Volume 84

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 84 MAY 2013

Dear Readers,

April flew by thankfully as it was a very cold, wet and dreary month and May was ushered in with a record breaking snowfall which almost broke my gardening spirit. Fortunately we finally have sun and warmth and my garden is in full bud just waiting to bloom forth – rather like Coryn. We are now just about four weeks away from her due date of June 12^th.

Leslee-Ann and Craig visited us in mid April for a few days. Josh picked them up at the airport on a Thursday morning and decided to have a little fun with mother on their drive home. They were running late so I called Josh to ask if they had stopped to eat or something. When Josh answered the phone he sounded as if death was imminent. He didn't know if they had arrived as he was still in bed, too sick to move. I immediately went into full mother in a crisis mode. I told him that I would call Leslee and Craig to see if they were waiting curbside for him, explain the situation, then find someone to stay with Norm while I raced to pick them up or see if one of the kids could take a long lunch hour to fetch them. I also assured Josh that I would be flying down I435 to take care of him once Leslee and Craig arrived to stay with Norm. His voice sounded so weak I was convinced that he was terribly dehydrated and probably on the verge of lapsing into a coma – all my fears of the nasty bugs he might have picked up on his travels came flooding back to me. Then as my bowels begin churning Josh had a miraculous recovery and offered to put Craig on the phone. Why do I always fall for these stories?

Leslee took over as soon as she arrived. She, Craig and I headed to the Hen House where she shopped for all the groceries they needed to fix several meals. Leslee is very touchy feelie when it comes to the produce aisle: every vegetable or fruit was poked, prodded or squeezed to test for ripeness. By the time she had selected her tomatoes I would have shopped every aisle and been headed to the self checkout. I asked Craig if she was always like this – Craig confessed that he would do almost anything to avoid shopping with her. He escaped the produce aisle by offering to hunt for other items on her list through out the store .I frankly don't remember ever grocery shopping with Leslee in her younger years – in fact I suspect she probably made it all through college without ever fixing a meal. When we made it to the cash register we had dueling credit cards: Leslee won.

Another interesting fact I noted was that a butcher behind the meat counter hollered at Leslee and me when we were several yards away up another aisle to see if we needed any help. Now I have shopped at this store at least once a week since we moved to Kansas and no-one has ever asked me if I needed any help! The same thing happens with Coryn. We went to see a musical at one of the downtown theaters months ago before Coryn was visibly pregnant and immediately an usher appeared to escort her to her seat, leaving me behind to fend for myself! I didn't notice any other little old ladies getting escorted to their seats either. The same thing happens on planes – male passengers leap to their feet to heft her suitcase into the overhead bins while I struggle with mine!

Coryn took Friday off work so that she could spend time with her sister and Craig. Josh - who is off work permanently at this time it seems - was also around a lot so we played a few rounds of the game Bananagrams that Lainee introduced us to and Quiddler. When Bryn and Sean were around we broke out more family games. Norm never plays but enjoys listening to all our bantering and the kids giving me a hard time .One night they all headed to Barley's – a nearby restaurant /bar. They met up with an old Aquinas school friend, Josh Dinwiddie and his wife who have recently moved here.

On Saturday morning the guys went to play basketball while Leslee and I stayed with Norm. After lunch the boys returned and stayed with Norm while Leslee and I shopped and got our nails done. Unfortunately I got talked into gel nails and have spent over a week trying to remove the polish with very little success despite following the instructions on the web. I think I am going to have to pay someone to take the gel polish off! Never again.

As you all know your dad has been having more health issues of late. We have had several instances of days of fruit punch colored urine, blood in his underwear and pain. One weekend I had to irrigate your dad's bladder through his catheter tubing three times. I never expected to find myself shooting your dad up with a huge syringe full of liquid! After consulting with a couple of his doctor's we have decided to move ahead with Hospice care. It has been a very difficult decision as we have been very happy with our present home health group but they do not offer in home hospice care. Hospice does a great job with pain control which has become an issue for your dad lately.

Mother's Day was very special again this year. All my children called, sent cards, or presents. The doorbell rang early Sunday morning so I rushed to open it in my nightie, thinking it had to be one of my children not having any idea of the time. It was a delivery guy balancing a gift box containing a beautiful flower arrangement, a fresh baked loaf of bread and a cheese assortment. The guy wished me a nice day to which I replied it would be now as I grabbed my gift and I thought the vision of me in my nightie had just guaranteed him a nice day too! No sniggers or comments children!I grabbed my glasses to see who had sent my gift and saw that it was from Leslee and Craig. I also saw that it was only eight O'clock in the morning so I decided to go back to bed since it was my special day. I had just nestled myself in next to your snoring dad and the purring cat when the doorbell rang again. This time FedEx delivered chocolate covered strawberries and a trio of cheese cakes from Marc. Amazingly Marc admitted during a later in the day phone call that he had been prompted by a radio ad rather than his boss or one of his siblings into doing something for his all too soon to be moving in Mom. At this point I decided I might as well stay up in case another delivery came my way. Towards lunchtime Josh, Bryn and Sean arrived with bags of groceries to fix a barbecue steak and chicken lunch which we enjoyed eating on the deck. They were soon joined by Coryn and Jeremy with the boys. They contributed some sides and several ice-cream/candy bar treats.

Remember the flock of birds I made for Coryn and Jeremy's nursery? Coryn decided to check out my supply of tree branches and espied some she thought would work in a pile of branches on my neighbors side of the fence so I found myself bent in two over the fence trying to wrestle her chosen branches free, hoping my neighbor wasn't watching my antics to steal his trash! Coryn explained that it was my duty to contort myself into a pretzel as she couldn't even get close to the fence, leave alone bend over it with her baby bump. This done we headed out through my new garden gate to Quivera where she found some just laying on the ground that she liked better! I made her take the lot home with her as I was not going to throw the branches back over the fence. Guess who is probably going to be stuck with the job of hanging the branches and perching the birds on them?

Kay graduates from Tufts this weekend with a bachelors degree (Cum Laude) in Chinese and Clinical Psychology.She will be arriving in Kansas City for a few days in early June for her orientation into the Teach America program and will then spend most of the summer training in Tulsa, Oklahoma until school starts here. We are so excited to have another family member so close.

Sean has handed in his notice at work and plans to follow in Joshua's footsteps by exploring the world. He is also trying to sell his condo .Josh has been helping him to clean it up and is now helping Bryn ready his house for sale too. I can only hope that my house will be the next beneficiary of Joshua's handyman skills. I have lots of projects!Knowing Josh he will probably take off on another adventure or maybe totally surprise me by finding a job. I am now the mother of three unemployed sons. Ming-Jon is very actively looking for a new one so I hope he finds one very soon. When Coryn goes on maternity leave half my children will be unemployed! I shall have to hope that no-one asks what you all do – although I guess I could say that half of my children are embracing the concept of stopping to smell the roses – preferably at mother's house where a free meal is always available!

Ming-Lee has been adding a new floating dock at the Lake House although he may not get to enjoy it too much this summer as he will be in flight training for a few months soon as he has to learn how to fly a new plane. I think FedEx is retiring his usual type of aircraft. Hopefully he and the family will be able to get together sometimes.

Marc is very busy in court – says one of his cases made the front page of the LA Times – doubtless it's a scandal sheet. I just hope he'll net enough for our dream home overlooking the Pacific Pallisades. Then he'll have enough room for all his unemployed siblings – wouldn't it be lovely to mooch off of Marc?With that uplifting thought I must abandon you all to put out my trash,water my plants and check your dad's catheter bag to see what's growing in there now! Love your always in the dirt and blooming mother.

