LAST DAY OF AUGUST

 WOW!  WHERE HAS THE SUMMER GONE ?  

Today is August 31 and for me the last “official” day of summer!  It has gone way too fast.  Our weather here on Hilton Head Island is beautiful right now - much cooler than it has been all summer and a beautiful time to be outside.  I still have many many yard projects to do since I completely stopped being outside since it was so darn humid here as of late.

Today - before September - I must reflect on all the things I did during the summer months.  I already shared May and June - now on to July and August!

I traveled -  PLANES, TRAINS and AUTOMOBILES!

I already spent time with my sweet Charlotte grands, now I needed to see my Chicago area grands!  Michael and Amy & Addison and Elliott (Ellie) live in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago.  I tied the visit to a road trip for myself and what fun I had!  I left just after the 4th of July by PLANE and timed my visit to include two plays that included my Arlington Heights granddaughters, Addison and Elliott.  They attended a Theater Camp that commenced with a play.  I was so excited to be able to watch them in action!  Their plays were takes on the movie “Shrek”.  Addison had several roles in her play including the role of young Princess Fiona.  Ellie’s group each spoke a few lines and sang a few songs.  Mark was able to join me for a few days in Arlington Heights.  We visited a couple restaurants, had an Ellie day at the park and enjoyed a neighborhood block party located in front of Michael and Amy’s house.  They did a great job organizing!  The fair included arts and crafts for the kids, face painting, balloon performer, games, food trucks and lastly a visit by the Arlington Heights Fire Department where the kids (and adults) could tour the trucks!  Fun!

Addison gave a wonderful performance!

Ellie dressed up for the play.  She even did her own makeup! 

It’s Ellie and Nana Day!

Fun at the Neighborhood Block Party!

I had a great 5 day visit with my Arlington Heights crew and then I was off to my next adventure!  This time by TRAIN!  Michael drove me to downtown Chicago where I caught a train from the South Shore line which took me directly to South Bend.  We lived in the South Bend area for 30+ years and I wanted to visit my old haunts.  I rented a CAR and was off!

I drove all around South Bend, went by my former homes in Granger and Eagle Lake in Michigan.  All three homes had significant changes and although they all looked great, I liked my versions better!  That’s to be expected, right?  I stayed at the Morris Inn on the campus of Notre Dane and spent quite a lot of time wandering around the campus.  It is such a beautiful place!  I also wandered over to Cedar Grove Cemetery to see the monument that Mark and I recently had placed there.  Maybe this is a little morbid,  but we have taken care of all our end of life arrangements, so our kids won’t have to deal with it.  Pleased at how our stone turned out marking our final resting place on the Notre Dame campus.

Beautiful Golden Dome and our stone! We lived on Eagle Lake in Edwardsburg, Michigan.  The town painted the old grain elevators since we were there last.  I love how they turned out!

While in South Bend, I made a visit to the South Bend History Museum.  There was a dollhouse exhibit featured and one of my friends, Mo Miller, helped with the exhibit’s design.  She also had several of her houses on display and since I am also into dollhousing, I was anxious to see the exhibit.  I was not disappointed!

The highlight of my trip was dinner with longtime lake friends, Cindy and Jenny AND lunch with long time Granger friends, Lynn, Margie and Kathy!  I miss these gals so much! I’m sad that I didn’t get photos!

As I drove away from the area, my take was that I was glad that I came but was not sad to leave!  I believe that I’m satisfied that part of my life is over and am glad I moved on…….  I must say that the city of South Bend felt tired to me and needs some updating.  I did notice lots of road/street projects going on, so perhaps those needs are being met.  Granger was nice and kept up, Eagle Lake had lots of new construction and Notre Dame was stunning.

Next stop - Franklin, Indiana!  It’s been awhile since I have spent time with my sister, Janice.  She lives in the Lexington, Kentucky area, but her in-laws live in Franklin so it was a perfect place to meet up.  We actually stayed in her mother-in-law’s home.  We had the house to ourselves since her mother-in-law now lives in an assisted living place.  We had a great time!  We spent most of our time eating at nice restaurants, touring quaint Franklin, shopping and just talking and catching up!  Mostly talking! Brother-in-law, Ted joined us for lunch one day and I was also delighted to see some of  Janice’s other family members.

Next stop - Richmond, Indiana.  I was born and raised in Richmond, Indiana.  It was a great place to grow up in and I still have fond memories of the town.  I wasn’t there long, but long enough to drive by all my family homes, plus the two homes that Mark and I owned after we were married.  I also drove by my church, grade school, junior high school, high school and cemetery where my parents and brother are buried.  Nostalgia at its finest!

Miller’s Milk House originally built in the 1960’s.

