Water Sports

It was a bit of a surprise but Ellie turned out to be the more contemplative of the girls this weekend, while her younger cousin Audrey was the crazy-happy kid. After a dip in our hotel pool this morning and nap time, we went to Sanford Lake Park near Midland, MI. Son Andy, Audrey's father, brought along his paddle board. The stunt below was deliberate, not accidental.           

Happy Trails

There is a wonderful trail system around Clare, just the thing for walking off the effects of the slab of meat seen yesterday. I assume Andy's tee shirt is from some bar and restaurant and is meant to be ironic, if a little obscure.

I really need new local material but it's supposed to start pouring later today and continue for days. There must be something to shoot in that.     

Chef Andy

As you may have guessed from yesterday's post, I am rather hard up for material. Missed some local events last weekend like Earth Day and the March For Science. The forecast is for storms all this weekend so I'm scraping.

My son, Andy, is getting into the small town lifestyle. He has this big electric meat smoker gizmo. There was a visit to the local meat market which resulted in the purchase of an 11 pound  / 5 kg pork shoulder. He brined it for five days, then slow cooked it in the smoker for nine hours, keeping an eye on both the air and meat temperature.

Finally it was done. An artist must carefully check the quality of his work.        

Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

So I'm walking down the driveway at Andy's house in Michigan and see this written in chalk. Something like the following conversation takes place:

Me: What's that?

Andy: Oh, c'mon. You know.

Me: Sorry, never laid eyes on it.

Andy: It's Euler's equation, the most beautiful equation in math.

Me: ????   

So I looked it up, which didn't help very much. See here and here.  

One mathematician said it is "like a Shakespearean sonnet that captures the very essence of love, or a painting that brings out the beauty of the human form that is far more than just skin deep, Euler's equation reaches down into the very depths of existence".

And another stated that the identity "is absolutely paradoxical; we cannot understand it, and we don't know what it means, but we have proved it, and therefore we know it must be the truth."

I totally don't get it. Nice to know that in some ways my kid is smarter than the old man.

The Michigan Division

Hello again from Clare, Michigan, where son Andy, his wife Claire and little granddaughter Audrey live. Claire grew up here and her parents still live in town. Audrey is 20 months old. (Andy can speak for himself.) It's a big change from their former home in Chicago. Blood pressure tends to run lower here.

This Clare - Claire thing is confusing. Clalre was born elsewhere in Michigan and her family moved to Clare when she was young. Clare is named for County Clare in Ireland, where my father's family comes from. Lots of knots.

After dinner at their home we took a dessert walk to renowned Cops & Doughnuts, where this picture was taken against a black linoleum floor.

Audrey Anyday

One of the main reasons for our trip to Michigan was to see our younger grandchild, Audrey, 10 months old. The family is now far away enough from us that visits will be less frequent. (Jack has a bigger problem.) The hotel where we stayed had a big indoor pool, mostly empty during the day. Son Andy, his wife, Claire and the kid came over to use it. 

The child, of course, is impossibly cute. We hope to see them again at Thanksgiving. We'll meet up in Kansas City and then drive west to see Mrs. C's mom, who will be 98 that week.             

Audrey Monday

I used to have a lot of Madeleine Mondays but it is now impossible to take her picture if she is aware of it. She will pull the camera away and demand to see herself on the LED screen. Which, of course, doesn't work because I cannot get any pictures taken. Kid, it's a lose-lose situation.

But I did get to spend some time with my younger granddaughter, Audrey Crowe, in Grand Rapids on Saturday. We didn't get to see her much in Chicago and it will be harder still when the family moves to small-town Michigan. She's seven months old and pretty cute, even on a bad hair day, while she pulls the world into focus.       

A Day In Chicago

So, we gotta start with an Audrey pic just to get everyone's attention. Son Andy keeps a paddleboard at the Montrose Avenue boat harbor. This was the day to take it home for the season. People have some fancy water hot rods there to run on Lake Michigan. Back to Andy and Claire's neighborhood, Logan Square, for a quick trip to the farmer's market looking for dinner ingredients. Mrs. C likes baby tootsie pictures, which makes for a good conclusion.