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER : VOLUME 83 MARCH 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

March unleashed a tornado on the land of Oz: Thursday, March 7th Norm's sister Elaine, his niece Lainee,and nephew Chenson stormed the city. Elaine and Lainee flew from San Francisco and Chenson from Boston. The eye of the storm joined forces at the Kansas City airport and landed a bull's eye on our home. They blew in with enough luggage to have one think that the contents of a jumbo jet's cargo hold had been sucked up and spit out by the tornado. All this for a four day stay I asked myself as I was ordered out of sight so that Lainee could do her “ staging”. Welcome hugs over, I hid in the kitchen, giving my big pot of chilli a stir or two whilst debating whipping up another pan of cornbread which Josh assured me was not needed. Soon I was summoned to unpack gift bags containing bath time, breakfast, lunch, supper and in between time treats, and Asian treats for Norm. I panicked as with the exception of the half dozen varieties of made from scratch cookies and candies everything else needed to be frozen or refrigerated. Would my mid- sized fridge be able to hold everything? I gave thanks that Sean had purged a lot of the contents the week before during one of his check the expiration dates of his parent's groceries compulsion - something he is compelled to do all too often. Item after item was found to be past it's use or sale by date and I witnessed a weeks worth of meals being trashed by my son.

My fridge already contained two smoked chickens, a smoked turkey breast, Canadian bacon, smoked bacon and cheddar cheese: Elaine had all these items shipped from Harringtons shortly before they arrived. Lainee had stressed repeatedly that they did not want me slaving in the kitchen, thus they had brought enough food with them to stock a food pantry. Certainly a contrast to my other family members who assume there is nothing more Mother enjoys than cooking up a storm with her own groceries.

Their arrival time coincided with our dinnertime so shortly before they arrived I decided to set the dinning room table - and immediately gave thanks that I had not waited to spread the tablecloth. A nauseating stench was coming through the cracks and crevices of my dining room window. I cursed the marauding neighborhood tom cat knowing that he had lifted his tail and sprayed my window. This sent me into a tail spin. I ran to the kitchen for paper towels, Windex, and Febreeze which I used inside and out to rid my Martha Stuart dinning room of the stench. I wish that wretched tom cat would realize that my female cats are spayed. Worse my female cats spray over his spray and then when Coryn's dogs visit they lift their legs and add a third layer. To add to my stress our guests were all allergic to cats and not at home in a house where the cats consider every chair and bed their domain. Trust me I dusted, vacuumed and washed all the bedding prior to their arrival and was ready to offer allergy medication if needed. Elaine asked me hopefully if there was one room in the house that the cats were less likely to use: unfortunately that would be the storage room with their kitty litter boxes.

Once all their food gifts had been squeezed into every nook and cranny of my fridge I suggested that we might move into the dinning room and have supper. My guests were not very hungry as Lainee had made sandwiches for them all to enjoy on the plane. Good thing that Josh wasn't with them or he would probably have tried auctioning them off to the highest bidding passenger – come to think of it someone could probably make a living flying from cost to coast with a weekender full of sandwiches and wraps now that the airlines no longer offer meals. I decided that we would eat anyway since your dad does better with a routine and my tum starts growling at five in anticipation of supper and we all know how irritable I get when my stomach is empty. .

Josh had just returned from his travels where he had a harrowing time getting out of Columbia so he entertained our guests with numerous details of his adventures. Like Josh they have all traveled much of the world so they had a mutual interest.

When Lainee and I found ourselves working together in the kitchen I thought my culinary skills might cut the mustard. To be blunt I thought Lainee, a former professional caterer, would be impressed with my new set of stainless steel knives – a promotional offer from my local grocery store- but she muttered something about her grandma not being able to abide a knife that wasn't razor sharp. I felt the jab but my stab at slicing an avocado really piqued her interest. Apparently she had never seen any one use a soup spoon to scoop out the big seed and then use it to remove the edible part, a bit like a melon baller. Unfortunately I couldn't tell whether she was amazed or dismayed. But we did cut into the wonderful assortment of English Cheeses that Lainee had found in San Francisco and enjoyed them with a glass of wine in the evening. In fact long after the rest of the household slept Lainee and I munched and drank our way into the next day throughout her visit!

Our guests spent most of Friday sightseeing, taking in The Nelson Atkins Museum, the first Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue restaurant located in a gas station, and visited Strouds where they picked up pan fried chicken and cinnamon rolls for us all to enjoy. Saturday they spent some of the morning at the largest of our local Asian grocery stores and found that we really can buy most things here needed to make authentic Chinese dishes. In the afternoon we visited Coryn and Jeremy and enjoyed a tour of their new home. Ollie and Buster were thrilled to see Grandma, especially when I pulled their treats out of my purse. Jeremy's big dogs were kept out of the way – four dogs might be overpowering for people not use to living in a dog pound.

Later that night we all had dinner together, squeezing ten of us around the dinning room table. I attempted to make this a more formal affair by using my cloth napkins and gold rimmed glasses. Any hopes of setting a higher standard were thwarted immediately when Chenson and Bryn returned with a box full of burnt ends, baked beans and cheesy corn from Jack Stacks Barbecue. I was prepared to transfer all the food to serving platters which my boys deemed a crazy idea as they cleared my centerpiece and unpacked the contents of the box onto my table. We served ourselves out of foil takeout pans. Since all our guests are “foodies” they were excited to try out the barbecue foods for which Kansas City is famous .When Coryn and Jeremy arrived with their gas station to go beverages I knew there was no hope of having any degree of sophistication once again in my Martha Stewart dinning room.

Norm was in his usual place beside me so that I could monitor his food intake and make sure it was cut into small pieces in hopes of avoiding an esophageal spasm or a seizure. We avoided the former but not the latter. I was so busy interacting with everyone else that I failed to notice your dad helping himself to more and more food and soon his system was overloaded and he went into a seizure. The boys decided to move him into the living room where we used an ice bag to cool him down while we waited for him to recover.

Chenson was a big help one night with Norm during a bedtime seizure: I was able to get Norm in bed much more quickly than I could have by myself. Being stuck in the bathroom with your out of it father is not my idea of bedtime fun.

Chenson returned to Boston on Sunday and Lainee and Elaine left the following day after another whirlwind of activity stripping all their beds, washing, drying and remaking them – not something my children often do – usually they leave the bed unmade, stuff strewn everywhere and towels draped over doors. Lainee really meant it when she said they didn't want to burden me any more than I already am with my caregiving.

Much to my amazement Lainee had bought extra of everything she had eaten – even barbecued baked beans so that her husband, Francis could sample all that she had enjoyed in Kansas City. She packaged it all up and checked it through to San Francisco. She certainly had the space since most of her arrival luggage was packed into my fridge!

Bryn spent the following weekend with Joyce, flying to Vegas and driving to LA whilst Coryn and Jeremy took one last trip before their baby( my newest grand baby) arrives to Coronado Island, near San Diego. Marc drove down to spend some time with them and confirmed that my account of his driving skills in a recent newsletter was not exaggerated.

 

Kay and a friend were in Orlando for part of their Spring Break with Leslee and Craig. The girls took a three day cruise for part of the time. Leslee posted a great picture of herself and Kay on Facebook enjoying the night life. We are so excited to be having Kay with us very soon.

Your dad and I have been following the March Madness College basket ball teams on TV, especially the Jay Hawks. I have been coaching loudly from the sofa and fortunately your dad seems to enjoy my commentary far more than my children.

Budget shortfalls have led to Ming Jon's having to find another job so we wish him luck. Fortunately he has a couple of months to do this so lets all keep our fingers crossed.

