The Music is Silent Now

Those of you who have been following this blog over the past year may recall a post I wrote from Oscar Scherer State Park last year about Betty and Carl . Carl plays a banjo and sings upwards of 300 American folk songs. The real folk songs which define our heritage from the beginning century of our country. Betty, his wife strummed along with a homemade percussion instrument and tried to keep him on track. Every Wednesday evening they would entertain the campers in the park while we ate ice cream. On Thursday afternoons, a group of local musicians playing all sorts of instruments would gather at the activity center and jam under thier guidance. They were warm and welcoming to anyone who chose to participate regardless of  level of skill. Betty had a sweet smile and gentle giggle and always appeared to be enjoying herself even as she listened to Carl's endless stream of jokes which she must have heard over and over.

We were disappointed when we arrived this year to find that Betty has passed away recently of breast cancer. There is no music this year as Carl is taking time to grieve. We hope that he will return next year and we will enjoy him as much as ever, but it will be a different kind of enjoyment without Betty's sweet countenance sitting beside him and drumming on her whatchamacallit. Betty, you will be missed by so many more people than you could imagine. People who have sat in the crowd admiring you from afar, but never got the chance to know you personally.

The Eagle Has Landed

Actually, it is Bertha who has landed in sometimes sunny Florida. Mind you I am not complaining about the weather. Today was perfect - sunny, low 70's, open golf course. What is wrong with this picture? Nothing.

It was a bit of adventure getting here. After our whirlwind holidays and quick turnaround to get on the road, too tired to cook, we treated ourselves to dinner out in Chattanooga at Applebe's. About 2 bites into his meal Don bit into something that viciously cracked a tooth. I say viciously because this was no ordinary cracked tooth. This was broken in two pieces held in place only by the gum.

Hence we called our son Mike, in Atlanta whom we were scheduled to visit for the week-end and asked him for a dental referral. His Dentist, Dr. Blat, was so obliging that she took him in immediately upon our arrival in town. She temporarily cemented his tooth into a tolerable position for the week-end, and first thing Monday morning she accommodated our schedule and worked on him for at least 5 hours to finish the job so we could be on our way early Tuesday morning.

This isn't really about Georgia dentistry though, it is about Georgia hospitality. It's about a professional who went above and beyond any expectations to meet our unreasonable demands in the most timely fashion. The moment we walked into the office, the receptionists greeted us like old friends. The were warm and cheerful and wanted to know all about our lifestyle. Then, of course there is our Georgia native daughter-in-law, Elizabeth. Even though I make jokes about her being stuck with her in-laws longer than planned, she never fails to make us feel like we belong there as long as we wish to stay. Then there is Drew who is three and just learning his social skills who broke my heart when instead of saying good-bye, he said "Why are you leaving Grammy?"

I have always been proud to come from the Midwest, particularly Chicago, where we have a reputation for friendliness, but since our son became a part of the Georgia culture, we have been subjected to large doses of Southern hospitality and believe me we have a long way to go before we come close to meeting their standard.

By the way, if you ever need a dentist in Atlanta we strongly recommend Dr. Blat for her skill as well as her obliging nature.

Christmas with the Chilsons

Wow what a celebration! Our holidays lasted almost two weeks, starting on Dec. 23 and running (literally) through New Year's Day. We had two days at home to put away Christmas and load up the RV and here we are scarcely two weeks later sitting in Atlanta at Mike and Elizabeth's on our way to Florida for the winter.  I never thought I could be this tired and live, but it is such a good tired generated by lots of time with all 7 of the grand kids and all 6 of their parents.

We started with a small Christmas celebration for the Chicago Pattersons which includes my brother, Jim, nieces and nephews, Lindsay, Jason, Johanna, Marin, and Emily. Marin has such a precious outlook on Christmas. When she spied our manger scene, she was awestruck. She said "look, Lindsay, it's Jesus" with the same fervor that a preteen would have said of Justin Beeber.

We left our home early on Christmas Eve to celebrate in Green Bay. The excitement in that house was at a peak. Elise and I spent some time looking out the window to see if we could spot reindeer and our efforts were rewarded later in the evening when Santa, his wife, and a couple of elves arrived at the front door for a brief visit. Don and Amy had a few of their close friends over for the celebration and it is always special getting to know the people your children call friends. Especially when they are all very nice people. We are even trying to get a couple of boys on a camping trip with us.

Monday morning we set off to see the rest of the Chilson clan in Minneapolis with our car packed to the gills with Christmas presents and three more kids. Since their parents couldn't get away, we stole the three kids from Green Bay for a couple of days to visit with their cousins. When we arrived in Minneapolis, we had all 7 grand kids together and what a wonderful state of bedlam was created!

