LIFE AT THISILDO

Hi All,


I am proud to announce that I have now voted for the first time in America. I have been watching debates, speeches, documentaries etc. and feel that there were better choices this time, than there were in the last election. I learnt a lot, but know I have a lot more to learn about the history of the candidates, but feel pretty sure, most of them will be an improvement on Bush!



As usual, voting was not without a bit of drama. I received a phone call from Alex who asked if I had plans for the day. I told her I was pretty flexible (I will ditch housework at the drop of a hat!). Anyway, we decided to vote first and then make plans. Alex agreed to go ahead and scout out the election venue to see how busy it was, as she was already on the road. She called to say it was relatively quiet, so I ventured out to vote, agreeing to meet her there.


The roads were a bit hazardous from the recent snow fall (was still snowing, but I would have voted in a blizzard). I got to the township hall and as I know little about cars (only that hers is blue), I was unable to spot her immediately so went in to vote. The people on duty was awesome and very helpful to a "newby". I proudly voted, and got a sticker to declare that I had voted. I won't tell you who I voted for as I have friends who are Republicans and friends who are Democrats and I would like to keep it that way. I then ventured around the car park, peeking into the window of every blue car! Still no Alex! She called to say she was definitely there and told me where she was parked. Needless to say, I still couldn't find her! Turns out she was at a different venue.



All is well that ends well, as we decided to meet at a restaurant and have lunch! We had a great lunch, spent the afternoon together and John meet us for dinner/supper back at our house, after which I was inducted into the American game of hockey. John is a huge hockey fan, but he did patiently explain it to me and we sat and watched whilst his team got annihilated! Don't know how he had fun - anyway, I am now a supporter of the Detroit Red Wings!!!! However, from the way they played, I doubt we will be having any celebration parties in the near future. I might add that it was my turn to treat Alex for lunch and once again, I didn't have any money!!! I keep forgetting to take money with me, just a credit card and in small country towns, they don't always have the facilities to accept it. Alex saved me from doing the dishes, so I guess we will have to keep doing lunch til I pay her back!

The 16th January is Damien's birthday, so Paul and I called to sing him Happy Birthday - it seemed he was less than impresssed and drew the conclusion that he was born into a dysfunctional family. Apparently, Kelly had called before us and sang to him as well. He did say her voice was better and that perhaps Paul and I should consider singing lessons. Well from now on, Paul and I will sing to him at every opportunity, until he develops an appreciation of the finer things in life!

It would have been nice to be there with him on his birthday, but it won't be long and we can have a belated celebration. It is hard to believe he is 31! Soon people will begin to think we are brother and sister (unless of course, he is aging extremely well).



As I have now learnt the secret to living a long life (Paul told me), I was able to pass it onto Damien and now I will share it with all of you "keep breathing as long as possible"! Seems like a good idea to me!

I really should keep a running diary as it is always hard to remember exactly what we have been doing to fill our days since I last wrote.

I know we have had some wonderful snow storms. It seems we are always running to the store to get our 'fixins' before the storm arrives.

Last week on the Thursday night and Friday, we had a really big snow storm, and early on Friday morning (6.30am), we had to set out to Lansing (Michigan's capital), for a court hearing. I was asked to appear as a witness in a custody case. The drive to Lansing would normally take between 45mins to 1 hour, however, the roads were snowy, icy, unplowed and the snow was falling heavily most of the way, so the trip took 2 hours at a top speed of 30 miles per hour. Needless to say, our convey of 3 cars arrived safely. We don't have a verdict in the court case yet, but I was appearing on behalf of a neighbor who is seeking custody of his baby girl. We are hopeful of getting a favorable verdict sometime next week, so say some prayers please.



I was finished with my court appearance at midday, and it was our intent to travel onto Ohio (Dayton), for a surprise 60th birthday party for Kelly's father-in-law. We had more or less made up our minds not to go because of road conditions, however, when we left the court house, the snow had stopped. Erin called to say that the storm predicted to hit Ohio had not materialised, and that her investigations revealed the roads that way were okay. We decided to press on and pull into a motel if it was too bad. The further we travelled, the better conditions became and we arrived safely at our destination around 5pm, in time to relax, shower, change and head off to the party.

