THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 163                                         NOVEMBER 2025

Dear Readers,

I recently had a rare Thursday night out - not on the town -  but in the Emergency Room of the hospital a couple of blocks from my house! Sean called me about seven o'clock in the evening and asked if I could take him there as he was experiencing some worrying symptoms. He had been battling a sinus infection for a couple of weeks at this point and was on his second round of antibiotics, plus a steroid and had been issued an inhaler for some reason! Apparently after using the inhaler for the first time he experienced some strange sensations and by the time I picked him up he was convinced he had suffered a minor stroke! I pulled up at his house and was amused to see that he was wearing a mask - in case he had Covid he explained when I questioned the necessity of wearing one! Off we went  to the ER and I knew we were in for a long night when there were no parking spaces in the lot adjacent to the ER entrance so I had to pull into the parking garage!

 Once inside the ER we were quickly evaluated and merited a gurney in the hallway as all the examination rooms were full. Sean commented on how busy they must be - whilst I thought they had already diagnosed my son’s ailments as Hypochondria - the Lowe boys chronic condition - and thus decided to park him in the hallway leaving the examining rooms to the truly sick!.They drew over a dozen vials of blood, administered a CAT scan, ran an EKG, did a chest Xray, tested his urine but never bothered to test for Covid!  

I kept Sarah informed about all the tests - she was as skeptical as I was of the need for them - 

but as we all know the better insurance coverage one has the more coverable procedures will be ordered! While Sean was relaxing on a gurney with a IV drip to flush the contrast dye used for the unnecessary CAT scan out of his system, Sarah was busy putting their four children to bed when Emmy Lou had a massive coughing attack, puked and decided she needed to sleep with Mom! I surmised that she was probably hoping to join her dad at the hospital!

Unfortunately I had failed to eat dinner that night as I was busy in the garden but thankfully had a package of Belvita’s in my purse and a blanket around me that I had pulled off the couch as I left knowing that it would probably be very cold at the hospital. In the summertime they cool to a temperature that a polar bear would love and in the winter it’s heated to  feel like a sauna!

Sean explained that his rationale for thinking that he may have suffered a mini-stroke was that after using the inhaler he had felt numb on one side, and that Sarah said he was chewing peculiarly on one side while eating.Then came the real qualifier for his fear - a co-worker in his thirties had suffered a stroke and subsequently been diagnosed with a heart condition that required surgery and he was in his thirties like Sean! I questioned why on earth he had been prescribed an inhaler as he was not having any breathing issues that would warrant one!

At about  eleven thirty that night a doctor arrived with a fistful of papers and said that Sean’s tests all showed that he was in excellent health apart from his sinus congestion and they recommended that he lose the inhaler and keep taking his medications as previously prescribed! Sean came home with me where I made us both a sandwich before we headed to bed! The next day Sarah arrived with the children who I babysat while she drove Sean home to sleep for the day! On Saturday morning Sean returned with the kids -all but one that Sarah had taken to his soccer game- and promptly went upstairs to go back to bed for a few hours! I shook my head - Sarah and I agreed that most men would not make it through a month of pregnancy!

Shortly after this late night escapade with Sean I did find myself out in the dark with him again, along with Sarah and the children but fortunately he was feeling much better for our outing to see the light display at the Kansas City Zoo! Tthe kids enjoyed a hay ride -Grandma was worried about her butt getting wet sitting on the damp hay as it was drizzling that night - but of course the kids wanted me to ride too so I gingerly clambered on board and promptly developed a cramp in my foot! But I clung onto Lochlan for dear life, terrified he would fall off the hay bale as I flexed my foot and realized I was probably in more danger of losing my balance than any of the grandchildren! Emmy Lou was very into reading the pages of a story book that were scattered throughout the display and they all loved painting and decorating their own miniature pumpkin! I treasure these outings with my grandchildren!

