Wednesday, August 26, 2009

This is the day uncle Tyler left for Norway. It has taken until today,
Saturday that I "think" I can document it without tears welling up in
my eyes...but then maybe not.

This is not the first time I have been overcome with emotion...
the same way I felt when your mother was little and we lived in
different states, the same way I felt when aunt Lise moved away
from home, the day you were born, the day Margot was born...
and lots of other times.

Laughing and crying about the ones I care deeply for.

Filtered Water

When I came to visit you, Margot, your mother and Mr. Daniel, I noticed how your mother
made the choice of saving money by using a water filter system instead of purchasing
bottled water. At the same time she is helping your environment by cutting down the number
of plastic bottles manufactured and filling our landfills, as well thinking of the health factors.
So grandma Jeanne decided to take your mother's example and purchase a water filter
system for all the same reasons AND every time I get a drink of water I also think of
you.

The visit

Leaving for Dallas...

John Deer

When your mother, Aunt Lise & Tyler were little, I would let them ride the lawn mower
with me. Uncle Tyler would almost always fall asleep.

Now I mow the lawn with this John Deer tractor with a mowing deck attached. At first
it was intimidating adjusting to having to raise & lower the deck, work the clutch, and steer.
Now I am use to it. There is no one to interrupt me.

I love how the birds flock to the grass behind me as I mow, searching for bugs, I love the
smell of fresh mowed grass, I like how I sit up high and can see the backyard when I am
mowing the path, and see Marley anxiously waiting for me to come by his dog house so
he can bark at me. I hope that someday soon you & Margot can come
visit me and we can walk the path, pick black berries and queens ann lace and enjoy
the different kinds of dragon flies. We can sit on the back deck or have a fire in the fire pit

at night and watch the fire flies.

Tyler

This year your uncle Tyler and 2nd cousin, Mark graduated from academy.

Both are planning on attending college. Mark here where grandma Jeanne

lives in Berrien Springs, MI at Andrews University, and Tyler starting out

his first two years, in Norway at Tyriford.

To grandma it didn't seem that long ago they were both 5 years old, just

like you now...

We have kittens

We have had a stray cat for the past couple months. I have been setting food out on our
front porch for her every morning before I leave for work, and at at night when I come
home. Uncle Tyler and I guessed she was going to have kittens and sure enough
she did in our barn. She moved her kittens from upstairs in the barn to downstairs. We
made a nice cozy bed for them, and checked on them daily.

The mother cat started to meow for her breakfast and dinner would wait for me to
set the food out instead of hiding. Sadly she did not come around for a couple days,
and it turned into a week. We discovered the kittens were gone. Two weeks went by, then
last Friday Aunt Gyl and I were upstairs in the barn looking for some items she had stored
there, and heard a faint "meow". In an old carpet roll were the kittens. Uncle Tyler helped
us get them out. They were VERY hungry. We brought them inside and I put them in
a cage in grandma Jeanne's & grandpa Willard's room (grandpa Willard was away in Norway for 10 days). They ate & drank like there was no tomorrow...and pooped a lot too.

Before grandpa Willard returned from his trip to Norway, I moved them into the entryway
into a bigger cage, where they kept crawling out, so now we have locked the door into the
entryway removed the big cage. They now have the WHOLE entryway to themselves.
A cat tower, toys, food & water dishes, cat box, and all our shoes to play with. In the
mornings when I come to feed them I find our shoes & flipflops have been dragged off
the shoe trays (esp. mine b/c my shoes are the smallest). They usually play inside
grandpa Willard's BIG shoes.

I wish you were here to see & play w/ them. We haven't named them yet, so let me know
if you have any good ideas.

Surfboard Rowing

http://www.imagepoop.com/image/4736/Surfboard-Rowing.html

Trying something new at 52.
Today we went surfboarding and met a lady who was sufboard rowing.
She asked me if I wanted to try it, at first I was hesitant, but then I
decided why not...experience...

Great

Your great grandparents; Donovan & Marion Moon.
(also: Aunt Gyl and grandpa Willard & grandma Jeanne-me)

Sunday morning

There is something about cradling a bowl in your arm,
and watching how the flour, eggs, oil, vanilla and milk
all blend together with the motion of the whisk.
The smell of the batter frying in the pan, the warmth of
each pancake when you place in on the plate. How the
butter effortlessly melts into the pancake and how every-
one has their own method/design of applying the syrup.
The way the knife slides through the stack of pancakes,
and the pieces onto your fork and into your mouth....

"Yes we can!"

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/oath-panorama.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Someday...

Someday you will look back at your mother and father and recognize a part of
yourself; the way you look, the way you react to life, to others. And what you
don't recognize you may look at your grandparents and understand why you
feel or look a certain way....and what you don't find in your parents, or your
grandparents is "you".

(picture of grandma Jeanne in 5th grade-front lt)