Music and Trains...what a weekend!

This was another full weekend, but a really good one. Friday evening we went to a local coffee shop which just opened in May, Kava Klatsch. They have music every each Friday giving local talent a stage to show their stuff. This week it was gospel bluegrass. A group of five gentlemen did a really nice job for a couple of hours of fine listening. I really enjoyed the old time, toe tapping , southern gospel style numbers they did. I also learned someone whom I know from way back is a very good musician playing the pounded dulcimer (a pretty neat instrument) and autoharp. I don’t know if Ter was really planning to, but we stayed through the very last number. The music was running through my head the rest of the evening. We will keep a watch on who is appearing in the coming weeks. I also highly recommend the sandwiches and drinks at Kava Klatsch…here’s a plug for you, Wayne and Kenda!!!
It was up early the next morning as we were planning on going to the big train festival over in Owosso, MI. Joining us for the trip would be our very energetic ten year old neighbor, Peter. We got off a little late, but the trip there went smoothly. We parked the car and quickly decided to walk the three blocks to the festival area. The crowd was already pretty large as we entered. It was a pretty impressive sight with all the steam locomotives with their boilers running even though they weren’t moving. The trains had gone through some very extensive, loving restoration and the jobs had been beautifully done. The one which jumped out at me the most was “Leviathan” an engine which evoked thoughts of when the railroad was the most common mode of transportation in this country perhaps in the late 19th century. The fact was “Leviathan” happened to be the newest train on display having been built around ten years ago. It is painted bright red for the major part of the body with wood and black trim. It is certainly hard to miss with the bright paint job. Another train with a bright paint job was the “Daylight” built in the 1940’s and used in passenger service. This was painted in vibrant shades of orange and red making one think of sunrises. It had a long, sleek design. There were similarly painted passenger cars also on display. I wondered how many people made long trips in the cars pulled by this train. I have been on one kind of long train ride from Grand Rapids to Chicago where we caught our flight to California when we went on vacation and I really enjoyed it.
There were several model railroad sets around, too. One tent had four different layouts on display. The most unique was one made completely out of Lego, even the engines. The buildings were very impressive with a couple of them being approximately two to two and a half feet high. I was amazed at the detail in various parts of the set up. While we were in the tent the crowd grew to where you could hardly move…something I can have problems handling. Ter noticed and we did get outside to where the crowd was a little thinner. We went on to other exhibits and looked around. I told Ter I could handle going back to the tent to finish seeing the set ups after a little break. We wolfed down our lunches which we had packed and kept looking around. We were in the museum building when the skies opened up so we looked around for a little while until the rain let up. I was glad to get outside again with the crowd inside.
We did go back to the layout tent and finish up our touring there. Peter had a blast taking picture after picture. The rain started again but this time we ducked out of the tent over to a building where a train seems to be in the early phases of restoration. Looking around one could appreciate the hours and hours of work which goes into putting these great engines back on the tracks to be appreciated by rail fans all over the country. You could feel the enthusiasm even though it was raining.
The exhibit I feel I must really bring out was the bunk (a specific type of car) railroad car which has been restored by a young man from over near Detroit as his Eagle Scout project. This is one of the final and biggest parts of earning the highest rank in Boy Scouts. The Eagle candidate must do a project which will benefit the community and lead fellow Scouts and other volunteers in the completion of it to show their leadership skills. I have been privileged to work on several of these projects and watched these young men earn this coveted rank. The car was in very poor shape when work started and the hours of work and the materials which the young man must have gotten donated are extremely impressive. We both wished this highly motivated youth much luck in earning his rank.
All in all it was a very good day and a little boy had a great time. You can go with us again any time, Peter!! And….thank you Lord for helping me keep my “get me out of here” feelings under control for his sake.

