Searching for Peace

   We had the dormer worked on by Larry Fulger right after the snowstorm. It took 2 days and $650 but has not leaked yet. Luke picked Jane up at the Amtrak Station Friday the 30th in the afternoon. Jane took Gramma to visit her friend and to the senior mass and dinner at Christo-Rey. On the 8th of December we went to Petra's for a dinner for Gramma before leaving for Florida with Gloria. Jane got her share of Gramma's gift to each of her children which she put in a Money Market account. On Friday the 14th Jane and I went to Mrs. Bard's for the Elmwood Christmas party and had a good time. I began winter break on Friday the 21nd and we left for Valpo Sunday and stayed until after Christmas having a quiet day with the boys and going to Jon's church Christmas Eve. There was very little snow in December and it was not overly cold. There will be lots to do but it's time to catch my breath and find peace away from this troubled world.

Coping With Uncertainty

   We spent the weekend in Valpo as Jane is staying until Friday to take care of the boys. Sharon is going to a conference in California so Jane gets to stay and come home on the train and bus. We had Thanksgiving, Thursday with Jane's brothers and Gramma eating Honeybaked ham and turkey. We took some of the leftovers to Valpo and still have plenty to finish. The end of October Jim and Betty celebrated their 60th Anniversary and Jon and family were here for the mass at St Jude's and the dinner at the Cadgewith Farms Clubhouse. Gramma also spent that weekend at our house so we all had a great visit. The doctor confirmed my carpel tunnel in my right hand but since it hasn't prevented me from being able to do things we'll monitor for now. Elmwood finally hired Mr. Hager's replacement the 16th so now Mrs. Delaney is in charge and she seems well qualified. Oh yeah, there was an election November 6th that overall restored my faith in America and hopefully some checks and balances to the trumpery that was threatening our democracy and freedom. Steve Reck brought over the settee that my parents courted on and that Hannah will get to restore. On October 22 I got to talk to Ray Curtin a childhood friend from the St Joe/Main Street days as his mother passed away. I also found out his brother Bill passed the year before as there was only a private service. Life is full of uncertainties that we must learn to cope with like the 6.6" of today's snow day.

A Question of Integrity

Today we saw Greg in Calendar Girls at the Starlight Theatre. Jim and Betty, Peg and Denise were there as well as 2 friends from Silver Sneakers. We joined Costco this week though there was a lot of signing up involved. Jane and I have turned in our absentee ballots voting against trumpery! Jane spent the first week of October in Valpo helping with the boys and having a great time. Jon bought her tickets to take the bus to Kalamazoo via way of Grand Rapids and then the Amtrak train to Michigan City where they picked her up at 10 Sunday night. We left Friday and spent the weekend leaving after church to bring her home. Lukas went to the new Xfinity store in Eastwood and we updated our old control box to give us better reception and internet service. Jane has been taking Gramma to the mass and dinner at Cristo Rey on Wednesdays as she has been staying at Mark's because Patti had knee surgery.  They still have not found a teacher to take Hager's place so except for 3 days I've been covering there with Mary Kay. The weather has cooled off the last 2 weeks and I had to scrape frost in the morning 2 days this week. Trump is out creating stormy lies on his political tours while the world suffers from real storms and political destruction destabilizing the world's peace prospects.

