Leo's here!

Just perfect:  grandchild #3 arrived safe and sound on Friday 12 April 2019.  Congrats and thanks to Paul Jr. and Nedda.  Leo Patrick Gales weighed 7 lbs 7 oz, measured 19.5 inches.  I don't think he could be any finer.

please say hello to the delightful Leo Patrick Gales!

Arrival via by-appointment C-section, which permitted some planning.  P&N went to the Scottsdale hospital on Friday morning.  Nedda did, and continues to do, great.  PJ and I visited the hospital on Friday afternoon and got our chance to hold the new arrival - those moments are delightful, they literally glow, always make you think about quite a number of things.

we were so happy to meet this little fellow, long-awaited, here he's maybe a couple hours old - wow

After a short break (during which PJ and I toasted Leo and his parents at Kovo), we were back to the hospital for Friday evening carryout-dinner-in-hospital-room and some delightful Leo-holding.

getting acquainted; these two (OK all three!) will spend lotsa time together . . . just imagine

The grandparents took turns babysitting Roman (Mina and Saeed taking the first shift) - then PJ and I stayed overnight on Saturday at Paul & Nedda's house and had a quite fine time with Roman.  Including moments we don't otherwise get - such as his pure delight when you go get him out of bed after his nap, and especially when he woke up on Sunday morning.  (I mean, Roman is kicking his legs and crowing as I pick him up out of the crib.)  He is a very good boy.

a little family is together at home for the first time here; Roman greets his brother by name at 0:10 (also the walk-off is quite fine) - 


But this was Leo's weekend, and his parents's, and it is the best blessing to have Leo with us and off to such a great start.  A family of four now.

Leo seems pretty pleased to be home with mama

the guys at home doing some work, or something

Romie's here!

a big change for this little family

What really is there to say when the very-first representative of a new generation arrives?

Roman Christopher Gales was born on 7 December 2017.  Congratulations and thanks to PJr and Nedda.

ahh 

As I sat holding Roman for the first time, somehow the feeling of generational continuity (don't know how to describe it exactly) was running pretty strong - here I am literally sitting right in the mid-point of a chain linking the only five generations of my/our family that I'll ever know - in a hospital room with my son present, and holding his son, and thinking about my father, and his father before him - thinking of (and beyond grateful for) the women who made all this happen (two of them present in the room with us) - I've known each of them so well and they've each been so central in my little world! - anyway it yields some quiet-deep mixture of gratitude and peacefulness and perhaps feeling just a bit of new/indirect responsibility as the tiny (well, not that tiny, actually) fellow sleeps in that peaceful newborn-way.  I had the very good fortune to live close by both of my grandfathers and see them regularly - I thought about both of my grandfathers while sitting with Romie - they, and EMG, set a daunting standard for being a grandfather. Maybe something like "mostly stay out of the way while being present"?  Lots to learn in this new role, we'll see how it goes.  I don't think that generational continuity-feeling will disappear anytime soon.

PJ seems to know how to handle these little folk!

And of course it's quite marvelous watching my little wife handle RCG and sing him the same little songs that I heard so often with our five in the 1980s.

We're happy that Romie's here.  We can't wait to watch him grow up.

the kid passes inspection

good timing:  Romie showed up just before Sreedhar had to head back to India

three winners; KVG and Beth correctly betting on Palmer's bday

Swan Lake

Here I am at age 61 and had never attended a ballet performance.  Nedda has been planning to correct this, and it happened on Saturday 28 October - Ballet Arizona put on Swan Lake with the Phoenix Symphony at Symphony Hall (PJ, Nedda, PJr me attending).

PJr/Nedda had lined up seating in one of the little balconies - which I think made a big difference - the unobstructed view from somewhat overhead made it much easier to see the various patterns.  Plus the extra space was nice.


My low expectations were way off the mark - I don't know enough to judge intelligently, but I definitely thought it was a great show.  Tchaikovsky's music certainly is pretty wonderful, and Nedda advises that the lead ballerina was quite good.  The combination of dance and music was surprisingly effective.  Glad we went.

