Celebrating My Mom's 80th Birthday (2 of 2)

Here's some info on the last few days of our trip to Iowa for the 80th birthday . . . (the first few days are described here).

Sunday, March 30: Everyone was up bright and early for 8a Mass - nice. Then over to school for "coffee & rolls" (apparently n/k/a "best breakfast ever", or BBE; at $2 per head, the value certainly is there; except they downgraded from the usual ham to some type of sausage patty). Talked to various folks; it's always nice to be in the church and school buildings and say hello to some folks. Everyone made it to Mass in St. Joe, except the Mason City crew came over after attending Mass there.

Back to the house. Those that are skillful at that sort of thing caused the food, chairs, tables, decorations, place settings, etc. to appear in good order and with minimum fuss. The rest of us helped, a bit, as directed. A spoons game occurred. Art arrived from Storm Lake. The rest of the guests (Clarence & Caroline; Irene; Mary Lou; Kathy & Daryl) arrived around 1p or thereabouts.

Ate shortly thereafter - really nice meal, everyone had contributed something to making it a success. Dessert presented a challenge, as 80 candles were spread across two cakes. But EMG was up to the task, as shown in the accompanying video. You know it's a serious birthday party when the blow torches come out, shown here:



Nice gifts and comments for the deserving honoree. She has some articulate grandchildren. Paid some attention to the NCAA games, visited, the time went by very quickly and pretty soon the guests were leaving.

Then there was some before-dinner music. It is interesting to see the (very) rapid progress that Clare, Tom and Kieran have made. Clearly there is lots of talent involved. But there's something more going on here: you don't get to these levels without lots of focused work. Hopefully the progress will continue. Dinner. Folks with Monday work schedules had to start leaving, unfortunately. This left EMG and me surrounded by women. I wasn't able to show Emily and Allison how to play marbles. But EMG could. So we had a few games, which was fun. Eventually all these girls went for a sleepover down in the basement. I heard they had fun (and yes, we literally did hear it, for some time after "lights out.") I like Kerry's photo of Barb in the basement; rather than just being afraid of being crushed by falling oatmeal boxes a la Steve House, she faces the risk directly.

Monday, March 31: After several days of celebrating the birthday, the actual date finally arrived. But the weather didn't t look favorable at all (note photo below of the horrifying "weather bug" info). We all were up for 7:30a Mass, but it was decided that the folks going north would leave right away. So we were cheated out of some time with those folks.

Nicole and Kerry went to Mass with their grandparents, and Patricia and I saw off Cecilia, Barb, Emily, Allison, and Therese (who was cozily positioned in the back seat between the two car-seats). They (car caravaning with Charlie, Beth, Mark) did run into a bunch of snow, but made it to Minneapolis (and Eau Claire, for those going that far) in pretty good time.

For those that stuck around, I made the usual breakfast. We spent some time talking, looking at photos, etc. Nicole and Kerry tried on some of Grandma's dresses; everyone was impressed with the high-quality goods. It actually was a very fun day throughout. Clarence and Caroline came by for dinner. Had cheeses and beverages before. We had ran through all the wine that Charlie & Beth had brought down from Algona, so we decided to open a bottle of champagne that was in the bottom drawer of the old refrigerator in the garage. It tasted quite good; we looked at the label and discovered it was a Luxemburg bottle. I guess an 80th birthday is as good an occasion as any to pop that cork.

Then dinner. At the various mealtime prayers throughout the weekend I was really struck with the thought that it was lucky for me to be with the folks at the meals (whatever the combination of diners, it was one that doesn't happen often enough); this sensation was particularly striking when you're sitting at a table with your wife, a bunch of 80-something folks who have been so important in your life, and your two out-of-town daughters.

