Family Mellmann

In keeping with Mellmann family tradition, our table was filled with fondue flavors for the nineteenth year (minus a few years when we traveled for Christmas).  We topped off our fondue feast with a Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake.  Fortunately, we sing and enjoy presents before dining; after all that food I'm not sure I could take a deep enough breath to see more than a quarter note. :) From our family to yours, may this be a blessed Christmas and may your year be filled with family, fun, and some good old belly laughs (we had lots tonight).  Wishing you good health and great joy.   Merry Christmas from Joerg, Katherine, Patrick, and Erika

Tonight we had our Trinity Christmas concert.  Patrick's friend was in the program and is decked out in a perfectly fitting suit with a fun story.  (Proud parent brag alert) When his "little" (his young partner in Trinity's Big/little mentor program) showed an interest in dressing sharply for school (as Patrick has for several years now) Patrick decided to take advantage of his professional connection (he works at Men's Warehouse) to treat him to a suit perfectly tailored to his tiny frame. Don't these gentlemen look handsome!

Lights are aglow along the front of the house.  Every window sparkles with candle light.  The house is decorated with evergreens and cranberries, lights and kid artwork, and Spotify is cranking out the Christmas tunes.  I think we are officially ready for Christmas, and just in time.  Now we start the concerts and parties!

One. Nine. Two numbers. Two meanings. Today, Patrick turns 19.  I used nineteen single candles on his cake (sorry about the waxy glaze, everyone...it take a long time to light all those tiny wicks) but considered cheating and using the two digits; one and nine.  It would have been quicker to light, but I've been using single candles for...nineteen years.  No point in changing things now. One Nine also happens to be the runway from which Patrick often takes off when he flies, including today when he flew another solo...what a fun way to celebrate a birthday! Happy Birthday to my favorite son!

There have been so many changes in the last  year, mostly for Patrick.  He turned 18 and entered adulthood, graduated high school, and started college.  And with adulthood comes the loss of allowance and curfew, and the gaining of new privileges and responsibilities.  It also turns out that your Advent calendar shrinks a little, shifting from hand wrapped gifts and treats to, although imported, store-bought chocolate. Since the real meaning of Advent is the countdown and anticipation to Christmas and celebrating Christ's birth, the size of your chocolate hopefully doesn't really matter.  And since this mother's love is not measured by the size and weight of chocolate or treats, this change in Advent calendar is simply the next step in a progression from little boy to man, and a little representative of a mother's unwillingness to completely let go of the little boy.  One day the Advent calendars will stop completely until, perhaps, the day when they restart in the next ...

Today, after three weeks of weather delays, Patrick took to the skies...SOLO.  While he has been flying with his instructor every week (usually twice per week, despite the weather) when flight students solo for the first time the weather must be pristine; calm winds, visibility greater than 5 miles, and a "ceiling" (cloud cover) no lower than 3,500 feet.  While Vermont decides if it is autumn or winter, pristine weather has been scarce. The first flight of the day was a test run with his instructor.  Then the instructor leaves the plane and Patrick flies the same sequence on his own. After a few "touch-and-go" maneuvers it was time for a final landing.  Over the radio, he hears "nice job", then "we're hiring".  A fun ending to a first solo. In his flight log, Patrick now has a line that shows him as Pilot in Command and the entire line is written in his handwriting for the first time.  In the back of the log are several pages for end...

Life is full of routine and often mundane tasks. While replacing appliances is neither routine nor mundane, it is pretty...pedestrian. Sometimes, finding joy in the boring is a real challenge, however, we are celebrating the arrival of this dishwasher. For most of its life, the out-going dishwasher has brought one frustration after another. From repeatedly broken drawer parts to several silverware basket replacements, we have poured more money into The maintenance of this machine than it was probably worth. Add to that the general frustration of drawers that fall off their track and unexplained (and sporadically unpredictable) puddles of water on the floor, and you have the makings for a real love/hate relationship...heavy on the hate. The new dishwasher has great expectations to fulfill. It's German engineering and manufacturing set it should last a long time. The manufacturer's claim is that it is engineered to last for 20 years. We haven't had a single appliance ...

Patrick continues to enjoy his chosen college path. While some of the more...mundane...subjects (like English and Computer Apps) aren't particularly exciting, he is learning a ton of information about airplanes, flight, and aviation science. In a typical week, he will fly two to three times to practice skills, develop Tower speak (learn how to talk to the Tower), learn new skills, and train for emergencies that one hopes never happens (like engine stalls).  He gets to experience life at an active military airport when the "Ninja class" planes are in motion (Ninja is the category name for fighter jets), as well as the regular airport operations of commercial jetliners. During some of his training flights, they will go over to Plattsburgh New York to practice touch-and-go maneuvers (fly-approach-land-slow down-take off again) and fly in unmanaged airspace.  Plattsburgh is a small airport with no Air Traffic Control so pilots have to speak directly to each ot...