Followed by a late supper at Taco Guild - a converted church with entirely satisfactory food/drink. 

baby shower

Keeping fingers crossed for a successful conclusion to Nedda's pregnancy!  So far, so good.

In the meantime - a baby shower was held at PJr/Nedda house on Saturday, September 23.  The men weren't allowed to show up until the party was nearly over.  But other than that, we understand everyone had a fine time; lots of nice gifts; lots of custom "onesies"; etc.  Thoughtful prep, food, drink, decorations.  Perfect weather.

Visiting Mom, who is ill (trip #2 of 4)

A month having passed since our last trip, we hit the road for St. Joe again.  The tiny bit of upside in all this is that we out-of-towners have a chance to make our visits - and somehow my mom so far has been spared the onset of awful pain, or too-quick (well actually, it is too quick anyway) deterioration.  For this visit, Paul Jr. and Nedda also made the trip.  Nedda had never made it to St. Joe, it was important to me that she see it at this time.  My little wife keeps doing a great job with the photography, and with cooking/cleaning/etc./etc.

Our visit was just wonderful.

Friday 12 June

PJ and I enjoy our typical hassle-free travels and arrive in St. Joe about 6:15p following Hy-vee stop.  Just missed Charlie/Beth family by a couple hours.  G&G were napping when we arrived, clearly enjoyed the week with PA visitors.  PJ put together a quite fine chicken parmesan supper, pleasant-quiet evening, all done by midnight.

EMG explaining original St. Joe school building to PJr.

Our fellow-travelers – PJr and Nedda – ran into serious delays.  They were scheduled for late arrival, but then their flight was delayed until 11p or so Phx time.  They made good time thereafter but still didn’t get to the Burr Oak until 8a local time.  (Americinn and Brookstone:  both sold out.)  It’s good to be young and strong.

EMG using St. Joe history book to add some details for benefit of PJr/Nedda . . . 

Saturday 13 June

PJ up at 8a or so - coffee, cinnamon rolls!  We chattered and chattered about various.  Grandma and PJ make rhubarb pie.  (Throwback to an occasional kitchen task from my youth - I cut the rhubarb – fabulous quality stuff courtesy Dick Erpelding.)

Nedda with Grandma . . .

Caroline explaining quilting.

PJr & Nedda arrive by 11a with about 24 hours or so available before heading back.  Grandpa did a really nice job of giving them a St. Joe history overview – including quite-enoyable discussion of boarding school anecdotes  They were great listeners; Grandma chimed in helpfully as she does; PJ and I even heard a few new things; this session actually was very nice, memorable.  Then had late dinner – with that rhubarb pie, which was a winner.

Next – a delightful, lengthy road trip; fun for all, but with underlying purpose of wanting to show Nedda around on her first visit.

Caroline's apartment in Algona (PJr, PJ, Grandma, Carline, me, EMG)

-----------Stop #1:  visit Caroline in Algona – talked about quilting (and quilting history), etc.  She serves up beverages and snacks.  Conversation among G&G and C in hallway as we leave is touching – these three have been acquainted quite a while.

These three old friends had so many laughs talking in hallway
as we prepared to head to next stop on our road trip . . . 

One more time . . . 

------------Stop #2:  Irene Bormann house.  But we didn’t stop in. Just wanted to show Grandma’s home place.

------------Next:  took gravel roads to our farm home from there, including circling the section such that we arrive from the south.  (Also swung past Kohlhaas/Bormann sites, and the Spring Valley mansions).

Travelin' group pose in shed, in front of corn shellers and whatnot.

Explaining the "home place" to Nedda on a lovely late afternoon.

With my parents in the "boys room" upstairs . . . identifying a few things
worthy of taking over to the "new" house in St. Joe . . . 

Grandma . . . watching, reflecting . . . 

