. Jane and I also went to Grace Hoksema's wedding and reception at
Eagle Eye, October 15th. We have had Gramma over twice as well as her brothers when Phillip was here and when Jon's family was here. When Jon was here we went up to Remus to spend the day with Jim and Betty and had a very nice time as Silas liked the leaves and sitting on the boat. St Gerard's had their mission and I went all 3 days with Jesse Manibusen singing. I was able to go to the Home Brew at the Delta Library this year on November 5 and though there was less beer it was worth it. On election day Donald Trump won and now we await what will unfold. He scares the hell out of me and I'll not make judgment until his time comes. But all indications appear to give reason that it could be a weary transition and nothing is certain for anyone or our political system. Silver Bells in the city got stormed out before its end Friday and the tree waits to be officially lite. Jane is in Canton taking the bus there to prepare Thanksgiving at Phillip's. I pray our country does not become the white, christian, male nation that many voters desired with their racist, sexist, isolationist underlying rhetoric through out the campaign of Trumpism. "I go slip, slip,-  you go slip, slip away- we can make if we just don't we our faces". Such is the mirror of life and politics and the stranger we all are.

Summer Wanderings

  On Sunday August 7th Gramma got home from Florida as Mark picked her up in Flint. We had her over for a ziti dinner and Andrew came over. I subbed at Horizon a day before we took 11 days in Grand Haven with Phillip, Winston, Lukas and Simon. Jon, Sharon and Silas came up the 2nd weekend and except for that Saturday afternoon with rain the weather was great. Silas had a great time at the beach Sunday morning and did some walking by the water with Jane. We went to the library daily and watched the Olympics and the musical fountain show twice. We went to 2 concerts and Lukas treated us to dinner at Porto Bellos and a trip to the Lakes Mall one day. I went to Silver Sneakers 3 times at the Grand Haven YMCA. Simon is living with us as April decided she wanted him gone, so we picked up most of his stuff yesterday. We went to see the Obama date movie today at Celebration Cinema and then to Texas Roadhouse for Simon's 36th birthday. We have had 16 days over 90 degrees this summer and have made up the rain deficit this August so the flowers actually looked better when we got back from vacation. Jane had her tooth removed by Dr. Rashid after Midwest Dental tried a root canal that probably was unnecessary.  It was good to get away and be carefree in times as troubled as these with no way to delay the trouble coming everyday.

The Joker Went Wild

    I am a regular at Silver Sneakers now and have made some friends and enjoy the classes. I am going 3 or 4 days a week and have Yoga 2 times a week as well as the whirlpool on Wednesdays.. We went to Remus to visit with Jim and Betty the 26th of June and had a great time. We had to cancel July's visit as Jim had Rotor cuff surgery but is doing well. The 7th of July Jane and I went to Valpo to visit Silas and stayed until the 10th and picked blueberries for the 1st time. On the 16th it was the Alvarado family reunion at Hawk Island without Petra being in charge and it was very enjoyable. Jane left for Canton the next day to help Phillip with his new puppy, Winston. Sunday morning at 9 she left by Greyhound bus and arrived in Cleveland at 4. Phillip picked her up to spend 12 pampered days with them. I picked her up on the 29th in East Lansing at 9:45. While she was gone new french doors replaced the sliding glass door and the family room has improved tenfold, to go along with the front storm door that was replaced in June. I attend some various music and dance shows and a play to keep me busy while Jane was gone.  We went to Olive Garden for Lukas' 28th birthday on Sunday. Jane and I both went for our health fitness appointments and are doing good with some minor changes to my allergy meds and her vitamin D and bone density needing to be checked. The conventions are over and Trump and Clinton leave us our choice for president without any major rioting breaking out. Over, Under, Sideways, Down, when will it end, backwards forward running us around. They are coming to take me away to the funny farm as I revisit this week in 1966 on the 60s Satellite Survey. Cherish is the word but perish more than applies to our dreams. I'm Mr. Dieingly Sad pray tell me to be mystifyingly glad.

