Les Flâneurs

Our new home in Grand Rapids

OK, so we closed on our new condo in Eaglecrest less than two weeks ago and so far we have:

replaced the garage door opener (Overhead door)
selected closet organizers for the main floor (Standard Lumber)
picked out new carpet and arranged to have it installed on main floor (Verhey Carpet)
arranged to replace the furnace and air conditioner (Bill Lawrence)
arranged to install a new water heater (Dave Herrema)
met with a designer to upgrade the very small but very efficient kitchen (Williams Studio)
picked out and arranged for delivery of all new appliances this Friday (Gerrit's Appliance)
picked out four new lighting fixtures and four new ceiling fans (Grand Rapids Lighting)
decided on Sept. 1 as our moving date to have our furniture brought from Rhode Island (National Van Lines)
begun the process of repainting bedrooms/closets on the first floor (Susan)
connected with an electrician to update numerous electrical fixtures

Mind you Susan did nearly all of the coordinating, phone calling and meeting with one person and another -- incroyable, la donna e incredible!

Charles "Chuck" Peterson 1960-2015

A memorial for Chuck at a lovely farm just outside of Caledonia Village, Kent County, Michigan.

Outhouse - seat on the left bench on the right

Barn window

Sunflowers, Dick and Dorothy arrive, our 32nd wedding anniversary, and Clear Lake

Dick and Dorothy arrived from Massachusetts early Wednesday afternoon. Although we were originally told by the power company on Monday that the power would be off until late Wednesday evening, it came back on early Tuesday morning so there were no rude surprises for the travelers.

They had come out to help Bernice celebrate her 88th birthday and the five of us spent quality time visiting, catching up and just enjoying time together.

With D & D's arrival and Susan being back in Michigan, Joyce just having been out here in June and Mary coming later in August, Bernice would have had all of her children with her at one time or another this summer. I doubt if there could be anything to make her happier than that simple fact.

Thursday afternoon, our 32nd wedding anniversary, the five of us drove out to Clear Lake for another family get together. As we pulled off of US 131 just west of Rockford our eyes caught sight of two enormous fields of sunflowers, a very atypical crop for Michigan I should say. Where once there had been corn there were now hints of the sun -- it reminded us all of driving in France or Italy where these crops are just about everywhere. Fantastic. (And yes, I got carried away with the camera.)

A great day to be alive and in Michigan, which was no small comfort if we couldn't be in France.

Dorothy and John talk over old and new times

Susan is still as pretty -- quite possible more so -- than she was 32 years ago this afternoon

father and daughter: John and Jennifer

Aunt Marian

Birthday ice cream sandwiches, power outage and a new home

Sunday we returned to Clear Lake for ice cream sandwiches in celebration of Susie's birthday and to enjoy being with the Ten Have clan. Jennifer provided the ice cream and the smiles -- although Susan added her own happiness to the general mix of another beautiful day at the lake. . .

Later that evening the wind that had been blowing pretty strong earlier in the day picked up with serious ferocity and by 9pm rain had begun to fall. Just about 9:30 that evening, Sunday, the power went out and remained out until sometime early Tuesday morning. That gave us the opportunity to feel like we were camping out but without the bugs. Anyway, Susan and I used the facilities at our gym to shower but otherwise we all made it through.

Last, but by no means least, we have begun the process of turning our new condo into our home -- I'll post another entry with those details but in the meantime I've included a few photos of the new place below. One thing we're going to appreciate come winter is a garage. . .