R.E.M.

For the past three months, Doug and I had been listening to a lot of R.E.M. on Spotify.  Once Cameron gave me their vinyl, Life's Rich Pageant, we switched over to only listening to that whenever we were in the mood for music from my favorite band in college.  Although I think that it is their best album, Doug and I have been looking through their collection to see which other ones that we would like to order.  We have also spent a lot of time debating which of their songs was the best.  I find it amazing that neither one of us has changed our opinion in over thirty years.  I still believe that "I am Superman" is their best song and Doug's number one continues to be "Orange Crush."  Just like most of their songs, the lyrics do not make sense in either song, but we still love listening to them on repeat.

Although I really enjoy listening to the album that Cameron gave me, the best part about it is the reason that Cameron gave me an R.E.M. vinyl.  In March, he was visiting us, and we were talking about bands that we had loved that had fallen out of favor with music listeners.  Guns N' Roses was number on that list, but R.E.M. was on it as well.  I told Cameron the story of how their lead singer was caught with young boys in his limo and after that everyone really stopped listening to the band.  Cameron looked at me strange and said, "Are you sure?  I had never heard that, and it would be a big story in the music world if it was true."  I was positive that I was right, but decided to fact check it anyway, especially after my long-standing belief of the urban legend surrounding Phil Collins' song "In the Air Tonight."  Of course, I could find absolutely no information on the story that I had long believed about my favorite college band once again confirming Cameron's suspicions that I was completely gullible.  Thankfully, Doug did confirm to Cameron that everyone in our age group including him believed the myths that I had shared.  The best part of the discussion, however, was that Cameron would never forget my love for R.E.M. and showed it this past Mother's Day.

Pope Leo

 In April, the Catholic community received some sad news as Pope Francis died suddenly on Easter Sunday after giving the holiday mass.  It wasn't a complete surprise as he had spent quite a bit of time in the hospital this winter with pneumonia.  Even so, I was sorry to hear it and was thankful that my Bible study class chose to spend a morning talking about his legacy and his influence on the Catholic faith.  

The news that was shocking, however, was the announcement of the new Pope.  First, it was a lot quicker than anyone expected as he was elected on the second day of the Conclave on the fourth ballot.  Second, he was not anyone that had been on any betting board in Vegas.  Third, no one expected him to choose the name Leo as John, Paul and Francis were the most common names used in the last seventy years.  The biggest shocker of all, however, was when the announcement came through that our new Pope was from the United States.  There was no one that I knew in the Catholic community that ever even dreamed that there would be a Pope from the US in our lifetime.  Even better, he was born in Chicago and still had family living in the city.

The Heinisch group chat lit up as soon as the Papal choice was announced.  Cal sent a picture of Pope Leo from a visit to Maggie's high school last year.  Meg suggested immediately that Brett choose Leo as the name of his second born son.  Brett was beyond ecstatic about the choice, and Cameron mentioned that it was hard to believe that we now had a pope that had been to Portillo's.  There was a pizza place in the south side of Chicago that had already renamed one of its booths to Pope Leo in honor of the pope's visit to one of his favorite restaurants in the past year.  Doug and I were more than happy with the choice and enjoyed all of the interviews with his oldest brother who now lived about two hours south of us in Florida.  Overall, it was great news not only for our family, but for the Catholic faith in general.  We look forward to the direction that he will provide our church.  

Thankful for the Digital Memories

When Meg got married, I hinted that maybe it was time for her to get her own iCloud.  It was nice to be able to share photos with her, but lately my apps were starting to become filled with her data.  When I would check my Fitbit, it would count me with 28,000 steps because it added her steps to mine.  It also started to change the information that was used on my phone, showing me in places that I wasn't and routing me to stores in Orlando instead of Ocala.  It became too confusing to navigate, so once Meg moved to Florida, I asked her to please find a way to change her iCloud to stop the confusion.  Meg was reluctant because of all of the shared photos, but in the end switched over this week when I promised her that she could still sign in to mine on her iPad to download any photos that she wanted to keep.  

Meg spent the past few days sending herself photos that she wanted to keep in her new iCloud.  I sympathized with the immensity of the project.  We had a lot of digital memories on our iCloud, many of which were hers. I did enjoy seeing a few of those memories show up on my photo stream today.  The pictures were adorable and reminded me of all of the fun times that our family had spent together on vacation and in everyday life.  It was also a wonderful reminder that the closeness our children felt then had not changed.  I would never want to relive those days, but I sure enjoyed reminiscing about them today.

