Barbie

First we went to Fifth/Third to straighten out the SS numbers on an account.

Then we slogged through Meijer, buying things for Jana's stocking and some extra grocery items. Meijer always seems to me to be an enormous undertaking. I think you should take walkie talkies, pack a lunch, and wear hiking boots to negotiate it. It's too huge, too crowded, and the parking lot is too full. OK, sure, it's Christmas time, but Meijer can manage to be unmanageable at any time of the year, day or night. Can you tell it's not my favorite place?

Off to Uncle Fritz's to deliver some Medicare Part D papers so Dick can recommend benefit plans for them. I hadn't been there before, and we couldn't figure out where to park. Dick waited by the front entrance in the car, and I went hiking down the corridor to find 206. It's amazing how far away it was from the front door. Maybe you're supposed to park in the rear or something.

Then we dropped in on Barb to see how she is faring. It was good to see her looking good, tired but still almost perky, and really willing to talk about her experiences, hopes, and dreams. She has a strong social network, which is a big aid to healing and recovery, so the experts say. We talked about all of it, and she has a great attitude. She's had some good results and seems upbeat. Adam dropped in while we were there - it's good to see him. There were 4 phone calls for Barb while we were there - it's that strong social network I was talking about! Go Barb.

Concord Christmas

This time, Dick wrote the blog for me - I can't do any better than this! We've been in stitches ever since we got home!
This is Dick's report:

Today was the eagerly awaited Concord Place Christmas Party scheduled
from 12:30 to 2:30. On the phone this morning, Marian told Nancy that
Julius (102 and counting) came from his room across the hall to
visit and vent. He told Marian that he was not planning on attending
because: they were going to have meatballs and he hates the meatballs;
the room is too crowded and he doesn't like crowds; the room is too
bright and the light hurts his eyes; and after visiting his wife in the
nursing home (on the "other side"), he was cold - her room is too cold.

Betsy, the director, insisted that he attend because there was to be a
special guest just for him. The guest turned out to be Ann -
an entertainer who knew him from the old days at the Traverse City Country Club.
She wanted to play the piano for him. We were the first folks down in the
community room and wound up at the table next to the piano. Joining us
at the table were Thelma and her niece (who was banging her head against
the wall of the elevator after the last party. She says that her aunt
drives her nuts.)

When Julius arrived, Ann went over and greeted him and he was very happy
to see her. She told him that she was going to play for him and came
back to the piano. As she began to play the Tennessee Waltz, she told us
that it was always his favorite and the one he always requested. As she
played, Julius seemed to be keeping time to the music. Everyone was
looking at him and asking his neighbor, "Can Julius hear OK?" to which
the response was "Oh sure, he's really enjoying it."
When she finished, everyone applauded and Julius was asked if he had a
request.
He said, "I'd like to hear The Tennessee Waltz."
Ann said, "What did he say?"
Julius said, "What did she say?"
Marian said, "What did he say?"
Nancy and I were close to dying.

When everyone had arrived (eight of the ten residents attended) the
luncheon was served buffet style. The menu was; Salad, rolls, cheesy
hashbrowns, baked beans, meatballs, (I sampled one, Julius is right, they
are bad) ham, cheese ball and ritz crackers, cake and assorted cookies.

After the meal, Ann played numerous Christmas carols and many oldies and
many of the folks sang along. When she played polkas, Julius got into a
groove and propelled his wheelchair around the room in an animated dance. He
was singing along to one of the tunes in what sounded like a foreign
tongue. One of the folks at his table asked, "What language is that?" He
stopped and replied, "I don't know."

This was the fifth or sixth Concord Place party that we have attended
including Marian's 97th birthday, and it is the first time that she has
been interested in staying more than 30 or 40 minutes. This time we
stayed for the full two hours and when we left there were only two other
residents still there. One of them was Julius.

