It's a Festival!

Last night we went to the parish festival at Nana's church. It was Inter- national Night in the school cafeteria in the basement of the church. Their interpretation of that term is fairly loose as we had bar-b-cued chicken and ribs along with the obligatory (for these parts) pirogi and kielbasa sausage.

There were exactly three "rides." Here's Janine and Sarah on the spinning teacups. The other two were an inflatable jumping surface and a portable funhouse that was not working. The sloppily dressed kid taking tickets in front of the ride said it was broken. I thought, "so why are you taking tickets and letting people on the ride?" But remembering that this is a fund-raiser, I shrugged my shoulders and walked off.

These festivals are all about raising money for the church and school using gambling -style games. Nana had the right idea. She went straight for the one-armed bandit and dropped five dollars in less than five minutes.

We gave the kids five dollars each and they had a great time. They gravitated toward the ball toss types of games, but the best was the balloon races. Two people pump up balloons at the same time. The first one to pop wins a prize. Sarah thought she would beat John, but he was sure and steady to win. Then Janine did the same. J and J both chose the inflatable hammers while Sarah was crushed to have lost to both her little brother and her little sister.

What happens when you unplug the TV

Two weeks ago Bobbie and I were upset with the kids over excessive TV viewing. Janine was getting herself up at 6:00 AM to turn it on. Sarah and John were spending all afternoon in front of a melange of Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. Nothing wrong with any of those channels. But they are like Twinkies, one won't kill you, but a too many are not healthy.

So we took "drastic" action. We calmly disconnected the TV and declared a TV hiatus. It's been quite nice to have a lower noise level around the house and to see the kids playing outside again.

Yesterday morning took the cake, or pie if you prefer. Sarah was bored so she open Nana's 1940s vintage Betty Crocker cookbook and made a peach pie. Bobbie bought a peck of peaches Sunday. (I have no letter P alliteration jokes here but I wish I did.)

You see the result in the lower photo. Sarah peeled the peaches, made the crust with butter and shortening, baked the pie, and helped herself to a piece for lunch. So did the rest of us.

Today when Sarah asked when we could reconnect the TV, I paused and thought about what other wonderful things she might cook if it stayed disconnected...

Roll up the Rug

...and have it cleaned. John and Janine helped me do just last last week. We have a very nice machine made oriental rug, but it was getting dirty and the fringe was beginning to fray.

So, last Saturday Bobbie took it to the rug cleaning and repair shop. Then while everyone else was out of town, I got to paint the living room. No great change here, we weren't switching colors, but there were many holes to fill and stains to cover.

Finally, we are planning to recarpet the room and replace the molding from the "builders' special" ranch molding to something nicer. We will keep you posted. But while I got the room painted, we need to get moving on the rest. Piano lessons resume next Monday after a three week hiatus. (Note the piano over Janine's shoulder.)

It's been 20 years...

...since I moved to Pittsburgh from Minne- apolis. While the Twin Cities are great, I am glad I moved because it allowed me to meet Bobbie and started our family.

Still in the summer sometimes I miss the city of lakes. Here's a view of Lake of the Isles looking north toward downtown. (As if you couldn't tell.) Canoes and sailboats are the only boats allowed on the 10 lakes within the city limits.

This photo is from a photo blog called Uptown Mpls Blog. Uptown is a neighborhood on the eastern side of Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun. I lived there for a few years and enjoyed it. So, I guess this photoblog reminds me of my youth. Nice to recall, but I wouldn't trade a moment since.

Flat Janine with Aunt Mary

Flat Janine arrived last week at Grammy and Gramps' house in Nebraska. They were kind enough to take it over to Aunt Mary's (Gramps' sister) later over the weekend. Here she is with Flat Janine on the deck behind her house.

Gramps was kind enough to send Flat Janine onto Aunt Barb in Colorado. We will keep you posted on her progress.

100th Post!

This is the 100th post to Little House in the Suburbs!

We have been at this since last August and have just reached the century mark. It really is a lot of fun sharing our family photos and art with you here on our virtual refrigerator. (This latest one is a Photoshop compilation of pictures downloaded from Flickr.)

Now it's your turn. Please post a comment by clicking on the button below, or send me an e-mail. We would like to hear your comments and opinions.

Summer Snack

One evening this past week we were all out on the deck when Sarah made herself the snack she is holding here. It's figs and pepperoni.

After sharing this plate with us, Sarah returned to the kitchen. This time she came back with a plate of figs drizzled in 30 year old balsamic vinegar, shaved parmesan, and prosciutto. Sarah has been a foodie almost since birth, and we want to do everything to encourage it.

Saltworks

This past week Janine spent the mornings at an acting day camp sponsored by Saltworks, a local kids drama program. She was in the younger part of the program oriented to four to eight year olds. A few weeks ago Sarah and John were in the older all-day version of the camp.

Here she is with some of her friends in this year's special Saltworks t-shirts.

This is her third year with the "Saltines" as they are called and her enthusiasm has not faded in the least. She woke up at 6:00 most mornings to prepare her snack and get ready. It was hard to wait until the camp started at 9:00.

Like the other kids, she was in one of the skits they performed this morning. Click here for the link. It's a little long at six minutes. Try using the indicator below the screen to zip from that first minute to the 2:00 mark and then to 5:00 for just the Janine focused highlights.

I guess because Janine is a little taller than the other kids, she got to play the mommy in the skit. As you can see below this fact is not lost on her art either. Finally, the Saltworks staff has a unique way to end each class. Click below to find out.

Flat Janine is on the way!