Now, Ella discovered somewhere along the line that I had an extra gift left with fancy ribbons and no name on it. I told her there was going to be a raffle for it later in the week. Well, she never forgot for one minute about that raffle and asked me at least 3 times a day when we were to have it. I just kept putting her off until her daddy arrived on Wednesday evening to take them home.

Meanwhile, as last year when we were all in Atlanta for Christmas and had the first Christmas snowfall there in 129 years, this year the kids from Atlanta came to Minnesota looking for snow fun only to find the first Christmas there with above freezing temperatures. Our Bob is never daunted by weather conditions and indoctrinated us all to the concept of Southern sledding.

You fill the wagon with unsuspecting children at the top of the hill then release it to run into the brush pile at the bottom. The kids had a ball and as you can see so did the dads.

Wednesday evening Don arrived as planned to pick up his kids so I arranged to have our raffle. I printed tickets for each one of the 12 contenders numbered from 605301 to 605312. I drew the winning ticket and read off the numbers slowly, one at a time. With each number called Ella grew more and more excited until I thought she would pop a gasket. It got down to the last 2 numbers and she actually had a 1, but so did her Uncle Bob. I could not believe myself when I read off the winning number for Ella to walk away with the grand prize.

What was in the box? It was something I have had in my linen closet since all of my children moved so far from home that it does not pay to keep a full cookie jar in the house for occasional visits from grandchildren. It was our family cookie jar given to us by a colleague of Don's when the boys were very young. It is an elephant seated with his feet extended wearing a baseball cap with the name Chilson printed on the brim. It is important to note the position of the elephant's feet as that was the place where the last two cookies always hid and usually it was my husband who found and claimed them, This became the thing of family legend so much so that when my dad would come to visit he would buy a box of Oreos just to put two in the elephant feet and see how long it took Don to find them. This cookie jar always stood on top of the fridge. The raffle was really for our boys as I could never decide myself who should get the cookie jar, but the young ones were made to appreciate just what it was they had won when their daddy said to check the feet for cookies and that the jar must always stay on top of their fridge. I finally found the one possession we had which my children would cherish after we were gone. I am just sorry there was only one elephant cookie jar.



What Holiday Rush?

Almost immediately after Thanksgiving certain people will starting asking me if I am ready for Christmas yet. Wait a minute, I thought I had at least a month yet.

Part of the Joy of Christmas to me is in the preparation.  I love putting up my tree. Each one of the ornaments reveals a special memory. When we were first married, I envisioned, eventually, a tree filled with homemade ornaments. Each year I bought a kit and made half a dozen new ones to add to the collection. I still hang those even though I haven't added to that collection for many years now. A few were made for me during those early years by my mother and mother-in-law. Now that they are both gone, their spirit is with us in our tree. Now I collect ornaments on our trips and as I hang each one I can revisit those special destinations and the memories they hold for me. Many were simply gifts from people who have walked through our lives and left footprints on our hearts. Then, of course, there are the precious ones made by the little hands of both my children and grandchildren.



The basement parties were always the best

 Every year we host a party at our home for the Silver Spokes and Spokettes, our biker friends. This is generally in the first week of December so we get our Christmas decorations up and this is our initiation into the Holiday Season.

A few years ago, I found myself wondering about why I wasn't filled with the excitement of the season. Then about 2 weeks before the actual holiday the holiday spirit finally hit me. Wait a minute, I thought, that's when it should hit me.

Retail has put so much pressure on us to begin preparing even before Halloween.  This year the black Friday sales started a week before thanksgiving. I tried to buy a few early presents this year and got it all wrong and had to return them already.

Some people are afraid that if you don't shop early there will be nothing left. Well, guess what, there is always underwear left and it looks quite pretty tied up in nice paper and ribbons.

Christmas is still 9 days away so please don't ask me if I am ready for it. I have a few more presents left to buy and none of them are wrapped yet, cookies to bake, and a few more pre holiday events to attend. It will all get done before December 24 in plenty of time for the jolly old man to make his appearance.

In the meantime I intend to enjoy every minute of it. Oh, yes, there are still a few more Christmas movies to watch. I am a real sucker for those.

Let the Holidays Begin

I love Christmas. I love it as much as ever anyone did with all the decorations, presents, parties, and good will it evokes.

That said, I think I have learned to love Thanksgiving even more for its relative simplicity. With most of both our extended and immediate family living at least an overnight stay away, Thanksgiving is not just a day but a week-end. Thanksgiving is all about appreciating the abundance with which God has blessed us and the food. 

On Thursday we had our traditional turkey dinner with our faithful guests, my brother and two nieces, Jim, Lindsay and Beth. As has become my habit the past two years, my turkey was slightly overcooked while I participated in the Wii tournament in the basement. Thanksgiving dinner is all about the sides anyway, isn't it?

