One sure way I’ve found to peel kids away from the video screen is with the promise of food. If they can bring a friend, it’s practically fail-safe. So here we are proving my point for lunch at Bagelmeister. I sensibly ordered a chicken salad croissant. These giggling ladies ordered dark chocolate croissants, a cinny bagel, and two over-sized to-die-for cookies. Lunch? Not hardly. We could call this appetizers. After a nice visit and a lot of sugar-infused laughing, we headed through a fast food drive-through to score some sandwiches, fries, and smoothies. Keith too is a proponent of the “Dessert First” coalition. I never understood why?

It has taken me a couple of months to monitor our spend out of various accounts so I could calculate how much money we could safely afford to reassign from liquidity to investment. Then I had to decide, based on average spends, where to take the investment money from. Then I had to decide where to invest it. It was an exciting day for me and Keith came along to sign paperwork (re joint accounts). When I was at Verve working with my favorite teller Kieshia, I accidentally snapped this photo when I set it down to do electronic signatures. I thought it was lovely and captured all the important elements of the day. Serendipity. Love it.

Another Cruise Night at our darling little custard stand. The cars are gorgeous. It’s so fun to visit with people. But my favorite part is still the free cone to participants. It’s impossible to beat the Flavor of the Day!

I love it when our daughters share their own daily daisies with us via text. Today, Maggie snapped these shots of her adorable sons tearing through the house, tormenting each other, and roughhousing about the yard. She noted how cute Jaspir and Roland were in their accidental matching outfits. This has to be a glimpse of the May house back in the day when Keith and his brothers were little hellions. Love it!

Keith’s eye exams are an annual comedy special with Dr. Kosikowski. He’s a stand-up god in a white lab coat. Dry with kind of guy. Sure makes getting dilated a pleasure. And then this happened. The pre-exam done by his nurse involved him covering one eye and telling her if she is holding up one finger or two. He said the wrong number by mistake and quickly corrected himself. Then he was flustered and did it again. So he said, “I’m sos sorry. The big numbers confuse me.” I died laughing and so did the nurse.

For some time now I have been hoping to put together a graphic design and web design faux business with Kallie to give her a revenue stream while encouraging her skills and increasing her ability and confidence in these areas. We are doing a trial balloon on our first assignment (very simple). It gets her on Squarespace while serving one of my goals. It may be moot if she does indeed move to Houston, but you never know what things may be important in the future. The work ticket above is the first part of a three-part project that gets progressive more difficult. I am psyched about this and can’t wait to see how it goes!

I can’t even count how many people have asked Keith how to support a child’s art talent, be it their grandchild, child, or student. Yesterday, Mary Hash asked on behalf of her borther Hank regarding their 15 year old grandson. I decided we should write Keith’s tips so we could offer a list to everyone who asks and post it on Life at 240. Well, by yesterday night, I had a first draft of one of four groupings. By today, it is a full-fledged de-book and I suspect it might become an online class. I just can’t stop myself. These projects excite me to the core - and how fun is this to write a little e-book with Keith. He is an excellent editor and has added immensely to this already. I made the graphic image you see with this Daisy as a working title page, but I love it too (needs more color and I have my doubts about the font). This is a great little project!

I think one thing for certain, part of my legacy will be an enduring love of parties. This afternoon, Lilly was seeming bored so I snatched the bag of Olympic medals I’d been saving for just such an opportunity. Paper. Pencil. And she was off to the races, planning a Backyard Olympics Party for friends. It just so happens I have Bomb Pops on hand which will fit her party decor perfectly. I suspect all the contestants will be on Team USA. I It is a joy to watch her make this party in her head, put it on paper, and, next, bring her vision to life. Officially a co-creator of the universe!

Well, despite the busy season and action-packed summers, I am hoping maybe participants in our Fabulous Family Photo Contest can spare a minute to send me their entry. I don’t have high hopes, and thought seriously about cancelling it for the summer - but then we miss sharing all those lovely moments with each other. I decided to send out the invitation and see how it goes.

