THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER; VOLUME 160                                                   MAY 2025

Dear Readers, 

              CONGRATULATIONS TO CLAUDIA ON HER COLLEGE GRADUATION!!!!

Lori, graduate Claudia and Blake

On May 17th Claudia received her BS in Forensic Chemistry and her BA in Chemistry! She and Lori are headed to Vietnam this coming weekend to kick off their trip celebrating this accomplishment! We are all so proud of Claudia and wishing her every success as she embarks on her career in the coming months! Lori and Claudia are planning on being in Kansas City over the 4th July! 

Congratulations Claudia!

Lori and Claudia enjoying dinner at a French restaurant!

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It’s only mid May and already the heat and humidity have driven me indoors to sit and compose my meant to be  monthly newsletter which is more of a quarterly event nowadays due to the ever increasing demands on my time and energy. As I have noted before I see a definite correlation between the tempestuous rule of Trump and our very unpredictable weather! We have endured torrential Spring rains, extreme winds and great temperature fluctuations from extreme cold to extreme heat in a matter of days! I am in a constant tailspin as I try to keep an even keel through the challenges of ever changing weather and the Trump regime! 

My garden is a riot of Spring color, bursting with iris blooms, peonies, weiglas, roses and columbines. How I wish their  blooms would last longer than a couple of weeks but I have my penstemons, cone flowers, clematis,and bee balms to anticipate!  I am sure my children will all appreciate the photographs of my garden! Ming Lee was my only son to insist on a garden tour with his mother when he visited  and to congratulate me on all the grass I have dug up to plant more and more flower beds!

I hosted Easter this year and was very excited about the robotic bunnies I had purchased for the youngest grandchildren- knowing how much they, and especially  Lochan, love that wretched robotic cat that Marc gifted me. My enthusiasm for these bunnies led me to sort through my fabric stash and sew five bunny bags for the kids to gift the bunnies in and use for the Easter Egg Hunt. Never before had I put so much effort into an Easter project and I was positively twitching with excitement anticipating  the children's delight at the sight of five bunnies chasing around my house! But one phone call from Marc ruined my beautiful Easter dream and nearly turned it into a nightmare! In the course of our conversation Marc excitedly  informed me that an Easter parcel was on its way to Sean and Sarah’s house containing four robotic bunnies - exact duplicates of mine in brand and color choices!  Mother’s tail lost its fluff, , my nose twitched, my eyes watered and I went into full panic mode. Grandma was not going to be upstaged by Uncle Marc! I made it quite clear that my bunnies would be presented first on Easter Sunday and that his might possibly be gifted later in the day - surprise cousins from California perhaps!  Thanking Marc for ruining my Easter surprise I immediately texted Sean and Sarah to let them know of Marc’s  impending delivery of my Easter bunnies and gave strict instructions that they were to be withheld until mine had been distributed! However I strongly suspect that Sean (not Sarah) had actually let them open Marc’s present beforehand because Emmy Lou informed me that she already had a pink bunny just like the one I gave her - only it didn't do anything because daddy had not put the batteries in yet! 

Bunny face front

Bunny tail back

We had to have the Easter Egg hunt inside due to torrential rain  but the kids seemed to enjoy it just as much, racing from the upstairs to the downstairs basement in search of the hundred or so eggs I had hidden! Cillian was still looking for eggs two hours after the hunt, he loved it so much! Richard’s parents, and Sarah’s parents joined us for the day too so we had quite a large gathering! I set out a luncheon buffet and set up another dining table in my living room to accommodate all fourteenof us!

Liam wih his bunny

Cillian, Emmy Lou. Lochlan

Cllian

Alex and Lochlan with their white bunnies!

Owen has been doing well at flag football this year  and so invited me to a Saturday afternoon game to witness his prowess on the field, It  was a chilly, windy afternoon  and I was glad I had bought a jacket! It may have been cold watching on the sidelines but the game warmed up fast ! Owen’s coach became very hot under the collar when he claimed that the opposing team were verbally taunting and physically brutalizing his boys. I must admit that the other team were much taller and much beefier than Owen’s team but I didn’t personally hear or see anything - probably because I was giving my total concentration  to spotting my grandon among his look alike teammates in their matching uniforms! Coryn helpfully suggested I focus on his socks- the only distinguishing part of his clothings-  forgetting that with my vision I could barely keep the ball in sight!

