The Return of Bob and Natalie

Bob and Natalie made a surprise stop on the way to veecation.

Mimi has been to the airport, probably 15 times in the last month.

Mimi is so anxious to be the traveler. We drop people off.We kiss them goodbye and she always says, when will I be the one?
When will I be the person flying on the plane?.

Bob and Natalie are going to Disney, Mimi wants to know how long they have been saving and why can they leave before her?

Jie Jie is gone part 2

Along with our sadness with the departure of JieJie, comes Zelda's sadness at the departure of kitties.

She has sought solace in this pretend cat that sits under our kitchen table.

Happy Memorial Day

In true Patty fashion, the gals and I went to the cemetery.


I toted my sisters, my kid and a gaggle of rusted, good for nothing tools to groom, grave stones in Detroit.

Now mind you, this cemetery is swanky, it houses car makers, prominent inventors, and dad.

We listened to "Frank' on my phone and cursed the ground beneath us.

Mom was settled .

Wiggly teeth

Mimi and I went to the dentist the other day and she found out that she has 2 loose teeth at the bottom.

At first. Mimi was extremely nervous about the fact that her teeth would be leaving her head. Then of course, she is thinking about all of the ins and outs of the "tooth fairy".
Lovely Patty has begun lamenting the fact that she is losing the teeth that were "born in China".

Terry tells her he is going to tie a string to them and attach them to the doorknob "ala" "little rascals".
So much thought going into 2 tiny teeth.

We had a garage sale?

I often take pictures of Mimi throughout the day for memory sake and because she is hilarious.

This picture taken a few days ago, was taken because she was creating this elaborate imaginary world and I was going to document it.

The main thing I have documented is how crazy our garage is.
I saw this picture and immediately flashed back to a show Terry was watching when people have so much stuff they can't seem to get from their family room to the front door.One person even lost their aging mother in their lair.

Are we that far behind?This picture was taken after I sold a bunch of stuff at our neighborhood garage sale.

Oh Mercy, I know what I will be doing this weekend.

Jie Jie is gone

Mimi let Jiejie go today at about 10:00 am.
She held up pretty well for awhile.
Both of my children hate to be separated from each other and it manifests in different ways.

Mimi cries and howls for hours, unlike anything i have experienced. She simply utters and sobs jiejie for what seems to be an eternity.
Jiej jie cries and gets stomach aches.
I am sure they will both survive through this visit.
I think somehow that all of my family goes through the transition phase that is so transparent in children.

Transition is rough on this family.

Happy Anniversary

Terry and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary a few weeks ago.

We hemmed and hawed about what we would do or where to go.

We decided to go back to the scene of our first date.

Ten and a half years ago we went to this little place and had dinner. We were waited on by a lovely woman.

We got engaged and went to this place for dinner and we were waited on by this same lovely woman.

We were on our way to Fiji on our honeymoon, stopped in and waited on by this lady.

Suffice it to say,

The day before we left for China, to meet Mimi,

The first official dinner with my sisters when my dad died

This lady basically had all of our bases covered.

She is a great lady and she is always there when we need her.

She made our ninth, and not because she bought our drinks.
We are thankful.

Julie's Home and Gardens

Aunt Julie and Uncle Dan have very lush gardens.

They have instructed Mimi on cultivation, watering and the art of picking(if you will forgive the expression.)

Due to their generosity, Mimi has permission to pick and arrange beautiful flowers in their garden at their floral peak.

This morning it was a a giant flora fest of beauteous flowers, that she clipped picked and arranged throughout the house.
We are very lucky.

over hill. over dale

Mimi and I had a wonderful day with Anna, Katie and Mrs. Kathy,

Mimi and Anna and Katie were all born in the same place. We all came home from China at the same time, I call them sisters.
Katie and Anna live blocks apart. Mimi and I came to visit and explore the forests that lie behind their homes.

They live on state protected land and we went out to scout 3 nests of beautiful blue heron.

We ventured out in rubber boots,supplied by Mrs Kathy and for the love of God we got a little lost.
I got discombobulated and we were in a swamp with poison ivy.
We made it out.
The girls were not impressed. They had a much better time playing tea party and limbo with a jump rope.
There is no place like home.

what mom and dad watch2

What mom and dad watch

Mimi has taken over my television.

I watch her shows and then fall asleep.
When jie jie is home I am reminded of the fact that my world doesn't revolve around"Sonny" or "Alex" or in fact "Phineus" or "Ferb"
Terry and i watched this show and it brings me around,
Thanks Terry

Uncle Mark

We lost Uncle Mark, a dear, glamorous,elegant... lovely person.
When Paulina was three she came barreling into our new home, yelling"there is a pretty girl with curls jumping roping across the street"

I would go out and look. there was no one.

This went on for days"pretty curly haired girl jumping".

We really felt that Paulina had an imaginary friend.

