"All The Single Ladies" or Girls' Weekend 2011

As we leave Sarah, she is decked out in her Halloween Costume and ready to party. This has absolutely nothing to do with "Girls' Weekend", but, I forgot to include it in the last entry so here she is....PEACE Y'ALL!

Cynthia, Joyce, Delsa, Holly and I leave for our annual Quilting Group Getaway early Thursday morn.

We stop in West Branch for lunch and- lo and behold -run into Elvis at "Sandy's Place". The food was average, however, Elvis was a hit!

He had a special song for Cynthia and she appreciated it.

Near East Jordan, there is a beautiful barn that we pass. I love the stone and we had to stop and take pictures.

"Craigers" needs to paint this. He could do it justice.

Cynthia has a new camera and she was really busy doin' her thing all weekend. She looks pretty professional, doesn't she?

We pull into East Jordan and our neighbor are there welcoming us with open arms.

Frank was especially happy to see us. I was thinking that he is becoming well grounded, don't you?

I couldn't resist getting my picture taken with my buddies.

We are starting to look alike. That is what happens when you hang together.

We arrive at the cottage and Holly is almost ready to let her hair down.

We hadn't been there more than an hour when decided that we needed to start shopping in Charlevoix. It was a bit chilly, but we stayed close and warm.

After helping Delsa, Cynthia, and Joyce shop for new clothes (and, boy, did they look marvelous in them), we broke out doing the "Cherry Lover's Stomp", a favorite in Charlevoix.

We came home, had dinner, and proceeded into "Game Night". Delsa made sure that we followed the rules and had fun, too.

Really?! I can't begin to narrow it down to one line for this picture. You all can suggest one. Sometimes Holly can make things so much more interesting. I can't even remember what we were talking about, but I can assure you that it was extraordinarily funny.

The next day we went to the spa at Boyne Mountain. Delsa and I had massages, Joyce had a pedi, and Holly and Cynthia quilted and talked.

Before we left, we had to pose with the neighborhood bear. He was such a friendly guy.

Then it was up to Indian River for Drost's famously yummy chocolate...oh, yeah, and a quilt store, too.

REALLY good stuff.

It was kinda tough picking out which chocolates to buy, however, we persevered and came out with our arms loaded. The chocolate man loved us.

We came home that night and watched "Wait Until Dark". We all had seen it except Delsa, and the highlight of the night was watching her spring out of her seat when the bad guy jumps up to grab the poor blind woman.

On Saturday, we stopped at a cute place on Route 66 (can't remember the name of it) that had beautiful gardens, antiques, and fun stuff. I was trying to talk Delsa into buying a mirror and assuring her that we could squeeze it all in our already crowded car, when out of no where, this RAT, jumped out in front of my face. I screamed and scared the man who was helping us. Now I am not sure who did this... it was either Holly or Cynthia, but, I want to let them know that I will get them back!!!

In Charlevoix, Holly made her version of bifocals. (Not that any of us need bifocals)

This picture does not do justice at how ridiculous she really looked.

Sadly, it is time to leave. Joyce and Delsa managed to squish everything in the already crowded car.

Don't ya just love Joyce's new hat? Lookin' cute and perky...That's our Joycie.

It was a good....great time. We spent a lot of time thinking of nicknames for everyone. Some were already established..

Cynthia-"Cookie"(A name she has had since childhood),

Joyce-"Joycie" (it just really fits her if you know her)...it also goes with that new hat that she bought.

Me- "Martha" (just because everyone knows that I am not fond of that name and that I only allow my besties to call me that.

Delsa- DQ and Tish. Can't remember how the Tish got started. It has something to do with toilet paper, I think.

Holly- She was really hard to find the perfect name for...we tried several and she turned them all down. Here were her suggestions...Cleopatra (because she looks like her but the name is too long so we shortened it to Cleo and then tried Patra. Dolly was another suggestion. Close, but, not there. And Toosh. That was to go with Delsa and her Tish. Clearly, Holly, was not fond of that one. So, for now, she is Holly. I am going to continue working on this one. Any suggestions?

This is all for now...Just to make sure that you remember...Sarah leaves you again with this last word....

PEACE.

Wittenberg Homecoming

For almost 40 years, we have not been back to our alma mater, Wittenberg University, in Springfield, Ohio. (Except for a quick drop-off of Molly for an overnight visit her senior year in high school...she chose Alma over Witt)

It was Homecoming and the school was honoring Dick Farney and Davey Maurer, Terry's football coaches. Terry really respected these good men and wanted to recognize their character and talent as coaches. Coach Maurer had recently passed away, however, Coach Farney was there and he was able to talk with him.

We drove into the campus and our first glimpse of memories was the old Phi Mu Delta house

on Fountain Avenue and Cecil Street. From the outside it hadn't changed much, but much has gone on since he left...The fraternity had been removed from the campus because of some rowdy behavior that is still not quite clear. Stories of "Hell Week" were remembered and better not to be printed in black and white.

It is now a Bed and Breakfast..."The Inn at Wittenberg"

I am willing to bet it is a bit cleaner, more quiet, and less rowdy than it was when the fraternity was occupying the place.

We drove past my sorority house, Kappa Delta. Looks pretty peaceful and is still on campus.

This is the place where "Joe" would pick me up for the many fun times that we enjoyed. Stormin' Norman was one of my roomies. We slept in a cold dorm with the windows opened all winter. Some days I would wake up with snow on my bed. Made it kinda hard to get up out of that warm bed in the morning.