Moving On In Life

We finished up yesterday doing what is becoming a big tradition in many places. We had a big sale in one of our out buildings. After a couple of years of discussing it we finally took action. It was a decision to begin downsizing. Our son is happily married and living in Tennessee. Our house is just huge for two of us. The upstairs was filled with a lot of clutter and it was time to see if some of our “junk is another persons treasure” as the saying goes. We went through things and if it hadn’t been touched in a long time, it was labeled to go.
Yes, there were memories with a lot of the things. Our son’s stroller and swing chair brought back happy memories of his younger years. Pat and I put many miles on the wheels of his “carriage” walking around the west side of Grand Rapids where we lived at that time. Once he started to walk the stroller wasn’t as happy a place for him. That didn’t go in the sale but we hope to find a happy home for it with someone else to have good times with their child. A lamp table that was my parents went very quickly. It was in the living room for many, many years. An early model digital camera which took pictures at our sons wedding went. Thanks to it we had immediate pictures of the happy day. Model train equipment also sold. Books which were read a long time ago went to new readers to hopefully enjoy. People also inquired about the history of the building we were using as it is a pretty unusual one in this day and age. It is a quonset (kind of half rounded) shaped building which was put up shortly after World War II and has served well ever since holding our farming equipment and now housing our storage business. In recounting the history many happy memories of growing up came back. It wasn’t an easy life on the farm, but we really had our happy times and it supported us fairly well financially. However there does come a time where you need to let go and move on to a “new season” in your life. It turned out to be a pretty good decision.
I went out to begin the sale on Friday morning not really expecting much action as we definitely live in a rural area. I took plenty of entertainment with me to pass the time. Boy, was I wrong! There was a gentleman waiting for me to open up. My husband told me he had already spoken to another person who wondered if we had any antiques. I’m sure there are some in the house, but a number of them I didn’t want to part with as they were my grandparents, family heirlooms. I took the plastic off the tables as he was looking around. I made my first sale about ten minutes into the day. The second sale was shortly after that. It was a steady stream of cars pulling in all morning and it was very heartening to see. I was busy all morning and things were going well. My husband, who was inside completing his work week at his home office, came out to give me a break around noon. I told him, “We’re going to have to bring more stuff out of the house to make this sale go for two days the way things are going.” We started thinking of more things to haul out. We considered this a good problem to have.
Filling out the designated portion of the building with sale items became less of a problem a little while later. Our neighbors came over to visit and I said something about we’d have to bring more stuff out of the house. They went home and shortly thereafter came over with a large trailer filled with things to add to the sale. We quickly became a two family sale. The building really began to fill out. We scrambled to find room to display the “treasures”. Things were kind of all over the place. Even at that items did keep going out. This also gave company for running the sale which was a good thing, too. Things began to bustle. We ended up staying open later than planned as more people stopped in to look. We shut down for the day at about six o’clock. More things did come out of the house that evening as we did more sorting. It was a very successful first day.
We opened up for the second day. Things started out slower as far as people dropping by. It was an off and on stream throughout the day. The nicest things went pretty quickly. A little later another family friend stopped by and added a few more things to the sale. Ter's Dad came out bringing a few things to the mix. The sale shut down shortly after five as planned. Our neighbors brought their trailer back over and what was left over was loaded to go to the local Good Will donation area. The building is now pretty empty again and we will finish cleaning up during the coming week. A tiring time but our mission was accomplished. Get rid of things, make a little money in the process, and the rest hopefully going to help others. Will we do it again? Probably, as this one went pretty well. We ascertained more of what people might be looking for. We also learned more of the work involved in a sale the size we had. Could we have made more? Perhaps. We sold things fairly dirt cheap. The point wasn’t to profit heavily. It was to price so the things would move. It definitely was a time of letting go and trying to move on to a new phase in life and I am glad we did it.

The Adoption Option

In different events going on the past few weeks, I neglected to write about a big event in our family life last month. June eighteenth our son Patrick turned twenty five years old. He was born four months before we actually met him as he is from Seoul, South Korea. It hardly seems possible it has been that long. Adoption has played a big role on my side of the family.
It all started with my father, Walt Wingeier. He was adopted by my grandparents, Alex and Edwina Wingeier, very shortly after birth. A few years later they adopted my Uncle Clare. I never suspected adoption played a role in the family until my other grandmother slipped and said something about it one day when I was middle school age. I really don’t know why the fact of the adoption was kept so quiet. Of course this lead to questioning my mother when I got home and it was confirmed. It didn’t make a difference in any of the relationships in the family. Grandpa and Grandma were still just that, Daddy was still Daddy. I later found out at least one of my cousins was adopted. It didn’t make a difference, they were still my cousins. Nothing would change any of this and the love was still there. There are other members of my family who are also adopted. My step-mother once commented she had married into the most adopting family when she married Daddy.
We knew when we married in 1980 having our own children was not an option. Once my diagnosis of Turners Syndrome came down when I was eighteen the deal was pretty much sealed. Now, with the advent of new technologies, it is possible for Turners ladies to have children but the risk involved has to weigh in on the decision. It is deemed a high risk pregnancy by doctors due to small stature. That along with the expense involved in going the “in vitro” route for children can make it a difficult decision. Terry and I decided before we even walked down the aisle adoption was going to be the way our family would be built. I will always be thankful this fact wasn’t a deal buster for our engagement. I will always be thankful for my beloved late mother in law for helping in this matter.
It was after three years of marriage we decided to begin checking into adoption options. I made several calls to agencies about domestic adoption. We weren’t even able to get on to any waiting lists at that time, at least for infants. We began to check into foreign adoptions. We finally settled on going through Bethany Christian Services here in Grand Rapids. We attended an informational meeting in Muskegon, Michigan on a cold, blustery winter day. We walked around and looked at the information but I think mostly at the pictures of the children who were waiting in orphanages or who had come home to their families here in the states. After leaving the meeting our decision was sealed to go ahead with things. Thus began this part of the journey to Patrick joining our family.
We made out the preliminary application and were assigned a social worker. We began our home study for them to determine if we would be fit parents. It was supposed to be four meetings with two of them with us together and then each of us alone with the social worker. Things were going smoothly until the last meeting. We walked in expecting things to be pretty much done as far as being approved by the agency. Not so fast!! Our social worker informed us an anonymous phone call had come to the domestic part of the Bethany agency attempting to turn us both in as child abusers. They had said everything an agency wouldn’t want to hear about us during the phone call. The party speaking kept using the phrase, “My friend says”, during the litany of accusations so the Bethany person asked to speak directly to the accuser. This quickly ended the phone call when the speaker said, “My friend says I’ve talked too long”, and promptly hung up. Due to the nature of the call the agency didn’t really put a whole lot of credence in it but we still had to be more thoroughly checked out by the agency which of course added a lot of stress. We finally finished our home study and began our wait to hear about the child who would become ours. I still have mixed feelings about anonymous phone calls to agencies to this day. There are still times I shiver to think how close we came to having things stopped in their tracks. We thank God this didn’t torpedo things before they really began. He was good to us through everything.
We had been told not to expect any action on an assignment until around November of 1984. The call came in early September!!! Would we like to adopt a little boy? Are you kidding?! We met with the social worker to see pictures of OUR SON. He became ours immediately when we saw the pictures from the orphanage. You think we were on Cloud Nine? You better believe it!! Things moved quickly and we met our son at Detroit Metro Airport in late October 1984. This was also quicker than expected. We still talk about meeting the “Silver Stork” that morning. Our journey of parenting began at the moment they placed Pat in my arms along with forgiveness to the person who tried to put a stop to this intimate moment.
Would I recommend adoption? You bet! Is parenting a child biologically not your own easy? Is raising any child easy? We have had the same ups and downs of any parent the past twenty five years. Were there moments we wanted to commit murder? Thank God we didn’t. Patrick has matured into a fine young man who has a beautiful wife. They have both made us very proud and we love them very much. Our family has been built on love and adoption from way back. Thank God for it.

