Ugh! This weather! We are on day 3 of a 4 day heat wave here in Michigan, and I know we are not the only ones experiencing high temps! I am a fall/winter girlie so I am NOT enjoying this to say the least. The weather here is hot, humid, swampy, oppressive, downright disrespectful, if you will.
I pulled together a list of a few books that feel like a heat wave, in case you want to match the weather outside. These temps call for more than a light summer read!
Desperation: Desert heat, scary horrible creatures, and a gang of thrown together heroes battling an ancient evil. This is probably one of my top fave King books.
Lonesome Dove: More desert, minus the … gore? It still has its moments. Just imagine wandering the desert in all that gear. Bleh. One of the best books ever though.
Holes: This book is on my mind a lot right now, as it is a book Wyatt and I are reading next year for school. But dang, is it hot out there. Poor Stanley.
The Ruins: Jungle heat, humidity, swampy, bugs and plants and horror. So good!
Jaws: I don’t think this one needs an explanation. However, this book makes you think twice about swimming in the ocean to beat the heat!
The Sunlit Man: My husband suggested this one so I don’t know anything about it! However, Billy understood the assignment, as the description reads “Fleeing the fires of a sunrise that melts the very stones…” Yep, that is pretty hot.
Good Girls Die Last: This book is all feminist rage during a London heatwave. Em is just going through some shit, pardon my French, and is fed up.
The Summer That Melted Everything: I can’t describe this any better than this blurb.. “Fielding Bliss has never forgotten the summer of 1984: the year a heatwave scorched the small town of Breathed, Ohio. The year he became friends with the devil.”
A Streetcar Named Desire: Literally the first book that popped into my head when I was thinking about this post. New Orleans in the hot summer is something to be experienced y’all!
The Great Gatsby: Another book that was an instant add to my list.
This week was music camp week! This was Wyatt’s third year attending the Eric “RicStar” Winter Music Therapy Camp at MSU, and his best year yet.
First, a little look back. Wyatt’s first year was definitely our roughest, but there was so much else going on as well. Billy was supposed to go but ended up having to stay home due to kidney stones (poor Billy!), so Wyatt was processing a lot of different emotions. He and I were off on a three day adventure without his dad for the first time, navigating hotels and scary AirBNBs, a whole new experience with music camp, and also, being taken off of an epilepsy medication bit by bit. There was a lot going on for this kid. But we made it through the week – lots of tears, but also such a good experience for us both. The staff were all so wonderful though, that I knew we would be going back.
I am so glad that we did because year two was so much better! A few tears the first day, but then, smooth sailing for there on out. Billy was with us, and while this time Wyatt was getting used to new meds (ugh do you all remember Wyatt being so sick with that new med last year?) we were prepared for it. And he ended up having a great year!!
This year though, was by far the best. Let me tell you why.
We hit the road early Monday morning, coffees and Egg McMuffins for Billy and I, water and French Toast sticks for the boy, and had an easy 90 minute drive north to Lansing. We arrived right on time, and headed on in to the school, where the staff were all lined up on both sides of the door to greet campers. Wyatt was met with a cheer and a “Wyatt’s here!” which was such a happy way to start the day for him, so welcoming, and then we went off to meet our group, green group in the cafeteria. Wyatt was starting the day with music and dancing, which to me seemed like a great way to begin. He was feeling a little shy for most of this hour, but slowly began to settle in and relax. I get it, I am the same way. We just gave him time and let him acclimate and danced as well to encourage him to join in, and eventually he did.
This whole first day was so much easier than previous first days for us. Wyatt knows these people now, the therapists and some of the volunteers, who have been there all three years that we have been there, and then even some of the kids in our group were the same from previous years. These days are very full – they are on the go and making music and learning about music from 9:30-2:30, and let me tell you, even Billy and I were tired at the end of the first day. But it had been awesome. There were some favorite moments of Wyatt’s that day, playing the piano and the bongos and then a horn. When we left for the hotel at the end, we were all ready to just chill out for a bit.
Look at that little tired face.
Which is exactly what we did. We checked in to the hotel, where music followed us. The entire cast of The Book of Mormon were checking in that day as well! We stayed in our room, reading and watching tv for a while, having snacks and water (I swear, I could not drink enough water while we there), before deciding to find some dinner. We took a little drive around the area and decided on Peppino’s Pizza, which was delicious. If you find yourself in East Lansing, give it a try. And if you are there on a Monday, they currently have a $5 special for a medium. Just saying.
The next morning, we headed back to camp. This time we were smart and parked in the shade, since our little family took our lunch breaks outside to give Wyatt some time out of his wheelchair and to give me a quiet moment in the day. All of that activity and noise is actually really hard on my own nervous system, so those little breaks were awesome. We just had car picnics in the back of the Subaru, and they were little respites.
We started off with more dancing in the cafeteria. Today Wyatt took a minute or two to warm up to being back before joining in, and it helped that they were playing with the parachute. He loves that. I think all kids do honestly. I sort of want a small one for scouts to do the same activities. The therapist plays music, the kids all raise it up and lower it, go under it, catch and toss balls as a team. The whole thing is pretty fun and Wyatt loves it. It must be evident, because Wyatt’s group leader told us that his face was pure joy during it.
