SNOW....NO SNOW....MORE SNOW

Well, here you have it....within the course of three days we had snow....then it warmed up and the snowman melted almost to nothing...and then it snowed again....and it is still snowing....

Today Mark Andrew Kreuz would have celebrated his 60th birthday....

Where Does the Time Go?

Thanksgiving here and gone....snow came and is still here....and now it is almost Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and still there are gifts to get and cards to mail....maybe in 2010 the postings will be more up-to-date....

Here's Paddy helping Grandpa put up the outside Christmas lights...the boots: Fireman Boots!

TIME FLIES AND TURKEY DAY IS ALMOST HERE!!

Hmm, posting daily is not as easy as I thought. The only pictures I've been taking are for work - kids in uniform sitting primly at their desks...ha ha! This one's from the 3rd Grade Thanksgiving Feast - don't worry they had more to eat then raw pumpkins, straw, and Indian corn.

On Friday night we were at the Haggis - Kristin's Aunt Shelly was named Clanswoman of the Year - lots of bag-piping. And we were celebrating Pat Foy's many job offers - the most recent being at Northwestern....yeah Pat!

THE ZOO

Audrey in the Dolphin stroller at Brookfield Zoo because Grandma and Grandpa neglected to take the umbroller stroller that we have hanging in our garage...ok, so she doesn't look too thrilled but she had a choice...walking (which seemed a bad choice since she's not yet age 3 and the Zoo is BIG), a wagon, or the Dolphin stroller....words of wisdom here: Think and think again before leaving the house with a toddler - do you have EVERYTHING you need????

MARK ANDREW KREUZ

I was thinking this morning of all the family events - births, baptisms, weddings, parties, Halloweens, Thanksgivings, Christmas Eve's and deaths that have happened since Mark's death eleven years ago today. Eleven years ago he had no grandchildren - now there are two grandsons - Elliot and William; eleven years ago he had no great nieces or nephews - now there are two great nieces and four great nephews - eleven years ago there was only one wedding of his siblings' children that he attended - four more were to follow; eleven years ago his son Markie was a little boy not yet 6 - he will soon be 17 years old this month, and eleven years ago Grandpa Frank and Grandpa Jim were still with us. November - the month of All Saints and All Souls - all rest in peace.

THE WRONG BLOG

Please check the Whole Puzzle blog for what should have been posted on the Aunt Sue Blog...too many blogs too much confusion....words of wisdom: Multitasking and being old often times do not mix well to produce great results.

HOW CUTE IS THIS LITTLE GUY...!!!!!

Right now it is raining like crazy...it's 11:12PM and I'm scheduled to fly to St.Paul tomorrow AM to watch Paddy and Declan while Katie and Pat go to the ND/BC game in South Bend...I'm pretty sure I'll have more fun...

INDIAN SUMMER

Beautiful weather....in the 60's for the past two days...the autumnal colors have exploded in splender...lots of fun last week...with my sis Deb and my daughter Kate and her little guys Paddy and Declan...we all got to visit with Aunt Maura too!

FORTY YEARS....MARITAL BLISS

What more can I say.....bliss in the kitchen....

GRASS....THE GREEN KIND

A photo taken by Audrey of Mia's soccer game today....not much action but lots of grass....the green kind. Tonight at dinner, with Kate, Sandra, Debbie, Kevin and me, I said to my husband Kevin of 40 years...."I can't wait until tomorrow to give you your gift....so I'll give it tonight..." His reply: "Debbie? I've waited 40 years for this!"...enough of grass and gifts...

ALMOST TOO TIRED TO POST...

WHEW! Long day....one photo from October 14 posted Oct 15...opps 16....times flies...need sleep...zzzzzzz

CABLES ARE NECESSARY...

I did take a picture for today. One of Audrey and Quinn at their sandbox. But I left the camera cable in Wheaton so I can't upload the picture to my computer and then onto the blog. Thus the title of today's post...

Tonight I attended a lecture at the Siena Center in River Forest. Tonight's lecture in the Envisioning Grace: The Sacramental Imagination in Literature and Film Series was "Irony and Mystery: Writers of the South" - Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, and Allen Tate. Much of the lecture rolled over me like misty fog...my brain was on hold...I need to get more sleep.

PONDERINGS....

