Bernice Audrey Van Halsema Vandenberg 1927-2025

Happy Birthday Mom/Gram/Greatgram!! 

Our 42nd wedding anniversary

Today was not quite as busy as it was for us (well for Susan who did all the work) 42 years ago in Roanoke, Virginia. We were married at the home of Bob and Margie Berry and it was a grand day indeed! Warm to be sure but certainly fun full of happy folks, smiling faces and plenty of fellowship.

August 6, 1983

We spent today going about our routine enjoying life's little things: workout at MVP for us both and Susie putting the final touches on her preparations for teaching a couple of curious teenagers how to make macarons tomorrow.

The highlight of the day was meeting up with friends Patty and Paul for dinner at Linear. The food was good, service fine and company, as always with those two, warm and full of lively conversation.

laughter always seems to be the hallmark of being around these two 

Susan had grilled salmon

I had the Bolognese

As the sun dropped ending another day we said adios to P & P and headed off for our car. Forty-two down so we're at about halfway. . . 

A birthday and remembering Mark Van Halsema

Yesterday was Susan's birthday. 

We spent a quiet day with the birthday girl enjoying her combat fitness class at MVP while I did my workout. After her class Susan walked home from the gym (it's only about 2.5 miles) while I headed out to the Asian market in Kentwood to pick up a few staples (Panko, scallions, garlic, rice wine, frozen Edamame and soy sauce mainly).

That evening we joined about dozen or so of Susan's cousins at Beer City Bread for dinner in memory of Susan's cousin Mark Van Halsema. He died August 3, 2005, and his wife, daughter and a couple of sisters were in town to visit the grave and to recall his life and spirit.

It was a short drive down the East Beltline to the restaurant. The weather was nice, the food was good (I had a crispy chicken sandwich), the beer cold (Perrin Black for me), and the company lively and in wonderful spirits. Stories about Mark flowed for much of the evening bringing about lots of chuckles as well as a few tears. 

cousins Mark Lindholm and his wife Nancy Tess (Van Halsema) on the left

the birthday girl

Front: Me, Susie, Donna Kallemyn, Brenda Friedman, Tess, Jane DeKorne, Brianna (Kate's friend), Helen Sterk; back row Mark Lindholm, Clark Van Halsema, Dale DeKorne, daughter Kate, Scott and Jennifer Galloway

cousins Brenda Friedman and Dale Dekorne with Mark Lindholm in back

Mark's wife Helen Sterk with cousins Scott and Jennifer Galloway

cousins Dale and Susie

A flying trip to the Chicago suburbs

The other morning I got a text message from my (half-)sister-in-law Joyce. My half-brother Greg (and I will hereinafter refer to him as my brother thank you very much) fell off a ladder while cleaning the gutters on their house. They live in the wild western suburbs of Chicago and God knows anything can happen there.

Anyway, he was not seriously injured, a broken ankle and a couple of lumbar compression fractures. But it was a good enough excuse to drive over and see them both. It had been over a year and a half since we had last seen Greg and several years since we had sat down with Joyce. Time to catch up.

So, with the car charged to 100%, off we went, stopping once to use the bathroom at the Indiana welcome center and then to recharge at Meijer in Michigan City, IN. It began raining while we were sitting waiting to finish charging and that would continue with us all the way to Crystal Lake. Added to the lousy weather was the traffic snarl from hell. After we arrived in Indiana traffic slowed to the proverbial crawl along Routes I80/94 and with the various construction projects added to the rush hour mix, a four-hour trip took us over six hours before we pulled into Meijer in Algonquin, IL. to recharge.

Once that was done we headed off to the rehab hospital in Crystal Lake where we found Greg and Joyce laughing about something or another -- you should know that Joyce is the world's most serious chuckler. If there was an award for best hugs that would surely go to Susan's cousin Melissa Loaney. But when it comes to laughing, Joyce Lucas has us all beat hands down.

We had a nice chat with Greg and was pleased to see he was doing pretty well all things considered. There was even talk of him being able to go home in a week or so.

After saying adios to Greg, Susan and I took Joyce out to dinner in nearby Crystal Lake. It was still raining as we parked the car next to the Vine & Plate where we enjoyed Wine Wednesday (buy one glass get the second at half off) and all three of us had tacos in one form or another. Oddly enough the restaurant was right next door to a Taco Bell. 

Susie and Joyce

I had the blackened shrimp tacos

The food was delicious, the wines very nice -- and much appreciated after our drive over. The evening went by too quickly but it was good to catch up on the news from this branch of a very loosely connected family. We dropped Joyce back off at her car at the hospital and Susie and I drove into Huntley where we had reservations at the Hampton Inn.

The next morning we took our time before getting on the road, waiting for rush hour to pass before tackling the roads around Chicago. The weather was lovely (other than haze and smokiness from Canadian wildfires), traffic reasonable and after stopping once to charge at Michigan City, we were soon back home.

If you feel you need to know more about one of the early postwar dysfunctional families in the midwest by all means check out our backstory.

Oh, and we stopped in at the Fulton Farmer's market to pick up some fresh goodies for next week!

And Happy Birthday Susan Nell!!

1954 and already she's running a kitchen