THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 86 JULY 2013

Dear Readers,

July 4^th my great friends of many decades, Becky, Evelyn and Sherry drove here from Fort Madison , making a slight detour to Hannibal to drop off Becky's dog at her mom's house. They arrived to find the flag flying, a traditional picnic of hamburgers and brats on the grill with chicken salad and corn on the cob for those of us (me) that are not into red meat – and trust me any meat that my boys cook is blood red when they deem it cooked. I had made my traditional flag cake as well as a chocolate cream pie for dessert demonstrating how this Brit can be a good sport about the American holiday that celebrates my country's defeat - albeit of centuries ago.

Evelyn, Sherry, Becky and Norm

As usual we all toured my garden and I was anxious to have Evelyn and Becky's opinions on some of my 'volunteer' seedlings as they are much more knowledgeable than myself. I was mortified to learn that one of my prize specimens - that I have been nurturing for two years - was a dreaded thorny locust: it would need to be ripped out if I didn't want visitors to my house impaling themselves on its long needle like thorns on their way to the front porch. I loved it's gorgeous fern like leaf structure that was a lovely contrast to my other plantings. I had not noticed any thorns until Evelyn pointed them out warning me that they would get enormous as the sapling grew. I was convinced to dig it up after taking a walk through our nearby woods with the girls and having a huge decaying thorny locust tree pointed out to me as an example of what the future held. It was scary enough for a Harry Potter book – I could hardly wait to get rid of my ' fern 'tree.

I thought another seedling that I had dug up and lovingly transplanted was a burning bush that had self seeded but I was assured that I was nurturing another weed. In fact almost everything I wasn't sure about was deemed a weed. Thank goodness the girls were able to enlighten me before any of my neighbors - who constantly wonder into my yard for advice or for some free plants - realized that I was tending a garden full of weeds! I even had a small poison ivy plant. I was green to the gills when I realized how close I might have come to losing my status as the green thumb of the cul de sac. I was glad that the girls were enthused about a visit to a garden center on Saturday before they left so I could replace my weeds with real plants. Of course any weed that I do inadvertently keep I will label as a native plant much needed to attract helpful insects to the garden.

We heard the fireworks exploding once it was dark and the girls thought they sounded close enough to see. I explained that although the display is very close to our house the view is obscured by our neighborhood's tall trees. But wandering down the driveway I noticed that at a certain point some of the fireworks were visible peeking between the trees. Then I remembered that one of my neighbors had had some huge diseased trees removed that now left a vantage point for us to enjoy the fireworks so the four of us stood out in the driveway to enjoy the show.

Unfortunately Josh and Bryn had to work on Friday and Sean had a previous commitment so my friends and I were limited in the time we could be away from Norm. But on Friday afternoon while Norm was napping we went to the Carter's Outlet Store which is so conveniently located just a few blocks up Quivera. They are all grandma's to boys so they were feeling a little blue as they shopped the boys side of the store while I - apologizing profusely for having to abandon them to the much cuter girls side - was secretly tickled pink to be able to flaunt my frilly and frothy finds while they did their best to enthuse over their much less flamboyant boys selections. We all noticed that the girls section was much larger and cuter! I assured them that I had fully expected to be on their side of the store, but for once I was wrong about something!

Friday night, after dinner, Norm enjoyed a long chat with Becky and Sherry recalling their years together at FMCH and hearing about the current happenings there. While they were chatting Evelyn and I dragged the hoses around my yard giving the parched plants their much needed daily drink. Evelyn spotted a fledgling thrasher on the ground, with its mother nearby. I was immediately concerned that the bird would become one of my cat's late night snacks so I decided to try and catch it and place it somewhere where the mother could see it but the cats wouldn't be able to nab it. Evelyn enjoyed watching me chase the fledgling down, grab it and place it in a hanging basket only to have it immediately tumble out back to the ground. It's mother was venting her fury very loudly so I decided to leave Mother Nature alone. Evelyn later assured me that the mother had led the baby to a neighbor's yard and I know it survived the night as I spotted it the next day and hoped it was now fully fledged. Our watering finished we joined Becky and Sherry and decided to take a stroll through my hilly neighborhood , to check out every one's landscaping and enjoy the great variety of architectural styles of the homes and the walking trail through the nearby Valleybrooke Park. I constantly reminded Becky of the need to step up the pace in preparation for our trip to England. She assured me that she was doing her very best but I said greater effort was going to be needed to chase down those London cabs!

Exhausted from our walk we retired to the deck with a botttle of wine and talked very late into the night with me occasionally leaving to check on Norm.

