THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 67 JULY 2011
Dear Readers,
Friday, June 10th dawned stormy and rainy. Not the best conditions for my road trip to Fort Madison so I delayed my start until the rain lessened around mid morning. I left Bryn with Norm and pulled onto 435 East only to find myself stuck in traffic for fifteen minutes because of an accident. I fumed behind the wheel : was I ever going to reach Iowa? Finally I was speeding and for the first time in the three years that we have lived in Kansas I was able to use my cruise control! The drive was most enjoyable – in fact I didn't even stop for gas or the bathroom! Once I merged onto I 35 there was hardly a drop of rain and I was soon crossing Missouri on I 36 to I 61. The only road construction en route was in Fort Madison due to the bypass.
Driving past the hospital I noticed it had expanded again and on Bluff road I saw the new senior living development. The rest of the scenery was just as I remembered. The old Aquinas High School building looked very worn as did much of the town as I drove around over the next few days. I arrived in front of Becky's familiar home and took in all the improvements she had made to her front yard with retaining walls, fencing and landscaping. Her house is definitely the belle of the block – probably several! Becky's landscape was not the only thing that had undergone a transformation, she herself had lost a lot of weight. Now she is going to be in better shape than me for our impending old age and all the places and things that we want to explore.
We had dinner at Alpha's which was very nice and then we headed to HyVee for some groceries and I didn't see any one that I knew there! Once home we had more cups of tea and a look through some English garden magazines that I had brought for Becky to enjoy. Soon we were planning which ones we would see when we make our 65th Birthday trip to England. Then our delightful evening was some what disrupted when we spied ants under our feet and on the kitchen counters. Becky and I grabbed paper towels and squished as many as we could whilst I urged her to get a can of Raid out to annihilate them. Becky didn't have such a thing. She preferred a more organic approach and started sprinkling black pepper everywhere. I thought red might have been better as it was almost impossible for me to tell the difference between the pepper granules and the ants with my eye sight. Becky assured me that the pepper would deter the ants from entering the house. I was skeptical and not surprised when I saw a column of ants climbing up her pristine white lace curtains the following evening. Becky said she would consider a trip to Kempkers for a can of Raid!
Saturday morning we decided to stroll down avenue G, so that I could see what was happening in my old down town. Unfortunately many of the buildings were empty, including my old store. Some of them had nice window displays and had been painted in attractive color schemes but the lack of traffic – hardly a car or shopper in sight was a grime reminder of how hard it is to run a business in a small town. I thought of all the years I had struggled to keep my business open - years that would probably have been more productively spent at home with my children . Yes Marc, I know that was your advice from the start of my working days!
We stopped at the Book Mark to visit with Bonnie Howard which was so very pleasant as always and then we were off to lunch at The Ivy to see Sue. Becky insisted that I was to be her guest but she was trumped by Sue who insisted on my being her guest .Sue was as warm and gracious as ever, beaming her beautiful smile, and lunch was as delicious as I remembered. It was there that I finally saw some people I knew - one of our old neighbors from Avenue D and Sue's daughter, Emily, and family.
Saturday afternoon I visited Myrna for a couple of hours and saw that she had her living room furniture recovered in the same plaid and floral print that I have on my beds in my English Country Garden room. I didn't mention that I had bought my bedspreads at Walmart!
Later I headed back to Becky's to change for Sarah Wenke's wedding reception. Once squeezed into my bright and bold short floral dress I drove down to the Comfort Inn anxious to see Evelyn and family and the Aschbrenners. So much construction was going on around the hotel due to the bypass that I had trouble figuring out how to get in the parking lot weaving around endless orange construction cones before I headed onto the shoulder and probably illegally entered the parking lot.
Evelyn was once again a stunning Mother of the Bride and Sarah a beautiful bride. I enjoyed meeting John and Emily Wenke's two little boys, seeing Rachel and Anna and of course sitting with Sherry and Rocky Aschbrenner who were about the only people I knew at the wedding aside from Sarah Rashid and her husband. As usual I had to confess that I am still the Mother of five very eligible bachelor sons, the mother of one daughter on the cusp of becoming a common-in-law wife if she and Jeremy ever manage to sell one of their properties so that they can live together and still only a grandmother of three. I could feel their sympathy for my plight. People always question how I can have five well educated, handsome unattached sons when there are so many desperate to be a couple single women. I wish I knew the answer.
They had a delicious Italian style buffet which reminded me of Leslee and Craig's wedding. Once the dancing started I decided to head back to Becky's. We thought an evening stroll would be a pleasant and for me much needed activity as I had spent most of the day sitting and eating! Becky was anxious to strut her stuff to show me that she had decided to walk my talk of the need to be able to walk a few miles every day at a good trot once we get to England. We took Ellie with us which resulted in Becky adding weight training as the aged miniature dachshund could only totter a couple of blocks and had to be carried all the way to Central Park and back. The sidewalks along most of our route were in dire need of repair - I kept my eyes down to avoid tripping. To think I now live in a neighborhood where the sidewalks are fixed immediately. They even seem to fix perfectly good roads here. Pot holes are definitely not tolerated!
