Things in the road

Yesterday I was headed to a family friends house on the back roads. It is not at all unusual to see deer on the road (maybe more unusual to make it without seeing one)- however this time I came over the hill to find a deer in the road and instead of running off one side or another he proceeded to zig-zag down the road for a good half a mile or more. I couldn't believe how far he went. All I could do was drive slowly behind until he decided he found the right path to head back into the woods. It reminded me of a few weeks ago when I went to visit my good friend Venessa.

I had gone down to help Venessa paint in their new house. We ran out of paint and needed to head into town to get some more (along with some Diet Coke of course). On the way back home we find a large garbage truck stopped in the road in front of us (with no trash cans in sight). We try to look around him and see a few cars along with a police car or two. Great. Finally a police officer comes back to our car to let us know that a helicopter will be landing on the road so it could be some time. Sure enough just as we start turning around to find a different route home the helicopter comes out of the sky and lands right on the road. Later that same night we went out for a late dinner together. The night was dark. the moon blocked by some clouds with very few stars we were able to see. Again we come up on some flashing lights only this time the officer comes up to us and asks us to pull off the road into this driveway. Good thing it was one of those long country driveways as by the time we were done there were 4 of us parked in there. Without our headlights we couldn't see a thing in the darkness so we had no clue what was ahead of us. All of a sudden out of nowhere there was a complete HOUSE on the road. We couldn't see it until it was RIGHT THERE. I kept saying to Venessa- "do you see it, it's a HOUSE- a house right there." It wasn't one of those prebuilt homes- it was a HOUSE (little half front porch and all) and it covered the whole road, the shoulders, and then some. Since it could only travel 4-6 miles an hour (I don't know the exact speed limit on a traveling house) it took a little while to go the 2 blocks we needed to be able to get out of our driveway line-up. We finally made it home and decided we had better stay in for the rest of the night. I'm not sure we could handle whatever our next road block would have been.

March Madness

I love March Madness but am feeling especially good this year. Each year I fill out my bracket and I admit to using my heart a little more than my head when it comes to the champion, but I do think about the rest quite a bit and try my best. I feel like I am doing exceptionally well (for me) this year.
I may not have had the greatest the first round, but definitely not my worst- 24 correct with 8 incorrect. The best part however is the second round. I sat in the rec room by myself watching the last 3 games all coming down to the last few seconds to determine the winner. I was jumping around cheering for my teams as they won and soon realized that I had picked all but one game correctly. That's right 15 out of 16. I jumped and screamed a little more and then looked around a little sheepishly and sat down. Enough of that- I headed into the other room to find only my mom, but who better to cheer with me than her- she'll join me even if she doesn't have a clue what I am talking about. (As well as give me a little more excitement and credit than is really called for in a moment like this, but is exactly what I may have gone in search of) I'll live this up now because I am sure my bracket will fall apart in the next round, but for now I am close to perfect.

Once Again I'm Wrong

All I had to say was that Spring was not here and... Spring is peeking it's head through. It has been great the last few days. Warm temps during the days and the best part is the sun has been shining- perfect for being outdoors. I realize that this does not completely signal the end of winter, but I am hoping there will be more warmth than cold in the next few weeks.

Sierra Leone only has two seasons- the Rainy season and the Dry Season. When it is time for a season change it takes a little time for it to fully happen and that is when they like to say, "the Rainy season is fighting with the Dry season" or vice-versa. Maybe that is what is happening here and you can bet I am cheering for Spring.

Enjoy the sun.

SPRING?!?!?!

People ask when your birthday is and I usually reply, "in the Spring." I need to change that response. I know March may be considered Spring in some places but I am not sure it has ever been Spring up here in the great Northland. I woke this morning to the temperature of 30 below. It is now around 10 am and I am getting ready to head into town and it is still 15 below. However I was completely fooled. The sun is shinning, the air is calm- looking out the window it looks like a great day to be outside. I was planning to take the dogs for a walk later, maybe work on cleaning out the shed and who knows what else. All that ended when I went to start my car and once again my nose hairs froze, my cheeks stung, and deciding to run to the car caused my lungs to reject that cold air. Happy Birthday to me. It is still winter with no end in sight. At least the white snow is beautiful, fresh and clean. Cold weather or not- I'll still eat a piece of that ice cream cake.

Bren

I not only got to spend time with a dear friend, but we also walked the Lake Walk- another good friend over the years.