The meal was followed by games of 500 (Clarence and I were dominating Caroline and Patricia, that is until Patricia went off on nello-palooza). And some euchre by the grandparents and granddaughters, at least when Gramps wasn't providing bidding advice in the 500 game. For some reason we then trotted out a video from a style show held in St. Joe either in the late 1970s or the mid 1980s (I'm confused on dates). It was pretty interesting to watch, especially when accompanied by Caroline's recitation of the history behind the event (including some friction with the local KC's) (she had been a major organizer of the event).

Clarence and Caroline left. We looked through more photos, and had Grandpa scan a bunch of them as selected (mostly) by Nicole and Kerry. We also went through Grandma's steadily increasing stack of birthday cards (we were wondering if she would receive 80, and later learned that she passed that mark with ease).

Tuesday, April 1. Breakfast. Nicole and Kerry left for Chicago around 8:30a. I dealt with some work; we packed; talked about various, watched some video from the 40th wedding anniversary celebration in 1992. Then it was time for dinner, after which we hit the road for the Omaha airport. Smooth traveling all the way back to Phoenix with my most excellent traveling companion.

It was another great visit back to Iowa.

One last photo of the birthday girl, plus some singing . . .

I think we are committed to this remodeling project now.

Here are a few photos showing progress today in taking down the kitchen and laundry room.

Photos 1 and 2 are "after" and "before" shots taken standing in the family room and looking straight into the kitchen.

Photos 3 and 4 are "after" and "before" shots taken standing in the doorway from the kitchen into the dining room, and looking back into the kitchen.

Photo 5 was taken today standing in the garage and looking toward what used to be the entry into the laundry room.

Construction services courtesy of one Mark Mitchell. Grunt work courtesy of his son and two of his teammates from some hockey team on which he plays.

Patricia was working so missed out on today's "fun." Tomorrow she works again, and we get to test life without a kitchen, starting with her 5:30a breakfast call. Looks to be no problem. At least for the first few days.

Forgot to mention, we're bricking over the doggie door.

Celebrating My Mom's 80th Birthday (1 of 2)

Well, the big event finally arrived: my mom's 80th Birthday. Patricia and I traveled Friday (March 28); we flew into Omaha. Left behind 85 degree weather and I don't think it ever was over 40 in St. Joe. But that was ok. Easy traveling all the way except finding something other than fast food in SW Iowa is challenging). That corner of the state seemed kind of empty, actually.

Anyway, we were in St. Joe before 5p. Some folks had preceded us: Charlie, Beth & Mark; Steve (Gales); Cecilia; Therese. Nicole and Kerry drove in from Chicago and arrived shortly before 9p; I think Mark was happy to see just about anybody from his generation show up, if belatedly.

So it was a fine evening mostly sitting around and talking. Grilled pork patties and buffalo burgers for dinner (I mean supper). We stayed in the extra bedroom; N&K (with Cecilia and Therese) stayed in the basement/cooler ("it's always 65"). By the way, the new siding and windows on the St. Joe house look great.

Saturday, March 29: Arrivals from Minnesota: Steve & Margaret, with Nick. From Mason City: Steve, Liz, Julia. It was fun seeing everybody. Patricia was working on three pound cakes for the birthday party (these turned out well). Some adventuresome types went to the farm for a short tour. Other more adventuresome types (aka the Mason City folks plus Mark) first took a side trip to the farm on the hill. But they were briefly stuck in the mud when 12" of gravel wasn't where it was expected to be. This forced Steve House and me out into the cold for an inspection tour. We all had some laughs as it was quite easy to get the vehicle freed up once there were a few pushers available (with Mark providing extra oomph). And it was nice poking around the farms a bit. I don't go into the house because I don't want to see it anymore, but others did (and took some photos).

A bit later in the day there was a pizza party at the AmericInn. For a moment we considered an alternative menu when the local pizzeria didn't seem to have the ingredients for seven pizzas (given that this was a Saturday night, it seems they have an inventory problem or perhaps are just in the wrong business altogether?). Anyway, an alternative supplier was located. Therese and Cecilia had brought down a case of Summit Pale Ale so that was nice to sip on throughout the weekend, including this evening.

