My Friend Died Yesterday

Even though I never met Nanette Tilkens in person, she was my friend. Her daughter, Samara, is a dear friend of Anne's and I was introduced to Nan through Samara's thoughtful blogging on her Mom's struggle with cancer. Nan and I began exchanging emails and letters, and she even invited us to her wedding vow renewal service this past summer. Just last week, we received their Christmas greeting, complete with a handwritten (beautiful penmanship) note: "I'm glad we got to know each other a bit and I've enjoyed all your cards and thoughts. May your holiday season be blessed with all that makes you happy."

Nan died yesterday morning after a courageous, deliberate war to combat her cancer. She will be sorely missed by all, especially her beloved husband, Michael. My heart breaks for her daughters and their young families. Please keep them all in your prayers. Peace to the memory of Nan.

Our Guys Don't "Do" the Nutcracker Ballet!

Before we had kids, I talked Wes into going with me to the Nutcracker ballet in downtown Chicago. Even though he followed the program closely, he still didn't "get" how the dances flowed one into another and he was still waiting for certain dances to be performed when the ballet was over...poor guy! Later, we went to the show as a young family and John really hated that we made him go as a part of his cultural enlightenment process...and he tells us, to this day, that he'll never go again. I believe that Jed thanked Anne this year for not making him go, either....what is it with our guys that they avoid this like the flu when we girls love this ballet? Hmmm...

Here is the program flyer telling the story of the Nutcracker.

Once Anne was in high school, she became a part of the local Nutcracker ensemble as a caroller. This musical theatre group dressed in Dickens-type costumes and sang before the ballet performance. Here Anne is pictured as the "Mom" of the group in the top left hand corner.

Even though we have gone to the performances for over ten years in a row (except for the year that Anne was abroad in Sweden), I still get the chills when the curtain opens and the whole ensemble is dancing around the Christmas tree to the music of Peter Tchaikovsky. Those naughty boys with their swords and the adorable girls with their tightly curled hair and colorful, lacy satin party dresses. The spunky nannies. I love the dance of the snowflake girls and the snow falling from above, and especially the grace of the The Snow Queen and the Snow Prince. Of the Act III "Kingdom of the Sweets", I am most mesmerized by the Arabian and Russian dances. And the cuteness of the little angels as they patter in patterns with their candle lamps without bumping into each other!

Finally, the curtain call with all the performers present...another fun memory with Anne. It's been another special time together! We'll be back again next year!

Permission to Snoop

A confession to make: I love to see how people decorate their houses!

Out walking in our neighborhood at night is especially fun when folks don't close their drapes or lower their shades, so that from the street (don't worry, I am harmless and never leave the sidewalk!!) I can see if the people have a lamp softly glowing beside a cozy reading chair, or if they have contempory, traditional or eclectic tastes. I like to see how people put plantings around their front walkways, how they place their Christmas tree, colors vibrant or subtle...guess you could just say I am a very visual person.

Hard to believe, but I haven't ever been on a House Walk. These are usually fund-raisers, so the money you pay for your ticket to walk through various houses all decorated for the holidays goes to charity. With Carol here, I thought we might enjoy this activity, so with

a map of six houses, plus the Catholic Rectory, we took off to snoop!

The House Walk took us most all of the day, and we stopped for a deliciious lunch out. I took

tons of pictures (first getting permission, of course!) and now I have many new ideas for what I can do in our own home. However, my home is certainly of a different scale and style that those houses we visited, and I am so very thankful that I love where we live and who my home is shared with

no matter how it is decorated - There's no place like home!

To Think What I Could Have Missed!

Something really awful happened this past Friday morning when I dropped my camera while the lens was opening. And here we were, having a weekend of fun and no record would be made visually of all of it: my Mom recovering from her hospital stay, having our friends from Maine with us, a dinner with Marti and Bill, the North Park "Rejoice" concert, seeing my sister and part of her family, a party at Anne and Jed's and a trip to IKEA! Yipes!

Luckily, Wes knows how attached I am to having a camera in my possession, and he took the broken one to the store, was told it would be more $$ to fix the jammed lens than buying a new camera, so voila! I now am the owner of a brand new camera, and all the joys it brings to record life's memories on it. (By the way, the old camera was just that: OLD. It had a finicky lens cover that would show corner shadows in pictures and a tiny viewing screen, so glasses would need to be worn to check imperfections of the people, places or things framed.) This is what would have been missed:

Never Too Old!