I have been a busy sewing bee lately making a rag quilt,  a bee hive covered in bees that light up, and a  storage cube! I have enough fabric left over for a couple of burp cloths too! Kay and Richard are probably just days away from the birth of their new son .   

Bee themed Rag Quilt

Storage basket

Bee Hive made out of yards of homemade piping and covered in lighted bees!

This year our family and friends fundraising walk for the  Alliance of  Cancer Gene Therapy - in honor of our beloved Ming Lee -took place on September 27th and raised over $8,000 . Our Kansas City family  met at the Logue’s  home in Lees Summit where we enjoyed a baked potato bar with everything from sour cream, cheese, and chopped vegetables to chili to ladle on top of our potatoes! After stuffing ourselves we walked off a few calories reaching a nearby neighborhood fishing pond. Coryn and Jeremy had plenty of fishing poles and live bait  for  all those who wanted to fish! Owen  - our most experienced fisherman caught nineteen fish that day while novices Emmy Lou and Liam caught eleven and sixteen respectively! Kudos to Coryn and Jeremy for diligently working with all the kids to show them how to bait and cast a fishing rod! Alex, Lochlan,  and Cillian quickly lost interest and ran off to explore the waterfalls and woody trails around the pond whilst Kay and I  found  a bench to sit on and enjoy all the splendors of being in a beautiful setting on a rather hot and humid afternoon! Ava Claire kept a watchful eye on her younger cousins which gave us all a break! After a while Alex asked to go to the playground and within an hour many of us had joined him with the promise of cookies to come at Coryn’s house afterwards! Emmy Lou and Liam - who have their Uncle Jeremy twisted around their little fingers- stayed out fishing for a couple more hours with him! At some point I mentioned to Sarah that it was a shame that Sean was not there to see how amazingly the children were catching fish  on their first attempt at the sport but unfortunately he wasn’t feeling his best that day so elected to walk alone  close to  home.

Ava Claire made this sign for the event!

Uncle  Jeremy unhooking a fish to release back into the pond!

Kay, Grandma, Ava Claire, Alex, Emmy Lou and Cillian

Alex and Cillian

Ready for our fishing trip to the pond!

Owen, Liam and Lochlan crossing the bridge!

I thought all afternoon about how much Ming Lee would  love to be there with us and  so happy to see all his nieces and nephews loving being outdoors, exploring and learning new skills! Such a beautiful way to embrace Ming Lee and his love of family, the great outdoors and making memories together. I hope he knows that he is always on our minds and in our hearts.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, my home has  been under construction for quite some time ! I have  endured  jack hammers removing concrete along my entire southeast interior basement  wall to lay a perforated drainage pipe with drain tile, gravel and a concrete overlay. All this drains into a second sump pump which is set into the floor near my bar area. Sean has come up with the brilliant idea of hiding the sump pump under a beer barrel and adding shelves for glasses and booze! I am now waiting for some heavy rains to test out my new system which is hopefully  going to keep my basement bone dry so that I can lay carpet to cover over the bare concrete. Otherwise I shall have to get down on my ancient knees and paint it all again ! Once I had cleaned up all the concrete dust from this project , I was ready for the dry wallers to come in and replace all my cracked walls which have hopefully been shored up by the peers I installed last year! This was a hugely messy job too - which spanned over five days waiting for the mud to dry between applications and endless sanding  !With Sean’s assistance I have repainted most of the basement!

The drainage pipe hidden by gravel, the jagged edge of my foundation left by the jack hammers

My new sump pump

What a mess!

Progress! new dry wall, and cement!

Ready to paint!

Back to normal!

I have my basement back!

 

Prior to these two projects I was able to finish all the work that needed to be done in my master bathroom to rectify the damage caused by a water valve replacement . I found a reasonably priced contractor who tore out all the old tile around the tub and separate free standing shower enclosure, replaced it with concrete board, added a new, slightly larger shower pan and drain. I purchased the tile, grout and caulking myself at Mennards and ordered new shower doors from Amazon. My contractor sub contracted the tiling to a professional tiler who moonlights on weekends so that worked out well for me! My contractor even built a couple of cubbies to hold body wash and shampoo - fortunately I had some 2x4’s under the deck so no charge there! Cillian thinks these cubbies look like holes in the tiles and insists they need to be fixed! I am hoping that nothing else happens to my home for a while - although Jeremy is contemplating some roof work for me! 