The Haag family had already checked into the hotel by the time we all got up there, and the Cullen family (sans Joe and Art) arrived later after participating in some music competition. It was a good idea to have this event up at the hotel; some of the kids did some swimming; we paid some attention to the NCAA round of eight; we talked, a lot. Later on there were some card games, eventually involving six-handed euchre; Tom, Kieran and I were on the verge of a sweep but had a bit of a problem in game two (a circumstance which Charlie, Nicole and Kerry seemed to relish a bit too much).

Next: the official 80th party!

My Mom Turned 80 Today

Eighty years old seems like a bit of a milestone. I'm glad my Mom is breezing right past 8-0 and on her way for more. Also glad we were able to be with her to celebrate (along with some other fine folks); more to come on that shortly.

Thinking back over the many things I appreciate about her, I wanted to mention her skill and effort as a writer. This set a very useful example for all of us.

Here's the thing about writing - ideas and facts are critically important. But until a writer takes the ideas or facts and commits them to paper, they are just floating in the memories of one person, or maybe several persons. The information or idea is subject to being distorted or forgotten altogether. The writer provides an invaluable service by organizing the thoughts into a coherent form and committing them to paper. And the service is provided not just to the writer's contemporaries, but also to anyone else who happens to find the writing of interest. This can be an incomparable gift to future generations.

(Looking back over the preceding paragraph, I don't mean to separate the conception of ideas and the reduction of ideas to writing - the writer often performs both functions.)

The essential example in my Mom's case is the centennial history book for St. Joseph's Parish that was completed in 1976. She didn't write the book herself. It was a team effort that involved many participants. And it isn't necessary or useful to rank the value of the contributions of the various participants - for example, there's certainly no book without the contribution of ideas and information. What I do know is that there is nothing tangible to hang onto without folks like her sitting there and doing the hard and often mundane work of organizing the ideas and information and putting them down on paper in an interesting, readable format. This is time-consuming and often feels thankless. It involves the careful assembly of words and ideas, and the confirmation of information. Until all that is done by the writer, there is no history book.

My mom was a key contributor to the writing process. The resulting product is a gift to all of us. The book is a reference source on shelves all around St. Joe and in numerous places around the world. Who wouldn't like to create a legacy like that?

Of course she has written plenty of other stuff. Everyone looks forward to the annual Christmas letter. Another detailed St. Joe history was produced in 2002, along with various other updates from time to time. And how about the family genealogy? If it isn't written down by someone, it doesn't exist . . .

Her writing style generally is detailed, newsy, interesting. She's taken up email communication (though without entirely adopting the short-burst, rapid-fire style of most email users). But that's ok by me.

I also have a stack of her letters from the 1970s that I would like to review and organize - I'm guessing those would comprise a pretty thorough summary of the local events of those days. As a kid off to a big school far away from home, I can report that those letters were much anticipated and re-read at the time.

Top and bottom photos show the history book team at work in the basement of the EJ Gales home; middle photo shows researchers going through Livermore Gazette materials. (As always, click to enlarge.)

I have a great Mom. Happy #80!

It Begins . . . (Day of Wrecking)

We've spent a lot of time and energy talking about taking care of some of the deferred maintenance on our home. We're also doing some remodeling.

And we've finally moved from talk to action. The work officially started on Tuesday (March 25). We put down a deposit with the cabinet guy, and one of the home wreckers came by to start with the patio off the master bedroom.

I think the photo makes our place look like some kind of pueblo? Except they didn't use gas grills.

More to come.

Easter 2008

Well, we had quite the socializing over the Easter weekend.

