Still Life with Camera

Friday was move in day for Charlie. We left the house at 6:00 am since the dorm he's in is a highrise in downtown Chicago. Neither one of us wanted to worry about where to park, etc. We arrived by about 7:15 and parked in the lot right next door to The Buckingham, as the dorm is called. It's a building shared by 2 or 3 downtown colleges: Columbia College (where Charlie is going), Roosevelt, and De Paul, I think. Charlie's moving on Columbia had things pretty well organized. They had "speed packs" available for us, which made it really easy to move a lot in one load. Those of us who were early had to wait a bit until the RAs got things organized inside. Why is everyone smilling except Charlie? Once we got inside they had different stations set up for emergency contact information, getting ids made, etc. Here's the view to the west from Charlie's room on the 18th floor. That's the public library in the middle of the pic with all the

On Sunday, Susan and I drove up to Silverwood Farms in Camp Lake, Wisconsin, to watch our trainer's horses in a show.  Of course, I forgot to check my camera battery before we left, so I only got a couple of pictures before the camera died, darn it.  It was a sunny warm day, hotter than forecasted but lovely in the shade with a little breeze.  Connie has 2 young warmbloods, Dalisco and Amor.  They're both amazingly talented, especially given their ages and amount of training.  Daphne, another trainer, rode Dalisco, riding level 4, tests 1 and 2 and got firsts both days.  Connie rode Amor in some training level tests. And found out that, at least on Sunday, she and Amor were number 1 nationally in the USDF standings. Cool, huh?  Here's Daphne warming up Dalisco. And here's Connie cooling him down after level 4, test 2.  Geez, what a complicated test.  It looked really hard to ride (remember that I'm a beginner and that even doing circles that aren't egg

Pictures are wonderful, but what I would really like is a device that focuses on all the senses as Weezie and I walk.  As it played back I would hear again the crickets chirping, the cicadas humming, and the song of the birds - ideally it would identify the bird for me from the song.  Iwould feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the wind cooling my sweat.  I would smell the clover in blossom and the newly mown grass.  I would feel the strength of muscles as they rhythmically tread the path.  I guess it sounds kind of like the Holo-deck from Star Trek TNG.  I wonder how long it will be until someone comes up with something like that. So look at this picture and imagine (for now) what all your other senses would be experiencing.

What would this old oak have to say?; I feel its old, wise presence when Weezie and I walk in Grant Woods.

This summer has been extraordinarily hot and humid, with both temperatures and the relative humidity in the high 80's and 90's.  Any breaks are welcome, to say the least.  On Sunday, a front blew through and sucked the humidity and most of the mosquitoes (also in record high numbers) right out of the air.  Monday and Tuesday were glorious - the smell and feel of autumn were in the air.  Wednesday and today the dial's back to "sauna."  But, like I said, any break is welcome.  Weezie and I went out to Grant Woods through the Grand Avenue exit in the early mornings when the temps were still in the low 70's.  I could almost believe we were hiking in southwestern Colorado. One of many goldenrod varieties in blossom now. Bird Paradise

Families are funny things - amazingly complex, each unique in its relationships, ever changing over time. With my fairly regular trips to the July reunion/birthday celebrations over the past few years, I've had the opportunity to re-connect with long lost cousins, to get to know the "quiet" spouses , and to discover to my surprise that I feel quite a bond to the rich Iowa farm land that has been a part of our family since the 1880's. This year, according to my sister, Chris, "It was a rare and wonderful twist of the universe------that opened up this time for the three of us to be together." I found that a very poetic way of saying that my mother, sister and I got to spend some time together. My sister and I had somehow lost each other the past few years - I don't think either one of us was sure how it happened and it left a huge hole in our psyches. So a couple of days at my home in Illinois, an absolutely rolicking 9 hours in the car driving back to m

I don't really feel like I'm "large" unless I'm standing next to my lovely (thin) sister. She really is beautiful (and thin) and funny (and thin) and tender (and thin) and smart (did I mention that she's thin?) and ... But I look at the two of us in this picture and truly feel like I've come directly from a rehearsal for a Wagner opera while she's been flitting through 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.'

We live in Lake County, Illinois.  Aptly named because within a few miles of us we have, Deep Lake, Cedar Lake, Sand Lake, Grass Lake, Crooked Lake, Painted Lake, Third Lake, Fourth Lake, Fox Lake, Chain of Lakes,  - you get the idea.  And we have the Lake County Forest Preserves organization.  I am so impressed by them - they have preserved thousands of acres in this area for recreational use.  Weezie and I walk in one of the preserve areas every day. Grant Woods is about 1000 acres (!) - there are 3 entrances within a couple of miles of our house. It's impossible to get the real feel of a place without actually being there, but here are a few pictures I took for my mom. That's because mom stayed in the car while Weezie and I did the 2-mile loop. Mom's lower body mobility needs some work and she improved greatly while she was at our house, but not nearly enough to make a 2-mile stroll. Here she is at the entrance. Note the rough-leafed sunflowers and the Joe Pye w

Or so says Ralph Waldo Emerson. The people who owned this house before us were not gardeners but this spring and summer, I've begun transforming the yard.  Hopefully these pictures will cheer us through the long winter. Potato Vine - I just noticed that the new leaves are edged in purple. Black-eyed Susan with friend. I don't know what the bug is - I hate to kill it just in the unlikely event that it's a "good" bug. Anybody know what it is? Purple Petunia - I was trying to focus on the pistil/stamen - whatever those parts are inside - but with the camera on automatic, it didn't quite work. Paniculata Hydrangea - they smell heavenly and are covered with bees all day long.

My mother is a Thiesse originally. Every year for the past 41 years, the Thiesse's have gotten together on the 3rd Sunday of July for a family reunion. The original reunions were sponsored by my grandfather's generation - he was one of 14 children, 11 of whom had children themselves. This past December Luella Thiesse Kramer, child number 13 and the only remaining Thiesse from that generation, passed away. I don't think she ever missed a reunion and for the past many years has been the oldest attendant. Here's a picture of Luella (in the middle) from about 1940. She was always perfectly made up, coiffed and dressed, even at the end when she was essentially blind. How did she do that? This year, the reunion was hosted by her two living daughters, Connie Kramer Schnepf and Cindy Kramer, in Robinson Park in Sibley, Iowa. I drove to Little Rock, Iowa, where my mother lives so I could attend the reunion and help celebrate her 84th birthday. Her birthday is July 19 and alw