Happy Birthday Dylan

Dylan called this morning at 8 a.m. to thank us for his birthday gifts. We gave him the Dread Pirate Game and some Christmas "crackers" that you pull and there are prizes inside. He especially enjoyed receiving the playstation games from Uncle Tom and Auntie Jana.
His party is going to be from 1-3 at the Hammock Creek Clubhouse, with special friends coming over afterwards for dinner (Kyle, Connor, Lainie et al). He sounded like he was prepared to have a great day.

Dear Old Dad

My father Tharel Thurman Kanitz was born on December 16, 1907 in Douglas County, Illinois. He died November 24, 1999 at the age of 91, just a couple of weeks shy of his 92nd birthday. Today would have been his 98th birthday, had he lived. Mother has outlived him by almost six years so far.

Tomorrow is Dylan's 8th birthday. Dylan was born on December 17th, 1997, the day after Dad turned 90 years old. If he had been born on Dad's birthday, Laurie would have named him Dylan Thurman in honor of Dad. Dylan was really smart to wait an extra day, and to become Dylan Patrick!

Family Day at Concord Place

The day begins with an appointment to see Dr. Burke (the world's best doctor). He listened agreeably to my list of complaints (he's such a good listener), and came up with two immediate solutions and one wait and see. I'm going for an MRI next Tuesday and I have one new temporary prescription. Thanks Dr. Burke. Even if I don't feel so well when I enter his office, I always feel a lot better when I leave.

Jim came up this morning to have lunch with Mother and to exchange Christmas gifts. We met at Mother's and exchanged the gifts. Ho Ho Ho! It was good to see him and we all had a good time talking about the grandchildren. He has me outnumbered two to one. Somehow, our family managed to get the cutest, most intelligent, and funniest grandchildren. We're so lucky! Mother seemed to be holding up well. Jim looks great.

O Tannenbaum

Time to decorate the Christmas tree. Thank goodness that last year we bought a new ornament storage system. It made it so much easier to select the ornaments - some ornaments come out year after year, and some only get selected occasionally. The tree is just the right size to hold all of my favorite ornaments without having to use a lot of "fillers". I'm happy with the way it looks, and so by lunch time, we are all decorated for Christmas. Dick was working at the Agency during the decorating. Luckily Jana called and so I had a family feeling talking to her and placing ornaments at the same time. What I really wanted was the whole family to be there, plus a glass of egg nog.

There's always a line at the Barlow Post Office. Even when it isn't the Christmas season, there's a line. Today I was only in line for 15 minutes, with my two packages and 10 DVD envelopes. People are pretty much in a holiday mood, so it wasn't an unpleasant line as it sometimes is. The amazing thing about the Post Office is how much the postage has gone up. One box for Florida was $12.00 and the other was $13.00. Shipping charges are actually cheaper on the internet, believe it or not!

Nice visit with Mother today - we gave out our little personalized angels to the staff, and everybody was happy to get them. Mother felt good about having something to give. The staff is getting smaller and smaller, but I hear that they are training a new person, so that will be a help. They never really run out of caretakers because of being attached to the nursing home - it's a 96 bed nursing home, so they have tons of staff. Mother and I had a good visit. She's adamant about not coming home for Christmas - she just wants to stay where she is. She also doesn't want us to bring her Christmas dinner. She's always afraid of being too much bother....as if.

GeoFriends

This has been a most enjoyable day. It all began at breakfast with Whitard and family at the Omelette Shoppe. The girls are as sweet as ever; polite, friendly, and fun. It was great to touch base with them all again, and next time it'll be our treat!

After breakfast, we were off to Luzerne for the NMG December Meet and Greet. We got there a little bit early so there was time to look for a cache, and wouldn't you know, ABX Guy and Trashcan were heading in the same direction. The wives waited in the car and the men went off to hunt the treasure. We heard great stories from Mrs. ABX Guy about her office Christmas party at Crystal Mountain the night before. Those people really know how to put on a party! I was totally in awe. While we were sitting there, Captain Bud and CachetoGo arrived and went on down the path.