Let me throw something in here – Billy and I are pretty much the only parents that attend. We definitely needed to the first two years, and after this year, we are going to attend but also start stepping back a bit. We think Wyatt can handle it, if we do it slowly. We have seen so much growth in him already, over the past year. I think with Scouts, the independence from the ramp and being able to go outside on his own for the first time ever, all of this is contributing to a stronger, braver Wyatt. He is coming out of his shell, bit by bit.
The sessions are an assortment that include composition corner, which Wyatt liked, tech tunes, rhythm, musical stories, guitar jam, the dance and music expression class, and beats blues and booms. Wyatt really enjoyed them all this year, but his favorite this year was definitely guitar jam. This sort of blew our minds, as the first two years, this class for some unknown reason, made Wyatt cry. I have no idea why. However, this year, he was totally in. He loved playing the guitar, he loved the therapist Vic who ran it, he was participating and laughing and having fun. I was beyond happy about this, and I know Billy was too. But the thing that really got us was that Wyatt wanted to, on his own volition, to say goodbye to Vic. He wheeled over to fist bump him goodbye, and if you know Wyatt, you are probably just as shocked as we were. Wyatt does not do goodbyes. They usually upset him and he is very avoidant. So to see him seek this interaction out was amazing. Of course, a few minutes later when he was saying goodbye for the year to everyone else he had a meltdown, but it didn’t matter. We had that win. That one huge moment. Special needs families always say that we don’t have milestones, we have inchstones, and this was definitely one for us. It was huge.
I skipped ahead a bit but that is ok. I will rewind just a bit, since that was the last day of camp that he did that. Anyway, after our second day was over, another really really good day, the three of us went to the MSU Children’s Garden. It didn’t take us very long to stroll through but it was still very fun. There were people working it (students maybe) and they took time to show Wyatt a cool plant, called a sensitive plant that closes up when you touch it. The garden itself was really cool, and Wyatt loved exploring it, especially the musical tiles. After this we grabbed some dinner to relax again in the hotel.
The next day we were bummed that we had to make a tough decision. Wyatt was having so much fun but the weather forecast was terrible. Predicted tornadoes, large storms, flash flooding, torrential rains. He had a concert scheduled for 1:30 and we would be out at 3, but his grandparents were also driving up to see it, and might be caught in bad weather, both ways. And so would we. We really went back and forth, but ultimately decided that it was better to leave early, even if the weather didn’t materialize, then to stay and regret it. Plus, we didn’t want our family elders driving in it either, and there is no way we would have been able to get them to stay home. So we left early, although the storms didn’t come until later than stated in that area. It really sucked, honestly, not being able to finish up. As it was we did get caught in some of the weather making its way across the state, with zero visibility for about 45 minutes of our drive. Our drive took twice as long going home as it did going up, and we actually heard the weather alert system go off on the radio, for real, and not as a test. It was announcing a tornado warning nearby, so that was alarming. We made it home though safely and were glad that we made the decision that we did.
This was such a great year for Wyatt, and we can’t wait for next year! It is an incredible experience for all of the kids involved and you can tell that everyone who puts this camp on puts their entire heart and soul into. The love for the camp and campers shows in everything they do, making this experience one that will stick with Wyatt forever.
Hello everyone!! It’s been a whirlwind my friends. Billy and I have spent most of this month so far trying to cram an entire summer into one month to the best of our abilities, and we have done ok. We have hit most of Wyatt’s bucket list at least so that is good.
Hmm. Where did I leave off last time? Ok, so Dream Night, the EEG, and our deck ramp oasis. Lol. Since then we have done a few more things on our quest to fill Wyatt’s June. If you are new here, Wyatt is having surgery in July and will be recovering most of the rest of the summer. So we are trying to make June full of adventure.
Billy and I did take a look at our schedule board though a few weeks and took a deep breath before plunging in.
Wyatt was invited to a birthday party for one of his fellow scouts the other week and it was so much fun. I think the parents at the party had just as much fun as the kids! It was a bowling party, and it was super chill and relaxed. As a little bonus, we all got our own little Nothing Bundt Cake. It was delicious!
We followed that up the next weekend with the Summer Reading Kick Off at the library. We love going to the these kick off parties. The library does such a nice job of having lots of activities and fun things for the kids to do. This year the theme is art related, and they had different craft activities set up around the library, a quiet coloring room, a sticker room, and a caricature artist! Wyatt really enjoyed the coloring room, which is where we spent most of our time. Afterwards we went our for pizza at our favorite pizza place downtown, where we ran into my bestie and her family. They were on their way out but we got to chat for a bit before our pizza came. It was nice way to spend a summery Friday night.
Then Saturday was the day Wyatt had been waiting for! We got up early and went to the movies to see How to Train Your Dragon. Wyatt never would really sit for a movie before this spring, so we had never really taken him to the theater. However, now that is something we can do – and we started with a movie he was really excited about. We bought tickets for a few of the VIP seats, ate hot pretzel bites, and settled in for the movie. And we all absolutely loved it! We all loved the original animated movie, and while Billy and I were a little apprehensive about the live action, it was perfect. It was almost shot for shot just like the original, and the additions they made were thoughtful and made sense. Wyatt absolutely loved it, and later that night we went to Burger King just so that he could get the How to Train Your Dragon kids meal. Wyatt also told us he is no longer our little wolf boy, he is a dragon boy now. I am not sure how I feel about that, after years of him loving wolves more than anything!