*sigh*

------------Stop #3:  farm where we all grew up.  Deterioration of the house is accelerating.  I’m ready to get out of the house fairly quickly this time but Grandma is visibly lingering room to room, she and Grandpa are looking at stuff, this makes me sad.  They decide to haul back to St. Joe a cardboard box with some of Mary’s stuff.  Then we walk around the yard a bit.  Late afternoon/early evening – the sun is out for pretty much the first time since we arrived in St. Joe and washes the old, past-its-prime place with that yellow glow – just gorgeous.  We stand around in the yard; some picture-taking; some talking; some silence; evocative-ness factor is strong.  Grandma was quietly taking all this in – PJ standing with Grandma off by the shed while Grandma looks over the scene and watches the rest of us wander around the yard and buildings and point and talk, and talk, about this and that – she tells PJ about how very sad she is that she won’t get to see this kind of thing anymore.  Ach.

-------------Drive toward St. Joe; swing south at Jim Butler corner and look around Ray Gales property (stop #4).  The sun is still hanging in the west with that yellow-ish light . . .

With Daryl and Kathy Baker at St. Joe cemetery

-------------Stop #5:  St. Joe cemetery – randomly run into Daryl & Kathy there – visit the family graves – perfect weather and lighting conditions – evocative-ness, cont’d.

Visiting grave of Irvin Bormann on a glorious summer evening (St. Joe cemetery)

-------------Stop #6:  go to Livermore for church supper - $5 for burger, baked beans, potato salad, dessert ($10 to upgrade to steak sandwich).  Is this really a fund raiser?  Pleasant chats with various – luminaries such as Spud, Ken E., Tom Berte, Darold Hofer, Leo Bormann, Leo's Irene; Eugene Mertz was playing bingo so we didn't get to say hi to him until his usual beverage duty at Livermore breakfast the following morning.  

Livermore parish supper - best deal around (including custom dollar coozies).

End of our fine road trip - back to St. Joe – where we take sunset photos as we fight skeeters.  Followed by quite a bit of Irvin Bormann discussion as PJr and Nedda have scheduled a Cassino tour when they’re in Europe in a few weeks – Grandma enjoying showing various items.  But plenty of other topics.  They head back to Burr Oak around 11p or so, we all wrap up by midnight or prior.

St. Joe and family history discussions . . . continued into the evening.

Sunday 14 June

All attend 10a Mass followed by customary yakking in church.  Then to Livermore Legion hall for pancake breakfast.  Back to St. Joe house; eventually (but after full demo of downstairs exercise equipment) PJr and Nedda head to MN to visit Nick/Maeve/Beau before airport.  Back in St. Joe:  afternoon naps!

Reviewing Irvin Bormann information with his sister (PJr & Nedda heading
to Cassino within the month)

At night:  baby shower for Anna Bormann Olson at Mark & Sue’s place – a very nice event indeed, we were there a few hours.  Enjoyed catching up with those folks.  Back at St. Joe - watched second half of NBA finals game with Grandpa.  Followed by more chatting ‘til our typical midnight wrap-up.

Monday 15 June 

Hospice nurse stops by in the morning.  PJ had bought groceries for spaghetti/meatballs for Sa or Su supper so makes these up for M dinner instead.  Grandma left for card club at 1:30p, which gave us a little time to speak with Grandpa before heading to the airport around 2p

Our group just after breakfast at Livermore Legion hall (in front of Irvin Bormann's flag)

In sum:

Very different trip than the prior month, lucky to have two entirely-different-but-equally-fine experiences.  This was small group, relaxed, G&G both did great.  Grandma didn’t seem a whit different than five weeks ago, except we had the sense that she is more strongly feeling the clock ticking.  It’s just hard to believe she’s that ill, but there it is.  When we say goodbye we don’t really feel like it might be the last time we see her in such (relatively) good shape, as we will want to return probably late July or thereabouts depending on how things are going.

First house

There was a pretty big event in mid-April that was rather glossed over - I think because so much other stuff was going on right then.  PJr and Nedda closed on the purchase of their first home!  (And moved in just a few days later (April 13 weekend).)  (Roommates Nadia and Pumbaa followed along in a few days.)

kitchen crew in action in new house

PJr and Nedda found a really lovely place about three miles west/southwest from "Village Fairways" - a neighborhood we always liked (and actually looked at several places with a realtor during our wandering-years).  House is pretty recently constructed, in great shape, beautiful yard, mountain views (will stop since am sounding like a listing agent's ad).