Katherine turns 15! Another year has passed on this avid reader.  It hardly seems possible. She continues to challenge what I thought I knew about parenting, and each day she manages to make me laugh.  What is particularly funny to me is how she tries SO HARD to be funny - but isn't, but then she'll just say something at the right time and with the right turn of phrase and I will just burst out laughing - and she's confused.  "Why was that funny?" (to which I laugh even harder) For her birthday, we loaded this girl up with Kindle books, a membership to a book club called Kindle Unlimited, and for good measure, included some actual non-digital books.  She is reading everything from graphic novels (comics) to horror, fantasy fiction to action-adventure, and most recently added brain science and psychiatry.  I can't wait to see what this next year will bring!

The days are getting shorter, the temperatures are getting cooler, and the horizon is on fire with fall foliage colors.  Today was a beautiful day for a motorcycle ride.

This morning Patrick 'took off' for a special flight. Since about the second week of school he has been flying 2 to 3 times each week, but this flight is with an FAA inspector rather than his regular instructor. Today's flight is a check flight to make sure he is on target with where he should be at this point in his training. Go Patrick!

Another Green Up Vermont Day is in the books, despite the rain.    Except for two years (out of town for one and forgot the other), we have been participating in GUVD every year for sixteen years.  We've lived in Vermont almost seventeen years, but GUVD was over by the time we moved here in 2000. The kids have participated every year.  First, in baby backpacks when they were too little to walk and help.  But as soon as they could walk, we put gloves on their hands and rubber boots on their feet.

The first week of school is in the books…see what I did there?  Just a little back-to-school humor. Katherine is adjusting to  three new teachers and the new teaching styles that come with those new teachers.   It is definitely a mix of like and don't like.   Fortunately, her math (Algebra 2) and science (Biology) teacher remains the same, and she has her favorite choir director (that's me!).  Patrick is adjusting to life in college with a complete shift in how the schedule runs. Several of his classes work on a block structure where they meet once a week for three hours. Sometimes the breaks between classes are 45 minutes and sometimes they are 90 minutes so he is also having to learn new strategies for time management.   Unlike high school, junior high, and elementary school, managing your time is no longer the school's responsibility. Now that he has had each of his classes once he has started purchasing textbooks. One of the more experienced students in his class advise...

 It is that time of year. We look back on our summer of adventure and stories and experiences, and we look forward to a new school year  with new classes, perhaps some new friends, and new experiences.  Katherine marches off to her sophomore year of high school. And Patrick flies off to his first year of college as a commercial pilot-to-be. This back to school picture doesn't look much different than all the pictures previously,  except that they look so much older now, but as they return to the routines of school they do so with  new memories and adventures, new stories to tell, and perhaps slightly changed by their experiences.

The down-side to going on an epic month-long road trip is that life doesn't stop simply because you're logging miles, making memories, and having a great time.  Back home the garden continues to grow and so do those little pests we in the gardening business call...WEEEDS.  Many of my bloomers are already done blooming so it's hard to tell where the perennials end and the weeds begin, but I still have a LOT of work to do. After an hour, I could barely see any progress although my trailer was getting full and my hands were starting to complain. Three hours, half a gallon of water, and a few rose thorn stabbings later and...you can still barely tell that I have done any work. *sigh    Let's call this my first run; a second run to come in a week or so. By that time I should have made it all the way around the gardens the FIRST time.  And from this angle it looks more accomplished. Unfortunately, the weeds have grown up so badly around my compost b...

After a day of sun and wind, water and waves, and lots of chatting, we end the day with a colorful fire and the quiet calm of an evening at camp.

One of the benefits of camping is that you can offset the inconveniences with perks. Inconvenience; build your accommodation before you sleep.  Perk; now you can listen to a symphony of snoring, not just the sounds of your own spouse. Inconvenience; hike to the toilet during the night...three times.  Perk; enjoy the serenade of over-tired crying children. Inconvenience; sleep on the hard ground with rocks for a pillow (unless you've given up the pretense and bought yourself a cot and air mattress).  Perk; you wake early (to hike to the bathroom again) and get to hear the peaceful sounds of nature waking (birds singing, crickets chirping, and nocturnal creatures heading off to bed) and see the sun rising over a mist-covered lake.

Once my tent was up and camp ready, I could chill on the beach until the others arrive.

My new tent (you might remember that my former tent went down in a windstorm on the shore of Lake Michigan) went up very easily...not bad as a solo job.  The old tent *required* two people but was more manageable with three; this almost put itself up.  Okay, not really, but it was no problem doing it by myself.  And now I get the whole thing to myself!

Slow drivers, beautiful scenery, high winds, heat and cold, dirt roads, driving rain and "dry" heat, new smells, bison detours, horseback speeds and "a river runs through it", tents and hotels, beers in the garage overlooking a sea of BMW motorcycles, family, and time with a dear friend. A month of driving, hauling, riding, visiting, relaxing, and vacationing is coming to an end.  Home is in our sights.

This is it, our last day on the road.   Our last night was clearly designed to make sure we were eager to get home; the air conditioner barely worked so it was actually cooler outside than in our room, but the portion of the window that would open wasn't even large enough for Katherine to climb through much less move any volume of air.   Around midnight I called the front desk to see if they had any fans, but...no. We "slept" spread eagle, with cold wash cloths, and on top of the covers.  Our (my) restless sleep was interrupted by random hallway noises from a partying crowd of conference-goers who can't hold their liquor. This morning we beat a hasty retreat to the car where the air conditioner is blasting, the music is playing, and the engine is humming as we cruise through the Canadian countryside toward the border. The sun is shining through low fluffy clouds as we roll past farms and homes doing life; mowing, bailing hay, playing in the yard, weeding the garden, f...