Flat Janine is coming your way! Here's Janine at the FedEx office as we ship Flat Janine to Grammie and Gramps. Then it will be onto Aunt Barb, Aunt Louise and Uncle Eric.

Janine read a book called Flat Stanley for little girls' book club a few weeks ago. The book is about a boy who was born flat and how he deals with the world around him. In one section he is put into an envelope and mailed around the world.

So Janine and the other girls are doing the same. They traced themselves on long rolls of paper and shipped themselves to family and friends around the country to take pictures and send them back. In the October meeting they will share the stories of their travels. Perhaps we will share some of them here as well.

This Year's Fireworks

For the first time, fireworks are legal where we live so this year we thought we would give it a try, under very tight parental supervision of course!

Click here for the kids' sparkler display. Please note that we only bought snakes, sparklers, and fountains. Firecrackers were not for sale at the stand near our house. Still, listen to all of them in the background!

One of our fountains is here. It's a short video because the battery gave out. But the rest of it was just the same as what you see here. Honest!

Usually we head downtown for fireworks on the river. But this year so many things are under construction we decided to pass. Good thing too, because we heard it took an hour in traffic once it was over. In fact we saw some great displays from our deck. Someone a few blocks over must have access to professional pyrotechnics. We saw a great 10 minute display from them. Then a little further away and to the left, there was more of the same. It was a great year to stay home.

Now that fireworks are legal here I have noticed something. After 10:30 PM on the Fourth of July most everything stopped. There have been very few pops since then. In past years there always was some jokester who would delight in setting off a string of firecrackers at 3 AM. Let's hope I haven't spoken too soon.

Church Photos!

Yes it's that special time of year again for church photos. The photo directory service visited our church about a month ago, and we just recently got the results.

In the past we have had bad experiences with church photo services. One time the photos were terrible, another time the service lost the shots. Then there was the time when the service went out of business two weeks after taking everyone's picture.

This time we were very pleasantly surprised as you can see. The trio photo of the kids is terrific. Now if only these photos were digitally enhanced for a special slimming effect on Dad!


For the rest of this post John wants me to write about his adventure early the next morning after these pictures were taken six weeks ago. At five AM Janine woke me up to say that John needed me. He was in his bed holding his head with blood on his hands. He said he had fallen out of bed and cut himself. I cleaned him us as best as I could in my half awake state and put him back to bed. Later, at breakfast, Bobbie noticed more blood and took a closer look at the back of John's head. His thick hair obscured a nasty gash. So it was off to the doctor, then Children's Hospital.

Because it was a Saturday morning, John missed his ballet lesson and rehearsal. John and Bobbie finally got back at 1 PM. Bobbie was tired and John had two staples in his head. The rest of us were thankful they were back.

Scar Update- John and I got haircuts this past Friday. His wound is healing nicely, but after his summer buzz cut we can now see a half inch section with a small scar on the scalp. I have not heard him brag about it...yet.

A Touch of Whimsy

Bobbie added this nice touch of whimsy to the garden last week. She found an old steel rod bent to hold a hanging plant and then hung this watering can from it.

But that's no ordinary watering can. HGTV sent it to me during my media days. Like most promotional items, it looks better than it works, so it was perfect for this use.

I took this photo last week when the Red Hot Pokers on the left were fading and the Shasta Daisies on the right were just starting to bloom. The Evening Primrose just behind the garden pot had just closed up for the night.

Soon this area will have Black-eyed Susans on one side and purple coneflowers on the other. We will keep you posted...

Laura and Elise

Last night my cousin Laura traveled through town with her youngest daughter to help her oldest daughter move for a new job. Quite a contrast to have three daughters aged 24 years, 19 years and 9 months, but that's what happens when you have a baby at 51.

We all have been looking forward to meeting little Elise and she didn't disappoint. She was bright eyed and very engaging. Janine couldn't keep her hands off Elise and wanted to hold her. We met in a restaurant near the highway. The booths had may hard surfaces, so it really wasn't safe for anyone but Mom to hold her.

We all had a great time and stayed up far past our bedtimes. Janine went to a birthday party this afternoon and was bragging about how she stayed up past midnight last night. Truth be told, she fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept in until almost 9 this morning. Oh, but were we happy...

Ballet Photos

...that is if you can call dancing to the Ramones ballet. John tells me that Ray, David and he danced only ballet steps for the piece in the top photo. I would not believe it if I hadn't been there for every Saturday practice. In fact John got a Snickers bar from his teacher for dancing so many Entrechocotes so well. (For the uninitiated like me, those are the little foot wiggles they do when they are jumping in the air.)

Here's Janine in the middle taking her bow after her class danced a piece from Offenbach's Gaiete Parisienne. They were waitresses with feather dusters who danced up a storm. The Bean was in the center of the stage not only because she was the tallest of the class by far but also because she was the leader the other girls followed.

Finally Sarah and Mommy danced a Jazz piece to Cabaret. Video is in a previous post. Here's Sarah with Allison behind her at a pause in the music. Our friend Craig did a great job of capturing these images in so little light. While it helps to have a nice Nikon DSLR, he really knew what he was doing to get these pics. Thanks Craig.

The Deer ain't Here

What's that you see on the top photo? It's a rose! For the first time in several years our roses (and other flowers) have a chance to grow.

For the past few years, rose buds form, but are strangely severed before they bloomed. But this year all our roses have been able to bloom fully.

We suspect that the deer paths changed when the field behind our house was developed into a park.

In our part of the country deer are regarded as rats with hoofs. They are blamed by gardeners for everything from the loss of vegetables to joint stiffness after digging. They seem to be omnivores whose feasts include not only roses, but coreopsis as well. So, see what came back this year...