"Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.
—John Ruskin (1819-1900)

"Austenland"

I have recently finished listening to the audiobook "Austenland" by Shannon Hale. I was introduced to the author by one of my friends who had recommended a different book written by her ("The Goose Girl", a children's book) and I really liked it. The next time I browsed Audible.com I looked up Ms. Hale to see what other books were available by her. Since I have been reading Jane Austen's books and watching movies about her books, "Austenland" caught my eye.

The setting is present day; the main character, Jane Hayes, is a 32-year-old graphic artist who lives in NYC. She has had a run of bad luck with boyfriends since high school and has turned to a secret fantasy land, trying to find Mr. Darcy of "Pride & Prejudice" fame in each boyfriend.

Jane's rich great aunt visits and finds out about Jane's obsession with Mr. Darcy and Miss Austen's characters. After the great aunt dies Jane finds out that she has been named in the will. Jane doesn't get any money but she "inherits" a three-week all-expenses paid trip to "Pembrooke" in England. Pembrooke is a full immersion getaway where there are actors portraying characters from Austen's stories. Upon arriving at the manor, Jane has to relinquish her cell phone, her contemporary clothes, and her manner of speaking in modern day English. The client (Jane) must dress, act and live as a woman would in 1816.

The novel tells about Jane's adventures at Pembrooke over her three week visit. Anyone who likes the Jane Austen books would enjoy this cute story.

Valerie the Potter

Valerie likes to visit Conner Prairie, a living history museum, where
she can pretend to be a potter. We try to visit once a month. Next
month the kids hope to do chores on the farm.

A new guest bed

Since half of my children are married now, I figured it was time to replace one set of bunk beds with a queen bed from L.L. Bean. (There is still a chance that Drew and I will move our old bed to the guest room and we will use the new bed, but not until after Kate and Kenny visit in July.) The L.L. Bean platform bed is called a Rangeley bed, does not require a boxspring, and has a solid ash constructed frame with hardwood slats. I had ordered it a couple of weeks before Bobbe and Justin were to visit in May, thinking I would have it in plenty of time for them to use it; it arrived at noon the day they left. Sorry Bobbe and Justin to make you sleep on the mattress on the floor.

Fisher & Paykel dryer and washer

Top view of dryer.

Side view of lint bin.

Once again I have had to replace my washer and dryer. What a tiresome business that is. I have tried expensive commercial front loaders, thinking that they will last longer and also save water. Well, my first one had to be sent back to the factory with a defect from day one. It was never right. And, blah, blah, blah about the durableness of washers and dryers for a family who does five loads of laundry a day.

So at Lowes, I found a new brand (to me) called Fisher & Paykel. They have very few moving parts (no belts and pulleys which we usually wear out in about a year and then limp along doing small loads for another year with) and claim to have the pros of both front loaders and top loaders. The dryer is a top loader which rotates one way for a while and then stops and rotates the other way. The lint trap empties itself into a bin and only has to be emptied about every 15 loads. I have included a photo of the lint, which drops into the bin looking like deer poopy. Weird, huh?

Catching up since the end of April

On Earth Day William and Valerie were visiting the library; the employees were handing out free trees to the patrons. The kids hurried home to ask if they could have a tree. Where would we plant it, on the roof? Maybe the park superintendent (they are close friends of his) would let them plant one at his park? Yes, he would, so they headed up to the library again and chose a tulip tree which was just a stick with 1/2 cm leaves at the tip. The next morning they planted the tree next to the creek at Dietrich Park. Above you can see them posing while showing the tree to Audrey and Addison. While the weather was hot and dry the kids would go down with a cup and water the tree with creek water. It is growing as you can see in a photo taken at the end of May when the tree was about 6 weeks old.