Tiling took 3 days!

Speaking of roofs, you are always welcome to shelter under mine! Ming Jon is contemplating a visit over the Christmas holiday! Hopefully flights will be back to normal by then! Thank goodness the government shutdown is over and that all the millions of people whose lives depend on government subsidies are once again covered and that all the government workers who were expected to work with no pay throughout this mess are now being paid again. I can not imagine how much stress these people have been subjected to. Having Trump in office is definitely very stressful for me! Every day I wake up and wonder which of his puppets or arsenal of weapons - which he seems to love toying with- is going to lead to a major world incident. 

Thanksgiving is just a week away and we are celebrating it at Sarah and Sean’s this year! It’s always lovely to have so much family here with which to celebrate! We will also be celebrating Cillian's third birthday which falls on the following day! I have high hopes that my great grandson will be making his debut into the family by then too!  As we all know there is nothing I enjoy more than cuddling, cooing and singing to a baby! So thankful for each and every-one of my babies no matter your age! Love Mother

                       

Here are some more pictures from our recent walk to support our cause and honor Ming Lee!

Lori had a great turn out in Indy!

Bryn took to the Hollywood Hills with Mazzy

Sean suffering with his sinuses walked alone!

Claudia doing her thing

The Remsburgs took a bike ride

Marc and Ming Jon walking together in LA for Ming!

Josh walking in Armenia

 THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER   VOLUME 162                                      SEPTEMBER 2025

Dear Readers.

On July 2nd Lori and Claudia drove from Fort Madison, IA ( where they were visiting old family friends, Lori and Roger Griswold, and Sue Welch Sauders) to Kansas City. They stayed with Coryn and Jeremy in Lee’s summit with Blake flying in from Seattle to join us on Friday! We love a reunion with the Indy Lowes! Josh had returned to Kansas City shortly before, after spending his first two weeks back on American soil with the Remsbergs in their new Winter Garden home!   

Lori and Claudia arrived at my house on Thursday and were quickly overwhelmed by Alex, Liam, Lochlan and Cilian who were spending the day with Grandma !The boys were delighted with all the extra attention but I sensed that Lori and Claudia  might appreciate a break from being used like  monkey bars by the boys who scrambled all over them. I decided to set up  my bounce house,slide and pool  to divert the boys attention and thus we were able to sit in relative peace watching  the boys play! Later in the afternoon Coryn arrived with Ava Claire and Owen and once they had finished working Sarah,Sean and Kay arrived and we all enjoyed supper together before they all headed home! Unfortunately this was the only time that the Flaigs had to spend with Lori and Caudia as they were flying to Washington DC the next day to visit Kay’s parents and her Uncle who had flown in from Singapore to visit friends in New York before arranging to meet up with the Flaigs and return to Kansas City with them.

Josh, Grandma, Coryn, Kay and Sarah watching the kids play

Lori and Caudia proving that everyone love's Grandma's snacks

Claudia with Alex in back, Cillian, Liam and Lochlan all clamoring for attention!

The next day was July 4th and Coryn  hosted the family that day - as living in Missouri they are free to shoot off fireworks in their own neighborhoods whereas in Kansas to do so is strictly prohibited. To kick the festivities off her ever generous neighbors, Jenny and Kevin invited us all over to their pool that afternoon - all fifteen of us Lowes - good thing they have a large pool and plenty of seating! Not to mention the enormous buffet put together by them and their neighbors!

Fun at Jenny and Kevin's pool!

Claudia, Jeremy, Kevin, Josh,Jenny and Coryn

Emmy Lou loves swimming!

