I appreciate the differences

 I loved our Allegan house.  It had history and character.  I appreciated its age and personality.

When we decided to move we knew our new house would be very, very different and it is.  Boy, howdy, is it.

My "I love this about my new house list" is in no way to mean that I didn't like the fact that the features on the list weren't in Allegan and that's why we left.  No.  We left because it was time.

We have light!  I mean direct light.  That light comes flying through all our windows (at different times of the day, of course) because we don't have big trees around our house.  I miss those old giants but I'm in love with the sunshine.

No stairs here at the Red House.  No more dragging the vacuum up and down steps.  

Two bathrooms!!!  OMG!

An attached garage.  Every single time we drive down our street and hit the opener and watch the door go up, we smile.  Don't have to dash through the rain anymore.

There's this new machine that washes your dishes.  Have you heard of it?  It does a really nice job too.  I thought with just the two of us I wouldn't use it very often.  Turns out . . . not.  I love it.  

Oh and the biggy - CLOSETS! With lights inside!!!!!

And OUTLETS! And LIGHT SWITCHES!

We're only 22 miles from that old house and, yes, I drive by it every time I come into town for my monthly haircut.

I'm so happy that the young couple in it appreciate her.  

Let's Talk "Nap"

 So there's a wide range when it comes to naps.  They start almost right out of the shoot, don't they?  Your mom is counting on you napping as an infant so she can get something done during the day - like washing the dishes, preparing dinner or . . . taking a nap herself.  I remember someone telling me "when he naps, you nap."  Sage advice.

Remember "nap time" in kindergarten?  We all had our little rugs and caught a few winks during the half day session.  Jeez, we were only there for half a day and we needed a nap?

Or did the teacher need a mental health break?

When we visited our grandparents we always took an afternoon nap with them.  Wonder how old they were at the time?  I know they were retired so maybe late 60s?

I love naps.  Most of my naps (since retirement) are not so much out of necessity but just simply because I can.  

I can go anywhere from a quick "cat nap" to what I call "the coma nap."  The one where you can feel yourself trying to wake up but can not.  My eyelids feel like they are glued shut and try as I might, I can't open up those peepers.

What is up with that?

I've also had extremely realistic dreams while napping.  I remember once I could have sworn Peter was standing right next to me, bending down to see if I was really asleep.  I could feel his breath on my cheek.  When I finally woke up he wasn't even in the house!

Have you ever taken a car nap?  They're outstanding.  I've taken them at the lakeshore, in a busy downtown parking lot and in my own driveway. They are particularly special in the spring when it's still too chilly to sit outside but in the car with the windows rolled up and the sun shining in? - boy howdy!

Timing can be crucial.  Too early in the day and you might need a second which just makes you lazy.  Too late in the afternoon is really going to mess up the good night's sleep you have planned.

Naps.

Where do you stand?

 

The Holidays of 2021

 So on the whole the holidays of '21 were way better than '20.

Definitely more open with a huge dose of holly and jolly.

Thanksgiving has never been a biggie for me.  That's a good thing because this year was a bit of a struggle.  I waited too long to make a reservation at a lovely restaurant downtown so we ended up putting steaks on the grill.  There was pie involved too so that softened the blow.

Christmas Eve was spent at our favorite local joint, Hops 84 East.  Never a disappointment.  I took some of my bracelets along and gave two away to people sitting near us and one to our server.  Feeling all Mrs.Clausey.

Christmas morning started off with a Wifi issue which meant we were both on the floor in front of the modem and wifi thing stretching and reaching along with several other contortions.  That was followed by a really painful lower back which had me walking around like that grumpy witch in Hansel and Gretel.  Nothing that a handful of Ibuprofen couldn't take care of.

Then we were off to our second family, The Dutkiewiczes.  They have been kind to us over the years.  Taking pity on us poor lonely old orphans.  The meal and all the goodies before and after were out of this world.  Jeremy and Gerah along with Niko and Kyra really put on the feed bag.  And we ate and laughed a lot.

As we sat down I could feel an ocular migraine coming on.  Oh, poop!  Fortunately it wasn't the usual.  More of a light weight one so I just ignored it and kept the fork moving.

Then as we were nearing the end of that scrumptious meal one of my crowns decided it had had enough and left my mouth.  So happy I didn't swallow it.  My new dentist is hopefully going to work his magic this afternoon and my tooth will return to the living shortly.