Competing events that very weekend included a CPG birthday celebration in California (that included Nicole and EPG), Diamondbacks homestand keeping POC tied up, and a trip by the Reghabis.

kitchen crew posing

So that left Patricia and I as pretty much the only family members in town to assist with moving.  We had dinner with the housebuyers on Friday evening.  Then we helped them, after a fashion, for parts of Saturday and Sunday.  There is something tremendously exciting about the moving process, I never get tired of it. (Recalling the fun associated with the 7th/Washington move-in, discussed in the middle of this post.)  PJ seems to thrive in kitchen packing and kitchen set-up modes.  Nicole brought over lunch on Sunday (before going to another kickball loss), then we also had dinner there Sunday evening.

This will be a good place to gather.  First house = important marker.

(We did a lousy job of taking photos, so I'm just including the few cell phone shots that I have.)

Day two business:  new ping pong table (after hours of assembly work with Pat H)

ASU law school graduation (this generation might be done with school?)

Nedda and Paul Jr; 5/3/12.  (Nadia photo) 
Last day of school for this generation, I think.

Starting in fall 1986, we've had between one and five children in school and working along through the so-familiar academic calendar.

But - after well-nigh 26 years - this could be the end.  PJr and Nedda graduated from law school today.  No other school plans on the horizon, as far as I know.

List of schools:

• Liberty Elementary (N, C, K)
• St. Thomas the Apostle (N, C, K, EP, PJr)
• Cocopah middle school (K, PJr)
• Chaparral high school (N, C, K, EP, PJr)
• St. Mary's College (N)
• ASU (N, C, PJr)
• U of A (K, EP)

By the way, today's law school commencement was quite a nice affair.  Sandra Day O'Connor - for whom the ASU law school was named - gave a fine speech.  PJr and Nedda both graduated with honors.

Sandra Day O'Connor speech.

Also nice:  Saeed and Mina treated to a most excellent after-meal at the Persian Room, it was a great conclusion to the event.  (I drank doogh (دوغ‎ dūgh) for my first time - neat, I read that this drink goes back to classical Persia.)  Also, Patrick had shown up unexpectedly this morning (rerouting flight from CA to Seattle), which was quite the nice move.  Had a euchre game or two before he was whisked back to the airport.  PJ and I won, of course.

1st day our children attended school . . . Nicole at kindergarten, 9/3/86.

Paul & Nedda's wedding

Not sure how to approach writing up my thoughts on Paul and Nedda's wedding.  Too much of what took place will fade away for me if I don't put down some details.  But writing about an event in too much detail can also be bad - tends to displace what does remain in memory.  And I definitely don't want that to happen - the memory set for this event is entirely too wonderful.  So I'll try to walk the line here, so to speak.

(Unfortunately it's already April 6-7 when I'm writing most of this (in my usual late-night mode), so recall already is weakened.  At least this is better timing than last year's wedding - my work pace blew up during and after the wedding weekend and it was five or six weeks before I could reflect back at all.  Ugh to that.)

Overview:  after two recent first-hand experiences - I'm getting a better perspective on how many elements go into a wedding - and they all came together marvelously for this one.  In order of importance:  First: it starts with the couple getting married:  Paul and Nedda are two unusually fine folks; everyone "knew" this wedding was coming (for years now), everyone was happy it was coming, everyone was more than ready to celebrate.  Second:  the families - we have been close friends with the Reghabis for years now and their extended family - some of whom we were meeting for the first time - were just as gracious and fun as could be.  Then there was just a great turn-out from my siblings and their families - they travel extremely well! and were great fun to have around.  My mom and dad made the big trip; Babanazi (phonetic sp) traveled all the way from Iran; etc.  The siblings of the bride and groom - these folks were the best - drove so much of the activity, looked out for everyone to be included and have a good time, nice.  Third:  the friends of the families - OK, we didn't have a ton of room for friends on the guest list for the wedding itself - but those that were able to be included at the wedding (or showed up at the Wednesday, Saturday or other events) - added immensely, great support in so many ways.  Fourth:  the logistics - what could be planned, was planned extremely thoughtfully and effectively.  Just a few examples.  Picking MB to run the ceremony = inspired choice, she set the right tone and did a great job.  Marriott at McDowell Mountain - lovely venue.  Persian Room for catering - such a treat.  Table decorations, flowers, ceremony set-up, all the stuff I don't even know about - all worked.  Fifth:  what couldn't be planned or forced also worked - fantastic weather every step of the way - this matters.  Also:  the way the guests from all corners of the guest list made it their business - in an entirely unbusinesslike manner - to get to know and interact with one other throughout the various events - this accounts for much of the intensely warm feeling about the events that folks seem to be left with as they departed.