On the Move

Cameron and his study abroad group traveled to a small town in the northeast part of Greece today.  His professor had grown up in the area and she was excited to show them that particular region of her home country.  They traveled close enough to the border of Turkey that they could see the fence between the two countries.  Cameron had told us earlier that the people of Greece did not get along well with those from Turkey.  I guess the fence proved that point.  

While they were traveling, the IU students also toured several different food factories along the way.  Cameron's favorite part of the trip was visiting a goat farmer that was living "off the grid."  He enjoyed his way of life and the lunch that they shared while they were there.  The last stop of the day was a peanut butter factory where they got to sample several different fruit flavored peanut butters.  His favorite was the banana one.  The group ended their evening staying in host family homes near the border of Bulgaria.  The house was small, but Cameron really liked his host and the conversation that he had with him. 

 

A New Sound System

Doug and I decided not to get each other gifts this year for our anniversary and instead purchase something that we both wanted.  Our current record player needed a new band and was turning slower and slower because of it.  We also wanted to upgrade the speaker system that we had with one that was wireless.  That way we would be able to listen to our record collection while sitting on the back patio or on the lanai during game nights.  

Both Doug and I liked Meg's record player a lot.  It was very easy to use and sounded a lot better than ours.  I started looking for one like it and found the perfect player on Best Buys website.  I ordered it and a Bluetooth speaker that had great reviews as well.  The shipping date was delayed, so it would miss our anniversary, but it would still be delivered by Memorial Day weekend which was our goal.  We had planned on spending a lot of time in Ocala over the holiday weekend and knew that we would get a lot of great use out of it over the three-day break.  

On Thursday, I was very disappointed to see that the delivery date moved to the Tuesday after Memorial Day.  The speaker had already arrived, but it didn't work with our old record player.  I decided Saturday morning to look online for another system that we could pick up locally.  There weren't a lot of options, but after searching, I finally found the exact same system that I ordered at a Walmart about ten minutes from our home.  They only had one left, so we hurried over to the store after visiting the Ocala Downtown Market.  Not only did they have the record player, but it was quite a bit cheaper than the one from Best Buy.  They had the same speaker at a discount as well.  In the end we were able to listen to our favorite vinyls all weekend long for a $160 less than we would have with the Best Buy purchase.  

That alone made our music sound even better.  

Crazy Cucumber, Heathbrook Square & Gainesville

Since Nick was flying this weekend, Meg decided to spend Memorial Day weekend with us.  She arrived last night and we enjoyed dinner with her at Crazy Cucumber after mass as that is Meg’s favorite restaurant in Ocala.  While we were at Heathbrook Square, we also did some shopping at Old Navy, Home Goods, Marshalls and Barnes & Noble.  Doug offered to pick up cookies from Crumbl while we were there, but Meg really wanted to make her own recipe tonight.  Meg invited Phil over once we got back home and we had a nice evening on the back patio listening to music.

Today, the three of us headed to Gainesville for the day.  Doug and I renewed our membership at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens and despite the heat, we had a nice walk through the bamboo garden.  Meg purchased several fun postcards for her friends and family back home before we left.  Next, we had lunch at Relish.  Out of all of the burger places that we have tried since moving to Florida, it is still our family’s favorite.  The last stop in Gainesville was Swamp Head Brewery.  Meg had never been and liked it a lot more than I thought that she would.  I believe it was because of all of the different types of beers to try and the fun atmosphere.  Either way, I was glad that she enjoyed it as much as we do.  It was a wonderful way to spend our day.

Downtown Ocala

Neither Doug nor I had been to the Ocala Downtown Market since my parents had been here in February.  Thus, we decided to head there this morning and check out all of the vendors.  I don't know if I remembered it differently, but to me it was a lot bigger today with more food trucks, tents and booths.  We first stopped at the vegetable stand so that Doug could pick up some okra and peppers.  While he was waiting to pay, I found a man who made homemade pickles of various flavors.  Doug bought one labeled horseradish with the hope that he would really like the interesting pickle flavor.  Needless to say, he did.  After checking out all of the food vendors, Doug and I then browsed through the arts and crafts booths.  There was a lot of really cut items, but the gnomes dressed in red, white and blue were the ones that caught my eye.  We not only took one home, but also the women's card that made them as I thought that they would make the perfect Christmas gift.  

