By Grandma
My Grandma, Estyl Bowers, wrote the following article for a local newspaper. Perfect blogging material for me. So, reprinted, totally without permisison:
The family of Doc and Estyl Bowers gathered at the old homestead July 3 to celebrate several summer birthdays, but especially Doc's "96th". All four children were present with most of their descendants. There were many four generation groups-- one particularly interesting photo taken by Mitchell's photographer son-in-law, of four Bowers with three large portraits in the back, the elder one of Doc's Great-grandfather, another Mitch Bowers.
The family groups chose from grandma Estyl's photo scrapbooks, from her blue willow ware dishes, some dance costumes, some "thing-a-ma-jigs" made on Doc's homemade wood lathe, "sure-cure" books from Doc's Veterinary library, old recordings of jam sessions, when many participated or sat listening and munching cookies.
There was some "jamming" in one end of the living room by grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Grandma Estyl, grown increasingly deaf, sat rocking some squirming great-grandchildren, and straining to hear Hickory Todd's Whistler and His Dog.
Many of the instruments have found new homes- the Hammon organ in St. Louis with Brian's family, the big bass in Lee's Summit with Kevin, the 120-bass Titano accordion and cello in Topeka with Charlotte and Jim, the mandolins, banjos, violins, guitars, and other accordions scattered from Manhattan, KS to Raleigh, N.C. We hear a little great-grandson has picked out a song on the accordion that he is anxious to play for Grandma. The little hand-made rocker by James Todd now lives at Warrensburg, MO.
The vast music library is getting similarly scattered. A stack of organ music will be played on the little pipe organ at Lathrop First Methodist Church. The book of Debussy favorites in Topeka, KS, the Chopin Walzes at affairs in Los Angeles, the boxes of "pop" standards by entire clan, and much of Grandma's elementary piano music is piano recitals in Raleigh, NC. Andrew took some of Grandpa's banjo tapes to set to his "Rap" discs which are selling from Fort Worth to Lawrence, KS.
Cameras were snapping all over. The old jeeps were not started this time, but rides were taken on Doc's golf cart. Boxes of old pictures, some into the 1800's, were colorfully explained by Grafton's wonderful memory.
Those who joined Doc and Estyle were" Samuel Mitchell and Agnes Bowers of St. Louis, and most of their decendants- Quention of Columbia, Amber Joy and Kevin Keister with Ginnie and Noelle of Raleigh, N.C., Alice, St. Louis, and Brian and HOlly with Sauel Grafton and Lucy of St. Louis. Brenda and Pete Bonar of Lathrop and most of their decendants- Kevin and daughter Kaylee of Lee's Summit, and Heather and Jared May and Caleb, Alex and Jonas of Riley, KS> Ellen Bowers of Los Angeles and Janet Robinson of Warrnsburg, MO. Charlotte and Dr. James McCollough and Shin Andrew of Topeka. Absent were Rachel Daniels, Mitchell's daughter, Kristy Bonar, Brenda's daughter-in-law and Jang Dwight McCollough, Charlotte's eldest.
All had a delightful day to be long remembered.
More photos from the weekend can be seen here.
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Panara
Caleb and I traveled a half hour down the road, and are now enjoying high speed internet in a crowded noisy restaurant. The food smells amazing. I just bought us each a small drink, to offset the FREE internet the offer.
Alex had his first accordion lesson yesterday. I will have to make a video. He learned so much. My mom has given hours of piano lessons to the boys, at a rate of 25 cents per lesson, to be paid by the boy wanting the lesson. We have a lot of music going on.
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An update
My blogging is lacking. Dial up is slow. Not that I don't appreciate it, it's just slow. Slower that I have patience for.
Our stuff is moved. We got help from a good good friend in Riley to get our piano on the truck. My dad helped us get it off the truck. I had a clever post in mind, as I followed Jared down the highway, and the back of the uhaul stated "our lower decks make your move EASIER". I wanted to take a photo of that.. and wonder.. how tired would I be if it was any harder.
But, it's all in storage now.
The kids are having a blast, free run of the country. They are living a spoiled life, surrounded by grandparents. My parents during the week, Jared's parents on the weekend. They're lucky boys.
Jared is now employeed. He's a math teacher in a charter school in Kansas City. He's quite happy. I'm still searching. I have been contacted by one greenhouse, and just need to get back with them to set up an interview.
Things are starting to look up in our world.
