A Walk in the Snowy Woods

Michigan delights me in so many ways.  Today we met friends at the Blue Gill Grill near L. Lansing in Haslett, a town East of here.  We spied our friends at a high table by the window.  "If you want," Connie told me, "you can gamble in here."  Bob loved the menu, especially the $4.50 for a pint of draft IPA.  We enjoyed lively conversation over our delicious food.  Since the weather was so cold and snowy, consuming Calories seemed the sensible thing to do.  After lunch, we prepared ourselves, putting on our outdoor gear (long underwear, snow pants, scarves, hats and mittens).  Then, we put on the bright orange hats and bibs our friends brought along -- it's hunting season here.  We drove to a nearby woodsy park and decided the ice under the snow wasn't so bad, so we set out for our stroll in the snow covered woods.  The Robert Frost poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", kept running through my head, at least the first few lines.  It was so incredibly beautiful and so still.  The large fluffy snowflakes coming down as we first began, the silent sleeping trunks of the tall oak and pine trees and the pristine snow on the forest floor were painted in gray, black, brown and white.  The ladies paired up and walked on ahead, our bright colors and loud voices disturbing the quiet as we walked along.  We paused and considered where the path split.  It took more than a little time to decide which way to go.  Jim used his IPhone to determine the compass points.  We all studied the map.  Finally we went the way of the green arrow on a sign post.  We chose the path we wanted and it looped around taking us back to our car.  The stillness of the woods on this snowy afternoon impressed me and I hope will stay with me for a good while.

A Snow Day!

When I woke up yesterday morning, the bluish color of the light was the first thing I noticed.  Something was different.  I peeked out through the blinds and behold, the world was covered in a thick layer of undisturbed white snow creating a magical whole new world to behold.  It had snowed 4 or 5 inches overnight and was predicted to snow most of the day.  At 5 AM, it was officially declared a SNOW DAY by the E. Lansing schools!  It was a bonus, like a free pass in Monopoly with the potential for fun, relaxation and special activities.  A Snow Day is a day made for kids.  I never had one growing up in S. California so I especially share the joy with my grandchildren.  I still remember the one morning of my childhood when it had snowed a couple of inches and my mother made me go to school.  I think I still haven't forgiven her.  This morning, Paul texted me to come over around 8, the parents had no snow day and had to go to work.  The girls were still asleep.     After a 10 AM breakfast of waffles and bacon, the girls lobbied to go sledding.  I was given the task wrapping up the presents for their Advent calendars.  Erika told me, "it's a good day for us to tie them on.  We like to admire the presents and try to figure out what's in each package beforehand."  Each year it's a tradition that I send them a small present for each day of Advent.  I collect little things all year long for this.  So Bob got the task to walk with the girls to Mickey Mouse hill behind MacDonald Middle School.  The girls had a ball, sledding down the hill and running up just to go down again, at least 20 times, Bob estimated.  Sonja told me that no matter where she was, in front or in back, she was the one who seemed to always get her face full of snow.  I love their passion and total abandonment to this special Snow Day activity. I was surprised to hear the sledding hill wasn't packed with kids.  I had imagined the scene like a Norman Rockwell painting, crowded with families and kids.  Maybe not that many had grandparents to take them!  After an hour there, they all walked the .8 mile back home.  I had the requisite steaming hot tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches and hot cocoa awaiting them at home.  In the mellowness that followed, we played games, the girls tied their Advent presents on their calendars and then we all read together before Erika found her way to the computer for a few games.  I cooked dinner and we waited for the parents to come home so we could decorate the Christmas tree.  It was a great day, a sweet treat, filled with special activities, special food and quality time spent together.  Hooray for Snow Days!!

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Making Memories

Maybe it's all about making memories.  Today was a day for that.  After a delicious brunch with friends of Paul and Paula, we all went out to the Peacock Road Family Farm, 20 minutes away, to cut this year's Christmas Tree.  The drive took us out into the countryside, twisting and turning past fields and farms, until we ended on Peacock Road, a wet dirt road.  Turning into the farm, we saw that we weren't the only people who had this idea.  The big parking lot was full!  Not to worry, the Farm was very well organized to handle the crowds.  As one fellow said to me, "Of course, it's crowded, it's a Sunday and 40 degrees.  It won't be this warm again before Christmas."  We got into a big wagon pulled by a tractor and rode out into their fields of Christmas trees.  The trees of all different sizes were tagged, $10 a foot, so a 6 foot tree was $60.  The tractor came to a stop and we got off, picked up a saw and began the search.  The girls ran ahead, excited to choose their tree.  They were very discriminating carefully considering the advantages and disadvantages of each tree.  We walked through the fields of neatly trimmed fir trees following the sound of the girls' excited voices.  Finally, near the farthest limit of the field they selected a tree.  It took much discussion to be sure this particular tree was the right one.  During the long discussion, I became intrigued by the beauty of milkweed seed pods exploding silky seeds with pure white parachutes.  I decorated a tree with the silky bits as if they were Christmas ornaments.  We all watched in awe as Paula got on her knees and began sawing at the base of the chosen tree.  We all cheered when the final cut was made!  Paul, then, picked up the tree and carried it back to the drop off station where there was a roaring fire with white plastic lawn chairs around it, inviting us to warm up as we waited for the next tractor.  Back at the headquarters, our tree was prepared for us to take home (shaken to remove the dead needles, the end sawed off, and put into netting).  We wandered off following the girls to the various activities on the farm.  We visited the "Sugar Shack" where we could buy iced sugar cookies to decorate with green and red colored sugar and freshly made donuts.  We found a shed full of seed corn for the kids to play in (rather like styrofoam, but natural); a wagon with a high platform to jump off into huge piles of hay; and a maze.  There was also a gift shop we managed to avoid.  The farm was well done and visitor friendly.  I thought about how the whole experience and what a very special activity it is.  Our granddaughters are most fortunate to have this as a tradition.  It will be a treasured memory, more so as the years go by.  It was our great pleasure to experience it with them this year.

