Noel Christopher Rogers

Noel Christopher Rogers, age 33, died tonight at Cape Coral Hospital following cardiac arrest. Noel, son of Dorrie & Rich Rogers, grandson of Barbara and the late Wallace Hammond, my nephew and a true sweetheart, is gone but will never be forgotten. Noel was a big guy with an even bigger heart. I can't even begin to understand the impact of this loss.

Let's Talk About the Weather

I I've had the last four days off work to spend time with my mom. I anticipated the weather to be horribly hot. To my surprise and enjoyment, it's been in the 70's with the hottest day being 82 degrees -- and sunny the whole time. We were able to sit outside under a shade tree on Sunday afternoon to read and relax.

Family

Mom and I met Kathy in Flint yesterday to spend the day together. One of the highlights was stopping in the see Kyle at work. We wandered through the Flint Farmer's Market, stopping for lunch and to listen to the music of James Brown via a trio of local musicians. It was a beautiful day for lunch and music outside

Binder Park Zoo

I haven't taken a field trip to a zoo in a very long time. Yesterday, 12 children, 3 adults, one grandma and one great=grandma went to Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek. It was the perfect day for a trip to the zoo -- about 74 degrees with a mild breeze. The sun was warm and the shade cool. The children, for the most part, were well-behaved. They loved the carousel, the train and tram. But most of all, like me, they liked the giraffes. They fed them special "crackers" purchased from the zoo. The observation deck was at the head level of the giraffes-great for feeding them but not so great for snapping good photos. Long, purple, sticky tongues just begging for crackers----made the kids squeal with delight and fright. Beth & Jamie brought lunch. Peanut butter and jelly never tasted so wonderful!

It's rather impressive

The new Sparrow West Wing tower is rather impressive. The crane left shortly after this picture was taken. The front scaffolding should come down in a few weeks. The Emergency Department and a couple of the nursing units will open in December. We will open our new six operating rooms in May 2008. I am very interested in comparing our OR construction to that of the University of California at San Francisco, Duke or Rush. Those organizations have created a hospital around surgical services to assure efficient workflow and patient satisfaction. We have had to adapt to a very specific footprint and continue to work near or be space-limited by construction. The new OR's themselves will be big, beautiful state of the art labs.

Noel's Quilt

I learned to sew from my Mom, Grandma Wood and 4-H a long time ago on a Singer sewing machine! I made many of my own clothes as a teenager. About 25 years ago, I took my first quilting class and loved it. Over the past 2-3 years, I have done very little sewing. Carol, Van and I have developed a pattern of sewing on Sundays. We sew, take turns bringing/fixing lunch and sometimes take field trips for fabrics. My new favorite quilt shop is Everlasting Stitches in Holt. Pam Henrys owns and operates the shop. It is very well stocked with beautiful moda's, wonderful batiks and a warm, friendly, helpful atmosphere.

This is Noel's quilt, finished. He picked out the fabrics and played with the fat quarters for weeks before I started the quilt.

Stella D'Ora Daylily

Northern exposure, beautiful color, very hardy, 3rd year blooming in this spot

Day Lilies

Given the number of orange day lilies in bloom in mid-Michigan, one might think it is the State flower! It's been a beautiful summer--warm days, cool nights and just enough rain for the flowers. The day lilies are pretty much no-brainers for those of us pretending to be gardeners. I found a nursery in Portland that sells only lilies. I now have maroon, yellow, and of course the orange. The orange lilies arrived after a sundown drive around Alaiedon township with a shovel!

There's nothing like a parade on the the 4th of July!

Noel rode his Tow-Mater bike in the parade on Wednesday. His friend rode her Lightening McQueen tricycle. Both trikes were decorated with red, white and blue crepe paper. Their little legs rode those trikes from the Mason High School, into town, around the court house square and back to the high school. It was a really nice home-town parade that included the high school band, politicians, right to lifers and about 3000 John Deere tractors.

Happy Birthday, America!

Team Building Retreat

We had a team-building retreat last week. The best part of it was this--all that remains from a colleagues orange.