So, it’s begun. Health Club ads. Healthy food ads. The resolutions are upon us. Here’s one to ruin your day. Steak ‘n Shake introduces “Fruit and Frozen Yogert Shakes”.
Jan 07
Another Last Second Win (or Loss)
This time, I actually said to Papa, “I went to bed the last time I thought a game was finished, and it wasn’t.” We watched the whole thing. I’m smug and satisfied not to be annoyed by the morning news.
Jan 07
Memories From the Visit
2 ½ year old granddaughter’s alligator tears when I didn’t want to let her “watch”. As in, “I want to watch, please.” Anything, a Dora video, a “show” on TV, anything. The look on a mother’s face at the Science Center. GD2 (above) was building a tower. She accompanies every activity with paragraphs of explanation. Circle, square, triangle. The topper was when she saw that a large block wouldn’t balance on the smaller one which was currently on the top of the tower. “It’s too small,” she said as she removed the offending top block and replaced it with the larger one in her hand. I just smiled at the mother, what could I do? All the kids piling into the kitchen, armed with stools and aprons to “help”. I really didn’t need so much help, but I got it.GS3’s joy when his mother called and said they needed to come home early, for his basketball practice. He really is excited about the basketball.
The mad Yahtzee game. GS3 can add, do simple multiplication , and was a fun playing partner. The little girls were playing with extra dice, banging them off my new(er), food covered, laminate floor. I have a “kids” Yahtzee game, the thing has dice with animal photographs, matching tokens, and a board on which to place your token when you roll a matching animal. GD2 was matching all the tokens to the pictures on the board and giving a running commentary.
Oh, yes, the wedding video. I’d never watched the video, and we were running out of activities. We popped in the video from the children’s parents wedding. What a trip. We were all younger, it is a 12 year old video. The quality wasn’t the best, but we could recognize the people. It was a shock to see my late father-in-law, looking good and sitting in the church. The children’s reactions also told a lot about their personalities. GS3 said, “my mother looked different then.” GD2 said, “There’s my Daddy, I love my Daddy!” GD1, our 4 ½ year old diva said, “Does my mother still have that dress?” I replied that it was stored in a box in my attic. Then she said, “Where are the steps to your attic?” I had to explain that we weren’t taking the dress out of the box. Then I did tell her that if someday, she was getting married, we would get the dress out and let her wear it.. D1 suggested that I check out the resale shops dress clothes in size 4 or 6, for her to play dress up in. I guess I’ll have to do that.
Jan 07
Bad Cold
My young granddaughters were sniffling, and from that I caught a whopper of a cold. I slept in my chair at least part of the last two nights. I’m not better, it actually seems worse. No fever, just a bad cold. Yck!
Jan 05
The New Detroit Science Center
Granny had fun yesterday. We went to the New Detroit Science Center. It was our first trip to this great museum, but it won’t be the last. D3 came with us, she is known as Aunt J to the little kids. We were a party of 5, with varying shades of red hair, from Aunt J’s copper color to the little granddaughter’s almost blonde. . Of course, I forgot my camera.
It was a slow day at the Museum, most children in the area have already returned to school. GS3 attends the Kalamazoo Public Schools, and will return to school Monday.
The Science Center provided lots of fun for all of us. We toured some hands on exhibits, including one that simulated the experience of aging. The younger kids didn’t understand the purpose of the activities, but tried most of them out. We watched a show in the DTE Energy Sparks Theatre. Aunt J’s hair stood on end, and she looked like she had a copper halo!
Lunch was in their café. Child friendly food and fast service.
A visit to the SBC Children’s Gallery turned out to be the favorite of the granddaughters. Lots of activities, just their size and interest. They spent a lot of time in the green house. While Aunt J presided at the greenhouse, GS3 and I checked out more age appropriate things for him. This included Eckstein’s Workshop, where the demonstration was about digestion. GS3 wanted to volunteer and had a good time during the showAdmission was free with my Cranbrook Science Center membership card. Parking is $6 for non-members and $4 for members. We are “non-members”, but found a lot nearby for $5, so we saved a dollar. Recommendation: Best with a group of same age children. One adult would be challenged to keep wide age ranges busy. See it now!
Jan 04
Fun Zone
I retrieved my “little grandchildren” yesterday. That’s GS3 and GD1 and GD2. They are 7, 4, and 2, considerably younger than GS1 and GS2, brothers who have lived here with their Mother, D1 for a few years. GS3 has this week off school, a happy thing. He can’t come as often as the girls, since he is older, has school, scouts and other things in his life. I’ve noticed that I’m older than I was, but Papa and I still manage fine.
So, what does one do with such small children? For years, we’ve relied on a couple of gems, the Detroit Zoo and The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. Within the last year we added the Cranbrook Museum of Science. All of these fine institutions have membership levels which allow us to bring our grandchildren with us, and reciprocal arrangements with like institutions around the country.
A favorite is our library. There are some toys, puzzles and puppets in the children’s section, and we come home with a load of books and videos to use at bedtime.
There are also board games, yard cleaning, GG visiting (great-grandparents – like my Mom and step Dad, computer games and the old standby, video and computer games.
Last night both girls got out their aprons and helped me make dinner. All three carried out the recycling and garbage, helped set and clear the table and ate their share of dinner.
GS3 has reached the age where he is real help. When we arrived and brought the kids items into the house, he was right there. And last night I ran to the store and both of the older ones jumped in and helped put the groceries away.
