One Last Look

Putting the holidays to bed.  It was a wonderful time with Dylan for both of us even though Mark was an invalid the last 4 days.  The richness that this child has brought to our lives continues to delight us.  We may have watched Polar Express 10-12 times, no matter!  Building stuff was big this year and being delighted with each and every gift never got old.  Running to see the garbage truck either.  All in all the wonder of a child makes it all worthwhile.

Cool Mistake

While this picture isn't exactly in focus I still think
it's kinda cool looking. (Course I love the subject
too!)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Off we go over the wild blue yonder to spend the holidays with Lindsay, Dave, Dylan and the the New Jersey Kohlers.  Wishing you all a wonderful holiday with the ones you love and the same to those whom you love and can't be with you. 

Pen's loot

We took Penny on our walk Saturday and it seems she's all about picking up sticks enroute.  This is just one of several she carried along for awhile. She is the cutest and best natured girl though and a
great walker. 

Matt and Sara's Remodel

 It's taken a little while but the work is now mostly done on their

 wall bump out and opening up and replacing of the stairs.

 Stopped by today to have our weekly look and they were just doing paint touch ups.

 Sara's sister Kat even spent to week painting their kitchen for them.....surely they loved the help.

All in all it turned out just great!

Christmas Lightly

Yes folks, I'm taking Christmas here at home lightly this year.
Just added some lights to a tree I already have on our sunporch and called it "good" .  Actually I kind of enjoy being unconventional and find opportunities to do it whenever I think it won't affect others.  We have no company this year, it's just the two of us so perfect excuse to be my "out of the box" self.

Course Walk

The days are numbered that I can walk the golf course where we live.  The golfers have it most of the year but there is a span from late October to  first heavy snowfall that I can walk it pretty much whenever.  This morning was our first bit of snow.
Not heavy enough to keep me off and even found the gate opened to Wildemere Drive next to 5 so I got one last quick pass down there as well.  After Xmas for sure I will be traversing the same 2 mile road stretch with my yax trax on.  Sigh!

Freegal

Imagine my delight a few months ago when I found out that you can get free music downloads online with your library card.  3 a week.  Sure not EVERY artist is on there but I don't have any trouble finding ones I like and even some rather different but good ones.  Every genre pretty much too.  I've always said the public library is the very best thing I personally get for my tax dollars and even more so now!

Sunday Humor

Saw this framed in a store yesterday. It made
me LOL because I could imagine myself saying
this to Mark. :D

Frank Lloyd Wright - Meyer May home in Grand Rapids, MIchigan

We toured the inside of this home on Sunday with our friends Rich and Jane. It was a wonderful experience and one I will certainly be sharing with visitors in the future.  This home is over a 100 years old which is hard to believe.  Certainly a man a head of his time.  This home was purchased by Steelcase Corporation in the 1980's and was painstakingly restored to its early 1900's state.   The general public can view it free of charge thanks to Steelcase and the wonderful docent volunteers who take you through.  Well worth the visit and I can't imagine what took us so long to seek it out.

Early sunset

It was a particularly pretty one tonite!

Happy 3rd Birthday Dylan James

Today you turn 3. It seems like just yesterday you were a little bundle in our arms. The love and joy you
have brought into our lives has been immeasurable. Our wishes and dreams for you are many for you've given us so much in the time you've been with us. We had no idea how wonderful it would be to be a "grand" until you taught us. Happy birthday Dylan James Kohler. You are a true joy!

Dawn 11-11-11

First snow at dawn today, Veteran's Day and hopefully birthday to our nephew Jim's (and Jeni's) first son. An honorable day
to enter the world I'd say.

Frank Lloyd in Grand Rapids

On an afternoon walk yesterday from Matt's house we decided to hit the "hill" area nearby. We just kind of stumbled (though we knew it was here in G.R.) on the May House. It is now over 100 years old and is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed and built house and we thought it was amazing. A private residence until 1985, it is now owned by Steelcase and is open to the public free of charge for tours. The tour takes just over an hour. While it doesn't happen on Saturdays (two evenings and Sunday for a few hours), we are definately going to
check out May House in the next couple of weeks sometime. More pictures then!

Patina

  Sometimes mother nature makes our things her 
  own.  And sometimes she does a better job
                                                                                     than we could.

Grampa Ed's Genes

This past weekend our son Matt began working on a more open floorplan for his house. He will lose a small downstairs bedroom to enlarge the living/dining area. He will be doing some of the work himself to save $$$ and I'm proud of him for this. This is the first
step and he's now on his way. He doesn't get his "no fear" of trying from his Dad but rather from his Grandfather Ed. I like to think
just a little bit comes from me too! :)

Wonder of a Weekend

We've just dropped our much adored Jersey contingent at the airport. We had a wonder of a long weekend with all three of them and enjoyed each and every minute of it. We packed in all sorts of great memories.........from visits to Papa's work to watching Matt start breaking down walls in his home to open up space to a movie to a trip on the "pumpkin" train to dinner out at a great place downtown and a dessert with Eric, Kelly and Luna and another visit to the Childrens Museum just to mention a few things we packed in. Some of the best were just some of the quieter moments of reading, snuggling and watching the growth and gentleness that is our grandson Dylan.
He loves unabashedly all in his "little" world. We're just lucky to be two of those people. We're so proud of the little boy you are!

Tomorrow's visit

Can't wait............tomorrow our sweet grandson comes for a long weekend visit.  Along with his first "boo boo" bandage.  We've got the lionel train set up and ready as well as a reservation on the fall pumpkin train ride in nearby Coopersville where they have a halloween theme and a hour and a half ride on a real train.  Promises to be a fun time for our little guy!

Cleanest Garage on the Cul de Sac

Last weekend I decided to paint the garage. Instead of re-upping on the white I decided to go with light blue for a fresh, clean and bright look. When I got done it looked so good I decided to add baseboard molding all around and now it looks almost like another room~~~I even brought stuff up from our storage room and put it up above the cabinets. Hummmmmmmmmmm, do they have a Parade of Garages?

On the half shell

I go out in the garage after dinner tonite to throw something away. My next door neighbor hears me and calls me over to join them for oysters fresh from Florida. He just got back today driving through with them on ice as well as fresh shrimp. As full as we were we managed to find room for a few and they were great. What fun and I didn't have to shuck them either :)

Fall on the Course

This week has been in my opinion, perfect weather. Making the fall colors a joy to behold and morning and afternoon walks so enjoyable.
I love all four seasons and find each of them beautiful but there is something special about the fall. Get out and enjoy it!

Time to go soon

Looks like it's time to head south soon.............they are starting to gather!

Dylan's new hat

This is Dylan's new hat! He is one stylin guy...............

The end of Artprize for 2011 for me

Today was my last visit to the venues of Artprize.  Here are a few of today's faves but there were more.  What a wonderful event Artprize is to those of us who love and appreciate art.  There were some things that did not fit into the "art" category for me and some even made the top 10 (the sprayed copper guys : ( ) but overall it is still an amazing experience that we whom live in this great city of Grand Rapids should appreciate.
I anticipate it each year and enjoy each and every visit.  Today the weather was picture perfect.  I had my
ipod plugged into my ears and I parked far enough away to make it a nice walk though Heritage Hill enroute both ways.  Man, it doesn't get any better for me.

This piece at Artprize was interesting. 20 some panels were given to 20 different artists to complete along with a piece of a picture cut up
with that section they were to complete. This was the result. Quite amazing I thought as it looks so cohesive.