Hysterical Pregnancy

Annie wandered over our way today to pick up a few items in Mankato, then to eat supper with us (lasagne layerd with butternut squash, fresh spinach, a hint of prosciutto, romano cheese, and a white sauce flavored with rosemary...yum!). Here's a good shot of Baby G with two months to arrival. S/he has already been taking some fine kicking lessons from Cousin Hannah. I predict the two of them will have great "feet fights", not to mention their sure-to-be-inherited talent of synchronized leg movements. The Mommy Sisters are the champs at this unusual skill.
You're wondering about the "Hysterical Pregnancy" about now, aren't you? I'm guessing you already know it has something to do with Dad/Larry. See what we have to do for entertainment around here? Who says living in the Midwest is dull? Enough said.

Wanted: Dream Interpreter

You may or may not know this about Dad/Larry, but he has dreams that should be made into movies, or at least sitcom episodes. While my occasional interesting and vivid dream fades into the fog before both feet touch the floor, he recounts his unusual dreams with great detail.

Dad/Larry slept in this morning—no surprise—and when I went into the bedroom to suggest he might want to get up, I woke him from a dream that, for now, has no ending.

It seems Dad/Larry was out for a drive in a Lincoln Continental. The steering wheel in this well-appointed car was in the back seat, and Dad was the driver. It so happens that he was not alone; Johnny Cash, Dad’s friend Mark Kruger, and Hannah were in the car with him. Dad had brought Kruger along because he couldn’t depend on Johnny Cash to keep a close eye on Hannah (Must have been during Cash’s untrustworthy alcoholic years; I'll bet even June didn't let Johnny spend time alone with the kids.).

Despite Dad’s caution, Kruger wanted to talk to Johnny Cash about something, so he wasn’t paying full attention to Hannah and therefore Dad had to keep his eye on her. Eventually it occurred to Dad that this wasn’t a good situation because Hannah was taking a bath in her baby bathtub. Furthermore it was hard for Dad to drive from the back seat because he couldn’t see past Johnny Cash sitting in the front seat. Here's where I interrupted the tale.

Dad’s big concern after he told me the story was that he didn’t know where they were going. Does it really matter?

When it’s marked fragile, what does it really mean?

A gift from Evan, Elisabeth, and Hannah arrived today for Dad/Larry’s birthday (always good to extend the celebration!). Here are two photos of Dad/Larry with said gift, an adorable mug that shows the two faces of Hannah, rather like drama/comedy masks :o} Dad/Larry says he’ll take the mug to school and make it his official coffee mug. I think it will come in handy when he wants his students to know his mood (if by some astonishing chance they can’t tell his mood just by looking at him).

The UPS package from E, E, & H was delivered around 1:30 this afternoon. I had gone home at 1:15 to pick up a book I needed for work. As I was driving up Church Street to return to campus, I looked out of the rearview mirror and noticed the UPS fellow in his brown truck, brown shorts, brown shirt, and brown cap turning into our driveway. I hung a Louie at the top of the hill, tires screeching, car careening to the left on the two inside tires—oh wait, that’s NASCAR. I went back home and pulled in the driveway just in time to see the UPS man toss the box, which was marked FRAGILE, against the door that leads into the garage. He smiled and nodded, jumped into his truck, and sped off. I can only imagine what he would have done with it if the FRAGILE label hadn’t been there. Luckily, the mug survived the impact and Dad/Larry will look forward to coffee with Hannah tomorrow morning.

MUG SHOTS

Happy Birthday to Larry, Part 2

A beautiful day for a football game (Gusties 57-Hamline 21), and for celebrating a birthday...the NC contingent called this morning and Hannah made happy noises in the background. It's fun to hear her practice her Spanish baby talk, although sometimes it sounds more like br-r-r-r-r than just r-r-r-r-r. She's young yet -- she'll catch on to rolling those r's! Thanks to Charlie, Angie, Annie, and Tanner for bringing birthday cheer to Larry/Dad and of course, presents. Speaking of presents, take a look:

Famous O-Town candy from Annie and Tannie

Ole clothing from Charlie and Aunchie


Seven minutes before magnesium

The latest in chemistry-wear

The birthday boy ready for apple crisp in his "Ummmm, yummy!" shirt

After dinner the boys went to work. Getting the screen door back on track
was a three-man job-- two guys to give suggestions and one to ignore them.

Annie with 10 weeks to Baby G time!


A2P2 photographing the festivities

Happy Birthday to Larry, Part 1

Today is Larry/Dad’s birthday. As he does most days, he started the morning with a plethora of loud noises emanating from various orifices. And, as he does most days, he objected to my objections, but with the added note that today is his birthday and he can do anything he wants. I ask you, are farts, sneezes, and nose-blowing high on YOUR list of doing “anything I want”??

Little Hannah is in the habit of revealing new accomplishments on her relatives’ birthdays and anniversaries. Her milestone for Grandpa’s birthday was to sleep through the night. As I shared with Elisabeth, it is fitting that a long snooze be her choice for this occasion, since Grandpa is a grand-champion sleeper.

Photo of Hannah sleeping, taken by GrandMarge

Come on in and sit a spell

We have some new furniture for the living room at long last. Larry/Dad and I are getting used to it. For the most part, we are happy with the chairs and couches, but now comes the tough part of adding tables and lamps and doo-dads to heighten the ambiance (haha). I should have called upon talented friends and relatives to help with furniture selection, but it's confusing enough with just the two of us making decisions. The main requirement was the Comfy Factor, so I dragged Dad into Bedpost Furniture to sit and lie down on couch floor samples. After a 20 minute nap on the caramel-colored leather model, he declared it rest-worthy.

