Remembering, at a glance

 Every trip has its favorite snapshots. You can just glance at the photos and KNOW where you were, what day it was, what you were thinking. Here are a few from the road.

Roadside attractions in Wisconsin

All farms.

Just farms. 

I am...

I found out yesterday that I am my grandfather's granddaughter.

I am not my father's daughter. I am not my mother's daughter. Okay, I am still my brother's little sister - he isn't getting rid of me that quickly.

But I am my grandfather's granddaughter.
And here is the proof.

In the 1930s, my grandfather's family started migrating to California from northeast Ohio. First to go was my great-great Uncle Allen Saint. That makes Uncle Allen Saint my grandfather's uncle.

Uncle Allen settled in Pasadena. After WWII, more family migrated, and everyone moved into Uncle Allen's big house on Garfield. My grandfather (and Grandma) moved in to the house in 1949 or 1950. They pretty much took over Uncle Allen's household. Grandma ran the kitchen, Grandfather did the household repairs, fixed the cars and maintained the garden, and Uncle Allen paid the bills.

Grandfather got a job at a factory called M&M. They manufactured stuff. I don't know what, since I wasn't around back then to ask. It wasn't the candy factory, I do know that.

My uncles and their friends all spent time living at Uncle Allen's (big) house. Lots of the Saint family members spent a month or two or three until settling in Monrovia, Hollywood, Altadena, and even Whittier. Uncle Allen's niece, Eva Marie Saint, is said to have stopped by for a hello and a meal.

But Grandfather, his heart never left his little town in northeast Ohio. As soon as he would spot a car with Ohio license plate, he had to stop and talk. It was nothing for Grandfather to cut off someone in traffic on E. Orange Grove Blvd. just to pull up next to an Ohio car. "Hi there, friend. Where 'bouts in Ohio are you from?"

If the 'friend's' answer was Toledo or Dayton,  Grandfather would thank them and drive off. If the answer was Cleveland... well, traffic could just 'darn hold their horses' till last names exchanged, street addresses were discussed, acquaintances made. Grandfather was a friendly sort, if you were from northeast Ohio.

SO, this past Tuesday I was out walking Shado, one of our dogs. I come up to a BIG pickup truck - the kind with four doors and plenty of room for four adults inside. The truck is stopped so that it has blocked the sidewalk that Shado and I are walking on. I seethe... 'idiot driver'. Why can't he just park parallel to the curb like anyone else would?

Then I see the big truck's license plate is Wisconsin. I'm not from there, but E. is. E. has taken me back to Wisconsin several times, and everyone there seems the friendly sort. Anymore, I kinda view Wisconsin as my future home.

The driver of the big truck lowers his window and says "Let me pull forward, out of your way." All I can say is "What part of Wisconsin are you from, friend?"

Turns out 'they' are from Waupaca. "We" are from Wautoma. But they know E's best friend, Alex. Of Nimphius Boat fame. "Oh yea, the Chris Craft" guy!"

Grandfather would be proud of me.

He never gives up.

A few months ago, I posted about Cole. He's our master rocket launcher in Wisconsin.

Cole is 17.  This past July, he had a massive stoke. Yes, he was only 16.





He spent several months in the Wisconsin Children's Hospital - part of which was therapy time for him.
Now he is home, but therapy is still a full time job for him and his parents.



The latest on Cole can be read here, but the short story is, well, long. One eye at a time can be taped open. He has walked up to 63 feet with help from his dad, his nurse, and a walker. He just tried a few stairs...

Cole and his dad called us a few Sundays ago when we were at the Packers vs Cardinals football game. It was the game the Packers won. Cole left a long message for E. It was total excitement for us to hear his voice!! He said he has to read his sentences, so that means his reading comprehension is working.

Let me add one more piece to this child's life - Cole's best friend is Zach Reetz. Zach had a bout with meningitis and has gone though many struggles and experiences. Zach lost both his legs and part of his right hand to tissue failure. Please read about him. 16 year old kids shouldn't have these pathways to walk... especially when their tools to walk are denied to them.

Neither Zach nor Cole want sympathy. Neither want anyone to feel sorry for them. Both want challenges and people who believe in them. Please believe...

