alexandriacardinals

[Mom and Dad Gaither on their way to “supervise” White Out (everyone wears white) night on the cruise ship.  Yes, we are revisting the cruise, as we will continue to do as other family photos have arrived, because this was the prelude to graduation – the theme of blogs to come.  Grandson Tom requested this cruise – as his graduation year spring break.  We begin (and end?) with a series of photos of a teeming mosh pit of American utes!  When the supervisor first saw these, she said, “Oh, I wish I would have gone!”  Well, no, she wouldn’t have been invited – and two, as I recall, we seniors were in total slumberland as this was taking place.  Frightening!]

[Oy!  All photos herein from Dad Danny.]

[Still searching for the boy.]

[Ah, there he is!]

[Stuck in the middle with them.]

[Tom signals touchdown?]

[Already a song-and-dance man in show choir, Tom works on his moves!  😉 ]

[The drinking age in international waters is 18.  So, all these soon to be graduates could drink with a signed release from their parents.  Tom was asked if he wanted to (it was his party, after all) – he declined.]

[The bar angel?]

[We met her and her mother in the atrium one afternoon.  She was also graduating from high school this year.  We asked if she had met Tom yet (and described him) at any of the teen events.  She had.  🙂 ]

[The above venue in daylight.]

[Mom and son wrap up a long evening.  Yawn.]

[Now let’s go work on our tans . . .]

The bee emerging from deep within the peony departs reluctantly.  ~ Basho, Matsuo

[The supervisor’s handiwork – harvested from her very own yard!]

He was in my hair, my eyes, my fingers, my heart. I day-dreamed about what he was doing, thinking, seeing, smelling, feeling. I could not eat for thoughts of him.  ~  Lisa See, Peony in Love

In my world, everyone’s a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!  ~  Dr. Seuss

[By the supervisee, June 7.]

I’m hanging at the hostel this evening, forgot to take photos of today’s adventure (framing for the big window 55″x84″).

However, when I got here the sun was setting so I went down to the lake for some photos and there were turtles everywhere!!  I mean like 15-20 that I could see, many were laying eggs and one kept crossing back and forth across the road (weird??).

I learned in permaculture class the native North Americans referred to this continent as “The Land of the Turtle” because they burrowed under ground and were some of the few beings to survive the comet impact that took out the dinosaurs.  ~ Danny (son-in-law)

Taken near the end of the transit with a Canon EOS T2i with a fixed 50mm f1.8 lens hand held in the macro mode at the eyepiece of a Lunt Solar telescope.  Viewing here in Hawaii was from start to finish….this one of best shots. Provided neighbors and our guest view over a 6-hour period.  ~ Aloha, Roy (friend avocating astronomy in Hawaii.)

[And soon – prepare for the graduation onslaught!  🙂  ]

If you ever appear on a cake, chances are pretty good you did something awesome . . . or were having a birthday.  In this case it was the former for the grandson.  He was graduating from Noblesville, Indiana high school in the top ten percent of his class.  The locale for his graduation par-tay was just a mile or so from the family residence of some 10 years – yet the “Minnesota” setting was a place of first impression for grandma and  grandpa.

[We did not know there was a nearby lake (reservoir).]

[So I was amazed to drive into this setting.]

[The place was loverly – though under the auspices of an HOA.]

[ . . . it came with a view.]

[It was a 3-guy party – possibly hoping they would attract more girls that way?]

[Tom’s granny Fran appears to be on a mission.]

[Meanwhile, boats start to appear on the lake – a 90+ degree day will do that.]

[Decorate, supervisor, decorate!!]

[Moms at work!]

[The centerpieces are done!]

[Now I want to go to the pool!]

[Decorating proceeds apace.]

[ . . . but off-limits to the party.]

[Jami supervises decorating . . . yes, I was now subject to the whims of TWO SUPERVISORS!!  😉 ]

[Some thought these numbers reflected the graduation date of the honorees.  Others know it relfects the year the members of the class of ’65 turned 65!]

[The gift box – it worked REALLY well!  🙂 ]

[I will take partial credit for table decorating.]

[OK, kids were a big help.]

[The SUPERVISORS no doubt plotting a project for me!]

[The food bar.]

[Grandson and grandma take a break from the action to pose.]

[The balloons arrive.]

[Grandma, mom, and grandma supervising the balloons.  Tom’s slideshow on the big screen.]

[Tom at bat above and engineering the system below.]

[Tom as we remember him through his tweens and early teens.  Next, he’ll be designing the things!  🙂 ]

[Dad shooting the boys’ gift tables.]