The Meet and Greet was at Ma Deeter's (can you believe it?). Dick described it as a typical northern Michigan bar. Well....it was a far cry from Crystal Mountain! We had a nice lunch, interesting conversation, gift exchange, raffle, baby-admiring, new friends, and a good time.

We had an Afterglow at DinoDuo's cabin on the Manistee River. Debriefing and apple pie, plus so many Christmas items on display - I think that Susie should open a gift shop! As we left, it began to snow, but we had an uneventful ride home.

It was a day to remember.

Hagerty Center Redux

Errands to do in town this morning - Post Office to mail Christmas things, Alfie's to pick up the quilt squares, Tom's to get birthday cards for Dylan, and the drugstore. Then up to see Mother for a quick visit, and home to get ready for the best Holiday party.

Every year we look forward to the Visitor Center Christmas Party. This year it was at the Hagerty Center. (It seems that every event in Traverse City is held at the Hagerty Center! Where did we all go to celebrate before this beautiful building was here?)

We had delicious hors d'oeuvres, wine, soft drinks, desserts, coffee, and also live music by Laurie Sears. It was as tastefully done as it always is. It was great fun to talk to Nancy and Ann, Pam, Karen, and Kathee, Jim and Katie, and all. Thank you Kathee for another memorable party and for all of the kind words.

Double Your Pleasure

Dick was invited to do two presentations today. I was the lucky one, going along for the ride and just being a spectator. The Long Lakers Senior Citizens group was meeting at the Friends Church, and we didn't know it, but it was their Annual Christmas Dinner event. We knew we had been invited for "lunch" but we had no idea it would involve ham, and about eleven different home made casseroles. It was very yummy. There were approximately 30 people there, and Dick made his usual great presentation. This particular group seemed to have fewer questions than other groups, which means that either they are fully informed, or that they don't know enough about the subject to know what questions to ask. It was a delightful group. We sat with Rex, who was full of good stories and kept us entertained and amused.

The second presentation was at 6 p.m. at the Empire Methodist Church. We pulled up to the church, and it was totally dark, with an empty parking lot. At first we thought maybe that it had been called off, or that we had the wrong time - but eventually, people began to trickle in, unlock the building and turn on the lights. This time there were about 65 people there - some seemed quite knowledgeable already - but I'm sure that Dick was able to clear up lots of doubts and questions. They served cookies, brownies, and great coffee.

Simon the Scholar

Northwestern Michigan College every year offers a Genevieve Steiger Richardson Scholarship set up by Dick and Doug after Mother Gen's death. Today the College held its Annual Scholarship luncheon to honor donors and scholars alike. This year, our scholar is Simon, who is in pre-engineering. We always enjoy meeting the other donors, but especially meeting the students - who seem to be getting younger every year!

The luncheon was held at the Hagerty Center at the new Maritime Academy Building. It's always well done and this year was no exception. The best part is always the conversation.

Marian's Cards

Mother and I had a great time this morning addressing her Christmas cards and getting them ready for the mail. It was fun creating the list of people to whom she wants to send cards.

She's so amusing sometimes - there's one neighbor that she didn't want to send a card to because "She'll feel like she has to bake cookies and come to visit!" Well, to me, that would be a good reason to send a card! I never have understood my mother completely.

Anyway, it was a most enjoyable visit. Dick dropped me off and went to the barber shop. We mailed the cards on the way home. Merry Christmas to a select few from Marian.

Mall and St. Francis

I had a great time shopping at Target this morning - no kidding. I bought some more Christmas wrappings and decorations for the tree. I enjoy seeing all of the beautiful things that are available these days.

I was finished just in time to go catch Dick's presentation at St. Francis. We estimated 75 people were there. There were a lot of intelligent questions, which was refreshing. Many of the audience were quite assertive in their manner, which just shows how important these presentations are.

