Michigan Thanksgiving

We had a full house over the holiday. Teena and Brad were up from Dayton with their little girl, Montana. She is as cute as a button and beyond charming. It was very fun to have a little niblet in the house.

Rachel is doing well and is starting to think about what she wants to do following graduation. She is thinking about going on in school to get a Masters in graphic arts (Rhode Island School of Design or Savannah School of Design). She is also getting psyched for the Honors Program trip to Turkey (she is going in May for three weeks). Very cheap in that is subsidized by the school.

Dan is doing well also; I think he is still adjusting to college and starting to really like Grand Valley. The plan has been to transfer to Michigan but not sure he will do that given how much he seems to like GVSU. Right now his major in Business but he is thinking about some other areas as well. He continues to lift on a regular basis and is frankly becoming a "beast." He has put on 30 pounds of muscle in the last year and his arms are like gatling guns.

Sarah is finally starting to shake off the final vestiges of the swine flu. It was a bad one and she is still coughing a bit. Basketball season is getting ready to start this Friday and in practice she is getting winded so she's not in game condition yet. But, she's a gamer so I expect she will be ready to go. She has a lot of catching up to do in school given she was out for a week+, but she is getting there.

Cheryl is still struggling with sleep and pain issues. Frustrating and draining for her. It is the plan to relocate in a few years to warm weather (job permitting). I am hopeful that will help a lot, but who knows for sure. I continue to be the center of her existence (yea, right).

My business is slow but I am still optmistic we will get it going. I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying a lot for calm (not really for success, just for peace and resignation). Other than that, I am walking a lot to try and get in better shape (not sure it is working) and I have started to play the drums again which has been really fun. I told Cheryl that I plan to tour with Yes in the next few years. She is skeptical.

Love to you all. I think of Gus and Bill often and plan to take December 23 off to just contemplate Pop. Take care.

We want Daisy Dog!

Waiting for a picture of the newest Mastrangelo pup!!! Daisy Dog, where are you?!?!?

D Day

Today we brought our Daisy home. She's adorable! She seems pretty mellow, although the lady that runs the rescue said that wheatens tend to blossom when they are about 10 weeks old. I might not remember when Bonnie was a puppy, but Daisy seems calmer. She's whimpered only a few time. I haven't heard her bark at all. She is snoozing in her crate as I write. Of course, I wouldn't be a Moir if I wasn't worrying about the fact that I've just brought a dog into my life. What was I thinking? Maria is recovering from her tonsillectomy. Her throat has been pretty sore and she has also had a tummy ache. Her pain medicine is alcohol based, so it burns her throat when she takes it. Each dose is harder and harder to get down. I'll just switch to regular Tylenol if she won't take the stronger stuff. All in all, Maria's been very brave. She, too, is snoozing as I write this. She's going to be mad because she fell asleep during a Tinkerbell movie she really wanted to see.

Kristen, Kristen Kollege Girl

Happy Birthday tomorrow, Miss Kris! Brush up yer Shakespeare, start quoting him now...oops, no, that was SO last year! Happy Daze, Kollege Kid!

No cooking for me either

It's going to be a different Thanksgiving for us this year. I wanted to make sure that Deborah and Jasmine weren't sitting home moping, but they didn't think they were up for a sit-down family dinner like we did last year without Michael. So we're going out for dinner. Seems odd and extravagant and very un-Moir-like, but, hey, whatever works, I guess. I'm trying hard not to obsess about how much it's going to cost (I could make one fabulous dinner at $32 a head) and, as my friend Brennan advised, think instead about all of the people who worked to make the dinner possible: the seed savers and the farmers and truck drivers and prep cooks and chefs and wait staff. Not to mention the poor turkey, which I'd better not thin about at all if I want to enjoy the dinner. If we really think about any of the food we eat, there are so many people to be thanked. And I am thankful for being one of Gus and Bill's kids, for the gift of family that they gave us. Love to you all and don't eat too much. 

Gertrude Stein Sez

She says: Silent gratitude isn't very much to anyone. So I say it loud, louder, loudest with hopes that Mama and Papa can hear it too: THANK YOU!

And as Terry reminded me today, Mom is up there somewhere saying "Thank You" for not having to cook - or eat - a turkey yet again!

The Deerslayer in Euclid

76-year-old in Euclid beats fawn to death...now there's an interesting thought from The Economist! Cleveland gets world press! What would James Fenimore Cooper say today? Guess it would depened on whether the deer were eating his chrysanthemums!

Happy Birthday Rachel

I look at my old address book and see Rachel's birthday listed under "Cubby," the first one of the new den all those years ago...Happy Birthday Rocky!

