Spring in all her glory

Spring has come. The cherry is in bloom and the happy daffodils welcome everyone!

Spring!

Love love love the change in seasons.
This morning I looked out the window and what did I see? Popcorn popping on the pink cherry tree. And yellow daffodils that I planted last fall with Pat. They look so happy! And the grass is getting greener (I have zoisia....)
I heard peepers at the beach on March 12, 2010. Love the sounds, smells and looks of spring.
The cherry blossoms all over town are about to burst forth.
We are finalizing our NYC trip with Bethany, Andy, Kate and Garry. Tim and Mom are staying home to hold down the home front!
Work is work.
And all is well with HKK.

Moving right along, after a tumble

Thursday Mom had quite the tumble in the shower. She is OK, managed to go to the genealogy library for the morning and then took herself to Kaiser for a look see. They said she was fine and would be stiff. Well stiff seems to be the understatement of the week.
She is OK, but scared and delicate. Nothing broken and her back hurts like the dikens and a bruise that is quite impressive under her right arm. Kate spent the night Friday and stayed for book club and then they went to a few yard sales.
I stopped in today and she was moving slow. We went downstairs for a bit o glass cutting and did quite well. She hung in there and I got all my little squares cut for the first panel. See below.

This is how it looked before we started.



Here is panel 1 almost all done. Only 3 more to go! Then we get to foil, solder, patina, and assemble lamp bases! That is all!

Stay tuned!



I think I need a lighter border on the bottom. Only 7 little rectangles! :)

I was just thrilled not to get paged to go to work again today. Ten hours yesterday was quite enough.

Long ago Easters

Another favorite because Mike has his beloved Suriotha in his arms. Hands down the best cat of their lives. This is Easter 1957.




This says 1956 on the back. Blanche Sturgis made the 2 dresses for Kitti and Holly.
Love the bangs. Kitti hates this phase of her hair cuts by mom. But what a trio!


Found these looking for David's 40th. Thought they were too cool not to scan too.

Top o the evening

Happy St. Patrick's day one and all!

Greetings from Heidi Kestner O'Kuchta. Or McKuchta. Which ever you prefer!
Hope you were all wearing the green!

Stained glass project

sketch of how we want the lamp to look


just a beginning of the black eyed susans


So here you have our lamp in progress.




Mom has been wanting to use up some of her stained glass she has had from prior projects. Being the good depression girl she is. So, Mom wanted to make a Tiffany lamp, and did not want to drive to the classes in the dark from 7-9pm in Kensington. The classes started in December are every 4 weeks for 6 lessons. That takes us to June for our "showing". SO. Guess who said yes she would take her and "help" with the project. Above you see the coloring for our pattern. We are in the mode of black-eyed susans (me being the only Marylander in the group, other than Todd!) They are supposed to be poinsettia's but we did not want that much red in a lamp. So we are going with the yellow and blue theme, which is always a good thing.
So here are 2 photos, we are actually further along with the project than this. One panel down, only 3 more to make. I'll get another photo of this panel this weekend when I do my squares.......I am good at cutting straight lines! Mom is in charge of the flowers. And she is doing an amazing job!

I'd say there are about 12 of us in the class, Mom and I count as one. A bit unusual, but the owner of the shop is cool with Mom needing toting help and help driving in the dark. We are all at very different stages. But this 4 weeks will separate out those that will finish and those that will not. This is labor intensive, and fun, but a lot of work.

So stay tuned for more panels and to see how they start to look on the dome we solder on! Quite complicated, but fun and I am learning a lot.

Favorites from the first 4!

Also see my post from October 31, 2009 when I promised to find my Halloween costuems! Or look under costumes! There they are!
Gotta love an old box of photos!

The following are my brothers first 4, 2 more would follow. But they must be deeper in boxes!
I love the few below.
They are David, Todd, Mindy and Andy.
All of whom now have 4, 7, 4 and 4 children of their own!

First box I looked in!

Who would know! Please see David's 40th birthday tribute with more photos!
Now to add the others that I found that are more of my favorites!

And I found my Halloween costumes! What a treasure of a box to open. And the first one! The photo ferries were with me tonight!

Pi Day

As well as being David's birthday it is Pi day. Like p=3.14!
what a cool day to be born~!