Fun pool for the kids!

Blake,Claudia and Lori

Sean and Ava Claire watching the litle ones

Claudia wih Emmy Lou, Liam, Lochlan and Sean

Cillian

The neighbours in their cul de sac had pooled their resources and made several trips to purchase fireworks and as always we enjoyed a front row seat at a show that was as good as many firework displays I have seen!

 Much to Uncle Jeremy’s delight he had an enthusiastic helper in Liam - who was much more into it than his own children! Ava Claire stayed inside the house most of the night declaring it too noisy and was joined for much of the time by Emmy Lou who sympathized with her older cousin! 

Liam was in his element helping set the fireworks on the ground ready to be lit by an adult and kept up a running commentary on what was going to explode next!  I do not think Liam left his uncle’s side that night. Of course Loclan and Cilian loved it too - especially when the fireworks exploded and rained down mini parachutes on them!

Grandma with Blake and Claudia

O

Auntie Coryn dancing with Cilian in the pink smke

Owen with dad Jeremy and Liam who was clued to Jeremy all night! 

July 5th we all got together at Sarah and Sean’s house where the highlight of the day was an activity that Claudia had planned for the kids : tie-dyeing tee shirts! Since this was a messy project,especially with so many little kids, plus an extra friend of Emmy Lou’s  who showed up,  it was decided to do the dyeing outside on tarps and then all the shirts were taken back to Coryn’s house to be washed and handed out to their creators the following day! Lori treated us all to a catered barbecue lunch which was a big hit of course.

Claudia's tie dying project was a big hit!

Sarah and Josh pitched into help and make their own too!

The evening before Lori, Blake,Claudia, Coryn and Ava Claire had attended a performance of My Fair Lady at Theater in the Park -  something which I bailed out on as all the activity of the last few days was definitely leaving me needing an early rather than a late night!

My Fair Lady at Theater in the Park

Ava Claire, Coryn, Claudia, Lori and Blake

Some of the family in their own artistic shirts!

On Monday Lori drove back to Indy while Blake flew home and Claudia flew to Utah to meet up with friends before she moved into her first  apartment and new job! We wish her every success as she enters the next phase of her

In early August we had another family get together. The Remburgs flew to Des Moines to take in a Hot Air Balloon festival and to meet up with some college friends! Marc Andrew was talked into joining them there and driving down to Kansas City in their rental minivan. And of course they used the trip down to devise a story that would have mother teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Their rental car pulled into my driveway and Craig, Leslee-Ann, Ray and Callie got out but no Marc! . Leslee Ann and Craig assured me that they had checked with him after he failed  to meet them for breakfast at their hotel and that he told them to leave without him as he was having bowel issues and would make his own way to my home once he felt able to get his butt off the toilet! This was a feasible story as Marc has all kinds of anal retentive issues ! I was surprised that Leslee-Ann and Craig had not just decided to wait for Marc. To find out what was going on at his end - literally and figuratively- I called him and he claimed to be on his way down I35 after hitching a ride with a trucker to the exit just yards from my oh so conveniently situated  house! I asked how he could choose such a risky way to get here and questioned why he hadn’t rented a car - after all with his recent multi million settlement he won for a client he is not exactly in a situation where money is of any concern! Before I could get any more details he rang off and I was left to ponder the feasibility of this story. Josh was the only one of my boys who I believed capable of thumbing a ride - so I was very dubious about the validity of this story. Eventually Marc arrived, sporting a big grin and a straw hat, looking like a scarecrow! Hard to believe anyone would give him a ride looking like that! Eventually I found out that the Remsburgs had dropped him off at his friend's house ( another lawyer he had worked with in LA) as he wanted Marc’s help setting up a new computer system! The friend had then driven Marc to my house! The kids were delighted that they had given me a few anxious moments of course! 