 

 

The Parents

Well, better light. Audrey looks with incomprehension at her father, my son Andy. Sleeping on Grandma Crowe's shoulder in the middle. Third, Andy and his wife Claire on The 606, Chicago's answer to the High Line in New York.                   

Baby Shower

At a baby shower in Chicago yesterday for my son Andy and his wife, Claire. The little darling is due September 17 and will be named . . . hush, I'm sworn to secrecy. She already has her own URL, though.

Mom and dad had different reaction to the goodies but the best gift was saved for last.                             

Thirst And Sacrilege

If you have ever visited a Buddhist temple in Japan you have seen one of these slow, gentle fountains. You rinse your hands under the trickle, symbolically cleansing yourself before entering the holy space.

Son Andy apparently lacks respect for dharma. I think the only drink he is going to get is face first from the little pool.  Maybe he will come back in his next life as an inner-city high school math teacher. Oh, wait. Already there.                       

On The Farm

Out to Mrs. C's family farm for the day yesterday. It's been owned for some years by her youngest brother, Mel, and his wife, Pat.

There was one cornfield that hadn't been harvested. Mel said it had been too wet. So, having little better to do, he brought out the combine and grain truck and got to work. The combine is a monstrous, complicated machine that rips the ears off the stalks, the kernels off the ears, and then pumps it out a chute into the truck bed.

Mel gave son Andy and his wife, Claire, a lesson on driving the combine. Lots of levers and pedals. Not a driving experience he's likely to have on the streets of Chicago.                  

Filler

Today's the big travel day. We won't get to our destination until tomorrow. The town is known for its salad.

So if I have absolutely nothing else to post there are always pictures of Madeleine. These are from last week's parties. Top, flipping up and down with dad and a friend (she thought it was quite amusing). Bottom, with Uncle Andy, who, to my great regret, is wearing a Chicago Cubs hat. Otherwise a good young man.

If I get a post up Tuesday it may not be until the afternoon my time.                                      

Happy Happy Joy Joy

You don't have to be on your feet to do the happy happy joy joy dance. It can be done in any posture you please.

A few shots from the wedding reception at Blue Star in Wicker Park. Highly recommended. Anyway, there wasn't a sour puss in the place. The feelings were infectious. By the way, the hand gestures in the fourth picture below count out 2733, the couple's street address. And that's Madeleine, my daughter Emily and son-in-law Brian in the following shot.

That's all for the wedding. I've got a lot of family pictures still to edit, not really of general interest. They will gradually turn up on the wedding Flickr album if you're desperate. Next we will turn to the St. Louis Fringe Festival, which Carolyn and I attended this weekend. Wacky.                           

Public Transit Party

One of the best things about Andy And Claire's wedding is that everybody took the CTA Blue Line from the ceremony in Logan Square to the reception in Wicker Park. No bourgeois limousines for this couple. The other riders were dumbfounded. I love the juxtaposition in the top pic of the two ad signs, the sign the woman is holding and the very puzzled boy in the lower right.

All of this was going out live on a web video stream from Andy's iPhone mounted on a tripod. The young man does have a masters in computer science.

I think A and C get to Paris today, staying somewhere in the 10eme near the Gare De L'Est. Ah, to be young, in love and in Paris.                     

I Now Pronounce You

Some shots of the wedding ceremony itself, out on the lawn in Logan Square. The second picture is Emily's.

Andy and Claire called me yesterday from Amsterdam via Skype. Hanging out in Vondelpark, cycling along canals outside of town. It sounds idyllic.

I'll spare you the family shots after the wedding, then perhaps end with pictures from the reception.             

Getting Ready - The Bride, Part 2

The bride has to look good, right? It's fortunate that there are no digital pictures of Carolyn and my wedding and the snapshots (we couldn't come close to affording a photographer) are buried in a box in the basement. Carolyn looked great but I looked like a complete dork - overweight, long scraggly hair and wearing an absurd yellow tuxedo jacket. Sort of a hippie bumblebee. 

My son and daughter-in-law both looked gorgeous. In the last picture they are all put together, standing on their front porch about to walk a couple of blocks to the ceremony in Logan Square.

The first and last pictures are Emily's. The middle two are mine.