Once we were done with the downtown market, Doug and I walked to The Big Hammock for lunch. He hadn't been there in quite some time, and I loved their "Admiral Turkey" sandwich.  The food was delicious as always and the Silver Springs decor was nice as well.  Our last stop downtown was Grandpa Joe's.  It has definitely become one of my favorite stores in Ocala.  We purchased a few items before heading back home to wait for Meg to arrive.  I was very glad that we ventured out this morning as it was the perfect way to start a fun, relaxing holiday weekend.  

The Music Man

A couple of weeks ago Meg started watching the music man. She hadn’t seen it in years and only remembered a couple of scenes, so she really wanted to see it again. Meg was absolutely amazed at how much she loved the movie. Professor Harold Hill and Winthrop played by Ronnie Howard were her favorites. She went around singing or listening to the songs for the next week or so. While Meg was listening to the soundtrack, she also noticed that many of those songs were favorites of Grandma Heinisch as well as she used to sing them quite often, especially Pick -a-Little, Talk- a-Little. I didn’t remember that, but Doug could remember her singing "Goodnight Ladies" quite often. Meg talked about the movie so much that Doug and I started watching it as well. It was just as cute as I remembered, and I agreed with her 100% about the two best characters in the show.

While I was at Meg‘s house last week, she said that she would love to get the soundtrack of The Music Man on vinyl. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to find it but knew that it was one that she would listen to all of the time. I started looking on eBay right away and discovered that there actually was a vinyl from the movie. I also saw that there was one from the Broadway musical of the same name that starred Robert Preston as well. That made sense to us as he had originated the role of on Broadway and carried it over to the big screen. I suggested to Meg that we order a copy of the one from the movie and she agreed immediately. I found one for less than $10 and soon it was on our way to our house. 

Once the vinyl arrived, I was so excited to give it to Meg that I didn’t even open the package. Meg took one look at the cover and said "Thanks Mom, I'm super excited, but this is actually from the Broadway musical." I was so disappointed in myself. I I was sure that I had ordered the correct copy but thought that I must have made a mistake. I went back to my orders to see what had happened and realized that the seller had actually sent me the wrong album. I messaged her with the hope that she would still have the other one and quickly got a reply. She said that it was her fault and that she felt terrible. She offered to give me a complete refund and send me the correct album right away. We told her that we didn't need a refund and to just send us the one we wanted.  We would then return the one we received in error as we knew it was a lot more expensive, and we didn’t want her to be out the money. 

Today, the movie version of the Music Man arrived, and I was extremely happy to give it to Meg. There was also a paid postage sticker in the package with a big thank you for returning the one that she sent in error.  I headed to the post office and Meg played the new vinyl right away. I was glad that she was happy, and Doug and I enjoyed listening to Seventy-Six Trombones blaring on her speaker all night long.

The Survivor Podcast

This spring, Doug and I did not miss an evening of Survivor and really enjoyed it.  Doug had only recently started watching the reality survival show again, but I have been catching the Wednesday favorite since it first started twenty-five years ago.  I haven't loved every season, and I have found a lot of the players extremely unlikeable, but Survivor 48 was fun from the beginning. Both Doug and I were wrong about who would win last night, but overall, we were happy with who the jury chose.  Predictability in any reality show makes it boring, and this season was definitely not that.  

For me the best part about Survivor lately, has been the podcast immediately following tribal council.  I accidentally found it last year and have loved listening to Jeff Probst along with his cohosts including at least one ex-Survivor player give their thoughts on each episode.  The insight about the show has been absolutely fascinating, especially how it has evolved over the years.  I have been impressed with how involved Probst is in producing the show and the number of friends and family members of the crew that have become a part of the Survivor working family as well, including the host's own niece.  Since the podcast has only been in existence for the past four season, a listener suggested that they make podcasts for previous season as well.  I have to be honest; I think that I would listen to those shows as well.  Either way, I am glad that Survivor has been a staple in the Heinisch family for years and am already looking forward to Season 49 this fall.  