These were not the only anxious moments I endured that day - my microwave started smoking after being used to make about five cartons of mac’n cheese for the kids!   Ava Claire was most distressed as she was the one making lunch for all her cousins! I suggested that we unplug it, wait for it to cool down, and then try again. I plugged it back in but it was definitely fried. That microwave is essential kitchen equipment with the eating habits of my grandchildren and of course the fact that most of them only drink hot milk at my house. Leslee-Ann and Craig immediately offered to run up to Target to get a new one for me but ultimately Coryn took on that task so my problem was resolved! 

Jeremy made a very dramatic entrance into my house later that evening in honor of his visiting brother-n-law Craig's love of World Wide Wrestling- which he does a lot of work for with his production company.

Jeremy in costume!

Last year, when we had our family gathering, Bryn had very generously purchased Kona Ices for everybody from a truck circulating Coryn’s neighborhood so when all 22 of us were spending the day at Kay and Richard’s new house, Coryn arranged for an ice cream truck to pull up in front of their house! She announced that we all got ice-cream treats on Uncle Marc ! I applauded my daughter's ingenuity at Marc’s expense! I had no idea that you could book an appointment with an ice cream van driver!

Marc organizing the line  for icecrea orders!

 

Who knew you could order  an ice cream van?

One of the highlights was meeting Bryn’s lovely girlfriend, Gabby and their Pomeranian ball of fluff named Mazzy. Some of the family had already met her when visiting their LA brothers so at least we weren’t all new to her! She has a very easy going personality and was very chill when all the children were petting, playing and feeding the dog endless treats! She and Bryn seem to be making some long term plans! 

Gabby and Bryn relaxing amongst the chaos!

The Remsburgs and Marc stayed with me initially but once the Remsbergs left to fly home Marc decided to move over to Coryn’s house as he was staying for another week and had a lot of work to do and thus decided that sharing a house with Ava Claire and Owen was preferable to staying at my house where most of the little kids would be attending Grandma's summer camp for the week as their camps had shut down for the season and school was not opening for a another three weeks!

Sarah and Sean hosted us all one day and we all thought of Norm and Ming-Lee that day - who both loved to cook and knew how happy they would be to see Sean, with Coryn and Leslee-Ann making wontons from scratch with Norm’s special sauce! Most of us ate so many of them that we had little room for all the dishes that followed

Coryn, Sean and Leslee- Ann coking together

 It was certainly lovely to have most of the family here at some point this summer  - time just flew! But not for everyone - Ava Claire decided that she was going to start school this year wearing contacts in place of glasses. Coryn made her an appointment with an optician to help her make the switch but the whole process was extremely difficult for her! Every-one in the family who does or did wear contacts offered to help her - Sean, Blake and Leslee-Ann all worked with her but she just struggled to get them in and of course the more she tried the more emotionally fraught and distressed she became.Coryn had her go back to the optician’s a couple of times again in hopes that they could finally teach her how to do it but it ended up being a friend of Coryn’s that succeeded in teaching Ava Claire how to pt her contact in and then take them out again - just in time for the first day of school! What a relief! It had been a very stressful few weeks for us all!

I almost blew a gasket when I recently discovered that I needed to replace a valve on my bathtub. I had noticed that shutting off the water was becoming harder for me at my times and wondered if perhaps I was developing arthritis in my wrists but one night when Josh was fortuitously staying with me he came to the rescue when I could not get it to shut off. He checked the situation out and said I needed a new cartridge probably but unfortunately I would need a plumber to do the installation as he did not have the specialised tools needed - and besides which he was flying to Greece that weekend!

