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Love,
Shelley
My 2012 in Photos
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2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 1,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 3 years to get that many views.
These Wonderful Things…
…are the things we remember all through our lives.
Merry Christmas from the Wesleys!
Pick It Up – I’ll Go Alone
My stepson, Max, is in his second year of college. Recently he was asked by some other students if he knew how to play Euchre. His answer was no. Frankly, I’m surprised he made it all the way to his second year before even being asked that question. Euchre is a Michigan college student’s right of passage. I guess maybe all the video games have taken precedence in college life.
However, when Max was home at Thanksgiving, he asked Mark and me if we knew how to play. Our eyes lit up. Visions of right and left bowers danced in our heads. Not only that, but it was something we could do. And do fairly well. Unlike the dreaded video games and the confounded fumbling of our klutzy fingers, this was a chance to show our prowess at a game. Never mind the majority of the game is chance; there is a tad of finesse in how to lay down those cards.
We pulled in Charlie as a fourth. Charlie negotiated an extra movie for Jess to keep her occupied and the game was on. Mark and Charlie vs. Max and me. Yes, if there is one thing I know, it is to never to partner with your significant other. Relationships go sour over Euchre. Trumping your partner’s Ace can mean a night spent with the goats. We split the spouses and the brothers for a safer game.
We walked Charlie through the first few hands then set down for almost the real deal. We broke Euchre etiquette and allowed table talk for our first game. This helped Charlie learn things like leading with off-suit cards, letting your partner know if you have the left bower, short suiting your hand, etc. It was a close game with Mark and Charlie pulling ahead at the end and beating Max and me by two points.
I’ve always looked forward to Max coming home. I miss him when he’s gone. But now, I almost can’t wait. A Euchre tournament on Christmas vacation is like the angel on the tree. A beer for Mark and hot chocolate for the rest of us. The slap of the cards in rhythm to Christmas carols on the iPod dock. The smell of victory mingled with the pine scent of the tree. Yes, it will be an old-fashioned (maybe even almost video game free) Christmas.
Procrastinated Projects
I was up very early this morning. My intent was to write a post. But, I either don’t have pictures to go with the post or my mind is just not functioning to write the post that I pretty much had written in my head before I got out of bed. So I decided maybe I’ll work on some scrapbook projects. Then, of course, as I was trying to decide what to work on I came across a dozen or so unfinished projects. That, of course, led me back to feeling overwhelmed about writing, blogging, scrapping, and, oh no, the Holidays are approaching much too fast. And do I vote yes or no on this proposal or that proposal. Let me look at Pinterest and Facebook for awhile. I should do a pie crust right now.
So in honor of my muddled mind and myriad of unfinished projects, here are some digital art projects that have never seen fruition. (Elements in the digital art were made by digital artist Nancie Rowe Janitz. I just did the composition.)
This one was a first attempt at digital art and will never see a scrapbook page or a wall unless I fix it which means it will never see a scrapbook page or a wall:
These next I like and are ready to hang somewhere…but where? Bathroom? There is a lot to read there. And will I really ever get them printed and framed?
This one always makes me want to go to Edee’s or Delana’s for coffee.
I love these quotes from Carl Sagan.
These next are pretty much ready for printing and I think I could find a place fairly easily to hang them. So that means they’ll go up in the next year. Maybe.
If I don’t get this one hung soon I’ll have to change the photos.
This one is ready. But what size do I make it? Maybe not so ready.
So even now, as I’m previewing these for print, I’m telling myself, “Do you think you’ve overdone the scalloped border just a bit???” I should go back and change that.
I know I’m not the only one. Make me feel better. Tell me what projects you have that are waiting in the wings for just the right time, touch, word, or picture.
In the meantime, I’m going to go make that pie crust…
Playmates
“Hi, my name’s Marigold and I’m a goat. You have a problem with that?”
“Hey, as long as you’re not one of those poodles, I’m good. But I should tell you that I have some rather disgusting habits. It would mostly involve your hind end. Uh, just how fast is your kick reflex and how sharp are your hooves?”
“What the heck is this contraption?”
