Villanova, The Waiting Game

Last month our family experienced another milestone. Dan graduated from Villanova with his Mechanical Engineering Degree. Dave and I decided that merited a trip east to Villanova. We joined other family members for a weekend of graduation festivities.

Our weekend started with Dan's departmental graduation on a Saturday afternoon. Luckily Saturday was a beautiful day because this graduation was held in a tent. A very big tent.




We were early to ensure that we had seats though some, like me, never did sit down. Being early meant we had a lot of time to spend waiting. That gave us a lot of time to talk and catch up.







Katie preferred the young people's version of talking. She spent most of her time texting her friends.




And some of us preferred talking to complete strangers. Though I have to say by the end of the afternoon they were more friends than strangers.




And there were those among us who just enjoyed the moment.




Finally! Here they come.




Nancy was right with me trying to get the perfect shot.




With caps and gowns on they all kind of look alike. At least they had flags for each engineering discipline. It made it somewhat easier to find him.




Finally! There he is. He really is graduating.




Everyone was seated and it was time for the ceremony to begin.

Da UP, Continued

After admiring the thermometer we decided to head over to Eagle Harbor and visit the Jampot.




The Jampot is a small store on the shores of Lake Superior that sells jams and baked goods.

As the monks explain, "We are building a monastery in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. For this reason we came to Jacob's Falls on the shore of Lake Superior nearly twenty-five years ago, and this is why we are here today: to embrace the struggle of life in a hard place, to heed the counsels of the monastic fathers, to come to know God through personal and liturgical prayer, and to beg His mercy upon ourselves and upon the whole world."

I don't know about all of that but I do know that their baked goods are heavenly. Trust me I know. Oh how I know. The bread I bought to eat in the car was some of the best I have ever had. So was the chocolate truffle. Why did I buy just one? What was I thinking?




As our guide in building the life of this monastery we take the "little rule for beginners" written by St. Benedict of Nursia early in the sixth century. While written for monks of a specific time and place, the Holy Rule provides an authentic witness to the ancient monastic tradition. Its precepts flow from the Gospel and from the common experience of the first five centuries of Christian monastic life.

Meet Father Sergius and Father Basil.




Monasticism does not exist as an abstraction. Buildings, Rules of Life, and traditions remain dead unless they are given meaning through human actions. Monasticism must be lived, incarnated in the daily life of specific communities of real men or women. For it is the community, not the buildings or the concept, that constitutes the monastery.


Just look at those jams and jellies. And you shall only look. We bought my not that much younger brother some of his secret ingredient that he uses in his barbeque sauce. The lady renting cars at the Houghton Airport is now enjoying that secret ingredient. We tried, Brother.




The unlikely work of picking wild berries and making jam we undertook during our first summer proved the seed of larger things. Our jam shop and bakery, Jampot, has become one of the best known businesses in our area and now more than provides for our physical needs.

Thank you, Father Basil. We and our new friend at the car rental enjoyed our purchases.




Next we decided to drive up the shore of Lake Superior and enjoy the views.




Our drive included a stop at the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse.




We had one last stop on our Keweenaw adventure. Any guesses to the importance of this stop?




Before we flew home Wednesday we had another stop to make. We needed to do some clothes shopping for Sarah's rehearsal dinner in October. They were even having a sale. Score!




One last look at the lake and it was time to leave.




It was a trip of mixed feelings. We were thrilled to be back in the Copper Country. Sad for the reason why we were there.

Goodbye, Dick. You will be missed.

Da UP, Eh.

As many of you know our Dave's good friend Dick Heckel died last week. He was a professor at Tech who took a special interest in Dave and his career. He helped him get through a couple of classes that seemed impossible at the time and was there for Dave when his dad had died. Even after graduation he was there for advice on work and life. Dave and I had even taken a few trips with Dick and his wife Peg on his boat. He will be missed.

His death meant a trip to the UP this past week for the funeral. We arrived on Monday morning to a perfect UP day.




We weren't about to miss enjoying such a gorgeous day in da UP so we rented a car and headed north.

Dave had rocks and mines on his mind so our first stop of the afternoon was at the Centennial Mine in Calumet.




Centennial No. 6 holds the distinction of being the last shaft ever used for mining in the Keweenaw. The last rock skip to come to the surface at the No. 6 would be the last to ever operate in the Copper Country – marking the final death knell for a century old industry.

Being the last shaft in operation, the No. 6 has survived the ensuing years relatively unscathed. The towering steel rock-house is one of only four still standing in the Keweenaw, and the adjacent collar house, dry house, and hoist house are still intact. Recently the property has been converted for use by a local industry and is off limits to the public. However, it can still be viewed from the highway rising up over the tree-tops.

I'm not sure what they mean by off limits to the public because we drove right up to it and we didn't have to go through any locked gates to do it.

We ran into only one traffic jam the entire time we were there. Where are all of those little people going?




This was tempting but we decided to pass it up. I like my pasties with ketchup, please.




If there are mines then you have to assume there are rocks nearby. We had found the mine and now had found the rocks. It was a Rock Wallmart. We couldn't just drive by.







Any sightseeing north of Houghton deserves a stop here.




