THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 135
JULY 2020
Dear Readers,
We are all months into living with the
Corona Virus Pandemic in a country more divided than ever between
Trump and his mentally and morally challenged followers eschewing
mask wearing and those of us who support the proven scientific advice
of the medical profession to wear a mask and social distance when
out of our homes. This proven deadly disease is now running rampant
in many states due to reopening businesses too early without proper
safety precautions. Trump doesn't care how many of us die just as
long as he can address huge unmasked gatherings and spout nonsense
about our soon to be burgeoning economy and magically disappearing
virus.
Then we have the murder of George Floyd
at the hands- well really the knee - of a police officer while
three other officers stand by watching the torture and death of
another human being – a life that they are sworn to protect! This
and too many other recent cases of police brutality have provoked a
huge protest movement throughout the country where for weeks many
have bravely risked their health and lives: not only in putting
themselves at risk of catching Covid 19 but also of being peppered
sprayed, hit with rubber bullets , beaten with police batons or tear
gassed. A peaceful protest outside the White House was cleared away
in just such fashion so that our hypocritical President Trump could
walk to a nearby church and hold a bible upside down whilst using the
Lord's name in vain. As we all know I am not a believer but I have
the greatest respect for those whose beliefs are sincere and I was so
glad that the church leaders called out his loathsome use of their
church.
It has been so encouraging to see
massive crowds of people of all races, religions, ages and sexual
identities come together to say changes must be made to show that
Black Lives Matter. And we all hope that this will be dramatically
proven at the ballot box in November but this is another huge problem
as it becomes obvious that voter suppression is being practiced in
many areas of our country. I hope the election is not going to be
another fiasco! Next to go should be the Electoral College. One
person, one vote!
Mother will now step down from her soap
box and cover some family news. Since my last newsletter Sean and
Sarah decided that their house was just not big enough to contain
them and two children whilst they are both working from home.
Fortunately Josh had moved in with them after his return from Mexico
and since his work load was relatively light he was able to remodel
two bathrooms, the kitchen, spruce up the garages and the exterior
of the house in a very short period of time. Josh did such a great
job that they sold the house the same day it was listed with eight
offers well over the asking price! They spent the day at my house and
decided to spend the night after the decision was made to accept no
more offers after nine o 'clock that evening so they could review
them all and accept one. Sean had been watching all the activity at
his house with his Ring Doorbell App and they had a constant flow of
people into their home – some without masks and worse children were
playing with his children's toys! This was another factor in the
decision to stay at Grandma's as Sean and Josh decided everything
needed to be sanitized before it would be safe for Sarah and the
children to return home! Since then they have been house hunting on
an almost seemingly daily basis as the housing market is very strong
here. I have been babysitting Ava Claire and Liam a lot! Their first
two offers didn't get accepted but their third was and they are now
moving forward with plans to move into their new, very large home
which is even closer to my home – south on Quivera instead of
north!
There were benefits to my home from all
of Joshua's remodeling projects: they upgraded their old kitchen
counters with beautiful granite ones so the old ones were installed
in my garage. I was thinking potting bench but my new shelves are
helping to garage all of the riding toys that Coryn dropped off at my
house in the spring explaining as a motorized camouflage four wheeler
came out of her tailgate that Emmy Lou would have so much fun
cruising around my driveway on it. I questioned whether she wasn't a
few months too young for such a fast toy but Coryn assured me that
Owen was zipping around the driveway on it at her age! Then came a
tricycle with a push handle admittedly but short of attaching bungee
cords from Emmy Lou's feet to the pedals there was no way she was
growing into this one for years! Lastly I became the proud owner of a
red car which would be usable ( it could be used like a stroller) but
unfortunately the front wheels needed work – something I was
assured her brother's could handle. Then came the day that Sean
delivered an outdoor water play table, a pink pedal car, a toddler
picnic table, benches and umbrella and a four sided play set with
slide! Apparently the Realtor had strongly suggested ridding their
house of all outside play equipment and since Emmy Lou spends so much
time at Grandma's what better place could there be for it? Now my
home, garage and deck look like a day care center. I already had a
double stroller, single stroller, baby bounce seat,, baby sit up seat
and a baby back carrier donated a few weeks earlier by Sean and Sarah
so everything needed for the care of their two children was
available when they visit me!
Amazingly enough Josh found time to
replace several window sills of mine that had succumbed to wood rot
despite my best effort to keep paint on the wood – hanging out of
second floor windows- to do so! He also installed timers on some of
my outdoor lights and that has been a great convenience! Of course I
still have a long list of home improvements which need to be
addressed but alas between spending time babysitting, and sewing
masks for family and friends from coast to coast – I must be well
on my way to a hundred now – I have no time for other projects.
