Craig's List Rocks

I sold my Norwood loom today. This was the first loom I bought four years ago. It is beautiful cherry wood but it has only four harnesses and takes up a lot of real estate since it is 50 inches wide. I still have my Mighty Wolf 8-harness loom. I posted the loom on Craig's List yesterday and it was sold by the end of the day to a nice crafter lady from Port Clinton, Ohio. She's never woven before in her life but I think she'll figure it out. I gave her a quick lesson, a few reeds and a book on rag rugs (which is what she wants to weave on it).

No direct word from the kids yet but I've gotten a few emails from Hannah's leaders. Sounds like they're having a great time. I noticed (from her Visa Buxx card) that she spent some money today at the Hard Rock Paris. What fun!

I'm sure I'll hear from Jackson when his bus pulls into the lot at U of D on Saturday.

Bye Hannah, Bye Jackson

Hannah is in Paris now and Jackson is on his way to Alpena. Heavy sigh! It has been 16+ years since we haven't had at least one of the kids at home. I think this is a preview of what empty nesting is going to be like in a few years.


Hannah's People to People group left Friday morning amidst lots of excitement and a bit of fear (on the parent's part mostly!). I tracked their flights online and it looked like there were no problems, although we did get our call from the parent's tree that said the kids didn't sleep much on the flights. Hannah and another Hannah seemed destined to be inseparable throughout the trip.



We dropped Jackson off for ROTC Leadership camp this morning. He's headed to Alpena for a week. It looked like he was headed to Iraq the way he was dressed. The Army gives them ALL of their clothes for the week. The only thing he needed to bring was toiletries and a change of clothes for the bus ride home.

Over the last week, I've spent a ton of time getting Hannah her supply list, Motown gifts for her homestay family, a Visa Buxx card with money so she can shop and a ton of details surrounding this and that. We've talked about little else for the past few days.

Jackson, on the other hand, needed deodorant. That's it! I felt kinda guilty.




We went to a fab party last night. Our friend, Colin, was celebrating ANOTHER 49th birthday. Nobody cared what the correct number was. We enjoyed Traffic Jam food and no less than three bands. Colin has been battling cancer and has had a rough couple of years. No one could tell last night. Outside of getting a little teary-eyed when he sang "Lean on Me" and thanked everyone for helping him get through the rough spots, the night was mostly about family and music. Colin and his two friends did a set on acoustic guitar and then the teenage sons of the same three guys did another set (using electronic instruments). Another band, Stumbling Mice, played first and last. I put together a slide show of about 150 photos of Colin through the years. There had to be 200 people there. Colin is a developer in Midtown Detroit so it was a fun mix of city people, business associates, family and friends. Kwame and Ken Cockrel even rolled through (at separate times of course!).

Oh well, back to my quiet house. Well, not so quiet. Ro is in the backyard cutting stones for the patio with some electronic chisel thing.

The Apple, River Art, Running and Guitar

Talk about stupid. Wednesday night I was supposed to leave on a 4:00 flight to New York City. We left the gate and of course, I immediately fell asleep. I woke about two hours later, peeked out the window, and saw we were on the ground. I thought we had landed in the Big Apple. But, everyone on the flight seemed tense. Little did I know we were still in Detroit. There was bad weather in New York so we never got approval to take off. We sat on the tarmac for three hours. Eventually, we went back to the gate and they cancelled the flight. Ugh! No more flights that night so I had to go home and return to the airport for a 6:15 a.m. flight on Thursday. I got to my meeting in Manhattan (which I was running) with only 30 minutes to spare. Phew!

Ro did the River Days Art Festival this weekend. Great spot on the grass right on the River. He had to take Friday off and put up with major hail and wind storms again (seemed like a repeat of the Festival of the Arts). The crowd was big but they were there mostly for the concerts, the cars and the food. There were only about 20 artists. No need to say anything more than he read a whole book in his lawn chair over the three days.

Hannah leaves for Europe on Friday for 20 days! Her People to People group got together for a bon voyage picnic on Saturday in Canton. She has bonded with another girl named Hannah and seems like she is going to have a blast! Can you imagine taking 40 8th graders to France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria? Those five leaders have their work cut out for them.

Jackson goes to ROTC camp in Alpena for a week on Saturday. Can you believe Ro and I are going to be kidless? Sure will be weird.

This morning, Hannah, Jackson, Denzel, Patrice, Lisa, Lynn and I tackled the brand new River Days Run. Great morning. We started at the Ren Cen Plaza and did the entire 5K next to the river. (We ran right by Ro's booth.) Awesome way to start the day. I think this run will grow once word gets out about it next year. Man, was I slow! Jackson did the run in 21 minutes. He is in amazing shape.


