Michigan Still

Peggy and I gathered up a bunch of our fun friends and went off to the SterlingFest - an art fair type thingy.  We browsed the kiosks and stalls for some special "finds".   The whole thing was very well organized.  We only had to park our car in a school lot and the shuttle came to transport us.  There was a great "restaurant row" so after searching the stalls we had lunch together under the umbrella of the picnic tables. Peggy's old neighbor was there, clowning around, so we got to have our photo taken with Rosco, a local celebrity.

Kathy Thompson, Donna Plonkey Parkhurst, Roz Runnels, Roscoe, Peggy Huntington, Karrie Glassford and me.

I bought a few things, but if I'm going to be seeing you soon, don't look too closely - it's probably a present for you!  You can check out my necklace, though.  I bought that for ME - half price!  Yay.

Chris went to Canada to meet with his colleague there, who will remain nameless for now.  Some of you may know that this COULD have been a big deal, because this was the guy who enabled Chris to see things from a whole new different angle and really take off on his idea (which is going to change the world).  However, this guy hadn't even really READ the paper.  He read the intro and the conclusion and didn't have any solid idea of the interior, so all his objections were half-hearted and not thoughtful at all.  He had obviously already decided that he didn't REALLY want to talk to Chris, so he just skimmed through his statements - whenever Chris had a solid argument to refute his objection, this guy quickly changed the subject.  He also had the  appointment scheduled so he had an "out" - he had a class to teach after an hour.  Basically it was a waste of time for Chris, but when he came back, h checked out all the objections this guy had and realized that he himself was right and this guy was full of beans.  SO...I think he's going to be REALLY SORRY some day that he didn't take the time to get involved with this project which will be heading onward and upward.  We'll be heading to Cleveland, soon, where Chris will meet with another colleague who HAS read the paper and who said, "If this is true (and it looks like it is) it is a BFD!"  And he's RIGHT!  It IS a BFD.  So hah!

Now we are in Lowell, Michigan, near Grand Rapids, with my dear friend, Rene Mussin.  We are having a blast doing absolutely nothing!    We talk and laugh and play games and just generally have a silly time.

We went to the Casino with Rene's daughter, Bridget, and her sister-in-law, Shelley, and Bridget just couldn't stop winning!  She won over $200 on one slot machine - "Sex and the City" believe it or not!

It is actually COLD here - which is just not right for Michigan in almost August!  I can't believe that it is about the same temperature here that it is at my home in Australia in the middle of the WINTER!  I had to borrow warm clothes from Rene - and STILL I'm getting all rugged up!
















We had some friends over to play yesterday.  Here is a great photo of - Amy Opperman, Dawn Bonney and Bridget.  Rene has been going crazy with the crockpot - we had a crockpot breakfast that cooked over night, and some great shredded roast sandwiches for dinner.  Nice stuff!