porscha's last day

Leaving the airport, it felt as if Porscha's visit had been a dream. It was a quick 6 days and I hardly slept during her visit as I wanted to take advantage of every moment. It will probably be the summer before I see her again and then it will be for just a short time. How unnatural it is to be ripped from your child and how painful to live and deal with it. Hopefully, I will soon adjust to her being gone, again, and be able to bury myself in my work. I have three shows to design and build during the next four months and a vacation to take with friends. That should work to divert me. Until then... I will be a bit melancholy. Please, excuse me. It will pass.

u of m vs army

Time is short and we are trying to take advantage of each minute we have with Porscha. Today, we worked out at the Y, hung at Amer's and then took in the U of M vs Army basketball game with Cynthia and Greg.

U of M started the game with their second string and Army was able to keep up with them and even surpassed them for a while. It took the first string to put Michigan back in the lead. I'm not certain but there seemeed to by quite a few more cheerleaders than usual. It's great they have an equal number of male and female cheerleaders but them don't do any interesting routines. They focus on making use of the men as pedestals for the women. I lost count of how many times the men held the women aloft in assorted configurations of the splits and effectively displaying beaver shots (yes, I said beaver shots) to the audience. It was as if they were saying, "Hey, look what we got!"

spending time together

Porscha borrowed my car to meet up with some friend at about 1a this morning. Cutting to the quick... She didn't get home until 5:30 this morning and I couldn't go to sleep. The tired weighs heavy on me today and the day has passed by without being fully absorbed. In three short days she leaves and I would rather be awake while she is here. I can't blame my tired/sleeping problem on her. It is a constant struggle for me to get to sleep on time. (This leads to one of my New Year's resolutions, to be discussed later in more detail.) To the first time today I am full wake and will probably not be able to go to sleep again until late tomorrow morning. Enough of that!
The photo is of Porscha, Cynthia and I at Border's, Ann Arbor, enjoying some coffee.

poker night

Denis arrived at 6:30ish, wearing the sweater vest I made him for Christmas and looking quite dapper, for a special dinner and evening of cards. Porscha (her own recipe) made delicious, unique calzones using chicken, mangoes, orange zest, ginger and a few other "secret" ingredients. I wouldn't have thought to mix in mangoes but they made a perfect compliment to the chicken and ginger.
After dinner, we divided up a cup of plastic chips between four of us (Porscha had left to climb with some friends at Planet Rock.) Greg, Cynthia, Denis and I were playing for M&M's, the winner take all. Piles of chips rose and fell, and rose and fell, again. About 10:30, we started to up the ante to expediate the game but were still playing when Porscha arrived back home at 11. She took over for Greg, as he had lost his stamina. Cynthia and Denis were eliminated and one grand hand had left me with 90% of the chips. Aha! I became quite cocky and played fast and loose with my chips. Before I realized what was happening, my chips were depleated and Porscha had the lion's share. In a desperate attempt to regain some of my lead, I plied the bluff. She pushed all her chips forward and I, unable to match them and with nothing more than a single Jack in my hand, was beaten.

at the airport

Thank you to all that read my December 23rd entry and sent their prayers and good wishes for Porscha's safe trip through the mountains. She is at the Denver airport waiting for her flight home.

Have a safe, happy and blessed Christmas!

on the road again

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we are looking forward to Porscha's visit. Right now, she is on the road to Denver where she will board a plane home. She will board the plane home if US 80 in Colorado opens and she can get there in time. The thought of her sitting in a car, by herself, in the middle of nowhere scares the Hell out of me. If you are the praying type, I would appreciate your prayerful efforts on Porscha's behalf. I'll keep you updated.

