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