The un"Perfect London Walk"

During my visits to England to visit Kate and her family, Kate and I try to venture out on little day trips around London and its surrounding areas. For my birthday last year my friend Nancy gave me a little book called "The Perfect London Walk" by Roger Ebert of Siskel & Ebert at the Movies fame.

In May Kate and I decided to try the "walk" so we made our way to London on the Tube, found Belsize Park Station and began our adventure. Near the station we ate lunch at Tootsies where I had a wonderful grilled chicken sandwich and spinach salad. About 12:30 p.m., Kate and I began following the directions in the book and decided to take pictures of the landmarks along the way. Some of those are posted here for your enjoyment.

Some places have changed since 1986 and others are the same. We made it to the large park at Hampstead Heath but somehow inside the park we missed our turn and ended up going in a circle and having to stray from "the plan" just to get back on track quickly. We had fun until we got ourselves lost because by that time our feet were beginning to hurt. Needless to say, not all of the landmarks are still available. Once we got out of the park we had some VERY steep hills to climb to get to our second Tube station for our ride home.

Beware if you venture on this adventure. Also, it is a very, very long walk, AND they charge £3 admission to the cemetery now. "Walk" at your own risk.

—I found this post in my drafts folder.
Guess it is something to read, even if it's not very long or wordy. Sue

Fast Growing Apple Blossom Amaryllis

January 28


January 29


January 31

and Mar 17.

I was waiting and waiting for the blossoms but they never showed up.
So I cut off the leaves, put the plant in my dark bedroom under a table and waited six weeks.
Then I started watering it again.
Right now (Nov. 16) it looks just like the above photo again but there are still no blossoms. Huh!! What to do?

Sue Visits Dallas in May

On my way to visit Kate and her kids in England in May, I planned my flight route to include a stop in Dallas, Texas where my mom, sister and two brothers live. American Airlines, my preferred airline, now flies a new non-stop flight from Dallas to Heathrow Airport. By deliberately planning a 9-hour layover in Dallas, I scheduled my flight from Indianapolis to Dallas (instead of Chicago) and I spent the day with my mom, her husband, my three siblings, and their kids. I arrived around 10 a.m. CDT at DFW Airport and found my mom, Jackie, and my sister, Ginger, waiting for me. They had arranged for me to accompany them to a luncheon with one of my mother's charitable organizations. The birthday party theme went along with the installation of new officers; each one received a gift. My mom was installed as the treasurer.

Here is my mom holding a birthday balloon.

After the luncheon, we drove to my youngest brother Petr's house to visit his wife, Bonnie. My mom and sister are pictured.
We also drove by the new Cowboys football stadium and the Rangers baseball stadium.

My brother is an architect and his wife is an artist.
Here is some of their artwork.

Before my trip to Dallas, I had been to Shipshewana in norther Indiana on a bus trip. I saw this sign at one of the booths and thought my mother (for Mother's Day) needed it for her "bee room." As a kid I grew up in a beekeeping home. My parents had a beehive in our backyard in town and also seven or eight hives at a garden plot they owned ten miles out of town. My mother has collected many bee items over the years but she needed this 12"x12" aluminum sign, I thought. Didn't she? Well, I never reckoned on the fact that I would have to put it in my carry-on bag because I never see my luggage when I get to Dallas (one of the perks of a long layover—not having to lug around a big suitcase). So, I had a little trouble getting through security in Indianapolis but mostly they laughed at me. My mom loved the sign and hung it in her kitchen right away. Will it ever get to the bee room?

In the late afternoon, my family all gathered at my mom's house; we had a light dinner of sandwiches and homemade peach cobbler and we visited.

My older brother, Bock, took me to his family's house for a tour before dropping me at the airport for my continued trip to England. By 9:15 p.m. I was on a plane flying to London.
It is so much better to spend a long layover away from the airport with family.

Watch for a later post for the details about Bock's wife's gnome (on the front porch in this picture), which made a trip with me across the pond. Kind of like the Travelocity gnome.

Catching up!

Sorry, I've been gone from blogging for too long. Kate and her kids (Logan 2.5 and Lily 1.5) were here all summer and I had better things to do than blog—play with grandkids, babysit grandkids and read to grandkids. They left to go back to England on Wednesday and arrived home safely on Thursday afternoon. So, I will start back with March and try to catch up on some of the pictures and stories from the spring and summer.