“I have an idea…listen.”
“Please, please, please can we play my game first?”
“Oh, all right. We’ll play your game first.”
“Ummm…I’m not so sure this is a teeter totter, Dannon.”
“Okay. We tried it your way. Now it’s my turn!”
“Follow me!”
“Hey! Do you mind? Quit shoving!”
“Now that hurt!”
“So much for Follow the Leader. How about a round of Queen of the Hill?”
Speed Blogging
What happened to September? I know it was here. I have pictures with dates that prove it!
It must have been warm because Jess, Mark and Charlie took a final swim.
Well, maybe Charlie didn’t find the water very warm.
We had a family celebration and surprise party. DGG Karen turned seventy.
No Greene surprise party is complete without a German chocolate cake. I should have posted the recipe because this is one of the few that I have made that wasn’t completely lopsided.
Niece DGG Emily had the party at her new house in Kalamazoo. She, husband Jim, and baby Raleigh moved from L.A. Grandma DGG Nancy couldn’t be happier because she gets to babysit a lot.
All the family is coming home to roost. DGG Kathy moved from Chicago to Kalamazoo. And the VanLoos that were east went west to San Francisco to be with DGG Peggy.
Speaking of roosting (a poor segue when you are lacking pictures of family members), we have added to our flock. Meet Ping, Pong and Paddle:
So dubbed after a book about a wayward duck that I remembered reading as a child, The Story about Ping, by Marjorie Fleck. Mark added the names Pong and Paddle. Paddle is on the far right in the above picture. He is the drake. We hope.
Saxony ducks are on the critical list with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. They are larger ducks and good layers. And they were a surprise. I was cleaning the goat stall when Mark introduced them to me. Not a very opportune time to introduce more animals.
Our birds are maturing and should be laying soon. This is a pearl leghorn.
And again, with a face only a mother Guinea could love, the keets are getting their helmet heads:
We did lose one of our Columbian Wyandottes to a predator. We think it was a weasel. Mark and Charlie worked very hard to seal up any possible entrances into the pen and coop. So far, knock wood, we haven’t lost any more birds.
Dannon and Marigold continue to get spoiled and beg at the fence anytime we step outside. They love the fresh alfalfa that Mark found on the edge of our property.
Our frozen fruit came in to our local country market. Mark and I spent part of a morning bagging 140 pounds of fruit.
Forty pounds of apples, thirty pounds each of blueberry, strawberry and cherry, and ten pounds of rhubarb. There is no more room in our freezer until I start baking. Mark calculated this should make about forty pies and it’s less expensive this way.
We had another very important celebration. Mark officially became Jessie’s daddy. We went to court and finally completed all the legalities. (Don’t you love Charlie’s Kermit imitation?)
Even the judge noted it was rather disrespectful to have to complete the process as a “step-parent” adoption since Mark has been “Daddy” from the day Jessie came home from Guatemala. Paperwork doesn’t always tell the story.
Jessie received her first “grown-up” pair of earrings. Ruby hearts from Mark. And again, my stellar photography missed the moment.
And on into October, Jess competed in her first ice skating competition. Here she is with her coach…
…and during her warm up. I didn’t want to be behind a camera during the actual routine.
Jess took a fifth place in her skills set and she made the podium with a third place in her music program. She battled through a fall, confusion with the judge and finally, overcoming her fear to go out on the ice all alone for her music program. She was excited and proud but no where near as proud as her mom and dad.
Jessie wrote notes in her notebook about her competition. She has it ready for school tomorrow so she can remember everything for her writing workshop. Writing workshop teaches them to take one event and expand on it.
I can learn so much from her!
In A Nutshell….
Hi Everyone.
I want to take a minute to share a fun blog written by a neighbor of mine.
Please see below for her post that explains her journey. I think it will be an interesting blog to follow. There aren’t many photos yet but she’s just getting the hang of the blogasphere.
Enjoy!
Book Signing – Black, White and Greene
I attended a book signing yesterday for a book that has been a long time coming.