Strawberry Moon

Tonight is a strawberry moon when there is a full moon and the summer solstice. It's named from the Algonquin tribe's first full moon of the summer indicating the gathering of the fruit for harvesting. Saturday we were at Madison LaPeriere's open house graduation party from 3-5:45 in East Lansing. 7 of my nephews and nieces were there and though it was hot it was an enjoyable afternoon.The weekend before we were at Brock Landon's and it was also very hot as we've had 4 days over 90 this June so far. I went to the YMCA to do the Silver Sneakers courtesy of Blue Care Advantage and will try to go this summer. A teacher from Cumberland died at 46 so I went to the Dewitt funeral home and saw many past and current teachers there for Mr. Clark. We went to the Blues on the Grand at the City Market and saw Twyla Birdsong perform last Wednesday as the summer concerts are beginning.No more assault weapons please, come to your senses America and Congress because the NRA has proven they want no restrictions on any guns despite the mass shootings. Hate is looming everywhere and love can only console without action on the causes of hate expressed by losers seeking their cowardly glory of killing the innocent. The U.S. senate rejected 4 proposal measures to limit gun sales to terrorists and better background checks as they needed 60 votes to continue forward. SAD! He who lives by the sword dies by the sword (GUN).

School Year End Adventures

   I closed out my year end with Christina's second grade class with a half day today. Yesterday we had a walking field trip to the Delta Fire Station on Snow Road with 19 students as 2 were absent and 2, Jimmy and Matthew, on in-school suspension. We were gone an hour and overall they followed directions and behaved though I had to hold Treshaun's and Mikell's hands for misbehavior. Tuesday was Field Day and Jimmy lasted 15 minutes before hitting 2 students and Mrs. Hinds had to take him to the office. It was only in the upper 50s and cloudy so the 2 hours went comfortably. Mrs. Lounds was there for a short time and was there today for the last 10 minutes to say farewell to her students. Yesterday to fill time I gave the students a Pre-Spelling test on new words we had not went over and I told them if any of them got them all right I'd give that student a bag of candy. Ethan R. did it and 6 others got one word wrong so I gave him 2 pieces of candy from Christina's closet and the others got one piece and today I gave him a bag of sour candies. We had a good week and still were able to learn and teach right up to 10 this morning when we had snack and the Wayward School movie until Gym. A teacher's job is never done and the learning by all of us continues on! There were no tears but a lot of hugs as we said goodbye for the summer and the freedom to learn anew.

Reverand Jon

    We went to visit Silas Memorial Day weekend with Lukas and Simon. Saturday night we went to a cookout with the people from the LaCrosse Apostolic Church out in the country driving past many farms. On Sunday we attended Jon's church in Valparaiso and had lunch and then heard his reflections on the readings and hymn singing. It was the first time we all were at a service at Jon's church and he did a verily, verily good job and Silas made his presence known though he was pretty good overall. We went to two parks in the evening and watched Silas have an exciting time swinging at Val-Play-So children's park which is only a year and a half old and surely will be a favorite destination for him.  We left Monday afternoon and got home about 3:15 and had a very enjoyable time and great warm weather. I have been subbing in Christina Lound's class since May 26 as she had a knee replacement and I'm finishing the year out for her. We had a field trip to Jiffy Milling in Chelsea with all of Winan's 2nd grades. We left at 8:45 and got back at 1:20 and had lunch then a long recess and no child was left behind though Treshaun wet himself at the playground. Except for some boys who have to be watched constantly we've had a good experience so far. The weather has been warm and the flowers are doing great and the grass is green and growing making a calming spring before the political summer storm approaching. We stare at the lonely stranger returning home from a window's distance as the Doobie Brothers Cheat the Hangman.

May I? I May.

   I've been busy subbing pretty much everyday. For Mother's Day we had Ya Ya's chicken and it was a sunny day. Dr. Noud said I've healed and recovered better than 80% of his patients. We visited Phillip May 13-15th and stopped at Cuyhoga National Park and went to the small waterfalls. We went through the McKinley Presidential Museum and did I say I snored during the Planetarium show? Phillip got his new table and king mattress while we were that afternoon. We got a new self-propelled lawn mower and it did a great job after the hour it took me to put it together. We had dinner at Logan's with Jim and Betty and she is doing well but Jim is experiencing early dementia. We also had dinner with the Hokesema's on Cinco de Mayo at Los Tres Amigos. We will have record temperatures for the first half of the year worldwide but some accuse people questioning our role in global warming as socialists and anti-capitalistic. The plants and trees are growing and greening, maybe they can help save us misguided souls. I did get warned about talking anti- Trumpism at Fairview School as I was talking about bullies and a child told their parent who opposes politics that's different from his. Bless his pointed head, I'll quell my politics for the sake of not being accused of being a bully myself! Did Trump say there was no drought in California and that Hilary is making things up about him?