FYI...we are having the time of our lives these days with our friends Carol and Mark as they are our house guests. We have been eating A LOT, remembering the days of our teens and 20's before we had kids, playing Rook, watching movies. We are shaving the years away with all the fun and laughter we have been sharing since Thursday. Saturday, we ended up staying inside most of the day while the weather got nastier with snow, then sleet, then rain. A spontaneous decision to brave the elements happened and we drove to the Festival of Lights display saying, "Heck! Let's do this! So what if there are no kids with us...we can still have some fun here!" Our car was tuned to 107.1 on the radio, we paid our $10.00 car fee and in we went to the Winter Wonderland off Milwaukee Avenue. We oohed and ahhed about seeing so many Disney (Ariel, Cinderella, Pocohantas, etc.) movie characters, TV characters (Bob the Builder, Ernie and Bert, Big Bird, Rugrats, Garfield, Bugs Bunny, Porky the Pig) as well as book characters (Paddinton Bear, Clifford, etc.) We also saw skiers, skaters, fantasy villages, Santa's toy workshop, and counted how many Frosty the Snowman characters were here and there. (WAAAAAy off on that one!)

As we drove around, the radio was blaring. All four of us sang, with mucho gusto, along with the festive tunes. A couple of times, we even pulled far to the side so other cars could pass us by. Below, the front of the Cuneo home.

The Festival of Lights is near to where we live. Many of our out-of-town guests come here with us because of it being the setting for the wedding in the movie My Best Friends Wedding featuring Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz. Kristin and Daron, Cam and Linnea had their wedding receptions here. Concerts and plays are held here; it's really a lovely place.

It was fun to be a "local" while the film was being made, but it is even more special to be on the estate looking at the animated figures, twinkling lights and singing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs with our good friends in town from Maine. Priceless!

Married to a Ski Bum

There's something you might not know about Wes that just could surprise you! In college, he took off a semester to be a ski bum in Utah in 1974...and that's when our romance first took on its possibilities as we exchanged short weather reports through the mail. Recently, one of his ski buddies converted the film they made into a youtube video, and it's getting lots of hits - something like 11,800 so far! Sorry, I haven't yet figured out how to post this directly on my blog, but I can link you to the site here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HbrZpJm6zdA

Wes did much of the filming, but can be seen wearing the brownish jacket and (of course, because it's sensible Wes), a ski hat. Rock is the one with the cool star pants, and Stein is wearing the red jacket. Isn't it fun to think I'm married to a ski bum -whose nickname then was "The Bird." Who knew?

In Celebration of Number 52!

Oh, our sweet home town! Each year, the city has a tradition of lighting the Christmas tree in the town square the night following Thanksgiving. As we are usually gone, we have only been able to catch the festivities only a couple of times in the nearly 27 years we have lived here! So, this year, Wes and I bundled up and went. On the porch of the historic Cook House landmark, groups of young performers sang and danced their way through many familiar holiday songs. Then, our mayor greeted the huge, boisterous crowd and informed us that our town has recently been named #52 in all U.S. cities (as cited in a Money Magazine 2007 poll) for the best "everything any family could want - economic opportunities, good schools, safe streets, things to do and a sense of community." Meaning that now it will be even harder to move back to the city, so Wes would have less commuting time.

Once Santa has arrived on the firetruck and comes to the porch of the Cook Mansion, the crowd goes wild and the countdown begins to light up the tree in the park-10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1..... Afterwards, the strolling around town begins-people everywhere- most all the cute little shops are open late and many are handing out treats for all who stop by.

St. Lawrence church volunteers hand out hot cocoa and home-baked cookies to all who come inside.

The law office in town puts on quite a show with synchronized lights and music..a crowd pleaser, to be sure.

Just before returning home, we stopped by Harris Bank. There, we were greeted by Rollie and Janis and I was "awarded" a winning disc and collected a coaster set! Between winning this and the free snack of the month at the library, I am feeling like I'm on a true Winning Streak! Let the holiday season commence!

Our town is ready!

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Yes, here we are on Thanksgiving Day in a place where there are lots of doctors, nurses and caring people...

Our Thanksgiving plans weren't going too well this year. Mom has been in the hospital with a serious case of pneumonia. Anne, Jed and John all had plans to be elsewhere for the holiday. But, somehow yesterday, Mom took a turn for the better, and we received an invitation to feast with the in-laws of nephew Kurt...the lovely Petersens (who acted as match-makers for Anne and Jed). We were there today and it was wonderful to be surrounded by family, especially our dear niece, Jennifer. Nothing like hanging out with loved ones to calm worried minds and soothe aching

hearts. This year I am especially thankful for my family. LET THE FEASTING BEGIN!