 

Celebrating Our 32nd Anniversary

I told Doug several weeks ago that there was only one thing that I would have changed about our wedding. I loved everything about it, but if I knew then what I know now, I would have picked a different month. I did not realize until my children started school that May would become our family's busiest month of the year next to December.  End of year picnics, spring sports finals, music programs, graduations, First Communion, and Confirmation took up a lot of our days in May. Adding in Mother's Day and Cal's birthday as well as multiple awards programs when the Heinisch children got older, left Doug and I with no time to celebrate our wedding anniversary. 

At first, we would find a day in May to go out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary.  Over time, however, a card and maybe small gift was plenty for the two of us.  Some years, we even forgo that tradition as it seemed forced as we tried to squeeze in a little bit of time for just the two of us with our family's crazy May schedule. I thought that I would be upset about the lack of anniversary celebrations, but in the end neither Doug nor I cared. We had worked hard every day to build a nice life with our family.  A celebration in honor of that wasn't needed for us to be happy.

With no one at home this year, Doug and I decided to celebrate differently. We booked a night at Port Orleans Riverside and spent the evening celebrating at Disney World.  It was so much fun.  We went to Hollywood Studios for several hours before traveling back to Riverside to hang out in the piano bar.  From there we walked over to the French Quarter for beignets for dessert before heading back to our room.  Nick and Meg stopped by to say hello before they left for Magic Kingdom and then again before leaving for home.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to celebrate our 32nd anniversary.

Happy Birthday Cal

Cal turned 27 today and although we couldn't be there to celebrate in person, our family did send him multiple texts throughout the day along with social media posts and phone calls.  I was a little bummed that the gift Cameron and I sent him last week got delayed in the mail, but I knew that he would enjoy extending his celebration one more day.  Brett's present was delayed as well, but thankfully the Rubber Soul album that Meg and Nick got him arrived today and he enjoyed listening to that as he worked from home. Maggie sent us pictures later in the evening of Cal at his birthday dinner.  She had made reservations at a restaurant where they turned Winston Churchill's elevator into a private booth.  Cal loved it and enjoyed the seafood menu immensely.  

I was very happy for Cal today.  His twenty-seven years have been a blessing to our family.  There have been some challenging times that he has had to persevere through, but along the way there has also been so much fun and love.  I am extremely proud of the hard work that he has put into his relationship with Maggie and at Plante Moran.  Although I miss having him work from home, I am so glad that he has built such a wonderful life for himself in Chicago.  I can't wait to see him next month in the Keys.  It should be a fantastic time and a great way to celebrate his 27th birthday in person.  

Greece Bound

After a dozen hours and several countries, Cameron finally landed in Alexandroupolis.  I was nervous about his study abroad trip, but once I found out that he was situated in Greece, I decided that I would no longer worry about it.  Cameron makes good decision and would be sharing this experience with two of his roommates along with a dozen other honor students at IU and his college professor who grew up in the area.

Cameron sent pictures of the view from his hotel room as soon as he unpacked. I thought the scenery was absolutely beautiful. Turkey was just beyond the river, but I had stopped worrying about him "accidentally hiking into that country" long ago.  On his first day, Cameron was able to spend some time exploring the town, trying different Greek delicacies, buying his first legal beer and shopping.  He had purchased the perfect gift for Brett by the time he headed back to the hotel and had plans for more souvenir buying later.  I will miss talking to him while he is traveling but am really looking forward to hearing all about his adventures when he returns in June.  

Cleaning Out the Memory Tubs

While Meg was here last weekend, she spent some time going through the four memory tubs that she had stored here. Since I did not have as much storage space in our Florida home as I did in Syracuse, I was glad to hear that she planned to take them with her once she got move into her new home in Baldwin Park.  I enjoyed listening to her talk about all of the items that she had stored over the years.  Some were instantly put in the trash bag as she couldn't believe that she kept them in the first place.  Others provoked precious memories that would last a lifetime.  I was also glad to hear that she planned to keep a lot of the baby clothes in the hopes that someday her daughter or niece would be able to wear them. Since they had only been worn by one child, most were still in great shape, and the dresses were adorable.