One year ago today Grandpa Frank left this life for his new life in heaven...it doesn't seem to have been a full year already...but then time has a strange way of seeming to be forever and then just a few seconds ago...like the seasons as I grow older - they're here and gone....

Now it's pumpkins and Halloween time...houses are festooned with ghosts and goblins, witches, and all sorts of spooky things...and there's snow in St.Paul, MN...!!!

So here's my picture of the day...fake pumpkins and gourds on my dining room table...well, at least it looks autumnal..

And today is Columbus Day...poor Chris...his name is mud ...we all think he's a bad guy now...didn't really "discover" America and was a really nasty S.O.B. to the native Indians....pretty soon they might get rid of having us all (schools and such) have the day off...wouldn't that be sad?

SOMETHING NEW.....SORT OF

So I was blog hoping or cruising or whatever it's called and I came across this blogger who has decided to post a photo a day, for 365 days, along with some ruminations...(easier than trying a new Julia Childs recipe every day for 365 days) so....hmmm seems interesting (the photos not the recipes since I am perhaps the least adept cook in the family)so I thought I'd try the photo bit....with a few thoughts...

Here's my first digital photo...an outside plant now inside...the weather has turned cold, the summer flowers are shriveled and deceased....people are cleaning up their gardens preparing the beds for winter...we moved the porch furniture to one side, brought in the porch table, moved the big round log holder to the porch and filled it with wood for the fireplace...

THE ELONGATED STUMP...or the end of the big tree

Yikes! The big tree is gone and more of the trunk stump is standing then I expected. It looks weird. Any suggestions for possible camouflague techniques? The Marren's said the good news is the tree is gone and they don't have to worry about giant limbs falling on their house during violent storms. The bad news is that they still don't have a lake view from their second floor northside windows.

I think the only people that worried about giant limbs falling on the houses were Marge Marren and me. Crushing our house when no one was inside might have been a good thing (then we would have to build a BRAND NEW house!!!) but if people were inside - that would have been a VERY bad thing...and on the bright side....LOTS OF SUN will be in the back yard. Update on the porch - the permits have been obtained, the builder, architect and carpenters were there yesterday...construction is set to start sometime before winter sets in...Wisconsin time...

More Family Members

Here's a picture of Elliot and his new cousin William Sullivan Kreuz

IEA....two boogs

Upload, download, photos take FOREVER

What is the issue here? Why is it taking FOREVER to upload photos to this blog? I'll be collecting my Social Security checks before the upload process is complete.
Why do other people have THOUSANDS of photos on their blogs? Flicker slide shows, video clips, sound and music!!!!

BOO!

This is Paddy. He was coloring Easter eggs wearing a very large red t-shirt. After a while he pulled it up over his head...silence...then he said "BOO!"....which was either "boo" or maybe peekaboo...in any case, it was very funny.

FORT MYERS BEACH, FL Feb. 2009

POOL FUN

water temp: 87

air temp: 78

PERFECT!

Learn to Scrub and Clean at an Early Age

Here is Audrey. I told her to do the breakfast dishes so that I could sip my tea and read the paper...and this is at her house while I'm babysitting! Being the very good granddaughter that she is, she stepped right up to the sink and began scrubbing. No "spec I'm Cinderella !?!!" from her. No wonder I love my grandchildren so much. Hopefully she and the other grandchildren will pitch in with the chores when we're on our Florida vacation so my sis Deb and I can sip our ice teas, or maybe our wine, as we watch the sun set over the Gulf.

HAVING FUN AT CHRISTMAS TIME...

Playing with Aidan's new hockey game...

Reading with Grandpa

Hmmm...cookie

or pacificer???

Which will taste better?

A Brio train from Santa Claus!

SEMI UPDATED BLOG

Who checks Aunt Sue's Blog...Words of Wisdom from a Seasoned Aunt...who would since it's never updated? Go to "A Whole Puzzle" for news this time....And it is FREEZING here - minus 16 degrees here this AM - you'd think the squirrels nesting in my soffits (check out "A Whole Puzzle?!") would freeze to death...hmmm, probably not since they're nice and warm snuggled into the insultating material no doubt from the attic - where is my beebee gun? better yet, maybe an Uzi....I could blast the soffits to smitherines thus eliminating the squirrels.
No comments from animal lovers please.