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Changes
Changes are coming fast. Today is day one of big changes. We're loading up the people and the critters, and making the first part of the move. It's only a brief two day thing, we'll come back to Riley, and pack up the rest of our stuff in the uhaul. The kids all have mixed emotions that change rather frequently. But, I think once we get settled, everything will be great.
I'll do more intensive job hunting the next two days. I found a restaurant in Liberty that has open interview times, so, hopefully I can get them to talk to me. That will work for awhile. I have a list of people to talk to in the agriculture business. Something will come through.
As you can see though, the sofa at my folks' house holds plenty of people... so, at least that's not an issue.
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One more day
One more day of high speed internet. Then I go to the land of dial up. I can handle it though. I have been looking around myself, trying to decide what I can live without for two months, and what I cannot. As a pack rat, this is tricky for me. I did manage to pull myself away from this lovely fast internet and pack up all of my papers out of the living room. All that is left there, is furniture, Jared's stuff (which he's in charge of), and video games. Video games get their own box, it's waiting in the laundry room. The kids don't know that we're taking it with us. They'll be happy. It will be an easy "babysitter" for when they're getting a bit to wound up.
Next is the dining room. That's mostly piano music. One box. I'm slowly working my way through the house.
We are waiting anxiously for a phone call. Jared had a job interview last Thursday that went *great*. He thought they might call yesterday, they didn't. Hopefully they'll call today. If he gets this job, it will take a lot of pressure off.
I put in several applications last Friday. Many things I was over qualified for. I left my master's off of one application. I can understand why people don't want over qualified. Maybe one of those people will call me.
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What we’re doing now
Life has been interesting lately. It has made me contemplate what I have, be thankful for what I have, and try not to worry so much about what I wish I had. Things will fall into place wonderfully. I've been told, that in two years, when I look back, I'll wonder why I worried so much. Maybe so.
We spent yesterday packing, and I think I mentioned before. Today, I was lazy. But, I realized.. that I think the kids are all packed. Each bathroom.. is probably just one box of stuff, right? I don't have *that* much stuff in the bedroom (no clue what Jared has).. but, I packed away everything for the attic, that I didn't feel the need to protect. So, at this point, I mostly have photos, and memorabilia from generations past, and my own kids. Just a couple boxes, I think. Three tops. The kitchen worries me a bit.. but again, I packed away a ton of it already.
So, I'm convincing myself... it's not that much. I did come across the kids "school days books" when I was looking for my Harry Potter books. Now the kids won't look back upon this summer as the summer mom was too stressed to fill out their childhood memories books. Whew, load off my mind.
Tomorrow night, I have a dinner date with all of my former co-workers. I've assured them, I'll be back.. but we need to get together one last time, before I have to drive 200 miles to see them. Should be fun times.
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Wand vs. Gun
Today we worked on packing. The kids have all of their clothes packed, their one tub of "I can't live without this item", and our instruments are piled together. I started handing stuff down out of the attic to Jared. It's a sauna up there, so I can only go about 5-10 minutes at a time. We're running out of room to put stuff, and still be able to walk around. The boys packed up everything out of their desks. Essentially, the boys are packed.
Caleb tells me now, he's board. I packed up all of the board games, he packed up his room. He has NOTHING to do. He talked Jonas in going outside and playing "Sniper" where they get guns, aka sticks, and try to shoot each other first. Caleb headed outside first. Jonas started to go out about 10 minutes later. I asked him, if he was going out to play with Caleb, and he told me.. "I need to find a good wand, so I can disarm him." I'm not sure who won.
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Thankful
Yesterday, I was feeling a bit emotional, I won't go into details. Today, I'm feeling quite thankful.
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The economy
I thought I would warn everyone...
If you have a hankerin' to quit your job, sell your house, build a new house, and relocate 200 miles away, to a new state...
The economy really isn't that great.
At least the kids will be happy. They're oblivious to the economy.
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Six days until closing
And we learn that the buyer's loan fell through. So. On we move. We're still planning on moving up this upcoming week. Jared had a *GREAT* job interview that seems promising. I need to follow up on a couple greenhouse jobs. We need to move on with our lives. Get the kids in school, ect.
So, we'll empty out our house. Scrub it clean. I'll repair some of the things on the inspection report, that I wasn't allowed to do before, because I was not a professional. And, it should be easier to show now. No evacuating to go eat dinner out. Although, maybe that was a good thing. I could still request a call from the realtor, and we could go out to eat to celebrate each showing.
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