The Morning After

This morning I hit a new chocolate high (or low, depending on how you see things).

Let me back up. Last night Aaron was part of an art exhibit connected to one of his classes out at IUS. In the planning process among the art students, the idea of having chocolate at the event emerged because the event was to be held at River City Winery and what goes better with wine than chocolate. Said son had gifted me a chocolate fountain a few years back (not sure if this gift was because I am among the bigger chocoholics in the world or because he is too and his high school graduation was coming up and, hmmm, we used the fountain at his open house. Sounds suspicious. Anyway, I digress.) So...he volunteered the use of the fountain which meant I would be overseeing the chocolate the whole night because, well, no one messes with my fountain because I would be pretty unhappy should something happen to it. If you've ever manned a chocolate fountain you know that at the end of the night, you have a ton of leftover chocolate because as you know your guests can't eat all the chocolate. There has to be chocolate so the fountain can run.
So last night I brought the leftover chocolate home and spread it out on a cookie sheet to harden so I can use it some other way. There is no wasted chocolate on my watch! This morning, I made my tea and added my favorite creamer (more on that in a future blog. all i have to say right now is "thanks, dad!"). Well, that chocolate was just sitting there staring at me. Before I could stop myself, I snapped off a piece and plopped it in my tea. I experienced a whole new tea heaven. It just might become a habit.

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Wichita, Kansas: July 10-13

Brian was stationed at McConnell Air Force Base from Nov 85 to May 89. It was a very special time in our lives because it was the first real home Brian and I shared after we were married. The first year of our marriage was apartment after apartment while Brian was in training. Bethany was only a month old when we arrived in Kansas, Jordan was born there, and I was expecting Aaron when we left. We met some very special friends in Kansas that have remained friends over the years.

The first thing we did was visit base housing to see what our first house looked like. We were not surprised by the addition of an entrance gate into the housing complex that wasn’t there before, but we were surprised to find our house and the adjoining house completely gone. Everything else was pretty much the same: the base ball diamond across the street, the surrounding houses, etc. But 2800 Arnold Blvd exists no longer. We took a picture anyway because the tree Brian planted as a sapling just before Christmas in 1987, was still there.We stayed with our dear friends, Cathy and Paul Lavender. These two special people led our 2:7 Discipleship group for two years. They had a huge influence on us as we grew in our Christian walk as adults. We had a great time together. Saturday morning we did a little site seeing in down town Wichita. We stopped at the famous HatMan Jack’s. I hear that this is where the rich and famous buy their hats. They were even scheduled to do the hats for Michael Jackson's up- coming tour until his untimely demise. We purchased our Tilley hats there. I think they look just great, but our kids threatened to not claim us as relatives if we wear them near them.


We then visited The Keeper of the Plains. The Keeper of the Plains is a 44-foot tall steel sculpture standing at the point where the Big and Little Arkansas rivers join together in downtown Wichita. This land between the two rivers is sacred ground to the Native American people. This impressive sculpture just gets more impressive with age and patina. It really takes my breath away every time I see it.

Paul, Cathy, me, and Brian

Rich Mullins mentions the sculpture it in his song Calling Out Your Name.

Where the sacred rivers meet
Beneath the shadow of the Keeper of the plains
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

I call it my Kansas song because every time I hear it, it reminds me of our time in Kansas.

That evening the Lavender’s took us to an impressive production of Taming of the Shrew. And we reminisced as they reminded us of when they came to me in The Princess and the Pea way back when at the Derby Community Theater.

We enjoyed going to church with old friends…new building, but old friends. We hadn’t seen some of them for at least a decade but the great thing about these friends is that when we walked into church Saturday night (a little bit late) they recognized us immediately, stopped the music they were playing and gave hugs all around. It meant so much to me. The following day the Lavenders had them all over so we would have time to visit and catch up on each others lives. It was great. We talked like it was only a week ago that we left. These are truly special people. It made me think of how heaven will be when we join loved ones who have gone before. What a day of rejoicing that will be!

OH NO!!!

Oh no!! I have let too much time pass again! I just don’t know how you people do it. Staying on top of things like this. So here goes…a “catch up” John Grogan style (you have to have seen Marley & Me to appreciate that reference)…

Feb. 5-8 …I go to Berlin with Nicki & Joey and family. We ride bikes and trains and walk a lot to see the sites. Here’s Clara and myself (and the others in the background) at the Berlin Wall. Awesome trip.


Feb. 9-13… I watch Nicki’s kids while she and Joey go to Venice for work. Yeah, right.

Feb 14-15 …Nicki and I go on a tour to Prague. We had a great time. Prague is a beautiful city and very easily walked but… I have never been so cold in my entire life!!!!! I don’t know if I was fighting off an illness or if the extreme cold got the best of me but I came home from Prague with some beautiful garnet earrings and very nasty sinus infection.




Feb. 24… I celebrate my birthday with Nicki, Joey and all, with schnitzel. Yum, yum. Thanks Joey.

Feb 26…My days in Germany come to a close all too quickly. I spent the last week fighting that nasty infection and helping Bethany through a major crisis. But I will always remember my time in Germany as wonderful. It was a blessing to get to spend so much time with my nieces and nephews. I hope they remember it as fondly as I do.

Feb. 28…After a few days of recuperation and a Rx, I hold auditions for Steel Magnolias and start rehearsals the following week.

March 8-14…All five of us (me, Brian, Bethany, Jordan, and Aaron) spend Spring Break at a lovely condo on Grand Cayman. Brian and the boys did some scuba diving, girl’s went shopping, Bethany and Aaron went para-sailing, and we all did some snorkeling.