Well it's time for me to shake my cute tail and hop into the kitchen to prepare my Easter Luncheon which I hope Josh, Bryn and Sean will enjoy. Coryn and Jeremy are spending the holiday with Sheryl and Grant's family. I am sure they will be very eggcited to have our incubating chick to cluck over - she certainly has a lovely egg shaped belly .Unfortunately she has been pecking away at Jeremy demanding more upgrades to feather their nest so Jeremy has been spending what little free time he has shopping for new furniture, and decorator accents. He has married one very demanding bird –I hope he ruffles her feathers sometimes!

Your honey bunny of a mommy with eggstra love to all!  

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2013 VOLUME 82

Dear devoted readers and family members,( who are probably not among the former,)

Today is dank, downcast, and dreary: a typical English day which explains why I fled the country decades ago. Of course everything is blanketed in our second heavy snow within days and two of my kind neighbors are battling it out with their snow blowers to clear my driveway and sidewalks because they worry about my visiting nurses being able to take care of Norm and are aware that he may need an emergency medical trip at any time. Unfortunately until the street crews plow our neighborhood the only way to go is by ski or sled. One of them thought of calling city hall to get our street designated as a snow plow priority since there is no way an ambulance could make it into our cul de sac if Norm should need one. I am sure all the residents trapped in their homes would be most grateful to Norm if this transpired.

Ming Lee flew in for a quick visit last week and witnessed a senior moment with his mother. We were in the kitchen and I flipped the light switch on only to have one of my two kitchen lights come on. Ming asked if there was another switch -no I assured him as I started complaining about the high cost of these new fangled long lasting light-bulbs that hardly seem to shed any light where I need it. I muttered that they weren't that old. Ming unscrewed the fixture and took out the bulbs which looked fine but suggested we might want to try new ones so I handed a couple to him but still no light. He thought it odd that one fixture worked but the other didn't if they were on the same circuit. Again he asked me if I was sure that there wasn't another switch so in exasperation I walked over to the switch and realized that I had one switch up and one down on my dual plate. I guess I am so use to putting them both on with one flick that I had forgotten that each light had it's own switch. Ming shook his head and replaced the new light bulbs with the still fine old ones. It takes a long time for Mother to see the light sometimes. Thankfully things went better with my garden gate repair – I only found some tools for Ming to work with and tried to distract the neighbor's barking dog from his frenzied attempts to get over the fence and show Ming some affection.

We spent Ming's last evening babysitting Elena because Becky had parent/teacher conferences and Fred was out of town. Since this coincided with supper time Ming made his dad a sandwich which he raved about -using up some of the smoked turkey that he and Lori had sent us earlier in the week Elena was thrilled to have another male to flirt with. I decided to take some pictures of Ming and his dad sitting together so I was counting to three and saying cheese when Elena came up with “cheese” all by herself after the count. So cute.

Norm's sister Elaine and her daughter Lainee are visiting us for a few days in early March. They are both foodies so hopefully they'll be able to adjust to my gourmet cooking -more truck stop than Wolfgang Puck! They are renting a car at the airport so they will be able to do some sightseeing- we can always offer a tour of our homes: Coryn and Jeremy's offers a dog pound feel,Bryn 's showcases what you can find on Craig's list and Sean's pay's homage to Norm's artistic abilities.

On Saturday morning Coryn came through our door unexpectedly with a bag of sub sandwiches for our lunch and announced that while her dad was taking his afternoon nap we would drive to downtown Overland Park to shop at a fabric store that she thought might have some trendy fabrics for a mother/daughter nursery project . Earlier in the week she had sent me a link to a picture of fabric birds which she saw perched on twigs in the nursery. We made it to our destination despite all the snow but it was impossible to find a parking spot. I thought downtowns were a dying memory these days but this place was pulsating with life - each trying to beat the other to the few parking spots available. We all know how miffed Coryn gets when she can't find a spot right in front of the store she wants to shop in. She berated all the shoppers for ruining her excursion by causing us to drive in circles before we parked in the Farmer's Market parking lot. I did warn her to be mindful of the pedestrians and cars that she almost plowed into in her haste to find a spot but she mumbled something about it being one way to lessen the competition. Once inside the store we did see some great fabrics but nothing in quite the right color scheme. They had some beautiful quilts – mental note to self to bring Becky Clay on her next visit – one of which featured an abstract bird motif. Coryn immediately saw this in her nursery, in fabric to match her birds. She mentioned that she might be able to find a ready made crib skirt and bumper pad in a solid color to co-ordinate and without even thinking I said that it would look more custom to do the whole thing in like fabrics and thus committed myself to a quilt, bedding and the birds of which I initially thought there would be about five but it turned out that our Mother bird is expecting a flock!, We drove to three more fabric stores before we finally found seven fabrics in her newest color theme: the place I suggested first of course, - after Walmart which she said was an inconceivable choice for her baby. I will have to set this project up in my basement instead of the dinning room as it will take weeks to do all this work. Coryn had mentioned that it was a mother daughter project but other than picking out the fabric and design , the fun part – I seem to be left doing the actual sewing. I did mention that it would be a great time to learn to sew but as usual Coryn doesn't seem to see the point in learning to do something that her mother can do for her.

Recently we had a new development in your dad's ongoing saga of ills. As you all know he has suffered from esophageal spasms for years, particularly triggered by eating too fast and too much . Saturday night I served him roast beef au jus, rice and mushrooms . Obviously he was gulping his gourmet dinner so fast that he went into horrendous spasms producing blood curdling sound effects and liters of clear mucus. Once I grabbed some towels and a bowl for him to spew in, I researched the clear mucus which has the consistency of egg whites – no children I did not contemplate whipping it up into a batch of meringues to serve you at Sunday tea time – and found that it is another common condition with MSA. It took well over an hour for the attack to subside. The following morning Norm had a chipmunk cheek so I suspected a blocked salivary gland. I used a flashlight to check it out but his cheek was so swollen I couldn't see a thing. I gave him a piece of dental floss and told him to rub his gums with it. That was definitely putting a foreign object into his mouth for your dad- who as we all know thinks dental care is swishing with mouthwash or using left over polident solution. UGH! I had him follow up with salt water rinses and sucking an acidic candy which I found on a home remedy page on the web. It worked. By lunchtime the swelling was greatly reduced and your dad was ready to eat. Bryn and Sean were here for lunch and I explained it wasn't happening because between the dwindling contents of my snowbound fridge and your dad's health issues I was out of commission. They settled on picking up Taco Bell , just a couple of blocks away

Whilst eating lunch with the boys around the kitchen table they glanced at the deck and wondered if I wasn't worried about it collapsing under the weight of over a foot of snow. I wasn't until they bought it up. I suggested that they might want to shovel it off for me but instead they shoved off to the gym. I was left contemplating the prospect of another foot of snow and the danger of the deck collapsing and pulling the kitchen with it. I bundled up and started shoveling. Two hours later it was about done and I was done in. I worked up such a sweat that I had to take my coat off. Good job my neighbors didn't see this or they may have decided I was more than capable of clearing my own driveway!

A couple of weekends ago Norm had his first excursion since his hip replacement surgery. Coryn's former neighbors,Doris and Donny were going to see the newly weds home for the first time and since Norm especially enjoys Doris I thought it might persuade him to go. It did but unfortunately we had trouble getting him in and out of their house. He had a spell on the way out so we had to carry him in the wheel chair back into the house until he came out of it. But at least he got to see the first floor of their home and its neighborhood..

Bryn and Sean seem to have only just returned from their trek to Machu Picchu (hope you saw the great pictures and Craig's time lapse)and they are already planning a road trip to attend a bachelor party in Austin, Texas this weekend. I just hope the roads are cleared and that we have no more snow as they are driving. Bryn's renter, Adam ,is another lucky man who has found a woman to help him through life. I just hope they get enough sleep and make sure they are completely sober before they even think of driving home.