Last fall I purchased an annual pass to Conner Prairie, a living museum in Fishers, Indiana. The Conner family settled that area near the White River in 1800. The family house is still on the property and has been refurbished. We try to visit once a month but with our busy schedule, that doesn't always happen. We were able to visit recently; we sat and watched the town blacksmith, Mr. Curtis, make nails and froe blades for over an hour. In the past we have hurried over the whole farm trying to see everything each time we visit but this last time we decided to take it slowly and just concentrate on one person's occupation. Mr. Curtis had just returned from lunch when we arrived so he needed to heat up his froe metal. While he waited, he made some nails for the kids and talked about his neighbors and history. He was very interesting.

As we were leaving Conner Prairie we passed The Golden Eagle Inn's kitchen garden. These onions were growing. The heads get so heavy they fall to the ground and plant another onion, thus they are called wandering onions.

My daughter-in-love Amber (Andy's wife) has been having health issues for a couple of years; heart troubles and large headaches. Between having a weird, uneasily diagnosable problem and moving three states away and having a baby, Amber's doctors didn't find out her problem until late April. She was diagnosed with Chiari Malfunction; in short her skull is too small for her brain, thus there was pressure on her brain. On Wednesday, April 30 she had surgery to remove part of her skull to make room for her brain. I came over the evening before to spend the night so that Andy could transport Amber to the hospital early in the morning without waking the kids. Amber came through the surgery great and she seems to be doing much better as time passes. She is getting out with the kids and meeting people in her apartment complex. She says Jonah has a new friend who is a girl. This picture is Jonah eating breakfast with Lucy looking on in boredom from her high chair. Little lightweight Lucy is beginning to pull herself up to furniture and is crawling.

Father Drew bringing bride Bobbe down the aisle during the
rehearsal, with Carrie and Joey looking on.

The big event of the year was Bobbe's wedding to Justin Matthew Mann. All the Middletown Coopers (except the twins) filled two cars on Friday, May 2 to travel to Athens, Georgia for the wedding of the year. Joey and Carrie took William and Valerie in their Ford Edge and Drew and I had Michael and Hannah in our Honda Accord. The 650-mile trip took eleven hours but we arrived at the church in plenty of time before the rehearsal. We met Justin's family in person for the first time. They had purchased a trike for Matthew and he was riding it around the fellowship hall when we arrived. The wedding was simple and beautiful. Bobbe and Justin planned a wonderful event and party. Now Matthew says they are all married.

Bobbe graduated the next weekend from the University of Georgia with a degree in Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics. She had worked five years for that degree. We are very proud of her accomplishments. She has taken a three-year teaching job in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the University of Minnesota. She and Justin moved there during the last weeks of May, staying with us for a week while the movers trucked their goods to St. Paul. Andy hasn't sold his house in St. Paul so the Manns will rent from him for a while, either until they decide to move or Andy's house sells. This helps both families. Justin has landed a job in Minnesota with an environmental group to satisfy his intern requirement to finish his Masters in Management of Non-profits at UGA this summer. He is going door-to-door and working 1-10 p.m. During the mornings he is searching for a higher paying job, maybe with the Democratic party.

Some of the May events we have been involved in were Valerie's graduation from fifth grade celebration, Hannah playing JV softball for Shenandoah, Drew's 47th birthday, Drew and Valerie starting girls' softball, and Sue's 47th birthday.

At Michael's graduation open house on June 1 we celebrated his high school graduation. He organized a party at the Naz church's fireplace room with cake and punch and a video presentation of photos from his past. He showed newspapers with photos he had taken. Friends signed a "guestbook" poster board card.

I have been trying for the last couple of years to go back to college. I was able to transfer 57 credits from Eastern Illinois University and Illinois Wesleyan University (where I went before being married) to Indiana University East in Richmond, Indiana (one hour away from Middletown). I thought I would take a couple classes there last year but when the bill came for $1,000 I dropped them. That is expensive! And then to top that off, IU East stopped offering associate degrees so I would have to take lots of classes far away to finish any degree.