This afternoon, Hannah, Nathan and Noah had a recital. I always thought recitals were supposed to be stuffy. This was perfect. Very relaxed and supportive of the kids. Hannah and Nathan played the song that Nathan wrote for graduation. One of the teachers played bass along with them. Sure sounded great. Noah played "This Old Man" on the piano and cracked the place up. Way cool.

It's Only Rock n Roll

Mom, Hannah and I took a quick 18-hour jaunt to Cleveland today. I had an all-day meeting for Crain at the Marriott Key Center on Monday so after the Father's day BBQ last night, the ladies took off for the city on the Lake. Mom and Hannah explored the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and did some shopping damage. They only gave mild reviews to the Hall. Hannah said it wasn't organized right...too jumbled.

But it was great to get some quality three-generational time in amidst the thunderstorms. Quite the crazy Turnpike drive last night. I never have seen such wild lightning.

Sorry we didn't stop this time, Dave, Wendy, Paige and Cooper! We'll get you next time.

Jackson Got a 3.0

Thank God! Jackson turned 16 last September but Dan and I told him he couldn't get his license until his grades got up to a B level. Today was report card day and drum roll, please.....three C's and three A's equals 3.0. He would have been devasted if he fell short.

He has to take his Level Two driving class (three days) and then he can get his license. Good job J!

Speaking of jobs, he got the one at the Greening. Denzel, Gavan and Jackson start later this month. They begin each day at the old YMCA on Jefferson so they can just ride their bikes there. Should be a good summer!

Hannah leaves for her People to People adventure on June 27. Hard to belive she is going to be gone for three weeks.

Lord Stanley

How cool is it when the Stanley Cup comes to your office? I'm here with Tom and MaryBeth who I work with in Corporate Communications.

Traumatic Weekend

Unbelievable weekend. Lots of highs....and one big low. Highs first.


High temperatures. It was 90+ all weekend. Ro was at the Festival of the Arts all three days. With the scorching heat and the crappy economy, nobody was much in the mood to buy stuff. He won one of the recognition awards ($500) which was kind of cool but it was a long stretch for him. Mom and Dad came down on Sunday but it was blistering. Huge storms rolled through the area Friday night and Sunday afternoon so there was lots of drama. Booths blowing over, lots of lightning, tornado warnings, etc. Surprisingly, Ro didn't lose any work.

High menthol smells. After working at the Indian Village home tour all day yesterday (2000+ people, who does their publicity???) , we headed to Joan's house for yet another 8th grade bash. The kids had a huge shaving cream fight. I guess this is some St. Clare tradition but ugh, what a mess. Joan is an angel for letting the kids do this.

Lows. Father David is leaving St. Charles after 21 years. (This shot is from a baptism at Mass today.) Now I wouldn't call myself overly religious but I love, love, love my church. St. Charles has weathered many storms and threatened closings over the years and Father David is a big reason why it has stayed open. He is moving to Milwaukee to take over a parish there because their pastor got promoted to a big role with the Capuchins. My brain understands that we were pretty darn lucky to have had Father David for this long but oh, my heart is so sad. I take this as a sure sign that St. Charles is going to close. One of our parishioners, Tyrone Mack, is going to be the part-time business manager, and we are going to have a part-time priest from the Capuchins. Heavy sigh....

Way to Go Wings!

How cool for Detroit! I know the rest of the country doesn't give a hoot about hockey but I am so pumped for the Wings and the Stanley Cup. (Corinne, I got your hat today and it will be on its way!) I'm in Chicago now so I'll miss the parade tomorrow. Jackson is done with school at 11:30 tomorrow so he's going to be in the thick of the fun. Ro is doing the Festival of the Arts Friday, Saturday and Sunday so Jackson's plan is to walk up Woodward through the Parade to meet Ro at his booth on Kirby. Hope it works! With all this Kwame BS, it is nice to have something fun to celebrate.

Over the Top Fun

Lynn and Dan had a party last night for all the eighth grade graduates. OMG! There was ping pong in the garage; dancing, Twister and swings in the backyard; parental drinking on the porch; and Red Wings, Chicago slide shows and other fun on a projector in the front room. I'm sure I'm missing some of the fun. What a blast. I love it when the parents can have as much fun as the teens. It is especially gratifying that the teens like us around. My favorite image of the night was Patrice headbanging dancing to the Pretenders song.

We ended up with seven lovely ladies crashed in our living room. They stayed up until 6 a.m.!! Unbelievable.