The next day was Father’s Day, and we always go to Greenfield Village for their vintage Motor Muster. We try to get there when it starts because it gets so jam packed, and it is always like a million degrees for some reason. We walked around a bit, and then looked for our friend’s dad, who always take his car to show. It is a 1949 Packard. And this year he won for his division so congrats Mr. Gallagher! I am not as excited about the cars as Billy is, but I always appreciate how shiny and colorful they are. I do have some favorites though usually every year. This year I thought the Gremlins were so cute, especially the little Gremlin logo, and I also love old station wagons with the wood paneling. I wouldn’t mind having one of those honestly. They are just so retro cool to me. Billy really likes the Mustangs from the 1960s. I always tell him every year how my mom bought herself a little Mustang in the 60s. I think that is tradition too.
This year they also had reenactors for different decades and eras. They had an area set up for the CCC and the She She Shes, another for hippies, women working a Victory Garden, and it was just so fun. It just added to the vibe! Our favorite reenactors though were the Women’s Baseball league from the 40s, just like in A League of their Own. These ladies were the South Bend Blue Sox, and we loved talking to their manager. She told us about an event in Ohio, that reenacts the Normandy invasion, and they also have old timey baseball games for the women’s league and a USO show. We are totally putting it on the calendar for next summer! I think it will be a great living history event for Wyatt to experience.
Of course, we had to get dinner for Billy on Father’s Day! Nowhere fancy for us though – I thought it would be fun to keep with the theme of the day, and have dinner at A&W! It’s a drive up type restaurant, you eat in your car with a little tray hanging off your window, and the menu is like hamburgers and coney dogs and root beer. It is pretty iconic in this area (in fact one of the cars in the pictures above has a tray displayed), and all of the branches around here look exactly like they did in the 80s, which is also probably how they looked in the 70s. I sort of think they haven’t been upgraded too much since then, but that is beside the point. We went and ordered our root beer and hot dogs and coney dogs and then drove around the Metropark before heading home. And we had to head home, because we still had a lot to do there! We had to pack for music camp and get everything in the house ready for us to leave, including instructions for my poor brother who agreed to watch our menagerie of critters.
And I think I will leave off here, as I want to spend some time talking about music camp, and this is already a lot.
And of course, a few random shots from my camera roll.
I hope that whatever you do today my friends, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone!! I decided that this year I am going to be doing book reviews in groups of three, and just little short mini reviews. And it is finally time for me to do three more, plus a sad little DNF.
First up is Of Salt and Shore!
Of Salt and Shore however, was amazing. It is a middle grade but wow, it was fantastic. It is translated from Dutch (the OG title is Lampje) At first, I didn’t know if I was going to like it. It has some darkness swirling around in it, but the story that evolved was a beautiful tale of friendship and found family and loyalty. I just loved this one, and so far it is one of the best books I have read all year.
It was much more emotional for me than I had anticipated from a middle grade. It touches on child abuse, neglect, alcoholism, otherism, prejudice, and there were moments that made me feel the pain of these characters so profoundly. But little Lampie marches through in her practical way, setting things right, shaking things up, helping to heal the people around her just by being her own steadfast self, a little girl who won’t be swayed from her purpose and goals. She stares headlong into challenges and despite any fear, keeps going. The daughter of a lighthouse keeper, she herself is like a beacon and a lighthouse for those around her.
It has vibes of The Secret Garden, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid. There is found family and friendship, and I highly recommend this book to everyone.
I just want to say that this book made me smile and laugh and just get all feet kicky over some parts. I love a good adventure theme, I guess, and this one is even set in my very own home state of Michigan! This book was just campy goodness, with inept but earnest characters, a total cinnamon roll of a MMC, crazy situations, danger, shipwrecks, a missing diamond… It was just absolutely perfect. It did also have some more serious moments, that explored grief, that were so very true and touching. We have all lost people we love, and know what it is like to be hit out of the blue with a memory that just reminds you of how much you miss that person to your core.
The romance is a slow burn which I also enjoyed, and the spice level was probably like, 2 jalapenos if that? Open door, but not like super detailed or graphic. LOL. I never know how to describe this for people!
This book is just charming and adorable and touching and hilarious, and I absolutely loved it.
Little Pieces of Hope began when WHO declared COVID a pandemic, and the author Todd Doughty realized that in order to keep going through such an unprecedented, scary time, he needed to do something. And what he did was create lists, something I can totally understand, of things that made him happy. Anything and everything. Feelings and moments and sounds and smells and memories. It is not really a book to read straight through, but one to pick up here and there, when you might need a reminder of good things in life. It inspired me to start my own list of happy making things as well, those glimmers that just tickle our souls and make us smile.
And now my DNF. I am so bummed about this one! I was pretty excited about it – this cover is gorgeous, and the premise sounded interesting, a LGBTQ+ version of The Holiday. And there were parts of it I did enjoy! However, I felt like Goldilocks reading this book that had dual relationships happening, and one moved way way too fast for me, while the other was way too slow. However, the writing itself was wonderful.
And that is it my friends! I hope today you do or read or see something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone!! I am drinking Cafe Bustelo this morning, which isn’t too bad. It’s new to me and I am still finding the right balance in making it. I need the caffeine today; it has been a busy week!