Chronological summary:

Weekend of March 16-18 - the wedding party did some bachelor/bachelorette event stuff around town.  Sounds like folks had fun but thankfully it wasn't the kind of partying that movies are made of (with one possible exception).

Wednesday March 21 - most of the out-of-towners arrived from the Midwest or wherever else they live.  CPG, PJr and I went to Costco in afternoon and loaded up on party food and drink.  Put the house together, set things up, then hosted a mix of visitors and locals at our house for dinner.  Beautiful evening, a chance to light the fire-table, pleasant as can be.  Also a good opportunity for the two families to become better acquainted.

Thursday March 22 - checked into the Marriott in mid-afternoon.  Somehow we managed to be 100% busy right up to the time of leaving for the hotel - pulling together prep items, clothes, rehearsal dinner final details, on and on.  Rehearsal at 5p - all shaping up beautifully.  Those of us in the "procession" focused on getting down the staircase without tripping.  Decided to delay the next day's start-time a few minutes to avoid sun-blinding and to benefit from more of the sunset lighting during the ceremony (very successful decision).  Got to hear Babanazi work on his speech.  All good.

Slideshow 1:  rehearsal, rehearsal dinner (view any slideshow full-screen by clicking on it and following the prompts):


Then to La Hacienda at Fairmont Scottsdale Princess for the rehearsal dinner.  Last-minute shuffle of many table seating assignments (mostly to tighten things up) (thanks N&K for help with this).  PJ and I felt the planning and location choice paid off.  Beautiful hotel grounds to walk through; nice luminaria setup leading to the private patio for cocktails; gorgeous evening and fine conversation on the patio.  Moved into dining room - we were happy to have made the last-minute add of the guacamole/salsa/chips; food delightful, service great, wines turned out well, the room was warm and inviting - and very private from the rest of the restaurant.  Served 45 or so.  A great evening for the families to get to know each other even better.  But my favorite part of the evening was the opportunity for folks to wish Paul and Nedda all the best in an intimate setting.  We had wonderful participation in this, and wonderfully thoughtful remarks.

Here's how I know I was having a great evening:  completely lost track of time.  When the valet brought up our car and the clock showed 11p, I was near-shocked.  It felt like 9p.  Certainly hadn't thought to check a watch all evening.

Then folks were nice enough to sit around at the hotel bar later into the evening for some fine chit-chat.

Friday March 23  - this was the big day.  Got off to a fine start with a walk to breakfast at Over Easy (east on Bell Road about a mile or so).  Spent time around the pool, then started shifting into ceremony-prep mode. Nice moments getting ready with the guys in the wedding party.  Lots of photos.  Folks started showing up for the ceremony, buzz builds.

Slideshow two:  wedding day

 

Ceremony started around 5:45p - 5:50p.  The bride was beautiful!  All the wedding party attire shopping (at Men's Wearhouse for the guys, surprisingly effective place) worked great.  MB running her first wedding - did a great job, seemed like a pro.  The little guitarist did a very nice job.  Beautiful setting, beautiful ceremony.  The words to the vows portion of the ceremony remains 100% compelling.  More photos after, fun.

Cocktail reception with hors d'oeuvres from Persian Room - interesting, delightful stuff.  Fun chatting it up with everyone.  Dinner followed - the ballroom looked great.  Dancing - mix of Persian and more typical dance music - this worked.  Saeed's toast - very welcoming and effective.  Nadia and EPG also do a fine job with their toasts.  The Persian Room food was wonderful.  I sat by Babanazi at table - a most gracious dinner companion (in addition to a fine dancer) - I enjoyed a couple cups of tea with him along with some of the desserts.  The evening flew by and of a sudden, the dance music ended at midnight.