We don't have any specific plans for NYE.  We'll probably go back to our favorite restaurant for dinner and be home and in our jammies by 9 - at the latest - and hit the hay around 11p.  We haven't actually seen any kind of ball drop in more years than I can count.

I can't say I'm sorry to see 2021 go because we got a lot accomplished during the year.  When I say "we" I mean Petey who painted the bedroom and bath among other jobs around the house that I probably didn't help with either.  We finally got to hear and see quite a bit of live music and eat in some great restaurants.  We also saw friends and family that we had been missing.

So I hope that 2022 is good to us all and normal living will take shape in the not too distant future.

Stay well.  Stay safe and happy, happy 2022!!!

Remembering early tech days

 The year was 1996.  Our son, Michael, was doing a semester in England and we knew the long distance calls were going to be expensive.

We heard about this email thing and thought we should give that a shot.  First step was to buy a computer.

I have to back up just a wee bit because I was introduced to computers when I was working at Saugatuck High School so that had to be late 80s, early 90s.  I brought a computer home during summer break determined to figure out how to use the dang thing.

I never got past turning it on.

Fast forward to '96.  My best friend, Sue Lange, already had a computer so I told her when she'd learned everything about how to use that machine, she could teach me.

I don't remember how that tutorial went but I guess ok because we were soon owners of a brand, spankin' new, computer.

That was back in the dial-up days.  Remember that annoying sound?

Remember how incredibly slow it was?

By then I was working at L.E.White Middle School in Allegan.

I picked up little tips along the way which led me slowly into the internet world.

I remember well the day I heard one of the teachers talking about a particular web site and he said "yeah, I just bookmarked it."

Bookmark???

Then came "copy/paste."  That one tripped me up for an embarrassingly long time.  Now I feel like the "copy and paste queen."  I wonder if there's a crown that goes along with that title?

Then social media hit.  What was the one before Facebook?  Was it My Space?  

Last spring my niece, Sara, got me hooked on Instagram.  Now I'm one of the cool kids.

When Skype was invented it was like a gift from beyond.  When your only child takes flight and lives on a different continent your life line is Skype.

Now it's Zoom.  Talk about a gift.  The workshops I used to attend in person to gather CEUs for my interpreters license turned into webinars thanks to Mr.Covid. Weekly services from our temple came to us via YouTube first and then Zoom.

Speaking of YouTube.  What a teaching tool.  Anything you need to know is there.  As a novice ukulele player I have learned a ton from various musicians on YouTube.

Can't forget the cell phone.  Petey and I had Tracfones for a very long time.  Now we're iphone geeks and Petey even has an Apple watch???

Life is moving at warp speed and our old legs are moving as fast as they can.

Happy Holidays

 Well, it's been quite a year, hasn't it.

2021 started with Peter and I both being vaccinated.  He also had a side order of "falling on the ice downtown" which resulted in very, very bruised ribs.  I serenaded him with my new ukulele.

We opted out of FL and decided it was safer to stay in our cozy new home in our cozy new home town and actually didn't mind the MI winter - too much.

Early March brought our first fully vaccinated friends to our house for an afternoon visit.  We were so excited and so were they that we chatted for 4 hours straight.

April dished up more dinners with friends and a new customer for my bracelets - Lake Effect Gallery in downtown Holland.

May was fun.  We had our first overnight guests.  We were beyond excited to have our niece, Stephanie, her husband, Jeff and their two daughters, Sara and Emma, visit. We showcased MI for them: Mackinac Island, Traverse City, Saugatuck and Holland.  They were impressed.

June got the outdoor music scene started.  We were starved for live entertainment.  There was plenty right here in Holland but we also traveled to Allegan, Fennville, Saugatuck and Grand Haven. It was wonderful.

We had our own 4th of July parade here at Hidden Creek.  All the golf carts were decorated and flags were flying.  Very festive.

August was a continuation of the two previous months:  food, music and art.

My sister, Stacey, was our second overnight visitor in September.  The 3 of us drove up to Newaygo to visit our cousin, Barb and her husband, Steve.

Peter became a gym rat in October and is loving it.  It's less than a mile from our home so he has his workouts in one direction and the golf course 3 miles in the opposite direction.  He's smilin'.

