Congratulations Smiley!

This kid got accepted at UWM. No decisions about where he will actual attend yet but CONGRATULATIONS Smiley!!! We are proud of you and love you! - Mom and Dad

photo by Yaya at Slapczynski Shoots

 

How to Tip Your Server

Smiley couldn't dig his car out of the snow in time for work so I drove him this morning. Cut ahead eight hours. I had to take the exchange kids to the mall. Rather than keep going back and forth I went to his restaurant and had coffee to wait out the hour until he was off. 

He gave me the check. $3.10, and I gave him a twenty dollar bill. 

"Do you need change?" he asked

"No. Take $6.90 as a tip and put ten towards the garbage bags you bought for us." I said. 

"The garbage bags were fifteen," he responded. 

"Ok. Then take $1.90 as a tip and fifteen for the bags"

LOL

Smiley's 2nd Birthday Pictures from back in 2007!

 

Snow in Lincoln County

Smiley sent me this morning.  He's on a Senior retreat at Treehaven, up in Tomahawk.

As you can see it snowed there, something those of us in SE Wisconsin have happily avoided this fall.  

Still, there's no denying the beauty of a fresh snowfall. 

An odd gift, but thank you

Someone found a dead moth outside and gave it to me - Smiley

The Grasshopper (free) (not so outdoorsy) Picnic

Should you search through this site, you'll find that many - not all, but many - State Fair weeks I would take some combination of the kids on a Grasshopper Picnic; so named because we would usually share a Little Caesar's pizza in Whitnall Park, and finish by catching a jar or two of grasshoppers that we released in our yard. 

Alas, this year, three considerations have affected this outing;

1. I maintain a glorious array of bird feeders, and bringing the grasshoppers home would be ensuring their quick demise at the hands, er, beaks, of my pretties. 

2. I'm planning on going to the Fair tomorrow, and the kids work. 

and 

3. When I drove by a field this week and suggested it as a location, LuLu called it "more like a tick picnic."

Hrmph. 

So, improvisation. Today all the kids who live at home were working, but Junie and Smiley had a few hours free around noon. Alas, Smiley made plans for coffee with a friend, so Junie and I went to a small, local Italian grocery store that has a hot food counter, and bought some vittles. 

A cup of chili and a dark rye roll for me, chicken tenders and potato wedges for her. Oh, and she bought me an oatmeal raisin cookie and apple juice. 

We ate in the car and talked about the Aubreys (band of the great Finn Wolfhard) and the upcoming school year, and the siblings. What I remember best is her shock when I told her I sometimes stopped at that store for lunch when I had a morning class at Marquette. The idea of me having a life independent of their memories remains largely theoretical for all of them, I think. 

Afterwards we bought some school supplies and visited YaYa for a bit. 

Anyway, *maybe* we'll pull off a catch-and-release genu-wine Grasshopper Picnic. But if not, this was mighty nice too.

Two lost dogs visit Smiley

Smiley had the house to himself when Sawyer started barking at the front window. Two dogs had gotten away from their home and just randomly  . . . decided to visit our front porch. 

Smiley got the lost dogs in the backyard, where they enjoyed his hospitality by exploring, drinking the water he offered them, and just chilling on the stairs.  (All the while, mind you, with my doggo going nutty inside lol.

The number on one of the tags was no longer in service, and he got no response to a Facebook post on the neighborhood page.

 So after an hour Smiley was gearing up to take the dogs to MAADC.  Fortunately a check of a second tag revealed a different number, and the grateful owner soon came by to end the visit.

Bye doggos! 

Art by Smiley

Memories

Lisa and Smiley visited an antiques store today and she found many items from her childhood . . .

I had this!!!! I bought it from the oriental store across from Southgate mall...the newest 1987 technology in fiber optics!!! 

This is midnight Barbie's horse that came w a stamper, years before you could just go to the dollar store and buy one. If they had the stamper and saddle with this one I might have been more tempted to buy it lol

And Grandma Pickett had a set of these!

Running up the Hill

There’s a kids bop cover of running up the hill playing rn [at the 3rd St Market] - Smiley - Kate Bush's 1980's release has found a new life with Season 4 of Stranger Things

Smiley's Car

The Father's Day Hike at Hawthorn Glen

Last night Lisa suggested I take Smiley on the annual Father-Son Father's Day hike at Hawthorn Glen.

"It's important to keep the tradition alive," she said. 

 I thought for a moment. It had been cancelled because of Covid in 2020 and '21, and now Smiley is a 6'3" man on the verge of adulthood. 

 "The tradition is dead," I said.

 Naturally, the first thing in the morning I was gung-ho and we headed right out LOL!

[I called my friend Tre and invited him and my Godson at the last minute, and they jumped to return to the annual event!]

Sadly, I apparently can't read a schedule, because the hike was SATURDAY, not today. Oopie. 

It didn't matter of course. The .75 mile nature trail has a self-guiding tour, and even if it didn't it's all old hat to us. So off we all went. 

There were a few new things. Some planned, like this observation deck (which was still waiting for stairs) and others unplanned, like a tree that had fallen across the trail.

This pile of sticks reminded me of "Eeyore's House" from our old hikes in Downer Woods :)

As always, Hawthorn Glen was beautiful, and the weather was perfect.

Smiley even pulled some wild onion for our dinner (don't worry - on every previous hike, the host encouraged us to pick some)

It was a great way to kick off Father's Day, and I'm glad we kept the tradition going another year!

I'm not sure their generation is as pro-mass transit as they say they are lol

Waiting for a bus when it doesn’t have the little booth is the most embarrassing thing imaginable

Or when it starts moving right when you go to sit down, and you hold on to those poles on the bus like your salary depends on it

  - Smiley

Fetus Core

Here's a neat design Smiley created and silk-screened on a t-shirt at school.

Smiley's Senior Prom

 I think the pictures speak for themselves! Smiley was decked out in a well tailored blue suit, white shirt, pale green tie, and brown shoes. He looked great. 

He graciously stopped and posed for pictures, even though he's usually quite ornery about spending time in front of a camera. 

He's a great kid and I hope he has a blast!