I have been hosting children in my kitchen for almost fifty years. This is the age where they spread those gorgeous wings and go behind the school, walk to DQ, ride their bike to a friend’s house. It is such an exciting time for them. I watch as we are no longer a hub for activity, but a rest stop to hydrate, eat treats, check their hair, and phone their friends to plan the next mini-adventure. Five decades and pretty much the same drill. Even more, really. I did the same with Chris Martell and Karen Marini. Oh, so exciting to be on the cusp of a real teenage existence! Here is the stopover of Presley and crew for bottles of water, cups of jello, and party mix nuts before the next leg of their summer’s journey. I am so grateful to be a little part of this fun.

I gave Lilly and Piper their own boxes of sidewalk chalk. Not the giant baby ones, but the many-colored nice ones that real artists use. I followed them over to the school next door where I pretended to be reading some texts on my phone so I could stall to get a photo of them. I suspect they were camera-shy because they didn’t want to look like they were little kids. Anyway, my stealth paid off and I was able to capture their afternoon. I just love it when the grandkids hang out at our house and have their friends over. It is one of the joys of life to be surrounded by happy children.

After all this research I have been doing on parenting challenges lately, I decided to take all my notes and write some Granny Bunny articles on some key topics that clearly are universal and need attention. Then I decided to expand the project to 26 projects which I have now started to research (with tons more ahead). I think it might be really useful for other grandparents if I can write it clearly and give examples. I think this might be a nice little section of a Granny Bunny website and has great potential for adjacent offerings. I just love this. It’s like having homework!

Yes, we are stuck — but we got unstuck and completed our second business meeting on P.J.’s Projects. We completed a proposal for investors and did a good deal of vision and strategy discussion. Presley has a good head for this and was so enamored with the ideas she came up with. One needs that type of enthusiasm in a start-up so you have the passion and emotional depth to weather the hard times. She pushed through our first big barrier and came up with two good approached. I am so impressed with this young woman. Wow!

Presley wants to earn money to buy a snowmobile. Last week she asked me if I would help her start a business because she is only 13 years old and can’t get a job. Today we worked on that. We honed a concept, named it, wrote a tag line, outlined a business, wrote a proposal to help with distribution and funding. We also started at the very early stages of a branding plan. Presley picked some working colors and is going to design her own logo. Our “business parties” and “branding projects” have given her confidence and an understanding of some of the fundamentals. This will be fun!

This wonderful man was the best father I have known. He was good at all the typical stuff: piggy back rides, tightening ice skates, and even occasionally playing Barbies, but what elevated him in my mind was his example. He has the truest heart and the highest character. If you are ever on his wrong side, you should take a hard look, because you are probably wrong. He is kind, caring, and steadfast. I think he deserves a parade and a concert and everyone should wear t-shirts with his face on them for what he has sacrificed and given of himself for our children. But he is not like me. He takes what life hands him, self-contained and certain of himself no matter what accolades or accusations surround him. He has a happy day no matter what swirls around him - and today was no different.

With help from Mollie with the purchase, Dan was delighted on Father’s Day with his “six foot cock.”

Morgan and Ada are great little gardeners. Today, Miss Ada sent us a video tour of her bountiful and gorgeous Flower-Vegetable-Herb garden. This is a tiny peek at the endless plants they lovingly care for with lots of love and even fertilizer I suspect. When I was her age I had my first garden. Keith tilled up a patch of our yard in Marshfield that was about the size of our car’s footprint. I planted for two days, hoping I was doing everything right. No Google back then, kids. After a killer sunburn and about a week of watering, I was so excited when the first growth peeked out from the soil. Soon it was apparent, they were all weeds. I was not aware of this practice of starting the seeds indoors then planting the little plant. I just dug holes and put a teensy seed in each one. I imagine they are still there, rolling their pretend eyes at my incompetence. You can imagine my pride and exuberance when I see my progeny and her beloved  make the world blossom. Alleluia!

It was a delectable breakfast this morning with Kallie at iHop. Pancake the Clown at left wearing the hilarious beard and mustache. Griller the clown is on the right looking ravishing in her old, scruffy ,blonde wig. Pancake ordered Pancakes. Guess what Griller ordered? French Toast! Griller (pronounced gree-yay) is how you say “Toast” in French. Voila. Although the clowns entered in cognito, they secretly donned their noses to bring cheer to the cheerless. Kallie was like lightening on her camera phone and clicked off three snaps before the tricksters even knew what was happening! 

