Nostalgia

In August 1968, I moved to Lansing as a 20-year old graduate nurse to work at Sparrow Hospital. Back then, it was not the usual for a 20-year old to live alone in an apartment. With the help of my relatives, I rented a room in this house on Eureka Street from Bea & Bernard Christy. Bea Christy provided child care for my cousin, Marc. She was a community activist, and did so much for the community in which she lived that they named an annual award in her honor. I worked evenings, came in after they were sleeping and essentially slept late every day. I only lived there about six months. It was a very restrictive environment.

Billy planted a small garden of tomato plants, cucumbers and zuccini squash. We had fresh tomatoes and cukes in our salad tonight. Noel said, "Grammy, it's dee-lish-ous!"

Touring the Property

Great evening for drive...low 80's, low humidity, charged battery!

Sparrow Hospital

This is the new Sparrow Hospital--a view from the south through a second floor SPB window. The distant structure is the parking ramp on the corner of Michigan & Pennsylvania. The new west wing tower is to the right (east) of the ramp. The scaffolding is down in front of the Michigan Avenue entrance. The next major change will be the opening of the new Emergency Department.

Tavern on the Square

Sparrow is growing. With all of the new construction and remodeling, we have had to temporarily convert conference rooms to offices. Being the adaptable, innovative people that we are, we found space a few short blocks away for those late afternoon meetings. { :) } I would, in general, describe this place as good wine, great food, poor service. The "good" in that would be that you can carry on private conversations with very infrequent interruptions from the wait staff. It's normally a 3-5 minute drive from the parking ramp. With nearly every downtown Lansing street under construction, travel time and parking from Sparrow is about 30 minutes.

Tavern on the Square is not a big place. There is sitting upstairs for about 12-15. Downstairs has the usual bar seating and several seating areas: a grouping of lounging chairs, a grouping of ottoman type chairs and a couple of standard table & chair arrangements. There is some seating outside but it's too dang hot to appreciate that right now. We are supporting the lounging chair area.

With the growth of Cooley Law School in the area, there has been a reawakening of the downtown area eateries and watering holes. It's not the same as when Arbaugh's, Penney's and Knapp's had flagship stores in the pre-mall days. But never the less, it's good to see the activity and vacant store fronts in use.

311 South Fairview

When we were young (i.e. before becoming teenagers), we spent some time each summer with Grandma & Granddad Hammond in Lansing. The neighborhood was older but very well kept-up. There was an empty lot to the south (right) of the house and Morphy's lived to the north. Ray Chase and his family lived behind on Magnolia. Granddad was very particular about his yard, his flowers and the general condition of the house. I drove by yesterday and was very sad to see this very shabby house in a now very shabby neighborhood. We used to sleep out on the front porch and listen for the sounds of trains, ambulances and police cars--all very foreign from our little farm community. One year when we were visiting, we wanted to see the capital. Grandma had Granddad drop us off and told us if we could make the walk back to Fairview, to tell the police we were lost and they would drive us back. We were about 12, 10 and 9 years old. It would be considered derelict in duty for grandparents to do this today. But we toured and were excited about our ride home in the police car! Ivanhoe 4-7038---wow, how did I remember a phone number from eons ago!

Note to Dorrie & Rich: The heart remembers most what it has loved the best. I love you both and send you love and hugs.

Batik Wildflower Quilt

On Saturday, Van, Carol and I packed up our gear and trekked to Battle Creek for a day of sewing at the Marshall House Quilt Shop. As with every "great" day trip, we started at Beaner's! This quilt is hanging in the quilt shop and it is one that I am currently working on. I have chosen different colors and will add some batik sashing around each of the blocks. I like the "prairie point" border but think it would be for striking as an outer border. At this point, I have the blocks and flower pieces cut out and the layout organized. I heard a lot of advise on Saturday about how to add the flowers to the background squares. Some thought I should glue the on, some thought I should pre-baste all of the flower pieces so I could easily hand applique them to the fabric. Others thought I should use a needle-turn technique to hand applique them. Someone suggested I machine applique all of it. The glue is out for sure--as is the machine applique. I am still evaluating the work involved in the other techniques. The batiks are beautiful and the colors so vibrant. It was difficult to pick from all of the wonderful choices.

The Test of True Friendship

This week's YaYa get-together was a little different than the usual Friday nights on Mitchell's patio! Carol offered her brother her house and yard for his wedding. While Carol and her family cut up a lot of the food, four YaYa's arrived at her house on Saturday, prepared to act like they belonged on the Food Network. We cut onions and cried, we melted chocolate for the chocolate fondue fountain (although we burnt the first batch--and no, Beth, I was not in charge of that!). We made a wonderful Michigan salad with Romaine lettuce, dried cranberries blue cheese, cherry tomatoes and walnuts. We created beautiful platters of Roma tomatoes and mozarella cheese dribbled with olive oil and fresh chopped basil. We prepared mountains of pasta salad amd fruit salad. We put out the wonderful smoked turkey, beef brisket and pork prepared and delivered by a caterer from Jackson. There was no traditional wedding cake but rather baklava and chocolate layer cake for dessert.

There were some very significant ah-ha moments during the nearly eight hours we were in attendance. We worked very hard, but we had SO much fun working together. The wine provided by the hostess helped! Carol truly experienced how deeply our YaYa friendship has developed--she just left it to us as we wanted her to and enjoyed herself. And, lastly, her family and family friends commented on Carol's catering company-----maybe we've come up with alternate employment options!

PS: About the picture: only a true friend would change your dog's diaper!

Rose of Sharon

When we moved into our house in July 1976, there were three Rose of Sharon bushes on the property. They were in full bloom -- white, light lavender and dark lavender. For reasons long past remembering, all three of the shrubs were removed. Three years ago, I planted a light lavender bush near the deck on the south side of the house. It's had reasonable blooms for the past two years. Last fall, we cut the shrub back considerably. This year's blooms are not only many but there are many white blooms mixed with the light lavender. It's beautiful (and the bees like it, too!)

Wally's Girls

These are Wally's Girls: Evie, Kathy, Dorrie and Barb. We don't spend enough time together!

In spite of unbelievable grief and sadness, my sister and brother-in-law welcomed family and friends into their home this weekend to remember and celebrate Noel Christopher Rogers. My sisters and I are all the mothers of "only children." Thanks to our parents, our children became like brothers and sister. My parents took all three kids on many road trips around the country, starting when they were only toddlers. Because Beth was born so prematurely (28 weeks gestation) and was in the hospital for so long, Mom and Dad would bring Kyle and Noel to the hospital to visit. Even though they were only pushing 4 years old, every time they came they would tell the nurses that they were 12 years old so they could visit. The nurses would wink and smile and welcome them and the boys would giggle, thinking they really got away with something big. Beth's pediatrician was Dr. Knickerbocker. The mere pronunciation of his name would send them into fits of laughter. As she grew and became interested in cabbage patch dolls, they would torment her by drawing "boobies" on her dolls. Beth looked up to Noel as her big brother and friend.

Godspeed, Noel.