A lovely Thanksgiving

November 27, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

So we could accomodate everyone's schedules, we had Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. It was a real treat, with Bob and Anna bustling around; Anna made a tasty pumpkin-pear pie, and Deb sent a pumpkin pie over. Boy, always take up with men whose ex-wives are good cooks, and more than that, willing to share.

The kids were all there except Dez, who had already had one Thanksgiving with his Dad's family (Jenny had Shaun and his family over for Thanksgiving the day before.) and was 'gived out. I got to see him and Jenny at the Civil War game -the Springfield High football team gets paid to provide students as door checkers at the exit to the Beer Building. Jenny says his grades have improved radically.

As always, everyone was amazingly helpful. Hanni whipped up stuffed mushrooms, and everyone else lent a hand, so it was pretty easy. We had a nice long phone call from Seraph and Robbie, spending Thanksgiving in Arizona with Robbie's Dad and step-mom.

As always, even after this year of losing people to cancer (Besides Colette, two people I knew fairly well died of cancer this year) we have much to be thankful for.

Hi, y'all, and Happy Thanksgiving!

November 23, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Delightful news, Morgan had her baby, a little girl named Rose. Sadie called, weeping happily into her cell phone. So lots to be thankful for this year.

Adam, I would love to feed you dinner tomorrow and Friday, but I think everyone else is showing up at 2 on Friday, and I hope you guys will too. Adam, I'm thinking we're doing a little family birthday for Sam on Friday? This will be a fun Thanksgiving, with Aric, Charlotte and Anna. Well, Bob's up swearing at the fax machine...we need a butler who understands electronics. Love to all, Mom

Happy Birthday, Seraph

November 10, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Hi, beautiful girl. Have a wonderful day with your fam! Love, Mom

Hate him, hate him, wouldn't want to date him...

October 11, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

As a result of having a language loving family and four funny kids, I have sayings from the late 1800's (Susie, you're moving so fast you could play marbles on your skirts) to slang from the present. The title of this must have come from the 80's or 90's.

Anyhow, this law suit with my business partner drags on. At this point, it's gone on longer than my three gestation periods combined. Seraph brought me some "Attorney Be Stupid" incense powder from the House of Voodoo in New Orleans. I would like to have volunteers to make a midnight raid  with meand sprinkle it outside the attorney's office just before trial. Joanna, makes me miss your Mom. She'd do it!

Thanks, Seraph, for your support.  And this update is really an apology for being so out of touch for so long.

Plus, I had to evict my new farm tenants (not Sarah and Nate, of course). It was funny - they really were grifters. I checked her FB page - religious affiliation displayed proudly, of course. FB needs new categories. Fake Christians and Honest Christians. The latter category seems to be getting smaller and smaller. I need to go home to Normalville and go to the good old Normalville Methodist Church for awhile. My faith in God is fine, it's my faith in people who say they believe in God that's a bit weak these days.

On the train going north to Portland

September 09, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

On the train going north to Portland. What a great way to travel!

Labor Day Weekend

September 06, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

We had a lovely weekend - Friends here for dinner on Friday evening, and we went off to watch the Ducks on Saturday night on bigscreen. Glad to have a support group for that experience. Sunday, Dez came over and worked like a trooper out back. It looks much better, though there's a little to finish. Bob, he and I went to see Conan in 3D, quite possibly the worse movie ever made. The funny thing is that I took Adam and Mike Hackett to the first Conan, and thought it was a pretty okay movie. Yesterday I had a real treat. Emma wanted to work and earn some money, so she washed the big car, the Isuzu, and some flowers.

Then, as we had promised ourselves, we went to PF Chang's for a girls' lunch. Emma charms the socks off everyone, and is nice, to boot. I hope we can get the cousins together next summer - what would everyone think about a Yellowstone trip? It would be fun if Josh could come along. We'd have enough adults to help with Duncan and Berry.

I think that everyone's plans for next weekend are coming together.

Love, Mom, gma, Sue

After the party is over

August 17, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Well, one of my Continental perks is a once a year coupon for the Continental lounge at various airports, one of which is San Francisco, where Bob and I are now. I could certainly get used to living beyond my means here in this wood paneled peace and quiet.

Sadie and Greg fulfilled their goal of creating an instant community, with a lot of help from Scott, Lisa and the rest of the Caswell family. It was really a wonderful three days - no glitches, a finite number of meltdowns, good weather - the bride was beautiful and the groom all round above average.  I enjoyed meeting all the Caswell family, some of whom I had already met, and it was wonderful to see all Sadie's friends. Anna had come all the way from San Diego, and it was fun to see friends from all the eras of her east-coast time, from Smith to Western Massachusetts. It was fun to hear, even quickly, about her new job. Oh, and the kids were great!

