Isabelle

I have only one child who doesn't mind being photographed and posted. Looking through my files of photos, I see mainly Sebastien and Isabelle, frequently acting very goofy. Here is Isabelle through the (digital) years:

A trip to the zoo:

An autumn ride on a friend's boat:

Visiting Grammy:

Dressing up and performing in a play with Grandmaman and siblings:

Getting fancy:

Making something with bread dough:

Dressing up at Grandpapa's house three years ago:

Local airshow:

Today on the dock on a Sunday:

Today lazing about the house:

Susan's Saturday

6:15am: Get up. Freshen up. Dress in new cycling clothes (not the tight kind). Drink green juice and apply sunscreen. Drive to airport. Hop on bike that Calvin rode to the airport. Ride for one hour, stopping for a Cessna, a 750, and a Maule. Drive home. Freshen up again. Go through all summer clothes trying to find something that fits the new, chubby figure.

8:40am: Drive back to airport. Pick up Calvin. Drop him at tennis courts. Chat with officials and decline the invitation to play in the tournament. Drive to fly-in breakfast located in the country. Eat and drink with Isabelle and Freddy. Chat.



10:15am: Drive home. Rest.

11:00am: Return to airport with Lucy and Freddy for fly-in. Talk with many people. Answer question about marital status from men who hear that I have several airplanes at my disposal.

12:30pm: Meet the ladies from Indiana. Tell Lucy that Pink Lady has offered to give her a fancy motorcycle (previously owned by a famous person) if she becomes a pilot. Pick up Calvin from courts. Return to airport. Eat a sad lunch of Doritos. Talk with men from all over. Talk with 16 year old girl who built an airplane. Clean up people's garbage.

3:00pm: Go home. Open mail from ACT because 15 year old doesn't want to do it. Clean up house neglected by Saturday activities and Friday date night. Take a nap. Chat with mom. Make dinner. Return to tennis courts with Calvin, Freddy, and Sebastien for final match. Decide to skip the bonfire party because of the lateness of the hour.

10:00pm: Go to sleep listening to the storm that finally breaks the heat spell.

Calvin's Saturday

6am: Get up. Freshen up. Ride bikes to airport with Papa. Help set up for fly-in. Fly with Papa to breakfast fly-in. Eat pancakes, sausage, biscuits and gravy. Fly back to airport with Papa. Hang out.

8:45am: Get picked up and chauffeured to tennis courts for town tennis tournament. Win match.

1pm: Get chauffeured back to airport. Eat lunch and hang out at fly-in.

3pm: Go home and get mail. Receive ACT scores (30 composite; 95% state; 96% nation). Get congratulated (or should I say congradulated?). Hang out. Goof around. Play video games.

6pm: Eat dinner.

7pm: Back to tennis courts for final match of tournament. Play a very close match with a skilled opponent (who took a nap between the morning and evening matches). Lose. Take second place in the 17 and under division. Go home. Eat. Go to bed.

The personals

Whenever I transfer photos from my camera, I find some that I had no idea were ever taken, like the glue on the floor photo. There are also a lot of animal photos and toy photos and, not surprisingly, Isabelle photos.

Hmmm...what's new in town? Let's take a look in the paper:


What's this? A personal ad. This sounds like someone I know, someone tall, dark and handsome. Someone that I follow around on my bike.

And it sounds like he's looking for someone just like me! Oh, wait. The end of it says to call with confidence and leave a singing message. That rules me out; no one would ever return any singing message from me. In case you can't decifer the eleven year old writing, it says that children are a plus.

Isabelle is writing her daily newspapers as summer schoolwork. They are very entertaining and informative. She'll be happy to include your personal ads. Just send the information to 3 Vanilla Lane, H House.

Following Mia

When Bruce and Sam and Mia come over, the boys all play together and Isabelle looks after Mia. Isabelle and Mia are becoming great friends, despite the eight year age difference. Isabelle's job is more accurately called Following Mia, although they do play with little animals in Isabelle's room. And they play with Pompey:

Following Mia while she tries to follow Bruce and Sam and Freddy:

Following Mia while she goes back to the house for her shoes:

Following Mia through the grass:

and back home again:


Isabelle is very good at playing with and watching over little girls. She seems to enjoy it, not even needing cash in return. I was just like her when I was little.