Last weekend, Billy spent all day Saturday putting up shade for Wyatt and me around the deck. Wyatt loves to be out there – it is a great spot for him that was an unintended byproduct of the ramp building, but I am so thankful for it. It really is the perfect place for him to play outside. And he can go in and out all by himself, which makes him feel so much more independent. However, it was like being on the surface of the sun at times, with the complete lack of shade in our yard. So, Billy did what he does best and fixed the problem! Billy wanted to also make sure that we could wheel Wyatt out there after surgery and have it be a safe place for him to get out of the house and get some fresh air, and that required massive shade. Billy’s plan – he turned canvas dropcloth into curtains by adding grommets and hooks, and hung them on rods he had in the garage leftover from an old pop up gazebo thing. He also ordered an actual sun shade sail for the top, and now it is perfect! I can take Wyatt out there and move the curtains around as needed to keep him safe and not overheated (he doesn’t react to heat well, like a lot of people who have suffered brain injuries) and unburned. I do use an Australian sunscreen on him, Blue Lizard, because I believe Australians probably are the experts on it, but still, you know?
Sunday Billy got to use his new grill, which he got on sale over Memorial Day Weekend. We figured the deck area is going to be where we spend most of our time this year. Billy will be out of vacation time after taking time off for Wyatt’s surgery, so no little trips for us this year. And this is fine, we just want kiddo’s surgery and recovery to do well, and then we will be perfectly content spending our days and evenings in our little DIY oasis.
Then Wednesday, Wyatt and I headed to Motts Children’s Hospital, where he was all hooked up to some electrodes for a 24-48 hour EEG. It’s not necessarily a difficult procedure, just long. He needs to stay in the room the whole time, but he is allowed to play and move around and do whatever, as long as he is in the room. He does well for being stuck in a hospital room with all sorts of wires attached to him. He really is such a good kid guys, seriously. We watched The Wild Robot, read from his library book, drew, colored, and then he just played on his tablet. When Billy got there they played a game while I took a short walk around. And we had a surprise treat! My brother door dashed us delicious goodies from Tous Les Jours bakery! I talked about this place in a previous post, it is an Asian-French bakery and is so good! He sent us so many things, and I was grateful because I was starving!! Wyatt had eaten lunch and had snacks but I hadn’t, so when I grabbed the door dash and brought it up, I demolished the ham and cheese croissant. Lol. It was sooo good!
The next morning when the doctors came by, we had a good report!!! Wyatt had had no seizure activity captured, and the spike waves that he has near constantly at night (called DEE-SWASS) all originate in the same little spot in his brain. DEE-SWASS is continuous spike waves while you sleep, which can disrupt REM and can create issues with memory and also cognitive loss. If they are too frequent, doctors try to treat although DEE-SWASS still doesn’t have a lot known about it yet. However, the doctors felt that since Wyatt’s was located in just one area, that doesn’t cause the same issues and felt comfortable not being aggressive with it. So we were able to go home, and honestly, I was so relieved I could have cried about this report.
Last night, Wyatt got a reprieve from medical appointments! The foundation, A Kid Again, gifted us with tickets to the Detroit Zoo Dream Night! This is an evening for special needs families, where everything is open and free, even the carousel, movie theater, and the special Dragon Forest. They provided dinner and snacks, had zookeepers on hand for animal chats, a silent disco, and sensory friendly activities. The tickets are limited as well, so it is a quiet evening, without too many people. It is just a very special night for the kids and families. I know that my son had a blast. The smile never left his face!
We wandered the whole zoo, saw the wolves, and had to go through the Dragon Forest twice. Wyatt picked out a dragon toy, which he didn’t let go of the rest of the night, and ate chocolate chip cookies. Basically, we just had the best time and laughed so much and had fun. It was the perfect antidote to follow up his overnight stay at the hospital, and I am so grateful that we had that opportunity.
This weekend will be a little more low key, with tacos at my brother’s tonight, and a bowling birthday party tomorrow. Still fun but much more relaxed!
I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile my friends!
Today I am linking up with Lisa, at Boondock Rambings, for her Saturday Afternoon Chats!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone! We have been working on projects around here like maniacs, but we are getting things done. Billy has been working outside on the yard, while I have been neglecting the house while I work on school and scout stuff for next fall (I don’t want to be planning after Wyatt’s surgery), handling Wyatt’s prehab exercises, and finishing up the bit of school we have left. I need to clean today…..
What I have read lately:
Let me start with Anywhere You Go. I wanted to like this one so much, but I didn’t. It is a LGBTQ retelling of The Holiday, which is such a fun premise. However, I felt like Goldilocks. One of the relationships moved way too fast for me – I don’t like the trope of insta-love – and the other was way too slow! Lol. I ended up DNFing it.
Beaches, Bungalows, and Burglaries was another one that I didn’t love, but I did enjoy it. Like, not love. I am going to read the next one though, because I am curious about where this series goes. So I guess that says something.
Of Salt and Shore however, was amazing. It is a middle grade but wow, it was fantastic. It is translated from Dutch (the OG title is Lampje) At first, I didn’t know if I was going to like it. It has some darkness swirling around in it, but the story that evolved was a beautiful tale of friendship and found family and loyalty. I just loved this one, and so far it is one of the best books I have read all year.
We are still watching Wheel of Time, although it was cancelled. Billy is bummed, but knew it was probably coming.
We also finished up The Brokenwood Mysteries, and I will have to be sad now until more come out. It is my favorite show and it is so short!