Evil Urges 2016 Politics

     I have new glasses and like them much better than the old ones as I can now read the fine print again. We spent April 7th-10 with Silas in Indiana and watched him Friday while his parents were working. He learned how to get up out of the lower family room into the rest of the house under our care. We had 3 great days there though the weather was a mix of everything, the travel was fine. Jon changed his work location to Plymouth which gives him an earlier start and longer drive but it's less stressful than Gary was. Last night we went to the Starlight Theater at Waverly East and watched Greg in You Can't Take It With You. The flowers are starting to come out and the grass is growing with the rain that let up for a week but is mixing cool with warm weather. It looks like Trump vs. Clinton for the election which certainly is not a good omen for our nation. Prince died Thursday the 21st and Purple Rain fell on Earth Day. The water in Flint is getting better and Governor Snyder says he'll drink the water but is leaving for Europe for a week while 3 state officials take the blame for him. Politics that's dirty makes you wonder is everything fixed to protect the elite while the masses struggle on believing in falsehoods about justice and equality! Helter Skelter!

Catching up if I can

  The leap year has had over 2" more than normal precipitation with 8" of snow cancelling school the first 2 days of March. We visited Silas the first weekend of March with Simon as well as Phillip for Easter the 25th-27th in Canton. We went to Fanny May and the Belden Mall again as well as the McKinley Memorial. We picked up Phil's new grill at Lowes and put it together and grilling out before heading for home on Sunday. I finished my therapy at Arch the end of March and found out I tore my right bicep. We all voted for Bernie in the Michigan Primary and he won Michigan. I turned 65 and am now on Medicare.  Jane and I went to Grand Rapids Saturday for Grant Schertzing's wedding at Chaney Place. It was snowing on the way there but it was a fun time. MSU got a #2 seed and lost in the 1st round to Middle Tennessee State which I luckily only saw some of the 2nd half of as I was subbing and then had therapy. Monday Villanova beat North Carolina with a 3 pointer at the buzzer to win the NCAA and MSU ended up #7 in the final poll. I'm on spring break this week and we are going to see Silas tomorrow for the weekend and to celebrate some birthdays. The grass is getting green but the temperatures have been cool so still awaiting a real spring!

Where have you been?

    On Tuesday November 24th I had surgery on my left rotor cuff at St. Lawrence Outpatient by Dr. Noud. We arrived at 6am and I remembered I had not done my blood tests but they did them there so I had my surgery at its scheduled time and was home by 11:45. I had some pain but not as bad as the doctor said it could be and we had our Thanksgiving dinner as Phillip was here for the weekend. I had to sleep in the recliner for 3+ weeks before it was comfortable to make through the night in bed. I also had to be in the sling for 6 weeks but after 4 weeks I spent a good deal of the day out of it but wore it at night to protect my arm. My pain was never higher than a 5 and I didn't need the pain meds except at night and only used the shoulder cooler for 3 days. Gramma was in the Dimondale rehab. during this time after having knee surgery also and we tried to visit her twice a week once we found out. We had her and Mark over for Christmas as Jon and family were here and she had been over to Petra's earlier as she would still be at Dimondale for another week. My recovery has been very successful as I have been going to Arch Physical Therapy since January 5th and have most of my motion and range restored. I resumed subbing the first week of January doing half days and then back to my regular workdays. My wife was very attentive and lovingly helping me through this time. We went to North Canton, Ohio to visit Phillip at his new house for the weekend of February 12-15. Simon went with us and though it was cold the roads and travel were good. We had a good dinner at 91 Wood Fired Oven and Jane cooked two homemade meals and we had some Handels ice cream. We went to the Harry London/Fanny May Chocolate Factory and the Mall in Canton on Saturday. Gramma left for Florida Wednesday just before the 10+" snow caused 2 snow days here. We had her Mark and Andy over Saturday for a farewell dinner. Lukas is working at Inovalon by Frandor since December and enjoying it and going to the MAC with his co-worker friend Joe. The political scene is Bizaroo world trumped on surrealism spiced with fascism!