Coryn, and her family recently flew to
Florida, that hotbed of Covid 19, to spend a few days at the beach
with Lesee-Ann and her family. Their brothers were appalled that they
would fly in the face of such danger. However they followed all the
guidelines: including a two week quarantine upon their return home.
Happily both families enjoyed their time at the beach and have
remained virus free.
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| Ray, Owen and Ava Claire |
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| Callie with Ava Claire |
We all know that I was a dedicated
Dance Mom for many years and the annual Dance Recital was a chance
for every budding ballerina's mother to be on her toes. We mothers
would arrive with armfuls of skimpy, overpriced dance costumes, huge
bags of product – all our make up, curling irons, straightening
irons, and enough hairspray to make sure our girls hair stayed stuck
in place as they twirled across the stage We would be there all day
at the dress rehearsal and of course for every performance in the
following days. This was a role that I took very seriously – always
praying that Sandy Fraise (the dance queen mother of us all) would be
there to come to my rescue when no matter how hot my curling iron or
how much mousse or hair spray I used Coryn's hair would always escape
it's boundaries. Sandy would rush over with a mouthful of hair pins,
an arm load of product and magically have Coryn's hair cemented in
place. I was so grateful to her for the stress relief this afforded
me especially when we reached the teenage years with numerous
costume, hair and makeup changes! After my devoted services for so
many years I was sure my daughter would be a pro at the job.
Thus on the day of Ava Claire's dance
recital I drove over to Lee's Summit happily anticipating the joy of
watching my granddaughter preform with no need to worry about costume
changes, hair up do's or tousled curls. Unfortunately as soon as I
arrived at Coryn's I realized that things were not as they should be.
I asked Ava Claire where her costumes were. Oh she was waiting for me
to help her pick it out! I couldn't believe that this had not been
worked out days ago! Coryn explained that because of Covid 19 they
were not required to buy costumes this year and that basically they
were running through their routines in the parking lot outside the
dance studio to ensure social distancing. So Ava Claire and I looked
through her dresses and chose a pale pink one with lots of sequins
which looked the most like a ballet dress to me. I then looked at her
recently bobbed hair and said we needed something to make it more
special. She pulled out a hodge podge of hair accessories from her
bathroom drawer – none of which were appropriate in Grandma's eyes
until she found a princess tiara. Relieved I took her to Coryn to see
what she had planned for hair and make-up. She thought maybe she
could flip her hair up or down? We headed into Coryn's bathroom only
to discover that she had forgotten to plug in the curling iron! I was
getting a little panicky as we were getting close to leaving time.
Owen was sent to the potty and told to get some shoes on his feet.
Ava Claire also had her ballet shoes and a leotard for her acro-dance
routine – Coryn shoved them into a plastic grocery sack. I was
horrified and immediately ran to Ava Claire's room for her bejewelled
back pack. I explained to Coryn that her daughter was going to be so
out of place – every other Mother would be bringing her best dance
Mom game! Coryn applied some pink lipstick to Ava Claire's mouth but
no eye makeup or blusher. Owen was still sitting on the toilet
trying to poop so Grandma shouted down the stairs for him to hurry it
up as my bowels were getting active with this total lack of
organization.
We got to our destination and found
the place virtually empty. I suggested that Coryn might want to check
in with one of the instructors – she had the wrong time. We were
half- an- hour early. Well thankfully we at least got a front row
seat under the shade of a canopy. Coryn mumbles something about not
checking the text and let the kids get blue slushies and cotton candy
to help pass the time! Of course I was horrified that Ava Claire
might drip blue ice all over her dress and attacked their blue sticky
faces with good old fashioned Grandma spit on a tissue found in my
prepared for anything purse. Coryn seems totally unconcerned by the
near disaster as I make it quite clear that I would never have
allowed such a thing and could she please note that all the other
mothers were weighed down with garment bags, wheeled suitcases with
dance motifs and bags of paraphernalia. I mutter how glad she must be
that I didn't allow that grocery sack : Coryn dismisses this by
claiming that all these mothers have their kids enrolled in the
competition squads – of which she wants no part!