This spring my friend Karyn, who works for Ivy Tech, showed me that they have an associate degree in Library Tech. I would only need about 12 hours to finish that degree if I could transfer my credits from IU East. No, I can't coz Ivy just passed a ruling that no credits over 10 years old can be transferred, especially transferred classes. Sooo, I took the placement tests (got 99% on math, reading, typing and writing, duh) and signed up for a summer term, one hour required class called Information Studies and Research. It is offered online so I don't have to travel anywhere and can do the work when I should be in bed. I am learning how to research topics on the web. How hard can that be? So far I am doing great.

As a side note, I did ask for Eastern and Wesleyan to send my transcripts to Ivy and maybe I can talk to the guy who is in charge of making exceptions. I met him the other day at my Danielson Learning Center advisory board meeting in New Castle so maybe my clout in extracurricular positions will help me. I'll let you know.

More Catching Up

Grandpa taking Jonah and Matthew for a walk to the park.


William and Valerie bought a garden wagon recently.
Matthew took a ride to the park to play ball.

Addison, Lucy and Audrey on Mother's Day.
The twins were recently weighed; Audrey is 16.5 lbs. and
Addison is 15.5 lbs. Addison is taller by 3/4".

A beautiful basket of flowers Drew and I received
from my dad and Ann for our birthdays.

Once again we have had major flooding (4" in one night) in Middletown during the week of the fair. Fireworks were rescheduled twice due to storms but they were finally shown Saturday night after the queen crowning.

Midway on Wednesday morning


This is the creek, not just water standing.


Anyone want to swing?


Waterworks and tennis courts (and blue heron).


I am standing in the water park looking out at playground.


I was standing near 2nd street looking at D2 parking lot which was totally flooded.

First Pedicure

I received a gift certificate last May (for my birthday) for a pedicure. I redeemed it just before my trip to England in March. It was my first ever pedicure. I was surprised by how long the process took but I did feel better when it was over. Since I don't usually wear shoes that show my feet, I will try to wear sandals more. I guess I need some sun, too.

On another note, Michael and Hannah were baptized on Sunday, March 30. Their youth pastor, Brad, gave a little testimony about how active they are in the youth group and how he has seen them grow in their faith. He asked them if they wanted to give a testimony, but Hannah declined and Michael just thanked his friends and family for their support. Good on ya' kids.

At the last minute, Valerie decided to attend the Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Eve. She hunted for eggs and then waited with her ticket to see which boy and which girl would win the coveted "new bikes." Incredibly her ticket number was called. She became the second girl in our family to win a new bike from the Lions. Hannah won a bike when she was about eleven, too. Both girls were in need of a new bike at the time, too.

Cookies and Cake

Here is a plate with Triple Chocolate Cookies we recently made. We watch The America's Test Kitchen on PBS on Saturdays and one week they made these cookies so we had to try them. The secret is lots of chocolate and very little flour (1/2 cup). They are heavenly.

Valerie was sick on her birthday so instead of having her blow out the candles, Drew blew them out (didn't want her germs on the cake we were going to eat). Drew thought I was just taking a picture of Valerie and the cake but I fooled him. She turned 11 on March 2.

Just a few more pictures
of the Thomas clan

Kenny recently bought the Rock Band video game, which comes with a guitar, drums and microphone. Logan is seen here using Kenny's old guitar to show me he knows how to play, too.

Kenny and Kate after watching Survivor on Friday night.

Kate and Lily on the cable car in Germany. Lily loves her pacifier. She is wearing her new coat and mittens and the Easter bonnet I brought for her. You can see the town of Garmisch in the background.

See you all soon.

Greetings from England!

My trip to England to visit Kate and her family has been going great. Below is Logan (17 mo.) pushing his Red Devil vacuum. It is one of his favorite toys.

Logan also owns a small doll stroller so Lily (4.5 mo.) got in for a ride. She is a little big for the seat but Logan had fun pushing her around a little. She has also outgrown her infant carseat so she will be graduating to the bigger one this week.

