Charleston Visit April 2010

I am trying something new for this post. I uploaded my photos to Picasa and I am going to try to post them using links. Let's see how it goes.

From Charleston Visit

Michael and William accompanied Drew and I to Illinois Friday for our monthly visit to June and George.

From Charleston Visit

We had our tea/coffee party of McDonald's coffees, both hot and cold, hot cocoa, and teas, also both hot and cold. June always gets the table ready for us to talk and drink around. We looked at recent photos on Drew's new iPad. They are easier to see than on his little phone screen.

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

Next we went to visit George at the nursing home. He had had a shower that morning and was in a good mood and awake. He kept talking about First Class postage and needing to send a letter.

From Charleston Visit

On our way back to June's Drew stopped at Taco Bell to buy lunch for us. We ate at home around the table.

From Charleston Visit

Michael had made arrangements ahead of time to buy Grandma's 2006 PT Cruiser during this visit. He was very excited to have a newer vehicle and June (who can't drive any longer due to her eyesight) is happy to have kept the car in the family and not have to go to the expense of advertising it for sale this summer or keeping up on the insurance.

From Charleston Visit

Their transaction completed, we moved on to the next job at hand. June has been storing memorabilia in a U-Store-It facility and the monthly fee was dear. In addition to our visiting, we came to move the boxes and furniture to her garage, which Drew and his sister and I had organized the month before just for that reason. We borrowed cousin Travis' pickup truck and worked for two and a half hours. Everything fit in the garage. Drew turned in the lock for the storage unit and that chapter is finished.

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

At the nursing home there was a large glass cage with birds. The turtle doves were taking turns sitting on their nest. The finches were beautiful.

From Charleston Visit

From Charleston Visit

The view along Lincoln was beautiful with the trees in bloom. And the clouds were fluffy and white.

Portabella Pizzettas

Recently I downloaded an iPhone application called Big Oven (http://www.bigoven.com/). It is really just another recipe site but I like my app in my iPhone where I can surf while watching TV or while I'm away from home. The other night I found an interesting "pizza" recipe using portabello mushrooms for the "crust." Drew and I were especially interested in trying it because we are attempting to lower our carbohydrate intake; bread/pizza dough are high in carbs. Tonight I prepared the recipe and we found it to be very tasty and filling. I forgot to take a picture before we ate the mushrooms so you will have to just take my word for it or look at the photo at Big Oven. You can make alterations to the toppings if you like to add meat or other veggies.



Ingredients

5 oz. frozen chopped spinach
1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 t. dried basil, crushed

1/4 t. coarsely ground pepper

12 portabello mushrooms, 3 to 4 in diameter

4 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

2 T butter or margarine, melted

1/2 t. salt


Preparation

1. Thaw spinach and press out liquid, finely chop.

2. Combine spinach, cheese basil, and pepper in a mixing bowl.

3. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Clean mushrooms (remember to only wash the tops and not get water into the spore areas), remove stems.

5. Place mushroom caps top side down on a lightly greased cookie sheet, brush with butter or margarine.

6. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of spinach mixture into each cap.

7. Place four tomato slices on each mushroom and salt.

8. Bake for 12 minutes or till heated through. OR Place on the unheated rack of a broiler pan. Broil 4 inches from the heat for 3 to 4 minutes.

9. Cut into quarters and serve. Happy healthful eating!

Drew and Sue Visited New
Grandbaby Boy in Minnesota



Grandpa with Gregory John Mann and Matthew.




Matthew showing his K'Nex creation to his mommy.



Matthew building his Lego police car present from Joey, Carrie and the twins.
He built the entire car by looking at the printed instructions without help from anyone.



Great step grandma Ann with Gregory for his first out-to-eat dining experience;
great grandpa Robert treated the family to dinner at the "Good Earth" restaurant.
The food was wonderfully organic and delicious.



Bobbe had been using an empty carseat box as an end table next to her rocking chair
so Drew and Sue bought her a real cabinet and Drew put it together with the help of Matthew.



The finished product shown by the assemblers.



Drew and Gregory resting. Gregory was a very quiet baby until he had his diaper changed.
He has a very pleasing disposition and he eats lots of milk.
By the end of the week he was over 9.5 pounds.



Drew helped Justin install white wire shelves in all the closets.
Matthew received the Colts jersey from his grandpa
Drew just in time for the playoffs. Go Colts!!



Drew also helped Justin install bookshelves in the office room.



Gregory wearing the 3 mo. outfit from Joey and Carrie.



Proud daddy Justin with one-week-old Gregory.

Matthew holding Gregory

Gregory John with Great Grandparents

New Boy Grandbaby

Bobbe and Justin are the proud parents of a new baby boy, Gregory John. Big brother Matthew is excited (as are mommy and daddy). Gregory was born at 2:20 a.m. this morning (January 10, 2010) in Minnesota. He weighed 9 lbs and was 20.5 inches long. His mommy is doing well, too. They plan to return home Tuesday.

Grandma and Grandpa have planned a trip to Minnesota later in the week to hold their eighth grandchild and celebrate Christmas and Matthew's sixth birthday.

Gregory John showing off his hair.

Trying to peek out.

Where's that food? I know it's somewhere around here.

Peacefully sleeping.

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.