Albany day 4

Well, I spent the day once again at Mom's. We did a little yard work and cleaned out more of Dad's clothes. While looking through his odds and ends I found three of his teeth which had gold crowns. I guess with the price of gold on the rise he was holding on to them for an investment. They sure freaked me out and we had a good laugh.

I also got to put coins in rolls. He seems to empty his pocket change and it had really been piling up. Then I sorted through the long list of medications that grandma takes, called in some re-fills and sorted out her 4 times a day regimin of about 10 prescriptions. She should be set now for a few days if those taking care of her don't forget. Paula and I were having a hard time keeping up with it. Dad truly has been a saint over the last couple of years.

Mom suggested we go out for dinner and I think she was pretty proud of herself that she was going to carry her own wallet (she also hasn't had to carry a purse in years & she had also hidden it and couldn't remember where it was) but then we convinced her that Paula had room to carry it in her purse. By the time we got back from dinner she had asked at least ten times "now who has my wallet?" At that point we really did canonize Dad a saint because he never got upset with her or reminded her that she had asked the same question several times -- believe me it was driving me crazy after just a few days.

I also started a schedule on a calender of who is going to take care of her at the house because we aren't sure how long it will be until she can move in to the retirement house and she really does need 24 hour supervision. Since I return to Milwaukee on Saturday I committed to some time at the end of July/beginning of August.

I headed back to Gresham after dinner and hopefully I'll sleep well tonight, because I'm really tired.

Sorry my blog is so boring, but thought I should keep you posted.

Still in Albany

Well, yesterday of course was the funeral. Today was a tough one too with a lot of decisions and details that needed to be addressed. Mom wanted us to take care of Dad's clothes so Rosalie & I got those boxed up. Then we went to Rene's and wrote Thank you cards to all who sent flowers or donations in honor of Dad.

Bruce was still in town too, so he and Paul went out this morning and check out an assisted living facility. So after a left-overs lunch at Rene's we are trying to get Mom use to the idea that she can't stay in the house and that we are looking at some options. Each time we mention it of course it comes as a complete surprise and sometimes she thinks it is a good idea and other times she thinks she would be just fine by herself in the house. Rosalie & I then checked out the place this evening and it is very nice and pretty similar to all the places Grandma Davis lived in. Bruce also has been looking in to all the savings, life insurance and investments and it looks like Mom won't have any financial concerns. Rene will take Mom out to the place next week for an interview and to make a formal request so she can get on the waiting list. We aren't sure at this point how quickly there will be a unit available. In the mean time someone has to be with mom, so Rene is working on a schedule.

This evening we picked out the grave maker. It sure has been nice having Wally in the family!
I got back to the hotel room about 10:30. I'll go and spend most of tomorrow at the house and then probably head back to Portland in the afternoon.

Taliesin

Well, after the shock of the phone call from Rene I proceeded on to my Bed & Breakfast--really not concentrating on where I was suppose to be going and managed to get totally lost for about an hour. I was almost in a panic, but I figured out my wrong turn. I'm talking about 1 lane country roads through the rolling hills--cows & corn pretty much.

So this morning I went on my scheduled tour which was really wonderful, but I was rather distracted thinking I should be heading back to Milwaukee to get on a plane.
Here are a few photos of Taliesin:

I decided to head back to campus this afternoon so that maybe I could get an early flight out on Sunday. I left the B & B about 4 and arrived back here about 6:30. I got my flight booked for the morning and my bag mostly packed. I figure I'll have to get up at 4:00 since my flight leaves at 7:00. Since I didn't get much sleep last night I'll probably be in great shape by the time I arrive in PDX.

I'm still in Maquon, WI

The coffee, snack & breakfast bar.


Shower to the left, toilet to the right Basic Dorm Room

This is the view from my dorm room door. The hall the other direction is identical.
As you enter the "suite" there is a lovely furnitureless room with two small refrigerators and a microwave.



Well, I haven't posted anything in a couple of days because really there isn't much to report. There aren't any priests buying my drinks (Katie needs to explain that one) nor are there picture-postcard chickens posing to create humorous joke. Life here is pretty simple, although I must say I am enjoying most of it and the people are incredibly friendly.