Think preparations for a Beauty Pageant. That’s what the night before a car show feels like around our house. Tomorrow there is a Father’s Day Picnic and private car show at the home of Tom & Linda Kiser. Since Keith is an honorary member of the brotherhood, we are invited! Here’s the man doing the mani-pedi and all that stuff. I wonder if he’ll sleep tonight. So fun to see Keith thrilled. It’s how I imagine him as a little boy.

Ada shared a photo of her beautiful supper. Here is what she wrote:

The first year we gardened, 2021, Morgan foraged some beautiful oyster mushrooms at the end of the summer. We breaded and fried them and served them with pasta we tossed in pesto we made from basil we grew along with the peppers and tomatoes. It was such a special meal. I’ve never looked at mushrooms or basil the same since. (The sprinkling of cheese is Parmigiana Reggiano).

Maggie and Mollie gave me beautiful earrings for Mothers Day. Real delicate flowers from Mexico encased in acrylic resin and set in sterling silver. I liked them so much and thought they were so special, I bought them each a pair. Maggie sent this photo of hers. There is something very Frida Kahlo about them. I thought about these earrings quite a bit, imagining how they came to be. I wrote a poem about it you can read by clicking this post.

He is the old man of the lagoon and we have watched him perch on that same bench and fish the waters for years. It was with great sadness that day after day he was nowhere to be found —until today! There he was, unmistakeable feathered neck and regal as ever as he sat basking in the son in his favorite spot. We suspect with that good looking, manly mane of feathers, the hens have been keeping him busy. Now our trips to the park feel complete!

Not about to be defeated by an assembly challenge, Mollie used her wits and willpower to force a multi-faceted metal bracket into submission.  It is one of her superpowers. WeSh know better than to interfere. She is relentless in her pursuit of dominance over the physical world and has been since conception. Even her manicure and wedding ring fail to deter her.   Not even the Laws of Physics can protect you. RUN!

One of my favorite days of each month is Junto Day with these three gentlemen: Larry (left) and Gary (right) and Keith (middle) walking toward our table at Bob’s. Our topic this month was Post-AI Life Design. We agreed on several points: filling leisure time will not be any more of an issue than it is today for retirees. The long-term effects of the tech are likely to reduce poverty and increase quality of life (except for the risk of annihilating humanity. However, we believe the transition period due to the epic job eliminations will be brutal and require a cogent Universal Basic Income program and robust free retraining education opportunities. These are so fun. P.S. Only one argument today re: existence of the multi-verse.

I can’t even recall the last time I was sick. It’s been a long run of health broken at last by an infection. Ow. A visit to Convenient Care, a potent Rx, 15 hours sleep, 2.5 hour nap, and I was feeling close to great within 24 hours. Medicine is a miracle. I can’t even imagine how I would be suffering right now without it. It sure makes me appreciate vitality, freedom from pain, and overall good health. I’m feeling very grateful despite missing a chance to go to Culver’s Cruise Night with Keith *sniffle*.

Kallie and I had a wonderful lunch and productive afternoon cleaning her apartment. We worked for about four hours at breakneck speed to get every room looking polished. We even got linens changed and the food cupboards organized. It looked magnificent. This was in preparation for an “inspection” by the landlord. Kallie and I both collapsed in our beds around 4:30 from exhaustion. We slept well, confident we would get a gold star.

There is something wonderful and exhilarating about finding in your field guide that the bird you found is uncommon to your location. We do we adore the “rare” in life, I wonder? Such was the case with our spotting today of this lovely black-crowned night-heron.  It is always such a thrill. We are very easily amused. 

For Ann Frank’s birthday I decided to write each of the granddaughters a History Letter from Ann Frank and another from her friend Miep. I also bought them each a diary and made an inscribed bookmark to track the current page. Click to read more and see more photos.

Dan arranged a foursome at South Hills today giving Greg a chance to cap off his week-end in Fond du Lac with his favorite past-time of all. Despite a little rain and wind, and a below average performance on the links, Greg savored every moment. Golf clubs have a magic effect on him. 18 holes of happiness!

Our wish: “We hope you made it a great day. And now make it an even greater night! Congratulations on the amazing life you have made together, the amazing people you have made together, and all the amazing things yet to come. We love you!”