Soon after our arrival at the party, Kelly, Nate and Kyler arrived!!!! He has certainly grown, but almost daily photos (at my insistence), prevented me from being shocked!!! He turned 4 months old on the day of the party, and he is a beautiful, healthy and extremely happy baby.


Doug (father-in-law), got a huge surprise when he walked in and saw the waiting gathering of family and friends. Evidently he had no idea!!! It was a great night - great food and wonderful company.

We spent the Saturday hanging out at Doug and Cherie's place, taking it in turns to hold Kyler when he was awake!!! We managed to share him without any fights. Erin and her boyfriend Chris also arrived on the Saturday morning. They couldn't make it for the party, as Chris has a second job writing up sporting events for his local newspaper and he had to cover a game on the Friday night.

Cherie put on a wonderful brunch on the Sunday before we all headed back home in various directions. Their hospitality is always amazing and we always enjoy our time with them - even if we do have to share Kyler!! lol

Sunday was also Paul's birthday, so it was nice for him to be able to see "his girls" on his special day! Unfortunately, he spent the greater part of his day driving home, and the evening was a bit of a non-event as we were both a bit tired. We will go out together with friends in the near future and give him the celebration he deserves.



In the past couple of weeks, two of my nephews wives' have produced beautiful baby girls. One was born in Australia to my nephew Chris and his wife Julene and her name is Phoebe - she is beautiful and healthy and a much loved little sister to their son Oliver. My other nephew Glenn and his wife Melanie, also had a baby girl born in Hong Kong (they are working their for a year or two). She is their first child and her name is Evie. Evie is fair haired and beautiful, whilst Phoebe has dark hair.

It is about time that my children and all their cousins started producing off-spring in earnest. Mum and Dad had seven children and between us we had 26 children and currently those 26 have produced 18 with 2 on the way! Goodness know how many we will have in the future, but I expect there will be many more before they are all done. A family reunion in the next few years would be wonderful.

Life this week has been fairly quiet - just routine with a few trips out because once again, we have had a lot of snow. There is more on the way and by Sunday our temp. will be around -20 F with the wind chill. Hard to comprehend eh?

Last night we had a games night here with some neighbors. One neighbor, I have only met briefly called and said that Paul had mentioned that we enjoy games and asked if they could come over one night. I always enjoy getting to know new people - it sure helps prevent cabin fever when snowed in, so we phoned up a few others and had a great night. We talked more than we played, but we did manage to get in one game of Balderdash and had lots of laughs.


We also decided to have another night in early March - not a games night, as we are hopeful that a lot more of the neighbours will be able to come (last night we had 10). It is so good to live in a neighbourhood with so many fun, friendly people.



I did notice today, that Lynn, one of our friends who was here last night, was out skiing on the lake. It was snowing lightly at the time, so I must applaud her stamina!!!!



I should also mention here, that Dave, her husband, has just about finished setting up a web site for our lake association. I will put the link in here, particularly for my Aussie family, as if you click on the link, you will see a lot more of the area in which I live. There are photos of the lake, a map and other details. A job well done Dave!!! He is currently working on getting us a shorter web address.


http://web.mac.com/dkbaer/iWeb/www.deltoncrookedlakeassociation.org This link also appears again below, in case you want to finish reading this before clicking on it!


It isn't long now til Alex and I head off to London, and I am starting to get organised (i.e. filling the freezer with meals for Paul, check list of things to take etc.) and I am getting excited. Keep your fingers crossed that there are no snow storms on the 15th of this month. Due to the severe winter weather, many airports have had to shut down because of fog and ice/snow etc. As long as the airports remain open, I will ensure we get there, even if Paul has to take us on his snow mobile!!! Can you picture that - a two hour drive to Detroit on a snow mobile with Alex on the handle bars, holding her case and me behind Paul, clutching my case with a camera around my neck!!!! I am sure it would be possible - convincing Paul and Alex would be the hard part. John of course, would have to stay at home - it would be unreasonable to ask Paul to fit him on as well, and I certainly wouldn't want to appear to be unreasonable!!!!.



It appears February is a very special month - Happy Birthdays go to Paul, Doug, Murphy, Sid and a very special birthday greeting to Sr. Lucille who will be turning 70!!!! Mary almost made February (at the end of January), so special greetings to you also.



Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Paul has been okayed this year not to give me flowers as I am leaving the next day and won't be here to enjoy them. I guess he will just have to lavish (not ravish), me with chocolates or dollars instead!!!! lol





Well folks thats it until I get back from London, probably with lots of photos of Damien, Lauren, Kerryn, Michael, Owen, Belinda, Matt, Queen Lizzie, Charles and his gargoyle and other city sights!!!



I have as usual puts some pictures at the end of the blog for those of you who may be interested.

After 15th of this month, please send any emails to me at kate-mack@hotmail.com as I will be checking emails only at that address while I am away. It is an old email, but it still works.

Lots of love to all, Kathy




House in the snow - compliments of Lyn Nitto



Family making fools of themselves


in an attempt to get Kyler's


attention














Kelly, Nate


and Kyler


compliments of


Nate's Aunty Bonnie














Chris holding Kyler



































Gramps has a turn!






Cherie was next!

Erin feeding Kyler

What - you want another smile?

Doug managed to get his turn as well!

http://web.mac.com/dkbaer/iWeb/www.deltoncrookedlakeassociation.org

JANUARY 2008!!!!!

Hi All,

I know it's only a few weeks since I last wrote, but as I promised pictures, I thought I would write as well (can't help bad luck eh?).

When I last wrote, I mentioned I was expecting guests for New Year's and also had planned a 'girlie' day out with Alex.

Our day out was wonderful. It began with a trip to the hairdresser's where Alex intended to have her long, black locks cut and styled. The transformation was wonderful and we left with Alex looking like a million dollars. Unfortunately, it had begun to snow heavily and her new style was soon covered in snow. She was not concerned, and we headed off to browse through some antique shops. We had planned many things that day but the antique shops held our interest for far too long. We spent hours browsing and thoroughly enjoyed it. After shopping we had a wonderful lunch and headed off to the jewellery store. What women we are - the jewellery store was closing down and yet we resisted.

By the time we headed for home, it had been snowing heavily for some time and the roads were really slick. We had one minor slide, but Alex was in control. We arrived home to find that Rochelle had arrived and later that evening, John, Vickie, Lyn, Briannah and Darrien arrived safely too.

We had a wonderful weekend - John pulled the kids around on a toboggan tied to the ATV and later he took Rochelle and Lyn for rides on the snow mobile. I went to get the camera, but was sidetracked and missed the perfect kodak moment. Lyn and Rochelle each borrowed a pair of Paul's Bib and Brace snow mobile pants. The crutch on Lyn's almost hit the floor and Rochelle had room also to accommodate an extra!!! (Am not sure I should have women staying who are so happy to get into Paul's pants)! They both enjoyed themselves, despite the apparel and remained very warm!

On the Saturday we went for a drive to try and spot some elk at the Elk Farm. We were fairly daring and thought no-one was around, so we drove up the drive way and the farmer came out of his barn. He was most accommodating, and to our delight, he let us drive right up to the fields where they were. Unfortunately, they had all lost their antlers, but the antlers were on display on the roof of the barn and around the barn. They were inquisitive animals and stared at us as much as we stared at them.

Our guests were here for the New Year's Party, and proved to be lots of fun. We laughed so much over the days they were here, that my jaws ached. They were also very helpful in food preparation for the party.

I had worked out the menu, but Lyn put in a special request for a pavlova. I decided that as they had proved popular in the past, that one would not be sufficient for everyone to have a piece, so decided to make two. Luckily they turned out fine, but that is not the end of the story.

Our menu included roast pork, as I was lucky enough to find a huge leg of uncured pork (not easy here in the States, as most of them are cured as sold as hams). The pork needed 8 plus hours to cook so it was in the top oven. (Pavlovas had been made the day before). I was also cooking a whole beef tenderloin, which needed approx. 1 hour. I was also doing baked potatoes, macaroni and cheese and green bean casserole, biscuits etc. so the ovens were much in demand.
I had everything worked out according to time and degrees. (clever, clever me). So I turned on the bottom oven to preheat whilst I went to shower.

Now I do like a nice, long, hot shower, but with so many guests, I behaved myself and had a quick shower, but when I left the bedroom, my nostrils were assailed with a sweet, sickly, burnt smell!!!!!!!!!!! The house too was rather smokey!!!!!!!!!!

