My weekend in Grand Rapids

This past week the Grand Rapids Art Prize started.  I have attended with Eva and Jessica for several years.  We managed to arrange a weekend that we could all attend an afternoon together before Bud and I went on vacation.  I left school and drove down to Grand Rapids that afternoon.  Eva had an evening meeting so Jessica invited me to have dinner with her and Doug.  

 She cooked a terrific meal of turkey burgers, smashed baked potatoes and green beans.  It was nice to just relax and enjoy the two of them  We haven't seen them since the houseboat trip.

 Doug's birthday is October 1st but we will be gone so I took his birthday gift down for him.  Books of course and some TC beef jerky that he will share with Jessica.

 Saturday morning I did a little shopping with Eva and then we headed downtown to Art Prize.  We checked out a couple venues and then met Jessica for lunch.  The weather was typical Michigan fall weather.  It started out nice and fairly sunny, only needing a light jacket.  Then it rained and while the sun was still shining.  It was kind of like that off and on all afternoon.  We did the inside venues and just enjoyed ourselves.  There is a lot of art to see and it is always interesting to see what various artist offer for the show.  Many of the outside pieces are very large sculptures.  This is one of Jessica and my favorite artist.  All the work is done with fabric.  Jessica and I took a class from this lady last winter.  She had 4 large panels, one depicting each season.  I liked the fall one best.  I am going to take another class from her in October.

 Saturday Eva had enrolled in a class so she was up and off to her class early.  Jessica and I met for breakfast and then she helped me find a dress for her wedding.  She was a great 'wardrobe consultant'.  She took many dresses off the rack and brought them in to the dressing room to have me try them on.  I really appreciated her encouragement and advice.  I am terrible at buying dresses for myself especially now when I would rather be a few pounds lighter.  We settled on this dress which I think will look nice.  What can I say, I am a 62 year old woman and this looks fairly good.  I think it will work well for Brittany's wedding next summer too.  Besides that it was the dress that was the least expensive but we didn't find that out until we were at the check out.  All and all it was a fairly painless experience.

I was especially thankful for my consultant.  She did a good job of being honest and telling me which dresses looked good and why.  I know that I wouldn't have bought any dress if I had been alone.  She was a very encouraging consultant.  When I was thinking about shopping for this dress, I was reminded of a time when Eva, Jess, Sara and I were all shopping for some reason.  Sara and Jess were trying on outfits that Mom would have worn and kind of giggling that some day they would be helping me shop for clothes and maybe I would be wearing the same style.  Thank you Jessica, I don't think that Mom would have worn this dress even when she was 62.

It was a great weekend and I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with Eva, Jessica and Doug.  The drive back north was another typical Michigan fall day.  I drove through sunshine, hail, rain and a few forested areas that were showing signs of the season.  The season is changing rapidly here too.  The air is colder and the dark cloudy skies of the season show that we will soon be looking for snow in the air.

 When I arrived home Bud had been doing boat chores all day.  He was taking the sails down and taking things off the boat to get it ready to be hauled out soon.   He needed someone to help him with the last chore, taking the boat over to the 'pump out' and to top off the fuel tank.  I was the only one available so I helped out.

 The sky was threatening but we managed to get the job done without getting too wet.  I love the dark sky of autumn in Michigan.

For those that remember, this is our old boat, still in the water.  It looks pretty good.  I thought this would be a good memory for some of the family.  I remember one summer having all 6 of Eva and David's family on the boat with the 2 of us somewhere in the area east of the bridge.  We sure filled the boat when we were all on it together.  This was also the boat that you could sit in the bow and the waves would be close enough to splash on your feet.  Good memories on this boat too.

Good memories, both old and new.  Life is good for all of us.