A Room with a View

                   It was September of 1979. I had embarked on a new adventure.  I was doing something I had always dreamed of; I was going to live on an island.  It was a long, long flight to an unknown life. The three of us arrived in the dark of night.  When the plane doors opened we were hit by a wall of heat and humidity that would make Chicago in August feel comfortable.  The bus took us to our home which was a few miles down a very dark road.  I was at once excited and afraid, wondering what I had gotten myself into.  Mary, a few years older than me, seemed to take this all in stride.  Tom, who was to be our leader but turned out to be a close friend and anchor, was very businesslike as he left our company being dropped off at his residence first.  We were tired as we arrived at our destination and were led to our room.  It was dreary inside; the poor lighting did not help to brighten our accommodations.  I had a feeling of panic in my heart as we each picked a bed room. I, as usual, kept my doubts to myself but it was so quiet that my fears were almost audible.  Telling myself that I had to sleep, that sleep would make it better, I made the decision that when I awake in the morning, if this was not what I had wanted, I could always go home. 

                     Dawn came and I remember the feeling of total bliss as I walked out into the living room.  Mary and I looked out our window to a sheet of white sand followed by the gentle surf of the deep turquoise of the Caribbean. And so began my Caribbean adventure.  This  was a lesson I learned.  Never judge a hotel by what you see at night, and this also holds true for the dreariness of cloud cover.  That room, on that beach became the measuring stick by which I measure all hotel views.  

Isle of Palms came close, but, alas, the Atlantic lacks the color.  

A Christmas Letter

Merriest of Christmases

to you all!!

This year has been a year of change. Moving into a supervisory position at work and working primarily from home has been interesting to say the least.  I am off every other week, which has increased my time at home with Gary and so far we are still in love!  Gary is becoming quite a gardener and he stays busy with working out and investing.  We have been traveling more.  Took the camper out a few times this summer and also visited Wyoming in the fall for our 25^th wedding anniversary.  That is beautiful country!

                 

   My boys are in and out of our house.  I had them both home for 6 months as Dan decided not to continue his graduate work at Michigan but to pursue a different Masters Program at Eastern Illinois in Historical Administration.  He worked at the Peabody Estate in Oakbrook cataloging collections until he left for Eastern. (The price and course of study was right)

                 Thom completed one last semester at COD and worked the summer at the forest preserve again.  He left for Valparaiso in August to pursue a business degree.  He lives in a German speaking residence and he is involved with the a cappella group Hooked on Tonics.

                

 Early in the year I lost my cousin Steve and his wife Donna, both to illness. We are all so saddened by this loss.  But on a happier note, two of their daughters both gave birth this year, Lindsay and Brian had Myles and Lisa and Kenny had Emery. I love new babies! 

                 So change is abundant. Some of it good, Some of it is not so good, but Gary and I have a lot to be thankful for and we hope you have many blessings in the year to come!     

Wishing you a beautiful Christmas

 Season and a very prosperous and healthy 2013

Elections in the Rearview Mirror of my Mind

Political campaigns; I have seen a few.

I have participated in a few and I have watched a number of them with vested interest.  There is nothing more disappointing than putting your all into a campaign and losing.  So my heart goes out to all those who fought to have Mitt Romney elected. On the other hand there is nothing more exciting than a win on election night.  So I am especially happy for my nephew who worked for President Obama’s reelection.

My first experience with an election was in 1972.  Richard Nixon was trying to stay in the Whitehouse.  He ran on an ending the war platform.  Vietnam was a Democrat’s war and Nixon was the choice to end it with dignity.  And he did, one year after his election.  His choice to allow Watergate to occur made me feel betrayed but opened my eyes to “real politics”.  I did not campaign for him; I worked the polls on Election Day.  It was a wonderful experience.

Four years later I am proud to say I worked to help Jim Thompson obtain the office of Governor of the state of Illinois.  That was the last time I was seriously involved in a campaign.  I was not very involved with Ford, although I am pretty sure I voted for him.  I remember how everyone felt as Gerald Ford was punished by our nation for the sins of his predecessor.

During the Carter administration I began living overseas.  It was interesting to hear the world turn on Jimmy Carter when Iran held the US captive.  I really liked Jimmy Carter but as it turned out no one else did.

I came home to vote in 1980.  I voted early, absentee.  I remember not really knowing who to vote for.  My Dad still liked the peanut farmer but Ronald Reagan really sounded like he could bring it all together.  I honestly can’t tell you who I voted for in that presidential race, but 4 years later I voted for Mondale.  Can’t tell you why I did that, really, except that I felt like Reagan had too much power… as though the country was under a trance.  It was like I expected it was like during the Roosevelt administration…that no matter what was happening the sway of the personality ruled.

