Traveling Ruminations

Joshua in his favorite pose - running!

Since March 17 JoAnn and I have been on the road visiting family so much it feels almost as if that is all that we have done. And we are not done yet! But we are taking a short break before we travel to visit more family. Our travel since March has taken us to Utah, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri. These have all been wonderful trips and were organized around vacations and family special events. You have already read about the Eagle Court of Honor and the Personal Progress Pursuit on this blog. You may yet read about graduation, a new baby, sister's weekend, and a marriage.

In between these trips families visited us from Idaho and Utah. Families from Colorado and Idaho have yet to make a visit this summer, but they are planned. So even when home, we seemed to keep awfully busy. The next two weeks we will be visiting San Diego and then Modesto, California.

Mother's Day in Iowa

We love our opportunities to visit family. Not only does it make us feel good about how well our family is doing, but it gives us a chance to see our children and grandchildren as they grow and face the joys and challenges of life. It is rewarding for us to see the personal and professional development of each of our children. We are always totally amazed by what they're doing, how much they are doing, and how their families seem to be blossoming.

At the end of our last trip we spent time with my Aunt Marge and her family in Missouri. We always look forward to this visit. We take time to catch up on the family, talk about travel, family history, and the like. It was a chance for me to spend a couple of days going through historical records of the Merriam family that my grandfather had collected and organized. I scanned almost 200 documents and photos. Some of those will appear in future posts of this blog. What I discovered was that I didn't have enough time to get all of the Merriam family information. That means another trip to the midwest next summer, but this time we will drive and not fly!

Our newest pride and joy - Nicholas!

I also have plenty of family pictures that I will be sharing along with stories about our recent and future trips on this blog. Of course the challenge is finding sufficient time to write all of these blogs. So bear with me and have patience.

Wordless Wednesday

Going Home…

Mike and Allison arrived in Bloomington, Indiana yesterday evening. For me it was a bittersweet feeling. In one sense JoAnn and I wished we could be in Bloomington to greet them into our old home, our old Ward, and to the University. Yet, those times are behind us, we have moved on. It was about this time in 1990 that we arrived in Bloomington to start my new job with Indiana University. We came with 5 children, and the 2 at college eventually found us. It was another adventure and chapter in our lives and in some ways the most profound. We have lived a number of places, but in Bloomington we lived the longest we, as a family, had ever lived and I as an individual, had ever lived. It was a wonderful community. There was much to do and much to learn.


While we never learned to appreciate Indiana’s humidity we absolutely enjoyed the long springs and falls. After 13 years in Iowa we were prepared for milder winters and long springs and falls. The beauty of living in southern Indiana never became commonplace for us. Regardless of the season, there was great beauty to see. The spring flowers, the fall colors, the winter mists, the summer greenness. In each there was a great beauty.
The beauty of the place is one thing, but the people were also wonderful. Our children had life enriching experiences, made lifelong friends, and grew in so many ways. It felt like what home should be, but that was because of family, friends, and church. We lived on the edge of town and often I could walk home from work. It was only about 2.5 miles, not bad at all.

Story County Courthouse in Bloomington, IN

But that’s our story. Mike and Allison are making their own story. For Mike it is a bit about going home, but it is also new. He was a son, now he is a husband. He was a student, now he is a breadwinner. He returns as a family and with a wonderful wife and to a community where he has friends. We are so excited for them. We are nearer the end of our story than the beginning, although with many pages left, and they are at the start of their story.

Wordless Wednesday

A Mostly Quiet Rainy Saturday

It is an unusual day in Las Vegas - a quiet rainy Saturday. It feels like an Indiana spring day. The rain is soft and the sky is varying shades of gray, as opposed to the slate gray of an Indiana winter. Spring in Indiana is beautiful as the dogwoods, daffodils, and crocuses come alive and populate the woodlands.

In Las Vegas our springs come earlier, and especially this year, and typically dryer, so an Indiana spring day is a bonus. We don't have dogwoods, crocuses, or daffodils. We do have pansies and a variety of plants that bloom all winter. For us that is a real bonus. As I looked out the back window and across the partially submerged patio I see yellow, red, and lavender flowers. Several are in the early stages - especially the red ones, while others have been around for weeks.

While the midwest has suffered through an excruciatingly cold winter, we in Las Vegas have had a beautiful January with temperatures 5 to 10 degrees above normal. My midwestern friends and family call and I'm always telling them there is a 65 degree difference. However, I'm digressing.
As we sit around with daughter number 3, who is visiting, we are baking cookies, listening to a little Norah Jones and Jack Johnson (at least I am) and relaxing. We didn't do that all day, as evidenced by the photo. We were up early and I was out working on cleaning the front yard up about 7:30 am (after I had been bribed to go to Panera Bread for some breakfast goodies). I got a couple of driveway offending limbs cut off of our only front yard “real tree” and then we began to work on the yard.

You would think that a yard with NO grass and just a few desert shrubs wouldn't be much to take care of, but over the last 18 months some of those desert shrubs got big. We didn't realize how big they had become until we looked at a photo of the house when we first purchased it. Surprise! Our shrubs were totally out of control. They had quadrupled in size. In midwestern terms that means a bush 1 foot tall was not 10 feet tall. In desert terms, not quite so bad.
It was time to get serious and with daughter 3 in town we had a solid worker. Grandma and I purchased a new hedge trimmer (big one) and this morning I went to work. Okay, we went to work - all 3 of us. I was a little concerned about making noise too early in the morning until our neighbor down the street got out his 4-wheeler off-road vehicle and went up and down the street without a muffler. Okay, noise is now appropriate.
Two hours later we have 8 bags of cuttings in front of the house and it's only until Monday when the garbage man comes, but the yard looks - or at least will, great. Actually, right now it looks like a bad haircut, but when the bushes turn green and the others begin to grow back it will look great - for rocks, microdust, a few plants. The photo of me sitting and Suzanne working wasn't wholly true. I did sit, but then I did also work. Suzanne just worked harder.
All done and time to shower. We were so sweaty and smelled of sage that we just dumped out clothes in the washing machine before we took off for a little shopping. Come on - Mom, Daughter, and a driver. What more can they ask for. Although I did find Harry & David's right next to where the girls were and did a little Valentine shopping. I know, it's a week away, but I have little chance of remembering until then.

Back home to make sugar cookies and my next post will be a real treat. I downloaded a timelapse software for my iPhone and used it to take photos of the cookie baking. The girls kept saying, "What is that noise?" And them Mom couldn't find the phone/camera.

Day is done, sun is down, water is receding for a record high on our patio, cookies are made, time for some veggies! And maybe a little fruit. Tomorrow we are planning our first "barbecue" of the season. Eat your heart out midwesterners.

I call the following photo "desert zero-depth patio." For you non aquatic types that means a beach type entrance into a pool.