Some Christmas photos

Here are a few of the shots we took on Christmas Eve. Thought everyone might want to see what we all looked like that night! Chas is still not too sure about having a tree in the house, but he put on his happy face and posed for us.

Merry CHRISTmas!

We wish all of you a Merry Christmas! May it be filled with warm memories of times spent with those you love, and may it be all about the hope that we have through the Christ child born in the manger.
We are spending a very sunny Christmas Eve Day preparing for all the celebrations that will begin around 6 this evening! It will be a special time for us to spend with Leon and Gret (and with Katrina, Nathan and the boys in spirit!).
Merry and Blessed Christmas to all of you!

It's Playtime for Chas!

Today was a special day for Chas. In late morning, we jumped into the truck and took him to the new St. Charles Dog Park. His ears popped up and he began to fuss to get out of the truck even as we pulled up and he spotted all the other potential "playmates" at the park. Our boy did a good job for a first-timer. You can see from the photos that at first he hesitated and just sort of watched the other "furry kids". Then he ran in and joined 'em. He was a stitch trying to get everyone to chase him... dogs must know greyhounds are fast cos' when Chas got galloping, they only followed for a little while and then he'd have to "dare" them to catch him all over again. All the other "parents" there were cheering him on, yelling things like "Go buddy, get my dog to run; he needs the workout!" All in all it was pretty funny and we met some other crazy dog lovers. Jolly good fun! If your community doesn't have dog park... encourage them to get one, it's a great place to meet people and we were amazed at how clean and nice ours is. Grass is stuggling to grow in ours at present, but it just opened in November and hopefully come summer, it will get a chance to sprout some green.

Finally, I hadn't yet posted a shot of our beautiful tree. It came out gorgeous again this year. Ed is the "master" tree designer at our house. I am the "appreciater" of trees!

Updated to the "New" Blogger

Just updated to the new beta version of Blogger... which is really easy, you just need to open a "Google Account" - and beyond that Blogger does the rest. It's supposed to be faster and easier... we'll see. It all looks the same so far, so I think it's all going to be okay! Give it a whirl friends! 8 Days til Christmas and counting!!!

14 Days and Counting

Only two weeks to go and the natives are still restless. We will survive!
Stole another REALLY cute set of photos off of Katrina's blog. My grandsons crack me up! In these shots, Gabe is trying to teach Asher how to catch snowflakes on his tongue. They take cute to a whole new level. Do I sound like a doting granny? (nah.....)

17 days and counting!

You've all heard of the 12 Days of Christmas... well, I am here to introduce the 17 Days Before Christmas Break. As many of you know, I teach high school, and there is NOTHING in the world squirrellier than a bunch of 9-12th graders who want their semester to end and their Christmas break to begin! And it gets more intense with each passing day. Top it off with the semester ending, final exams being given, and throw in a little holiday hoopla and, WHEW! You are lucky if you survive! Presently, I have added a rather persistent head cold to this whole mix... so my days may be merry and bright, but they are also crazy, zany, somewhat frustrating, and frantic! Let the countdown begin!

On the first day of countdown my students gave to me.... a headcold of an amazing ferocity.....
stay tuned for days 2-17!

Just another snowy night in St. Charles

This blog comes to you as the snow/sleet is gently tapping on my office window. We just received that most magical of phone calls, "There's no school tomorrow!" Ahhhh, the joys of being a teacher in Missouri where the fear of the weather produces days of freedom! Today, we had rain which by mid-day was freezing... by noon less than half of our student body was at school. Pretty amazing! As a kid who grew up and attended school in Detroit, I find all this hoopla pretty incredible. In 18 years of life, I never saw a single snow day.... perhaps this is another sign of how life is different today than in the "old days!"

So enjoy the photos of my grandsons.... Gabe is in a superhero mode right now. I think he'd live in these Spiderman jammies if he could. Both shots were taken while the boys stayed with us in November.

Asher Goes Barefootin'

Asher's Walking! I copied this video clip from Kate's YouTube site! Wanted everyone to see how totally cute the little guy is!

So much to be thankful for...

We spent the Thanksgiving holidays with the grandsons in Wisconsin. We had a marvelous time! Great food, great weather, great fun. A highlight of the visit was being there to celebrate Asher's 1st birthday. And after we left for home on Sunday, Asher took his first steps...what a great time!

The Vintner and his Products

The labels for our wines came out beautiful... I highly recommend Lightning Labels out of Denver, CO! Here's a shot of all four varietals with their full caps and labels on them. Had to add this photo of Ed the night we finished working on the tasting room. Here's to a great venture!