We also started Yellowjackets, which I have been wanting to watch for ages, and we are obsessed. However, if you don’t know much about it, it is pretty gory, just wanted to put that out there. Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci are amazing in it. I love Ricci in anything and I don’t think I appreciated Lewis enough back in the day, but her performance in this is fantastic.
We haven’t had a night where we can watch a movie together (other than movies with Wyatt earlier in the evening, we just watched the OG Lilo and Stitch which he loved!), so we are still waiting to watch the first two on our list, Holland with Nicole Kidman and Wait Until Dark with Hepburn.
And that is it from me today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone! It has been beautiful here lately – finally! We had been hit by constant rain for a week or so straight, and the past few days have been sunny and not too hot. Perfection!
It’s been a few weeks since I posted one of these! We just have had a lot of life stuff that hasn’t been all that interesting, like a flurry of doctor appointments, appointments for equipment for Wyatt, school stuff, just the minutia of daily life. I also started going through areas that I rarely weed through to get rid of things and reorganize. Fun stuff here guys.
I have recently gotten into genealogy again, and have been tromping around cemeteries. There is one that Wyatt and I visited together, but I didn’t want to leave him in the car too much while I searched so that was more of a scouting expedition, that I followed up with a real exploration later that weekend with Billy and Wyatt. I found my mom’s grandparents, but for the life of me I could not find my dad’s great grandparents. My dad, Wyatt, and I went last Friday and finally found them. I told Wyatt we were standing in front of his great-great-great grandparents graves. I don’t think he was particularly enthused, but one day he might be!
If you read my post about my genealogy saga, I had a mystery about an ancestor, Marie Domaine and her mother Josephine Bernard. Well, I still haven’t solved that puzzle yet, and I ran into a new head scratcher. My great grandfather was born in Ireland, moved to Pennsylvania and was a brick layer in the Pittsburgh area. However, I found a passport application that states he was planning to go to Colombia for a month for work, which sounds sketch. Then later, he died after being struck by a car, which isn’t really that suspicious unless you are plotting some sort of criminal story in your mind, like I did. Was he in the mob? Who knows? Lol. Well that might be a stretch but I do enjoy making up these narratives about ancestors right now.
Speaking of my dad, he recently had a birthday! Number 78. We went to his house for a very casual get together and had a great time. The kids had fun playing and visiting their grandparents. There were also three different birthday cakes for us to choose from, so lots of cake!
We kicked last weekend off by making lunches to be distributed to the public. I wanted Wyatt to start becoming involved in community service projects occasionally, and of course our church is a good place to start with him. He was a great helper and I was very proud of him, although I did not have him help make sandwiches. His grandmother did that. Wyatt, Billy, and I were an assembly line of filling the lunch bags instead, which was a much more suitable job for a ten year old.
When we got home, it was time for our Drop In Crafternoon that Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and I are hosting. We had a great time hanging out, chatting, and crafting with the fellow bloggers who have joined us. Since it is drop in, it is all very casual, just come for however long you can or pop in when you can. Send me an email at crackercrumblife@gmail.com if you are intestested!
On Sunday, we went to a nursery garden center that was new to us. Wyatt had gotten a small garden bed for Easter, one that is raised so that he can access it from his wheelchair, and he needed some plants to fill it! He made some good choices – dahlias, a delphinium, and a strawberry plant. It looks really nice! Billy and I had too much fun in the bonsai area and the terrarium areas, poking around. We ended up buying a tiny little silver needle tree (?). It says it gets like 6 feet tall, but we can’t find anything about it online, so I am thinking it has a different name than what it said on the tag. It was in the bonsai area so I am also guessing we can do that with it? Right now it just looks uniquely pretty. I also picked out a teeny tiny little tiger head planter and stuck a succulent in it. I love it.
Afterwards we stopped at Lowes for dirt, and ran into my brother and his family. They were also getting supplies, for Mermaid Girl’s fairy garden.
These guys came over on Monday to hang out, have some dinner, and enjoy the evening. It was a nice time. My mom came too, and was not happy I made her wear a big hat. But it was really sunny and I was worried she would burn. She did it, and I told her she looked like a Dame. She will also be unhappy if she knows I posted this photo of her on here, so don’t tell ok.
I hope you all have been having some good moments filled with smiles and laughter.
Hello everyone! Have you ever had those mornings where the coffee just hits perfectly? That is my morning coffee today. I don’t even know what I am drinking today, it is just good.
It was a bit of a week this week! I think our weeks are going to be like this for a while, while we are in the run-up to Wyatt’s surgery. Just a lot of different appointments and phone calls and arranging equipment, and so on. And if any of you have dealt with insurance companies, you know how many hoops you need to jump through first, and the amount of phone calls you need to make! However, it does look like things are starting to all come together, and as a person who needs things prepared and ready, I am starting to at least feel better on that front!