Kar-Beth

Friday Kari took me out for an early birthday dinner and movie. I loved it. However I did realize just how old we are both getting. After dinner we didn't find a movie we both wanted to pay the $10 to see that started before 9:30, so instead we rented a movie, headed back to Mike and Lor's and proceeded to fight sleep (some giving in) while watching it. What a Friday night. Makes me think back to last week when Kari and I both happened to be at Nick and Jamie's the same night. Here we grown (well size wise) siblings all under the age of 30 and we are sitting in front of the TV watching President Obama address Congress- actually listening and commenting on it for the FULL thing. Not too long ago we would have changed the channel- or gotten back to our Train Dominoes game a lot sooner. (I did lose by quite a bit so maybe we were better off)

Love you Kar!!!

Pete and Alyssa

I'm not sure I can explain the friendship I have with Pete. We grew up as close to next door to each other as you can in the country. I remember walking down the highway in my PJs headed to his house. When I was in 5th or 6th grade I was going to have one of my first all girl sleepover birthday parties. A few hours into it I was on the phone calling Pete and it became my first almost all girl sleepover. Almost every weekend throughout high school you could find us back at my house after whatever game, event or activity we had gone to, moving both couches into the family room so we could watch movies. Most of the time we were joined by Holly. I remember one particular night when we had chosen a somewhat scary movie. One thing Pete has never liked is scary children- give him anything else, but a possessed child chasing you... I look over to see Pete on his couch, me on mine and Holly out of her lazy-boy and sitting right between our couches curled up, Pete not too far from her with the pillow pulled up all but covering his face. I'm not sure how many scary movies we watched after that.

Since we had ESPN and Pete did not I remember plenty of nights where I would head to bed with Pete still sitting there watching the same Sports Center (for the 3rd or 4th time). He would let himself out when he was ready to go. He got me hooked on many things and vice versa. I am now a big Duke fan all because of Pete. The one thing we never did come together on was the Packers and Vikings.

We headed of to college "together". We were both at UMD and though we did make our own friends and find our own way, I cannot tell you how many times those first few months/years I would call Pete to come with me to something new. I went to a few things with him, but I am sure those were all good times (Maybe not that jazz band concert thing- the salsa one though...). I know some of the events I dragged him to were really not his thing, but come with me he did.

I guess I could go on and on and I am not even sure why I am doing this except that we were able to spend part of the day together last week and I have really missed him. I love him in a way I do few others. He's been my brother/best friend.



A few years ago Pete met Alyssa. Now I have been through a few girls with Pete- some way better than others. None have come close to Alyssa. I think she is great and even more so great for Pete. I love her. Because of where we live now and life just moving on, we haven't been able to spend as much time together but every time we do I like her even more. Recently Pete asked her to marry him and she said yes. I am beyond thrilled. We were all able to go to lunch together and I love hearing about the wedding plans- though I'm completely bummed to know I will not be here for it. This is the hardest one to miss but I'll get some of the kids to dance with me and party that night- and maybe shed a few tears to not be with my friend on his big day.

We got a couple photos together- however I remember as Pete was taking this photo of Alyssa and I that he said "cheese" and I repeated him by saying "cheese" but while saying it I was thinking 'what am I saying cheese for, how ridiculous is that and as I am saying cheese I am not smiling nor looking normal. I want a good photo with Alyssa and here I am saying cheese' Yes I did think all that and more in the half-second it took Pete to snap the picture and you can see it all in my face. I didn't even know my eyebrows did that. However Alyssa is beautiful and I will keep this photo of myself because of her. The obvious picture I should have taken was of Pete and Alyssa together- but I guess this was one of my selfish days and I didn't even think of it until Alyssa was back at work. They do look great together-and the ring is perfect.

Love you both!

My Girls

Off and on for the past 3-4 weeks I have been staying here at the Cousineau's. I've been able to spend some good time with my sweet girls.

Sophie and I

Isabelle and me

It's crazy how time flies and they are so grown up. I love it now though as we can play some great games together and have some really good conversations. Our game that we are stuck on right now is Train Dominoes. We all love it in our family and I would love to bring it over to Sierra Leone- but it is so heavy. It is hard to give up that 3-4 lbs in my suitcase. We'll see.

The girls have also started music lessons- well for a couple years now. The special things is that the piano they are playing on used to be our great-grandmothers. My siblings and I (I say siblings because yes Nick had to take a year as well) also grew up playing on this same piano. It is beautiful though I am sure us Shermer kids contributed our fair share to the wear and tear. As so many others do, I too wish I would have played and practiced more. Right now these girls are very comfortable around a piano and I hope it continues.