Mass of Remembrance

We've just returned from the Mass of Remembrance at Gesu. Terry, Jane, Kerry, Maria, Evan and I attended. The Mass was celebrated for all Gesu parishioners who died in the past year. It was a very nice liturgy. Of course, Father Snow had a great story to tell, as he always does. Before the Offertory, the name of each deceased parishioner was called and the family came forward to put a votive candle on the altar. The names were called chronologically, so we got up at 2 different times. Evan carried the candle each time. (Maria said that carrying candles in Church gives her a tingly feeling. I told her it was the Holy Spirit). After Mass, we were given two white roses. The songs were quite familiar...there were at least 3 songs from Mom or Dad's funeral (Sing with all the Saints in Glory, Hail Mary Gentle Woman, Shelter me oh God, beyond my wants, beyond my fears, from death into life). I 'm so glad we went.

Sickness My Way

Well, no flu here but just got back from having a blood test for Epstein-Barr. Whassup with that?!?!?! I did my mono-days back at CWRU! Here I though maybe it was just strep, but the swollen glands are in a different spot, ugh! Prob'ly just a lousy cold, but nice to have the same conscientious doc for 25 years!

H1N1 Part 2

We just returned frm the H1N1 Vaccine Clinic at South High. Kudos to the Lake County Health Department. It seemed to run very efficiently. They opened their doors a few minutes early. We got there at 8:15, 1 hour and 15 minutes before the clinic was to open. We were the 96th, 97th, and 98th people in line. They shepherded us into the gym to complete the paperwork, then called groups of numbers to the screeners. From there, they determined if you would get the shot or the mist--we all got the shot. (I didn't really want live weakened virus in anybody's nose). Then we were escorted to a nurse for the vaccine. A small fight, some tears from one young girl and then it was all over. It went very smoothly. We were home at 10:15. Interesingly, it is now 12:30 and I just drove by the high school. The parking lots which were designated for vaccine clinic parking are empty and there is no visible line outside. I guess everyone was not as fanatic as I was about getting the vaccine.

H1N1 Happenings

Well, I'm proudest of the fact that Maria and Evan have not gotten sick, in spite of living in a house with a dad who has has a fever of 101-103.5 for eight straight days (so far). If you can find it, GET THE VACCINE! This flu is unbelievably tenacious and draining. To me, the lack of vaccine is a real public health failure. Think of the lost productivity of those stricken, be it work or school. By the time the vaccine is widely available, many will have already been ill. Lake County is just now starting to administer the vaccine. We will be going to South High next Sunday to wait in line for our chance at immunity. I am sure that I also had the flu, but to a much lesser degree than Mark. I am fortunate that I had a much milder case or else I got tremendous benefit from that Tamiflu. I suspect that I probably had some limited immunity which Mark did not possess. Our dinner companion (and best man, Fred) on Halloween, the night before Mark took ill, also ended up in the emergency room last week. So let us see what tomorrow will bring. Will Mark's temperature be over or under 101?

La Famiglia Mastrangeli Ha Il Virus Dell'influenza Suina

Eeek! Sorry to hear you are all sick, but glad to know the kids and Liz are not! So Tamiflu immediatemente is the answer, eh? I feel kinda crummy still myself, but no one here has actually been diagnosed with the swinishness yet. We cancelled the trip we had planned to Tucson this weekend, and it's just as well since I feel sorta punk. Besides, the weather here is so nice that it seemed a shame to squander four free days in a really nice AZ hotel until the weather sends us scurrying for warmth! And PS, the Italian translation (accuracy???) was from Google, but it's funny, because Suina is actually a local, though uncommon name, here in NM!

Sick yet?

Anybody got the Piglet Flu yet? I woke up with a sore throat, which could be my snoring (ask Kristen, I won the NJ snore-off) or could be a virus. All the hourly staff has been coming to work sick cuz they need the money, but I hate that Typhoid Mary syndrome, DON'T spread it around PLEASE!!!!

I can't even remember what I go down stairs for at work, let alone Halloween when I was 4! Who knows, maybe Dad DID take us out, it would not have been past him, there were only three of us then and such a cute little pack of carrot-tops! After all, we were only 6, 4 and 2, not too much trouble and he would have gotten us home early. All I know is, that Mom DID do Pellie a favor, what a GREAT birthday date!!!! Always a chance to hide as someone else! I am only sorry that dear little Mama missed this one, with a candy-corn witch (what is it with that, one of Evelina's friends did the same witch) and a Star Wars storm trooper, sick or not...