I think this May Boys Mayhem should be at least a bi-annual event, if not quarterly. It’s so much fun to spend a good chunk of time together. One of the highlights was a family pool tournament and dinner at Tommy J’s. Everybody got to shoot, to win, to lose. We were having so much fun we lost track of who the overall winner was. Kallie was the only grandchild and a delight, especially to “The Uncles.” Keith was on so that’s always fun. I was not. But then again, there is a negligible difference between off and on in my case, so I never feel too attached to the outcomes. Excellent food, by the way. Best Reuben sammie ever!

Two of the things I love most about May Boys Mayhem adventures is the reminiscences and the laughter. We had an abundance of both at our delectable dining extravaganza at the new i-hop in Fond du Lac. Our waitress was really fun, the food was unusually tasty, and the company was perfect in everyway. I wish we could do this every morning. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Every morning would be great with these guys! They are three of the most genuinely kind people I know.

There was a little May Boy Mayhem out at Lakeside Park for the Walleye Weekend festivities. Fishing and Fun was the law of the day and they made it happen. Unanimously, the highlight was the fresh Walleye dinners and people watching.

It was rough fighting over every rule. Poor Google was exhausted and I think we crashed the Hoyle site. Not that we are inordinately competitive, but we did need to switch partners for this tournament so every possible combination was satisfied and the grandest player could be identified. And there was one. He won when he was Mary’s partner. He won when he was Greg’s partner. And he won when he was Al’s partner. Believe it or not, it was Keith. And I say that because he couldn’t even count his cards much less peg. All this proved is that cribbage is clearly not a game of skill. It is a game of chance!

Things like this always make me wonder. I understand the love for amazing machines that go fast. I understand the male bonding ritual of looking over and admiring each other’s vehicles as a sign of acceptance and to build trust. But, what’s with the red? Both Greg and Al’s cars are exactly the same hue, perfectly matching the love of Keith’s life, the red Toyota pick-up. What is it that made three brothers choose the same color? Coincidence? A genetic favoring of this color? A common red car event in their childhood? Or perhaps a warrior blood lust due to an over-abundance of testosterone. But I digress, here we welcome the start of May Boys Mayhem - the Walleye Week-end edition.

Since I had the May Boys together for some Mayhem and Greg brought assorted cheeses, I thought it would be fun to send Ada a photo. The assignment was to display two C’s, one C with each hand. I explained this stood for Cheese Club. Keith displayed a backwards C to himself with his right hand and a U with his left hand. Keith claimed this was the gang sign for sharp cheddar. Al displayed a C with his left hand to himself so no one else could see it. He hid his right hand completely. Al claimed that was the sign for asiago. Greg came closest with almost two C’s but had help from me. Greg wins for correctly displaying and naming the sign as Cheese Club and/or Curd Collective. He was the only one allowed passage to the Tier One tasting room. Congrats, Greg!

Presley spent the day sweeping up all the propellers from the maple trees that blanketed our yard. For almost fifty years it has been an annual ritual for me to do this. It was delightful to finally pass on the broom. Thank you, Presley!

I just love this photo to the core! When Maggie and Mollie were young, I would dress them alike often. It is a mild mental illness that still surfaces now with my husband and my pajamas. Totally unsolicited, they sent me this photo of them dressed alike on a chilly June morning walk in Wisconsin. Brrrrrr. That may be morning mist in the air, but I suspect it is smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Things like this stir those mommy feelings in my soul. They are still my little girls in these fleeting moments.

Every year for the past six, at Keith’s behest, I have called the City of Fond du Lac’s arborist to beg him to cut down our two Oriental Elm trees on the terrace. They are dirty, cracked, potentially hollowed, and interfere with the growth of the beautiful maple on our property. Today, we discovered a red dot on each of them. Further inquiry confirmed Keith’s deepest hopes, the red dot is indeed the mark of death. While he did his little happy dance, I prayed for all those people in India who have no idea they are condemned.

Today SOUL was born, the Sisters Of Unyielding Love. The three sisters are Carey, Samantha, and me. Our first meeting is in late June and we have some wondrous times ahead. I love the 3-nun logo, the play on a religious order, and the branding elements, especially the bright colors. I am having so much fun conceptualizing this along with the graphic design. Love it!