Meg left the sorted tubs here until her next trip to Ocala.  Since Doug was going to stay with her one night, I offered to reorganize them and send them with him.  She appreciated the help, and I was pleased to see that I could now fit everything into three tubs for her.  Meg sent me a picture later in the evening.  She had been vacuum sealed a lot of her clothes and used the same process to store many of the items in the memory tubs.  It was funny to see Lucy vacuum sealed, but I was glad that she made the "keep" list and that everything fit nicely in Meg's storage unit. 

Cal's Day in Syracuse

When Cal found out that Maggie was going to go to a baby shower in St. Louis this weekend, he decided that it would be the perfect time to visit grandma and grandpa. They agreed 100%.  Cal drove out this morning and met Grandpa at Black Squirrel golf course in Goshen where they enjoyed 18 holes together.  Normally, they would have played at Maxwelton, but the course was closed due to a golf tournament. Grandpa ended up beating Cal, but he didn’t mind as he had a lot of fun.

After golf, they went back to meet Grandma for lunch and also enjoyed watching Jeopardy together. While Cal was there, he even got to open up his birthday gift a little bit early. I was really glad to hear that all went well and that they had a fun day together. I appreciate that my children still enjoy visiting their grandparents. I know that I loved hanging out with mine, and I am glad that they have carried on that tradition.

Bananas and Peppers

One of the best parts about moving to Florida has been learning about the state’s vegetation and what grows best in the warm humid climate. Since we have been here, we have tried growing a lot of different outdoor plants. We have had success with some like the pineapple, bromeliads and poinsettias. Others haven’t done as well as we hoped, but are still hanging in there like our hibiscus plant.

Recently, Doug and I added two new plants to the backyard. We purchased a banana plant and a jalapeño pepper. We had had banana plants when moved here, but they were in the ground and the cold weather killed them easily. We decided this time to keep the banana plant in a pot, so that we could move it indoors when the temperature dropped below 40° next winter. We hoped that the pepper would do a little bit better than our tomato plant. The snails seem to have stunted the tomatoes growth, so hopefully we can keep the mollusks away from the peppers. The other thing that we did this past week was move the lemon tree onto the rocks by the bromeliads, hoping the flowers would finally pollinate and we would have our first lemon. The good news for us this was that we finally saw a lime growing on our lime tree. Not only did it look healthy, but there were a few other small ones that had started taking shape as well.

I do not know what we will try to grow next. Meg and Nick got a basil plant to put out on their deck that seems to be thriving, so maybe we will try something like that. No matter what comes next, it has been a lot of fun experimenting with gardening in Florida.

New Chairs

I have absolutely loved our new kitchen table. The glass has been a lot easier to clean than I thought it would be, and the pineapple brings up some great conversations, especially now that I know that it’s significance in the Mormon culture. What I don't love about our new table and chair is the seat cushions. The color was extremely boring, and I really wanted to update them. I wasn’t quite sure how to do it, however, as the seats were round and the metal chairs were super heavy. Because of those two factors, I didn’t know if it would be easy to take the seats off and cover it like I did our dining room chairs in Syracuse.

This week, I decided to give it a try. First, I figured out how to take the seats off, so I could learn how to recover them. Then, Doug and I looked for fabric. He suggested finding a pattern for three of the chairs and a plain color for the fourth.  It took a couple of stores, but we did find fabric that we liked. The hard part came next when I worked on recovering the chairs. The round seats made the material pucker, so I had to staple and unstaple the fabric to the underneath of the chairs as I worked my way around each one slowly. The shortest time it took to recover one of the chairs was 45 minutes, while the longest I worked on one was two hours. Thankfully, there was no deadline, and in the end, I was able to recover all four of the chairs.  I love the new look and am very glad to have that project checked off of my list.

Nick Makes it to Florida

Nick arrived late Tuesday night happy to have passed his check ride and finish his training in Dallas. He was also thrilled to finally see his new home in Florida. Meg had worked hard to get their apartment ready and was anxious to show it to him as well as the Baldwin Park area.  Meg and Nick were also excited to be able to get their new driver's license so they could be official Florida resident Disney World annual passholders.

I know that it will take some time for Meg and Nick to get adjusted to a new area and find their bearings. It will also take them some time to adjust to the Florida heat.  In the end I know that they will love the change from life in Chicago. Moving can be overwhelming, but it can also be exciting as it is a chance to start fresh. I definitely cannot wait to hear about all of their adventures in their new home state.