Autumn again

Hardly seems like a week since the Spring started... Oh well, that's Michigan
for you.
House is now full. My daughter, Megan is back here from Texas/Georgia to take
some classes and try to get her life going.
My 'Eldest', Bryn is still in Georgia. She's going through some trauma.
I wish she'd call me . Maybe I could help. That's kids as well.

The Big One

Thoughts on turning 60 last Monday. Hey , it could be worse. I could still be 17 years old and pining to the love of a girl I was too shy to talk to. I met her years later, broke the ice and found out she was engaged. {sigh} Those who talk about grabbing the brass ring are right - every time. God, and Fortune (the luck one, not the $$ one) always favour the bold But it didn't turn out so bad. I might never have come to the US and met my wife and had the family I have. As Steve McQueen in the Magnificant Seven related in the story about the guy falling off the side of a skyscraper "so far so good...."

This is a picture I took back in 1964? on my first trip abroad to Spain, At that time Franco was still in power, but the British tourist trade was starting big time. My mother and I took a trip to the valley of the Algarve, or something like that, near Alicante. We took a bus for a few hours and then we had to ride donkeys over a steep hilside into this beautiful valley filled with water and exotic fruit. I took a picture of one of the donkey guides and his wife sheltering from the heat in the shade of a tree. No skill, but I'm quite proud of this

Summer Fun

I can't believe it's been 9 months since I posted anything.
So what's new?
Busy,busy at work.of course.
My son , 16 nearly totalled my car.
Ins. estimate $11,900 repair. That's going to raise my payments, no doubt..
He went to work at McDonalds for a month or so, but couldn't handle it and
basically lived with friends for the Summer.
At least he has a girlfried with a truck to drive him around and keep him busy now.
He got into trouble at school. two fights and two 3-day suspensions.
I asked him about it this last time and he said some of his former best friends
were taunting him (I won't go into what they were saying, but it was poisonous garbage)
and he lost it.
I remember too well how it can be. I was a fat kid and got lot of grief in elementary
school - not so much in high school because I was tall as well as 'hefty'.
I never read 'Lord of the Flies', but from what I heard, sounds like a typical school/kids
experience.

Middle daughter trashed two cars in two weeks. One was stolen by someone and trashed.
She fell asleep while driving the other one, jumped a rail and landed upside down in someone's
garden.

Winter Blues

Darn cold today The high is 12 °F (-11 °C)
Can't expect much, It's January, after all.
There's a reason Mother Nature shuts down for the winter
and we should too! getting old I guess.
This is the time of year when those of us with Rheumatoid Arthritis
wish that they had moved to Florida/Arizona/somewhere warm.

My wife got a little money after her Dad dies this summer.
She invested it in a new garage, new siding and stuff like that.
The builder left us with the back corner of the house without any siding,
the front door wasn't the one we wanted, with a window, and the
garage was supposed to have 3 windows and a workshop/shower/bathroom.
I got one window, which I guess will be in the shower and I'll be in the dark!

Back is sore from shovelling snow. I have to move it all 'to the right'
so that the snow plough doesn't throw it back into our drive way - they
do that you know. If you don't rush out and shovel it right away, it freezes
into a solid mass, hard as concrete and murder to shovel...
It's kind of like in the old days when they ran around after the horses
to get manure for the rose bushes..

I'll have to update the family pictures. Megan's back and we have her dog, Isabella
now.
Megan got her in Texas. It turned out to be a puppy mill, not a shelter. They didn't
give her heartworm tablets or shots and we had to spend a lot of money on, basically
chemotheraphy, at the vet. He was quit upset about the shelter in Texas. I think he
complained to someone because they got raided and people got arrested.

Back to the dog. She had been abused, had a big scar on her rump from where anoteh dog had
attacked her, and , although only 5-6 years old, had probably 2 litter a year... poor soul.

She's now fat and spoiled..

More Nostalgia and a loss

My wife's father died in Florida. She spoke to him on the phone about
a before but never got the closure of being there when he was in the hospital.

It reminded me of the 4th of July 2 years ago when we nearly lost our son to an
'opportunistic' infection. 2 Years agao we spent 4th Jult on an ambulance
from Tawas St. Joseph to U of M in Ann Arbor.

I still remember Dr. Caird. She came to his room that evening and very gently
unwrapped his bandages to look at his foot. He was moved up to first in line
for surgery the next day...

His foot still looks funny, but he can run, walk. He could so easily have died from
septicemia.. It's going to be a joyous 4th just because we're past all that!

Old Friends rediscovered

I guess I was feeling nostalgic, as I had come back from a DR drill in Philadelphia,
where I worked when I first came to the US in 1983.

I had a friend who worked in British Rail in Scotland before I came here.
He won't mind if I say he was a 'train fanatic'. Imagine my surprise that I
'Googled' his name and 'Rail' and found that he still works on the railways
in Scotland.

There something to be said for that kind of presence. I didn't have much luck
looking for any of my other friends.