We celebrated Norm's 85thbirthday and our 38^th wedding anniversary with pizza and an ice-cream cake provided by Bryn and Joyce who was in town for a few days. Sean, Coryn and Jeremy joined the party and we were presented with a new copier/fax and scanner to replace a lot of the outdated equipment in your dad's office. I still have to set it up as my boys have such confidence in my IT skills that I was assured they didn't need to do it for me. Mother will make it work even if I have to solicit Coryn!

Ming Jon is still hoping to have his hours increased at work and keeping busy with his causes and love of the arts. Only months now until Kay will be with us in Kansas City – just in time for the baby.

Coryn and Jeremy are planning one last trip to California before they become parents, wonder if they'll see Marc? Josh will be home the day before Elaine and Lainee arrive and Leslee and Craig will be here in April.

I shall miss having Josh here for his thirty third birthday – I had seven children by this age – but I won't miss the stress of baking a custom cake. I will be so happy when my son with the beautiful curly hair is safely home.

Time for me to don my Eskimo suit, drag the trash cans to the curb and fix the garage door for the second time today. May have to call in a professional as it's been having its ups and downs for some time just like the rest of the house. I remarked to Coryn the other day that I'm beginning to see more cracks in our foundation than I do on my face. I'm beginning to think our lemon of a home is showing it's age more than me! Love your holding it together Mother.

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 81 JANUARY 2013

Dear Readers,

This Christmas I opened a very special card. On Sunday, December 23^rd I was watching the Chiefs lose miserably with your dad, Sean, Bryn , Coryn, Buster and Ollie. Jeremy was at Arrowhead Stadium watching the game. Tina, our wonderful bath aide came to visit with her family as she wanted the girls to see my Christmas decorations and to take their picture on my teddy bear themed front porch – specially designed with Elena Dickinson in mind. Tina's young daughters were far more entranced with Coryn's dogs. Somehow the topic of babies came up and I was teasing Coryn as usual about her aging eggs and predicting that her babies would be born with gray hair and be in need of a gerontologist rather than a pediatrician. Coryn had one of her withering comebacks for me: “oh good, then you can take them with you when you see your doctor”.

Once the game was over Jeremy came by and handed me a card to thank Norm and me for all we had done for them. I assured him it wasn't necessary to give us a written thank you as I opened the envelope and pulled out the card. I opened it and immediately saw the sonogram photo of our new est grandchild. The card was signed from Coryn and Jeremy and BABY Logue. I was so excited I jumped in the air and screamed touchdown, hugging Jeremy and congratulating him on his ability to score so quickly. I realized that the sonogram picture meant that Coryn was more than a couple of weeks pregnant and was amazed to find that she was in her fourth month! Apparently they decided to wait until the third month to tell anyone just in case of problems and when that milestone was reached they decided to wait another couple of weeks until Christmas knowing it was the best present any one could have. I had not noticed even a tiny bulge on my skinny daughter but realized that I had not seen her as often with all the house moving and then when she does come over she's usually bundled up and then wraps herself in a throw blanket to lounge on the sofa. The last time I visited her house I walked into one of her bedrooms that has a beautiful view of the lake and said what a perfect nursery it would make and Coryn just said maybe and strolled out.

The very next day, Christmas Eve, Grandma jumped in her sleigh and pulled up at the Hallmark store buying several baby gifts for the parents-to-be to open on Christmas day. They were going to be telling his side of the family over the holiday. Since then Coryn and I have had another mommy/grandma shopping day for neutral newborn items- Coryn and Jeremy are going to let the sex of the baby be a surprise to them at birth. Coryn wouldn't let me get a shopping cart saying I could only buy what I could fit in my arms – we ended up with a cart. And don't worry mother will be standing by with a bottle of Clairol in the birthing room just in case the head emerges with grey hair. Coryn has a midwife for her delivery and of course a grandma on standby! Coincidentally the baby's due date is June 12^th – Ethan's birthday.

Marc's travel plans proved the usual disaster.. His flight from LA to Denver was fine but his flight from Denver to Kansas City was canceled so he had to fly to Chicago and then back to Kansas. He arrived about one in the morning again without his luggage. Sean was not happy as he had wasted time searching the various terminals for Marc's missing luggage. Once again I rummaged through a pile of clothes on the closet floor upstairs and found enough of his brother's clothes to use for a few days. It took the airlines a couple of days to track and deliver his bag. .Marc our hot shot LA trial lawyer with his newly leased BMW is too cheap to book a non stop flight which would avoid a lot of missed /canceled connection problems.

Christmas day Sean, Bryn and I were in the kitchen preparing our gourmet dinner. Marc as usual was in the bathroom. As there were only seven of us this year the boys talked me out of buying a whole turkey opting for a half with stuffing and gravy included at Costco. I was a bit dubious but have to admit it was excellent. I baked a ham too just in case.... We ate much later than usual as Coryn and Jeremy had to drive up from Clinton after sharing the happy news with his family who all burst into tears! So late afternoon we unwrapped our Christmas gifts and I am absolutely enthralled with the Ipod. Thank you children for once again acknowledging your high tech mother. I let your dad hold it for a few seconds and offered to teach him to play Angry Birds but he seemed to think it a waste of time. Now you can enjoy facetime with Mother!

Christmas night as I was cleaning the kitchen a dark stain on the ceiling caught my attention. I realized it was directly below the upstairs bathroom and immediately wondered what Marc had done to cause it. Two years ago we had to replace the toilet after he wrecked the tank. I raced upstairs to make sure that he hadn't forgot to turn the water off or something, then remembered that he had mentioned the tub was draining very slowly and that I might want to run some Draino down the drain. I had given him the bottle and told him to man up and take care of it. I checked a few things out and realized that this was a job for a plumber who fortunately came the next morning. He had to cut a hole in my linen closet to rip out some old pipes that were leaking and had been for some time. Marc's long shower had finished the pipes off. Of course as usual I was ready to finish Marc off.

Speaking of leaks, your dad woke me up one morning with a “hey old bud”. I don't find this a term of endearment and know it usually precedes news that I am not going to enjoy. Sure enough Norm said he thought he had sprung a leak.. I dragged myself over to his side of the bed and saw that he was unfortunately correct. Once again he had managed to pull his catheter tubing apart apparently in his sleep. Mental note to self that I should probably have him sleep in oven mitts. Unfortunately he was in a puddle of urine so I realized that I was going to have to take his clothes off, get him in the wheelchair and onto his shower seat. For once your dad didn't argue. Once I had him safely sitting in the shower – after reconnecting his catheter tubing – I stripped the bed. I had to run five loads of laundry. Thankfully I managed to squash our our king sized comforter into the washing machine. All this before I had even had a cup of coffee.

Christmas brings one chore that I really abhor: mailing packages. In early December I forced myself to drive to our local post office because I needed to send Ethan his gift. On arrival I was delighted to see that the line was only about twenty feet long but unfortunately it was moving at a snails pace. I grabbed a customs declaration form and filled it out as I waited in line. Little old ladies who can't decide whether they want the Santa or angel stamps in under two seconds should be asked to step aside while those of us who don't need to make a decision forge ahead.

