R.I.P Grandpa Jaspare

I first met my stepfather-in-law when I was 20, on the day I met Lisa. The details are fuzzy, but within minutes of being introduced he either called me a Polack, swore at me in Italian, or otherwise violated social etiquette.

Sensing a kindred spirit, I returned in kind. 

He laughed in reply, and I liked him immediately.

Within a few months our trips for coffee together at George Webb's became routine.Although I didn't realize it, he became the one, in Lisa's words, to vett me for her family. 

A year later he was called in front of my parish priest to vouch for our upcoming marriage. My mother-in-law had already told the priest she dissapproved of the wedding - if my 19 year old daughter said she was engaged, I'd do the same - but Jaspare went to bat for us. According to the priest, he advocated for us in a manner more Perry Mason than retired factory worker. 

I owe you for that Jaspare.

He had his flaw, God knows, just like us all. But when we had kids he became a beloved Grandpa, one especially close to YaYa. 

I owe you for that too Jaspare. 

A few months ago, just after a house fire that drove my in-law's into temporary housing, he was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor. 

Yesterday Team Slap went to say our goodbyes at his hospice. The kids hugged him and told him they loved him, and broke down in tears. I found myself crying too, and thanking him for being there for the family. 

Shortly after midnight, he passed away. 

Rest in Peace Jaspare. 

We love you, and we'll miss you. 

LuLu says goodbye to Grandpa Jaspare

I love you grandpa. Your going to a better place, there will be lots of chocolate pudding for you to eat and you'll see your mom and dad and you'll be happy. I love you very much. LuLu

An emotional evening. Goodbyes are hard. - Me

Smiley and Ginger at the Park

There's no significant event behind this post. It's just a random visit to the park after the first day of school. Enjoy. 

Shocking

A Crazy Dream

Another night, another sleep interrupted by dreams. It wasn't even a nightmare. Sure, I owed thousands to a mob boss who sent goons to break my legs, but I avoided them and set up a meet with the boss (Robert Duval) to hash it out. And this took place at Job Prior, where Lisa had rented rooms for everyone then split after finding out the  sister of a non-existent coworker had a thing for me, so I had that to deal with. And Junie had been left behind in a room by accident, but I found her talking to the maid in a room inexplicably filled with a lending library of MLP comic books. Then I had to leave her to avoid the goons again and take the stairs to the casino. But all in all, an entertaining sleep.

Is it just me?

I may be the only person online who avoids FB videos like the plague. If you can't say what you mean in a hundred printed words, then you're not someone I desire to watch prattle on for five minutes.

Grasshopper Hunting to End the Summer

Last Wednesday was the last day of summer vacation for the kids (my two week vacation from classes ended that Monday). We had a  mini-tradition, for a bit, of having a picnic in Whitnall Park during the week Lisa would work at State Fair. It's been a few years, but Ginger brought it up recently and so, for a last hurrah, we did the same. 

Sorta. 

We started out with an early dinner at Kopp's Custard. 

Oy, I know YaYa will hate this picture, given it shows her apparently jamming food in her mouth. But of the two I have as options, trust me kiddo - this is the more flattering ;)

 Alas, after dinner we split up. Nothing was wrong, but for some reason I don't even remember I got it into my head to go catch grasshoppers, and that only appealed to Ginger. In an act of sisterly love, LuLu offered to come with. And so the three of us went a'huntin'. 

Ginger was game for the chase. 

LuLu was not, and served as our spotter. An effective one at that. 

 

 LuLu also became our location photographer. 

 We were very successful, catching enough grasshoppers to fill a gallon pickle jar when we got home.

Ginger's grasshoppers have even mated and laid eggs since they joined our household!

My Mom sounded cheerful today and said the doctor is debating between sending her home for outpatient therapy or directing her to a rehab facility.

To a T

My Life Plan

C'mon People

I just don't understand the commenters on Clinton's social media. It's one thing to express your agreement, it's another to respond as if she herself is writing it and gush about how much you adore the way she thinks. What kind of idiot are you? She isn't composing posts between fundraisers. I guarantee it's a Lilly white college intern, living off their Daddy's stipend, that is writing every word.

Dang.

Update

I spoke to my Mom Friday evening. It was a stroke, and in my judgment her speech intelligibility is down maybe 20%. They still haven't located a blockage and will be doing more testing today.

Bad News. Prayers Needed.

My mother had an apparent (minor) stroke yesterday and is hospitalized. She is, or was, awake and talking in the ER, albeit with some distortion of her voice. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Yup. This!!

The First Day of School 2016

First day of school! :)

My Dad and I travel to Chicago to see a White Sox game

On a rainy Chicago day in 2003 - back when I still had all my hair - my Dad and I drove down from Milwaukee to catch a Yankees game at U.S. Cellular field. 

Gold Star

Gold star 🌟 goes to Dan  for making rice crispy treats for the back-to-school bake sale (with proceeds going to LuLu 's DC trip). I was planning on doing it, but he had them completed and individually wrapped by the time I woke up. Wow... Thanks babe! - Lisa

The Last Day of Our Summer

Tomorrow is the last day of summer vacation for the kids. I am not sad they are returning, but I am not ecstatic either. I like them around.

An Update

The scale was kind to me today, and I'm happy, but I've had to kibosh any real exercise for the last 48 because the hip keeps flaring up - oddly enough, not from the workouts, but from having to stand in one place at the post office for a third of an hour. That's death for the hip. Expect a nauseating gym post tomorrow.

The Binding by Nicholas Wolff

I liked The Binding, a new horror novel by Nicholas Wolff (said to be a pseudonym for a best selling author), right up until the last few pages, when in my opinion it stuck the reader with a cliched ending right out of a horror film. 

That aside, I still recommend it. But . . . 

This gaffe at the start of chapter fifty-six really knocked me out of the book for a good long while. He describes a college basketball, tied at 88 all  (that, despite it being a "tepid" game, would be a stellar score for an NCAA contest). Then, in the very next sentence, he talks about the quarterback launching a long pass. 

Look, either the author is COMPLETELY, silly-sitcom ignorant about sports, which I fear might be the case, or he started the chapter, put it down for a good long time, then forged ahead based on a false recollection of what he'd already written. 

Either way, where were the editors?

That's an inexcusable gaffe in a mainstream novel.