Jeremy is the assistant coach for the team and found himself cast into the role of referee once the head coach became verbally abusive towards the referees and the opposing team coaches. Jeremsy stayed calm,talked the coach down and play resumed. I thought to myself that if the coach became this upset about a game between nine to ten year old boys how would he handle a game at the high school level?  But it wasn’t long before another incident - involving a player who I think was  his son- occurred. The coach claimed that his son’s ear was nearly ripped off and wuold necessitate a trip to the hospital for treatment. I think he believed that the referee’s were at fault for not doing a better job of imposing penalties on the other team throughout the game to prevent such an incident!

 Meanwhile the injured boy whose ear still looked to be firmly attached to his head with no  noticeable  bleeding seemed more upset about his father's over the top outburst than he was by his injury!! Once again Jeremy tried to calm the coach down, attempting to walk him off the field again only to have the coach turn  and attempt to rush the referees. He was promptly surrounded and escorted off the field and told to leave the facility.. I have sat through hundreds of ball games in my life but have never witnessed so much drama - not even at State Championship Soccer Matches!

 Jeremy had done a stellar job of trying to diffuse the situation,and took over the team for the remainder of the game  and I was thrilled to watch Owen score the one and only touchdown of the game for his team! The other team easily won but the biggest loser was definitely the coach who lost it on the field, embarrassing himself, his team and his son who continued to play after his fathers ejection.

March and April were busy months for me!  I spent five days with Ava Claire and Owen whilst their parents were on a trip to Lake Tahoe, Nevada and we spent a couple of days at my house and a couple at theirs! I had five grandchildren for a sleepover one night! Even made cinnamon rolls for breakfast! Then we had days off for parent teacher conferences, Spring Break. and over a week with Liam, Lochlan, and Cillian when they developed Hand, Foot and Mouth disease for the second time in less than six months!

Ava Claire and Owen flying parachutes on a windy day

Five kids sleepng over at Grandma's house!

Cinnamon roles for breakfast!

Sarah and Sean attended a wedding in St. Louis, the last weekend in March and took the three oldest along but left Cilian with me figuring he was a bit young to be a guest!  He is a very easy child - as long as he is in charge of the television remote! Kay and Richard invited us over for lunch that Sunday to finally see their new house that they have been remodelling for months! I buckled Cillian in a car seat and followed directions to their new house which is even closer to my house than their previous home. It is right off a major street like mine so they are close to lots of shopping and restaurants!The house reminds me of Ming and Lori’s multi- level home in Indianapolis having about five different levels! This house has much more room to entertain in, and has a deck and patio for outdoor gatherings! Our Kansas City family all got to experience their new house as once again Kay and Richard hosted an amazing Mother's Day Brunch!

Sarah, Sean and oldest kids wedding ready in St Louis

Talking of house moving, the Remsburgs are happily settled into their new home and Kay, Richard and Alex will be their first family guests! They are visiting over the Memorial weekend! I am sure that over the next few months most of the family will have vacationed in their spacious new home with an amazing looking swimming pool!

Callie and Miles the dog enjoying their new pool

Ray and Callie hanging out in the hot tub

The Remsburgs, Marc, Bryn and Gabby will be visiting KC in late July, early August so that will be a fun family time for those of you who can make it!  Thank goodness we didn’t plan our usual family reunion for this Memorial Day as the weather is nothing like previous years! Lots of wind, rain, thunderstorms and cool temperatures! I have even had to turn my heat back on after switching over to air conditioning earlier in the month!!

Three of my friends - for over forty years- will be visiting me soon, Evelyn and Sherry will be driving from Fort Madson and Becky will be flying from Savannah! This will be our first visit together since the Covid Pandemic! We will have so much  catching up to do! I am sure we will be drinking tea and sipping wine long into the night! Love from your mother who finds her family and friends to be precisely my cup of tea.