Before I arrived, Kate had planned a trip to Germany for the two of us (and Lily, of course). We left Sunday morning early (4 a.m.) to drive to Dover to catch the 8 a.m. ferry (NorfolkLine). With the time difference in Europe we arrived in Dunkerque, France at about 10:30 a.m. We drove through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany making the trip a total of 17 hours. Whew, that is a lot of driving for one person (Kate did all the driving). We arrived at the resort lodge about 10:30 p.m. local time. It is a military-run facility so Kate had me pre-registered to get on the "base." The lodge was the most wonderful place I have ever stayed.

The next morning we slept in a little and then headed out to see the Newschwanstein Castle (about 37 miles away but over an hour's drive through mountains). We passed into Austria and then passed back into Germany to get to the museum. We could see the castle in the distance and it was fortunate that I took this picture because by the time we reached the castle for the tour my batteries had died. I didn't have any extras and didn't want to spend the Euros at a tourist trap vendor. Since the climb by foot is very strenuous, Kate and I decided to hire the horse and carriage ride up and down. Below is our German driver. Great hat, huh?

The next morning we decided to ride a cable car up one of the Hausberg Mountain and to look at some lakes at altitudes of 2,500-3,500 feet above sea level. The cable car was scary! It was a lot like riding a roller coaster and I really don't like that. I lived through it; after all, Lily wasn't scared. Behind Lily and I is the lift for the skiers to ascend the mountain further so they could come down on skis. My friends, Donnie & Karyn and Eric, Ness, Ava and Eli skied on that slope in December. I couldn't do that!!! The temperature at that location was zero degrees celcius. The lake I pictured is Eibsee. It was still mostly frozen. We froze just looking at it.

This is just a picture from the car; don't remember where. As you can see it isn't spring in Germany yet. Not a tree was budding. There were little purple flowers (like we get spring violets early) out at the castle but that was it. We also didn't see any animals in Germany. Where were they?

Before we left the lodge on Wednesday morning Kate wanted a picture of Lily in one of the rocking chairs in front of the lobby fireplace. Logan had had his picture taken there last summer when Kate and Kenny visited the lodge for dinner during their Europe trip. Isn't she cute? She had been asleep three minutes before the picture but we woke her for the picture and she was in a good mood.

I will return to the States on Sunday. Have a good weekend. I love you all.

Happy March!

Well, the sickness continues around here. Joey was sick for nine days with the flu and now William and Valerie have it. The worst part is the sore throat. All of us have been achy and had a high fever. Valerie visited the doctor yesterday to make sure she didn't have strep. She doesn't. My dad emailed and said he has been sick with the flu this past week. I think even Kate had it a few weeks ago. Hers developed in pneumonia.

Drew has been busy covering sectional boys' basketball for Daleville and Highland High School (Class 4A) for The Chesterfield Weekly. Shenandoah (Class 2A) was eliminated in the first round as was Highland. Daleville will play in the finals tonight for Class A. They just barely beat Liberty Christian of Anderson last night.

I am busy planning in my head all that I need to pack to go to England in a few days; I leave Thursday morning. My first flight will be from Indy to Chicago at 12:50 p.m. I will then travel to New York's JFK at 2:10 p.m. I will leave JFK for Stansted Airport at 7:45 p.m. I usually travel nonstop from Chicago to London's Heathrow Airport but American Airlines is now offering a direct flight to Stansted, which is only about 45 minutes from Kate (Heathrow is about 2.5 hours away and I usually ride the tube for two hours and then ride home with Kate for another hour). I won't have to ride the tube or navigate through London. It will save Kate about 15 minutes on her drive to get me at the tube station in Epping. Unfortunately the flight to Stansted only originates on the east coast so it means two continental flights. On the way home I will travel from JFK to St. Louis and then on to Indy. I will return on Sunday, March 16.