In view of the inefficiency of the postal service I decided that I would mail all my domestic packages at the conveniently situated HyVee's customer service just fourteen blocks up the road. I planned to park by a cart return thinking that I could put my numerous packages into one so that I didn't have to make a couple of trips to and fro. I should have realized it was a bad omen when I drove into the parking lot and saw that all the cart returns were empty. Finally I found one, loaded up my packages and went to customer service, delighted to see that there wasn't a single customer. No need to feel guilty about monopolizing their counter help with my packages – I admit that if I was standing behind me I would have been muttering that I should have gone to the post office or that HyVee should set a limit on how many items can be mailed at one time. My first two boxes were taken care of – albeit slowly as the young cashier was obviously a novice under the watchful eye of a more experienced worker. Package three caused a system failure. The cashier hollered for help : the message on the screen was one they had never seen. They hit a few keys but no luck. I turned to apologize to the line that had formed behind me. The workers summoned more help over the PA system. I knew it wasn't going to be a quick fix when their computer expert muttered a few what the hells under her breath and announced that she couldn't fix it either. She would have to call the Post Office. While the female worker was explaining her problem to one person after another over the phone I found myself once again apologizing to the whole rapidly growing line as they eyed my still full of packages cart. Finally she hung up the phone and announced that they were going to shut the system down and have the post office reboot it This could take hours apparently so they decided to handle my packages the old fashioned way and just stuck some stamps on them. I wished I had gone to the post office after this experience because I suspected that they might just set them aside until their system was restored and maybe my packages would get lost or be sent days later. But they did arrive safely. Next time I'll go to the post office – it will probably be quicker even if the line does extend out into the parking lot.

Sean recently left for his adventure and Josh just emailed me to let me know that he and Sean are together and preparing to visit Lake Titicaca in the Andes.They will hopefully be meeting up with Bryn, his girlfriend Joyce – a lovely girl who had dinner with us recently – Leslee and Craig. Frankly I'm glad my children enjoy being together and have adventurous spirits but my mummy tummy is very wonky when I think of all the ills that could befall them. Fortunately I have a lovely box of English sweets to soothe my stomach. A couple of flaky bars and I'm thinking how wonderful it is not to have to share !

A couple of days after Christmas we met with your dad's neurologist who had reviewed his data and come to the conclusion that the high doses of various medications prescribed to try and stabilize his blood pressure were not working and were probably putting him at too great a risk of a heart attack or stroke. We are currently weaning him off some medications and lowering the dose of others. We have reached the point of letting Mother Nature take control.

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy 2013, Love your mom with one daughter that has met her expectations!

 THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETER VOLUME 80

NOVEMBER 201

Dear Children, Family and Friends,

I shall be spreading my feathers over an almost empty nest this Thanksgiving. Only two chicks, Bryn and Sean to feed. Joshua has flown the coup again – headed back to the rain forests to volunteer at an animal rescue reserve for a few months. He is planning on spending time in Bolivia, Columbia and Peru. Worse more of my brood will be flying out in January to join him. Sean, Bryn and his girlfriend plus Leslee and Craig will be making the four day trek to Machu Picchu as part of their adventure. They were all on their phones one Sunday discussing their various travel dates and flight times, seemingly vying to have the worse connections, lay overs and airlines. It seems to be a torturous two day trip before they even begin biking and hiking. The only thing I can be thankful for is that my suitcase will not be “borrowed” by anyone for this back backing trip.

Coryn and Jeremy are spending Thanksgiving with his family in Oklahoma City – I was hoping that they would host it this year but they are still without dinning tables and chairs but their new furniture will be here in time for Christmas! Apparently Coryn decided that their old furniture was not suitable for the new abode.

Ming Jon flew out for a weekend visit at the beginning of the month to spend some time with his dad. Ming- Jon is being very pro active in seeking out other job opportunities in case his hours are further reduced at work. Hopefully Obama's re-election will help as they rely on some public funding. He will be staying in Washington to spend Christmas with Kay who will be flying to Myanmar on December 26th to spend the holidays with relatives there. Unfortunately he missed Bryn - he was in Las Vegas with his girlfriend who lives there. Apparently Bryn met her when he was there for Jeremy's bachelor party and they have maintained a long distance relationship for a few months. Bryn was able to keep this quiet for awhile but now that I know that one of my highly eligible bachelor son's is dating I am very anxious to meet her.

The last Thursday in October found me driving in rush hour traffic and torrential rain to the airport to catch my flight to Indianapolis to spend a few days with Ming-Lee, Lori, Blake and Claudia. Sitting in traffic on I35 I was relatively calm knowing I had plenty of time as my flight was delayed due to a 'mechanical' problem . It took over an hour to get to the economy parking lot where I found a space as close as possible to the shuttle bus stop as it was still raining. I grabbed my suitcase and dashed to the shelter where I whipped out my cell phone and took a snap of my bus stop number whilst trying to commit my row number to memory. I frequently suffer from the ' where the hell did I park' syndrome when I leave a store. My car never seems to be where I think it should be.

In a few minutes a shuttle arrived, dropped me at my terminal where I hurried inside to strip for the security check in line. I am amazed that people still elect to wear so many accessories: hard to remove shoes,multiple layers, belts, scarfs and hats when they know it all has to come off. Some girl further up the line was hopping around on one foot frantically trying to pull her boot off the other. A guy held us up trying to pull his belt through his too tight pant loops. I would have told him to drop his pants and get a move on. I have my jacket off, my slip on shoes off my feet and my arms in the air way before I get to the bins.

Once aboard my flight Ming called my cell to let me know that he was tracking me and would be

ready for my call to let him know where to pick me up outside the terminal. This I did upon my arrival but it took a little longer for Ming to arrive than I was expecting so I hopefully scrunched up my eyes and peered into every car that pulled up to the curb to see if my Ming was behind the wheel. When a pick -up truck with a trailer attached pulled up I didn't bother to squint. I was surprised when Ming jumped out, gave me a hug and grabbed my bag . Apparently the airport is near the city leaf dump so Ming decided to drop of all the leaves raked from his yard before he picked me up.

I arrived in Indy to enjoy a far pleasanter day than I had left in Kansas with warm sunshine that allowed us to enjoy a delicious home cooked gourmet dinner on the patio – a treat in late October. Lori had picked up a fall themed jig- saw puzzle that we all worked on after dinner with the exception of Claudia who was very into the activity book I had picked out for her.

Friday morning Lori, Claudia and I shopped while Ming and Blake did their thing. While shopping at Jo-Ann's for thread Lori and I picked out a fabric sample that we thought would work well to recover her dinning room chairs. Then we moved on to another store where we found a table /tray for the sun room and what I thought was the perfect shelf for their newly remodeled bathroom off the family room. They have gone with a French theme and I thought this painting of the Eiffel tower with a shallow shelf attached would be perfect for displaying some French books .Ming was not enthused about it at all. He is definitely as into decorating as Lori! But he did like our other choices.

Whilst dinning at a seafood restaurant that evening I was able to feast my eyes on my grandchildren enjoying sushi – raw seafood is something that I will not touch. Then they each ordered a very adult entree. They don't seem to have normal kid taste buds at all. When I suggested that they might enjoy McDonald’s more they were horrified. They don't like fast food! They truly do have sophisticated palates – unlike Grandma who still loves milk shakes and french fries! Kudos to Ming and Lori for introducing their children to such diverse dinning. When Norm and I were both working the only diversity in our menu was between pizza franchises , Kentucky Fried Chicken, Hardees and McDonalds. The positive outcome of this childhood junk diet being that all eight of our children are relatively healthy eaters, who are into whole foods, organic foods and colon cleansing shakes. Ugh!