The fun started Friday afternoon with another round of spring training tickets courtesy of White Sox media guy Patrick O'Connell (a/k/a Nicole's pal) (spring training, round one, is discussed here). Patricia, Patrick (just back from visiting Nicole in Chicago), Paul Jr., Alex (lives in same apartment as Paul Jr.) and I saw the White Sox lose to the Giants at Scottsdale Stadium. We were supporting the White Sox after a fashion, but under the threat of extra innings we reluctantly appreciated the Giants' 9th-inning victory. Fantastic weather, great seats, so it was everything spring training is supposed to be. Had folks around in the evening for even more socializing.

Patricia and I went to coffee per usual Saturday morning. Nicole had called a couple times trying to pin down what we were doing (purportedly from Chicago). But being rather tricky, she and Patrick were in the coffee shop and surprised the heck out of us. She had flown into Phoenix the day before (after a days' delay that was primarily self-inflicted). So it was fun to have her around for the weekend. Patricia put together a dinner for a bunch of folks that evening, and we watched some of the college basketball madness.

Similar enjoyments on Sunday, including a run over to the Sterns in the afternoon. This included some misguided speculation about a nesting dove and hatching and where Thomas Stern came from. We also met Herman the dog. There were Wii games including boxing and bowling, and my wife wasn't fully hospitable to house guest Patrick (e.g. seven strikes in a row). Something of a joint cooking effort (led by CPG) for dinner and folks liked the rib roast. Patricia made the chocolate cheesecake, which led to some almost unseemly negotiating over portions (it ended up in quadrants). (But too bad a nice chunk remains in our refrig, soon to be tossed out as there is no one here to eat it.) Gorgeous weather throughout the weekend . . . as Sunday wore on, Patrick left for U of A, Paul Jr. left for ASU, and Chris left for his house. Nicole flew back to Chicago bright and early on Monday, and Patrick headed to Peoria that morning for White Sox v. Mariners.

Fun.

Shaq in town (and somewhat dangerous)

We pay quite a bit of attention to the NBA in general and the Phoenix Suns in particular. They surprised the heck out of us by taking a step away from the running game and trading for this extraordinarily large man named Shaquille O'Neal. It's not clear how well this trade is going to work out, but there are some encouraging signs and it's certainly entertaining in the meantime.

Anyway - Chris, Paul Jr. and Pat Herrara (the latter two home on spring break) were sitting around on Tuesday evening (3/11); Patricia made a large and wonderful spaghetti & meatballs supper for us. After eating massive amounts of food, we were talking and watching a Suns laugher against the lame Memphis Grizzlies. Shaq has developed a dangerous propensity for diving after loose balls (including almost taking out a couple rows of fans in a game two days earlier).

Anyway, the Suns bench must have paid attention to the previous game, and their desperate escape tactics (shown below) in response to Shaq's pursuit of another loose ball were pretty amusing to us.

The video is funny. It was a fun night in general.

Beautiful hike - and new slideshow method

Patricia and I had a delightful hike on Sunday afternoon (March 9). We drove out to Lost Dutchman State Park (west side of Superstition Mountains) and took the Siphon Draw Trail - a new trail for us, and quite a bit more scenic than anticipated.

Conditions were perfect - high temp around 80. Because of the above average rains, the wild flowers were out in force. Especially the Mexican gold poppies, and lupine.

The trail climbs steadily - about 1000 feet elevation gain - to an area called the "Basin". We used this as our turn-around point. You can climb another 1500 feet to the "Flatiron" but we would need to allot quite a bit more time, haul more water, etc.

The photo looking down between cliffs was taken from the Basin. Click to enlarge, I think it was really quite dramatic.

And how neat is the slideshow technology that our pals at Google have added? By clicking on any photo that you like in the slideshow, you will be taken to that photo on the web album.

It was another fun outing with my energetic hiking pal (who gets credit for these photos).

Spring training 2008 . . .

Here was a fun little visit/trip. Nicole arrived from Chicago Wednesday evening (February 27) and hung around with us on Thursday (including a hike in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve (40th street trailhead) and attendance at the ASU basketball game with Chris, Paul, etc.)