Hannah played softball on her high school varsity team during April and May. In this photo which was published in the Richmond newspaper, Hannah is trying to steal from second base. She mostly played in the outfield for defense and was a base runner for the pitcher or catcher.




This is Lucy sitting with Uncle William.
In March we finally headed over to West Lafayette, where Andy and Amber live, to visit their new apartment. They had moved across town last October and we had never seen their new place. They live within walking distance of their work and the kids' daycare.



Jonah showed us the bean and onion plants he had grown out on his patio.
He was surprised his seeds had germinated.



Jonah actually had some beans later in the summer. He also liked to catch fireflies in the evening. He would catch them at our house and put them in a jar to take home for the car ride.

Lucy and Grandma Sue sitting together.



Lucy modeling her Easter dress.

Cute Grandkids




Logan and his Uncle Kevin.

Wanna ride the train?
Logan is the engineer, Lily is the caboose lady.
Audrey and Addison are the passengers.

Sue's friend Nancy's grandkids (Milo, Levi and Ian Jones)
hosted Logan and Lily last week up in Warsaw.

The cousins and their parents on Father's Day: Joey and Audrey,
Carrie and Addison, Amber and Jonah, and Andy and Lucy.
Logan and Lily were napping.

Lily, Logan, Lucy and Jonah. The twins had to go visit
their Papaw for Father's Day so they missed this photo.

Logan and Lily Visit
Great Grandma Cooper
in Illinois



Logan, Lily and Kate posing with Great Grandma Cooper
at her house in Charleston on Thursday, June 11.
They traveled all the way from England to visit for
the summer so they made a special trip to Illinois.

Great Grandma Cooper enjoys taking the kids to
"What's Cooking" for lunch. In the
back are Uncle William and Grandpa Drew.

The great grandkids visited Great Grandpa Cooper
in the nursing home and posed for a picture.
He was waiting for his lunch to be served.

William and Grandma Cooper. She is introducing the
family to the nursing home staff and residents.

Drew and his mom saying goodbyes and getting DQ money,
a long-standing tradition with June.

Pretty Nature Shots

Pretty Peacock

Lily and Logan at Dinosaur Park

Bobbe Gets Published

Our oldest daughter, Bobbe, recently had her first article published. During 2000 and 2001, Bobbe's freshman year in college, she wrote the article to be published; finally in April of 2009 it has been printed in Mathematics Magazine. The article isn't available online but the table of contents entry is listed below.

Mathematics Magazine

Contents for April 2009

ARTICLES

Classifying ά -Almost Squares
by Bobbe Cooper
140-146
In the first semester of calculus, we solve lots of fence problems, maximizing area and minimizing the amount of fence. For variety, we solve problems with different costs of fence sides, lakes in the field, or corrals with extra fence dividers in the middle. The answers are usually not integers, unless the professor has carefully chosen the parameters! What happens if we insist that the answer should be an integer? Can we find a pattern for the solutions of these varied fence problems?

Views from in and around Charleston

Great Grandma's house



The tree out front of Great Grandma's house.



The front (north side) of the Jefferson Street house where Joey was born.
Notice there is no front door anymore—does that make it the back or side?



The same house—maybe the front?
A really dressed up, 2-year-old Andy stuck his arms in waste oil at this
house before attending a formal function. Aghhhh.



Barney the beagle dog lived with us at this house.
Also Timothy Macintosh the poodle who bit Andy's hands in play.



Johnson's Automotive, Inc. - just around the corner.

A view from out front of Rural King looking to the west—the high school on the right.
One can see all the way to campus - Old Main.



Westfield.

Audrey & Addison visit Great Grandma Cooper

Over Shenandoah's Spring Break Drew and I took Hannah and Valerie and Audrey and Addison to Charleston to see Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Cooper. We borrowed Joey's van and headed out one Wednesday morning. Great Grandma loved seeing the girls and especially got a kick out of their tricks of "Touchdown" and "Be Strong." The girls were all good travelers.




Addison in the car on the way to Illinois.

Valerie reading to Audrey on the way to see Great Grandma Cooper.

Valerie, Addison, Great Grandma Cooper, Audrey, and Hannah pose for a picture at home.



Hannah, Addison, Valerie, Audrey, and Drew visiting
Great Grandpa Cooper at the nursing home with Great Grandma Cooper.



Addison getting a kiss goodbye from Great Grandma Cooper.



Grandpa Drew serving ice cream to the girls.



Audrey tentatively eating her ice cream cone.

Addison digging in to her cone.