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| Ava Claire with the Disney Princesses at her dance recital |
Finally the kids start dancing and all
goes well – apart from the fact that Owen keeps needing to go to
the rest room – four times in two hours. I question the wisdom of
that second slushy of course. Ava Claire does well in her ballet
routine despite the fact that some of the class is dressed in Disney
Princess costumes – why isn't my granddaughter I ask. Coryn states
that Ava Claire didn't want to wear her neon green Tiana costume as
she no longer has any interest in that stuff. She likes short shorts
and short tops! Many routines later Ava Claire's class appears for
their acro-dance routine and all goes well until Ava Claire realizes
that she has missed her solo moment to shine and so she floods the
sidewalk stage with tears as she is comforted by the staff. There is
a brief pause and then it is announced that the studio strongly
believes in second chances so they are going to run through the
previous number again. A beaming Ava Claire nails her solo and is the
best performer in my totally unbiased opinion - but really is this
not just encouraging a crying fit every time something goes wrong.
This would never have happened at Top Hatters!
Over Memorial Day Weekend I went
shopping for the first time in weeks! As you may remember Kay and
Richard had moved into their new home over Easter weekend and they
were very anxious to do some furniture shopping. But of course all
the furniture stores were closed for weeks until finally Nebraske
Furniture Mart re-opened that Saturday. They asked me to help them
pick out their new furniture and since I am so splendidly located
they picked me up on the way to our shopping spree. The parking lot
was packed and we worried that we were going to have to wait outside
in the heat and humidity to be allowed inside the store to shop due
to social distancing rules. But we walked right in and were surprised
to find lots of customers without face masks! Thank goodness they are
now mandatory everywhere in the Kansas City Metro but just think how
much better the situation would have been if the entire country had
masked up from day one!
We decided to shop for an cream sofa
for the living room, a color we all agreed would work the best and we
must have sat on every cream sofa in the store when by some miracle
we all thought one model would work best in the space, it was
comfortable and bargain priced. Unfortunately it was no longer
available but we were able to buy the floor model at an even bigger
discount. We spent some time looking for a coffee table and side
tables, lamps and finally a king size bed , night stands and a couple
of chests of drawers, one vertical, one horizontal and we finally
found a padded headboard and bed frame that Kay was very keen to have
and then picked out some co-coordinating pieces to match. We also
found a cute ottoman for their family room but despite spending hours
searching we didn't find the tables to complete the living room. So
Kay and I shopped a few more stores in the weeks following and
finally found some at Pier One. Fortunately Richard was with us that
day and we were using my car as their SUV was full of other
furniture. Richard thought we would have to make a couple of trips to
get the three table in my car but I was determined, folding down two
of the three back seats, placing the big coffee table in first and
then several attempts to fit in the two smaller side tables when it
was decided that Kay could hold one of them in her lap! Where there
is a will there is a way, I remember when I shoved a twin size
mattress into a Ford Focus Marc!
We had our first family get together on
Sunday May 24th to celebrate Ava Claire's 7th
birthday. Her Aunt and Uncle from the Lake of the Ozarks drove up
with their daughter to celebrate with us so that made for a crowd of
seventeen! Ava Claire had wanted to have her party outdoors but the
weather was so oppressively hot that for the most part we had to be
indoors with the air conditioning!
We had another family get together over
at Sean and Sarah's for the 4th July. Josh and Sean smoked
a 13 lb brisket for the occasion, and I made my traditional holiday
flag cake and fudge. Unfortunately the Logues missed this gathering
as they were spending the holiday with Jeremy's family. But we all
got together for a barbecue at Kay and Richards recently to enjoy
their new home! And of course I have had my Kansas City family
spending quite a bit of time at my house too! One afternoon Coryn,
Kay, Sarah and I enjoyed fun in the sun with the kids as they
enjoyed that water table I mentioned previously as well as my new toy
for them this year, a splash pad!
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| Liam and Emmy Lou |
Speaking of Ming-Lee he is doing so
well as we approach the two year mark since his brain cancer
diagnosis! He is definitely an outlier! This summer he has been
spending a lot of time with Claudia as she is flying high these days
literally! Just made her first solo flight! So proud of her! The Indy
Lowe's have made the most of their time together due to Covid 19 and
all four of them worked together on a home improvement project,
assembly line style – new window shutters! Wouldn't we all love to
have that team working on a project at our house? But of course
impossible due to the pandemic!
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| Love a girl who knows how to use power tools Claudia! |
Well time to cheer myself up be
watching the nightly news which I can now do without aerial
gymnastics as Josh has rigged my indoor antennas up outside and
drastically improved my reception!I did ask if they would survive
outdoors but he seemed to think it a silly question – like all the
dare I ask him questions I pose. Love to you all
from your sitting comfortably in front of the television these days,
Mother.