I made a joke yesterday that my whole week has been spent between doctors appointments and the fish store, because it has. Who knew this new fish tank would give me (and Billy) such a headache! It is our first community tank so it is a learning curve. We had a few losses right away, because our parameters were off, but we have been diligently doing 75% water changes almost daily and running up to the store for water tests. We have three lemon Tetra, that we named the Lemon Sisters, two albino African dwarf frogs who have had a few different names, we can’t settle on any, and one Khuli loaches. Once our water is perfect (and we are soooo close!) we are adding two more loaches because they prefer to live in a group. I read that they will actually die of loneliness if they are the only one in a tank! Ours should be ok since it won’t be that long of a wait – I asked Sam at the fish store to make sure! It seems like our little frog likes it though, and they hang out together. So maybe the loach doesn’t feel so lonely. That group needs a name too. If anyone has any name suggestions for the frogs and loaches, I would love to hear them! (and I snuck a photo of Wyatt’s favorite fish, Moon, into the group here, even though he lives on his own)
Wyatt and I also went for a stroll and browse through my favorite nursery the other day. I still haven’t given up on my plan to plant a tree or trees in my yard. I had originally wanted to plant birch trees, but with the new ramp I don’t think it will work. So I am thinking maybe a Japanese Willow now? I also liked the look of the Whipcord Red Cedar, but that might be a bit much too, lol. Wyatt found the name “Crabapple” tree hysterical, and laughed about the whole time we were there. I did buy two little rue plants to put on the deck, as a small offering to the butterflies.
Last night we had Cub Scouts!! It was a very chill, easy meeting this time, with the kids working on windchimes to hang in the yards. I would have said they were for their mother’s as gifts, but in our group, the mothers are there with their children and helped them make them. Our little pack is getting so close and it makes me so happy. Wyatt even allowed one of the other kids to push him in his wheelchair, which is unusual! He usually only lets family do that, so Billy and I were happily surprised at that development! Wyatt was playing, and with someone other than his cousins! He was slightly apprehensive, I could tell by his face, but his desire to play was greater than his apprehension. Progress!!
The kids all seemed to have a good time designing their wind chimes, choosing the best and most “aesthetic” beads as one little girl kept saying, and putting them together. The parents all seemed relaxed (even me!) and it was just a fun night.
Next month we have a few things lined up- a fishing derby, a meeting, and then the kids are helping my church pack bag lunches to hand out free to the community.
I even had an outing, all on my own! The clinic where Wyatt has therapy hosts a Mother’s Day event every year, and it so fun to go too. This year it was Kentucky Derby themed, and we had to dress up a bit and wear hats or fascinators. They had games, good food, prizes, and lots of togetherness. We all shared our wins for the past year, and there were some tears among us moms of special needs kids, feeling the hardships and pain, but also celebrating the wins, big or small.
And then that was our week! It was a week of ups and downs, but I think that is what life is, isn’t it? A series of ups and downs? We enjoy those up moments, and then rally together for the hard ones.
And I will say goodbye for today! I hope that whatever you do today, that you do something that makes you smile!
This week’s prompt: Authors (or books by authors) Who Live In My State/Country
I chose to go with authors from my home state of Michigan, or who lived in Michigan for a part of their lives. I apologize in advance for the length of this post!
Angeline Boulley: “Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Her debut novel Firekeeper’s Daughter was an instant #1New York Times bestseller and recipient of many internatioanl accolades including the ALA Printz and Morris Awards; the YA Goodreads Choice Award; the Walter Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature; and is Carnegie Mellon nominated. Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island.” (from Macmillan Publishers)
I have loved both Fire Keepers Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed. I can’t wait to read her new one, Sisters in the Wind, that comes out in September. So far both books have been set in Michigan, in the area that Boulley is originally from.
Beth Nguyen: “Beth Nguyen is the author of four books, most recently the memoir Owner of a Lonely Heart, published by Scribner. Owner of a Lonely Heart was a New York Times Editors’ Choice pick and was named a best book of 2023 by NPR, Time, Oprah Daily, and BookPage. Nguyen’s three previous books, the memoir Stealing Buddha’s Dinner and the novels Short Girls and Pioneer Girl, were published by Viking Penguin. Her awards and honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Book Award, a PEN/Jerard Award, a Bread Loaf fellowship, and best book of the year honors from the Chicago Tribune and Library Journal. Her books have been included in community and university read programs around the country. Nguyen’s work has also appeared in numerous anthologies and publications including The New Yorker,The Paris Review, The New York Times, Literary Hub, Time Magazine, and The Best American Essays.
Nguyen was born in Saigon. When she was a baby, she and her family came to the United States as refugees and were resettled in Michigan, where Nguyen grew up.
She received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan and is currently a professor in the creative writing program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.” (From https://www.bethminhnguyen.com/bio)
I read Stealing Buddha’s Dinner for book club years and years ago it feels like, and I found it a very interesting read! It is a memoir and takes place in Grand Rapids, MI.
Jeffrey Eugenides: “Jeffrey Eugenides was born in Detroit and attended Brown and Stanford Universities. His first novel, The Virgin Suicides, was published by FSG to great acclaim in 1993, and he has received numerous awards for his work. In 2003, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Middlesex (FSG, 2002), which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and France’s Prix Médicis. The Marriage Plot (FSG, 2011) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won both the Prix Fitzgerald and the Madame Figaro Literary Prize. His collection of short stories, Fresh Complaint, is from FSG (2017). Eugenides is a professor of creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton.” (From Macmillan Publishers)
I have read this book and watched this movie so many times, and it never fails to make me cry. What an absolutely heartbreaking story. I have not read any of his other work, although I feel like I should.
Christopher Paul Curtis: “Christopher Paul Curtis won the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award for his bestselling second novel, Bud, Not Buddy. His first novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963, was also singled out for many awards, and has been a bestseller in hardcover and paperback. His most recent novels for Random House include The Mighty Miss Malone, Mr. Chickee’s Messy Mission, Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money, and Bucking the Sarge. Christopher Paul Curtis grew up in Flint, Michigan. After high school he began working on the assembly line at the Fisher Body Plant No. 1 while attending the Flint branch of the University of Michigan. He is now a full-time writer, and lives with his family in Windsor, Ontario.” (From Random House)
I have this book on Wyatt’s list for next year!