Google has a cool graphic. Not sure if it will copy right.
But here is a try.
Bethany! I need help to figure out how to put Googles Pi day doodle here!


http://www.google.com/search?q=Pi+Day&ct=piday10-hp&oi=ddle

Happy 40th Birthday David

This is David and me on the floor on his first birthday! His Mom is looking on. I remember his frist birthday like it was yesterday.
The next photo is David and "The Aunts" as we fondly become known. We were probably called that the first weekend we met him in Maryland. It stuck and we love it.

This idea of birthday thoughts I got from Bethany who did this for her father. I think it is a priceless gift and worth more than many gifts, but that is just my opinion. We did this for Holly's 60th and she loved it. So here we go.

This year Bethany will be 30, David will be 40, I will be 50 (OY!) and Holly is 60!
We are in quite a cool group. So with all that being said. Here is our gift to David in celebration of his 40 years on this earth. I wanted to include the baby photo of him in his red suit, and the toddler photo of he and I on a big wheel, and his preteen no braces photo and his senior photo. But I have not been able to lay my hands on those photos, so you'll have to use your imagination!

TO CELEBRATE HIS FORTY YEARS OF LIFE:
FORTY REASONS WHY WE LOVE
MICHAEL DAVID KESTNER:










From Aunt Heidi: Can it really be 40 years since you were that beautiful little baby?
1. I love David because he is the best little brother I never had, and he sometimes even calls me for advice.
2. I love David because he can go bare chested snow mobile riding in the snow; he loves a good laugh, and loves to laugh.
3. I love David because he is resourceful and never gives up.
4. I love David because he loves family. He is a wonderful father to his 4 children; he loves his wife and will do anything in his power to spend time with family.
5. I love David because he is loyal to his faith.
6. I love David because he spent the summer with me in 1985, and learned to love my Boy Scout camp.
7. I love David because he came for a visit to help me with my house projects and because of him and his need for tools I called Tim the tool man and wound up marring him!
8. I love David because he can build a house.
9. I love David because he was my father’s first grandson, and made him proud. He had 3 sons to carry on the Kestner name, and a beautiful daughter to take care of him in his old age.
10. I love David because he has had more cars than I have had boyfriends!




From Aunt Holly: Happy 40th Birthday David, may your next 40 birthdays be even more fun. XOXO Aunt Holly
1. I love you because you were not only the first baby of the next generation in our family, as it turned out, you were also the prettiest. It is a fond memory that I met you just home from the hospital and I can claim to be the first family member, other than your mom, to have held you.
2. When we come to visit, you stop and visit with us and that makes us feel welcome, each time we visit we get to know you a little bit better.
3. I love your warm wonderful voice, both speaking and singing.
4. I love that you married well and that you know you did.
5. I love that after 3 perfect sons and one perfect daughter you had the wisdom to stop before you buried yourself in children.
6. I love how honest you are and I respect you for that.
7. I love that you are not afraid to buy a new car or get rid of an old one.
8. I love that you work so hard and never give up.
9. I love you because you accept your Grandmother and The Aunts for the women they are.
10. I love that your name is almost exactly the same as my sons name and because a lot of your humor and mannerisms remind me of my brother.




The first photo we saw of you. With your loving Mother in the hospital.






From Aunt Kitti: Happy 40th Birthday David

1. I love David because he was the most beautiful baby ever born.
2. I love David because he is the only person who ever thanked me for changing his diaper!
3. I love David because he was the best biggest brother ever, drawing on his own diaper changing skills.
4. I love David because he was the first Kestner of the fourth generation to love The Lake.
5. I love David because he allowed me to corrupt him just a little (see #4 above!)
6. I love David because he provided endless hilarity by falling into the septic tank.
7. I love David because he was the only grandchild ever held by my Daddy, Al Kestner.
8. I love David because he named his son Al(ex) Knight Kestner.
9. I love David because he gave us a new Kestner girl: Marcy.
10. I love David because he reminds me of my brother in his bearing and attitude, and that’s a good thing.

3-15-10
A last minute addition, she lost her list and recalled the above from memory!
So now it is 43!
I love his rosy red cheeks.
I love his Hershey brown eyes.
I love that he has become my baby sister's baby brother.



From Grandma: Happy 40th to my first Grandson
I love David because:
1. He is the only grandchild Al ever knew.
2. He was the first to make us grandparents.
3. He is the first to carry on Mike’s given name.
4. He was greatly involved in ‘raising’ his younger siblings.
5. He has all the ‘manly craft’ skills that I admire.
6. He is open minded about many things.
7. He will do whatever it takes to make ends meet.
8. He doesn’t give up and often starts over.
9. He is a good role model for his sons, and loves his daughter.
10. He keeps a close and welcome contact with his eastern family.