St. Francis has a parish nurse who arranged the meeting. She and her husband were very complimentary to Dick. When the meeting was over, Dick had a long line of folks with individual questions - I'm sure he was very helpful to them.

MIGO NL December M&G

OK - I'll translate: Michigan Geocaching Organization Northern Lower Meet and Greet. Whew! That's why they use initials. The Meet and Greet was at the Hillcrest Restaurant in Cadillac, and I think that over 35 people were there. We love the Hillcrest anyway, so we were especially happy to be there. We met some new friends - Frank and Peggy and the photobugs, and lightning striker - and enjoyed seeing the old friends - coychev, sandrich, sleepy weasel, abx guy and trashcan, etc. We guessed how many M&Ms were in the jar (we were way off), we won some jade in the raffle (really nice), exchanged travel bugs, and just generally smoozed.

During the day we did seven caches, including the event. My favorite was at Lake City - Dick's favorite was koda's ASCII puzzle cache because he spent all yesterday morning figuring it out at the Visitor Center.

It was our favorite kind of day.

Hard Workin' Guy

Dick's Day:

First he ran the snowblower and cleared out the driveway. Schools were cancelled today, and we had a ton of snow.

From 10 until 1:30 he was volunteering at the Visitor Center helping Kathee and figuring out some puzzle caches.

After that there were errands to run, including the library. At 3 p.m. he had an appointment to have snow tires put on the Subaru. It took forever. He got home at 5:30.

Meanwhile, I was doing all the housewifely things - laundry, vacuuming, wrapping Christmas presents, playing Pogo, and watching The Guiding Light (of course). I felt like I had accomplished a lot today until I realized all of the things that Dick did!

East Jordan

Dick had a Medicare presentation at East Jordan High School at 6 p.m. We left around 4 p.m. and the driving was a little slow because of some freezing precipitation - it wasn't too bad, but it did slow us down a bit. We had planned to eat out before the presentation, but we didn't have enough time, so we decided to just grab a bite on the way home.

East Jordan High School is a beautiful new facility. We were impressed with the architecture, and cleanliness, the displays, and the spaciousness. The meeting was in the auditorium, and there were about 60 people there. Dick did his usual terrific job of presenting very difficult material. He is so relaxed and natural and full of common sense. He has a great delivery - his projection is great, and his personality is perfect for putting people at ease. I know that when people left, they understood a lot more about the Medicare Part D Drug Benefit. I know from overhearing some folks on the way out that they have a plan now, a strategy about what to do and how to accomplish it.

We ended up eating at Schelde's in Traverse City - had great Reuben sandwiches.

Mac and Chee

Today we went to the Old Mission Peninsula Wineries' Annual Macaroni and Cheese Bake-Off and Wine Tasting. Whew - that's a mouthful! (So to speak.) We stopped first at Chateau Chantal,probably because it's our favorite. We tasted the Late Harvest Reisling and the Nice Red, and then headed to the "breakfast room" for the Mac and chee. The restaurants represented were Trillium, and two others that I'll remember in a minute! The one in the middle had the best Mac and chee. We left with a case of wine, half Reisling and half Nice Red.

Next was a new winery called Brys Cellars. They have a lovely setting and a beautiful new facility. The wine-tasting counter was full, so we headed right to the Mac and chee and great news for us, the wine-maker himself was serving at a table along the line. We tasted Gewurztraminer and Chardonnay. The restaurants were Peninsula Grill and the NMC Culinary Institute. The Grill served fantastic Mac and chee - it was now #1 in my book. The Institute was very creative and served Reuben Mac and Chee complete with Russian dressing. I discovered that I'm a traditionalist.

Off to Bowers Harbor Winery, where they had already run out of Mac and chee. But we got a good spot at the tasting counter, and I asked for something sweet and white. I got something called Cooper and it was really good - a lot like Reisling, but with a bit of a bite. Dick went for more gewurtztraminer. We left with 2 bottles of Cooper and 2 bottles of champagne for the holidays.

