A Tribute to a Tree - Part One

When we moved into our home on the Wabash in 1970, my Grandpa Honeywell, a Horticulturist at Purdue, told us that the oak tree at the base of the home was around 250 - 300 years old. 

It was a true witness tree - old enough to have seen William Henry Harrison coming up the Wabash for the Battle of Tippecanoe and who knows how many other historic events.

The tree "witnessing" Thanksgiving, 1970 as I showed my Honeywell grandparents my horse Amy.

When the house was built in the 1960s, the tree was saved and it stood sentinel at the top of the driveway where the basement garage opened out.

By 2012 its massive trunk was covered with vines. Worse, it had a parasitic fungus that showed up that August. I can't remember the name of it, but I did some research and learned that it was eating the tree from the inside out, a sign that the tree was in its end stage of life.

Every August I began checking the tree, and sure enough, the fungus would manifest itself, and then wither and decay only to reappear again the following August. This photo was taken in 2014 with the Coke can for perspective.

August after August, that proof of the oak tree's inner battle and harbinger of the tree's demise would pop up for a week or so, then decay and disappear.

The oak in 2017.

Earlier this spring, my old home was razed and the grounds are now in a restoration phase of returning to nature.

It was a relief and a surprise to see that the tree had not been removed or damaged by the demolition.

It hurt to see the home gone, but that tree still stood, continuing to witness the history around it. For me, it was the last remnant of my home and I found it comforting that the oak remained.

Inside the tree, though, its own life's clock was ticking and drawing to a close.

Stay 'tooned.

Home Again!

I'm home! I'm tired and I've got a million things to do, but The Kalamazoo Living History Show was a huge success and so I am also very happy.

Here a video to help catch you up with a little about the show and an update on the March Give Away.

And here are a couple of pictures that will give you an idea of just how big a show this is. 

Bear in mind that this is just one of the three sales halls, and that there are four more rooms for demonstrations and presentations.

More coming tomorrow, but in the meantime, 

I'm going to spend some time catching up with my family.

Stay 'tooned!

Christmas 2025: Merry Christmas!

Second Post of the Day

Christmas 2025 was a very merry one for our family.

With no littles with us (well, four dogs excepted), we could sleep in a bit and have a relaxing Christmas morning together.

Lisa and her pups had slept over with us, and she and Kyle decided to recreate a few family Christmas morning traditions.

Such as lining up on the stairs in age order (youngest going first) before coming downstairs to see what Santa had left them. Nash decided to accompany them.

Old sibling rivalries just may have surfaced a bit - here Lisa is moving as slowly as she can so that her brother has to go slowly, too.

We all got settled around the tree

and Kyle read the story of the birth of Christ from Luke before the gift frenzy began.

As always, the dogs were in the way in the thick of things.

Nashie wondering what Santa has put in his stocking.

"Wait! What?? That's Kyle's stocking? Well, where's mine?!"

Cordless cutting shears from Cole and Emily - I can't wait to get back into the sewing room and try them!

A book on drafting patterns from Sarah and Todd. I'm a self taught sewist so this will help me improve my skills.

(No pictures yet of Craig opening his gifts. Lisa took these of me, and Kyle took those of Craig. I forgot to ask him to send me those.)

I am not sure what it is that Lisa has just opened, but Pepper and Nash find it very interesting!

This one, not so much. Haha!

An impulse gift on my part proved to be a good idea.

Pay attention, Tammo! Your dad is opening a gift for you!

Another gift from Lisa proved popular, too. Tammo is guarding it closely from the other dogs.

After cleaning up the Christmas gift detritus, we all got showered and ready for more family to join us.

All ten of us would fit in the dining room.

I was really happy with how the napkins I'd embroidered looked when the table was set.

The kitchen table was set up as a buffet.

Cindie, Eric, Steve, Lisa, and Craig.

Craig, Rick (leaning back), Leslie, Jenny, and Kyle.

For whatever reason, Mama curled up against Rick's chair even though her bed is clearly ready for her.

Desserts included a festive fruit compote from Cindie,

cherry pies from Kyle and me, and Leslie's pumpkin pies.

After a quick put away/clean up from dinner, we went into the living room to exchange gifts. And when that was done,

Surprise! Happy Retirement, Jenny!

She had retired after 40 years of editing medical texts (does she ever know some big words!) on December 18. Leslie and I figured that, since we'd all be together, it would be a good time to surprise her with a celebration.

She hadn't suspected a thing! 

But that wasn't the only surprise. After Jenny's celebration,

we spontaneously began singing "Happy Birthday" to Lisa and brought out cards and red velvet cupcakes that Leslie had made for her!