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Christmas decorations

It's a big weekend for celebrating! Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we have much for which we are grateful.  We enjoyed the day very much.  First, the Turkey Trot, then helping Paula prepare a sumptuous feast.  It was fun to watch Erika chopping the vegetables, so interested in learning her mother's cooking skills.  I got off easy, my job was to make the mashed potatoes.  Paula cooked the gourmet brined turkey, made homemade cranberry sauce, made gourmet stuffing with bacon, crumbled chestnuts and dried prunes and made Brussel sprouts so delicious I had two helpings of them.  Paul made a loaf of homemade bread and prepared the orange glazed carrots.  Paula made a pumpkin and an apple pie the night before.  We shared the meal with family friends and eleven of us gathered around the tables in the living room.  Afterward  enjoying the natural mellowing from the ample delicious food, we sat in the afterglow and enjoyed good conversations while the children played happily together.

Today, the season shifted as the turkey came off the front door.  Paula pulled out all the stops and has not only decorated her house with wreaths and lights and a Rudolf reindeer, a snowy penguin and colorfully wrapped packages the light up, but she also decorated our house with colored lights hanging from the eves and a sparkling angel and snowman.  I love Paula's joyful energy and enthusiasm that is carrying all of us along into the joy of Advent.  

Though the problems of the world are still there, looking at the sparkling lights, I remember our many blessings: family, good health, peace, and abundance and as little Tim said last night after the grace was said, "don't forget art and music!"  And I might add, don't forget the joy!!  This season, the sparkling lights will remind me to be grateful.

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The Turkey Trot

It was a gray, cloudy, overcast morning.  The thermometer registered 19 F as we left the house this morning to go to downtown Lansing to participate in the Lansing 5K Turkey Trot.  It's the coldest Thanksgiving here in 100 years.  It's a family tradition to do the Turkey Trot, but I wasn't at all sure this was for me.  But Paula had entered us all and had turkey headbands for us, so being good sports we went along.  Bob and I dressed like we were going on an Arctic expedition.  I looked like the Michelin man.  All 6 of us squeezed into our car and drove the 3 or 4 miles to the start of the race.  It was a crowded scene with about 4700 participants.  Runners and walkers of all sizes and shapes, many dressed in costumes  (turkey hats were very popular) crowded up to the starting gate.  There were families pushing strollers and lots of dogs all with warm coats on.  Everyone surged through the starting gate with a silent mighty roar just at 9 AM.  Paula and Sonja were up in the front with the runners.  I walked with Erika and she made sure we walked fast enough so no one passed us.  Sonja won a medal (3rd in her age group out of 167 at 24 minutes!!).  I came in 4th in my age group (female 75-79) just missing a medal at 54 minutes for the 5K.  Bob and Paul fell back behind us as Bob couldn't pass up taking photos of the Capitol, of Sonja running by, and of the crowd.  How cold was it?  It was so cold that when I ate a piece of chocolate along the way, it wouldn't melt in my mouth.  But I didn't feel the cold and was thrilled to have participated and enjoyed the whole experience.   Next year I'll train and push a little harder for a medal!!

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A Day in E. Lansing

I've had barely more than 12 hours shared with the granddaughters and we've already had so many adventures.  When they came home from school, they had after-school snacks (an ice cream bar for one, dried seaweed for the other) and then they showed me what they're up to.  The older one got on the computer and showed me movie trailers.  We're going to see the new Harry Potter movie this weekend if we can.  The younger one taught me a new card game (Slap Jack) with a deck of cards she won running fast at her Running Club.  We had pizza for an early dinner and then went to the local elementary school for the 5th grade fund raiser.  The movie night featured Paddington Bear for the younger kids and The Incredibles 2 for the older kids.  It was kid heaven: being in your pjs, having blankets and stuffed animals on the gym floor, lying around with your friends and stuffed animals on the gym floor eating popcorn and candy while watching the movie.  I sat in the back (on a chair) and loved seeing the kids' reactions to what happened in the movie.  They all loved the baby, Jack-Jack, and his superpowers the best.  The room erupted in giggles and loud laughter when he was in a scene.  Afterwards we came home and Sonja and I played every game we could think of until it was bedtime.  She won 2 games of Slap Jack and I won 4 straight games of Connect Four!  It's fun to play with her.  This morning I made Belgian waffles and scrambled eggs using the eggs laid yesterday by Sonja's chickens.  Now I am waiting to take Sonja to the gym for her tennis lesson.  Life is never dull, here in E. Lansing!

