Surprise visit

We knew on the eve of my Aunt June's key doctor's visit that June and son Dustin - and, it turns out, Dustin's aunt on his father's side, Brenda - traveled to Missouri so that Dustin could meet his biological father for the first time. June called from the road - traveling from Missouri to Ohio in one day - to say hello and said they couldn't stop - but then Brenda helped change her mind. We met Brenda and heard about the trip - where Dustin spent a couple of days with his father and was emotional on the way back.



June has lost some weight and was about to find out that her illness has not grown worse but not grown better. June, Mom's youngest sister, has been eating partly through a feeding tube through her stomach and showed us some of this. This is another health issue, since it has not been working properly.

After June got home, the doctors put her on an IV, in hopes that she would gain weight. A week later June spent several hours at home - with her son and sister at home but not noticing her discomfort - with a blinding headache and vomiting. Eventually, son-in-law Jay called 911 and the squad took her to Mt. Carmel East hospital. Blood pressure spikes sometimes precede the headaches, but health care providers have never figured out what might be behind the headaches. Days later Stephanie actually drove June home, and she got to see Dustin again, as well as Barb, Diana, and Jay. Although we gave June, Dustin, and Brenda no grand tour, Stephanie had just put up a bunch of Christmas paraphernalia (see "Christmas preparation") and I had been cleaning the house. I feared that no one would see the Christmas paraphernalia - since Vincent was gone and we'd be gone for 2-3 weeks at Christmas - but June et al.'s visit - plus those by our plantsitter Jessi and her family - assured that someone would see our handiwork.

-- Perry

Disco inferno

Below was the scene at one of the first Halloween Hillcrest Avenue houses we stopped at, the one whose front yard turned into a de facto disco.

Cruising with Elvis

Elvis and two friends drove down Hillcrest Avenue in their pink Cadillac.

Halloween 2009

Enough of my Presbyterian Church Research Services colleagues dressed up for Halloween (above) that we entered the Presbyterian Center Halloween contest. We did not win. Our former colleague Jamie stopped by with her husband and two of their daughters (below).

Grandma (still our colleague at the Center Linda) helped get one of the daughters ready for the costume competition (they didn't win either).

Below was the child winner (about to let exhaustion and the nerves from the competition get the best of her) and her mother.

The night before Halloween Vincent got back from work - he ended up working some 10 days in a row.

While Vincent worked and then went to a Halloween party, Halloween night our friend Sarah came over for dinner and then we wandered over to Hillcrest Avenue - Louisville's legendary Halloween street, just a block from our church. One of the first houses whose decor I noticed included an impromptu disco, with some great music and passersbyb getting up in the front yard suddenly to dance (below).

We wondered why they didn't shut down the street to cars - and in fact later that evcening a car hit a kid - but if it were closed off no one would have been able to cruise in their car - like Elvis who we had just missed in Las Vegas - who cruised by with two friends in a pink Cadillac.

Sarah and Stephanie were very good at looking carefully at the witticisms in the front yards of some of the decorated houses (in between other somewhat tasteless or grotesque items). With thousands walking up and down the street, there were plenty of people watching possibilities too.

One place we stopped was in front of a house that turned out to be owned by a University of Louisville trumpet professor - with his brass quintet playing. While we were there, they shifted from classical music to the "Ghostbusters" movie - and then, seconds later, the Ghostbusters unit dropped by - and danced to their own theme music.

Another house featured a Peanuts theme, including Linus and Sally waiting for the Great Pumpkin.

When we arrived at home, the full moon shone out.

Stephanie had gotten a turtle outfit for Frisco. But Frisco was pretty quick to doff the hat/turtle head. Here he's still got the body on. We've taken him to Hillcrest before but it's so packed we left him home. We dressed him up briefly after we got home. Vincent had planned to go trick or treating with Jessi and friends but ended up working from mid-afternoon to 9:15 p.m. - selling Halloween costumes up to the bitter end - and then went to a party with Jessi and friends. Sarah went home and - other than picking Vincent up later - we stayed home with Frisco.

-- Perry

Zombie walk

A week ago Saturday night in Denver, I more or less happened upon this event. Thousands of - mainly young people - descended upon downtown Denver's 16th Street outdoor mall and environs, clad in all manner of outrageous zombie outfits, those undead creatures from such recent movies as "I Am Legend" and "Zombieland." Unfortunately, with my new camera, I took no video, and so didn't get the many kids with the halting zombie gait, growling "Brainzzz" (apparently zombies' favorite food), or the occasional time a group of them would chase oen of their friends or hapless passerbys (yikes!).

Below is something like an alien zombie.

And below - a zombie couple outside of Taco Bell!

Two zombie victims (?). At one point the Ghostbusters stationwagon drove by. The one bus line that sends buses up and down 16th Street actually had police escorts - police cars cruising in front of the buses.

These two young women - zombie victims? - stayed perfectly still throughout the whole time I could see them.

This young zombie was apparently eating through a victim's neck to get to the victim's brainzzz (yech!).

The zombie bride outfit was one of the favorite costumes.

I looked out for a slice of pizza and finally wound up on Market Street, where I had to wait quite a while for them to make slice to order - after making whole pizzas that came before it. There were a number of zombies in there, and so I was essentially having a slice of zombie pizza!

-- Perry

Up and down

It’s been an up and down few weeks. I celebrated a birthday twice, neither on the exact day. On Saturday as it turns out Stephanie and I only traveled to New Albany’s packed Harvest Homecoming festival and Huber Farms for pumpkin picking and an early dinner at the restaurant and then back home with Vincent for a stunning Columbus Day cake (above - the "Santa Maria," not a pirate ship) and a new stereo (further below).