Pickin' and grinnin' fun

The past year and a half Terry and I have been working on a new hobby….bluegrass music. We have both fallen in love with it. It all started simply enough when our neighbors gave Terry a banjo. It needed some work like fixing where the neck meets the body of the banjo where a small shim had been placed along with a new head (banjo heads are a lot like drum heads) and new strings. After doing the repairs he has talked about becoming a luthier, a person who repairs string instruments, after he retires from what he does now. He finished all the work and then began learning how to pick some songs. In learning any instrument the main thing is practicing the same note, timing, and phrasing over and over. Even though being somewhat of a musician myself and knowing the importance of practice, the repetition can be somewhat irritating. This is where being hard of hearing can be kind of a blessing in disguise. Tune out time (turn off the hearing aids) for a little while so they can do what they must do to improve their skills. You also get the opportunity to congratulate and encourage as things get better and better. Terry is really getting pretty good with his picking. Guess it’s listening to all the bluegrass CD’s while he’s working. However, it is always interesting to find out what he is listening to as I walk by his office during the days he works at home. It isn’t always bluegrass. Sometimes it is country, classic rock, or on occasion classical.
Terry was given the banjo in about October or November a couple of years ago. We fairly shortly began discussing an acoustic instrument for me. I knew my hands are too small for a regular size guitar. It wasn’t until later I found out you can get smaller sizes. With my hearing the violin, better known in the bluegrass world as the fiddle, would be pretty difficult. So the mandolin seemed like a good choice. We began to research various makes and styles along with prices. Like most things you can spend as much as you would like on your instrument. Prices ranged from under $100 to the limited edition, hand made “Ricky Skaggs” signature model made by Gibson priced at 20 to 25 thousand dollars. Even knowing Mr. Skaggs himself had tested the instrument before being released for sale the price was more than I would expect to part with. Unless I suddenly become really, really wealthy or a great professional player. I hadn’t really known a particular model had been settled on until Terry came home one night with an odd shaped box from a really great store in Lansing, MI, Elderly Instruments. It is a very nice instrument, particularly to start with. It has a cool model name, Rover, so I am completely satisfied. It's sure easier to haul around than a piano or organ!! I opened it up and my adventure into a new form of music began.
It has been interesting learning to read a different type of music than I am used to from knowing piano and organ or clarinet in my younger days. Also learning the mandolin can be the instrument keeping time for the group while playing chords. You don’t always have a bass in the group. We have also met great people through the local bluegrass association. They are very encouraging and helpful with their advice. I have finally gotten brave enough to do a little actual picking at the slow jams. Being a large group it can be a little difficult for me to pick up on various things but I try my best and I am slowly getting better. I prefer smaller groups where you can really hear each other. I have also enjoyed the workshops at the two festivals held by the association during the year at our local youth fairgrounds. I have enjoyed the most catching up with a couple of friends of ours who have their own band and go around making music. We have sat in with them a few times and had a lot of fun. My favorite times have been when we have appeared with them at our local Veterans Facility. This is a place where people who have bravely served our country can live when no longer able to live at home. They are always an appreciative audience and we enjoy getting to talk to some of them to get to know them better.
Right now my skills are fairly simple but I work hard to improve. I have to remind myself that it all takes time and the main thing is having fun while you learn.