On Friday, we drove down to Tucson to see Patrick, go to a spring training game, etc. The game featured the White Sox and Diamondbacks at Tucson Electric Park; great seats courtesy of Nicole's pal from Chicago (also a Patrick). We were positioned just to the left of the Sox dugout and spread out in rows 1 and 2. Gorgeous weather; high of 81 in Tucson that day. So it was perfect for watching a game. Very different perspective from that close. Among other things we noticed: it's amazing how muscled up the players are (presumably without the benefit of PEDs).

Patricia and I stayed at the Best Western Royal Sun (again), notwithstanding that we seem to have issues there every now and then. We hosted a fun reception there between the game and going to dinner at the Guadalajara Grill. Overnight there was no heat in the room and it was 60 degrees when we awoke. That felt cold.

A nice breakfast with Nicole, Patrick and Nedda; then we wandered through some of the shops in the "Lost Barrio" area (including the large carving of St. Michael the Archangel shown here).

Patricia and I made our way back to Phoenix later in the afternoon, it was a very fun trip. We saw Nicole (with Chris) a few hours Sunday afternoon before taking her to the airport.

Happy 56th

My Mom and Dad celebrate #56 on February 19. Unlike last year, we won't be there to help celebrate.

Unfortunately, because it was quite fun last year.

But here are a few photos from the 25th anniversary celebration back in 1977. Taken on an old Kodak cartridge camera.

Mom and Dad look pretty dapper (and youthful) in top photo, as they inspect the loot. But heck, at that time they were younger than I am now. Plus it's pretty economical if you can get extra wear on your 25th anniversary out of the suit you wore to your wedding.

Photo #2 features some happy customers for whatever it is that Dolores is concocting. But they should be happy, click to enlarge and check out those bargain prices.

Photos #3 through #6 feature honored guests playing cards. Recognize them all?

Happy anniversary.

Super Bowl I - musings of a 10-year-old

This being Super Bowl day here in Arizona, I was thinking back to Super Bowl I (ok, it didn't have a roman numeral then). I remember that I was pretty interested in the game, and very much hoping the underdog (Kansas City Chiefs) would beat Green Bay. Probably because I was sick of Green Bay beating up on the Minnesota Vikings.

So I consulted my diary for specifics (click to enlarge).

We watched during Steve's birthday party held at "Uncle Casper's". I do remember going back and forth from the pool table in the basement of Raymond's house across the road, keeping an eye on the game, etc.

Other points of interest (at least interesting to me) from the diary:

On Sunday (1/15/67), the kids were sent to school while the pastor lectured the adults. That's the only time I remember that happening. I wonder what they talked about, maybe the Super Bowl?

On Friday (1/13/67), we "played with the electric train a lot" and "shot with the BB gun downstairs a bit." (We were shooting at a target drawn on the bottom of a cardboard box; the box was placed on its side and filled with newspapers. Thinking back, this does seem a bit dangerous. I recall some interesting ricochets in the shower area. But no injuries.)

On Thursday (1/12/67), I was parroting some criticism I must have heard about Lyndon Johnson ("Well he's a Texan. I do not agree with his policy - "The Great Society . . . But speaking as a loyal American I still don't care for him.") Not sure what triggered this unhappiness with government policy from a thoroughly uninformed 10 year old.

On Monday (1/16/67), I felt cheated out of a snow day - after all, it was very windy in North Dakota.

Jim & Carol in AZ

OK, I'm a little slow in posting that we had visitors from Nome. To add to our holiday fun, Jim and Carol were in Arizona at the end of December for a couple days. This overlapped with N and K being in town.

After spending a few days in Yuma, they arrived on the evening of the Holiday Bowl (December 27); we had a bunch of folks around watching ASU get killed by Texas. Among other fine activities, Jim tested the "Estaban" guitar the next day.