The others quickly informed me that I had missed the drama! When I turned on the bottom oven, I had forgotten the pavlovas were resting there!!!! Needless to say, they had quickly burnt and even produced flames. The doors and windows were opened on this very cold night, about 1 hour before guests were due to arrive! The blacked pavlovas were outside on the bar-b-que!!! By the end of the evening, they looked perfect again, as they were covered in 3 inches of snow! lol

Oh well, we had way too much food, more than ample desserts and Lyn did get to watch me make them and she got a copy of the recipe to take home. The whipped cream for the pavlovas was used for Irish Coffees instead.

We had a great evening, with a couple of new faces as well, though a few of the old faces were missing this year, as a couple of people took sick and others did not take the risks on the hazardous roads. I was having too much fun and forgot to take photos this year, but am hoping Lyn did and that I will get copies in the future?????

John and the clan left on New Year's day as he had to go to work the next day. Rochelle stayed on for another day as road conditions were still not good.

Paul and I set to work then, packing away Christmas decor and taking it easy.

Alex came over for an impromptu visit one evening (in her pj's), while we planned our trip to England. I am reasonably flexible with dates, but she had to work it around her work schedule.
We made decisions and I booked the trip the next day. My itinerary is below (mainly for Sid's benefit as he is always so organised in emailing us his!)

My birthday was the 10th - thank you all for the beautiful cards and many, many phone calls. I spent the first two or three hours on the phone - thank you to Damien for waking me so early!!!! It is worth getting older, just to get to chat with everyone.

After breakfast and the phone calls, we headed off to the casino for the day. Four Winds at New Buffalo. It has been opened about 6 months and has a North Woods theme, so we were very interested to check it out. We left around 11am and returned home around 10pm, having had lots of fun and a great meal. We certainly didn't win anything, but we don't have to sell the house either!!!

We went to dinner the next night with John and Alex for yet another birthday celebration. We went to a restaurant called the London Broil in Plainwell. We had passed it on many occasions and always meant to check it out. John and Alex are regular patrons and now we know why. Once again, a great meal and great company.

John and Alex also invited themselves over here for dinner one night - but they bought the dinner with them. John cooked it at home and then bought the cooked meal to us. I have to say in all honesty, it was the best meat loaf I have ever had. I really like my meat loaf but his far exceeds mine. He got the recipe from some T.V. show.

Well folks, that's about all the news for now. Hope everyone has a wonderful 2008.

Oh - one of my New Year's Resolutions is to take more care when visiting Kelly and Nate and doing their laundry. Seems last time I did it, after folding and hanging his permanent press dress pants, he wore them to work. When walking down the hall at his office, accompanied by a couple of his bosses, a pair of Kelly's panties (knickers), slid down his leg and onto the floor!!!! He bent down and picked them up, put them in his pocket and continued on. I asked if the others noticed and he said "sure they did"!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh well.

Lots of love,

Paul and Kathy

My Itinery

Leave America on 15th February (Overnight flight from Detroit) After kissing Paul goodbye!
Have lots of fun!
Return on 25th February and kiss Paul hello!!
(Hope you like this one Sid??)

Chris (Erin's boyfriend), modelling
his new pj's and top!!!!!

Good fit eh? Just don't go out like that..........











Vickie slaving away in the kitchen.... A woman's work is never done, however, with such help, mine was!!!!!!!!!!!

John (Vickie's husband), out doing the plowing for us -

Great to have such help eh?

Kyler - at sleep after an exhausting play session. Photo complements of Erin's cell phone.

Time for the Christmas decor to go away.

These little elves enjoyed their ride to

the attic in the elevator!

These elves were much more agile. They climbed their way to the attic!!!

Wish the Christmas trees could have done

the same!!!!!!!!!!!!

My happy little grandson.

Gosh how I love that smile

and his chunky little legs!

Thanks Erin, another cell

phone picture for Nana.

The three stooges at John's birthday dinner.

Paul (the handsome one), John (front) and

Brandon at the back.

A view from the garage to the barn.
Rochelle's car is getting nicely

covered.

The sun breaks through the trees.

View from our bedroom window!

View from the front deck.

View from the back deck.

Our girlie day out produced a new, glamerous and even more beautiful Alex! We all love her

new hair style!!!!

Blue skies and sunshine cast shadows over our winter wonderland.

An angel in blue with a cheeky smile.

Another cell phone beauty from Erin.

Nana wth her bundle of joy!