[It’s mine, all mine!]

[Grandpa Ed is instructing the young man in the foreground about the game of golf.  He’s shooting in the low 40’s for 9 already.]

[The supervisor was delighted to see her son Rob.]

[Reservoir action was picking up.  In fact it got quite choppy out there – and would have been a violation of wake rules on beautiful Lake Darling!  😉 ]

[There was a photo booth – so of course I had to take a picture of the booth taking a picture of us.]

[Proud mom!!]

[Jami’s announcement of “eat up” draws a round of applause.]

[And Jami was worried that the guys hadn’t invited any girls.]

[Meanwhile, back on the lake . . .]

[The supervisor, Grandpa Ed, and Danny monitor the goings-on.]

[Uncle Rob and an assortment of Tom’s grandparents.]

[Ed-in-charge!]

[Tucking in her kids.]

[Under-the-curtain shot of Rob and Jami.]

[Mother and son share “a moment.”]

[And Jami was worried that the guys hadn’t invited any girls, Part II.]

[The supervisor visits with Tom’s physics teacher.  He appreciated Tom so much he considered him to be his TA!  🙂  ]

[Great aunt Rita and honorary great aunt Cindy arrive from Nashville, Indiana.]

[The Biddies note the community play in which Tom had a starring role.]

[The supervisor with her boys – grandson Tom and son Rob.  She calls them the “Eyelashes Twins.”]

[At least Tom won’t have to change school colors – both Noblesville and Purdue are black and gold.]

[Lifeguard dodging the incoming wakes.]

[Gaming]

[Wrapping up.]

[THE PARTY’S OVER!]

We can call it that because you know it didn’t go smoothly . . .

[But before we left, beautiful Lake Darling was . . . well, beautiful.]

“The trip,” or any trip now, is accompanied by the notebook computer, a relatively recent addition to the blog hardware.  For many years the laptop alone performed yeoman service, and when at home, it’s still the weapon of choice.  But the notebook has advantages in size, speed, and capacity – and I’m still learning how to work it.  At home, the notebook (foreground) is used for uploads and downloads, the laptop (background) is used for assembly, and the supervisor’s desktop (solo photo) is now used for composition.  On the road, this is my first attempt at using the notebook for everything – it’s probably about time to do so.

[Now, back to the lake, a few days before we left, the annual Moby Obie spider spraying and cleaning day – who knows when we’ll actually take it out?]

A few days later, it was time to hit the road . . .  It was Memorial Day weekend, and as we approached our destination, it was Indy 500 weekend.  We zoomed through Minnesota, and the Cities, with no delays.  Then we hit Wisconsin where, it appears, everyone hits deer.  We don’t know why they even have a deer hunting season in Wisconsin – you can find all the venison you would ever want or need on the shoulders of I-94 from the Minnesota border to Madison.  Never fails – drives the supervisor crazy (“If only I could save and rehabilitate them!”).

Chicago, of course, is always a challenge – even in the best of times.  I want the orange traffic barrel contract for highway construction in Illinois – there must have been a gazillion of them, and they were border to border!  It was only mid-afternoon so we thought we could make through the city on I-290/294.  We were later advised – always take the skyway!!!  It was impossible – we tried to make it all the way to I-65 in Indiana but finally looked for an alternative.  We turned off on US 41 – out of the frying pan, into the fire, as it also was under construction with only one lane available.  We eventually made it to I-65 but were now well over an hour off the usual trip time.

We made it to Exit 220, not that far down the road, where Fair Oaks Farms, a gigantic dairy farm (famed on YouTube), is located.  I-65, on the way to Indianapolis, came to a dead stop.  We finally decided to take the shoulder to the exit and take back roads in.  When we crossed over the interstate, we noticed people were out of their cars, just standing there with their doors open.  It must have been a really bad accident.

[Part of Fair Oaks Farms.]

[Flat land, upper Midwest – wind farms!]

[It hadn’t rained in Central Indiana since ‘Ought-8, but we brought it with us!]

[We take two-lane roads cross-country to Noblesville, which is 20 miles north of Indianapolis.  We usually stop at a Subway in Sheridan (across the street from the water tower) for a quick repast along the way – it seems we always get a quick thunderstorm there!]

In Noblesville the next morning, Tom and Grandma Ruth drove off to buy him a graduation suit:

Oh, and Olivia Newton-John was the grand marshal for the Indy 500 parade that day.  She is just sllightly more than one-year younger than this correspondent.  Where did I go wrong?

[I think the guys of my generation thought her cute – but who remembers?]