We had some fine food adventures - Richardson's for lunch on 12/28, Patricia made the patented pork (with serrano chilies) for 12/28 dinner. Carol and Jim hiked Piestewa Peak (f/k/a Squaw Peak) with me on 12/29, after which we joined the rest of the group (other than Kerry, who had headed back east) for lunch at House of Tricks and a campus tour at ASU. That's chronicled in these photos.

V. nice to have them in town, we all agree.

Try this (Christmas music)

It always takes me about a month to stop playing Christmas music. Because there simply is so much wonderful stuff out there. Usually by about this point in January I finally start putting everything away.

Here is a gift for those who may not be familiar with "O Magnum Mysterium" - written in 1994 for the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Turn down background noise, listen to this about three times in a row, and see if this doesn't go onto your list of favorite Christmas music.

There are many things I like about this song, not the least of which is the manner in which the composer slowly and gently builds the song as he goes along . . . it keeps getting better. And it is sung in Latin, which automatically gives it some extra punch.



And how could you beat the title ("o magnum mysterium" = "o great mystery") - how better to distill the Christmas story into three words? The words are taken from a traditional responsorial chant for Christmas from Matins (early morning service) (full translation etc. is available here.) So this piece, while a new setting, has centuries of tradition behind it. Numerous musical settings have been put together, including one by Thomas Tallis in the 16th century - also delightful (as is normally the case with his music).

I don't know anything about the composer; there is some information in this article from Minnesota public radio. I didn't know until today that the setting here was specifically written for the LA Master Chorale. We first heard the recording at a Christmas dinner at Linda Prideaux's house several years ago; we borrowed the CD that night and burned a copy. But the original disappeared for about three years, only to be discovered when Kerry cleaned out her room before moving to the DC area. So KHG has good taste, if a bit of klepto tendency . . .

Photos are from covers of a couple albums that feature the song.

Today is My Dad's 79th Birthday

Well, my papa turned 79 today. I imagine he'll be talking about what a nice day it is in early January in northern Iowa (just like every year).

Something that I always thought was neat when I was a kid was that my father had been a good athlete in his day (and seemed to retain those skills to a goodly extent, though we didn't get to see it in action very often). Why should that be important to a kid? Who knows. Athletics are vastly over-marketed these days, but that doesn't change the fact that there are lots of positive elements. I know that I personally have tremendously enjoyed every level of competition in which I've participated, and some of the hype about learning personal initiative and teamwork is legitimate. And in a continuously miserable TV market, traditional sports programming (i.e. games) generally remains the most interesting choice available. (It may not be the optimal path to self-improvement, but at least you don't get steadily dumber while you watch.)

Anyway, I liked that he wasn't some uncoordinated or out-of-shape dork. I could hit high school pitching pretty well at one time, but the guy to this day has a better constructed swing with a baseball bat than I ever developed. If you want somebody to hit fungoes, get him out there. I enjoyed the stories about Romie and him playing basketball and baseball together, including on the high school teams.

I also enjoyed that he was well versed in basketball and baseball and could discuss the goings-on so well. And how about that pronunciation of the All-Star Game (emphasis on second word).

He wasn't the type to continually shower praise if we did something well in our sports endeavors, but that just made the occasional comment much more meaningful. Maybe I'm old fashioned (or just a bit Germanic), but I think that's more effective than the nonstop praise (not to mention trophies) showered on young participants these days regardless of the quality of their accomplishments (or even their effort). So for example I still remember a comment of his about a good pass I made in a basketball game against St. Edmond's.

And it was nice to have support for our athletic efforts such that we could leave the workplace early and attend a practice or game as needed - many a time I left the sheller crew behind under such circumstances. Nice.

Top photo: hitting fungoes to the grandkids at the farm in August 1999. Bottom photo: teaming up with Margaret House for a narrow victory over Patrick and Paul in House backyard, August 1998. As always, click to enlarge.

Happy #79.