I worried about including Cole's photos here, but I decided to risk it. He's such a swell friend!

Treasurers from the road that I didn't take

My husband likes to take road trips. I do to, especially with him, but between work and dogs, I usually end up flying in someplace ALONG the road to meet him. So he spends many days driving by himself, stopping where and when he wants, picking up treasurers and souvenirs that always surprise me.

He found this map stand in an antique store store in Des Moines.

Between the two of us, we have LOTS of old maps packed away (how can a former cartography student toss a map away?), so he stuffed the stand and stuck it by our front door. Always catches our visitors by surprise.

But his last trip resulted in a gem for me - a young girl's book diary. The owner of the book diary loved horse books and it seems that she only read 'horse books'.

Only half of the diary was filled in, but each book is about horses.

I always kept a 'book' diary as a kid - that way I could keep track of which Nancy Drew (or Hardy Boys Book) I had completed. I wonder where my diary is... in some antique store?

Yesterday was an exciting day

Yesterday was an exciting day.

First, Juan Martin Del Potro won the US Open. A guy after my own heart (I wish!). Being Argentine raised, I love seeing my ‘hometown’ athletes win!

Del Potro is from the town of Tandil, in the humid pampas south of Buenos Aires. My dad took us to Tandil when I was about 10. What I remember most about the town was the Monte Calvario, reflecting the stations of the Cross and the crucifixion of Christ.

Anyway, way to go Juan! We were cheering for you.

My husband is on a road trip and currently is in Wisconsin. He grew up there. His best friend from school days, Alex, still lives there. Alex’s 15 year old son, Cole, recently suffered a severe stroke and is hospitalized at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

E. spent the a great deal of the day with Alex and Cole yesterday. He attended Cole’s physical and speech therapy drills. E. reports that Cole is still unable to speak, so he communicates with his right hand. 1 finger means ‘yes’. Two fingers mean ‘no’. The middle finger means ‘hi, dad!’.

Cole’s mom and younger brother have had to return to their home in central Wisconsin, so many days Cole is on his own with his rehab. The exciting part is that Cole recognized E. and waved hello! E. took him for a walk (ok, guided him in his wheelchair) around the hospital. The day was nice enough that they could go outside and buzz around.

Two years ago, E and I went back to Wisconsin
with several Estes Rockets in tow.


We built them during the summer with plans to launch them on Alex’s land, an old farm. There isn’t any place safe to launch rockets around our neighborhood, so we were both looking forward to a couple of evenings being 14 years old again with Alex and Cole. We loaded up our rockets (including one that Cole made), drove down the farm lane to a safe launch site, and set up.


We laughed and expressed “oohs” and “ahhs” at each launch.

E. would set up the launch, I would conduct the countdown and take photos, Cole would hit the launch button, and Alex would retrieve the rockets.



This is Cole launching the Big Bertha.


Occasionally we swapped roles. A few rockets were lost; one got hung up on a power line. And one’s parachute didn’t open until after the THUD of impact on the ground.



We had so much fun that we launched rockets a SECOND DAY!


On this trip, E. took a rocket kit back to Cole to build someday. He said Cole was excited about it. I don’t know how fast a 15 year old heals from a stroke – but you can bet we will be launching rockets and laughing all over again when Cole is ready.

Just 25,000

My mother-in-law attended this little church when she lived in Wautoma, WI.

I found this tile in her kitchen cabinet. The church looks so inviting, so 'midwestern' compared to our church styles in Arizona.

Wautoma is the county seat of Waushara county. It is located about 80 miles north of Madison. The population of the whole county is roughly 25,000. I enjoyed many of the stories MiL would tell me about living there - about the snow at their farm, about the mosquito infestations all summer, about knowing your neighbors.

I think of 25,000 people - I pass that many on my commute to work. Arizona State University, the huge university I drive by every day, has more than DOUBLE that number of students. Attendance at an average Arizona Cardinal football game is over 60,000 fans.

I dream of 25,000 people - living in a county of that population. Having a farm where the dogs can run in snow and between mosquitos. And knowing my neighbors, seeing them at church.