A Freshman. Already?

Oh, mercy! Another milestone. My oldest son left this morning for his first day of high school! High school!!!

For years parents of older children have advised appreciating every moment as it goes by so quickly. I have smiled and nodded thinking they were overdramatic and sentimental. After all we are talking about 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for fourteen years!




At times over the years I have to admit to thinking, "oh, when they are grown up and we have the house to ourselves, we will...", especially when the boys fight incessantly over a game, track yet another pound of mud into the house, or dirty every dish we own.

But somehow those words would echo in my mind..."it goes by so fast". I would think to myself, don't wish this time away, just round 'em up and get them washing dishes. Ha! ...or sit and listen to their stories.. ...or watch them puzzle out a problem. ...or marvel at the 7th-8th grade growth spurt. ...or enjoy another sporting event.

Fumbling with the camera and a deluge of emotions, I watched him walk away. He's so ready for more challenges, more learning, more life. Am I ready? Yes, I think I am. I'm so proud of the young man he's become and am anxious to see him tackle, sometimes fall and get up again in all things high school. Go for it, Oldest!

*Incidently, those girls saw me lift the camera and teased him, so I'm in big trouble when he gets home!

Family Reunion - Part 1

There's something special about this couple. It's not just that they are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in this picture. It's also not that this man was a Kansas State Representative from 1939 to 1946, which is interesting to me since I come from a politically active family. What's special is these people are my husband's grandparents.

My mother-in-law, Lauranell, stands on the left next to her father, mother, sister, Ramona and sister, Elna. Her brothers, Kenneth and Pete are in the back.

My mother-in-law's family has hosted bi-annual family re-unions for many years.

This reunion photo is from approximately 1955. My father-in-law is on the right in the back row and my mother-in-law is to the left of him holding my husband's oldest sister, Brynn.

Since marrying my husband, I have the pleasure of attending these events. We have traveled to Maine, Colorado, southern Kansas, Kansas City and across town (to my mother-in-law's house). One of the intriguing parts of these gatherings are the old pictures and many stories that are shared. Much talk of the original family home takes place.

This beautiful house was designed by my husband's grandmother and was built in 1910 for $10,000. The house and family farm were located in the sweeping Blue River Valley that is largely under Tuttle Creek Lake today. The main reason my husband's grandfather ran for office was to forestall and hopefully eliminate the plans to build the Tuttle Creek Dam. The project was postponed for many years, but in the end the periodic flooding in the area along with significant flooding in 1951 made the construction of the dam inevitable.

An attempt was made to move the house, but it failed when teenagers, I'd like to think, accidently started a fire in an upstairs bedroom as the house stood on girders ready to be transported. The fire quickly consumed the entire house.

Many special pictures and memories are shared at family reunions while new ones are made.

Check back for more on this year's reunion!

Why All The Violence, Batman?

Raising boys sometimes means disappointing them. My boys will not be seeing the new Batman movie. My husband and I reached this decision by seeing the movie ourselves.



For my husband's birthday, he wanted to go out to dinner and a movie. We dined at Coco Bolo's in Manhattan, Kansas, the most enjoyable time of our evening. We then went to see "The Dark Knight". Why not? All of our boys have asked to see it and the movie has grossed a record-breaking $400 million dollars in just 18 days. Clearly masses of people are watching this movie. We also thought "Batman Begins", a prequel, was a compelling story and our boys have watched it.


I became rather uncomfortable early in the movie. I just could not get past the intense scenes of violence. The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, is particularly sinister with depraved, unpredictable cruelty. Also disturbing was the reaction of a young lady in her 20s sitting next to me in the theater. She frequently laughed, particularly at the dialogue and actions of The Joker. At the end, she jumped up and said, "I loved it"!


The movie was rated PG-13, which covers movies appropriate for children ages 13 through 17. At 17, a movie is branded R, which can be the kiss of death for box office revenue. It appears the Motion Picture Academy felt this movie skidded in at 16 years, 11 months and 30 days. Although an R-rating would have made our lives easier, since my 12 and 14 year-olds expected to be able to see this movie, we didn't hesitate to explain to our boys that they would not be seeing it any time soon. We explained that the dark, cruel nature of the movie was disturbing to us and we didn't want to share it with them.


Wrapping my mind around our society's apparent entertainment by senseless violence is very hard for me. One might say at least it's on the big screen and can be explained away as fiction. It seems to me that I have read a number of articles about desensitizing based on viewed images and copycat crimes based on movies. I'm just uneasy with the thought that we may be entering a historical time when the crowning jewel for movie makers, box office cash, is based on the level of creativity in shocking the audience with new forms of contrived violence. Isn't there enough horrible violence in the world already?


It's my sincerest hope that in our sophisticated world, we will transcend the fascination with guns and weaponry, the need to vanquish "the enemy" and the images of one human beating another to a pulp. A naive thought, maybe, but one I just can't give up on.

Homegrown Veggies = Shrimp and Feta Pasta

With tomatoes ripening in the garden, I pulled out my husband's favorite recipe, Shrimp and Feta Pasta.

Here's the cast of characters...

Mostaccoili noodles, olive oil, basil, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, tomatoes, green onions, shrimp and feta cheese.

My favorite part comes after simmering the sauce ingredients, tossing it all together and eating it!

This is not a great food picture... When I'm not as pressed for time, I throw in some chopped tomatoes and onions at the very end to enliven the color combo. I'll just ask you to take a leap of faith and try this recipe for yourself.

A note: the green onions, tomatoes, parsley and corn were all from the garden. Can you believe that??? I'm still trying.