Friday night I decided to accept my hosts kind offer of a long, relaxing hot bath in their pristine master bathroom's whirlpool tub. Such a contrast to the moldy, rank and dank bathroom at Marc's place. Lori gave me a bottle of bubble bath, piles of towels and candles. I was rapturous thinking that my belly button would be submerged again – something that never happens in our small and shallow tub at home. Once settled into the tub I decided that I would switch the jets on for awhile before I used the bubble bath. It took me a while to figure out the system but once the water was pulsating and my insulation was vibrating I waxed nostalgic about all the wonderful bathrooms in my past. I think it was two minutes into my spa experience that I realized I had company in the tub. At first I thought little fish were swimming around ( maybe I need those meds more than your dad) but when I touched one I realized it was something else but what? I pushed buttons until the jets stopped and clambered out of the tub to get my glasses so that I could see what ever was swirling around with me. Frankly it looked like runny diarrhea. I wrapped myself in a towel and rushed downstairs urging Lori to come up and take a look at my bath. She was horrified and summoned Ming. He diagnosed the problem as dirt built up in the jets after a lot of baths with all that stuff females love to toss in and too few uses of the jets. I now felt in dire need of a bath as my body crawled with dirty thoughts of what had literally been washing over me. Lori handed me her robe and suggested a nice cup of tea while I waited for the water

heater to make bath number two possible. This I took in another bathroom with lots of cleansing bubbles!

In between a game of scrabble, shopping and eating Lori and I found time to sew a skirt for Claudia. I think Lori did very well for a first skirt project, producing a cute and very wearable garment.

Saturday we headed over to the Lake House where I again admired the stunning view albeit from inside as it was very chilly that day. Ming and Blake were soon busy moving the boat from their dock to winter storage, mowing the grass and loading branches from a recent storm onto the trailer. Ming offered to fire up the hot tub in the enclosed porch but no-one was game so we did another jigsaw, snuggled up to the wood stove with hot mulled cider and candy! This grandma's hand was in the bags more often than the kids!

Initially spending time at the lake house was worrisome for me as previously they had no internet access out there and I was concerned about printing my boarding pass out exactly twenty-four hours before flight time. Southwest airline has a cattle call system: no assigned seats so if you want any chance of not being in a middle seat, having a space in an overhead bin or avoiding the screaming baby you have to be in the early boarding group A or at least the first 30 of Group B. The morning before my flight I was at my computer exactly twenty four hours ahead of time so that I could print of my boarding pass and I made it into group A. What a relief! Of course since flying is Ming's vocation he was far was less concerned about my boarding position being a frequent 'standby' flier himself. I was very relieved when I discovered that they now had internet access and that their neighbors had a printer we could use. Thankfully I made it into the single digits of Group B for my return.

Sunday after lunch we headed to the airport – again with a trailer hitched behind us so that Ming could dump his branches in Crawfordsville this time. My flight was on time and I drove home before it turned dark to find that Norm was once again well taken care of by the kids. We had hired in some extra help for one of the days and Norm liked her so that worked out very well.

Mother had the stuffing knocked out of her one recent morning when I looked outside and saw a couple of deer bedded down in between my house and Daltons. I grabbed my camera and went outside in my nightie to take some pictures of the “dear” couple. Knowing that Jeremy had been deer hunting with no luck the previous weekend I sent Coryn a picture to show him what was available in his mother-in-laws backyard. She thought Jeremy might camp out in my back yard next time. The deer stayed in the yard all day, just moving from side to side. Too bad there was no snow on the ground for the perfect Christmas picture.

I hope you all have a very special Thanksgiving and know how special to me you all are. This chick is very thankful for my large brood- who ruffle my feathers, gobble my food, and keep this old bird in fine fettle . Love Mom

THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER : VOLUME 79 OCTOBER 2012

Dear Readers,

I spent the last few days of September in Torrence , the suburb of LA where Marc lives in his one bedroom condo. I suspect it was not the idyllic break from the routine of caregiving that my other seven children had envisioned for their mother when they suggested the trip. Firstly I had to drive through rush hour traffic and road construction delays to the airport to park in the long term parking lot and take the airport bus to my terminal – under the watchful eye of Coryn who insisted that I needed to learn how to negotiate the airport parking system so that my children would no longer need to drop me off and pick me up. This successfully achieved I boarded my plane and arrived at LAX about twenty minutes ahead of schedule. I found my way to the outside of the terminal and looked in vain forMarc's black BMW. I whipped out my cell phone to find out why he wasn't there to greet his beloved Mother. He was amazed that I was already on the ground. I was amazed that he had not used flight tracker to track me. He assured me that he was just minutes away. More than minutes later Marc drove up but had to double park so that I could get in his car. He was almost ticketed for double parking and worse actually exiting the car to help me throw my suitcase in the trunk when I failed to understand his grunts and hand signals from the driver's seat. Once we pulled out into the main flow of traffic it was very stop and go -because as I soon realized -we were in the bus lane. Marc was oblivious, stomping on the gas and brake pedals creating more turbulence for me than Southwest. I suggested that we might want to change lanes but he insisted that he needed to stay right in order to make a turn – a mile or two up the road....

It was about nine at night when I arrived so I expected to be driven straight to Marc's place but he suggested dinner at a nearby restaurant. This was my first introduction to Marc's parking phobia. We drove into a parking garage with a multitude of empty spots but Marc refused to consider any spot that required him to park next to or between cars. He said he liked lots of space around him when he parked. Eventually he found a space in its Siberian section and I wished I had worn tennies instead of heels as we walked some distance to the restaurant. I felt a slight chill in the air but Marc elected to take a table for two out on the patio. I ordered a glass of wine to warm me up which went very well with my delicious healthy Californian style fish dinner. Before leaving for home Marc informed me that we would be making a couple of stops as he needed to check his mailbox and stop at the organic health food store for some breakfast foods. He has bought into all this organic crap, paying twice as much to eat a lot of foods that are exactly the same as their covered in pesticide and filled with antibiotic counterparts. Just wash the chemicals off and be glad that your penicillin chicken must have had a clean bill of health. I remember years ago when Judy Johnson was driving all the way to the Quad Cities to pick up her antibiotic free turkey for Thanksgiving. I looked horrified and said I'd be worried sick about the kind of germs that might be lurking in it's juices. I think this gave her something to ponder.

Finally we arrived at Marc's home and parked in his assigned garage space:this required several maneuvers as he has to park between two cars. I offered to park it for him. Then we walked past his communal swimming pool in a lovely tropical garden setting and into his home. I was greeted by a rickety cheap plastic shoe rack with more lean than the tower of Pisa; as an accent piece he had a bright red plastic mop bucket. He balanced out the other side of his entrance way with four paper grocery bags holding his recyclable trash. I noticed his “grandma tablecloth” on his dinning room table, his chipped pink tile counters in the kitchen, the worn fifties style kitchen cabinets and the ghastly floor tile. A complete gut job.The living room was a very nice size and opened onto a very “I can do something with this patio”. Unfortunately the ambiance of this room was ruined by it's being open to another room which could be used for many purposes if Marc replaced the flimsy accordion style door for dry wall and a real door. He could have a second bedroom with an already built in closet and window that could double as a home office but no: Marc uses this valuable piece of real-estate as unnecessary storage. A metal storage shelf is piled high with boxes that he anticipates needing for shipping. Has anyone ever received a care package from Marc? I informed him that his boxes would provide enough roughage for an army of paper loving bugs. We moved onto the bathroom – the same blue fixtures as our student house in Cedar Falls. Marc has certainly not strayed far from his humble student housing. His bedroom was a tangled mess ; miles of electrical cords for his electronics and a bed that looked as if it had been tossed to the curb.. Marc offered me a choice of his bed or the blowup mattress. I took the mattress set up on the floor behind the sofa in his 'spare room'. At least I knew the sheets were clean.

Thursday morning while munching our organic muffins Marc informed me that he had to go to work as he had a couple of trials fast approaching. I offered to go along but that offer was quickly refused. Marc suggested I take a bus to the beach or walk to the mall just blocks away . After Marc left I decided to take a shower. With my glasses on I noticed that all the grout in the bathroom was black – closer inspection revealed it was also very thick and fuzzy in some areas where it actually spread down the tub. I called Marc to find out where he kept his bleach and a spare toothbrush. He assured me that he had Kaboomed the bathroom just before I came. I dread to think how bad it must have been before his ineffectual cleanup effort. I filled the tub with ankle high water so that I could stand in diluted bleach water at least as I applied straight bleach with a toothbrush to all the grout and door surrounds. An hour later I was gulping for air out of the bathroom window and decided to take a break before tackling the sink and toilet.