WARNING ("ADVERTENCIA" in Hannita-speak): the warranty for drool and sticky fingers is restricted to those under the age of 10, so you older folks please remember that! I suppose if you insist on continuing with your bad habits, I'll have to cover everything with Grandma Kirsch plastic (God forbid!). This isn't the time or place to discuss the insurance policy I had to take out against ass dents...

PS--If you want to sit on Old Blue, visit Charlie and Angie. And if you want to rock on the wooden rocker, visit Annie and Tanner. Much of the remaining furniture will be deposited on neighbors' lawns in the dead of night.

What could it mean?

Look! Up in the sky! This was the view over a large part of southern Minnesota late this afternoon. Are the formations clouds, jet contrails, or the exhaust from alien space ships? Our kooky, octogenarian Aunt Marguerite would go for either of the last two choices. As a result of her years working as a dispatcher for the Santa Cruz County (CA) Sheriff's Department, Marguerite has the inside scoop on extraterrestrials, so don't let Dave Dahl or little Sven tell you that weather is involved. Marguerite also knows her murderers, serial killers, and home invaders, should anyone be interested.

Nuts to you!

It's been a beautiful weekend weather-wise. Finally it feels like September around here! Charlie, Angie, and Annie came home to participate in the fun run associated with the dedication of the new football stadium at Gustavus. Larry/Dad and Dave Grimmius joined them in what became a fun walk (See other family members' blogs for details of the events of the day.). Tanner stayed behind in O-Town to play 36 holes of golf and make it to the final four (which is today) in the tournament at the O-Town Country Club.

The big news at our house is the Invasion of the Moles. Larry/Dad mowed today, and some of the mole holes were so big the riding mower nearly disappeared from sight a couple of times. But Dad prevailed, and he finished mowing unscathed. To combat the growing problem, he developed the Church Street Mole Reduction Initiative (CSMRI). His new motto is, "Where there are holes, there may be moles." Here he is, mole nuts in hand. So to speak. Eeeuw.

Good-bye to Winkie

Winkie, our little blue budgie, flew off (figuratively) to Parakeet Heaven during the night. Annie wrote a sweet tribute to the bird, which I've included below. Out of respect, the above photo is a look-alike parakeet rather than Winkie himself. The pudgy hand bears no resemblance to the hand of anyone in our family. Winkie's cage is being retired.

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It is a sad day at the Potts house.
Our dear friend, Winkie, has joined Perry in bird heaven.

Winkie became a part of the Potts family in 2001, and a short time later was affectionately nicknamed “bupid stird” by his owners. Winkie enjoyed sunning himself on the back patio, chirping loudly in the sunroom, and spraying bird seed across the dining room floor. He was a unique bird because of the simple fact that he never learned how to fly; instead, Winkie preferred staying inside his white cage where he felt safe and had easy access to his bells, food, and water.

Winkie’s cage proved to be mobile and allowed him to travel the city of St. Peter with ease. Winkie shared several long weekends with his friends Putter Grimmius and Perry Larson while the Potts family was out of town. He often returned home with tales of mischief, to which his owners could only laugh and shake their heads. It was evident that Winkie lead a happy and healthy life, and was greatly loved by his human and animal friends.

Winkie will be remembered as a sweet winged companion with a pretty song. A short service was held this morning at 823 Church Street, followed by Winkie’s burial next to the bird bath under the Linden tree in the hosta garden.

Special thanks to Larry and Jill Potts for taking such good care of Winkie throughout his life.

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One additional note: Elisabeth called to express condolences about Winkie's death. This seemed kind and thoughtful until she added that Evan has suspicions that we may have hastened the bird's demise--he accused us of Winkicide. Larry/Dad denies anything of the sort.

Weekend in Baltimore

It’s been a while since I’ve been inclined to blog. Since anyone who reads this knows everything I’m doing anyway, it’s a bit redundant. But, I do want to add a piece about the wonderful weekend Dad/Larry and I had in Baltimore for Hannah’s Baby Naming Ceremony. If you want to read more about what a baby naming ceremony is, just ask Rabbi Lerner,

Hannah's ceremony was in the morning on Saturday, September 1, in the chapel at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation. Not being familiar with a Jewish worship service, Dad and I were eager and interested to learn. While we haven't mastered reading in Hebrew yet, it was a lovely and touching service, and we wouldn't have missed it for anything. The majority of people in attendance were there for Hannah, at Marge’s invitation. We finally were able to put names and faces together after several years of hearing about Marge’s friends.

Here's Hannah with Elisabeth, Evan, Rabbi Perlmeter, and the Cantor.

Aside from passing gas when Elisabeth was holding her, Hannah used her very best baby manners during the service. Fortunately, she didn't object when the rabbi announced her name to the congregation. It would've been embarrassing if she'd screamed out, "I want to be Chardonnay Fantasia, not Hannah Rachel!"

Outside after the service, Hannah practiced her flexibility,
attempting a launch over Grandpa's arm.

Grandpa, Grandma, and Baby Hannah (still in launch mode)

Hannah's little thumb gets a workout

Soon I'll have pictures from the wonderful party Marge held in Hannah's honor after the Naming Ceremony. Marge and her brother Barry were the ace photographers over the weekend, so I didn't take my camera out other than for the few shots on this page. Stay tuned for more cute Hannah pics in a week or so.

Now let's move on to Baltimore Harbor. After dropping Hannah and her parents off at the airport (boo hoo! We miss them!) and a relaxing brunch back at Marge's home, Larry/Dad and I spent Sunday afternoon walking through the harbor area enjoying the sunshine, the sparkling water, pretty boats, and a sense of history. For better or for worse, hundreds of other people had the same idea on this picture-perfect day.

Historic lighthouse that once was located in Baltimore Harbor

Shadow people lurking in the harbor area.