Once back at Becky's we retired to the family room with a bottle of wine until past midnight. Ellie spent the night in my lap where she had been much of the time since I arrived loving the attention. Poor Becky was exhausted the next day as she usually is in bed by nine and up by four!She claims my visit took her days to recover from – too bad as I so enjoyed my time there that I have invited myself back!I had a such a relaxing time in her claw foot tub that even has a rain shower. We have such a shallow tub in our bathroom - I can hardly even wet my belly button.
Sunday morning I was greeted with homemade scones and coffee! Becky was just the best hostess, I'm thinking that we ought to run a Bed and Breakfast together. She could handle the morning hours with hearty breakfasts and I'd take the evening shift – the wine and cheese bit.
On Sunday afternoon I visited Bonnie and Gary Niehaus who have recently done a lot of work on their house. Their new living room furniture would look great in my family room – good job you can't fit much in a Ford Focus. They are redoing the kitchen cabinets so I was more than happy to give them my opinion! Gary had baked an apple pie in honor of my visit so any hopes I had of undoing yesterday's caloric overdose were stymied.
Later in the afternoon I headed up to Mike and Mary's where I was spending Sunday night. Mary had called me at Bonnie’s to see what time I was planning on being at her house as she was running to the grocery store. She, Elizabeth and the kids had only just returned from Kansas City that morning. They had been there because the movers were packing and loading Elizabeth and Brent’s worldly possessions for their move to Fort Madison. I has questioned if this was the best time for me to visit earlier in the planning but Mary thought it would work out expecting to be home a day earlier than she was. When I arrived at the Brockmans no one was home so I let myself in and was almost knocked to the floor by Dewey and Teddy who were wild with delight to have someone to cover from head to toe with doggy licks. Obviously they are not guard dog material. I was rescued by a very apologetic Mary with Mia in tow. Soon it was tea time and we sat at the table with Mia making us beautiful butterfly necklaces from a kit I had bought for her. After tea we headed to Elizabeth’s so I could see her really neat new house and all the work they have done. They have spectacular views of the city and the river and a large garden to enjoy. Hopefully Elizabeth will be much happier there then she ever was in Kansas City. Personally I much prefer life in Kansas with all the wonderful amenities.
We all returned to Mary's for dinner while Drew and Mia kept us entertained. Drew was fractious and Mary plonked him on the kitchen counter piled with kitchen paraphernalia which proved irresistible to Drew. It wasn't long before he hurled a crock pot lid to the floor where it promptly split in two. I thought to myself better the lid than his head. I had questioned the wisdom of sitting him up there in the first place but Mary said she did it all the time. Somehow amidst all the chaos Mary produced a delicious dinner which we walked off later on Country Club Lane with Mia in the stroller. Afterwards we settled into the family room babysitting the kids while Elizabeth went back to her house to do some things before the movers arrived the next morning. She and the kids had been living with her parents for sometime and I could tell that Mike was very happy that they would soon be moving into their own home!
Mike and Mary had just had a whirlpool bath installed in their guest room and were most anxious that I should give it a whirl. I thought I'd do this before my drive home but on Monday morning I awoke to Mike telling us that the septic system wasn't working so we weren't to use the water or flush the toilets. You can imagine the effect on my bowels as I religiously empty them within half an hour of rising every morning. Mary suggested we should go to Elizabeth's but I knew I couldn't hold it long enough so they had to contend with my stinking up a bathroom. Thank goodness Mike had made a pot of coffee before it happened as we all know I don't function without it first thing in the morning. I decided that with all the chaos of Elizabeth’s move and their septic system breakdown that the best thing I could do was to leave as soon as possible. I was back in Kansas to relieve Coryn who was staying with Norm, early that afternoon. Norm had a wonderful break from me too as the kids fed him bags of fast food and junk that I usually ban from the house.
As you all know I have been trying to interest Coryn in the domestic arts for sometime and only lately has she begun to show some tepid interest in cooking but things really heated up this week when she was summoned to one of her principal's kitchens. Throughout the school year this principal, Sherri, had decided that Coryn's remedial cooking skills needed to be improved and she insisted on tutoring her this summer in her own kitchen. Frankly I expected Coryn to develop attention deficit disorder as soon as the lesson began but Sherri whipped her into shape and had her making Beef Strogonoff, baked salmon stuffed with spinach and mascarpone cheese and for dessert Coryn made the Ivy Bake Shoppe's recipe for chocolate mint brownies,but substituted almond flavoring for the mint.
The following day she arrived at our house as proud as any kindergartner showing off their school work but instead of sticking it on the fridge she put it in the fridge so that we could enjoy the fruits of her labor for lunch. I was most impressed that her principal had succeeded in keeping Coryn in her kitchen for several hours. She walks out of mine as soon as I offer to show her how to make something and I know she rarely uses hers! Of course all of Coryn's co-workers have daubed her “teacher's pet”. Apparently Sherri has never invited any of them to a one on one tutorial.