While in Richmond, I passed by Miller’s Milk House and had to get a photo. Actually, when it was built it was called Miller’s Milk House because it belonged to the Miller family.  I’m sure it doesn’t anymore, thus it’s now just called Milk House. Too bad they don’t have these Milk Houses anywhere else that I’ve lived!  I grew up with this convenience!  It’s a little store where you can drive up and someone comes out, takes your order and brings you your purchases!  Back in the day, we stopped for bread, milk and eggs.  Now, in addition to that, I’m sure you can get soft drinks, cigarettes and lottery tickets!  Anyway, I’ve always loved the concept!

I had dinner at one of Richmond’s most famous places to eat - Indiana’s for that matter - Pizza King!  Their Royal Feast is the best pizza ever!

You call in your order using the red phone!  Yummy pizza!

After leaving Richmond the next morning, I drove the back roads to Hagerstown, Indiana to see the school where I taught and coached, Hagerstown Junior Senior High School.  I taught physical education and coached girls swimming, gymnastics and girls golf.  Downtown Hagerstown is a charming little town with cute shops and restaurants.  I made a quick stop at Abbott’s Candy Shop which has been a staple in Hagerstown forever!  A couple tastings and a few purchases and I was off to my next destination.  Hagerstown was on the way so it was a perfect place to stop.  After all - this whole journey for me was about going back to my roots and former life.  I’m lucky to have been able to do that!

Next stop - Noblesville, Indiana.  One of my very best friends and her husband live in a beautiful home on Morse Reservoir in Noblesville.  Susie and I met in the summer of 1969 when my family moved from Richmond to Anderson, Indiana. I had just graduated from high school and was heading off to college in the fall. A mutual friend from Richmond set up a meeting for Susie and me and we developed an instant friendship.  It just so happens that she was heading to Ball State in the fall too and was also going to be a PE major!  Imagine that!  We became lifelong friends and she was a bridesmaid in my wedding!  We’ve stayed in touch all these years, but this was my first visit to her home.  I had a great time.  We enjoyed a boat ride, played some Euchre and enjoyed a gigantic tenderloin sandwich which is a famous Indiana delicacy!  Ha!  I was with her and her charming husband Larry for two nights and then headed to the Indianapolis airport for my plane ride home.  What a wonderful adventure!

I was home for just one week and then had some wonderful visitors!  My daughter, Kara, and her two children, Layla and Walter arrived from San Diego.  We were busy for sure!  Of course the kiddos enjoyed pool time by day, but Papa and I introduced Pool by Night!  In the past the kids were always in bed as it was getting dark, but this time we decided they were on California time so they could stay up late and swim!  It was fun for us adults too, because we could sit around the lighted pool and enjoy cocktails!

We did lots of other things while the grands were here too.  We played Putt Putt, taught them how to play Sequence and enjoyed eating at a couple favorite restaurants- The Salty Dog, Coast and Fish Camp.  Layla and I had some Nana - Granddaughter time that was really special.  We went horseback riding! 

One thing that happened while they were here.  There was a pop up storm with lots of thunder and lightning.  We just happened to be at the beach when this occurred.  They don’t get much rain in San Diego and even though these kids formerly lived in Chicago, they were too little to remember seeing lightning.  They were enamored!  The other thing that was a first for them was frolicking on the golf course!  We live on a golf course and we walked over to the course in the early evening.  The kiddos were barefoot and happened to have their swimsuits on.  We have lived on this course for five years and this is the first time they have ventured out there.  They LOVED the soft grass and ran and ran on the course and rolled on the hills.  It brought back memories of my childhood living out in the country and being carefree, just running and playing!  Then the sprinklers came on the green!  It was magical and will be a wonderful memory for them!

So, they went home with some firsts - horseback riding, seeing lightning, going through sprinklers on a golf course and night swimming!  What a fun week! 

We finished out our summer with just a few things. First off, last minute we decided to take another trip!  We found a deal on a five week cruise beginning in Canada and ending in Santiago.  We have spent many many hours working out the logistics on that one.  (We leave in 20 days!)

I’ve spent some time buying and selling on Facebook Marketplace.  Bought a couple huge garden statues that was an ordeal getting home and placed.  I used my football winnings!  (More about that in the next post!)

These statues are so heavy!  As we were lifting them out of the car, Mark was saying “dolly, dolly” meaning that I should move the dolly cart closer.  So, the name stuck!  I named the first statue Miss Dolly!  The other one is holding lots of grapes so I concluded that he likes wine/vino, so I named him Vinnie!

Then we sold Mark’s HUMMER, also on Facebook Marketplace.  We have had that vehicle for a very long time and it was bittersweet seeing it go, but since we started traveling more, we decided that our home life needs to be simpler and frankly we didn’t drive it too much.  

We also attended a Notre Dame Alumni Club event and met Niele Ivey, the Notre Dame women’s basketball coach.  She did a question/answer session and it was very enjoyable and enlightening.

We made one more trip to Charlotte to watch the kids while Mark and Emily took Sydney back to college.

I also started playing Mahjong.  

That takes us to August 31 and the END of summer!  It was a good one indeed!