Remembering my grandmother Mary

It's April 12th, the birthday of my grandmother Mary, who would have been 103. She died at age 97; it doesn't seem that long ago. I have many memories of this grandmother, but had no photos of her in my computer. Mom just sent these: Mary's high school graduation picture (at age 16), and one of the last pictures taken, of Mary in her 90s on the occasion of an all class reunion in Milton, North Dakota. The last alive from her graduation class (and, eventually, the last remaining sibling in her family), Mary was the grand marshall of the parade they had for the celebration. My mother observes: "So both of these photos are school photos!"

I think of her quite often, especially at this time of year. Lilacs in bloom remind me of her, as does the Easter season.

Mary managed to live on her own until the very last weeks of her life, keeping her sharp mind, sense of humor, and interest in other people. She made hundreds of gifts during her lifetime, knitting and crocheting, embodying a sense of both thrift and generosity. She was very practical, fair, and engaging, working as an English teacher for many years. I miss her, and continue to feel her presence in my life. This late photo brings with it the tone of her voice and the sound of her laugh.

Pushing the envelope: Happy birthday, Jack!

Jack's 19th birthday, and I wanted to make a card out of something unusual. I get a lot of business envelopes, and they are usually the first thing to be recycled or shredded. But I noticed that the insides of these are often interesting, and they include windows made of glassine paper.

I had a lot of fun making a card with a front, back, and an interior page, gluing envelopes together and adding other paper elements, including part of a reproduction from a math project Jack did as a kid, a chart showing prime numbers.

The front is the WOW page, with the WOW behind glassine. The back has the little Hermes fellow with the American flag (the Jack icon). The next page includes part of the math chart. Next up, the orange page, with the illustration that reminds me of elaborate catapulting constructions Jack used to make. The end result is a little card sculpture.

Happy birthday, Jack!

Happy Birthday, Joyce!

Another year has come around, and I'm so grateful to say that it is the birthday again of my beloved mom, Joyce Kennedy. We talked on the phone today, before she headed out with Wally-Dad for dinner at Brasa Rotisserie, followed by a performance by the extraordinary TU Dance at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis. It's a cabaret performance set to jazz standards, with dancers Toni-Pierce Sands and Uri Sands collaborating with the Jeremy Walker Quartet and actor/musician T. Mychael Rambo: chamber dances exploring concepts of respite in the city, drawing on Uri's memories of Central Park.

As Joyce put it: "Not a bad date for a woman in her eighties!" (Actually, she said "for an olede": old lady in Papua New Guinea pidgin.)

I'm so grateful for my kind and intelligent mother, who is shown here exploring respite in the woods, during a not-that-long-ago canoe trip.  Happy birthday, Mom! We love you.

Happy Birthday, Justin!

It's the birthday of Justin Shock, who writes at his facebook page:

i'm a daydreamer, but not in a 'sitting with my head on my folded hands staring off into space' kinda way, more in a 'concocting grandiose schemes that, if actually realized, will be a third as cool as i imagined' kinda way.

I like the math in that. Just a shout out to him up Chicago-way, with wishes for a wonderful year..
Here is Justin romancing the vegetables.

Elenabella is one year old

Hello! I can't let the clock strike midnight without noticing that elenabella was one year old this past Wednesday...begun on a whim one year ago, September 16th, 2008. It has been a fascinating process to be involved with this blog, and I intend to continue, despite these occasional lapses. So interesting – the lapses...the gaps...and then the intense involvement again with the daily practice.

I'm going to create a little "rhyme in time" and include the first image ever posted to this site, of my little crossword puzzle vase, the first effort of this writing/observing/and making things project. And here is John Ashbery's "Chutes and Ladders," as brilliant as ever.

Anyway, if you have been a regular reader, or even an occasional one, thank you for being my Always Already Ideal Reader, and for visiting (or even commenting) now and then!

Happy Birthday, Sav!

Today was the birthday of our beautiful Bird...seen with her brother and our extra teen travelers this past summer in Holland. (Look at the restored native grasses on the dunes of that beach.)