On Friday our Green Bay Chilsons hit Chicago in their usual  lively fashion. Of course, on the agend is pizza from Papa's and Chicago hot dogs and Italian Beef from Portillos. In addition, I cooked a large ham dinner as my gift to them.

Another niece and nephew, Jason and Johanna, along with their two charming girls added to the delightful mayhem both Friday and Saturday evenings.

The real joy of the week-end came in spite of the food, however in our total enjoyment of each other and watching the antics of the kids, both old and young.

I had the good fortune of needing an outfit for a New Year's wedding. I say good fortune, because having been the only female in the family until my boys took brides, I generally do all my shopping solo. This time I was priviliged to have the company and assistance of my daughter-in-law, Amy, niece, Lindsay and granddaughter Ella. They  put the fun in shopping especially Amy who loves to enable me to spend my money without guilt. They outfitted me for the wedding in the greatest style which is ANTHING BUT "dowdy old lady."

Meanwhile at home, Niece from Virginia was watching the UVA footbal game upstairs, while son from Wisconsin was watching their football game downstairs. Another right of Thanksgiving week-end. It doesn't get any better than this.

In Search of Fall Colors

Since Laborday we have been to Door County, Wisconsin, Atlanta, Georgia, Minneapolis, Green Bay and Branson, Missouri. Around here we usually travel to the North Woods for spectacular fall color. In Door County we were a little early, in Minneapolis and Green Bay we were a little late. Of course, September in Atlanta is still summer. So where did we finally meet up with spectacular annual display of Mother Nature at her finest? Branson Missouri and Eureka Arkansas in October.

First day out we hit the Thousand Hills golf course which did me in on our last visit 6 years ago. The best way to describe it is to describe the third hole which is a par four with a stream right in front of a green which is raised about 6 feet up behind the water and weeds. I am happy to say I conquered the course this time with a minimum number of ball casualties and a score of 97. What a great start. The trip would go down as a success no matter what happened the rest of the week.

Branson, land of music, God, and Country, is set deep in the Ozarks.  Nowhere else in this country is God and patriotism lumped together so tightly and unabashedly. Every show honors the veterans, touts clean comedy, and includes a bit of gospel. We saw a few shows, took a couple of hikes, and made a road trip to Eureka, Arkansas for the Passion Play.

The grounds of the Passion Play are akin to a mini attraction park. There is a Living Bible Experience, a dinner show of gospel music and comedy, a few short faith based shows, and, of course, the Passion Play itself. Ensconced on the grounds is a gigantic statue of Christ of the Ozarks, arms outstretched watching over his people with enduring love.

Over all the trip was a great experience, shared with our good friends and frequent travelling companions.

Celebrate Life - Not Age

Birthdays. You can either look forward to them with trepidation or embrace them as a celebration of life. I have always chosen to embrace mine. In fact, I have found that it takes at least a month to properly celebrate.

Mine started the day before the actual date of my birth with a gift from our beloved Illini football team of their fourth straight victory for the year. ( incidentally they are currently 6/0).

The actual day of my birthday began delightfully with a phone call from my Grand Niece and her parents singing Happy Birthday. By the end of the day all of the children and grandchildren had weighed in with their wishes. After church we were scheduled to participate in the annual Silver Spokes Golf Outing. Said outing was not created as a party for Moi, but since it was on my birthday, and since I had won the privilege of signing the cards for longest drive and closest to the pin as "the Birthday Babe", and since my friends arranged a birthday tiramasu for my dessert, it will go down in the books as one of my best birthday parties ever. What better way to celebrate the continuation of your life than by doing what you most love to do
surrounded by the best  friends in the world?

My real party was supposed to be the next day with our annual Jean's birthday bike ride on the Lakefront bike trail. Unfortunately it was rainy and cold and bike riding was out of the question. So I had to opt for lunch out with the friends who were to join us. It was a lovely lunch and the well wishes and love continued helped to compensat for the indefinite postponement of the anticipated ride.

About a week later the weather cleared and the sun once again shone brightly on my parade and we were able to find a day when our friends were available. I don't fully appreciate what a wonderful thing this tradition is until I am into the ride. I am so thankful that we live near the most beautiful city in this country if not in the world. Chicago has an amazing lakefront, every inch of which is public access surrounded by beautifully maintained parks. We began at Belmont Harbor, stopped at Navy Pier for lunch and proceeded on past McCormick Place to the Fallen Firefighters Memorial park before returning to our point of entry.

We took a moment out to remember Chicago's first responders who have fallen in the line of duty. I am sure that many Chicagoans and certainly even more suburbanites do not even know that there are two beautiful parks and monuments set aside for their fallen first responders, both police and fire fighters.  What a great day and a great way to officially end the birthday marathon.



Northerly Island formerly known as Mieg's Field