Lochlan, Liam and Cillian in a secret spot in Grandma's garden

Another good hiding spot

 THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER:    VOLUME 159                                   FEBRUARY 2025

Dear Children, Family and Friends,  

This morning I ignored my alarm, choosing to stay in my warm, cosy bed until my coffee craving kicked in: some time later I pulled on my robe, played footsie with my slippers, shuffled into the kitchen , filled the coffee maker with water, the filter with carefully measured coffee grounds, grabbed a breakfast bar from the pantry and  settled myself on the sofa to watch the news on the TV whilst I scrolled through my Ipad apps. The aroma of coffee lured me back into the kitchen to pour myself a made to perfection cup of coffee only to see that said coffee was cascading over my kitchen countertop  and streaming across my floor! I had forgotten to put the coffee pot back on the machine. I brewed another pot of coffee whilst I cleaned up the mess. This was not the sort of start that a non morning person  needs for their day.

Once dressed, I ventured out into the back yard to fill up my state of the art Bird Buddy feeder but my attention was drawn away from the task at hand  by the alarming sight of  one of my evergreen trees that was  deathly brown : my loss of focus caused me to trip  over a large tomato cage that I had thrown from the deck the previous day - intending to eventually store it back under the deck. Bird seed was everywhere but in the feeder.  I decided it might be fortuitous to put the tomato cages away before I tried to fill the bird feeder again! I grabbed the cages and headed under the deck completely forgetting that it was necessary to duck one’s head in order to avoid being on a collision course with a beam. I hoped the blow to my head might knock some sense into me! I retreated to my sofa and decided that my bruised head and ego needed a very quiet day to heal. This was not the day for me to take down my dead tree with the chainsaw - I would probably cut off my limbs rather than the trees with my luck !Thus I decided that the best activity for me today was to write my newsletter!

The Christmas season started well. I enjoyed an evening excursion to the Kansas City Zoo with Sarah, Sean and my four grandchildren, marveling at the many beautifully lighted displays known as GloWild. It featured Disney Princess Movies, Jurassic Park and a Grinch that hijacked our train ride through the displays much to the children’s delight.. I immediately realized that my outdoor Christmas lighting display  was woefully inadequate and shared with Sarah my plans for uplighting my trees next year - a comment she took to heart by presenting me with a large number of outdoor  solar lights for Christmas!

 My Christmas Eve  buffet of every frozen hor’s d'oeuvres imaginable from Sam’s Club prepared in my kitchen with help from Sean and Jeremy to man my air fryer and two ovens that it took to cook it all went well and as always our gift exchange was great fun until one child decided that they wanted to play with another’s gift and then of course mayhem ensued! I have to say that Jeremy gave me a gift that I would have expected from Marc - a resin  dog with a solar powered lighted snail on its back,  kissing a baby chick ! Totally bizarre but of course it will join all the other ghastly garden ornaments my children have gifted me over the years! 

Jeremy's imaginative gift to me!

Sarah, Coryn, me, Sean and Jeremy

Grandma with Emmy Lou, Ava, Liam, Cillian ,Owen and Lochlan

Christmas Day dawned and I realized that I was not feeling that great and by mid afternoon I decided that I was not well enough to go  to Sarah and Sean’s for dinner. Sean insisted on dropping off food for me with a couple of the kids and as it turned out that was my last meal for a few days! That night I threw up once, developed a cough, and clogged sinuses! Sean informed me that a couple of the kids had done so too:  the next day he tested positive for Covid!  Once again our family had given each other Covid for Christmas! This time I lost my sense of taste and smell for a couple of weeks and it was interesting to only focus on the texture of the food in my mouth! It took me a couple of weeks to stop coughing but Sarah developed severe sinus infections that did not clear up despite antibiotics.  A medical scan of her sinuses showed that she would require surgery as her sinuses were so congested that drainage was not possible.  She also was diagnosed with a deviated septum which could be corrected in the same surgery. 