Sometimes when you plan an adventure road trip you end up with more of one or the other.   Last night we got both. After logging a good day in miles we found a nice (although crowded) campground in Gladstone MI.  We set up our tents and relaxed as a storm front moved in.  Eventually the mosquitoes drove us to the shelter of our tents where we read and chatted (and texted), and tried to stay cool (which was actually not too hard with that lovely lake "breeze" blowing in with the front). Around 21:30 the rain started.  By 22:00 the wind was causing quite a flap outside as branches started falling from the trees and a couple of RV awnings were ripped from their rollers.  It wasn't long before the first big gust pushed our tent down startling Katherine.  But tents are built for this so I stood up and pushed the tent back into an upright position.  Piece of cake.  Then the wind got stronger. I stood in the center of the tent holding up the windward side against the...

The rain has stopped and the kids and I have evacuated our tents for the car.   Tree branches are falling, and on the road one row over from us (toward the lake) a tree came down - broken at the base.   The park super is roamed by the campground and the parks department is here to take care of the down tree.   We are already parked out in the open, but many vehicles are relocating to areas not under trees.   Several tenters like us have evacuated to the bathroom shelters, also with broken tent poles. Katherine just said, "now I see why you always use the tent stakes!"  🥴 It doesn't look like we will be getting a whole lot of restful sleep tonight.   😱😬😳😴

Rumor has it that we're in for a big storm tonight, but we found a campground (in Gladstone MI) on the lake (so the temperature is bearable) and we have battened down the hatches.  Our "glamping" neighbors in their huge RVs are hiding inside with their air conditioners blasting and TVs glowing. I think we have reached the road weary stage in our month-long journey; no fire in the fire pit, no marshmallows to roast, and no conversation around the fire.  Tonight it's fruit and vegetables leftover from lunch, a few chips, and a cookie or two.  We're looking at two more days on the road before sleeping in our own beds again. There is an anticipation; looking forward to home, seeing friends, back to conveniences...   But I'll miss the slower pace, the new scenery, the time with family (and our good friend who might as well be family), the motorcycle adventures (until the next one), and the mental time to think deeply, converse completely, and imagine creatively.   ...

We had one "stop" to make today as we continue our journey back to Vermont...the Badlands SD.  We had to make a little detour for gas, and I had to overcome the objections of an eager-to-get-home-to-friends teenager, but we traveled the long dirt road to the scenic drive through the amazing spread of sandstone mounds, cliffs, and crevasses; such a worthwhile "detour".  And we braved 97deg heat to bring you this lovely selfie (all the glamours of camping).

Custer State Park, Black Hills National Forest, Needles Highway, and Mount Rushmore - check!  Now the motorcycles are back in the trailer for the duration of our journey home. Finding a campground here in Custer State Park was a challenge.   We found one, but their tent sites aren't really set up for motorcycle-hauling tent campers so we had to disconnect the trailer for this one.   All that trial and error (trying to find a tent site) took a bite out of our ride time, but we made it.   It just meant that we didn't have time to cook dinner tonight.

After hours of watching the terrain turn from mountains and peaks to rolling hills of green our attention turned from watching the changing terrain to the dramatic weather we were headed into.  The winds were crazy and at times threatened to wipe us off the road.  Then the rain started.  It came down so hard it was difficult to see and the road was building up huge puddles of water that would create sudden and dramatic drag on our tires; unnerving to be sure. We gave up the idea of camping and pressed on until the wind and rain was just too intense.  Tonight we take a motel.  We found a little motel in Moorcroft Wyoming and within minutes of getting our room key we were accompanied by a few cars and about a dozen motorcycles trying to escape the elements just like us. When I checked in, the clerk showed me a video he took less than an hour before and about a mile down the road in the direction we came from.  It was a lovely video of a tornado that ...

One last stop on our way out of town; Mark's In & Out for chili dogs and ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa.  Next stop, Vermont.  Well, maybe not the NEXT next stop.  😜

This morning Joerg was off to the airport to continue a business trip while the kids and I began our preparations for the journey back to Vermont.  But FIRST, there was time to drive out to the rifle range on the outskirts of town for a little shooting with Grandpa. First shots were with a couple of .22 rifles.  The one my Dad is shooting was his dad's rifle.  He also has (but they didn't shoot) Patrick's great great grandfather's rifle.) 30-06 ammo versus .22 ammo - that's quite a difference in size, kick, and sound. Grandpa making a shot with the .223 ranch rifle After some coaching, Patrick lines up for a shot with the 30-06. Patrick hit the target (first the larger then the smaller) with his first shots with the .22 at roughly 30 yards. Aiming for the same target.  Now we'll never know who hit the bullseye. :) It was a lovely day to blow some ammo, and they finished just in time to miss an in-coming storm. Shortly aft...