Sis with the salad

The turkey, the fixin's and the helpers!

Our lovely table settings included a pot of mini mums and a colorful seasonal napkin.

Here's our group gathered around the table. Diann is hiding behind Jennifer, so I'll post her picture elsewhere soon. And 2 year old Ava is also not shown here, but will be pictured eventually giving us a dance performance. Once all the tasty foods were consumed it was time for P-I-E (S)! Then down to the basement for some Karoke Merriment -

Jennifer is a natural with a microphone in her hand!

As is my sister and her fun, fun, fun granddaughter, Ava!

Check out yet another hidden talent Wes has...a rock singer!!

Wes and I had the chance to try Karoke for the very first time with the Petersen's home set-up. We competed with many tunes and his strength was Sweet Caroline and mine was Material Girl! Jennifer rocked at 90's hits and Diann had Ava's help in performance movin' and groovin'! So, now I can offer more choices in my repertoire of songs I can "do" as your wedding singer besides CLOSE TO YOU and MUSKRAT LOVE!! By the end of the evening, Ava had all given us "check ups" with her play stethoscope, reflex hammer, thermometer and tongs. We were "all better"...a strong dose of family/loved ones togetherness apparently was just what the good doctor had ordered!

Thanks to all of you out there who care for the sick. You make such a difference in so many lives, and you probably aren't thanked enough.

Thanksgiving Message

A message posted on the signboard of a church on my way to visit Mom said:We don't need more to be thankful - we need to be more thankful.

That is my desire for you and yours this holiday.

Party Time on Our Porch

This has been a tough week here at our house. Under the weather, I have been stuck at home, so I can tell that the squirrels here are partying BIG TIME! Thinking that the Halloween gourds, colorful Indian corn and pumpkins would look harvest-like and Martha Stewart-ish on the porch, I left them in a big, basket on a quaint bench there. Daily, those little thieves have been taking the items, chewing them up and leaving disgusting pieces all over the porch and sidewalk. I find half-eaten gourds on the steps and in my neighbor's yard. Today, I even saw one of the chubbiest squirrels ever - dashing away just as I opened the door and just staring at me as if to dare me to come closer and see what morsel was clenched in those little paws behind its back.

Of course, when I arm myself with a camera, they scamper off, and make me want to believe no one is out there. They probably have a whole blog of that angry Mrs. Lindahl and laugh at me behind my back...

I'm just sure that as soon as I walk back in the front door, those darn squirrels are plotting where they can chew and deposit foods so that when I go out to retrieve the morning paper, they can make sure to leave jagged walnut edges for my feet to step on. Or trip on an empty corncob.

So, who knows what I will find on my front porch, sidewalk or yard tomorrow? All I know is that the squirrel "word" got out that there's a party at our place!

Treats of a Weekend Road Trip

Over the weekend, we had a short, sweet road trip to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our purpose was to visit Wes' parents and go when we could get away...our weekends at home are pretty filled these days. TREATS...Number one: We needed to stop for our evening meal after having been on the road for about an hour and a half. Just west of Milwaukee, we found this cool-looking restaurant.

Note the granite countertops and marble floor squares?

The seating booths with wall sculpture and hanging chandelier

The fireplace area with plasma TV

Did you guess the place yet? Okay, now you know seeing the items on Wes' tray - and note the fireplace behind him - it's McDonald's!!

Many hours later in our car, we arrived at the lovely, newly settled and decorated apartment of Wes' folks. Hard to believe that the four of us stayed up and talked until nearly 2:00 AM before retiring for the night.

(A next-morning view of Wes in the living room shown above. Isn't their place cozy and inviting?)

TREATS...Number two: On Saturday morning, Samara and I met at the nearby Bylerly's to sip hot cocoa and chat. It was quite a surprise to look at my watch and find we had been conversing for about two hours. I am so thankful that Anne has a friend like Samara, and that she has become a blogging buddy to me along the way!

TREATS....Number three:

Here we are gathered around a table at IKEA. The cloudy, misty day sure reminded us of one we spent in Sweden two years ago when John was at SVF and Anne took time off from school to join us on our family Thanksgiving trip to see John.

Yes, it is enjoyable to be able to share a time together with conversation/ hot cocoa or Swedish meatballs/boiled potatoes/lingonberries, but the lovliest of all is to get together with people who mean a great deal to me. Thanks, Elder and Muriel and Samara (and always to you, Wes!) for this special weekend.