Andy Pratt

 On August 26, 2018 Andrew John Pratt died at 57 years old. It was Sunday morning and I got a call at 8:40 from Debbie asking me to meet Lori, Peg and Todd at Sparrow Hospital as Andy had died and they were not going to tell Peg until then. He had fallen down his basement stairs at 6:00 that morning and had been taken to Sparrow. I arrived 15 minutes before them and asked about if they had arrived but there was no record at the information desk about him and Emergency told me I'd have to wait for the family to arrive. I saw them enter the Emergency desk and as I looked walking up there they were telling Lori they would have to wait for the head nurse in charge to come down. When they turned to wait for her, Peg saw me and knew something had happened and Lori told her Andy had died. She screamed "not my Andy", and broke down. Since Andy was in the morgue they could not let us see him so we had wait in the Chapel for a minister to talk to us and the head nurse went down with us and stayed giving Lori the information she needed. At 11:00 Fr. Gary from St. Thomas came and prayed with us and comforted Peg. His funeral was Thursday at Palmer Bush at 1:00. Jane picked Jim and Betty and I worked until 11:30 and picked up Lukas and Simon. Jon came with the boys and as we pulled up to the light at Cedar and Mt. Hope they were right in front of us. The dinner was at IHM and we stayed until 4:00 when Jon left. Only Peg talked at Andy's service by herself as Dave and his son Nate remained silent.  I briefly talked to Dave at the dinner and introduced myself to Nate. Mr. Hager took a principal's job at Cavanaugh School so his last day was September 7th making me in charge of his class until they hire a replacement. Mary Kay Riley and I are keeping up so far but we're ready for more help and someone else to be in charge! Jane and I celebrated 43 years of marriage and had our pictures taken for the St. Gerard Directory. Jane has taken Gramma to Cristo-Rey 2 times for mass and the seniors dinner on Wednesdays which has kept her busy and giving her the chance to spend quality time with her. Lukas and I went to early morning appointments yesterday out on Pinetree Rd at the same building and it turned out the same waiting room. I finished an hour earlier even though my appointment was an hour later but I had to get to work so he took the bus home. My reason was a EMG for my right wrist which my have carpel tunnel so I was shocked and needled for about an hour. Andy was a big listener of WMMQ so I e-mailed them about his death and they knew him well and expressed their consolations which I passed on to the family. Irony: a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning.(Socratic irony)

To Unfriend Dave

 We had our 10 days in Grand Haven with 2 of the boys spending all their time with us. Jon, Sharon and the boys stayed at place near by for 2 days and Simon stayed with April and Adrianna 3 days at the motel once they arrived. Phillip came with Stephanie and she stayed 2 nights and returned to Ohio for a week and then drove back for a day the following Saturday. We brought 2 cars as I had to drop Phillip off at the airport Tuesday for his flight to Houston. We had lunch in Holland with Lukas at the Big Lake Brewery on the way to Grand Rapids. The cottage had new locks and a deadbolt as well as the premium movie channels this year.  Dave was unfriended on Facebook by me yesterday as he was insulting and obsessed with deporting illegals while exploiting the death of Mollie Tibbetts. Pushing the "Illegal immigration kills Americans", conservative agenda posts and calling me a Liberal Democrat insensitive to the crimes of all the immigrants and accusing me of defending these criminals of the trump state. After bantering with him and not being rude or insulting to him, I finally had my last straw when he told me to give to the Go Fund me page for the accused and to harbor illegals in my home, I took the higher road and cut ties with his disrespect. The fact is that immigrants commit fewer crimes, than those born in the U.S. based on real research going back 100 years. "The way to counter trump's claims of MS-13 criminality running rampant is to remind people of a positive vision that lots have about immigrants and that they are human beings!"

About to Leave

   We got a hand delivered invite to Gabe's open house by Patti who told Lukas Gabe had forgotten to give it to us at the family reunion. Lukas went with us on Saturday the 21st and we stayed for about 3 hours avoiding contact with Patti but making sure we talked with all her friends. Gabe told us how he asked to have us come but Patti would not until to save face she did. We were able to visit with Charlie Becker, Gloria, and Lisa as the weather was good. Jane and I went to some music concerts around town and the dance program at LCC. I had lunch with Ed, Howard and Joe H. at Hibachi Grille last Friday for a meeting of the minds. We have been going to the Y and we will be in Grand Haven for 10 days starting tomorrow. We finally got some rain but still need more as the temperatures have been in the 80's consistently.  July was the 11th warmest in the USA at 75.5 degrees average and May-July the warmest ever according to scientists at NOAA. 

Looking Back

Yesterday was the 34th Alvarado Reunion at Hawk Island Park with good attendance on a cloudy but pleasant day. Petra Boyer decided to boycott which only was a problem because Gramma and Gloria had to miss being with family.  Simon has spent 5 days with Adrianna at April's the 4th of July week and this weekend which is nice for him to be away from our house. Mike and Sharon Fabiano both lost their dads this week who we will be attending funerals for. The 2 week+ drought ended Friday morning but we still need more precipitation as the temperature has been in the 80's during that time. Rusty passed on July 5th from a blood clot while Jane and I were at the Y. Lukas took him to Miller's Animal Clinic as he went limp on the floor like Orange had and died on his way there. Good news of the 13 trapped in the Tham Luang cave in Thailand all being rescued reassures us there is still hope for our world when we work together. Trump stop dividing, learn to unite to be a real winner!