In between Huber and cake I – thanks to Mom – got the camera that took these pictures but then backed up Stephanie’s car into our neighbor’s parked car. Although our rates may go up, insurance apparently is covering this. Causing some anxiety, I talked with one of the neighbors the next morning, after leaving them a note the night before. Making me feel worse was the fact that the couple was expecting a baby within a month. (Pictured below is their house, sans car.)

On Tuesday my colleagues helped me celebrate my birthday again (this time a day late).

Many folks in Kentuckiana – including kids we know with H1N1 and then Stephanie and Vincent – have been sick. Vincent has kept his job – moving from days to nights, finally buying a discounted costume (“Freddie” from “Nightmare on Elm Street”?) (pictured below) and wearing it each day to work, ostensibly joining a rock band, and turning in a draft final paper for his English class (for very slow progress). More recently, a one-time Brown friend who Vincent started hung out with last fall has joined him there (adding to other friends he's made anew there).

Both Stephanie and I have had trouble with colleagues at work – Stephanie with another teacher, and me with administrative assistants when all of the other professionals were away – and have faced managers not backing us up to varying degrees. These problems came during times that were stressful at work for other reasons: Stephanie suddenly started tutoring and leading Culture Club after school, teaching Read 180 and had the new school district superintendent visit her school and her classroom. (Pictured below is Stephanie with an early book she shared with her Culture Club students, as they began talking about Native American cultural groups.) I’ve been leading a very challenging survey project for our World Mission unit and facing other Presbyterian Panel deadlines (some management-imposed). During the same time – working with colleague Ida when she was around – I’ve been trying desperately to develop materials for a late October presentation on congregational growth at the Religious Research Association meeting in Denver.

I’ve been leading a very challenging survey project for our World Mission unit and facing other Presbyterian Panel deadlines (some management-imposed). During the same time – working with colleague Ida when she was around – I’ve been trying desperately to develop materials for a late October presentation on congregational growth at the Religious Research Association meeting in Denver.

And no time for blogging.

P.S. For the first time ever, Monday afternoon an official person came to observe Stephanie's tutoring and Culture Club. Tuesday morning Stephanie’s troubles with colleagues may come to a head with a meeting scheduled with half a dozen teachers and administrators. Pray for Stephanie to stand up for herself but diplomatically and for a peaceful but just resolution to differences.

-- Perry

4th of July party

Instead of going to see the Ohio Players and fireworks - broken up somewhat by rain - we went back to the home of Jessi, Vincent's prom date, and her family for a 4th of July party. Above was the 4th of July cake Jessi's mother, Debbie - our church's music director - had made. Below is Debbie with the cake.



And watermelon and the cake.

Debbie said when Jessi wanted to have a party they ended up just inviting three of her friends and their parents. Vincent was one of the friends and we were the parents. During the first week that Vincent was home a lot on crutches - and his friend Samantha was still in Denmark - Jessi visited several times. These are parents of another of Jessi's friends - with some ocmplicated back and forth between Cincinnati story. They were a little quiet.

The woman below is the mother of another of Jessi's friends. She is Russian American.

Below - in the kitchen - is the woman above's daughter and Jessi. There were hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, cole slaw, cake, and brownies and desert - not very good Weight Watchers food (except for the watermelon). I ate too much.

Throughout Vincent's convalescence Stephanei was picking out his clothes and often T-shirts that matched nicely with his (somewhat fading) pink hair.

This is Jessi's on-again, off-again Cincinnati friend.

Jessi's female's friend (step?) father and Jessi's father, Lewis - still recovering from a fall - chatted at the table. Jessi, Lewis, and Debbie bought this house about a year and a half ago - soon before the Derby party - and they have sort of an extra litle yard, with a cupola in it - and later these two men went out and smoked cigars - and then the Mom joined them. The man on the right is outgoing and - it turns out - likes reading some of the same kinds of fantasy books that Vincent likes. He recommended several series to Vincent, including one that I bought Vincent a complete set-in-one book of at a fantasy and mystery bookstore in Berkeley, but he hasn't read yet. We went home about 8:30 p.m., having been there for four hours. We'd bought Vincent a few fireworks, but he was tired and it was rainy and we eventually went to sleep.

-- Perry

Christmas in July

This past Christmas Perry and I got Vincent an electric razor. He didn't have lots of facial hair but had a pretty substantial, yet very blond, neck beard going on. The hair on his neck was at least 3 inches long but very curly and light colored. You could only see it in the light or if you were looking. Unfortunately, it also made him have acne on his neck because of the sweat caught by the hair.


In honor of the 4th of July (notice the pink, turquoise, and khaki outfit...kind of a pastel flag) and his first outing other than the doctor's office since his accident Vincent proposed shaving for the first time. We charged up his razor which had been sitting in a box under his bathroom sink (where we found that the box was damp and we must have a slow leak...plumbers are being called tomorrow). With some instruction from Perry and my encouragement Vincent took the big step into manhood. He shaved for the first time.

This morning when he woke up he had pretty bad razor burn on his neck so we'll have to figure out what to do for that. Perry looked it up on the Internet and found some suggestions. Again, I think some of it is acne/sweat related (and maybe not taking often enough baths since it is hard for him to get in and out of the tub with his foot right now).

Vincent seemed to be a little disappointed when Jessi, his prom date last year, didn't notice until it was pointed out to her that there was no more neck beard. We'll see if he continues to shave or even if there continues to be a need.

----Stephanie