I want to say a few kind words about Bob. In spite of his sometimes excruciating headaches, he managed to be helpful and good humored. He hauled people around, carried bags, and cleaned up tables, all the while remaining cheerful. I hope you kids will give him a giant hug the next time you see him.

Happy is the bride...

August 13, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

The old saying is Happy is the bride the sun shines on, and it has dawned a perfectly clear sunny day here in tinytown Maine. It's very pretty, but the economy has hit hard here. Lots of vacant houses. But Bean Farm is lovely, and Scott and Lisa are wonderful hosts. Sadie and Greg really have organized everything and somehow, entertaining 90 people for 3 days does not seem foolish at all. Yayoe and her Friday night crew produced a great burrito dinner last night.

"The Princess Bride" quote along was everything one could want in a theatre experience.

Almost everyone in the world is here, and there have been no transportation crises so far. Everyone except Arthur and his daughter Pam are here at the Canaan Motel - Lohring and Anna, Yayoe, Meg, Dick and Betsy, Ann, Adam and Emma, Jenny and the boys, and Bob and Isa, who are snoozing just inside. I forgot that sleeping with either Emma or Isa is like sleeping with a nice warm, but somewhat wiggly, baby hippo. Danica is here, in the room next to ours with Yayoe.

It has been fun to meet Greg's family, both on his mom's side and his dad's side. Lots of big, funny Caswell guys!

So, my mission today is to iron tablecloths - a simple repetive task I can handle.

Love to Joannah, who is home minding the store.

Hi, guys

August 04, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Just wanted to let you know you do have a mom. The last month or so has been so busy! Plus, as always with real life, there is a certain amount of humor abounding. I like that Jordan wants a surprise party. I think that means he knows we're having a party but we aren't supposed to talk about it in front of him.

Also, one of my feather pillows leaked, in the dryer. Feathers absolutely everywhere. A couple days later, I pulled a wad out of my belly-button. Either that, or I'm leaking feathers, too.

I helped Jenny clean out half her garage, and I'm bringing outgrown Hallowe'en costumes for Duncan and Berry. Since they're mostly Jordan's, there's a full complement of dinosaur costumes, from baby dinos to the mighty T-Rex.

Much love to all, Sue/Mom

We're tired

June 28, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

For some reason, Bob and I are really tired out, and we're curled up in bed watching The Illusionist, an animated film by the same film company which made The Triplets of Bellevue

G'day, all

June 24, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

It's just that I was surprised to realize that Adam is as goofy under stress as we mere mortals are! Much love to all.

Colette Update

June 21, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Was over at Joanna and Adam's yesterday evening. Adam, Joanna and Christopher are frayed but very organized and functioning well. Colette was in a deep sleep, her physical being gently slowing down and turning off. She didn't appear to be in pain. Hospice had done a good job. The last bits of Colette's paperwork had been done.

I sat with her until about midnight. When I left, the stars were resplendent and the moom glowed an intense yellow.

Happy Fathers' Day

June 19, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

This is a family of great Dads, including Bob and John and all the other men who are kindly additions to the fam. I am most grateful for all of you. And thanks to Christopher, for being a great son as well as a great Dad.

Keeping Spirits Up

June 18, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Right now, Bob and I are in Oakland for the wedding of my goddaughter, Naomi.

We brought along a young man who's a family friend and helping with the cooking, and his culinery gear. We left at 11:50 and got in about 8, which means that Bob, who drove the whole way, had a long, long day.

I was over at Adam and Joanna's the other evening to go over some things with Colette, and was so impressed with everyone in the household, including the kids.

Colette must be so uncomfortable, but as always, she was sweet, loving and very patient with the kids. Berry was our "secretary", and bundled Colette and me up , then crawled up on the couch with us. Colette is so important to their whole family.

Joanna, when I get back, let me see if my former secretary Reta can come help with notarizing documents. Much love to all, mom/sue

A Merrie Companie

June 12, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Colette, John, Bob and I had a nice dinner on Friday evening. Yayoe called from Hawaii, so we all got to give her a shout-out into John's cell phone. I worry because Colette is looking very frail. But Bob and John were both in fine form, and entertained "us girls" with their witty repartee.

Happy Birthday, Sadie!

June 09, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Many many hugs. Wish you were here. We can't wait to see you. I'll be working on tickets next Monday. Love, yer aging mom

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June 07, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

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June 07, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

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June 07, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Apartment

June 07, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Hi, I told Sadie I'd send pix of the apartment. We have a nice tenant.

Darn deer

June 01, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Yesterday Bob and I looked out the kitchen window to see a deer, probably one of the twins, now about two, standing in the flower garden polishing off the last of my spring flowers. I stood in my sock feet in the doorway, shouting at him, while he looked at me as though I were daft. Finally Bob, who had shoes on, chased him away.

