Weko

Now is the time when Weko Beach seams a million miles away. This is Paul and Patrick Johnston (my twin grandsons) enjoying one of our annual trips to Lake Michigan on Weko Beach at Bridgeman Mi. which is under 2 ft. of snow right now. This trek has been a tradition since the early 1990s with our family. It started as a just the girls and kids camping expedition back in the sixties. Chris was pre, pre-K and Cecily was just old enough to dis-regard the warning to not touch the tent when trying to sleep while it was raining. This was the time of the infamous carrying Chris up Mt Baldy at Saugatuck incident but it would be inappropriate to go into that here.
Sometimes we go back up to Saugatuck or at least visit the interesting parts of St. Joe . This is an area that has many fruit orchards and winery's. Book ahead!!

If only spring was this easy

Grace helped me change autumn into spring (background) over the phone because it has been so long since I did that, I could not remember exactly all the steps. It involves lots of cutting, pasting, removing and saving-not necessarily in that order.

Present day into history.

My son, Chris Long has been connected with many bands but one of the most interesting and beloved is his long time association singing and playing bass for "King Johnson", his Atlanta blues band. He got word a couple of days ago that long time member, Adam Mewherper died there in Atlanta. Adam was a very talented, complicated musician. Chris was not going to attend the funeral because of the cost getting there. The working part of the band's fan base made sure that he could fly down and be with the rest of the guys. What a beautiful thing to do in memory of Adam.

Autumn is here

This is Wednsday which means a visit to Grace Village to see Aunt Count. She was passing out potato chips to her lunch companions and told us how she is doing in therapy sessions. Before her nap she will play Bingo. We are hoping she can go home in about three weeks.
I have choir practice and Bible study tonight.

It is good to be bloggin ' again

Almost everyone is back in school that belongs there. Lots of intersting things took place since May and summer will not officially be over until Monday midnight
A short summer recap would include several new friends,lots of dancing, helping a friend thru a heart attack, and watching some of our beloved family recover from serious illness and surgery.

Funny stuff my dad did.

FUNNY STUFF MY DAD DID: The lawn looked really sad in front of the house he had just convinced the bank could be paid off within thirty years. Job? Sign Painter. Regular? Well—pretty regular. Other income? Occasionally artistic commissions- ( he did not list poker and crap games).

Children? Three and a baby.

Just sheer force of personality and luck or prayer-who knows what made this careful institution trust an itinerate sign painter/ artist with a thirty year mortgage.

The house needed work. He could do work. He had plans: lots of brightening with paint and modernizing the Victorian era rooms. The outside looked fairly elegant . Large white pillars graced a sizeable front porch. Landscaping seemed to be the most immediate need if patrons were going to knock on h is door. The entry yard areas were kind of beaten down before he dug, raked and seeded the soil.

The victory garden he had worked so hard on at the rental house had been a success in lettuce, onions and beans but a huge disappointment in watermelon. Watermelon was his summer obsession. This spring he would be practical with a special effort toward attracting business.

Transplant hardy bushes from the farm where he was raised. Find some easy, cheap fertilizer and add a white painted wooden bench. This bench would be circular and fit around the tree directly in front of the screened in portion of the porch. Everything was good except for the faint fringe of grass that seemed to need stronger fertilization . Isn’t this what they did on the farm?

A guy up at The Buffalo Inn ( now Rex’s Rendezvous ) said he had lots of chicken manure that needed moving out of his chicken houses. This was free for the taking. Just spread it on and let it work its magic. A lush lawn should appear very soon. Perfect!

“What is that horrible smell”, she said. A clean and sweet smelling house had always been her pride and joy. Now her eyes were watering from the fumes rising off the quickly browning front yard area .Among many others this was one of the memorable funny things my father did as I was growing up. He messed up the kitchen when he cooked., washed the car in Pike lake, had great parties where he would dance like .Rudolph Valentino . When he was making Vinegar Bend he popped a wheelie on his tractor. You could expect just about anything.

How he lived into his eighties was a wonder to all of us He was a great father.

D-Day -2009

D-Day 2009
I was very moved by the ceremony just concluded at Colleville-sur-Mer, France for the 65th anniversary of D-day. It is now available through C-Span for streaming over the internet.(www.c-span.org)