Her birthday is December 30 and again, we were all together, so why not?

Our annual sibling Christmas photo

and our annual sibling goof off photo.

Jenny and Eric stayed late to play games (and eat more cake, pie, and cupcakes) after Les, Rick, Steve, and Cindie left.

Jenny's favorite game is Scattergories (probably because her vocabulary is so large which gives her an edge over the rest of us. LOL)

This year we were all pretty evenly matched - I guess she took her retirement seriously!

Things wrapped up as it got late and we spent the rest of the day nibbling on leftovers and just being together.

It was a wonderful Christmas Day. And on that note (pun intended),

enjoy this song by Sir Paul McCartney. The video is old and very dated, but the song is great and a horse makes a brief appearance! 

A Final Thanksgiving Mish Mosh

Second Post of the Day

When you have so many people (and dogs) together, there is a lot to record in your journal. So, enter another mish mosh post - snippets and bits from what our family did that I want to remember.

The Family Turkey Trot

Although maybe that's more the KIDS' turkey trot. It was a very cold morning.

The race was held in Curt and Vanessa's neighborhood on the walking path that goes right by their home.

And they're off!

The short course winners!

The long course winner! (Julie runs cross country for her school.)

The short course enthusiasm winners!

Leaf Raking - the Kids' Service Project

Vanessa had noticed that her neighbors had not been able to get their leaves raked up and so invited all the kids to join her in a service project on Wednesday morning.

They didn't have enough rakes but snow shovels worked just as well!

Susie taking a quick leap into the pile.

Everybody jumping in the leaves!

It was a good activity that helped others and let the kids get some energy out.

Some time ago, Vanessa came up with an idea to get her kids to clean their rooms. She films them standing in there, looking around at the mess, and then snapping their fingers, jumping, etc.

Then when the room is clean, she films them like that and puts the two videos together. It looks like they just snapped their fingers a la Mary Poppins and the job is done! Needless to say, it is a big encouragement for the kids and their rooms get cleaned quickly.

She did the same with the leaf raking activity. Fun!

Wicked

I had a ticket to see Wicked with the family. I also had a migraine and ended up staying home.

Several family members decided to get dressed for the show.

Titan has done so many musicals, he is well versed in putting on stage make-up. He helped Vanessa with her green face.

A flying monkey, Ga-linda with a Ga, Elphaba, and Ga-linda again.

Two Elphabas!

I hear the movie was very good and they had a lot of fun together.

Playing Dirty Santa

A family tradition that is done every year. Everyone over 18 brings a gift, names are drawn, gifts are opened and then swiped and swiped again. 

The under 18s are shooed upstairs to play with games and activities set out for them. But they always end up watching and laughing with us.

Curt won a bag of bird seed and a bird feeder - he just happened to be wearing a bird shirt, too!

Jenny won Lisa's gift - a hat that has two solar powered fans in it. Those fans really work - Craig was gifted one himself last summer by Lisa.

The kids did eventually lose interest in what the adults were doing and got started on the upstairs activities.

A mapping game that took some sleuthing to figure out.

Making Froot Loop turkeys and necklaces plus some origami.

The Coleman Celebration (heavy on Elsie Mae, of course)

Sarah and Todd moved to Bozeman, Montana in August. Trinity graduated as a nurse from the University of Iowa and got a job in a hospital in Billings, Montana. JC, Jayci, and baby Elsie Mae live in Rexburg, Idaho while they go to school. Elsie Mae is just a month old and so their families stayed in the west and gathered at an airbnb in Rexburg.

Sarah and Elsie Mae playing Skip-bo.

Trinity's turn to hold her niece!

They also celebrated Sarah's birthday while together. (Sarah's grandma name is "Gimmy" as in, "Gimme that baby!")

Blowing out the candles.

A long standing family joke (running 26 years now) is Todd's creative cutting capabilities. It all started with a pizza before they were married and continues on to today. "Sarah likes icing!" he said by way of explanation when he cut her piece of cake this way.

Todd, Elsie Mae, and some of Blue. LOL

JC, Elsie Mae, and Oquirrh.

Their family gathering for Thanksgiving.

Home

And finally, a photo Jessie took as her family drove through Illinois on their way to Indiana.

Our family home in Urbana. We lived there 18 years. I was glad to see that whoever lives there now is caring for it and that it looks so good. (It's at least 50 years old now.)

I am pretty sure that that is the last of the Thanksgiving photos. What a wonderful time we had being together and how I look forward to our next gathering.