Kate and I plan to take a four day trip to Germany by van. We will stay at a military-run ski resort. We may take a day trip to Venice (only four hours by car) if we are up to it. Kate hopes to be able to show me the castle used as the model for the icon castle at Disney World.

Kate reported this week Lily rolled over for the first time. She is about to outgrow her infant carseat, too. Logan is starting to use words—juice for one—but still can't decide if he wants milk or juice. He wants both.

Matthew emailed me this week by typing in his first name. He wrote to Joey and put JoeyCooper. He really enjoys his daycare school. It is helping him to come out of his shell a little and he is beginning to interact with a few friends.

The music director at church asked me to play my viola for the Easter services. I reluctantly agreed after I checked to see if my viola would function. It has been 18 years since I played it. When I opened the case, the shoulder pad had mushified. It was foam but it felt like the Stretch Armstrong man the kids had years ago. It was stuck to the neck of my viola, too. I was able to clean it off with rubbing alcohol without ruining the finish. So, I had to rig up a shoulder pad with a rag and rubber band. It worked ok. The director prepared a schedule to play on some of the Sundays before Easter as well. I played last week. Afterwards I was very sore. Now I remember why I don't play. I think maybe I will try to look for a new shoulder rest and maybe some new strings if I am going to play much more. I have a hard time making the viola sound good. I think the strings are dead. Some of my friends were very nice and complimented my playing. I was ok but I wasn't great. I do enjoy playing, though.

I guess I can't think of any pictures to post so you will just have to look on flickr this week. I can't put photos from my iPhone email into iPhoto (the email program downsizes them for screen use) so I just email them straight to flickr. Oh well, at least you can see them that way.

Have a good couple weeks and I will write when I get home from England. Love to you all.

One More Thing!!

I remembered after I posted this afternoon that Bobbe had some other really good news this week. She was offered (and has accepted) a Post Doctoral job at the University of Minnesota beginning in the fall. The plan right now is that she and Justin will move to St. Paul or Minneapolis sometime at the end of May with Matthew (of course). They plan to travel north during spring break to scout the area. Congratulations, Bobbe. More info to follow as I find out.

Just Some Stuff!

Audrey sitting on the couch one Wednesday while we were babysitting her and Addison.

Addison watching Sue make brownies. She is sitting in the chair that hangs from the table.

Issues 1 & 2 of The Chesterfield Weekly

Joey and Drew have recently started a new newspaper in the neighboring town of Chesterfield. The news articles include items from the town of Daleville as well. Chesterfield is in Madison County (Anderson's county) and Daleville is in Delaware County (Muncie's county). Most of Chesterfield is on the west side of Interstate 69 while Daleville is on the east side. Chesterfield no longer has any schools as the kids are bused to Anderson. Daleville on the other hand has local schools with sports programs. Their residents have been extremely excited to see coverage of their sports. Drew recently covered the Daleville girls' basketball sectional. They are in a different class from Shenandoah (Middletown's school) so there is no competition between the school districts.

The town council of Chesterfield contacted Drew to find out if he would print a newspaper as a print job to get the local news to the residents. An informatinal meeting was held with Drew and Joey, the town council and some business people from Chesterfield. Interest seemed to be great and the advertising seemed to be there so The Chesterfield Weekly newspaper was born. The papers are distributed freely at about 25 local newsstand sites in and around Chesterfield and Daleville. Local businesses and the Daleville schools also have the papers for distribution. The paper is printed at the same time as The Middletown News as if it were an inserted section to that paper but then isn't inserted. Michael picks up both the papers at the same time on Wednesday morning. During the afternoon, he and Drew distribute the papers to the newsstand sites.

As long as we are making money on the project it will go forward. At this time there is no plan to mail the papers to subscribers.