Rolling Meadows Tasting Room

Thought some of you might like to see what the tasting room looks like at the winery. It's very cozy and it worked great on our opening weekend!

Rub-a-dub dub... Asher's in the Tub!

Asher and Gabe have spent the past 11 days at our place, and it's been a totally special time for us. We have been on several adventures. Asher has been all smiles for the whole time! Gabe has been the best big brother ever! We have been to Chuckie Cheese together, had dinner at Bob Evans, and just had loads of fun.
One night at the vineyard, Asher was getting ready for bed and we realized we only had a shower. No problem, we did have washtub.... (mostly it gets used for chilling beverages) so we filled it with bubbles and the little guy had a blast. Their parents come home tonight... I guess we'll have to give them back.

Why Dogs don't drink

Chas has a little "secret". He can't hold his wine.... but you can see he enjoyed the grand opening of the winery as much (or more) than anyone. Fortunately, he also doesn't drive, so mostly he just makes a good ad for Greyhound Winos Anonymous.

It was a busy weekend.

We held our grand opening for the winery this weekend. Both Asher and Gabriel were with us for the special day. Over 60 people came out to see the vineyard and taste Ed's wines. It was a great time and very special to see so many people at our farm.

Twas the night before halloween...

I don't want to be a bragger... but check out these amazing pumpkins by my kids and grandkids! Every year they make a huge production out of carving the "perfect" pumpkin... and these are about as perfect as it can get! I love em! (the kids AND the pumpkins!)

Let's get the party started!

Only one win separates the Cardinals from the World Series Championship!!!! The game tonight was AMAZING! The timely hitting coupled with some crucial Detroit errors made it exciting to watch right down to the last out! Reliever Pitcher Wainwright has nerves of steel! What a game! What a TEAM! Tomorrow night could be the big one here in St. Louis!

Could this have been a "prediction" of greatness????

Had to reprise this photo from last May....
Here is Gabe holding his first Cardinals ticket and looking pretty excited about seeing major league baseball for the very first time... and this morning... well, our Cardinals have won the National League Pennant and are in Detroit where the World Series will begin tomorrow! It was such an exciting finish in Game 7 vs. the NY Mets last night! The whole town is talking about it. In fact, that's ALL they're talking about this morning. Forget about the upcoming elections, forget about the war in Iraq, the Cards are in the SERIES! This St. Louis area family is rooting for them to go all the way, and so is a little fella in Wisconsin!!!

Go Get Em' Tigers!

For those of you who know me, you know I grew up in the Motor City. However, having lived in the St. Louis area for the past 24 years makes it look a bit suspect if I get all cranked up over the Detroit Tigers going to the World Series this year. But I must admit, I am awfully proud of the hometown team, even if I honestly can't name a single player on the team. I know how much this means to my hometown. In fact, about the only thing that Detroit and St. Louis have in common, besides cars and German immigrants, is their love for their sports teams! Detroit fans, like St. Louis fans, are incredible people...loyal to the max and willing to wait a LONG time between championships. In fact, my sainted grandpa, John Bennett, used to say that the Tigers only won the series "once each generation just to keep the fans hopeful and loyal." And here they are again! Back for the first time since 1984 to go for the championship!!!

Now, the question does remain... who will I root for if St. Louis (presently up 2-1 on the Mets) makes it into the Series??? Well, that will be hard. To be honest, I'll probably root for the Cards... but there will be a teensy part of my heart that will be hoping that Jim Leyland and his boys can bring one home for this generation of fans in Detroit. And I'll have to dig out my blue hat with the "classic D" on it if they succeed...... cos' you know, you never REALLY leave home!

Ahh... Fall's Awesome!

Ahh, Fall! The leaves are crunchy and the air is cool... my favorite time of year, hands down! Spent a long weekend doing a lot of end of quarter grading, but even that is not without its perks. Lit the chimera fireplace on the deck, poured myself a glass of our Norton, and took in a bit of fresh air while I read my students' work.

Also, had to add this photo of the "last rose of summer" - Kate's rose bush, planted several years ago, decided to kick out 2 more gorgeous blooms just before we get our first frost. They were worth saving, at least so we can remember them when the snow blankets the garden. Frost is due to arrive this Friday.

Tonight, the Cardinals clinched the division title by beating the San Diego Padres at Busch Stadium. Next they take on the New York Mets. If they get past them, it's on to the Series where they could meet the Detroit Tigers who toppled the New York Yankees and are going for their league championship as well! It would make for an exciting fall, wouldn't it?!