Sav was born at home 16 years ago, on a humid August night, the heat breaking post-placenta with a thunderstorm and lightning. We passed her from person to person, among three midwives, grandparents, dad, and uncle. Her two-year old brother tried to make sense of it all, playing with a new red fire truck, his trade-off toy for entering the era of life-with-sibling. I'm so grateful for supportive family and friends, those midwives, and the wonderful person Sav has always been, since her own personal odyssey began. You are my sunshine, Sav!

Happy Birthday, Jazzie!

Today is the birthday of our niece Jasmine, áká Jazzie, daughter of John and Rozie, older sister of Jade. I remember vividly when Jazzie was born, as she had severe meconium poisoning in her lungs and the situation was very frightening. Luckily, she was in New York City, where she was transported to the neonatal intensive care unit at Columbia Hospital; her life was saved by a remarkable Chinese doctor and the team of specialists there.

Today, Jazzie is a dynamic young person, extremely self aware and tuned in to her surroundings. She is very poised, but has a wonderful wacky side, too. Jazzie is loyal, verbal, observant, has strong opinions and is not afraid of voicing them. One of her many passions is a fervent appreciation of animals (especially DOGS!) and I would not be surprised if she accomplished great things in her lifetime as an advocate for their welfare.

Jazzie began to read at a very early age, and has already written several novels. She plays the clarinet, has a beautiful singing voice, and was in The Language of Birds, the childrens' opera written by her father. She's a remarkable speller and takes her education very seriously – up next is a new school in late summer, a very exciting change.

Much love to you, dear Jazzie, from your relatives in Indiana. We're so proud of you, and hope this is the start of a fantastic year! (I think 11 is a wonderful age.) Here are some photos: the ones of Jazzie writing and walking on the rocks are almost a couple of years old already; the others are more recent and show how much she has grown.

...and Happy Birthday, Liam!

Yesterday was also the birthday of this guy, the super human Lima Bean, who has crossed over into the double digits. Happy Birthday, Liam: you are my favorite elf, golfer, baseball player, leprechaun, and zucchini-listener.

For awhile Liam was on a quest to deny the value (even the existence) of letters (numbers being so much better), but now he's a powerful reader and writer, just wrestling those letters to the ground. Liam is also the inventor of the rare and elusive 55-dollar bill.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Our son Jack was born 18 years ago, right about now, in the wee hours of the early morning in our grad student duplex on Laurel Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota. I was assisted through pregnancy and labor by two naturopathic physicians; they showed up relaxed and smiling and helped through the night. One of them, Helen, had her own infant daughter in tow. The other, Tom, a male midwife, was also calm, alert, and confidence-inspiring.

My friends Kathryn and Nor were there, too, talking around the kitchen table during the early stages of labor. Nor's teen-aged daughter Deirdre came with sleeping bags; she promptly took on the task of helping with Helen's baby. Just as I went into the final moments of labor I remember issuing this command, punctuated by Earth Motherish deep gutterals: "Promise me, Deirdre, that you won't do this until you are at least 18!" Now D is the mom of the Seven Sidekicks – she took my advice ("Um, okay, whatever ") and then eventually found the right great mate and plunged full tilt into intensive adoptive and bio-momhood.

Jack was 10 on the Apgar scale, as recorded by Tom after he ran all the tests. I was thrilled by the sci-fi miracle of having helped create a perfect golden brown baby boy, one who latched on and rotated his gaze from me to his dad with a look of furrowed scepticism: "You guys know what you're doing out there? Hope so!"

Eventually my parents and Roger Hale came around ("Quelle bébé!" wrote Roger in Jack's book), bringing cinnamon rolls and jubilation. We spent the early morning hours sitting in the dining room, sleeping bags on the floor, new baby nursing and going from arm to arm, scrutinizing all his adoring humans. My friend Lisa showed later when the sun was streaming in the bedroom windows. She brought Nellie, her youngest then 2-year-old daughter, who shares Jack's birthday. (Happy birthday, Nellie!) Andreas washed the sheets and called his parents in Deutschland: their first grandchild had been born!

It was clear and cold; we had a bit of a snowstorm. The headline of the Star Tribune read "Bush Basks in Gulf Glory": the war in the gulf had just ended. Everything else that followed was still all unknown.