I thought I'd share some of the wonderful interior architecture of my surroundings. Not that I am complaining. It works out to about $16. a night so I can't complain.

As you can see I haven't quite figured out how to upload photos to the blog and add a caption underneath and place them exactly where I want them. Where are Nicole & Katie when I need them?

But other than going to class from 10 until 12 and again from 1 until 5, there isn't much else to report. I should be writing some papers, but I can't get motivated. I plan to drive a couple of hours east on Friday to a town called Spring Green. It is famous for Frank Lloyd Wright's home and school called "Taliesin." Other than that I'm drawing, reading, and surfing the net so I can keep up with what is happening in the world.

The accents here are pretty funny. Kind of a cross between Canadian and North Dakotan. Some people have a very heavy "aboat" that surfaces frequently.

I'm alive. I'm well and after the weekend maybe I'll have something of interest to share.

One week down, five to go.

I've been here a week already.  5 to go.

Well, as you can see I have been doing my homework this weekend.  A self-portrait is always a tough assignment, but in the end I had to admit that it is pretty close to what I look like. 

 

Today I went to a cute little historic town called Cedarburg.  I had lunch and roamed around for a bit. 

 

Then it was back to work on more drawings so I drew my mother from a photo I had taken on her 90th birthday.  I gave her all the wrinkles I could and she still looks younger than the photo.  That is probably a good thing.  It is really hard to draw pure white hair without making the background dark, so I let it fade into the background.

I tried to call Katie this morning.  She is now in the Aran Islands.  The call kept getting cut off, so after three tries I gave up.  All I got from the brief conversations was that the electricity on the island was out today due to a bad storm yesterday...I'm sure she'll be ready to leave in a day or so if she isn't already.

Exploring Lake Church Cemetery

It might be these........

or it could actually be this one because it did say "johann" but I couldn't make out anything else.....

Yes, the first few days I had the halls pretty much to myself. There are probably less than 50 graduate students on campus and no undergrads during the summer. There are several summer camps that started on Wed., so now there is at least a little life around here. Soccer kids & girls basketball as far as I can tell.

This morning I ventured up north about 15 miles to the little village of Lake Church. Actually it is just a Catholic Church and school--maybe a little restaurant. Anyway, I went roaming around the cemetery in hopes of finding the grave of one of my great-great grandfathers. He and his wife were married in the church in 1874 and he died in 1891 and is supposedly buried there. Unfortunately all the grave stones from that era were in pretty bad shape, so I didn't find any sign of a "Johann Kuther." Apparently Johann was a very popular name though, because just about every other grave was Johann. Also it was apparent that the Kriar family was the dominant family in the area and the rest were all German names as well. So sadly I took a few pictures of the cemetery and had a nice walk around and then left rather disappointed.

This afternoon I spent a few more hours working on my self-portrait assignment---it is coming along. Maybe I'll post a picture of it tomorrow. I am procrastinating. I should be writing a couple of papers, but I can't get motivated.

Milwaukee Art Museum Visit

Endless halls everywhere on campus.......




Concordia's 1950s high schoolish architecture

Well, I set out this morning for the Milwaukee art museum. An incredible building and their collection is pretty good. This weekend is the Lakefront Festival of Arts which was in huge tents on the lawn of the art museum. Sort of like Art in the Pearl, but vendors from all over the country. So really beautiful art and I was amazed with the number of printmakers. It was really enjoyable except it was warmer than I expected and I had long pants on. After a couple of hours I headed back. (I was going to post a photo of the museum, but just discovered I took a video instead of a photo! It wouldn't upload.)

I drove down via the Lake shore road. There is about 5 miles of one stately mansion after another. It was really a beautiful drive along the shore of Lake Michigan.

Yes, the photos I posted yesterday were of the lake and beach area on campus. That is the beautiful part. But you can't really see it from any of the buildings on campus because they are all 1 or 2 stories and weren't built with views of the lake. Amazing I know. Today I thought I'd share some of the boring architecture of the campus and a few of the 100's of hall ways that one can not avoid to get from one end of campus to the other. Apparently it is a good idea to build the buildings attached to one another so no one ever has to go outside in the winter. But, during the summer it is so frustrating to be walking inside these ugly corridors.