Anissa Gray: “Anissa Gray was born and raised in western Michigan. She is the author of the critically acclaimed 2019 novel The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls. Gray is also a journalist whose work has been featured in The Washington Post, CNN, The Cut and Shondaland. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her wife.” (From https://anissagray.com/about)
I have had this book on my TBR for a while now. I didn’t know she was a Michigan native!
Joyce Carol Oates: Oates moved to Detroit in 1962 with her husband, Raymond Smith. The two were English Professors at two universities in Detroit. Oates worked for U-D Mercy, while Smith worked for Wayne State. At this point in her life, she had not yet published a novel. Her time in Detroit is said to be very influential on her work, as she took in the city as it was then. She was here during the riots in 1967, a time that has not been forgotten for anyone who was around then. My mom remembers the curfews, Billy’s dad was living in the city as well and remembers the violence of that time. She eventually moved across the river to Windsor, where she wrote the book, Them. The Detroit Free Press says about this book, ‘In her first months in Canada, Oates finished her novel “them,” in which Detroit is a character, just like human characters, scuffling, hurting, prone to violence. “All of Detroit is melodrama, and most lives in Detroit fated to be melodramatic,” the narrator says.” (Detroit Free Press)
I have not yet read this book. I went through a time where I binged Joyce Carol Oates and I am pretty sure it plunged me into almost a depression of sorts. It was all just so heavy and violent and tragic and sad, and I have not gone back to that well. She is an amazing writer – I just don’t recommend binging her work all at once!
Chris Van Allsburg: From his bio on Penguin: “As long as I can remember, I’ve always loved to draw. But my interest in drawing wasn’t encouraged very much. Growing up in the 1950s, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, boys were supposed to be athletic. Certain peer pressures encouraged little fingers to learn how to hold footballs rather than crayons.
My early love for drawing developed into a love for telling stories through pictures. Stories begin as fragments of pictures in my mind. I create a story by posing questions to myself. I call it the “what if” and “what then” approach. For example, for my book Jumanji, I started out by thinking “What if two bored children discovered a board game? What if the board game came to life? What then?” The Polar Express began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, “What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?” After the boy got on, I tried different destinations out in my mind. “What about north? Who lives in the north?” Then ideas of Christmas, Santa Claus, and faith began to take shape.”
He has many books, but Jumanji is my favorite.
Elmore Leonard: “Author Elmore Leonard was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1925. His family moved frequently until 1934 when they settled in Detroit, Michigan, when his father got a job with General Motors. Leonard joined the navy after graduating high school in 1943, and served during World War II. After three years, he left the navy and enrolled at the University of Detroit, majoring in English and Philosophy. Leonard worked at the Campbell-Ewald advertising agency while still in college.
Around 1950, Leonard began writing and publishing short stories and western novels for magazines, with the first being The Bounty Hunters in 1953. Some of the other most notable works were Three-Ten to Yuma also published in 1953, as well as Hombre, in 1961. Leonard then moved into educational films and crime novels. His first big crime novel was The Big Bounce in 1969; He followed that novel with titles such as Fifty-Two Pickup in 1974, and Swag in 1976. His breakout novel however, was his crime thriller Glitz, in 1985, which followed a Miami detective being stalked by a criminal he had sent to prison. Leonard based most of his novels in Detroit and Florida, and was known for his working-class protagonists, damsels in distress, and particularly colorful and sleazy villains.
Leonard and his novels have been nominated for numerous awards, such the PEN Lifetime Achievement Award. One of his short stories, Fire in the Hole, became the basis for the television series Justified. Some of his other short stories and novels such as Rum Punch and Three-Ten to Yuma have been made into films. Rum Punch was adapted into the Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown.
Other well-known works by Elmore Leonard include: City Primeval, Stick, Freaky Deaky, and Get Shorty. Elmore Leonard passed away on August 20, 2013, following a stroke.” (From the Detroit Historical Society website)
Leonard is an author I have never read, but my dad enjoys reading him so I wanted to include him for sure!
Jim Harrison: “Jim Harrison was born in Grayling, Michigan, to Winfield Sprague Harrison, a county agricultural agent, and Norma Olivia (Wahlgren) Harrison, both avid readers. He married Linda King in 1959 with whom he has two daughters.
His awards include National Academy of Arts grants (1967, 68, 69), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969-70), the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountain & Plains Booksellers Association, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007).
Much of Harrison’s writing depicts sparsely populated regions of North America with many stories set in places such as Nebraska’s Sand Hills, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Montana’s mountains, and along the Arizona-Mexico border.” (Goodreads Summary)
He has been on my TBR for ages. Maybe this is the year to read him.
Ok this last one… I debated on and then decided to just do it.