The only disappointment of the trip for my friends was that they didn't see Coryn, Jeremy, Ava Claire and their new home: they were spending the 4^th at Jeremy's aunt and uncle's vacation home at the Lake of the Ozarks – a family tradition. A great reason for another visit – I hope! At least the nursery will be totally finished as I have supposedly completed the last task but Coryn always seems to think of something else I need to do! I have actually rediscovered the joy of sewing and have been making little outfits – I made matching dresses, panties , headbands and even a purse for Elena and Ava Claire. I announced that I might make this an annual project as the girls are probably destined to be friends because their mothers and fathers are best friends and spend some time together. I made a little sun hat for Ava Claire and Coryn declared it made her baby look Amish and hoped I could come up with a more fashion forward design. I thought it looked adorable and will stick it on her head every time I take her out for a stroller ride.

Our friends returned on Saturday afternoon, once again having to cram all their shopping and nursery selections into Becky's car. It reminded me of one of their previous trips where the car looked a mobile rain forest with no rear visibility for the driver. Norm and I are so grateful to them for making the trip which truly uplifted our spirits and of course allowed me to remain the garden guru of our neighborhood!

The following weekend Marc arrived and was totally smitten with Ava Claire: just as he was with her mother so many decades ago. He did admit that if he was ever a father( highly unlikely) he would probably spend most of his days at the local ER as every tiny noise from Ava Claire was taken as a sign of some possible dire medical condition. He was convinced that her stomach was going to be permanently contorted by the hiccups, that her neck would be broken if not supported at all times and that her slightly spotty cheeks needed a dermatologist's care. The only thing he was not worried about was keeping her bottom clean – he refused to change her diapers! His concern for the baby saved us from his usual hypochondria.

Marc loves fried smelts and coincidentally Sherry remembering (what a memory!) how Norm and I also enjoy them saw some at a fishmongers and made a gift of them to us. I had some in my freezer too so the three of us had a feast.

Jeremy has been spending a lot of time working in Oklahoma City this summer, usually staying with his mother so the weekend of Marc's visit he returned with her so that she could spend some time with Ava Claire. Coryn called her dad on Saturday night to invite him for lunch on Sunday, assuring him that the whole Kansas City family would be there to carry him into the house so he wouldn't have to stand at all. Last time getting him in and out of the house was a challenge and provoked a seizure so your dad was reluctant to try again. Fortunately he will do almost anything for his girls so Marc and I got him in the car and drove him over to Coryn and Jeremy's where the boys carried him in his wheelchair into the house – even carrying him up the stairs so he could see the bedrooms and nursery. I was thrilled to see Kay - the boys had all helped her move into her apartment the day before – even Marc! Thanks to the kids recent moves she inherited a bedroom and living room set, general household goods and even a car. She was happy to be back in Kansas City and spending time with us – especially Ava Claire whom she met for the first time!

Jeremy had a grill laden with Kabobs, and baked potatoes with cabbage and bacon . Jeremy's mom was churning homemade banana pecan ice-cream. Coryn was looking very domesticated – I think she pulled out some plates and tableware. It was such a treat for me to enjoy a family meal at someone elses house!

Recently our family doctor needed to get in touch with me and thanks to the medical technology provided by Sean's former employer, Cerner, my health was severely challenged. Instead of a phone call I received an E-mail which directed me to their web site where I could log on and read my message. I confidently clicked on the link and was immediately asked for my user name and password. I typed in the pin they had given me at the time I was coerced into signing up for their green paperless medical program. It did nothing. I checked my list of user names and passwords but could find nothing for my doctor's office. I thought it likely that I might have used an existing log on combo so I tried them all and was told that I had reached the maximum number of times that I could try to log on for that day. I was so tense and frustrated that I could feel the blood pounding in my head, was I on the verge of a stroke, a heart attack or a panic attack?I tried to calm myself down by assuring myself that if it was dire news that they would surely telephone me if I didn't respond to the email. I tried logging in on different computers – to no avail. I was now convinced that my frustration was going to lead me to do something rash – I thought about self medicating with your dad's meds before I found myself enrolled in anger management therapy. That evening I decided to go through all the medical papers on my desk and if that didn't help me I would call the doctors office the next morning to explain my inability to connect on the web and ask if they could prescribe Valium over the phone .Going through the papers I finally came across the brochure they had sent home with us on our last visit and right on the front was my user name and password. Obviously I thought it was a smart place to record the information at the time but it seems that on top of everything else I am now suffering from early on set dementia. I think the old fashioned way of communicating with my doctor was much better for my health!

Sean is off to explore the world this coming weekend and I hope he has some great experiences to blog about so that we can join him on his journey in spirit. One thing we can count on is a lot of photographs as he is traveling with enough camera equipment to suggest that he is a wannabe Craig! I'm worried that he is going to be scoped out by a mugger. I have been told that he is expecting his last supper at our house for awhile on Thursday night.

Love your mother who holds you close to her heart as she seems to be losing her head.