At long last, I'm back!

Holy boats! It's been forever... or at least a month since my last post! Sorry about that, dear readers! Between school and grapes and assorted nonsense... time has just slipped away. September has flown away, and here I am one day from the end of the month.
The biggest news is that at LONG last we have completed ALL the steps to be able to sell our wine to our good friends and family who have been waiting while we've worked to get Rolling Meadows Vinyards up and going. It's been a long seven years... and the paperwork has taken forever. However, today we received our final label approval and now we have the 'green light" to sell some of the 1000+ bottles that are waiting in boxes in our cellars! That is a huge thing! We are hoping to have an Open House/Grand Opening in late October and early November. The above photo is just one of our 4 labels... I am really excited to be DONE with the paper filing and the waiting!

Can you tell it's fall?

If you haven't noticed my temporary disappearance from my blog, I can only say three words: START OF SCHOOL! That's right, the annual feeling of starting all over again and drowning in new names and faces and PAPERS! This fall I see 124 kids per day and all of them write things they need me to read. So... suffice it to say, I am doing more reading than ever before. Our school is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and it's remarkable when you think that we opened in 1982 with 17 kids and this fall started the year with 360! The neat part is that we've been here from day one watching it happen. God has been really good to LHS!

Door County Days - Part 3

Had to post just a couple more of my favorite shots of us enjoying Door County, WI. The one of Gabe chillin' by the pool with his Papa is just so cute. He's wearing Ed's sunglasses and is all decked out in his new Spiderman swim trunks with his Superman T-Shirt on standby on the chair. Oh for the days when superheroes were that real!

The second photo is our last sunset of the trip taken on the Friday night (8/4) before we left... I don't think there's anywhere that has sunsets as gorgeous as they do on Green Bay. Ahhhh Summer!

That being said, it's just a few days till school begins anew. Here's to memories of a great summer of 2006!

Door County Days - Part 2

Sailing + Sunsets = SMILES!



One of the best things we did while in Door County is charter a sunset cruise on a classic double-masted sailboat. The day had been cloudy but just as we set out, the weather cleared on the horizon and we were treated to a gorgeous sunset. It was probably the most relaxing thing we did all week. There is nothing like the quiet of a sail to make you just want to lean back and grin!

Door County Days - Part 1

Boys are all the same when it comes to playing in the sand!


Ed and all the kids together in the Door.

Our family considers Door County, Wisconsin to be one of the truly most beautiful and relaxing places on the planet. After foregoing our trips there for the past 3 summers, we decided this summer we needed to go back. We picked the very last week of the summer before we all have to return to our school duties. Gretchen and Leon spent the whole week up there with us, and Katrina, Nate, and the boys were able to join us for the first weekend. It was so much fun to be all together in a place very dear to our hearts. The weather was gorgeous... a bit toasty the first couple days but not enough to stop the fun. The beaches were crystal clear and warm. We made some great memories together.

The Best Four Days of Summer

From Sunday through Thursday of this week, our grandson Gabriel came to visit. We drove up and met Kate, Nate, and Asher and picked up Gabriel. Then it was a week filled with fun and a LOT of splashing! Gabe is so much more confident in the water this year... of course, it helps that he can touch the bottom now in the shallow end of the pool. He fished, played at the park, shopped, read books, watched videos, and swam with anyone who was available every single day! Gabe got a new Spiderman swimsuit from Aunt Gret and Uncle Leon. It makes him swim like a superhero!

The final run of Les Miserables

Ed and I took a break from the heat and power outages to head to the Fabulous Fox on Thursday. The touring company of Les Miserables is ending its 17 yr. tour here this week. The show was amazing. The music was superb, and the staging was pretty eye-popping. I have never seen anything quite this good in my whole life. Fortunately, the show is not actually vanishing. It is going to be re-orchestrated and launched again on Broadway in Nov. 2006 in an all new production. If you EVER have a chance to see it... GO and SEE IT! You will love it.

Stormy St. Louis

The past few days in St. Louis have been legendary weather-wise. We've had record heat. Then we had some whoppingly huge storms roll through on Wednesday night and again on Friday. We got through round 1 relatively unscathed... just a few fallen limbs etc. Then Friday morning brought round 2... yikes! Winds gusted from 50-80 mph and knocked out our power around 10am. We remained without power until 11-ish on Sat. Definitely meant the fridge got cleaned out, and we spent a night with our candles lit. Fortunately it also cooled down by quite a bit.. which is a blessing as some 400,000 area residents are looking at another 3-5 days without power. We are keeping our fingers crossed in St. Charles that the grid holds. Every now and then you can hear the boom of a transformer blowing... and you kind of hold your breath!