Totally unrelated

April 24, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

You kids know that I'm trying hard to do a good genealogy for the respective branches of the Steane, Jones, and Stallsmith-Nunamaker branches of the family.

I think I mentioned that two of the Nunemaker brothers (my great-grandmother Susannah Nunemaker's brothers) fought in the Civil War, Joe being killed within six months of enlisting, and Jimmie being captured but surviving POW camp and the war. Meggie has a huge framed photo of him, and has kindly offered it to me. It's badly torn, and would be really expensive to restore to its original appearance, but maybe we fix it enough to make nice clear copies for everyone.

Happy Easter

April 24, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

I, on the other hand, am celebrating Russian Easter next Sunday so my check-off list has been League of Women Voters Annual Meeting, Blazer game, babysitting, and ironing. I'm going to spend the week cooking, so I'll be organized. Perogies on Monday.

Looking Back

April 06, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

I've been watching the rerun of The Civil War series on PBS. It's hard to imagine that my great-great uncle, a Union soldier only three years older than Dez, was killed at the Battle of Bushy Run.

First Wedding Nightmare

March 28, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

My wedding dream: Sadie's hairdresser had fixed her hair with long stemmed roses, with all the leaves stripped off, sticking stright out of her head. She looked like an alien with a lot of tentacles growing out of her skull.

Greg was wearing an LL Bean shirt with a number of holes on his right shoulder.  It had been mended with iron on tape, which had come loose and was sticking out of one of the holes.

I can tell I'm getting old; I just patted Greg's shirt and did not exclaim with dismay at Sadie's coiffure.

Sadie's Wedding - Hotel Reservations

March 01, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Hi, we have the following reservations at the Canaan Motel. Each room has two queen beds.Yayoe/Danica, Lohring/Anna, Adam/Emma, Jenny/boy or boys, Sue/Bob.

Seraph, Robbie and Isa will camp-out at the farm - Jordan, Emma and Isa will probably move about. Yayoe is taking a red-eye from Portland on Thursday night; John isn't going. Bob and I will probably fly East on Tuesday and back the next Tuesday, trying to sightsee a bit with whichever grandchild/ren are around. I didn't realize we were so close to the Coast.  

Wussie snow storm

February 24, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Eugene was in a terrible tizzy, with schools closed in the face of impending doom.

I called Adam, and he told me they were snowed in and had been forced to eat the children. However, at one pm, the snow is pretty much melted.

Happy Valentines Day!

February 14, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Want you all to know how much I love you. You are much appreciated!

The last couple of days have been busy, busy. Because the parents of Connor Ausland, one of the boys who drowned, live next to Adam and Joanna, when I dropped stuff off at their house last week, I left a note saying that we would be happy to have people use our guest rooms. So when we learned we would have five people last night and four tonight, we decided we'd try to find somewhere else to sleep, at least for last night. I thought that if Lohring were at the coast, we could sleep in his place, but Bob decided he'd stay in Ron's travel trailer. My back up plan was bunking in Jordan's top bunk.

However, when I mentioned this to Stan Honn, he said he thought Campbell House had donated a couple of rooms which wound up not being used. After a couple of phone calls, we had a place to stay in what's a really nice B&B. We left our house guests relaxed, havin' a Bud, and probably secretly relieved that they could just be quiet and together, no matter whether or not Bob and I were appropriately gracious.  And I'm secretly relieved that you kids and grandkids are alive and well.

Much love, Mom/Sue

When my brother died

February 07, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

I realized that the worst thing which could happen to a parent was to lose a kid. Yesterday afternoon Bob and I were leaving for Richard's birthday fiesta when we saw Linda Honn, looking distraught. Aaron, their son, was nominated as one of the Mr. Axmen contestants. (A fundraiser for the Children's Miracle Network..) All ten contestants had gone to the coast for a weekend retreat and were playing on the rocks at the edge of the ocean. A sneaker wave caught the boys off guard, and two or more were swept into the water.She told us that Aaron was okay, but that a couple of the boys were missing. The Honns were on their way over to Yachats, and we fed the dogs and left a pot of soup. Ironically, the "makings" of the soup were their Christmas gift to us. Later that night, we learned that two of the boys drowned, but their names weren't released. It wasn't until this morning we found out that one of the boys who drowned lived with his parents next door to Adam and Joanna, and his dad is one of my former clients who I'd gotten to know fairly well. We stopped with food and an amaryllis.

A sombre day; our waitress this morning, a South student, was red eyed. Even the Superbowl shoppers at Safeway seemed subdued. Eugene is a small town.

More Lost and Found

February 02, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

And an extra pair of men's gray Timberland brand socks.

Space

February 02, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Watching an interesting four program series on the space race. The first "man in space" Alan Shepard - 116 miles about the earth. Those familiar early names - remember Chris Kraft, Project Mercury, Friendship 7, and of course, John Glenn's first earth orbit.