Spamalot

Several months ago, Denis and I bought tickets for Spamalot and planned to attend with Cynthia and Virginia. I would say, "Go with...", but they didn't really want us with them. The show was a gift for Cynthia from Virginia but I didn't like the idea of them going by themselves to Detroit at night. Just a couple hours before the show, Denis called to say he was sick, "... at death's door!" and hoped we could find another person to go with us. Fortunately, Greg filled in. (Since he had been out until 2a the night before, celebrating his win, we weren't sure he would be able to stay up two late nights in a row and get up for work at 5 or 6a the next day.) The show was fun but a bit to "been there, done that". It drew heavily on its movies, especially Holy Grail, so many of the jokes/gags were old news. The choreography of "Lancelot" left something to be desired and the Lady in the Lady's voice was too throaty. When the subdued colors turned technocolor for scens such as the "Finlandia Fish Dance" and "Lancelot" is was just garish... too, too garish. what did I like? The French castle scene was funny, especially the Trojan Rabbit. I liked the vicious bunny and the "Gotta have Some Jews" number. Oh, and let's not forget the "Laker Girls" Loved them!
The photo was taken on the way home.

they're #1!

Greg's Wednesday night time, the Ravens, won their championship tonight. It was a deliciously close game against a "cocky" team they had lost to earlier this season. After the game, the Ravens and their fans celebrated at Ypsilanti's BWW (Buffalo Wild Wings) and didn't leave until they had to (about 1:30a). Congratulations Ravens!!!

Derrick & Shelley

It was very nice to see Derrick, my nephew, as I haven't seen him in a couple of years. He is here with his mother, my sister-in-law, Shelly.

Good Times

Photo 1: Jerilyn and Cynthia (youngest daughter).
Photo 2: These kids are waiting to play "Guitar Hero" (left to right): Jerilyn, Haliegh, Alec, Cynthia, Steven (Cool Dude Minnerick), Cassie and Maize Ann.

Good Food & Family

Photo 1: Sheila (sister) & David (brother)
Photo 2: Jerilyn (neice) giving her neice, Hailey, a drink.
Photo 3: Mom/Grandma, a.k.a. Harriet
Photo 4: Left to right - Brian (nephew), Dennis (Brother) and Joy (Sister-in-law and party hostess)
Photo 5: Bottom to top - Hailey (great-neice), Erin (neice) and Louie (Erin's fiance).

Santa's Visit continues

Photo 6: Cassie
Photo 7: Jerilyn
Photo 8: Steven
Photo 9: Maizie

Santa's Visit at the Converse Party

Here are a

few of the people Santa brought gifts to at the Converse Family Party.

Santa and...
Photo 1: Luke
Photo 2: Lulu
Photo 3: Nolan
Photo 4: Cynthia
Photo 5: Alec

Converse Family Christmas Party

Photo 1: My dad, Arthur Converse, Sr.
Photo 2: My husband, Gregory Doucette, and brother-in-law, Robert Creeg
Photo 3: Santa and the Converse sisters (left to right) Jacquelyn Converse Elder, Polly Converse Minnerick, Santa, Sally Converse-Doucette and Sheila Converse Creeg.
Photo 4: That's me with my nephew, Ted(dy) Jr.

ready for Porscha

The tree is up and decorated, gifts are purchased and wrapped, cards are out... now, we wait for Porscha.

Last week, Denis and I stopped at Virgil's & Jim's tree stand and I bought a beautiful, albeit too big, Christmas tree. This is the fourth year we bought from Virgil and Jim. They have a small stand, usually located by Quality 16 Theatres but a block down Jackson Rd. due to construction this year, as we are impressed by the friendly, local owners. They answer our questions and help quide us find the best tree to suit our needs, they cut the tree, bail it and put it on to of the car. All this and they are the nicest people possible.

Greg put the tree up and Cynthia decorated it on Sunday. After she finished I went through the ornaments she had weeded out and pulled my favorites. She likes a much more Spartan tree than I do. The gifts are beneath the tree waiting for Christmas morning.

Porscha... We just can't wait to put our arms around you!!! Love, Mumzi

Introducing Pinkus

Love cute little piggies? Scroll to the end of this page and meet Pinkus. He is cute, pink and you can play with him.

doing what i enjoy

this photo was taken during a recent trip to cape cod. while there, my digital camera took a dive and i was crushed. fortunately, i had brought my one of my film cameras along and denis let me use his digital sony. in this photo we are on the very point of the cape where the wind was fierce and cold and the sand was stinging our faces, but i loved it.