Onto the lobby bar, a group of us then went up to Saeed's suite on a foiled Johnny Walker hunt, then went up to one of the guest rooms with the "kids," then declared it to have been a wonderful evening and PJ and I back to the room around 2a.

Saturday March 24 - a more relaxing day - nice breakfast at the bagel shop by my office, where we recapped the doings of the two preceding days.  Much milling around by the pool in the early part of the day (including a form of baseball game).  We did some picnic prep stuff (mostly PJ, Cecilia, Therese, me) including a run to our house for supplies; then over to Cactus Park.  Set up for a picnic there that started around 3p.  A nice, relaxed, event, with great turnout from wedding guests, friends, family; perfect weather; we lingered until maybe 8p?

Slideshow three:  various Scottsdale/hotel . . . 

 

Various groupings of folks played bags or volleyball, or simply sat around eating, drinking, chattering.  I had a chance to pitch horseshoes with my dad - something I didn't really expect to ever do again - Paul Jr. joined in (instructional league).  Back to hotel where we sipped some beverages around the pool, some used the hot-tub, mostly we chattered, recapped, enjoyed; ate some pizza courtesy of EPG; then security busted it up (gently) so we relocated to the lobby quite awhile.  Said goodbyes to those leaving Sunday morning.

Sunday March 25 - breakfast at Wildflower; slow process of checking out of the Marriott and hauling lots of wedding goods back to our house; then PJ and I got busy cleaning up the house as those still in town were coming over.  Other than the need to say good-byes to folks who were leaving (felt "way too early" for this), it was a most enjoyable day.  We toasted Nicole and POC on their first anniversary.  We ran through the wedding video that Charlie had taken (Mina, Nedda, Naseem were able to come over for this).  We looked at some pictures.  We munched on some leftovers.  Carol and I took a little walk from 40th street trailhead.

Around 5p we were visited by Saeed, Mina, Naseem, Nedda, Paul Jr.  At this point pretty much everyone was gone on their return trips except Nicole (who was able to postpone her flight a day), EPG (who was delaying his car trip return to LA), Carol & Jim.  MB came by.  Saeed brought over the once-lost bottle of Johnny Walker Blue.  So we started working on that with some cheeses and crackers etc.  All helped on the bottle, some (Saeed, CPG, Jim, me) more than others - this was a very fine treat.  And the Reghabis brought some most-excellent Persian Room "leftovers" from the wedding reception.  What a perfect way to end the wedding weekend, we only wished more folks could have stayed through.  Eventually played a game of hearts.  I won easily, though found card-shuffling a bit of a challenge for some reason.

Patrick drove back to LA starting at 11p.  Jim and Carol left the house at 3a Monday for their Alaska return flight (no witnesses to their departure).  Nicole left mid-day Monday.  We all started going back to work.  Paul and Nedda moved into their apartment Sunday night (and may have gone to class on Monday).

A fine weekend was over.

Slideshow four:  miscellaneous "prior to" the wedding weekend . . . 

Menu

PJr and Nedda got married!

The entire wedding experience was delightful.

I'm going to post some more thoughts (and photos) on this shortly. 

In the meantime, a photo.  The constituent shots were taken by Charlie on Sunday morning in the Marriott lobby as we were getting ready to check out of the hotel.  The right half of this was one of my very favorite photos of the entire weekend.  (The left half . . . sort of . . . complements the right half . . . sort of.)

how great is this . . .

The big day is not far off.  Though it seems like this big event just happened.

We received the invitation recently - looks quite excellent; key elements are posted below.  Plus I happen to know that the invite was both home-designed and home-printed.  So that's neat.  I particularly liked the jewels on the stylized N/P on the envelope (bottom photo) (even if they don't look very jewelly in the photo).

The wedding shower was today.  By all reports, it will be difficult for the wedding to be a nicer occasion than the shower.  But I have confidence in Saeed and Mina to arrange it just so (probably with some input from Nedda) . . . we are all looking forward to this.