It's HOT outside!

Whew, it is STEAMING in the middle of the Midwest! Good time to stay inside and work on your computer. Here is a shot of me in a much cooler place, sipping an Orangina at a little cafe in Nice, France. If you've never had Orangina... it's something Americans are missing out on. It's sort of fizzy, sort of not... orange juice, a bit of grapefruit (I think...) citrus-sort of beverage that is Delicious! It really cools you down!

Haven't posted in about 10 days. Thought I'd list some things I HAVE done this summer... including a few off the previous post.
Obviously, I've traveled this summer. I have also:
1. gone to band concerts down by the river.
2. completed 2 major design projects for outside organizations.
3. seen Al Gore's documentary..."An Inconvenient Truth" - outstanding! Go see it!
4. read 12 novels.
5. went to Sonic in our new convertible. I had a strawberry smoothie... plan to go back for coney dogs on a cooler evening.
6. finished a pair of socks for each of my grandsons.
7. eaten a lot of ice cream.
8. put all of my Italy photos into albums... and burned a highlight DVD.

That's about it for right now..... stay cool everyone! Sip a lemonade or a tall iced tea.

France Celebrates!

What a difference 2 weeks can make... or even 2 hrs. Thanks to Kate's friend Amy (who currently lives in Paris) I can show you what a difference. As you know.. the French are going to play Italy in the World Cup Finals on Sunday. This is HUGE! Ed is rooting for France and I am rooting for Italy (mainly cos' I bought a hat that says "Italia" on it and a soccer jersey for Gabe with Totti's name on the back). Ed is rooting for France because he liked the French better.. nuff said. So here is the Arch de Triumphe with and without celebration.

Things I HAVEN'T done this summer.... yet :-)

So this is a weird post... I got to thinking about all the things I wanted to do this summer... and I have done quite a few. But there are things I haven't done yet that I think I want to... or that others think I should, sooooo here's the list:
This summer I haven't:
1. eaten at Sonic while in the new convertible.
2. seen "Superman" (or the new "Pirates" film.. yet....)
3. finished a single knitting project
4. done any sewing
5. scrapbooked
6. rewritten a single syllabus for fall (but I will eventually..sigh)
7. gone sailing or kayaking


So I guess I'd better get busy... there's not a lot of summer left!!! Next time I'll make a list of what I HAVE been doing!

Kentucky Derby... Italian Style

Okay... Italians are a bit crazy...especially when it comes to competition, as anyone who's been watching the World Cup already knows. So here's the scoop on Siena. A town right out of the Renaissance... but its main feature is the Campo, which is really a gigantic town square. Well, twice a year, on July 2nd and Aug. 16th, what do they do? They race horses around the edges of this plaza. And there's a lot at stake here. Each district is represented by a horse and a rider. They race at breakneck speeds while thousands of people stand in the red brick areas in the middle screaming their heads off! The race is known as the Palio, and the winner of the race wins "bragging rights" for his district of Tuscany for the next year. Actually, the HORSE is the winner... they pronounce the winning horse that comes in, with or without a rider, as the champion. It's pretty insane considering one corner of this amphiheater shaped space has nearly a 90 degree angle turn!
Siena also has a gorgeous cathedral we called the zebra-striped church since it's made of layers of white and black marble. Quite a neat part of Tuscany!
To see the PALIO FILM Click on the words in caps and it will take you to the site sent me by an Italian gal who commented on my post. You can see what the race looks like as of this past July! It's amazing! Her blog is in Italian but if you look about 5 paragraphs down you will see the words REAL PLAYER film and a link. Click there and you will see the race! It's worth a look!

Pompeii to the South, Tuscany to the North

On June 10th, we took a side trip to Pompeii and the Bay of Naples, both of which sit in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius, a still active volcano that last erupted in 1944. In AD 79 it buried the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, killing thousands of residents and preserving the ancient cities that were dug up in the 1600's and are still being excavated today. Because of this, we can see an accurate depiction of 1st century Roman life. Pompeii is literally the city where time stood still. The third photo is on our way north toward the city of Florence in Tuscany. The countryside is so beautiful! Everywhere you turn is a vineyard or an olive grove.