July 4th was celebrated with a barbeque, largely put together by Costco courtesy of Sean's shopping skills. He purchased steaks which Norm marinated before the boys put them on the grill, baked beans, cole slaw and a bleu cheese and bacon potato salad. For desert he selected apple turnovers which were quickly turned over to Norm's tum and a pineapple upside down cake. Two gigantic bags of chips, a delicious herb cream cheese and crackers were offered for snacks! It was the best holiday of the year from my perspective as I didn't have to cook anything but Bryn's must have mashed potatoes and that was a Costco box mix!The boys and I played some family games and fizzled on the sofas by suppertime.
Coryn was in Chicago with Jeremy for the holiday visiting Amber Scott and Julie Bigler who's mother just died in a freak boating accident. Such a tragedy.
Ming-Lee and Blake were recently in Orlando, staying with Leslee and Craig so that they could witness history watching the last launch of a space shuttle. The whole family will be returning there later this month to visit the Harry Potter World attraction.
Ming-Jon is playing a lot of tennis and has tickets to see U2 and Paul McCartney in concert this summer. Kay will soon be heading to China for a semester of study.
Leslee and Craig are close friends with the son and daughter-in-law of Jeff Ashton, one of the lead prosecutors in the Casey Anthony trial. Craig was also covering the verdict for Fox News. Frankly I would have convicted her just on the grounds that any normal mother of a two year old would be frantically calling 911 within seconds of realizing that their child was missing and if it were an accidental death why would you hide the fact and toss your child away like garbage? Common sense seems to be missing from our justice system.
Norm is very tired and more mentally confused again since he has had to undergo the Lupron shots for his prostate cancer and adjusting to a new seizure medication has not been helpful either. The epileptologist said Norm is having seizure activity in his brain without physical manifestations and that he thinks many of the spells are caused by the failure of his autonomic nervous system. He and one of your dad's cardiologists are thinking about trying yet another medication. Frankly I don't think anything can be done to improve the situation and I wonder if the quality of his life might be improved by taking less rather than more medications. His appetite is still voracious and most of the time he is in good spirits. He likes the lady Coryn found to stay with him on Fridays so that I can spend a few hours out of the house.
I had to take your dad to the hospital a couple of days ago and Coryn volunteered to make us dinner that night Рher cooking class seems to have made a lasting impression. I offered to help but she waved me away, banging my pots and pans around with authority to produce a delicious made from scratch shrimp scampi with fresh tomatoes and mushrooms over a bed of linguine. Her father declared it better than anything at the Olive Garden. She even had dinner rolls -which she forgot about and I never expected. For desert she had made a coconut cr̬me pie even toasting the coconut. Unfortunately she had decided to add a layer of chocolate to her pie which set rock hard, almost needing a jack hammer to get it out of the pie pan! We couldn't get a fork through it so we had to hold it our hands and bite through it. I prayed for your dad's dentures. It was extremely messy to eat this way but very tasty. Jeremy must be thrilled to find himself sitting down to real meals in Coryn's kitchen after a couple of years of eating out or picking up fast food.
One recent Friday while Erseline, the lady who sits with Norm on Fridays was here I spent some time with Coryn's neighbor, Doris, who is from Germany and has lived here a long time like me. We drove to Lawrence for lunch at one of her favorite places, Wheatfields Bakery Cafe. Lunch was delicious and I allowed myself to be tempted by a loaf of freshly baked bread. Then we explored the British grocery shop and the world market. I found a family favorite - Crunchie Bars and couldn't believe the exorbitant price but bought a few and some biscuits and tea. Unfortunately it was so hot that we couldn't muster the energy to walk up and down the old fashioned shopping street which reminds Doris of Germany. She came to lunch again recently and kept us all entertained with her amusing stories about her neighborhood. Coryn is so lucky to have her for a neighbor and I count her as one of my new friends.
I am finding it increasingly difficult to care for my garden these days – not only because of the daily escalating heat and humidity but due to the demands of my neighbors. I am constantly being asked for landscape advice – both Dalton and Steve have ripped out their boring green bushes and replaced them with more colorful plants and flowers. Charlene is always interested in any new plants I add to the garden and Jack approaches the fence almost daily with the words “Megan, I have a question for you”.
Unfortunately though he never acts on any of my advice so his garden is a bare plot of weedy grass, with a broken down play structure that I am trying to convince him could be turned into a vine covered arbor with little effort. He always assures me that next week he will get it done but of course it never happens.
Tomorrow Coryn and I are going to leave Norm with Erseline and explore the thrift stores on Wornall – she's looking for bargains to revamp her school offices and I am hoping to find anything I can turn into something, to enhance my home or garden. It might be slow going though as the street is under construction and walking in this heat would be a death sentence.
I will soon be out in my garden wilting in the heat like my flowers, dragging heavy hoses around in my daily attempt to revive them. I water myself as well as the garden but nothing helps one stay cool for long outside. Unfortunately the chiggers adore me and despite using insect repellant and an Off fan I still have to shower and slather myself in anti-itch cream every day -sometimes twice.
Your always red hot mama with love.