Four year later, in 1988, I just could not bring myself to vote for Dukakis, and I liked that kinder, gentler Bush.  I thought he did the right thing by protecting Kuwait.  I thought he did the wrong thing by not taking out Saddam Hussein when he had the chance. 

And then Billy came along in 1992.  I really liked Bill Clinton and voted for him in both elections and felt really betrayed that he could throw his reputation away for a tickle and a pinch.  He was so middle of the road.  It is a road that I really like.  He changed so many things for the better in this country.  By the time 1996 rolled around I was really sold on his hands across the aisle, wheeling and dealing  politicking.  There was no choice with Dole, as he was so very conservative in a southern, religious right, sort of way.  I do not like the mingling of religion with politics in any form.  It gives the government the right to tell you how to run your religion.

What can I say about George W. Bush.  I actually voted for Al Gore but became glad he didn’t win when that whole Florida voting problem occurred.  I think most people were voting against Bill Clinton.  I am glad we had Dick Cheney as the Vice President.  There were many things that the Bush administration did that I disagreed with.  I can’t really recall anything specific but I disagreed enough to vote to Kerry in the next election.

This brings us up to this election.  I have never felt that any of our previous presidents was moving us away from our basic philosophy.  Barack Obama has a different vision for the US and I hope for all those who voted for him that it pans out well.    I have nothing against the man.  I voted for him as our senator from Illinois.  But the White House is no place for someone who cannot cross the aisle, and no matter what the media suggests, the beliefs and feelings of those people need to be respected and taken into consideration.  I have always considered myself a social liberal and a fiscal conservative.   I do not vote on women’s rights (we have them), abortion (It’s already legal and won’t be going away, no matter what anyone spouts) or any number of hot button topics that try to pull at a voters heart strings.  I vote with my pocketbook in mind.  So we’ll see what that looks like after the next 4 years, what the dollar does, where inflation goes.  I hope this new vision helps.  In the meantime buy US savings bonds! Support your country!

October 21 2012

The Canvas that is Autumn

Sometimes fall memories are so palpable they push in on my reality and color it with shades of sepia.  There is so much about this time of year that gives me comfort.  Although disliking school with a passion in my later teen years, September and October were always thrilling to me.  Not living close to where I went to school, my summer was filled with neighborhood kids, but when the grass turned crisp and the grasshoppers appeared it was time to put away running bases, freeze tag and backyard tents.  It was time for school and the season that followed.

I have such warm memories of autumn.  I can remember sitting in my Aunt Elaine’s kitchen watching her and my mom chat.  It was a warm and inviting place, playing with my cousins.  Trips were made to Uncles Ray’s farm for produce. My mom and dad would be canning in the kitchen and talking about how someday they would have a farm.  Of course, this did occur, but not soon enough for me.  I always thought that we would move to the country.

  I would wait each year for the appearance of “injun summer” in the Chicago Tribune.  It would be published about the time that we would all be raking our leaves.  Don’t get me wrong, I am all for banning leaf burning, but there is something about the smell of smoldering leaves wafting thru the air on an autumn evening. It was one of those things that brought neighbors together. 

              

And our annual foray to Bell’s apple orchard in Lake Zurich was the non-Halloween highlight of the autumn season.  The smell of a fresh apple, the snap it makes when you first bite into it, brings a yearning for an orchard that has gone the way of so many others.  I can close my eyes and see the bushels of Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Jonathans and Macintoshes.  After our visit the smell of my mom’s kitchen was overwhelming.  Apple pies, apple cake, apple bread and caramel apples.  My grandma would make baked apples and my brother and I would be the recipients. 

My husband and I, of course, created new traditions as our children were born...the pumpkin farms, the weekend to Door County for pumpkinfest and newly discovered apple orchards. I have discovered, as our children have grown and flown the coup, that creating traditions is a continuously changing canvas upon which we splatter new hues depending on where we are in life.  But yet there are times that the pull from the past takes my breath away and for a single moment in time I am transported back to the autumns of my youth.  They are such good memories.

Changing my look

Coffee, cool morning, late summer feel to the air, It is going to be hot today.   I wanted to change the look of my blog but find that I have very limited abilities in this department.  Think I will keep it like this for awhile.  My husband Gary enjoying the view in Ephraim Wi.

I love Just a Pinch!

http://www.justapinch.com/me/luv2cookDeb

My son the Rugby Player