Tag: family

We Had Some Adventures

A great (and greatly exhausting) weekend!

We’re back home after a crazy long weekend celebrating my birthday with the grandkids. We had some adventures on land, in chasing a few leaves around the pool, and walking across a few bridges. 

This grandpa couldn’t have asked for a better time celebrating.

Now to prepare for our next trip. 

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Achievement Unlocked: 70 Spins Around The Sun

I hit seven decades of living on this planet today. That’s 15 years beyond the shelf life of males on my father’s side of the family, so feeling pretty good about the accomplishment.

Celebrating with grandkids and family this weekend after a joint party last week with a dear friend who shares the same birthday week. (That’s where the picture above is from.)

Onward.

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links.

 

There Are Days and There Are Days

Some days are insanely hectic, bordering on maddening. Some bring something resembling a calmer pace. Some days you just need to park the car, have a sit, and check out the scenery.

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Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links. 

Moments Captured and Not Captured

Sometimes a camera isn’t necessary to capture a moment in your heart.

There was a lasting moment last weekend after my wife’s performance in Hope Summer Rep’s production of Always Patsy Cline. The memory of the occasion will last even though there’s only a few dark and blurry photographs of the moments immedieatly after. 

A bevy of family members had come into town for the show from several points on the compass. They included our grandchildren, eager to see Grandma T on stage. After the show the family fan club waited for my wife to appear and when she exited the theatre from the backstage door she was about a block away.

Our grandson saw her, and holding a bouquet of flowers took off running at a full gallop to greet her. As speedy as he was, the run seemed to last forever.

Now every adult had a camera on hand. But no one captured the run. Afterwards we all admitted that the length and speed of his running had us all holding our breath, afraid our sprinting grandson would take a tumble before he reached his grandma. 

He made it. In high style. The photo above shows him and his sister, (who eventually caught up at a slightly safer pace) giving their Grandma T big hugs. 

It’s a moment we all captured in our hearts, if not on video. It’s also one none of us will ever forget, but always share.

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links. 

Today I Climbed Trees

Spending the day with the grandkids. And today my grandson and I decided to climb a few trees.

Actually he decided to climb a few trees. I just snapped the pictures.

And it was good.

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links. 

Sunday Morning Reading

Taking a breath

It’s been a crazy whirlwind of emotions lately. A death in the family. Keeping up with the grandkids. Celebrating my wife’s latest theatre gig. With that, Sunday Morning Reading is on hiatus this week. 

Enjoy your Sunday, while I enjoy time with the grandkids. (If they don’t wear me out!)

Thanks for reading. Feel free to subscribe if you want. It’s free. If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. This site does not use affilate links. 

What A Day! What A Night!

That was some humdinger of a day and night yesterday. First up, we celebrated the grandson’s graduation from pre-school. 

We followed that up by taking the grandkids across the state of Michigan to see Hope Summer Repertory’s production of Always Patsy Cline, featuring their “Grandma T” playing Louise. We weren’t the only family there for that evening’s fun and celebrations, as others made their way in from Chicago.

Watching two youngsters (4 and 2) watch their grandma on stage was a delight for this cynical SOB of a grandpa, let me tell you. 

It was quite a day. And in many ways, the weekend and the crazy week ahead is just beginning. 

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links. 

Congrats To The Grad!

Pomp and Circumstances

Congrats to my grandson Sylvester, (we call him Sly) on graduating from pre-school today.

Glad I got to attend the ceremony with his proud parents, and his oh, so skeptical sister. Her time’s coming. Now, on to bigger and better things in kindergarten this fall and beyond. 

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links. 

Looking Back On Simpler Times

Missing what may have never been

As chaos, criminality, and incompetence all in equal parts masquerade as something pretending to be the U.S. Government swirls us around like flotsam in a whirlpool destined to be dragged under, I’m missing simpler times when, upon reflection, I remember there were easier ways to stay afloat.

A row of multi-story houses stretches into the distance under a clear blue sky, viewed from a low angle behind a dense, leafless hedge. The houses feature complex rooflines with gables, dormers, and a mix of siding, brick, and light-colored stone facades. Prominent architectural details include columns on front porches and bay windows. On the left, bare tree branches reach across the upper portion of the frame, partially obscuring the view of the sky and the houses further down the street.

Life was always challenging, but I was younger then. Girded with the innocence of youth, I still felt like I could overcome whatever obstacles lay in front of me.

Given the higher costs of just getting around currently, I miss those younger days, when I lived in a part of town where I could walk to just about anything I needed to, or hail a cab if it was a longer journey not on a public transit route. Being younger, those trips included far fewer visits to doctors, and far fewer trips to help out older relatives. Again, mostly visiting doctors.

It was nothing to wheel a portable grocery cart a few blocks for a load of groceries and again back home. There also weren’t many thoughts about comparison shopping, as convenience outweighed whatever cost differences there were between competing grocery stores, pharmacies, and other merchants.

If I wanted to get out of town for the weekend, a car was easily rentable. Leaving and returning to the city was never a planning chore attempting to avoid whatever construction currently makes a joke out of the term expressway.

I miss the days when stupidly crooked politicians got their comeuppance if they tried to beat the rap, or had a sense of shame and the good sense to leave office on their own. Yes, things were still crooked. But there was a harmlessness about it, unlike in this moment.

In the neighborhood taverns, sports talk was sports talk. About the sport and real stats. Not about analytics, salary caps, and free agency. A trade was a trade. A hit was a hit, and no one knew the exit velocity.

Talk about politics was actually about the issues, and the political peccadillos certainly. But it all felt harmless compared to the blood sport it is today.

I visited one of those taverns recently. Felt like a stranger in my own town. Perhaps I am the stranger. Maybe I’m just strange. Perhaps it’s not my own town any longer. Today is not yesterday. Tomorrow won’t be either.

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links.