We had a wonderfully relaxing time, cherishing every moment since who knows when we will all be on vacation together again. I attempted to take a family pic but didn't realize the camera was on video setting. But here it is anyway.



March-Apr.-May…The weeks pass quickly while Steel Magnolias takes up most of my time with rehearsals, set design and construction, props and a million other details.

April 12…Southeast Christian Church Indiana Campus officially opens their doors on Easter Sunday. Yeah!!!

May 6… I deliver a van full of hand-me-down furniture to Jordan for his new apartment in Muncie and pick up a van load of dorm paraphernalia helping Aaron move home from Ball State.

May 14-17…Steel Magnolias is a huge success breaking playhouse records for attendance and logging the first ever standing ovations.

June…was spent catching up on gardening and other house projects that have fallen by the way side during Steel.

June 15-18…I return to Prague with Brian (his favorite layover of all time). We had a wonderful time. There were a few other “tag-along’s” (family members of crew). Several us of ran into each other at dinner at a roof top restaurant at Old Town Square. We talked and laughed like loud Americans and watched the sunset on Prague castle which was breathtakingly beautiful. This picture just does not do it justice, but unless you make the trip with me, it’s the best I can do.

June 21-July 5…Nicki and her kids come to visit (Joey comes for a few days too). We enjoyed many wonderful things with them… shopping, sailing, swimming in my kind neighbor’s pool,

and contra dancing… Mom and Clara came almost every day to work puzzles and all the siblings, nieces, nephews, and cousins came and went to spend time together. July 3… The drama queens and drama mama’s …Nicki, Bethany, Mary, and I went to Kentucky Center to see Mame. We all enjoyed the evening and enjoyed critiquing the production as well. We would all make good theatre critics. July 4th …The whole mob (the count comes in at 31, if you count Aaron’s friend, Michael, who practically lives at our house) comes for fireworks.

July 5…We sit and listen to the quiet and remember that the Hickox crew left this morning. We miss them already. We drown out the quiet watching Mission Impossible and Brian discovers a goof… The morning after the disastrous mole hunt in Prague, the sun is seen rising over Prague castle, in actuality the sun sets over the castle. Having actually watched the sun set over Prague castle, it was easy for him to spot.

July 8…This vintage puzzle was a stray left at my house on the dining room table. Someone was kind enough to put together about 95% of the edge pieces and sort all the rest. I slowly finished it in between returning to my many house projects and just enjoying the quiet.


Well, that about does it… Hope you enjoyed my whirlwind of highlights. I am sure I missed something but, oh well…maybe next time.

Guten Apetit!

This morning I woke to the sound of Reuben cock-a-doodle-doing in the next room to wake up Seth. It made me smile. I have so enjoyed being here with my sister’s family. It seems like it has been forever since I have spent time with them and I feel like I’m getting to know them all over again.

Nicki and I took a USO German baking class today. We had a great time. We learned to make Buttermilcheschnitte (Buttermilk cake), Fantaschnitten mit Pfirsichschamand (Fanta cake with Peach Cream), and Glasierte Nuss Schleifen (Glazed Nut Bows). The Fanta Cake tasted a lot like my sister, Joni’s, Easter Cake. The buttermilk cake was delicious too but the crowning glory, the ultimate, the creation I would never share was… the Nut Bows!!

Just take a look at these pics.Are you drooling yet? Now, we’ll see if I can actually recreate them. It was pretty complicated and time consuming. But we had fun anyway as you can see.

We enjoyed it so much we signed up for another class on my birthday, the day before I leave Germany, and I signed up for one next week while Nicki is away in Venice. Guten Apetit!

Splitting Hairs

The thing about a lengthy stay is that eventually you need a haircut. I was so busy at Christmas time I didn’t get a haircut before I left. I thought I would muddle through and just get one when I got back but it started driving me crazy and I still have about three weeks to go. I knew I’d never make it. So I had Nicki make an appointment with the lady who does her hair. It was a little unnerving since I have had the same lady cut my hair since I moved to So. Indiana in 1992. Yesterday, while the rest went to Reuben’s basketball game, Mary and I made an afternoon of it and she got her hair done too before going off to her Honors Drama Ensemble camp today. We took the dogs with us since this same lady loves dogs and will be dog sitting for Belle and Abby next week when we all go to Berlin. Then in the evening we all went out to dinner for some schnitzel. Here’s a few pics of our new do-s.

Wicked

I am not sure what his true motives were (maybe guilt- for having me watch his kids for a week by myself, or maybe he was just trying to get me out of the house for a bit) but Joey thought it would be a grand idea for Nicki and I to take a quick trip to London to see Wicked. Not one to ever turn down an opportunity to travel, I jumped at the idea. So, there we were, Nicki and I, playing "planes, trains, and automobiles" (not quite in that order). We took the car (30 min. drive to Zwiebruken) and then flew to Stansted airport, and then from there we took the train into London. A quick stop to check into our hotel and grab lunch and off we went again to catch a view of some masterpieces at the National Gallery













before our dinner reservations at 6. Let me tell you, two hours is just not enough in the National Gallery. But even a few moments with a van Eyck, Botticelli, Vermeer, Monet, Serat, Cezanne, or a van Gogh is enough to make my heart go pitter, patter. I could spend a week in that museum. Perhaps someday I shall.

Precisly at 6 we had dinner at Chez Gerards, a lovely French restaurant close to Victoria Station. The food was fantastic and not just because we were famished! Then we headed to the much anticpated show.














Finally, I was going to get to see what all the fuse is about. Well, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. Suddenly, all the songs from the soundtrack that I have heard them from a miraid of different sources, made sense.

Nicki and I will have memories to last a lifetime of this little trip. Thanks for the idea, Joey.