It snowed for thirty straight days that winter. It never seemed to end. But those Yoopers are a hearty bunch. We only missed half a day of school that entire winter. When people around here panic at the thought of 6 inches I can only laugh.




The fun was only beginning but you will have to wait until the next installment to read about it.

to be continued.....

Good Job, John

John has had a lot of firsts since moving to Western PA this summer.

Filling out his first sales order.

Ridding the house of a thirty-inch snake.

And..........

umpiring his first Pony game.

Yup, Sunday evening found John at one of our local baseball fields umpiring his first Pony game. His mask is adjusted and he's good to go.




He looks good in blue doesn't he? He even looks like he knows what he's doing.




Why look who else is here.




That's Dave out there on the bases. Sorry, Dave, but it's not about you tonight. My camera will be aimed at the youngster this evening.

Uh oh. This doesn't look good.




Call reversed. Stuff happens.

But why is Dave wearing this patch on his shirt? Reality check, Dave. We've moved from the Mitten.




The game continued under Dave's watchful eye but honestly John did fine. Dave even called me over between innings to tell me how well he was doing.







It looks like John has this umpiring thing down.

He made calls.




He watched foul balls.




He cleaned the plate. Always a fan favorite.




He called "time".




He checked his indicator which was in the correct hand.




In short he looked like a real umpire.




I think we have a real umpire in the making. Good job, John.




To celebrate we went out for ice cream after the game. All in all it was a wonderful night of baseball. Especially the ice cream part.

Try, Try Again.

One of my new goals in life is to do more cooking from scratch. I've quickly learned that one ingredient that really makes a difference in cooking is fresh herbs.

Since moving here to no man's land I haven't had much success in growing herbs. I have a back deck that seems to get adequate sun and water. For a couple of years I used clay pots because I really liked the look of them. The problem is, of course, they dry out really fast. During hot summer days that can be a real problem. Last summer I switched to plastic. They didn't look as good but I figured I would sacrifice looks for function. They did somewhat better but they still weren't thriving.

This year I'm again trying something new, an EarthBox.

Double your yields of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers with less fertilizer, less watering, and no weeding at all with the EarthBox Garden growing system. The patented EarthBox was developed by commercial farmers and proven in the lab and on the farm to bolster yields while consuming fewer resources. It also takes up less space, letting you grow healthy, robust veggies, fruits and more on the balcony rail or inside on the windowsill. The EarthBox measures 30 by 13-1/2 by 12 inches (l x w x h) for a soil capacity of 2-1/2 cubic feet. The box rests on four wheels and easily rolls into full sun and then moves to the back row so another Earthbox or your favorite potted flower can get sum rays. This maintenance-free growing system controls soil conditions and eliminates guesswork so vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers grow bigger, tastier and faster! The growing kit includes fertilizer, dolomite, and two germination covers for jumpstarting your garden. The box is UV protected for years of use, and it’s recyclable.





Don't my herbs look good? Of course, it is only May but if this is any indication I think I may have a winner.

If you look closely you will see flat and curly parsley, tarragon, sweet basil, creeping thyme, oregano, and rosemary.

Watering should be a breeze. There's a tube in the back that I fill with water every day. The water is then absorbed from the bottom. No over or under watering. Or that's the promise. It even has an overfill so there's no guess work.




If you look really close you can see I have started harvesting some rosemary.




So far so good. I will update later this summer and let you know if it performs as promised.

Now i"m thinking about an indoor system so I can have fresh herbs year round.

Why Is This Golf Ball So Happy?

So why is this golf ball so happy?




Because it's that time of year again. Time to guess the number of balls I will pick up behind my house this summer.

Last year's winner was Rachel (or Rachael, I don't know which) with the guess of 460. The actual count was 448. That should give you a good starting point for this year's guess.

Please don't join the Ball of Shame like my not that much younger sister did with her guess. She guessed 131. Wow. Not even close.

The prize remains the same. I will mail you the cookies of your choice or any other baked good for that matter. Golf balls too for those that are interested in such things.

Ready?

Set?

Go!

When You Come Home Early

If you decide to come home early from a business trip this is what you might find at our house.




Last week Dave had business in Seattle and I thought that would be a good time to paint our bedroom. We have lived here for 4 years and that is about 4 years too long to live with peach bedroom walls. The new color? Coffee and cream. In layman's terms a muted green. It's a color I have used in other parts of the house and one that I really like.

LIke I was saying Dave was supposed to be home Thursday evening. Early Wednesday afternoon I got a call from him saying he would be home later that afternoon. What? I'm not ready for you to come home. Are you sure?

He was and this is what he found.




In fairness I do have to say I had my days mixed up. He was supposed to be home on Wednesday.

Late Wednesday.

So he did come home early. But by a few hours not a day.

Saturday the room was painted and Sunday he was gone again. This time to Wisconsin, on to Iowa and now he is in Chicago. He'll be home tomorrow.

I think.

No, he will be home tomorrow and this is what he will find when he gets here.




I still have pictures to put on the walls but this time Jo and I are ready.

He's leaving again Monday. I'm still trying to decide on what project to work on while he is gone. I'm open to suggestions.