Sarah scheduled her procedures  on a Friday as I usually have the three boys that day at my house. This enabled Sean to take her to and from her surgery..I actually also had the pleasure of Emmy Lou’s company that day too as she had a cough and slight fever that meant she could not attend Kindergarten., She had succumbed to yet another virus that had spread through the boys! I already had had Lochlan and Cillian spend some sick days with me in the previous couple of weeks with the same symptoms

Fortunately Sarah sailed through her surgery returning to my house afterwards to nap for a few hours. As usual we had dinner and then I bathed the kids, got them into pajamas.  Emmy Lou and Lochlan spent the night with me  whilst Cillian and Liam went home with their parents. I had offered to keep Liam too but he had a Martial Arts Exam to earn a higher level belt  at 7:45 am the following morning!  Emy Lou amazed me when she announced that she was not going to sleep in my room but upstairs by herself because she didn't want me to catch her germs - even though she had been cuddling with me all day! I fully expected her to crawl into my bed along with Lochlan all night but she made it all through the night! Ava Claire was ten before she would sleep upstairs alone!.

Emmy Lou and Liamset up a zoo in the hallway

Cillian and Lochlan in the kithen with playdough

Lori and Kay also underwent medical procedures around the same time, Loi had reconstructive surgery after several months of healing from her previous double mastectomy. Kay and Richard have been undergoing IVF procedures for several months but unfortunately it did not result in the hoped for pregnancy.. They have recently added a new furry girl named Luna to their household - she is an adorable looking Yorkshire Terrier! 

Marc and Bryn have been feeling the heat and choking on the smoke out in LA. Bryn’s girlfriend Gabby had to evacatefrom her home in Santa Monica to Bryn’s place in Silverlake. Since this time Bryn has managed to lease a home in the Hollywood Hills that once belonged to Weird Al Yankovic - not sure if that is a good thing or not!. Frankly I was amazed that he was able to do so at this time because of the thousands of people who have lost their homes to the fires! The real estate market must be very low on inventory! also suffered through the Shingles at this time - in  his thirties! I am sure it was triggered by all the stress of  life in LA! I just hope his new home does not get demolished by a mudslide!

Trump has accomplished so much in his first month: who knew a vote for Trump was really a vote for  Elon Musk? The Gulf of Mexico has been renamed to the Gulf of America, the Panama Canal is soon to become a colony of the USA ,the Gaza Strip is going to become the Vegas Strip courtesy of Trump's real estate empire and Greenland our Winter Wonderland. And the amazing thing is that Trump thinks he can just take over all this real estate because he is the President of the USA!  Reminds me of British Imperialism.  But wasn’t  this country   populated by Europeans tired of being ruled by Royalty who worked and  taxed their people to death?

Trump claims that we will not be paying a penny (probably because he is also abolishing that coin) for any of these prime acquisitions  and envisions beautiful real estate developments that  will  be affordable to only the multi millionaires among us.He has Elon Musk cutting  expenditures to the bone in all government departments so that all our taxes can  be diverted away from government programs - that are a lifeline for millions of Americans - to finance his fantasies.

My biggest disappointment so far this year was definitely the Superbowl: witnessing our humiliating loss to the Philadelphia Eagles who took control of the game from kick off to the final whistle .But in all fairness the Chiefs have won all their games this season by just one score and did not dominate the field in any game. And a lot of players that were  drafted  this season failed to connect with Mahomes in key moments so I am sure that there will be a lot of roster changes in the team’s future! Even the halftime show was not worth watching this year! 

Gandma made fleece beanies to support the Chiefs!

Alex with his hat!

This has been the coldest winter with far more snow than usual.. Weather conditions have caused so many days of school cancellations - although my children never seem to have any difficulty in driving over to Grandma’s house  with their offspring on these days!  And they can also pull into a snow free driveway and send their children running on my snow free  pathway to my front door thanks to the snow angels in my cul de sac who get out their snow blowers and shovels as soon as the flakes fly! 

Love from your stone cold mother who only has to drink in the presence of her grandchildren to feel warm all over!