Mother's Newsletter Blog: February 2024

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 154 FEBRUARY 2024

Dear Readers.

2024 is off to a very busy start! Sarah and Sean have had difficulty in finding a reliable babysitter for months so I have been helping out more than usual. To further strain an already stressful situation they have been sick with coughs, runny noses, stomach upsets and ear infections for weeks. Sean unfortunately developed tonsillitis, and an ear infection which rendered him useless for a few days as he slept as much as possible battling a high fever, chills and a lot of discomfort. This coincided with a planned family outing to a performance of Disney on Ice at the T Mobile Center in Kansas City ‘s Power and Light District where parking and traffic can be a nightmare! Sarah valiantly took Emmy Lou, Liam and Lochlan without back- up! Try squeezing into a potty stall with three kids; leave alone getting them in and out of car seats in a tight parking space, then grasping all those little hands as you dash across packed streets to reach the TMobile Center. Fortunately all three kids were very well behaved and loved the show!. I looked after Cilian at my house so Sean could rest in peace in his own bed at home, using two thermometers to check (frequently) the accuracy of his temperature reading to keep us updated!

Liam 3, Emmy Lou 5, and Lochlan 2 enjoying a pre-show snack!

I have had less time to devote to my ongoing home improvement plans since many extra hours weekly have been consumed by caring for my grandchildren but I have managed to paint all of the spindles around the stairwell upstairs and have painted all the dark woodwork in one bedroom cream too!

Before he fell sick Sean had inspected my walls for cracks and patched them for me so I have also been painting over these repairs to render them virtually invisible to the naked eye - well mine at least , cataracts and bifocals perhaps blinding me to the reality of my painting skills!

Unfortunately while putting away Christmas decorations in early January I noticed a crack in my concrete foundation wall in the storage room and promptly called a foundation expert out to inspect the issue. I spent days re-organizing the mass of mess stored in my basement to ensure that there were no more cracks. I was advised to fill the crack with caulk to see if that cracked : a method to determine if the crack was old or new apparently. The inspector will return in Spring to decide whether or not I need about ten thousand dollars worth of steel piers sunk fifteen feet into the ground under my house! Unfortunately I think this may well be necessary! The drought has caused the clay my house sits on to pull away from the foundation - just like thousands of others in our area .Thus all the cracks in my drywall.

For a few days between Christmas and New Year’s Day we greatly enjoyed having the Indy Lowes with us! Lori, Blake and Claudia arrived at my house for a welcome supper with all the Kansas City family in attendance. It turned into a major celebration for the kids as their aunt and cousins showered them with presents! There was a lot of family togetherness over the next few days - Lori especially enjoyed snuggling with her nieces and nephews while Blake and Claudia had cousins glued to them for their entire stay! We really loved having this time with them and feel sure that Ming Lee was with us in spirit, knowing how much he would love all the noise and chaos of our family get together.

Claudia and Lori snugling with Liam

Claudia reading with Emmy Lou and Liam

Lori and Blake only had about a week back in Indianapolis before they left on a trip to New Zealand to celebrate Blake’s graduation! They posted some amazing photos of their trip on facebook documenting whale watching, hiking, stargazing, wine tasting, enjoying delicious cuisine and their visits to the Waikato glowworm caves and Hobbiton of Lord of the Rings movie fame. Blake's favorite experience was flying in a small plane over Mount Cook National Park and landing on a glacier. No way would I emulate this feat and kudos to Lori for doing it with Blake!

Mimosa time!

Blake landing on the Glacier with Lori in that tiny plane!

Shortly after their return they flew to Seattle and Blake is now settled into his own apartment - fully furnished with his mother’s help- and he is adjusting to his new surroundings and job at SpaceX very well! I am sure a visit from Uncle Marc and Uncle Bryn is imminent.

Marc is actually extremely busy with two substantial court cases - one of which is already underway in downtown LA where Marc is staying in a hotel to avoid the daily commute from his condo. Marc called me one night before his trial began to admit that his new electric car was not exactly fitting his needs like his old BMW -recently totaled by a drunken, uninsured, illegal alien - into which he could load many file boxes and a handcart to transfer all the boxes into the courthouse. I questioned the need for all this paperwork since everything is seemingly computerized these days but Marc said all his associates would be bringing numerous boxes too as they still needed the paper copies! I asked if his hand cart folded down -that was the problem - it didn’t and thus hung out of the trunk. I thought I had the whole problem solved when I suggested that he might want to order a folding one on Amazon but that was only one issue.

