Teepeeing Grandma

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Monday was spent on a sort of field trip. Mom and all the kids dropped by to pick up Collette at 9:30, and it was soon across the river to see Grandma Combs and drive over to Pere Marquette.

The breezes were beautiful that morning, and as they all sat there on the picnic tables working on school, Grandma relaxed laying down on the bench after looking through maps. And she and Carrie discussed things concerning the hurricane. Carrie and Grandma usually saw eye to eye on things, and had interesting discussions.

As always, field trips with Grandma and the family were great fun. Only Dad and OLeif were missing. The warm sunshine came in across the fields and the river and within two hours, the schoolwork was finished, and they were off to Fin Inn for some good laughs and good food.

During the discussions, the topic of teepeeing came up. Joe explained to Grandma the plans of himself and his buddies for a certain person.

“Grandma, did you ever go teepeeing or anything like that?” Joe asked.

Grandma hardly blinked at the question.

“Well, yeah. Several times.”

“Mom!” Mom exclaimed.

Joe was impressed and everyone laughed in surprise.

“Yeah, we would also roll trash cans down the street.”

Carrie guffawed, “Yeah, Grandma is single-handedly responsible for them changing them into square trashcans.”

Joe was inspired.

“Grandma,” he said excitedly, “would you like to come teepeeing with me and my friends?”

Meanwhile, as they looked over the menu, Joe suggested to Rose:

“How about the fried clam strips?”

Rose smirked and continued to peruse the menu.

“No; then I’d be a cannibal,” she said.

Joe almost choked on his soda, laughing.

After lunch, they commenced to skip rocks in the river as the lazy drawl of the late afternoon sun slipped off across the valley. And the girls collected shells.

“Mom!” Linnea screamed as Joe skipped a rock right over the pier, “Rose stole my clam!”

“It’s my brother!” Rose protested.

Just having dropped Grandma off at her apartment, Mom and Carrie returned to the van with gifts from Grandma. Mom had received a pumpkin made of twine and orange berries. And Carrie had been given an early birthday present – a silver oval charm. On the one side were two Tae Kwon Do figures in relief. And on the other side was etched:

To Fearless

11-18-05

Love

Grandma

The evening passed on at the house with computer class and a great storm which pounded through twice that night with the rain and lightening quite tremendous. And candles were lit by Mom and the kids…

“I’m watching my kingdom tumbling down
You’re flooding my refuge underground
My kingdom for angels, mighty surround
To take me away from here.”