I have an extra blue and white cooler after Sadie and Greg's engagement party. It's not Jenny's, and I don't think it's yours, Adam or Yayoe. Lohring, do you think Ana brought food in it?

I Do Exist

January 24, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

Somehow or another, January has nearly disappeared. My personal opinion is that the big cosmic change with the year 2000 is that time began to go faster. I'm at that sad point when the Christmas goodies are gone, no matter how I try to stretch them out. Hanni's bottle of Liebfraumilch is nearly gone, and Bob polished off the last of Colette's good chocolates. I have about one more pot of the wonderful coffee that Sadie and Greg brought. I've been interspersing it with some of the ten pounds of coffee I frantically bought a couple of months ago at Canned Food Warehouse when I heard that coffee prices were going to rise dramatically.

Jenny and I went to church last week at the Faith Center in Springfield. Good time for me to review my prejudices - the minister gave a very thoughtful, non political, non evangelical sermon. No Black people there, but Jenny said she was used to that.

Happy birthday to Joanna, and Hppy B'day (that's Duncan's half birthday) to Duncan. And Happy Birthday to Isa, who is ten!

We went to a Memorial on Saturday for Pat Helmers, the woman who catered Dick's and my wedding. And to a wedding reception at Kell's, in Portland, on Saturday night.

Sunny Day!

January 06, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

We're having a bright shiny day, which of course just makes it obvious that my windows need washed! Nonetheless, this stretch of sunny mid-winter weather is most welcome!

Borrowing from the wisdom of Gram Jones, I'm keeping busy since Sadie and Greg left on Tuesday. I've been doing a lot of comfort bleaching, counting china, silver, and napkins (in case it's needed at the wedding, not because I think Sadie and Greg pinched any!) and doing errands. My amaryllis are finally putting up buds, the little ingrates.

I need to go figure out how to coordinate the clock on the mantel. Greg got it nicely under control while he was here, so the time was accurate and the time and the chimes matched up, but it's running amok again. A few minutes ago, at 9:30, it chimed four times. God only knows what will happen in 15 minutes.

much love to all, mom

Celebrating Holidays!

January 04, 2011 by Sue in Wielesek

What a holiday season! So many things have happened that I can't remember them all. Lots of friends, family, and a new baby!

Perhaps the first thing in my season was the assistance of friends Ilona and Ghio with decorations. Or perhaps it was Hanni bringing wonderful cookies and an almond cake for Sadie and Greg. Or, I suppose, it could have been the struggle to clean up and put away all my tools, take about $140 of building supplies back to Jerry's, another $45 back to True Value, and a couple of hundred backs worth of stuff to Habitat for Humanity, which earns some money by reselling building supplies, etc.

But it really felt like it started when Sadie, Greg and Greg's brother Josh rolled in on the evening of the 21st, after Josh, now living in P'tland, picked them up at the airport and brought them to Eugene. The days between their arrival and the engagement party were filled with lots of visiting, time with Adam, Joanna, Jenny, and other family. Sadie and Greg brought greens in from the farm, and the house finally had that Sadie touch we all miss. My Christmas presents were pretty, interesting, and fun. Sadie made everyone boutinniers (Ok, Ok, that's not even close to the right spelling.) Christmas dinner at Jenny's house was lovely.

The party on the 26th turned out well; Josh and Greg did yeoman's duty, and Josh earned his chef's stripes, producing a wonderful beef roast and grilled salmon which disappeared in a trice. Lots of Sadie's friends came, and it was very fun for me to see them. Ana came over from the coast, and was welcom company. A "shout out" to Joanna and Yayoe who made up and sent out the invitations for the party. A very large shout out to Destin and Jordan, who were wonderfully helpful at the party.

The week since the party was more leisurely, with Sadie and Greg able to spend a little time together. Josh had to go back to Portland so he could fly back to the East Coast. We certainly enjoyed meeting him, and he was a great guest.

I think everyone has a better sense of the location of the wedding, and has had a chance to begin some tentative transportation planning. Bob and I are the worst planners, since we're trying to figure out when and if Anna will be in Paris this summer.

New Years Eve was very fun; Colette, Hanni, Bob and I went to see La Boheme, which I thought was spectacular. Since I was in charge of getting tickets, they were terrible seats, but we had fun anyhow.

The down side of the holidays was that Jenny was fixing the table and a couple of the leaves fell on her foot, breaking a toe. Ouch, ouch. Another downside was an infection Sam got in his mouth after having a tooth pulled. More ouch! But Berry got her ears pierced and didn't even cry.

Today we drove up to Portland, where Sadie and Greg will fly from at 7:00 am tomorrow morning. We left them around 2, cheerfully planning to take the MAX to Powell's and hang out in downtown Portland, then stay at the Ramada tonight.

So the holiday season is officially over. Safe trip, Sadie and Greg!