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From Smoke to Snow

We left the smoky Bay Area behind us yesterday morning early as we travelled to Michigan where it was snowing when we arrived.  From smoke to snow was quite a transition.  The air quality in Berkeley has been so bad from the fires up North that we have been advised to stay indoors all week.  There's been a ridge of high pressure over California and it has acted like a lid over us trapping smoke which has built up getting more unhealthy by the day.  Everyone I spoke with was suffering from the bad air and yet felt so bad for the losses the people in Paradise have suffered.  Officials say more than 8,800 structures have burned and 56 people confirmed dead with hundreds still missing.  So many of the people burned out were just making it financially, had no fire insurance and now have nothing.  With winter coming on and rain predicted next week, the situation for them will get worse.  So far, the news says there's been no government help for these victims.  Meanwhile, we left it all far behind and arrived here to be most warmly greeted by our family.  The house had fresh flowers in it and it is stocked with enough gourmet food to last a week.  Walking outside last night, I looked up and saw big fluffy white snowflakes coming down, falling slowly like little kites, like they do, and the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music flooded into my mind.  Indeed, it is one of my favorite things to be here.  This morning as I took photos, I heard the chickens, clucking away in the snow, able to cope with the cold weather here.  If they can, so can I!  I look forward to unfolding adventures in our two weeks back here in Michigan.

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Music Heals

There's a Chamber Music Series at the Crowden School.  Arne went to the Crowden School more than 20 years ago when the school was newly founded.  Now, it is the premier music focused school for middle schoolers on the West Coast.  It warms my heart to go to concerts there.   SFSymphony members play in this Concert Series so the music is really at a high level.  Even though it was a modern program - two pieces by a composer born in 1986 I'd never heard of, I wanted to go.  The concert was a surprise and delight!  The young composer, Matthew Arnerich from Santa Rosa, was there in person and introduced his pieces.  The first, Sonata for Cello and Piano, he called a Meditation on Death.  It was written for his friend, a cellist, who lost his son in a car accident.  The piece was hauntingly achingly beautiful as it expressed all the emotions of grieving.  "Music heals," said the composer and he is right.  Surrounded by his amazing music, I began to feel better.  It was two hours of extraordinary music!  When we came out after, I saw a crescent moon in the sky.  The news says tomorrow will be another very smoky day with unhealthy air, but for tonight, I feel better soothed and inspired by the wonderful healing music.

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Bad News

Bad news.  My beautiful state is burning up and there was yet another mass shooting, killing mostly young college age people this week.  What is happening?  Guns and climate change and the effects of population pressure are some reasons.  While fire is natural in Mediterranean ecosystems, they are worse now because we've prevented them for a hundred years allowing the fuel to build up.  The Camp Fire up northeast of us burned up the town of Paradise.  Bob has several friends who lived there.  They escaped through flames with their lives, though their houses did not likely survive.  The fire fueled by tinder dry forests and fanned by Santa Ana winds raced at a speed (reported in the NYTimes) of up to 80 acres/minute.  Experts say increasingly people are living closer and closer to forests and that's one cause of the damage to so many human structures.  Here, for three days the air has been unbelievably bad.  We can hardly see the nearby trees out our windows.  We are told to stay indoors.  Children at school aren't allowed to go outside for recess or lunch, tours at the Botanical Garden and water aerobics at the gym have been cancelled due to bad air quality.  Small price for us to pay.  We recognize, however, it could be us fleeing flames.  Living close to Tilden Park's trees, we too are vulnerable should a fire start near here.  Berkeley has burned before.  And another mass shooting?  On the news I heard that there have been 307 mass shootings in the US just this year.  They are so common, we don't hear about them all any more  We cannot grow numb to them.  Increasingly the shootings are in the places we all go: churches, stores, bars and of course schools.  I fear it will only grow worse.  In biology class, we used to teach about the stress of over-population on animal populations.  Are we so different?

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Carpe Diem

This morning Bob waxed poetic telling me how good life is.  "You know, it's another beautiful day (a sunny 70 degree day), we had a great breakfast (bacon and eggs and homemade blueberry scones) and our health is good, our family is fine.  Life is good."  "But" he continued, "we're living right on top of the Hayward fault and it could let go anytime; at our ages, our health could change fast."  He's right, it is a beautiful Sunday morning, we are so fortunate, there's nothing we have to do but take care of ourselves.  In this intensely political time, we do spend a lot of time worrying about our country and the up-coming election.  I have a bad feeling about this one, like I did before the last one.  I hope I'm wrong.  We've already voted on our absentee ballots, so there's nothing to do but wait.  Wait and enjoy the day.

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