Sounds like now would be the perfect time to add a baby, doesn't it? Our house is already full of whining and messes and spills and crying. No one would even notice the addition. Plus we have three in-house babysitters; I could still be a woman of leisure with time to gad about town.

New poll

It is summer in Missouri, hot and humid. I chatted with some men this morning from New Jersey and California. They were surprised at the heat and surprised that I was cycling in it. I let them know that this is the norm, and that it will get a whole lot hotter as the day goes on.

I have a friend who is expecting her fourth child in August. Nine years ago I was expecting my fourth child in late July. The others were six, four, and two. And that last one was horribly behaved, throwing tantums and getting physically violent. She calmed down after awhile, but that was not a pretty summer.

Anyway, I was hugely pregnant with a 9 lb 12 oz, 23" long baby, carrying an extra fifty pounds, and parenting my unruly bunch. Freddy was due the same time that Sebastien had an airshow in Wisconsin. He was due at the beginning of the show. The show lasted seven days plus travel time.

The question for you is: Did Sebastien stay home with me or go to the show?

Papa's Day in words and photos

Papa's Day was Sunday. Before we talk about Papa's Day, let's review Maman's Day, which was last month. Maman's Day...hmmm...I can't remember anything...hmmm...oh, the children broke the computer! And Sebastien sent me a lovely email which I couldn't receive because the children broke the computer. And Sebastien couldn't fix the computer because he was galavanting all over the west coast. That was my Maman's Day.

And Papa's Day? Here is Isabelle introducing the man of honor on his special day, just so you know who we are talking about:


And now we'll turn to Sunday's paper for some Papa's Day news:

Some of the children made him a lovely bouquet out of wildflowers. I think that Isabelle did this on her own, but Freddy might have helped a bit:

All of the children gave him presents. He also received cards, four or five of them, and a present from me. The present from me was just the freebie that the nice man at the specialty foods store gave to me, but it was still a present! You can read about the presents from the children in the special Papa's Day edition of the local newspaper:

In the afternoon Sebastien asked me to ride (bikes) into town (!) to buy our big Sunday newspaper (it has a little more of a global outlook than Isabelle's). Because I had vowed to get more exercise in hopes of turning around a health condition that makes my hands and feet hurt like an old lady, I said yes. Twelve and one half miles. In the heat.

Afterwards there was a dip in the lake and lounging on the lakeside. Then a dinner out:

A pretty exciting Papa's Day, I'd say. And speaking of exciting days, someone will be 15 years old at 12:17 PM today. Maybe that health condition in my hands and feet is due to old age after all.

Walk in the park

One Sunday evening we went to our church for a fundraising dinner. After we dined and bought a few things at the auction (a car model, a loaf of banana bread, a set of smelly things, and a tray & four plates--hideous; 47 cents; bought by Freddy), we went over to a park to stroll around a lake on a walking trail.

At first Calvin was a little depressed, Sebastien was drowning his sorrows in his unsweetened tea, and Isabelle was doing a jig. I think that she was trying to cheer them up:


By the end of her jig (a dashing finale), they were a little more animated:


Then small people raced off, paying little heed to the bundles deposited by the dogs and geese:


The boys left us to walk the lake shore and search for good stuff. Freddy found a lot of treasures on a previous walk, and he had high hopes:


And then we headed back to our autos and our home:


Some of my friends who have moved away will recognized the park and church. Many little children in town have attended preschool in the church. Lucy went there for awhile. When I was discussing it with her--she was three--she said, "Maman is good. Ann (the teacher and a friend) is like Maman. Ann is good." Then she nodded firmly and said that she would like to go. She liked it until some boys joined the class and acted all wild and boyish.

Calvin went there for two hours (it would have been one hour if the teacher could have reached me by phone). He was two. When I picked him up, he told me very clearly, "School bad; miss Maman." He wouldn't go back to school for eleven years. School is still bad, but he doesn't miss me anymore.

Dinner

Are last several dinner invitation's have been declined so it was a refreshing change when our Saturday invitation was excepted. (I'm sure that Rachel will most probably explain all about the declinations in the comment section)!

