Origami, Winter Picnics, and Sweet-Gum Balls
Monday, January 23, 2006
[4:14pm] Monday was another beautiful day – waking to gray skies and cold. It was out to Pere Marquette with Grandma, with Dad and OLeif being at work, of course. After picking up Grandma, she showed them her latest attempts at origami:
“Look at this miserable work here. Just look!” She held out several colorful pieces which had been refolded so many times, that they had grown limp.
Grandma had been attempting origami for a good long time, and she still had not quite gotten the knack of it… yet.
It was always lovely being out there, every time of year, but in the winter the wintering Bald Eagles were out, and cars pulled over on the river road often, to watch and to photograph, including Joe and Frances. Pere Marquette itself was winter-blue and groves of trees and moss-covered shingles, mist over the river, a roaring fire inside and fried fish from the kitchen, an ice box of ice creams in the front hall by the little gift shop where Grandma purchased a box of crème brulee scented candles.
After spending an hour and a half tutoring and reading and such (while Frances and Linnea explored and played giant chess), they all headed down to the park for a winter picnic of hearty hot meat sandwiches (made my Grandma), chili, good potato chips, and brownies for dessert. Frances spent the entire time trying to light the fire in the barbecue pit while Joe serenaded them (over the howls of laughter from everyone else) with renditions of his own personalized “Amazing Grace” and “In the Image of God” – quite atrocious. Meanwhile, Carrie-Bri and Rose stayed in the van and talked about Gavin Rolfe unofficially asking Rose to the prom over Hershey’s brightly colored candy-coated “kissables” (which looked like game pieces). And Collette thought about Christian Bale and Q’orianka Kilcher (whose father was a Quechua Indian from the jungles of South America (Peru), and whose mother was a Swiss native who grew up in Alaska).
After a good lunch, they headed over to Grandma’s after they made their way back to the van over the minefield of sweet-gum balls.
“I’m going to have one hundred gum ball trees in my front yard; no, my backyard,” Carrie said, “so that the fifty cows and fifty sheep can play with them… And they’re going to be black sheep.”
Collette wondered how gum ball trees would fit into Carrie’s dream of living atop a mesa in New Mexico. And back at Grandma’s, Mom snoozed for awhile after Grandma gave her her Valentine’s present of a heavy cut crystal necklace from “The Cross-Eyed Elephant.” Meanwhile, Frances and Linnea played with the lighthouse ring-toss and they all played with Grandma’s Afleck ducks the entire time.
On the way back, Rose was being obnoxious as usual.
“Rose,” Joe laughed from the front seat, “You’re going to be just like Great Grandma Jewel some day.”
“Yup,” Rose agreed. “She’s my role model.”
“You’ll be all grumpy all the time and you’ll tell everyone to, ‘shut the wickel up!’”
“Everybody’ll love me!” Rose said matter-of-factly.
“You’ll complain about everything,” Mom added, “You’ll complain at every lunch. ‘These fried potatoes taste terrible!’”
“And I’ll take pictures of everyone and make fun of them,” Rose added, who was now an avid nature photographer.
“You’ll be in a wheelchair, running people over.” Joe’s braces flashed as he chuckled.
“No – I’ll get me one of those fancy racing wheelchairs.”
“And you’ll be telling everyone to ‘get out of my way!’” Mom said.
“And, ‘Move over, stupid-head!’” Joe added.
“Rose, you’re so bad,” Mom couldn’t help but laugh.
“So what?” Rose squawked.
The van laughed at her. That was just Rose…
“In life, prepare me for death. Thus may my soul rest in Thee…”
– a Puritan Prayer