5 Days with Silas

  I ended the school year in Mrs. Farron's 3rd grade class with the last 2 days being half days and field day. The results from my biopsy came back negative and all are healing quickly. Jane and I have been going to the YMCA for Silver Sneakers and she is really enjoying it. The Malibu needed to have the transmission lines replaced and the front brakes also were bad so that was $600. Jim was over for dinner as Betty went up north with her friends for a shopping trip. That Saturday Steve took us to the Olds Car Show at Auto-Owners and a tour of the old neighborhoods while Jane and Betty were at Cheri's daughter's baby shower that we stopped by at the King Arthur's Clubhouse. On the 23rd we celebrated Jim's 80th birthday at Jimmy's Pub with his children, Lori and Peg. On Sunday Jane and I left for Valpo to spend the week with Silas as Sharon was in Iowa for a teaching presentation. We took Silas to the Kout's library on Tuesday for the Yellow Submarine story hour and helped him pick out new books. On Thursday we took him to the Industrial Revolution for lunch and he was very good eating all his hot dog and reminding us to pray before we ate. The week went fast and we read a lot of books as we stayed busy with Silas' potty training and afternoon naps. We left Friday and got home at 3:00 as the temperature has been in the 90's since then. Jane got her first Social Security check $790 and we have been to 2 concerts and a play. On the last day of school Vivian Wolfe gave me a Book to write poetry in and the principal asked if was returning in the fall. It has been a busy summer and though it has been dry the flowers are doing well and everything is still green.

Summer Make or Break

   Memorial Day weekend we all went to Valpo to see Silas and Paul and celebrate Jane's 65th birthday. We enjoyed our time and hospitality on a hot 90+ temperature weekend. The last two weeks of school I took over Mrs. Farren's third grade class as her sub Ms. VanSteel was let go due to too much classroom management problems. We worked on stability and still finishing off academically work that the other teachers helped to plan. Last Saturday Jane and I went to Holland's Windmill Park for Hannah's wedding. The ceremony was outside at 5:30 and it was sunny and over 80 degrees with the reception there in the site's tent. We stayed until 10 and had a great time with family. Yesterday was the last day of school and after the 4th grade walk through the Elmwood teachers met at Renos West. I was the first to get there and soon found the teachers from Cumberland were also having their gathering there. I had an appointment with Dr. Bill to remove 5 skin tags and growths at 2:00, so I could only stay an hour. Lukas and I went downtown to Artpath at 6:30 and walked along the River Trail to see some of the exhibits and stop at the Lansing Center for 2 free samples of Lansing Brewing beer. Jane and I will be able to go to Silver Sneakers to keep us busy this summer. Time to take some time together.

Journals revisited 50 years

   I nostalgically found my junior and senior year of high school journal and reflections on leaving O'Rafferty H. S. for the real world. I used the journal as self medication for insecurity and doubt about who I was and understanding how to make myself a better person. I've tried through out my life to keep some sort of a journal to be able to look back as to how changes take your life and how you adapt. Looking back you can see how close or far you were from reality or insight that keeps you willing to write and learn. Over the past 2 weekends Jane and I had dinner at Chedders with Steve and Ronda and to celebrate Adrianna's 12th birthday. I have added a blood pressure med and it has stabilized my readings. Spring is here but not until May did it burst forth. It has still been seasonable in temperatures which is fine with me. In one week everything bloomed and budded green releasing pollens which usually happens over a few weeks in April. Time for more reflections, dream on seasoned man.

