Our new fish

These are our newest addition to our family our new fish Herb and I got eachother for our birthdays

Thanksgiving Day

29 of us gathered at Horsescape View for a good family afternoon. Everyone brought delicious foods in abundance. We have so much to be thankful for. Ashleigh arrived safely, Ryan and Mckenna entertained us as they got acquainted. Stephen's girl friend, Karli, was with us because her family is celebrating on Saturday (they'll get two turkey dinners this week). Ayla, Lauren and Katelyn were playing card games by the end of the afternoon. Cynthia brought photos of Uncle Harry making gravy which was a good memory for us older ones. I took my parent's guestbooks from the 1950's and 60's--that is when we not only signed our name but recorded our weight and height!!! I don't know how that got started but I'm glad it is no longer done. I did note that Dick was 6'5" tall when he was 15 years old. Another tradition is a walk after dinner. Some of us walked the woods trail in the nearby park, others walked to the barn to see the horses.

Now Jim and Caitlin are following their traditional Day afterT hanksgiving 5 a.m. shopping spree to get in on super sales! Grandpa is in his backyard tree blind watching for a buck to walk by.

Love to all, Grandma/Mother

Swimming Awards

Over the weekend I flew down to L.A. to be Dana's "plus one" at the annual red carpet event for swimming called The Golden Goggles. She was nominated for 2 awards, Perseverance and Female Swimmer of the Year. It was a lot of fun as I knew most of the people there and we got all dressed up. Dana's agency arranged to have a dress picked out for her and brought in people to do her hair and make-up. She looked gorgeous. I rented a tux jacket and pant combination and brought my own shirt and tie. I looked pretty slick myself.

She was up against some very tough competition and the awards are often considered more political than deserving as the fan votes only account for 15%. However, she won the Perseverance award! It was a lot of fun and according to online sources: "AT&T will provide highlights from the 2009 Golden Goggle Awards on Wednesday, November 25 on www.att.net. Red carpet footage will also be available on www.swimnetwork.com."

Here is a short write up about the event.

Good Luck to our hunters!

Thought you would enjoy a little flash from the past. This was taken at the house in Alpena 1966. (Henry, John Jessup, Jerry, and Philip in case you didn't recognize someone.) There is plenty of gunfire resounding all around me today and poor old Gus is hunkered down in his dog house looking very confused. Caitlin said the guns were blazing around her also. Hopefully they are taking down plenty of "Diamond Bucks" in Cheboygan this morning.

Good Music

I am a "music appreciator" and have enjoyed several days of good music. Unfortunately we missed the state high school band competition in Detroit where the DeWitt High School Band placed 7th in their division. Congratulations, Laura. This week those musicians turn their talents to apple pies. Laura told me she sold 48 pies and the total sold is 2,400+!! They make them in a production line, I put mine in the freezer and bake as needed. Delicious. A great fundraiser.

The memorial service for our previous minister's wife conflicted with the band performance but good music filled our church sanctuary for that service: harp, handbells, choir, soloists and congregational hymn sings.

Sunday afternoon Barbara's idea of a Chopin recital became a reality. She created a "Retrospective of his life and music" presented by the Capital Area Music Teachers Association. Barbara expertly played Nocturne in B Major, Op.32, #1 and Berceuse, Op 60. It was a delightful hour of good music.

Last evening we had a gourmet dinner at Cowles House, the MSU President's entertaining home.
Dr. Simon chose not to live there as previous Presidents have done. Then we were bussed to Wharton Center for a concert by Itzhak Perlman. His legs don't work but his arms and fingers make up for it when he puts a violin to his chin. The reigning virtuoso of the violin and his highly acclaimed piano accompanist--what a delightful evening!

The next time we go to Wharton Center Laura will be on stage in the percussion section of the MSU Youth Symphony in concert with the MSU Wind Symphony.

We had dinner with Michael last week and he said he's on the sub list for the Jazz Band that plays at MSU basketball games. We'll watch for him and his saxophone as we watch games on TV in California this winter.

I'm thankful for ears to hear the beautiful sounds of music, especially those made by family musicians.

Weekend in Phoenix

As I last wrote, Dana and I went to Phoenix over the weekend. My dad is from Arizona and thus I have family in the area. I stayed with the mother of one of my classmates who was more than hospitable giving Dana and I her car for the weekend. Saturday evening we had dinner with my uncle and aunt. It was good to catch up as I hadn't seen my uncle for a number of years and had never met my aunt. Sunday morning we had our swim meet. The meet consisted of about 30 swimmers and most of them were over the age of 30. Dana and I were the center of attention and all the swimmers were excited to have us there.

To make the meet a fun competition, Dana and I had a list of the National Records for all our events and wanted to see who could break the most. Well we combined for 10 total but she got 6 of them, beating me by 2. Her 2 extra came in the way of getting the 50-yard records on the way to getting the 100 Free and 100 Fly records.

There was a nice article written up about it here at Swimming World Magazine's website.

Last weekend and the next

For Halloween this year, instead of getting all costumed up and going trick-or-treating, Dana surprised me with a weekend getaway since she didn't have an practices. She booked us a room at a spa/resort in Calistoga, Ca (in the Napa Valley). It was very nice. When we first arrived we put on a movie and jumped in the jacuzzi that was in the middle of the room. After getting a wicked bee sting, we decided it was time to "hit the town". Saturday night we walked all 1 mile of downtown (half a mile on the right side, half a mile on the left) going into the shops and buying an awesome metal skunk for our apartment. While having the best bowl of butternut squash soup (topped with cinnamon) I've ever had, there was a parade of the k-3 graders in costume.

Sunday was "spa day" which started with a mud bath, herbal facial mask (guess that's my Halloween costume?), and hot body wrap and ended with an hour massage. Very relaxing and fun.

Next weekend her and I are flying to Phoenix, Az for a swim meet Sunday morning. The meet is a master's meet (old man meet). It's a combined meet, meaning that the men and women are in the same heats as long as the times work out. So depending on how many "fast" people are there, Dana and I might actually be racing. The cool part is that I might get an American Record or two. For master's they have American and World records by age group (mine is 18-24 for a few more months), so really they are just National Age Group Records, but I'd be able to claim to be an American Record holder in multiple events. Kind of cool.

Andy