Four generations at your parents reafirmation in December 1970 in Ohio.
Margie Jane Sturgis Kestner
Emily Blanche Alexander Sturgis
Michael Sturgis Kestner
Michael David Kestner

Rain Rain Rain

I think we should start gathering animals in twos!

We have had 2 inches of rain which would=20 inches of snow! SHEW! And we are expecting 2-3 more inches of rain today. The wind is 50 MPH! Literally time to hold on to your hat!

So what has been going on in my life?

Mom has started cutting glass for our Tiffany lamp project. She is such a trooper. She is doing a great job, now time for me to do the "easy" square ones on the top of the lamp. The "easy" cuts are my responsibility. I better get busy too. Maybe next weekend, we will be home as Tim will be studying for his final the next week. I'll try to get some photos so you can see what we are up to.

Tim is fine. He has had an interview, called back for a second one with the same company, so we are on pins and needles waiting for a call. But if they don't call by the 28th of March he will register for 4 classes and move forward with school, and keep looking for a job. This will all work out the way it is supposed to.

Not much else.

Tim's last day

No more both employed at the same place. Tim's job got replaced. Cest la vie. We are off to Rehoboth and hope all will be OK. Two households and one income will be very interesting for quite a while!

Kate is Home and Shell shocked

My sister and about 15 others went back to Haiti for a week. Kate had been 3 times before to a sleepy little 70 bed hospital that got by on nothing and had a closet the nuns fondly referred to as "Junk for Jesus".

This time was different. Kate arrived home after her third visit 2 days before the earthquake hit Port Au Prince. In the ensuing month since then her sleepy little hospital and town have become the only functioning hospital in the country.

In Port Au Prince:
all 3 medical schools are gone, and all the rising doctors in it, the whole next generation of doctors......gone.
both hospitals gone, and all the nurses, and doctors in it, gone.
the only cardiologist in the country died in the hospital collapse, gone.
the only thoracic surgeon died in the hospital collapse, gone.

all clinics are gone

Families separated, homes gone, no water, no electricity, no clothes, no plumbing.


In Kate's little hospital they have gone from 70 beds to 400. A tent city of cots pressed side to side with patients trying to recover from the loss of their lives. They use buckets for a toliet and a caretaker dumps the contents out the back of the tents. They cannot get the patients to go back to Port Au prince, because they have no where to go home to. And their entire family is gone.
The community of patients has become a new community of survivors. They are one and do not want to leave one another, and yet there are still more who need help.

There is a children's tent. The ones whose parents are gone. The ones who escaped with a limb gone, and don't know they can stand on one leg and get strong again.
Kate went to that tent after putting in 10 hour days to dance with the children, to show them they could stand, they could walk with crutches, they could go on.
They were clinging to their own washcloths. That is all they have. One little girl of 10 was amazed with the perspiration on her face, and SHE wiped the sweat from Kate's face (with her own precious washcloth, and the one arm she still had to use) and wanted her to be her new mother.

There are so many wounds that need to be closed to prevent the infection from taking over. Two teams worked 5 days solid just to close wounds that would otherwise take a life. Kate closed wounds with just an anesthesiologist. Just to save a life, to give them hope.

A 17 year old boy who lost his whole family in Port Au Prince was going to sleep said: I am not ready to die. I do not want to meet my family this way. He had an infected fracture in his head. The team removed the infected bone and gave him hope and a reason to live.

A 3 month old girl was found under the crushed bodies of her mother and father. She had a wound on her buttocks that needed to be closed to heal so she could become the only daughter to her Aunt who was childless and now had a daughter from the heroic deeds of her sister and brother-in-law.

The need is so great there.
They have so little, and are doing so well.
My heart aches for the Haitian country.

Kate goes back in June. I think I'll clean out my closets and send more. Surely I can do with less.

A wonderful weekend with Momma

Tim and I had not been to the ocean in over 6 weeks.
A much needed trip was made this weekend with Mom in tow. She is happy to go anywhere with her girls, just to spend the time and chat. Holly is in Washington State, Kate is in Haiti and that leaves me to pick up the tail.
We went and had a wonderful time. Took far more to do than we got done, but had fun none the less.
The time flew and we bonded.