It's Later than it Seems

   IT HAS BEEN A COOL SPRING. On Holy Thursday I had my feet washed for the first time at the service. Easter was my birthday and Jane and I attended the 7:30 service and as the sun rose it left the shadows of crosses behind the altar. We had ziti and carrot cake with Andrew and his friend Tami. The day before, Luke and I went to MSU Erikson Kiva to hear John Sinclair and Cary Loren talk about the Detroit Artists Workshop in the late 60's, early 70's. On the following Saturday we were with Silas and Paul in Valpo to celebrate 3 birthdays. Jane signed up for Medicare and Social Security the morning before we left for Valpo. I replaced the range hood and the hoses on the washer last weekend. Last night Jane and I went to the viewing of Helen Johnson, who lived across the street on Woodhaven. Her son Allan talked to us and told she was still living there and driving until last year when health problems stopped her. Allan has long white hair and Jane wasn't sure at first that it was him. Mr. Landis my neighbor to the south on Woodhaven died 3 weeks ago also at the age of  97.  Gramma turned 94, 2 days ago and we sent her flowers as she is in Florida with Gloria.  Time! Change!

March for Our Lives

     Yesterday Jane and I went to the March for Our Lives rally at the Capitol in Lansing. It was one of 800 across the country by youth in response to the Stoneman Douglas shootings last month calling for safer schools and limits on some weapons and regulations on their purchase. "Enough is enough" was the theme shouted at the rallies with the main one in Washington D.C. having 800,000 attending  and thousands here in Lansing. Last month I attended a Repeal the Trump Tax rally at the Lansing Center where Bernie Sanders spoke to about 1,500 supporters. Bernie called Trump a pathological liar and least-qualified president ever. We visited Silas and Paul the first weekend in March. Jane and I had dinner at Bravos with the Hokesemas the following weekend, it was the first time we had been there and we had a good meal. We still have not had warm weather but at least snow has been minimal. I've actually been teaching classes the last 6 days.

Call Them War Casualties

   We've had snowy, cold and flooding weather this past month. On Monday the 5th of February school was canceled because of some snow, cold temperatures and spreading flu. On Friday of that week we had over 6" of snow to give us a long weekend. Phillip moved into his new house in League City Texas the 3rd of February and on the weekend of the 17th, Jane and I were in Canton as his belongings were loaded for moving. They worked from 8-5 on Saturday and finished Sunday 8-12 so we could eat at Best Burger and head home. Starting Tuesday the 20th through Thursday we had 4" of rain that caused the pumping station to shut down and the backyard to completely flood and require Lukas, Jane and I to remove over 50 buckets of water from our basement's floor drain backing up. The city of Lansing had much flooding and road closures around the low lying river areas. The Grand River crested Friday at its highest level since 1975. Our nation is in turmoil since the St. Valentines Day shooting in a Parkland School in Florida by a former student with a military AR-15 rifle making 17 war victims dead and many traumatized and wounded. But this time there is a united front demanding action to the inaction of the president and congress's thoughts and prayers. The NRA naturally are scapegoating blame and the president's mixed solutions are not even sensible in the face of this warlike tragedy.  Then there is the goat man in Detroit who was beaten and robbed in his poor home near Nevada and John R. Street by people he allowed to stay with him. *"He was bullied as a kid. Laughed at as an adult. He's had few real friends. All of this could have made him bitter and with-drawn. Instead he somehow became a proponent of peace and love, an energetic advocate for the outcasts and the oddballs". Why can't we in our own way be Just like him! By the way the goat is named Deer and remains Erick's best friend and loyal buddy.     *John Carlisle Detroit Free Press

Dave's Dilema

   It has been cold since Christmas Day. The temperature has been below 20 degrees for the last 12 days through January 6th. with lows single digits and below zero. We even brought Rusty in the house for many days without him complaining because it was that cold. We had to keep Minky upstairs to protect him from her meanness. The record though is 14 days below 20 degrees set January 16, 1912, though the week of Dec. 25 to 31 is the coldest 7 days in Lansing with the average temperature of 6 degrees. On Friday January 5 we traveled to Indiana to see Silas and Paul and to avoid the lake effect snow we took the toll road which helped until we got past South Bend and slowed down to 30 miles an hour and carefully drove through the heavy snow until Michigan City. We had our late Christmas with Jon and Sharon and delivered the boys their presents. The drive home was dry and safe but the cold has returned with below zero nights as Friday school was canceled because of  mixed freezing rain and 3" of snow. It's back to school tomorrow and temperatures should be back above 20. On Facebook Dave has been spewing tRUMP propaganda and I had to call him out but he thinks it's his victory as I proved he is the lost white nationalist who worships tRUMP. Did he say shit hole? Is he the shitty president? Time will tell!