So, D3 and I are taking a field trip today, somewhere. I’ll let you know where and what fun we have when I can write again!
Jan 03
The Hair Problem
I used to have hair that was a kind of light copper color, so curly that my stepsister said people referred to me as, “The girl with the tee-pee hair.” Probably an accurate statement, since it started at my scalp and just kept on going—similar to Alice in Dilbert. This hair had white strands, copper color strands, and various shades in between.
It’s now pretty grey, but that’s not the problem, the cut is.
Mom always wanted me to have a layered cut to show off the curl. In the surfer 60’s that wasn’t too cool and I tried various remedies to straighten. None worked well.
A continuing problem through my life has been difficulty finding anyone who actually knows how to cut curly hair, and didn’t expect to make their entire weeks wages cutting mine.
When my senior picture was taken, I had it so short that curl wasn’t much of a worry. All the time my children were small I had either short hair or some kind of pony tail to keep it out of the way or off my mind.
While I was working and traveling all over the country I regularly got perms that resulted in pretty good control, just wash, condition and comb.
Sometime in the ‘90’s I just quit getting hair cuts and grew a braid that was almost long enough to sit on. But I braided it over my left shoulder, and eventually, my neck started to ache from the weight. About 5 years ago I had it cut and gave it to Locks of Love.
I found a lady who worked in a salon one block from my home who could cut my hair. I could walk there, the cuts she gave looked good for months, and it cost only $20 and a $5 tip. I probably should have tipped her $100. When I called for an appointment 18 months ago, the salon reported she was no longer there and made me an appointment with another lady. Disaster. Hair stuck out everywhere. No amount of blow drying, moose, spray or anything else helped.
D1, who knows the receptionist at said salon, called there and fished around to try to find out where my lady had gone. The salon just said she packed her things and left one Saturday, without giving a reason. She had worked there over 15 years!
I tried 2 other places with similar disastrous results. The last cut was in May, the worst of all. It is now January, and my hair is looks pretty good, but is getting too long.
Now what? I’m just not the type to pay the big bucks for something like a haircut, it doesn’t seem right. But, the cut-rate, production line salons won’t work for me. Many of their employees never saw a curly hair in their lives, much less cut a whole head of them.
Believe me, a cut suitable for straight hair is NOT ok for my hair. My indecision, and unwillingness to go for another bad cut will have me back in a braid pretty soon. So, if you live in the northern suburbs of Detroit, and know how to cut curly hair, and don’t charge an arm and a leg for said cut, contact me ASAP!
Jan 02
For Pete’s Sake!
I stayed up real late last night, rooting for the underdog football team. You know, the one that plays on the blue field. After Oaklahoma intercepted a pass and scored what I though was the winning touchdown with a minute remaining, I gave up and went to bed. The rest is history, the team with the blue field won in overtime.
Jan 02
Today
Once, somewhere, on a piece of paper or a greeting card I saw a list of reasons why it is important to do certain things, “Just for today.” As I remember, this list was designed to bring out one’s compassionate, loving and caring side—urging us to do something for ourselves and/or others to make the world a better place.
A new year is certainly a time of reflection, and I’ve been reflecting more than in past years. Age, perhaps? Most of us are overwhelmed by our jobs, spouses, families, neighbors and friends to have any time left to consider our impact on the world, the environment, or even those with whom we come in contact each day.
The answer is simple, each thing you do impacts our neighborhood, our friends and our world. Take a couple of small steps, here are a couple of suggestions. If you have other suggestions, don’t keep it to yourself!
Use the curbside recycling bin. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth. Say please and thank you, every day, to everyone. Take someone’s cart to the cart corral. Smile. Turn out the lights when you leave a room. Tell someone how much they mean to you.
Did I say smile? It’s hard to say or do things you will regret when you smile.
Dec 30
Hi, from beautiful Jekyll Island, Georgia
Papa and I had an uneventful trip to the area, but it is a long haul, longer each year. The beach is beautiful, and we saw a dolphin near shore feeding on Wednesday.
The bluegrass show put on by Adams and Anderson has been enjoyable for Papa and I. Yesterday, we had an experience that was difficult for most in the audience and for the four men on stage. Allen Mills, the remaining founding member of Lost and Found, played what we think may have been his first show since the untimely death of his longtime partner, Dempsey Young. Scottie Sparks and Ronald Smith, current members of the band stood next to Allen on stage as they have for some time. Scott Napier had accepted the difficult job of filling in on the mandolin.
Scott is known to longtime Larry Sparks fans, and is a current member of Marty Raybon’s band, Full Circle. Scott did a masterful job on the mandolin, playing two well know Lost and Found tunes in perfect sync with Ronald Smith. He also performed many of Dempsey’s licks on other songs. I spoke with him briefly after the show and complimented him on a great job in tough circumstances. He said, “I’d sure rather be sitting out there watching him than doing this.” Enough said.
Also appearing were The Larry Gillis band, Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers, Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys, The Larry Stephenson Band, and the Country Gentlemen.
Kristin Scott Benson was GREAT with Stephenson. Larry is sounding great these days. Luke McKnight was able to take time off from his day job and was with his grandfather Jesse and cousin Garrett McReynolds. Gillis is an imposing force on the banjo.
Short post–it’s Saturday already!
Friday’s shows were great. The Grascals haven’t lost a thing, enjoyed Sista’s husband singing in the trio. Gary Waldrep continues to be a festival favorite! More later!