John and Carol came for dinner and John had the fashion foresite to dress hisself to match the kitchen decore. Now that I look at the foto, I see that Carol matches the counter's. I think that maybe Sebastien and me should think on hiring them as our kitchen staff. Their perfect don't you think?

We had Wine and cheese and Shrimps and olive tapenade and homade bread and homade Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. Tasty.

John learned us that he has met alot of famous people not like I and my many Near-Misses. I don't recall, all the people that he had met. Maybe he would give us the list in the comment's section. I do remember that Carol met Regis Philbin and talked at him in an elevator at a hotel somewheres.

It's clean!

There has been a flurry of cleaning around here. We are trying to get it done while it is officially spring. We did the laundry room and found a tremendous amount of fluff under the washer and dryer. Yuck. I can't move them; how am I supposed to clean under there? This is surely the work of a mouse. Or a colony of mice.

And then something shocking happened: Sebastien cleaned his office all by himself. This has not happened before. Ever. The occasion? His internet connection was down one morning.

If this doesn't look like any big deal to you, then take a look at a before photo. That photo was taken months ago; he had months to pile on more and more.

And the jig is up: Here is Seb at work. He's really a telemarketer and not an aviation mogul.

Food

Someone named Plumilla threw a bounteous brunch here this week. It was enjoyed by all. I received a free ticket in my new post box (#1); others had to pay $1.

Our CSA last week contained:

4 qts strawberries (eaten plain and over angel food cake)
lettuce
broccoli (steamed for dinner with the leftovers going into a quiche)
snow peas (really good; eaten with lunch one day)
spinach (sauteed with garlic and put on a puff pastry pizza with really good olives)

And this week:

1 qt strawberries & 1 bunch rhubarb (pie!)
lettuce
cabbage
snow peas
kohlrabi
green onions
bouquet (that I split into 2, one for the kitchen and one for the living room)
granola (delicious!)
broccoli (braised with garlic and sherry and eaten with veggie eggrolls and cuc salad)

Plus what I bought at the market (peas, lettuce, radishes, and more). We have plenty of greens right now, and Sebastien isn't the only one getting chubby.

Day out

A couple of weeks ago Sebastien and I put on our fancy duds and headed to the big city for a business thing. (I don't really have chicken legs; I have perfectly normal legs that occasionally appear as chicken legs in photographs.)

We've been to these things before. I once tried really hard to follow and understand, but I couldn't. I didn't have the basic knowledge. Now I bring reading material. I usually have to hide it behind my packet of charts and graphs and whatnot; this time I brought a magazine, laid it flat on my table and read about John Dear.

Calvin was babysitting, and all the children knew that they could call me on my cell phone if needed. They are more important than a seminar, so I would take their calls. Well, we sat in the front in a room full of hundreds. My phone rang about a 1/2 hour in. I opened it so that it would stop ringing. I made my way to the rear and then out into the lobby area.

Susan: This is Maman.
Freddy: Can I have a hotdog?

While I was taking this very important call, one of the presenters was taking one too. I was wondering if he was answering the same question.

On the way home we bought our new kitchen linens from Crate & Barrel. I love them! I'm going back for napkins next. We also got (on sale) a shower curtain for my newly decorated bathroom. I can't hang it yet, not until I touch up the really bad paint job.

Church history

I'm reading a biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine. She lived in the 1100s and was Queen of France (which was a very small area at that time) and then Queen of England (much larger). She was very beautiful, kind of like that girl pictured above.

This is what the book says about the Bishop of Canterbury (the church leader in England):

...he now wore a monk's habit, and beneath it, to remind himself of the weakness of the flesh, he wore "a hair shirt of the roughest kind, which reached to his knees and swarmed with vermin; he mortified his flesh with the sparest diet, and his accustomed drink was water used for the cooking of hay." ...exposing his bare back frequently to the discipline of flagellation by his monks. His nights were spent in vigil.

If the leaders of the church were undernourished, in great discomfort (vermin??!!), physically abused, and suffering from a serious sleep shortage, it is no wonder that mistakes were made. I make mistakes and bad decisions just on the lack of sleep alone.

The last ten

This was a tough ride. I was worn out at the end. Then I made a note to never go for an off-road (off-pavement) ride on the same day that I get an allergy shot. The big dog chased us again. Then a little poodle dog came out and barked; the big dog ran back home.