Last we stopped in at Chateau Grand Traverse, another of our favorites. It was very crowded, so we went directly to the Mac and chee. The restaurants were Stella and Windows. Stella won, hands down. They had a goat cheese Mac and chee with crushed biscotti mixed in - wow, it was good. It had a pleasant spicy tang it was really good. The two I liked best at the end of the day were the Peninsula Grill and Stella, and one had fine bread crumbs and the other had the crushed biscotti - so the next time I make macaroni and cheese, guess what I'm going to try.

Turkey Blizzard

Yes, it was a blizzard, not a gizzard (feeble attempt at humor). We've seen worse, but the roads were bad - very slippery. We spent a nice day with Mother - brought her a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner, and she gobbled it up. (sorry) She enjoys watching football as long as she can stay awake.

Today she was interested in recent happenings among the Concord Place staff - 2 people have quit and the Director is on vacation until Monday. Ann was offered the full time position, and Marla was offended. These gals are all great with the residents, but they seem to be having troubles amongst themselves. As long as Mother is well cared for.....

Shop Til You Drop

I had such fun shopping today - even though most of it was at Walmart. I know, I know, we're supposed to be boycotting Walmart because of their treatment of immigrant employees, and their general overall treatment of their "associates" - lack of benefit packages, etc. I know.

But they had everything I wanted all in one place, and the prices really are good. Among other things, I bought three seasonal tops for Mother so that she can be celebratory in assisted living. I bought some more envelopes for sending Kanitz Family Tree Books, because the requests keep rolling in. And then I went across the street to Catherine's and bought a new casual coat - just what I wanted.

Mother and I had a nice visit, and she appreciated having the new tops.

Frederick Todd Geib was born Nov. 20, 2005 - 7lbs 9oz, 20 inches long. He was born at 10:40 p.m. and he'll be called Fritz. His lucky parents are Todd and Stacey. The baby is my first cousin twice removed, and Mother's great-grandnephew. Got that?

Home Again

We went out to breakfast with Sniders - it was enjoyable, as always. We've decided not to exchange Christmas gifts anymore because they now have 4 grandchildren and one more on the way. I'm sure they would rather buy gifts for the kids! I know I would!

It was an uneventful drive home. This time we just headed up I-75 and went directly home - no geocaching or major stops. I must admit that I slept most of the way. During one of my naps Dick reported seeing 25+ deer strapped onto the southbound cars and trucks.

Took the turkey out of the freezer.

Oops!

We had a rather hazardous drive downstate yesterday - the weather was snowy and blowy all the way to Mt. Pleasant. There was bumper to bumper traffic for some reason, and we were alongside when someone in the outside lane rear-ended the car in front of him. Dick pulled over to the shoulder, and it's a good thing, too, because the car behind the rear-ender pulled over into our lane. We just sat there for a few seconds, and then re-entered the bumper to bumper traffic. It was not our best travel day.

Bill made us a big breakfast this morning and we were off to the "Greatest Rivalry in College Football". Actually, it seems that there are 4 or 5 other "Greatest Rivalries", but this one is ours. During the game I was confident that we would win. Everything seemed to be going our way - fumble recoveries, turnovers, questionable calls, etc. And our team seemed to be scoring and defending in the best possible way. But then with 53 seconds left on the clock, everything went south, and OSU pulled it out to tie for the Big Ten Championship with Penn State. We were so disappointed - being a Michigan fan is a little bit like riding an out-of-control roller coaster.

Saw Rick before the game, and he gave me the pages of family history that he had sent me by email, but were too large to be workable. It was fun to see him - and I think it's a minor miracle to run into him amidst the swarming 111,599 others who were there!

When we got back to Canton, we all watched State lose to Penn State. Heavy Sigh.