Tuckered out

November 17, 2015 by Sue in Wielesek

For the last couple of weeks, I've skittered around among the raindrops trying to get all the fall gardening finished before it really starts to pour. The hard work has been a mixed blessing.In some ways I feel good, getting back some muscles. On the other hand, I'm sometimes so tired at night that I just sort of melt into a blob and watch old X Files. Looking forward to having everyone for Thanksgiving!

Love from Greenfield

October 26, 2015 by Sue in Wielesek

If any of you ever believed Sadie when she said she didn't want to have children, she was lying! Last Wednesday at 6:00 pm, Simon took a tumble from his climbing structure right onto his head. Sadie scooped him up, saw a big goose egg bump, grabbed Greg, and they checked into the ER at the nearby hospital at 6:04! Sadie was still wearing her apron, for which she got a certain amount of the kidding from the staff. Simon wasn't really the worse for the experience, though he's more cautious about scaling heights. What they did have was a really perspective doctor who reassured them kids fall all the time.

It's nice to be reminded once again that you kids and your spouses are good parents and that my grandkids are flourishing for all of that good care. I don't really give you guys much advice, not because I'm some New Age grandma, but because you don't need it.

Anyhow, I have to tell you that Simon is cute as a bug's ear. and I wish all you other Grandmas,
Yayoe and Anna and Hanni, could come back to visit with him. He is learning so much so fast!

We've been talking about next summer's vacation. Sadie and Greg are fine with a National Park -
I will at least check on whether there is any availability in the lodge or the hotel at Yellowstone. Or we might look north to one of the Canadian parks. Thoughts?

Hello from Selcuc

August 04, 2015 by Sue in Wielesek

It's about 8 in the morning. Sam is checking in with his phone, a system which has worked really well for him. I'm looking out the window of our lovely little hotel, at the very edge of the town, over fields of fruit trees. I'm also about ten feet away from a marble statue of a young Roman man, which, along with eight or nine similar statues, adorn the exterior of the hotel. Almost anywhere else in the world, I'd say these were very carefully done reproductions. Here, I think they have been taken over the last fifteen centuries from the amazing ruins of the Roman city of Ephesus, about two miles from here. Ephesus is definitely worth a Google, and we spent three times as long as we expected yesterday walking around. It is so complete that it's easy to imagine what the town must have been like. Actually, city - there were about 250,000 inhabitants at its peak. Sam and I have a "free day" and I think we'll go down to the beach. Our room has a sauna, and Sam and I tried it yesterday.  Tomorrow we fly back to Istanbul and stay near the airport tomorrow night. I think Sam has been having a good time, and we've had good conversations. He has been regularly complimented for taking care of his Grandmother, and he's been managing money, holding tickets, etc. Sorry not to have posted more.

Hello From Istanbul

July 31, 2015 by Adam in Wielesek

This came in via email from mom, but I wanted to post it here:

Hi, everybody,


We had a good day today, It's still hot, but we can find our way around better, and have finally figured out that walking around between 2 and 5 in the afternoon is a terrible idea. We got up early and walked to Topkapi Palace. The building itself is beautiful, and the jewels and weaponry amazing.


Tonight, the night of the Blue Moon, we took an evening cruise through the straits of Bosphorus, and watched the moon rise. But the heat during the day is pretty exhausting.


I saw the emergency fire restrictions, Hope you all well. We'll write more tomorrow.

Is Istanbul ready for us

July 28, 2015 by Sue in Wielesek

Here we are in Istanbul
Home of strong coffee and tea
We are ready for Istanbul
Is Istanbul ready for me

We had a no-glitch trip to Amsterdam, but while changing money in the Amsterdam airport a drunk guy tripped. He fell, hit his head, and peed his pants. We took a train into Amsterdam, where it was pouring rain. Intrigued by the canal system, and the beautiful old houses, we booked a hop-on hop-off canal ride. The ride took us past some of the 2500 houseboats which line the canal system. We hopped off at the Rijksmuseum where we saw artwork from 1100 to 2000 including Vermeer, Rembrant, and Van Gough. We also saw modern art, of which Sam was critical. On the boat ride back to the train station I was falling over asleep.  We caught the plane to Istanbul, and when we arrived, we learned that the hotel shuttle was no longer running(I'm convinced hotel shuttles don't really exist.) However, we made the trip thanks to a taxi. The hotel is lovely. We've had a good night's sleep, and a good breakfast.
Sam alternates between being hysterically funny and maddening. He has edited this post heavily, and it has taken approximately two hours and twenty-five minutes to write it. Additionally, he has explained his freshman and sophomore year grammar course to me in brief but firm tones.
 
Love you all,
Mom
As dictated to and edited by Mister Snarky Butt.

A quick but sincere thanks

July 12, 2015 by Sue in Wielesek

Thank you all for putting so much time and energy into making the FamVac fun. First of all, thank you to Anna and Lohring for getting the whole process underway. The house you found was great. We couldn't have asked for a better place as an auxiliary to your house. I suspect that both of you put in lots of time and energy which no one realized. Joanna, thank you for all your hard work in planning, arranging, and rearranging food and sleeping arrangements. It really helped to have someone get things down on paper and keep us moving in a straight line. Adam, you are one of those wonderful folks who does so much by just being unruffled all the time. Sometime you will become hysterically furious and the earth will open and swallow us all. 'Till then, keep doing what you're doing! Jenny, thanks for making such a conscientious effort to juggle your family obligations and still spend time at the Coast. It was really fun to have Dez, even for a short time, and I know Sam always has a good time with Da Boys. Yayoe and John, thank you so much for making the effort to come over; it is always fun to have you around, and I think Yayoe should get the Plumber of the Year Award.