The last ten:

1. Sebastien and I got married in New Orleans in '91, on New Year's Eve. Then he dumped me in Chicago and went back to Canada. Did he change his mind? No. We had eloped, so I had a job to finish and some packing to do.

2. I lived in Canada from late January to June of '92. There was snow on the ground almost that whole time. We lived in a French town called Penetanguishene; it had an institution for insane criminals.

3. We moved to Missouri and lived in a log cabin until we bought a house. There were snoring Frenchman bunking down in our loft and living room until I kicked them out. One of those men had a nose that had been horribly broken in the past (more than once maybe), and the sounds that came out at night were loud and hideous.

4. Seb and I have owned three different houses and six different cars together (and I am refusing to count the El Camino and the broken down blue pick-up).

5. We welcomed four children in six years. I've been pregnant nine times and gained and lost 200 pounds with pregnancies.

6. I've traveled to California, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Nevada, Arizona (I think), Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Ontario, Quebec, Belize, France, Jamaica. I've lived in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Ontario.

7. I've been to the house of Elvis. I even took a photo inside (strictly prohibited) of my friend Poodie and me in a stairwell covered with green shag carpeting (the walls were carpeted).

8. I have tried to learn French and failed.

9. I almost died in '99. If I hadn't insisted that the doc see me immediately instead of waiting until my appt the following morning, I'd have bled to death.

10. I make a really good Boeuf Bourguignon.

Four hours sleep

This was my day last Friday, powered by four hours of sleep, green juice, hummus and crackers, and a black cherry slushie:

Morning: Take Isabelle to History Camp and give Sebastien a ride home from the car-fix-it place.

Pick Rachel (my friend from out-of-town) up from History Camp. Go to the store for some needed food. Buy and deliver a fancy coffee to Seb. Deliver food to refrigerator. Eat breakfast with Rachel.

Check mail and discover that I need to get a huge packet of papers copied, organized, highlighted and delivered to a reporter by 5.

Go to many junk stores with Rachel:

This was the fun part of the day, except that we went to too many stores and breathed in too much yuck. I felt kind of sick from it. She did too.

I had decided the previous day that we should have a keyboard with all the fancy stuff. Calvin and I have played around with them at the music store. Well, we now have one--$5 at the junk store. There is a whole lot of background music around here now, mostly of the muzak or disco variety.



I also bought this gorgeous landscape, for $4. Can you believe that price? I just want to climb in there. We are fixing it up a bit; I should have something to show you in a few weeks.

Afternoon: Drop Rachel off at History Camp; pick up Isabelle at History Camp; pick up Calvin's buddy Benjamin at History Camp.

Go home and start working on papers for reporter. Realize that Benjamin has to go to his house for a piano lesson. Rush, rush, rush. Make dozens of copies and take Benjamin home. Use Benjamin's kitchen table to go through papers. Leave Calvin at Benjamin's house; when Benjamin's lesson is over, piano teacher will drive Calvin home and give him his lesson.

Spend 45 minutes with reporter.

Pick Seb up and drop him off in town at fix-it place. Rush home and make dinner. Eat a bit.

Evening: Drop Calvin and Freddy off at movies. Take Isabelle to History Camp final program. Stop for slushies on the way home. At home straighten up and start getting ready for bed. Rush back to town to pick boys up from movies because they misunderstood about having a ride home with a friend (Benjamin).

Fall into bed and sleep really, really well.

Something else new

Wrinkles. Where did they come from?? They just suddenly popped up.

Kristi and I right before we fell to the ground while suffering from a horrid case of boredom on Friday night.

The latest

Something is different around here...

The third ten

This was my only present:

It was a couple of days late, but it lights up. I'm the queen.

1. I was a punker. I have no idea why. I remember hearing in college that I had no right to be one because I was happy and unscathed.

2. I worked as a bus girl one summer. I shined silverware and glasses with vinegar. I set and cleared tables. I folded the napkins as fancy as I could. I once poured water down a man's back.

3. The best concert that I ever saw was the Pogues at a small club in Chicago. The best song in concert? The Pogues final song, Honky Tonk Woman.