Shrimp and Feta Pasta

1 1/2 lbs. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
A sprinkling of lemon juice
6-8 green onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
A smattering of olive oil
3-4 ripe tomotoes, chopped (peeled if you like)
1/2 cup or so of white wine
2 teas. chopped fresh basil (1 teas. dried)
2 tblsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 teas. salt
A dash of pepper
1 cup cubed feta cheese (cubed, not crumbled, I buy a block and cut it up)
1 12 oz. package Mostoccioli or Penne Rigate noodles

Wash and pat shrimp dry and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Start the pasta cooking and cook according to directions for al dente or just tender.

Circle a pan once or twice with olive oil and saute the onions and garlic until tender...a couple of minutes. Add tomatoes, wine, basil, half of the parsley, salt and pepper. Lower heat and simmer about 15 minutes until sauce thickens slightly.

Stir in shrimp and lemon juice. *I sometimes add some reserved tomato and onion at this point for more dazzling color. Cook over medium heat until shrimp turns pink and is slightly firm, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Add cheese and sprinkle with remaining parsley. Toss shrimp mixture with noodles and serve! De-lish!

Family Fun at The Ozarks

It was a foggy, mysterious morning... ha. Not really, it was blazing hot and suffocatingly humid, and my camera went into shock and fogged over. Perfect weather for a mini-vacation at the Lake of the Ozarks. No, really! The water is readily available for boating or swimming until you are exhausted and then you can collapse in the air-conditioning of the cabin.


My father has a cabin at the Lake. I was surprised when my brother pointed out that this is the fourteenth summer! As I thought back on those first getaways to the cabin, I remembered my oldest, now fourteen, swinging in a bear swing hung from a branch of a stately oak growing up through the middle of the deck. Yep, fourteen years.

We had the pleasure of traveling to the cabin this past Thursday. We were joined on Friday by my brother, Marty and his family. We did, however, face a few challenges at the beginning and end of this trip. We started with a boat that refused to run and an attack on my sister-in-law of a chigger army and ended with a blown-out tire on I-70 in east KC and lost keys that found their way to the inside bowels of the boat under the engine. I'm pleased to say, we managed to pack some fun into the middle.

The chigger bites may have had something to do with the two furry characters in this photo. Leslie and I were the usual escorts when these girls needed to go outside. She's definitely sweeter than me, as her doctor told her it's the worst case of chigger bites she has ever seen. Itch, scratch, groan...

We have a double-decker dock and the kids love to jump off the top deck... love, love, love it. They endlessly entertained themselves making up different ways to jump. I supervised...well, I read my book and sort of supervised.

Saturday brought boating fun...knee boarding, wake boarding and tubing (in my brother's boat). Saturday evening brought a boat cruise.

Boating is such a wonderful experience.






Not only does it style your hair...

It brings out your children's desire for world peace.






Talk about styling hair.

On Sunday we piled in the boat and traveled to Ha Ha Tonka State Park. On a bluff overlooking the lake, a man built a stone castle for his new bride. As these stories go, the man died before he was ever able to live in the mansion and the house later burned leaving only a partial stone shell. Park visitors may climb 316 steps or follow a meandering path to reach the castle. Bart and I climbed the steps, something we did years ago. Funny how it seemed as though they had added 150 steps and somehow thinned the air.




At the base of the bluffs is a frigid spring. How do I know? My nephew took us all to a spot where the water from the spring rushes by out into the big Lake. The adventure is to jump into this water and float out. Say what??? Not wanting to be a wuss or a sissy, I jumped in. Suppressing a scream as thousands of needles pricked my body, I floated out. Refreshing was how my sister-in-law described it! Refreshing? All the boys jumped in over and over and over...can you explain that to me?



It was a wonderful mini-vacation filled with moments of contemplation...

and silliness...



Thanks, Dad, for having the cabin, taking care of it and letting us come visit!

And Then It Was Gone...

Just an update on the blackberry pie. We traveled to the Lake of the Ozarks this weekend and took our pie. It survived the ride largely intact except for a little jostling that caused some leaky juices.

The first night my husband and I cut two pieces, warmed them up and slowly ate them. The pie was wonderful! Our mm-mm-mmms got a couple of the kids interested and they too, had pieces. Just over half remained and I thought, great, when my brother and his wife arrive, we can all enjoy Mom's Recipe blackberry pie after dinner.

Following our meal, I went to serve the pie and only a sliver remained! What? Huh??? The kids had almost finished off the pie sometime during the day! Kids don't really like pie! Do they? Isn't there a rule or law or something stating that kids don't like pie...unless it's chocolate or ice cream pie. hee hee My kids and my nephew definitely like blackberry pie!

We all watched as my brother enjoyed the remaining itsy-bitsy piece. I will need to go blackberry hunting today.

A Blackberry Pie to Remember

The wait is finally over!

My husband and I walked out to the blackberry patch and were greeted by dozens and dozens of ripe berries. My heart skipped a beat.

Picking blackberries just makes me smile! It's fast work of the ones you see easily, then it's time to look among the leaves.

More are almost alway hidden beneath. This year because of all the rain, we even found branches bowed over and touching the ground under the weight of the huge, succulent berries.

This variety, Chester Thornless Blackberry, from Stark Brothers Nursery, is sweet and juicy. They are the reason we have not accumulated any berries so far this summer. We keep eating them!

Fortunately, we were able to keep ahead of our eating on this excursion and collect more than enough berries for a pie.

My mother made wonderful pies. A couple of years ago, we made pies together and I wrote down the recipes as we estimated the amounts on each ingredient. As you can imagine this pie has special meaning to me.