Another highlight for October was our trip out east.  We finally got to see where my sisters (Stacey and Lisa) live!  Chestertown, MD is beautiful and Heron Point (their residence community) is amazing.  Next trip out we'll stay longer - so much to see. 

We left Chestertown and drove up to Bethlehem, PA to visit Stef and Jeff and our nephew Mike and his wife Michelle came up from Philadelphia and joined us for a very nice dinner.

This year November has a more festive feel; much better than last year. Craft shows, special shopping days downtown, music and a parade ramped up the holiday season.

                                   A beautiful dock out to the Chester River at Heron Point.

                    I bought a ukulele last January to fight the virus blues.  I'm really enjoying it.

                                             Tulip Time in Holland this year was outstanding.

                                        The top of Mt.Baldy in Saugatuck with the Pattersons.

                                         Outdoor music with our friends Nathan and Robert.

                                                  Hanging at Ottawa Beach with Stacey.

                                A shot of Big Red in the distance from the top of Mt.Pisgah.

                                            On the dock with Stacey and Lisa at Heron Point.

                                                The dock at Heron Point on the Chester River.

                                                      Our niece Stef with her brother Mike.

What are they talking about???

New ideas, new technology, etc. needs new terms, labels, definitions.

I'm not talking about all that stuff - particularly the techy stuff.  I'm running as fast as I can (which isn't fast anymore) trying to stay current but I find myself turning to the "greats" often.  By "greats" I mean my great nieces and nephews for help.

Thanks, kids.

No, I'm talking about old stuff that someone has decided to slap a new name on.  It's confusing for us older people.

I'm a Sign Language interpreter.  Many of you already know that.  I have attended many, many workshops and seminars over the years.  Recently they've been remote which has been fantastic because I need my yearly 20 hrs of continuing ed to maintain my credentials.

A little background:  I started working as an interpreter in the late 80s without credentials.  I hadn't taken any classes and had absolutely no training.  Why did anyone hire me?  Because, back then, nobody knew anything about anything.  Pretty much.

Soon after I was hired at Saugatuck High School as an educational interpreter the state of MI started hosting workshops to help interpreters achieve the new testing level they needed to work in the field.

I learned a ton at those workshops and there were a lot of new labels and skill descriptions that almost made my head explode. 

After many years working for different school systems and after attending many, many workshops I remember, distinctly, sitting along side one of my bestie 'terps, turning to her and saying "what the heck are they talking about?"

After that particular skill was demonstrated we both turned to each other and did the "nod and ohhhh" thing.  It was something we'd been doing for ages but now had a new name.

I get it and at some level I appreciate that the "job" was finally becoming a "profession" and was getting some respect.  But it's been a challenge for an older 'terp like me.

I'm sure this is the case for many people working in different areas.  I remember hearing teachers talk about "new concepts" often.  Remember Chicago math? A lot of those concepts seemed cyclical.  Same stuff with a new name.  

"Looks like someone's been working on their PhD."  That phrase echoed down the halls of more than one school I worked in.

Can an old dog learn new tricks?  Yes but slower and maybe not the entire trick.

FAMILY

 Petey and I just returned from a trip out east to visit our families.

My sisters, Lisa on the left and Stacey on the right are living in a brand new environment on the eastern shore of Maryland. Heron Point in Chestertown.  Between Covid and our own relocation, we hadn't been able to check out their new digs until now.

Here are the golfers comparing putters in the parking lot of Heron Point.

Above is lunch at Stacey and Johns "cottage" eating and talking with our son, Michael, who lives in Thailand.

Heron Point sits on the Chester River and the scenery takes your breath away. Boats and water fowl are daily entertainment.

 We left Maryland and headed up to Bethlehem, PA to see Peter's family. Here he is with his nephew, Mike.

Peter with our niece Stephanie's husband, Jeff.

Mike's wife, Michelle on the left and our niece, Stef on the right.

Stef and Mike are Peter's sister, Patty's kids.

It was a great trip.  Quality time with the small family that we have left.  Peter and I spent a few of the hours on our way home talking about how important family is to us.  We made a choice a little over a year ago to move and it could have been in any direction.  We knew by staying here in southwest MI that we would always be at least a 2-day drive from our families but we both feel bound to this part of the world.  

We also vowed that we would continue to make that dang drive as long as possible because we love our families.