We had green velvet like wallpaper that was ugly and I am hoping that it is still not covering the sacred walls of Kappa Delta.

We stopped at the Student Union and I got my picture taken with "Joe Cool".

He is my BFF.

This is the middle of campus. I would walk to classes hoping for a glimpse of Terry. He later confided that he did the same thing. We met in Blair Hall in "Education Psychology" with Dr. Sallee. She had mentioned that there were quite a few redheads in the class and I turned around and smiled at him. (He was in the back sitting with all of the football players.) He called me the next night to ask me to a fraternity party.

Terry stayed in Myers Hall his freshman year on the first floor. He has stories of the guys flooding the halls and body surfing. Made for really clean floors!

The Field House is where we registered for classes, standing in long lines, and hoping that we would get the classes that we needed. No computer generated registration for us! The football team locker room was here, along with Phys. Ed. classes. Terry confirmed our first date here while I was with the Syncopates and he was getting ready to go out on the field for practice.

While in the Field House, I took a picture of this ancient composite of dad's senior year. No. 55, first row, left corner.

Pencil neck no. 60, Freshman year...always so serious. You are not allowed to smile in football pictures. Gotta look tough!

A little thicker in his Sophomore year. (no. 55), but still really serious. He didn't know me yet, and I am assuming that is why he is not smiling.

Looking like a serious football player his senior year. However, he now knows me and he is thinking about me...I can tell that he is "in love"!

Terry, 62 yrs., talking to Coach Farney.

One of the things that I heard over and over this night was how tough and dedicated my husband was on the field. He was really respected as a player and a man of character. I am so proud of him.

Coach Farney's picture in to the right of Terry.

We drove past the house on High Street that we first lived after we were married in for the summer of '73. He had been a Community School Director, however, at our wedding we found out that he had landed a teaching job in Saline Schools. I was teaching 3rd grade at the time and was happy to be able to stay in Saline.

Actually...we lived in the carriage house behind this big house. Tiny, but great for us. We lived in three rooms upstairs just for 3 months.

I was in the Syncopates, which was a girls group that marched on the field at half time. We had pom poms, white cowboy boots, and short red and white skirts. Now that I think of it...it was a bit corny (we didn't have instruments, just pom poms, but I guess they needed a tall girl to be in the center and I fit the bill.) Anyways, we had great seats to watch the games. Would you believe that No. 55 actually looked at me in the stands and waved during a football game!! That is dedication. Anyways, I am standing in Cliff Park where the Syncopates used to practice 5 days a week.

This is Buck Creek. The story goes that if a couple got "pinned" (a level of commitment in dating where the guy gives the girl his fraternity pin...kind of pre-engagement) the fraternity brothers would throw the brother into this creek. Actually, Terry was never thrown in the river when we got pinned because the guys were not sure that they could accomplish this with him.

Maribeth, my buddy that goes way back to Crystal Lake, met us at the stadium for the Homecoming Game. I will write another blog entry on the fun times we had, growing up at Crystal Lake. Way too much! We haven't aged a bit. :)

This is the FIRST time he ever sat in the stands and watched a game.

Afterwards, we met Stormin' Norm, my bestie from first grade in Findlay and enjoyed dinner. We missed Brewster, her hubby, but sadly, he was home sick.

On Sunday, we drove down to Kentucky and took Carol and Mary Grace out to lunch at Panera.

A good time was had by all!

October Applefest with the Stewarts 2011

October 14th we deliver Lily and Layla's new bunk beds! They are so excited and can't wait to jump up on the top bed.

Grampy did a beautiful job. The master builder does it again!

We leave with Lily and head up north to the cottage. Molly and J-Man will come up the next morning with the Layla and Joey.

We drive up in the "man-truck", diesel Ford 250.

SUPER Duty. Lily rides in the back seat with her

Cinderella car seat. We play games and chat the whole way up. Lily shines in "Guess that animal sound". There are not many places to eat on the road and we are all hungry. So we pull up to Big Boy and Lily has steak, mashed potatoes, and gravy... and for dessert...brownie with hot chocolate sauce. Lily is a chocolate LOVER.

The next day, we wake up and decide to make oatmeal choc. chip, butterscotch cookies.

Grampy thinks that they are pretty darn good.

Lily observes Grampy in his solitaire mode.

Molly arrives with J and the rest of the fam and shows off her new braces. She is smiling but in pain. She is rid of her quacky doctor and is going to a real orthodontist this time.

Lily and Layla see if they can both squeeze into one chair.

I finally get a decent picture of Layla. She stopped moving for just a second!

Joey snuggles up to his daddy and gives me a winning look.

Then Grammy gets a turn.

Layla tells everyone what to do.

While the men are putting the boats away, the women help the girls with their pumpkins. Oh...girls...where are you?

Hmmm, the girls are letting grammy and mom carve their pumpkins.

We turn off the lights and tell spooky stories.

Here you see the pumpkins in the light. Not bad!

Layla thinks that they look good, too.

Then she turns her attention to Beyonce and all the single ladies.

The next morning we have visitors on the beach. Swan Book Club meets here every Sunday.

Joey thinks everything is pretty darn funny.

The girls go to the indoor water park with their dad and have a blast. Sadly, they have to head home that afternoon. It was short, but, fun. Hopefully next visit; we will have Paddy, Crystal, Jackson, Logan, and Sarah!