Jack just came home after a night out with friends: 2 am. He's still 10 on the scale. Here he is last summer with his cousin-brother Thierry (from Papua New Guinea), and in the winter with Lenni and Sav. "Happy birthday, Jack! I'm blogging about you!" "I bet you are!"

Happy Birthday, Joyce!

It's the 80th birthday of my wonderful Mom, Joyce Kennedy, an event so noteworthy that I must finally return to elenabella. (It has been a tough February, with computer complications and other unanticipated demands affecting the production of this bio-logue blog.) But the month is almost at an end, bringing at last a most magical day, a birthday rhyme-in-time: Hey, Mama! Happy Birthday!

When I have a chance, I will scan some photos of my mother over the years. For now, here is a glimpse of her at a Twins game. Born in a small town in North Dakota, her life has unfolded now for 8 full decades, something I find almost impossible to believe – until I recall Mom's steady energy, engagement, and emotional and intellectual brilliance. She loves life and lives it well.

Poet, teacher, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, devoted partner to Wally, my mother is a wordsmith and keen participant in the world. She inspires many people with her kindness, wit, intelligence, and clear, easy determination. She was named well, finding and creating Joy in a most natural, unaffected way, nearly every day. Thank you for life, Mom, and Happy Birthday!

Birthday Shouts to Charles and Veitania

I want to send out belated birthday greetings to my brother-in-law, Charles Lepani, and my niece, Veitania, who both had birthdays in late October. Here is a photo of the two of them, celebrating.

Charles is now living in Canberra as High Commissioner of Papua New Guinea to the Australian government. His remarkable career has taken him from childhood in the Trobriand Islands (where his mother Sarah still lives, and where his father, Lepani Watson, was bigpela man) to Australia, Port Moresby, Boston, Hawai'i (where he was the director of the Pacific Islands Development Program of the East-West Center, where Barack Obama Sr. was a student when he met Barack's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham), Belguim, and back to the Pacific. Happy Birthday, Charles!

Veitania (also known as Tani) was born in Belguim sixteen years ago. When she was eleven she came to live with us in Indiana for almost six months, fresh from an extended visit with Kathy to the Trobriand Islands. She delighted us with her stories, her dancing, her beautiful voice, her openness to new friendships and a brand new school ("Where are the desks?") and to life in a bunkbed in the basement with Savannah. It's been way too long since we've seen Veitania, who is growing into a gorgeous young woman, filled with spirit and promise. We love you, Tani – Happy Sweet Sixteen! (and tell us...just what was in that golden bag?!)

Happy Birthday, Kathy!

My sister Kathy is having a birthday today, far from here, in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where she is working as a consultant on HIV/AIDS issues and visiting Suzie, Andrew, Thierry and Thealani. Here's a big shout to my beloved sista, for whom I feel such deep admiration and love, and to her son Andrew and his wonderful family. Hello to her son Nathanial, too, who scored the winning goal in a soccer game in Madang with his adopted team, the Eastern Stars, a Milne Bay team!

Here is what Kathy has to say about the US election from the PNG point of view:

PNG is in a high over Obama's win. The hotel where I'm staying has an Obama Special for the month – a pizza with mixed toppings and a bit of ham and pineapple for the Hawaiian connection!

Happy Birthday, Marlies!

We are sending out a big shout to Marlies today on her birthday in Germany. We wish we could be with you, Oma, to celebrate, and spend some time looking through family photo albums and slides. I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating with friends and family members. Much love to Bü, Chris, Heike, Pit, Anna, and everyone who is celebrating the day with Marlies!

I feel so incredibly fortunate to have such wonderful in-laws: it is always a joy to visit and to recall our times together. And Marlies has had an amazing life. She is one of the kindest, most thoughtful, empathetic, and resourceful people I have ever met, very tuned into the feelings of others even across barriers of language. Marlies is an inspiration and a bedrock to everyone in her family.

Here are messages from the grand-children:

Dear Oma, I hope you have a fabulous day. I love and miss you so much...can't wait to see you this summer! Love, Sav

Happy Birthday, Oma! I'm looking forward to seeing you this summer! Maybe I will even speak a bit of Deutsch. Anyway, hope you have a great birthday! Love, Jack

Happy Birthday from Lenni and Andi, too...(your eldest son misses you!)