We met this curly haired beautiful girl. she was five. almost six,
Akiya had a great mom and her brother, wonderful Uncle Mark.

Uncle Mark aided us in lessons of Japanese cooking and the beauty of dance and creating beautiful gardens.
Mark took us to the ballet(Giselle), and formal dinner.

The world is a better place for him and a better place for the great ladies he has left behind,

We Love You
This picture is of Paulina and Akiya's creation"Paulina and the Pussycats"

A and W Overdrive

Mimi and I planted our first vegetable garden. Of course, Terry did all of the major back breaking work. He built the raised beds, schlepped in the soil, arranged our containers where they should be planted.

Mimi and I took the neatly separated little containers and planted them very close together in the beds. We then tossed a bunch of seeds in for good measure.Peas, watermelon, sunflowers, all carefully(?) labeled with Popsicle sticks.

We were so exhausted from our day on Sipes farm that we took Zelda out in the car and visited our neighborhood drive in, A and W.

I have never been to this local joint(there was an A and W where I spent my teen years and a lot of my friends worked there)they had a mean Coney.

I had to explain to Mimi how the whole situation worked. You park the car, press a button, order the food, and then they bring it and hang it on the window. We eat it.... there.... press a button, you know the rest.

Mimi thought that this was the greatest invention ever. We sat in that A and W parking lot until every fry was consumed.

"Look mom, I can sit in the front seat and eat off of this window shelf thing."

So in this there is a lesson in nutrition, plant some vegetables and then reward yourself with coneys and fries.

Mildred Pierce

Today is Mother's Day. My ideal Mother's Day is a martini, a pack of cigarettes and a beautiful rendering of "Mildred Pierce"

Apparently, TCM knows where I am coming from and broad casted "Mildred" today.

I went to a castle bouncy birthday party and made dinner for my lovely mom,
Mom, went to work at the nursing home. Mom's day for her, was the equivalent of last minute Christmas shopping.
Hoards of appreciative people coming in to visit their mama's.
Man , she is wiped out, she still set the table... and for old times sake I think I will make her do the dishes.

Tumblr Tumblr Tumblr

One of the many benefits of having young daughters is the fact that they keep me up on a lot of things that I normally would not have a clue about.

When Jie Jie was home last break she told me about a social networking site called Tumblr.

She described it as what twitter is to Facebook , Tumblr is to blogging.

The site is very instantaneous and a wee bit condensed.
I started my own Tumblr site before we left for Charlevoix so that I could blog from my phone.
I am hooked now and I seem to be constantly tumbling.
JieJie is happy because she sees Mimi updates throughout the day.

Julie and Dan

Today is the 37th Wedding Anniversary of our dear friends Julie and Dan.
It sounds cliche but Julie and Dan live over our white picket fence.
We moved in and


I never realized this but Julie and Dan Anderson have a very close anniversary to ours.

Terry and I have been married for nine years on May 12.

Dan and Julie Anderson have been married for 37 years today.

In the course of our relationship, we have 9/11, 2 presidents, a power outage(4 days),a new child(Mimi), Paulina(21), a bunch of crazy teenagers and a widow.

I will add to the mix, glorious meals, a giant movie screen(thanks Uncle Dan),and a ton of block parties, that we hosted.

How you survived 37 years I will need to know. We love you both, very much.

The May Day Faerie Festival

When JieJie was little I used to take her to a lovely little herb farm in Fenton called Heavenly Scents.

It was a little farm with handmade soaps,dried herbs and a small sampling of fresh herbs and heirloom roses for purchase.

Each year they would have a little fairy festival with a May pole, fairy lore and lavender scented lemonade.

This year I returned to the Heavenly Scents herb farm for the annual Faerie Festival and how things have changed.

The farm has quadrupled in size and has everything from organic clothing to solar powered garden lights shaped like mushrooms.

Mimi and I strolled through the fairy gardens, Mimi made crafts with a whole team of "faerie helpers" including a May queen.

We purchased a number of tiny plants for her faerie garden, along with enough tiny furniture to furnish a faerie condo.

No more lavender scented lemonade. Now there are caterpillar sandwiches(hot dogs) and sprite.

Mimi can read

Thursday night Mimi became a reader.

I bought a book for her online. The book was one of my favorites as a teeny girl.

The book has recently been brought back to print and it is definitely her favorite.The book is a simple story of Anne and her passion for the color red. She is out shopping for clothes with her mother and sales people try to talk her into buying clothes of all different colors, Ann likes red,red,red, red,

"Anne likes red" travels with Mimi everywhere,the bathroom,the dinner table,the car, school.

Wherever Mimi is" Anne "is not far behind.

I get chills thinking about the moment when Paulina started to read and a whole world opened up to her. I clearly remember realizing that I could read words. It is the most exciting,liberating feeling.

I love Ann.