On another note, I was sick for ten days during the last two weeks. I came down with the flu as well as having some other physical problems. I was really stressed out about the physical problems and changed my diet. That contributed to my being very weak. I had convinced myself that I had systemic candida. To get rid of the condition one needs to stay off all sugar, yeast and wheat. Well, just about everything I eat or own in the house has one of those items. I became weaker. Then I decided to just stay off sugar. That didn't help either. I guess I will have to go back to eating whatever and not worrying about my physical problems.

I have also been stressed by a decision Drew and I made to allow Valerie to attend public school this fall and have William begin in 2009 (as a freshman). She will be in sixth grade (middle school starts) and we decided it would be a good time for her to start at Shenandoah instead of keeping her home by herself. We plan to keep William home one more year by himself so he can continue to increase his reading and math skills. What he really needs is to be an apprentice at Mounds State Park where he can be outside all of the time. Time will tell what will happen with him. The decision is hard on me as it will change my whole life. Schooling at home has been a lifestyle for our family much more than just an 8-3 part of our schedule. I will miss it terribly and it is coming to an end sooner than I thought. I guess I will get over the grieving as I have had to do with realizing I'm not having any more children.

Keep well. I love you all and hope to be back next week.

Oh, I just remembered, Bobbe sent me pictures of her new engagement ring last night.
Here it is with a sapphire and two diamonds!

Cold Groundhog Day!!

Recently our friends, Karyn and Donnie, came over to play the Wii video games with Drew and I. In these two photos you can see Donnie and Drew "boxing." We also played tennis, bowling, dodge ball and golf.

I like the bowling better than the golf. My score was 222 the other day. The golf can be really frustrating because one missed stroke can cause the score to skyrocket quickly.

Kate recently sent some photos of Lily and Logan. Lily is over 15 pounds. Look how reddish her hair looks. This past week Kate visited the emergency room a couple of times and was finally diagnosed with pneumonia. After having a few bags of IV pumped in and taking in some antibiotics, she is feeling better. Fortunately Kenny had Monday through Wednesday off work and then he also stayed home Thursday to help take care of the kids while Kate slept.

The twins turned six months old this week. Audrey is over 12 pounds and Addison is over 11 pounds. Grandpa Drew and Valerie have done some babysitting this week. Drew says that he makes one cry so that Valerie can get her to stop. And the cycle continues.

Hannah's junior varsity basketball season has come to an end. She had lots of playing time and her skills improved greatly. During the first few games she had a three point shot in each. Later on she became an invaluable defensive player. In that capacity she didn't score many points. We had fun traveling around and watching her play. The varsity will go into the sectional this week.

Michael and Valerie had sickness this week; some kind of flu and cough.

William has been in heaven shoveling snow and spreading salt to melt the ice.

For the last few Sunday evenings, PBS has been showing Jane Austen movies on Masterpiece Theatre. I have taped a couple because I attend a Bible study at church during the same time. "Mansfield Park" was last week's movie. I especially enjoyed it because the setting was in Bath, England, where I visited last May with Kate and some friends. I saw places I had walked and visited. I am looking forward to seeing the other movies to see where they are set.

Christmasy Pictures

I am not feeling great today so I just uploaded some photos from Christmas time and put captions. Also, be sure to watch your The Middletown News January 24 issue for a full page pictorial article from Joey about the twins (page A-7).

A large church was added to my "Christmas Village" collection. Thanks Kim!

Grandma Sue with Addison and Audrey.

Bobbe holding Matthew, Justin and Valerie on Christmas morning. Bobbe and Justin are planning a May 3rd wedding in Athens, GA. She defended her doctoral paper this last Wednesday so just has to find a job before she graduates in May. In May, Justin will also finish his masters degree in managing non profits.

Cousins Audrey, Lucy and Addison on Christmas morning.

Andy reading to Matthew and Jonah before bed one night.

Valerie holding Lucy—Lucy biting Hannah's finger.

Justin holding Audrey while she waits for her bottle to warm. She has her bib on and is ready.

Matthew getting ready to "shoot for pop" at a basketball game at Shenandoah.