Marc was also having to drive a considerable distance a couple of days weekly to work on another case and his car was barely able to make the round trip on one charge. I reminded Marc that I had suggested a hybrid vehicle might work better for him than an electric one but as usual he did not heed mothers advice.He was contemplating buying a second vehicle. I suggested that he might want to trade his virtually brand new electric car in for a hybrid and thus save himself the cost of owning two cars - one of which would have to be parked at his law office as he only has one garage space at his condo which he needs to charge his electric car.

Marc’s next phone call to me was to let me know that he was now the proud owner of a 2003 gas guzzling Saab with over 100,000 miles on the odometer and it apparently needed some minor repairs! I asked Marc if he had consulted Bryn before making this rash purchase but apparently Byn was too busy with his girlfriend, Gaby, to steer Marc away from this accident waiting to happen. But Marc assured me that it fit all his boxes and handcart. I later learned that the repairs needed cost half the car’s purchase price - but Marc is no longer worried about transporting his legal paperwork to the LA courthouse. It seems to me that he has one vehicle that runs on batteries for limited mileage and another car that’s mileage suggests it may well stall out on an LA freeway at any moment!

The Remsburgs have been busy hosting family members recently.. Josh spent several weeks with them in December and January and his visit overlapped with Ming-Jon’s and the weather was warm enough in Orlando to enjoy the pool. This month the Logues went for a few days but unfortunately they did not have pool weather for their visit. Craig was working in Saudi Arabia so I am sure that Lesle Ann was glad to have Coryn and Jeremy to help out with Ray and Callie whom I am sure were delighted to have Ava Claire and Owen to do things with like exploring a Safari Park!

Josh and Ray watching Craig, Callie and Ming-Jon in the pool

Unfortunately we recently lost two very aged furry family members shortly before Christmas. Ollie was a beautiful red haired miniature poodle puppy when I first met him. We still lived in Fort Madison at the time and Coryn had driven from Kansas City to show off her new love. He was a very sweet dog but definitely had “issues”. Olie would not cross streets, walk over a manhole cover or walk across a bridge. He would hit the ground with all four limbs spread eagled and refuse to move- he would have to be carried across the obstacle! Such a very high strung dog was fortunate to have had a psychologist for his owner! Despite his nervous disposition Ollie lived for nineteen years which is very old for a dog!

Coryn with a very young Ollie!

Butterscotch was a starving stray that was rescued by Ming, Lori, Blake and Claudia over sixteen years ago at their lake house in Crawfordsville. They deided to bring her back to their Indy house and in a vey short time she went from being a strictly outdoor cat, to a cat with a heated bed in the garage to the queen of the household where she ruled every nook and cranny of the house.In her later years she developed diabetes and Lori devotedly gave her daily insulin injections. These pets were definitely beloved family members!

I am still in shock over the Chiefs win at the Superbowl this year. I have to confess that earlier in the season I doubted my team would even qualify for the playoffs - but we did and suddenly the team upped their game and our receivers were catching balls they had missed, dropped or fumbled all season long! It was an amazing accomplishment and something so positive for our entire Chief’s Kingdom - until the day of the victory parade and the senseless gun fire that caused the death of an innocent bystander and injuries to twenty two others. Thankfully the teenage perpetrators were immediately arrested and hopefully their parent’s will be charged for allowing their children to carry guns and shoot at will in our city. I will never understand this country’s gun laws.

I have daffodils and crocus blooming in my garden and see that many of my trees are budding! I just hope we do not have another polar plunge back into sub zero temperatures like we did a few weeks ago.I had my faucets dripping for days to avoid frozen pipes. Today we almost hit eighty degrees!

Thanks to the generosity of my children I realized that I never have a moment of feeling lonely like so many senior citizens. Alexa and my cell phone wake me up every morning; Alexa beeps and flashes lights at me throughout the day with updates about my Chiefs, national news and the weather. Sometimes she will randomly ask if I would like her to add anything to my Amazon shopping list or sign up for another service. She also turns some lights on and off for me, plays music and connects with my television.. My Ring doorbell sends alerts to my phone which makes a sound like a steam train, my phone and smartwatch vibrate and beep with every text. Sometimes I find myself pressing buttons on all my devices in a frantic effort to silence all the noise!

Love to you all from your hi-tech Mother!