Ernest Hemingway: “Ernest Hemingway’s connections to Michigan began when his parents first brought their six-week-old son there for three days in September 1899. His father, a young physician, practiced medicine in his hometown of Oak Park, Illinois, and his mother was an artistically inclined woman who enjoyed the cultural aspects of their Chicago suburb. The previous summer the Hemingways visited Walloon Lake (then named Bear Lake) and were so taken with the area that they purchased two hundred feet of waterfront property. The 1899 trip was to finalize plans for the building of their cottage, Windemere. They took pictures, selected the exact site on the property where it was to be located, and arranged for construction during their brief stay. The next summer would be the first full one there for the family, and Ernest would return to Michigan each year until he was married in 1921. Even today members of the Hemingway family either summer or live year-round in the area.”
Hemingway is not a favorite of mine, but I do think it is cool that he visited Northern Michigan for so many summers, just like I have. He has a few books set there, including The Big Two-Hearted River (and just an FYI, there is also a Michigan craft beer named Two-Hearted as well). I think it is neat that I have walked in and vacationed in some of the same places Hemingway did, and found peace in.
And my friends, that is my very long post of Michigan authors! I can’t wait to hop around visiting this week – because it will take me all week probably to visit everyone!
Hello everyone! I am sitting here typing away, with my coffee on one side, and Wyatt on the other. He is flipping through a book, and watching Frog and Toad, which incidentally is the cutest little cartoon. He is also chattering away so please ignore any typos. Billy is in the kitchen preparing the sourdough so that he can make a few loaves for Easter. It’s a pretty good morning.
It was a very busy week this week – our appointment season is almost over though! There are times of the year when we have all of Wyatt’s specialist appointments in a row, like a month or so of them, and it is crazy. We had his epileptologist appointment this week, and it went really well. We had nothing but good things to report and his doctor was very pleased! His EEG in June looks like it will only be one night now instead of two, so that was welcome news.
Last Saturday we had a little guest at our house. We watched my littlest niece, who we call The Hurricane because she is a whirling dervish causing mayhem. We had such a great time with her! She kept us soooo busy but it was really cool to hang out with her. We have time with her older sister all the time so it was nice to hang with just E. She went from one thing to the next to the next and so on. She loved our fish so much, they were a big hit. I had to stop her a few times from trying to reach inside the aquariums to grab them though.
Sunday we had a birthday party for another of our nieces. It was so cute to see T. full of excitement at her party. She had all of her friends and family there, and she was happy that she had all of her aunts there at one time. It doesn’t usually happen for some reason and I loved that that made her happy. She had an axolotl themed party with very delicious cupcakes!
This week we also had some sunny warm days, finally!! We are trying to get outside as much as we can on these nice days between now and Wyatt’s surgery. Wyatt and I spent almost all afternoon Wednesday playing basketball outside. It meant lots of rounding up basketballs for me though, so I got quite a workout. I need one of these nieces to come over and fetch for us! We also had dinner out there as well. Wyatt loves picnics, so we had a picnic, then he and his dad played outside until bedtime. It was awesome. This might not sound like much, but before the ramp was built, Wyatt was not able to go outside and play. Wheelchairs are not great on grass, and just getting to the yard was very difficult for the two of us. I would have to carry him out the front door and around the house to the back, which doesn’t sound too hard, but imagine the person you are carrying is 70 pounds. I am not a big human either, so it was getting sort of rough and we just didn’t do it very often. Now though, we have our freedom back and it has been wonderful. Using the ramp all winter to leave the house whenever we wanted, now using the ramp and being able to utilize the deck space, has transformed both of our lives. We were able to get out some yesterday as well. Today is going to be really warm apparently, so we are going to go out on his bike too.
Speaking of his surgery, we are working on preparing for it the best we can. We have pivoted from walking as much in therapy to more strength training, both there and at home. We have added a few extra home exercises to build up his muscle strength, which will help him recover easier, and are just trying to get him to move any body part as much as possible between now and then. We scaled back on school for the moment, focusing just on the essentials (I mean, I think it is all essential but we are sticking a pin in a few things for now – like the Revolutionary War and artist studies).
I also started thinking about what we will need during recovery. What will we do to entertain this kid while he is in bed, or stuck in traction for weeks? What special clothes might we need? Bathing, how does that happen? So we are looking for these solutions right now. I have a whole list of books I made the other day for us to try during that time. I think we will reread some old favorites like Frog and Toad and Mr. Putter and Tabby, introduce some gentle reads for that first week home, like Paddington, and then as he feels a bit better, add in books like The Hardy Boys. Then we will see what else he would like to read.
We had had reservations for Providence in August, which are obviously now cancelled. So, I put together a list of some books for myself as well, that focus on the seaside and the coast. They are not all New England based, but some are. That is the great thing about books, we can travel anywhere with them. And Providence will still be there in the future. The whales will have to wait!
Wyatt and I also convinced Billy to use some of the leftover lumber from the ramp to build little free libraries for us! We want one that two houses – one that is the typical height, and one that is lower for children and wheelchair users. We are also going to have Billy install a camera so we can see into the backyard while we are in his room if we want – we have three cats that like to hang around and I know Wyatt will want to keep updated on them. We have the neighbor’s cat, Knox, who is super sweet and we can actually pet. Then there are two cats that we don’t if they are stray or not. One is a big tabby, and I have named him Angus-Fergus, and there is one that just showed up, a big rough looking guy who has been around. He is white with black splotches, and we named him Brando. I don’t know why they like our porches so much but they do. And that is ok.
And jeez, I feel like I am just rambling away today!! I should wrap this up! Lol.
I hope that whatever you all do today, whatever you do this weekend, that you feel safe and loved and do something that makes you smile.
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 