Still showerless and in my night gown I decided to check my E-mail so I booted up Marc's computers in his bedroom – surprised that he had shut them down. It took me awhile to figure out which computer went with which screen and the one keyboard. Eventually I was online but finding the connection very slow. On my way to the kitchen for more coffee I spotted an Ipad on a coffee table – time for my favorite game – Angry Birds. Back to the bathroom and an hour later I was in the bleached to the bones bathroom, gagging on fumes as I used some girly shampoo that Marc claimed Bryn had left after a visit.

Lunchtime found me munching salt and vinegar potato chips, and a handful of pistachio nuts. Marc's fridge and pantry were bare. I decided to eat on the patio and soon found myself thinking that the this was definitely the best place to be – sitting on his Martha Stewart's line of out door furniture, enjoying the ambiance. Before long I realized that Marc had his furniture poorly arranged so I was soon pulling his wooden loveseat into it's new spot, arranging the other two chairs and shared ottoman and the coffee tables into a better configuration for the space .For my efforts I was rewarded with a wasp sting. While rubbing ice on my sting ,I noticed that Marc's plants needed pruning. I grabbed his kitchen shears and viola I had created twice the space.

Mid afternoon I walked to the mall for a couple of hours and found lots of things I hoped Marc would see as must have purchases to upgrade his home. Home again, I spied a laptop computer on a bookshelf and took it outside on the patio to play' Words with Friends' with Ethan in England – with whom I think I spent more time that day than Marc! I was interrupted when Marc called me around five thirty to inform me that he would be arriving home for dinner with a roasted chicken in about an hour so I needed to make some rice and green beans to compliment his contribution. Mother muttered and pulled out the rice cooker.

After dinner Marc suggested a walk around the neighborhood with a stop by a bakery for dessert. The idea of something gooey, sinful and chocolatey was enough persuasion for me to run for my tennis shoes. The price of this treat was very dear : two huge red blisters on my heels as my new style socks were too short for my shoes .I wore sandals for the rest of my stay.

Marc was very upset when he realized that I had been using all his computers – he said they were all password protected – not if you use the guest option Marc. That's the price you pay for leaving me alone all day! Friday I explored the neighborhood and cleaned and rearranged some more. In the evening Marc took me on a scenic coastal drive and we walked along the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I pointed out the millions of dollars mansions that I thought would be ideal for Marc and me when I move to California. A good mother does her best to motivate her children.

Marc took me to dinner at( yes you guessed it) a Mexican restaurant. Marc has always had an appetite for foods that challenge his digestive system. We had to wait for a table: fortunately they had seating for waiters (no pun intended) which gave me time to rest my legs from the hike from the parking lot he had picked several blocks away. The noisy crowd made conversation impossible – another reason I'm sure for Marc's choice. I drowned a Margarita with my lobster taco's.

Saturday Marc offered to drive me to the Pasadena Botanical Gardens but since my visit coincided with 'carmagenddon' 2 I declined his kind offer. Marc estimated the drive to be a couple of hours each way without factoring in the detour. Any one who has had the misfortune to drive with Marc knows that this could be a death sentence. Instead we spent the day cleaning his out door furniture - more bleach – and applying a water sealer. We went to the hardware store and got some new pots and a pump to put together a water feature.

Marc had a papyrus plant stuffed into a too small container so I suggested we repot it and set it inside a bigger pot and turn it into a water feature. Off we went to buy a what I thought was a fountain pump that was actually intended as an out of water aquarium pump. I confidently cut plastic tubing to the desired length and attached it to the pump which I plugged in and submerged into our water filled pot. A few gurgles and nothing. I pulled it out and checked to look for an on /off switch. Marc was reading the instructions ( something I never bother to do) and screamed for me to get it out of the water and unplug it. He then showed me the diagram illustrating it's use only outside an aquarium. He said it was amazing that I hadn't been electrocuted. I countered by pointing out that he had been saved from making seven calls to his siblings to explain my untimely electrocution on his patio. I said you would all disown him – he retorted that you would all give him a medal!

For lunch on Saturday Marc produced a bag of smelts( a childhood favorite of his) from his freezer for me to fix for lunch while he prepared the vegetables. We consumed the lot in one sitting. Later that afternoon Marc suggested tea in one of Torrence's down town cafes. I was envisioning potted ferns, white wrought iron furniture with floral chintz cushions with violin music in the background.

Once again Marc parked a couple of blocks away from our destination despite there being open parking spaces in front of the business. Outside the cafe were umbrella tables with a mish mash of chairs and the inside was filled with sagging sofa's and armchairs that looked older than me. All these seats were taken so we went outside with our drinks and pastries to a dirty table that our waitress was too busy to clean so I sent Marc in for napkins and waved away battalions of flies. Nasty.

Sunday morning Marc drove me to his workplace and called a cab to take me from there to LAX. He claimed he couldn't deal with all the traffic again. My taxi driver thought it hilarious that my thirty year old son was too chicken to drive into LAX on a Sunday morning saying it was the least hectic time of the week: indeed it was very calm.

Special thanks go to Ming Lee for flying in after I departed on Wednesday night to spend Thursday and Friday with his dad. He said the most challenging thing was giving Delilah her pills. Apparently she spit them out every time he managed to get them in her mouth. He finally drilled holes in cat treats, popped the pill in and watched her swallow the bait .Coryn and Jeremy plus the boys all pitched in over the weekend until I returned.

My next news letter will detail my recent trip to Ming and Lori's. Here is a teaser for you:I will be flush with details of another bathroom disaster.

Ming-Jon will be arriving this weekend, Coryn and Jeremy have moved into their beautiful Raintree Lake house and Josh has quit his job once again to return to volunteer work in the rain forests of South America. Apparently Leslee, Craig, Bryn and Sean are planning to meet up with him for a sight seeing trek to Machu Picchu. Hopefully I will one day be able to join my children in their explorations abroad. I'd love to zip line, walk with big cats and hike the rain forests. Hopefully some one would be able to carry my back pack for me and arrange it so our nights would be spent in hotels with indoor plumbing and air conditioning.

Don't forget to vote for Obama on Tuesday, love your I need my medicare and social security and not a voucher Mom.

mother's 'bedroom' at Marc's

aaTHE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER                      VOLUME 78                        SEPTEMBER   2012

Dear Readers,

I know this issue is long overdue and I greatly appreciate that no one has pressured me into producing  it – not even my greatest and probably only fan, Ming Jon. I sadly suspect that some of my children may not have read one for several years. With the exception of Kay, Blake, and Claudia these letters may be the only link to Grandma for my future grandchildren. I'm losing my bloom and many of my childrens reproductive organs are going to be wilting on the vine very soon.

Late last month Coryn and Josh staged a family intervention over dinner on a Monday evening. I was informed that I needed a break from caregiving and was told to take off for the upcoming weekend  - with longer breaks to be built in. I protested that I couldn't possibly be expected to fly anywhere on such short notice as Labor Day weekend loomed. Coryn suggested a visit to my friends back in Fort Madison. I balked. No-one would be around, surely everyone would be visiting or entertaining their own families. I was ordered to call Becky. Much to my amazement she was planning a quiet weekend at home working on her quilts so she said it would be a perfect weekend to invade her peace and quiet. Next I called Mary and she was also going to be home and on down the list I went. The only friend not in town was Evelyn who was visiting John and family in Minnesota. I announced that I would drive over on Friday and return Monday.