4. I also remembering seeing Depeche Mode, Paul Young, U2, Violent Femmes, Sinead O'Conner, and the Jesus & Mary Chain (they weren't singing about Jesus though). I'm sure that I saw more than that, but I can't recall any others.

5. I went to Purdue for awhile. I didn't learn anything except a love of satire. I also learned to read Gaelic while I was supposed to be doing chemistry or something like that.

6. We had an Elvis shrine in our apartment. We also had an illegal cat.

7. My roomie, Lisa, and my sis, Rosie, threw me a disco birthday party for my 20th birthday. They found disco roller skates in my size at a junk store. They also found me an orange, polyester, strapless jumpsuit.

8. I worked in a picture framing store for a year. I loved the art, and I liked working with my hands. I even did some interior design consulting (that's pretty funny) for some desperate ladies.

9. I worked as a nanny for a year and loved it. The girls were 4 when I started. They were delightful, and I learned a great deal about parenting.

10. I got married when I was 22, eloping in New Orleans.

The second ten

This is what I got from my children on the momentous occasion of my 40th birthday:

It was from Isabelle. It was written on scrap paper. It came a couple of days late. I treasure it also.

More about me:

1. The smell of cedar always reminds me of mice because my mother let my oldest brother keep mice in cages in our basement. They reproduced rapidly and we had tons. I accidentally killed mine.

2. My 5th grade science fair project was on mice, because I had some. They were a hit. My 7th or 8th grade project was on epilepsy. I have no idea how I chose it.

3. I went to Catholic schools for 12 years. In grade school, my 6th grade teacher's BO was absolutely noxious and poisonous. Child abuse. My 7th grade teacher smelled of alcohol. Other than that, it was a good grade school.

4. We walked to school and walked to church.

5. We went on a family vacation to Greenfield Village in the Detroit area when I was little. All of us. My mom made us all matching shirts. We had the shirts that were blue with little white stars all over. We had the bicycle shirts--they were white with different colored bicycles all over. And we had the flag shirts--every flag of the world in a big collage. People took photos of us. Some day those photos are going to surface.

6. I had a paper route for awhile.

7. I loved babysitting. In 5th grade we had to write a paper on what we thought we might do for a living. I said that I wanted to work with children.

8. I had perms. I have freckles. I had braces. I had zits, enough to visit the doctor about them.

9. My mom and my older sis made a lot of clothes for me. I remember requesting bell bottoms instead of regular pants. My sis made me a terry-cloth romper, and my mom made me a lovely pant-suit.

10. I remember making up stories at dinner just so people would listen to me for a change instead of my oldest brother who never stopped talking.

A note

See that little thing in the note from Seb? On the left? That thing that looks like a bomb? I assumed that it was an upside-down balloon. Seb says that it's my ring, my $5,000 diamond ring. He still hasn't given it to me though. I'll continue to wait...

The first 10

I'm finally getting around to posting about my 40th birthday. It's only been four months...Sabra posted about her 30th recently and she'll turn 32 next month. We belong to the Better Late than Never Club.

Here is all that I got on my birthday:



I treasure it. Now, on to ten things about me. This list will cover the young years:

1. When I was born, my sis was 6 and my bros were 3, 2, and 1.

2. My younger sis was born 17 months later.

3. I have a wonderful mom.

4. I have a wonderful dad. He isn't living anymore though.

5. My favorite thing to do when I was little was read books, especially on warm days while lounging on my bed with my window open and the breeze blowing in.

6. I shared a room with my younger sis until I was 16 and my older sis got married.

7. My younger sis and I planned to marry David and Shawn Cassidy and live next door to each other and have babies at the same time. It didn't happen.

8. We liked to play secretary. We'd have our papers and phones and checkbooks set up on our "desks" and work for awhile. Then we'd take a lunch break and go to KFC for lunch. During lunch we'd talk about work issues, completely certain that everyone around us thought that we were real secretaries.

9. I despised cats and felt neutral about our dog. I once cut a photo of a squirrel out of a magazine and made a little habitat for him in a box. He was a good pet. There was a little plastic hamburger in his habitat.

10. Once when I got really mad at my younger sis, I bit her doll's foot. When she got really mad at me, she drew all over my new suitcase with my chapstick. We were preschool age.