And a special thank you to Seraph, Robbie, Isa, Sadie, Greg, and Simon for the huge effort you all made to get here from your homes far away. Your Dad and I remember the struggle to haul kids and stuff long distances, and for you, Sadie and Greg, the effort of working around jobs obligations, and for Seraph, going to school at the same time you're "on vacation".  We Left Coast hold-outs really miss you all. And Simon - so huggable!

Sadie, Simon and I skyped this morning, and he has definitely started to talk - says "Hi" clearly (and waves), and loves playing Peek-a-Boo. So you all can be proud of your Linguistic Education Team
skills.

Anyhow, I had a wonderful time, and I'm looking forward to finding a good place for next summer. Yayoe, we'll try out the plumbing first.
So much love to all, Mom/Sue

Hi, guys

June 23, 2015 by Sue in Wielesek

Thanks to all the wonderful planners in the family.

I'm using  this vacation to get rid of all the leftover bits of food in my house. Anything which hasn't been eaten is going home with someone other than me. Sadie and Seraph, think: big bag of pancake mix in your luggage. Yayoe, fattening sausage. Lohring and Anna, shredded coconut. So all should eat accordingly.

Jenny says that I can come over with her. (Seraph and Robbie have the Honda, and will go straight from Ashland to the coast on Wednesday.)

 I'm hoping Honoka will help me bake a nice gluten free cake on Thursday and we can have a little birthday party for Simon on Thursday evening, which will be the only evening other than Wednesday when all of us will be there.

Des can get Wednesday and Thursday night off, but will come back to Eugene with Jenny and Jordan on Friday. Jenny and Jordan will come back to the coast on Sunday, but Des will need to stay in Eugene and work. (Adulthood; it sneaks right up on you, doesn't it?!)

 Lohring, I'll bring a casserole of dressing to have with the turkey on Wednesday. Joanna and Adam, if you want to leave Eugene earlier but leave stuff at my house to take in Jenny's car, she thinks she won't leave until noonish on Wednesday since Des will have to work until 1:00 am Tuesday night and will probably need to sleep late on Wednesday morning.

I sent some breakfast and lunch stuff (potato soup with a side of sausage and biscuits) with Seraph and Robbie so Joanna and Seraph don't have to get organized with shopping right away.

 I can't remember who cooks Thursday evening. It's probably the best photo op time. Are the only people in the Fam who are missing Hanni and Danica? Or am I forgetting someone? Maybe next year?

Friday night and Saturday night I'll be rattling around in Lohring and Anna's house by myself, but Jenny and Jordan will be back on Sunday. Bob will come over on Thursday and stay through Friday. He's excited to see you all and especially Jethro.

Only specific goal I have is to decide on a where and when for next year. Hawaii is a priority for Adam and his family, and I agree that would be a good adventure, particularly if we can find a way to include Simon in a way that's easy for him and his parental unit.

I love you all, and am so grateful for the effort y'all have made to put this together. Special thanks to Anna and Lohring.

Archeology Film Festival

May 23, 2015 by Sue in Wielesek

Last weekend was the Archeology Film Festival, followed by a conference on Archeology and the Media. I was a host to one of the presenters, a young (38) man from Pakistan. It was really interesting, and I couldn't help but appreciate, after a lunch with him and another film maker, from Iran, the freedom we have. His wife will be submitting her thesis to Cambridge University, and I agreed to proofread it for her. There must be a grammar and style handbook for Britain which is the equivalent of the one put out by the Modern Language Association. I'm looking forward to proofreading Joanna's memoir, and maybe she can take a look at Sarwat's thesis. Oh, how international we are. But I got to see a film of Pakistan, and it looks like an amazingly beautiful place.  Civilization started there in 7,000 BC. Then we went to the Museum of Natural History on campus and  saw the sandals from the "sandal factory" in Paisley Cave from 15,000 years ago. The guys in Pakistand had a better PR team!

Mothers Day

May 11, 2015 by Sue in Wielesek

In spite of a cheery dinner with Jenny, Jeanie, and the boys, and equally cheery phone calls with Sadie, Adam surely won the Perfect Kid award this year. The hot water pressure in the kitchen sink has been diminishing over the last year or so. Finally I asked Sam to take a look at it, and so when Adam, Sam, Duncan and Emma came over bearing a lovely bouquet of fat roses, Adam said they'd  work on it. Then followed two hours of grunting, snarky comments by Sam interspersed with his commands to his Dad, "Let me do it", the destruction of yards of duct tape, and the use of the power washer. Finally the obstruction in the pipe was blown clean to Hell, and the guys staggered home. 

Happy in Mass

April 14, 2015 by Sue in Wielesek

This has been such a nice vacation. Simon is cute as a bug's ear, and it was wonderful to see Isa.
It still amazes me that my grandkids are all so nice. It just seems statistically unlikely.

When I got here, both Sadie and Simon had bad colds. Sadie said that Isa had been a real help, and I think that Isa really enjoyed her time with Simon. She had taught him Hi-Fives, which he has continued to practice ever since. I got to go see Cinderella with Isa, all of which made me wish that she lived five blocks away.

Sadie made a nice Orthodox Easter dinner - borchst, salmon kuliebaka, challah bread, and almond cake.  Some friends from Babies and Board Games came, and the couple who farm brought wonderful greens which they grow in a greenhouse year round. I also got to meet a couple of the Babies (cute kids, both, but not  nearly so cute as Simon, of course.) It's very fun to watch the things he can do. He's really mobile now, whipping around in Speed-Crawl mode. Just over the time I've been here he's gone from pretty shaky pulling himself up to only needing to steady himself with one hand. He is just never still. Greg is so patient with him.

Having to leave the day after tomorrow. Woe.