Many sports books and movies have been written about the underdog or racial discord. Hoosiers, Glory Road and The Mighty Titans come to mind. It’s time for River Rouge to have it’s own story for theirs isn’t a tale that lasted just one season. Rouge’s story lasted for almost two decades. Black, White and Greene, written by William F. Charles, is the story of the Mighty Midgets – the 1954 beginning of the River Rouge Panthers basketball dynesty, the friendships that formed during those days, and a little history of this self-contained city.
The book signing was at Ukazoo Books in Southgate and I found many familiar faces.
Two of the original Mighty Midgets team were there to offer support:
The legendary Blanche Martin…
And our beloved Dwayne “DeeDee” Smith with his wife, Shirley.
Team members from later years attended, too. Among several, Esley Williams and Leighton “Nicky” Moulten.
Nicky, in the thrilling 1972 state final in a packed Jenison Field House, scored two amazing free throws to win the game. Rouge was behind by one point with two seconds on the clock, Nicky was fouled and given a one/one free throw. He had to make the first shot to allow for a second. Nicky sunk them, one swish, two swish, for an amazing one point victory over Muskegon Heights.
http://www.mhsaa.com/MHSAA_ARCHIVE/resources/library/rouge.pdf
The book also contains several interesting facts about River Rouge, including Isabel Castro who appeared on “I Love Lucy” in 1952, and the many stores, bars and restaurants which supported the city.
So, how does it happen that a retired Presbyterian pastor from California writes a book about a small blue collar town in 1950’s Michigan? Charles attended a 2001 River Rouge High School reunion with his wife Marge “Moyra” Shaw. She figures prominently in his book and is on the cover. Charles was awe-inspired by the companionship and deep respect and love that the black and white former classmates displayed for each other and Coach Lofton Greene. He determined there was a story that had to be told.
Any of us from Rouge would concur.
Joyous and ever-loyal
Let us boost for our old high.
Let every heart sing
Let every voice ring.
There’s not time to grieve or sigh.
It’s ever onward our course pursuing.
May defeat ne’er our ardor cool
For united we will route for
River Rough High School.
Black, White and Greene can be purchased at Ukazoo Books in Southgate, Michigan. For more information or to share your experience of River Rouge, please contact the author, William F. Charles at williamcharles@earthlink.net.
Garden Gifts
Jessie and I went to see my friend, Diana, a couple weeks ago to see her new litter of puppies. Diana and I have been friends about twenty years. She gave me my first standard poodle, Molly and also my second standard, Sagey.
This new litter of Diana’s are Sagey’s grandchildren so I was anxious to see them but mostly, I just wanted to visit with Diana. It had been awhile since we’d seen each other.
There were lots of colors in this litter. An adorable blue female,
a cafe-o-lait puppy,
and two brown puppies. How do you resist this when you love your daughter and you love puppies???
I’ll tell you how: Five dogs, two goats, and twenty-some chickens ran through my head. In spite of all that, I barely managed a “No.”
Diana’s granddaughter, Savannah was visiting. She and Jessie struck up a quick and busy friendship. Puppies are a great icebreaker.
Sneak attack…
Diana’s sacrificial hostas made the perfect playground for hide-and-seek puppies. So while Jessie and Savannah sought and found and sought again, Diana took me on a tour of the rest of her garden. It’s very lush like an English garden but with a slightly tropical feel. There are several exotic plants like this purple passion flower:
And this really cool voo doo plant. Check out the stalk:
I want this gorgeous succulent. They are the only things I can grow.
Behind the fountain are Angel Trumpets. They will produce enormous trumpet-like blooms when they flower and are very fragrant.
Diana gave me one to take home as well as gifts of her water lilles…
And a water hyacinth…
I think the water plants were my favorite. Mostly because the container possibilities are so darling.
Diana has several garden vignettes…
…and she does a gorgeous job of adding color and texture.
She had several of these magnificent cabbages intermingled throughout the garden:
It was a gorgeous day full of color, textures and patterns. I can’t do it justice with my photos but between the girls, puppies and flora, it was an ideal visit. Gardens provide a world as it could be.
Divine Greene Girl 