I was told that this was not a long enough break so it was arranged that I would fly to LA to stay with Marc at the end of the month: this is considered a break? Sean and Bryn have suggested that I call Marc and  order him to hire Merry Maids before I arrive as they claim that I will not be able to use his bathroom in it's present state. Sean said he had to disinfect it when he was there a couple of months ago: worrying because Sean's condo looks like a  petri dish to me. I have to fight the urge to clean  every time I visit.

Next I learned that Leslee was planning on flying in from her birthday weekend in Chicago to help me with Norm for a week. She was amazing – she shopped for groceries, did all the cooking and even cleaned! It was great to have her help to haul your dad down to KUMed for lab work. For days I was able to stay out in the yard for as long as I needed to without having to carry the baby monitor or keep running into the house to make sure your dad was okay.

With only three days to prepare for my trip back to Fort Madison I had to scurry. It took me a whole day to leave instructions regarding the care of Norm with his numerous medications, the visiting nurse schedule and  his catheter care. It took me even longer to search for my weekender suitcase which I finally realized must have been “borrowed ” by one of my children. I ended up packing all my stuff in a laundry basket. Maybe that was what precipitated all the rain for my trip.

As you all know this has been one of the hottest and driest summers on record but on Friday, September 30^th, the day of  my trip, the heavens opened and rained down on me for the entire drive home. I was so looking forward to popping my Ford Focus moon roof, sporting my movie star sunglasses and  using  cruise control that I can't use in Kansas City traffic. Instead I found myself with my foot frozen to the gas pedal, my eyes straining to see (despite my bifocals) through torrential rain bursts and blinding spray from passing semi's -  the drive was a washout. It took me about four and half hours to reach Becky's house.

Becky and I had dinner at  one of down town Fort Madison's newest restaurants. Some one has done a fabulous job of restoring the old Lee County Bank building on the corner of Avenue G and 8^th Street. Unfortunately the food was not as good as the building restoration but I hear that their pizza is probably better than their pasta dishes so next time......

Becky tried to do some hand stitching on one of her beautiful quilts that evening as I kept her talking well past her bedtime, keeping ourselves well fueled with endless cups of tea. Her dog Ellie spent the entire weekend in my lap. It was a treat to just sit without having to jump up all the time to take care of something.

I awoke on Saturday morning to the delicious aroma of made from scratch blueberry muffins fresh from the oven. Becky had slept in until six that morning after heading to bed around midnight! I was still asleep of course.

That day we had lunch with Sherry and Myrna at the Ivy Bake Shoppe and it was lovely to see Sue behind the counter, although I know she would love to be out from under it right now. Frankly she is the Ivy so without her beautiful smile and warm welcome it won't be the same. Hopefully she will find the right person to take over soon so that she will have the freedom to enjoy the adventures in life yet to come.

After lunch we enjoyed a visit with Bonnie Howard at the book store where I found some fun books for Mia and Drew whom I was looking forward to playing with the next day. Sue Dunlay happened by and we enjoyed an impromptu visit  exchanging news about all our kids. From there  I found myself driving to Burlington with Becky who needed to shop . Once again I drove in driving rain confused by the changes since the bypass opened.

We arrived at Target and unexpectedly met up  with Mary and Elizabeth in the toddler aisle!Becky was picking up items for her grandson's upcoming visit as she felt she needed to baby proof her house. Mary offered her a spare car seat so that was a great perk of our accidental meeting. We had already planned to get together on Sunday.

That night Becky insisted on cooking a delicious salmon dinner for us. We spent another quiet evening with our tea cups with me switching to wine as the night grew long. Poor Becky couldn't join me as she was taking some medications for her back pain in addition to a recent shot of cortisone. Being a kind and considerate friend I reminded her of the need to be in great shape for our upcoming literary tour of English gardens where the ability to walk miles and climb like a mountain goat will be a necessity.

Late Sunday morning I visited Jan Bindewald, my friend from our weeks of radiation together in Iowa City. This gave Becky a chance to work on her quilts until I returned and we decided to try the lunch buffet at Pizza Hut. From there we went out to FMCH to walk off lunch on the new indoor walking track which circles around inside  the new physical rehab building. Brent said it was even nicer than the facility at KuMed. It was very impressive.

After our laps around the track we headed to Mary's house for a visit , enjoying the peace of her screened in porch amidst all the trees and later we sat in the kitchen watching Mary whip up a batch of squash and potatoes which she was taking to Elizabeth and Brent's house as her contribution to the dinner we were all invited to enjoy there.

I fell head over heels in love again with my beloved Mia and Drew. I was soon playing the role of Mia's big sister who needed to eat a landfill's worth of pretend food. Drew almost gave me a heart attack as he scaled the paint easel and almost slid off the top. That boy needs lead boots to keep him from climbing everything like a monkey.

Dinner was delicious and Elizabeth loves to decorate so the table was beautifully set. She remarked in the kitchen that she loved to grill too but I noticed that Brent was manning the barbecue loaded with shish kabobs ! They have stunning views of the town and river and have done a lot of projects to update the house. Her living room has gorgeous new furniture with a stunning rug. I greatly admired the new drapes too. I'll be anxious to see all the changes to come as well.

Monday morning I left Becky to her quilts so that she could hopefully have them ready  in time for an upcoming quilt show and I stopped to visit Bonnie and Gary on my way out of town. They greatly enjoyed looking at Coryn's wedding photo's as they had not been able to attend – and yes I did pull them out and invite every one to look at them through out my visit .I feel as if my status has been greatly elevated by succeeding in finally getting another child married off. Just five more to go.

Once I returned home and the whirlwind week with Leslee and her support was over your dad had appointments with his urologist and neurologist. Due to his constant urinary tract infections and painful bladder spasms it was decided to place his catheter directly into the bladder through the abdominal wall in hopes that this would be more comfortable for him. This out patient surgery took place on September  20^th and went well but he has been more confused and less able to walk even a few steps with his walker. I hope it helps as the urologist said there was no possibility of his ever being able to void by himself again. Kudos to Josh for volunteering to wake up at 4:30am to get us to KuMed by 5:30 am. He left work early to bring us home as well. That was a great help as I was unable to get to sleep any earlier than usual the night before. I functioned pretty well on four hours of sleep but looked worse than your dad.

Once home his appetite was amazing. No  post anesthesia nausea at all. I gave him jello as recommended on the discharge sheet but he demanded soup with noodles so I gave in and made him a bowl with crackers on the side. Coryn came by after work to check on him: he immediately invited her to dinner and suggested Chinese take out. He was soon pouring over a menu that Coryn had given him a few days ago. He had circled, underlined and check marked lots of dishes  he thought he would like to try– he can't remember whether he had hip or shoulder surgery most of the time but he sure knows where the Singapore Noodles are listed on that menu! We ordered enough dishes to ensure that I would not have to cook for days.

His neurologist had looked over the weekly blood pressure recordings that I fax him and decided to rapidly ramp up your dads medications. Your dad is swallowing fistfuls of pills numerous times a day , and at first I thought there was some improvement but these last few days he has lost ground again.

Next week I will be flying to LA  – I just hope that the state of Marc's condo and his idea of entertaining mother – he mentioned that I could shampoo his carpet for him – will not have me flying home on my broomstick cackling like the Wicked Witch of the West. I hope to be spell bound by my drive down Rodeo Drive in Marc's BMW convertible, by walks on sandy beaches and dinners at ritzy restaurants. I'm sure Marc already has reservations, wine and cheese in his well stocked kitchen and of course plenty of time for shopping with his plastic for my sure to be necessary redo of his condo.

Love from your always bewitching Mother.