I checked with Kay and Richard for the contact information for the  plumbing company that they had used to remodel their bathrooms, checked their customer reviews online and they came out the very next day. The plumber advised me that replacing a cartridge was a fifty/fifty situation. Sometimes it worked , sometimes it did not and a valve replacement, although more costly at $1,100.00 compared to $400.00 for a cartridge, was guaranteed to fix the issue. Thinking of the age of my house I opted for the valve. Unfortunately in order to do the job the plumber had to remove a few tiles - which broke! Sean, on seeing the gaping hole in my tile work, decided to temporarily install a piece of drywall over it so the kids would not be tempted to drop things down it or worse yet to have a mouse or snake pop out of it! More about the mouse and snake later! Unfortunately he  broke more tile in the process and so I  abandoned my first solution - which was to insert a contrasting tile that would look like a decorative accent  rather than a patch job - but since I have a separate standing shower I would of course have to do the same decorative accent there as well and realized that the chances of removing a section of tiling without cracking any adjacent tiles were very slim. Therefore I decided to retile both the shower and tub.

I was very relieved when one of my neighbors stopped by to see my bathroom and said she had had to replace all the valves on her tubs and showers too! 

As we all know I love to take a bath over a shower so I was very anxious to have my bathroom back in working order as soon as possible.I went with the most reasonable bid - one contractor quoted me $17,000.00 just to rip out the existing tile around the tub and shower and replace it with his companies grout free panelling which looks like the acrylic baths and showers we had back in the eighties to me - just a marginally nicer finish- or tile! That was without replacing the tub, shower pan or fixtures! Who would be crazy enough to spend that amount of money for so little?

 I am pleased to say that I got a new shower pan, drain and clear glass doors, tile and all other supplies plus labor for under $3,000.00 which is an excellent feat in my opinion! 

Now back to the mouse and snake. Josh moved in with me for a week whilst Sarah’s parents were visiting and once his work day was finished he decided to check my basement for possible entry points for mice. I have had several mouse traps in my basement for years, along with all the high tech noise emitting plugins that are supposed to get on their nerves- so much so that they run from your house never to return - but they do not seem to work! Josh found a mouse in one of my traps and was determined to keep them out forever this time!  He removed all the insulation from my storage room, pulled off the siding outside under the deck and found the entry point! He also found a black rat snake which he claimed was behaving very aggressively so he disposed of it! It was probably due to that snake that I have not had a mouse problem for a long time! 

Joshua’s efforts to rid my house of all mouse portals led to one of my neighbors, Elena, calling me, and when I did not answer my phone she asked another neighbor to check on me as she had seen a strange man walking back and forth around my house and she was convinced he was casing the joint and feared for my safety plus he didn’t seem to have a vehicle!! My other neighbor, Steve, arrived at my door with his firearm and asked if I was alright as Elena was worried about the man she had seen checking around my basement! I found it quite hilarious that my son had been mistaken for a possible intruder and explained that he was looking for mouse holes! I also mentioned that Josh spends very little time in this country as he can work anywhere in the world and does not need a car as he just borrows one from whoever he is staying with when he is in the USA. I have the best neighbors - they all call if I leave my garage door open after dark, forget to put my porch light on or if they don’t see me out and about!

I have started to work on the Bee themed nursery for my soon to be here second great grandson! Kay is feeling more tired with this pregnancy and was having to go for more frequent check ups than usual because the baby was in the 98th percentile for size! Last week he dropped to the 87th percentile so hopefully he will not tip the scales at 12lbs plus! I joked that he would probably be born walking! I still remember when 101/2 lb Callie sat herself up in my lap when she was just two months old! Cutting out quilt blocks has given me another focus - other than my bathroom and hopefully soon to be scheduled basement drain tile and second sump pump installation project !

Currently we are enduring another heat wave and prolonged dry spells which means I am moving sprinklers around my garden and hand watering my pots daily, drenched in sweat! I am using my upstairs bathroom right now and I will be so glad when I can  fill my tub with bubbles, listen to my classical music and relax as I hope the water comes up far enough to cover my belly button! Perhaps I should have splurged on a soaker tub after all but with my luck the floor would cave in with the additional weight - water that is,  not me-  and my new bathroom would end up in the basement - but it would  have a garden view! Love Mother

Hanging out onmy deck

The kids chasing rabbits around my front yard!
Some in their PJ's after bath night at Grandma's