About once a month I have to shake the dead leaves out of the cascading vinca vines in the kitchen flower box Keith made for me on the second story interior window. This photo shows about 1/3 of the debris. It’s a fun ordeal, though. Indoor gardening takes on a whole new meaning when you have to rake the floor.

Mollie gave me one of her Hungry Root food service meals to try. Today Keith and I made their exceedingly delicious chicken tacos. The price is a stumbling block but there is a great assortment of healthy meals on their site that we can reproduce. That’s one thing I miss about Covid. I had meal plans, and a perpetually stocked pantry and made all our meals. Now, I don’t even want to think about food. So maybe Hungry Root will inspire me to rally the effort needed to master my food once again!

Lilly stopped by with two of her friends, Ria and Andrea, for popsicles. Lilly had a visit with The Rat, or should I say a fight. It was worthy of Saturday Night Live! They’re both such fast talkers and fabulous at argumentation, there was no clear winner. It looked like so much fun for her friends that I got out the puppy and lion puppets so animal alter egos could be cut loose. They want me to buy more orange popsicles and Bomb Pops for next time they stop over. It’s gonna be a busy summer. This is how I dreamed life would be. Keith and I feel so lucky.

Oh, what a joy this month’s entries were. I think the voters agreed with me because we just couldn’t seem to agree on a clear winner. After the votes were tallied we had FIVE record-breaking winners! We also had a couple bonus photos that would have been contenders but weren’t eligible because of that darn “one photo entry per photographer” rule. Someone should challenge this with the contest official. I hear she takes bribes. For just a few cookies, she’ll invent a fake identity for a long lost relative whose name you can use to sneak in another entry. Just sayin’ — cookies!

In a world filled with flavor enthusiasts and culinary adventurers, there is one extraordinary cheese lover who has remained devoted to her passion for almost two decades. Her name is Ada, the founder of The Curd Collective (formerly known as Ada’s Cheese Club). She is celebrating her 25th birthday this year, and, in a twist of fate, has decided to reopen membership exclusively to her beloved family. As we embark on Ada's remarkable cheese journey, we invite you to indulge in the enchanting world of cheese, filled with delightful flavors, mouthwatering recipes, and whimsical cheese crafts. I should know. I’m her Granny. And this is Ada’s Cheese Club!

To celebrate National Cheese Day, I made Ada, our resident Cheese-ologist, an extravagant e-card in the form of a fully branded website for her childhood cheese club, updated for the exclusive family membersship plan. I know it’s a little cheesy, but it looks grate.

There is only one person I know who would celebrate National Cheese Day: my little Ada. It is one of the special qualities that makes her so dear. I got to practice with my new graphic design program and make her a little card to celebrate.

He said, “hey, I put some new shoes on
And everybody's smiling, it's so inviting
Oh, short on money but long on time
Slowly strolling in the sweet sunshine
And I'm running late and I don't need an excuse
'Cause I'm wearing my brand new shoes.”

I spent the day in Oshkosh with Maggie and Mollie for the last milestone on this long journey. I wrote her this poem.

It is truly the end of an era. For almost fifty years, Keith and I have nurtured children and grandchildren who attended this sweet school in our backyard. With no great-grandchildren likely to attend there, this joy has come to a close. For Lilly, it is a bittersweet day too. From the start of 4-K to the end of fifth grade this day, Waters School has been a touchstone. Here is the cover of her yearbook. As she waited after school to get picked up by her dad, she paged through the yearbook showing me all the signatures and good wishes she had collected. Yearbooks. What a fabulous idea. Good-bye, Waters School - and thank you.

A good cross-section of poem topics this month, I think. I wasted a morning designing the look of it, but the turquoise and orange was awful and the images of poppies looked like they were made from crumpled paper. So I scrapped that and went for pink and cherry. I like this so much better. Lots of writing this week. I love it!

As Mollie embraces her budding short curls, her eyelash sprouts get some help from friend Angie. I was able to put the finishing touches on my Slender Stalk newsletter to make my Publication Day while she got the star treatment. Afterwards, we went next store to the delightful Knuth Brewery where we had great sammies and even greater carrot cake (my favorite). Mollie treated because I volunteered for chauffeuring. An absolutely lovely time in Ripon!