Into the nitty-gritty

It's been several days since my last post, and I am sorry that the posts aren't more frequent right now. I am getting into the nitty-gritty of the semester at hand and find it monopolizes MUCH of my time. Outside of work, commuting to Albany for class and back each week, doing homework and taking time to see the kids, I pretty much have no life. (I cannot deny that it was my choice to get on this circus ride! So this IS my life.)

For those of you who don't know, I am currently working on my Master of Arts degree in Latin American Literature at the University at Albany, which I began in the Fall of 2005. I attend part time, taking 2 classes per semester, so it is slow going. (Slow and steady wins the race, right?) If all goes well, I hope to take my comprehensive exams by the end of 2008, thereby completing my Masters and, with a bit of luck, being chosen as a PhD candidate in the same program. It seems so far away, until I remind myself that I have been attending school each Fall and Spring semester since January 2000 as an undergrad. So, I see a tiny glimmer at the end of the tunnel.

I will post as often as I can. But in the meantime, if any of you would like to relate an anecdote, a fond memory, or your thoughts in general and have them posted on the main page of the blog, just email me what you want posted and I will be happy and grateful for the contribution.

In the meantime, love to all. Mic

Visit to NC this past Spring

For those of you who haven't seen Dad in awhile, here is a picture of him and Inge I took while visiting them in February of this year. This visit was the first time I had seen Dad in over a decade (nearly 2 decades, actually). Inge is a wonderful, generous person, and I consider myself fortunate to have gotten to know her better. One day while there, she and I did a bit of adventuring. We went to a gift shop on the outside of Lexington, then checked out a winery on the way back. There we bought some homemade salsa, which we shared later on that evening with the German beers she opened for the two of us and some tortilla chips. After Dad had retired for the evening, it was just us two ladies kickin' back, watchin' the "tube". I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Like an old black and white

This has always been one of my favorite pictures of Mom and Dad. To me, they look like a couple of movie stars waiting for the filming to start. Something similar to the "On the Road to..," movies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, or some Gene Kelly flick. Could you imagine Dad breaking out into a song a dance routine? Ha ha ha!! And Mom looking at him skeptically, like some starlet would do, until she couldn't resist the charm anymore and joined in. Funny!

They were quite the handsome couple. We come from good stock!!! (Dad had to be the proudest man in the Unites States Coast Guard then, with a lady like Mom loving him, I'd say.)

Making comments on this blog

Okay, I changed a setting so that you all can use your own names to make comments on the site, if so desired. Click the "comment" link on the bottom right of any post for which you wish to make a comment. That will bring you to a comment window. Write your comment. Under "Choose an identiy", pick "other" and put your name in the space that comes up. Then simply click "publish your comment". That should do that trick.

Have a great day. Love you all. Mic

A message from Debbie

Hi To All!

Michele I think this is a neat thing you did and by the time you visit me next summer you'll be a pro and I promise, it will be well worth your efforts.

I have tons of pictures during our younger years and once I get something to scan them with I will send. Unfortunately, we don't have Walmart here to help with that project. Anyway, I do remember all of us playing that game...it was so much fun. I also remember the numerous games of wiffle ball, volleyball and running/skating in the swamp in Ravena. Kevin and Chris so remember the staff fight they had on that tree that had fallen into the swamp. Black muck never looked so good on any other trio as it did us!!! And what about those vines and swinging across the road!!!

Hi to all! Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks again, Michele!

Slap, clap, snap...

I was lying in bed last night, restless and with lots on my mind. Trying to find a way to sleep, I considered what my next post would be. I lay there remembering bits of family history (well, the bits I know from my perspective) and into my head popped the following moment. All of us (or at least as many as I can recall) were sitting at the kitchen table (Remember the white formica with gold flecks?) at the old house on Rt 3, here in Plattsburgh (which has long since been torn down). From my little kid's memory, that table seemed to stretch a mile long and the number of individuals around it too many to count. And we were playing a game in which each of us simultaneously slapped our hands on our thighs, then clapped twice, then snapped the fingers of each hand in the same rhythm as the two slaps and two claps, and then one of us had to say something. I don't remember what it was that we had to say, but I do remember that whatever was said bounced around randomly from individual to individual who had to change it in some way before the next person went on to say it. In between each person saying whatever it was, there was another round of the double slaps, double claps and two snaps. It was sort of a fast-paced game once it got going and each person had to pay close attention because if they weren't quick enough to pick up on their turn to speak, and do so correctly without any mistake, then they had to drop out of the game. I think (now, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...since my memory is fuzzy) that the game came from the t.v. show ZOOM (Remember that on PBS??) Anyway, it was a fond memory of us kids and Mom and Dad laughing and having a good time together. At least that is how I remember it.

That memory led me thinking of the above family photo I wanted to put here. I had forgotten that I already had a copy of the photo I was thinking of (thanks to Les or Karen, I think...sorry I don't remember exactly who gave it to me).

I know we all know who we are in the photo, but for my kids and my friends I will tell who is who.

Back row, standing behind the couch, left to right: Rick, Chris, Kevin

Middle row, sitting on the couch, l to r: Mike, Mom (Patricia), Dad (Arthur), Art Jr. and ME (waving and sporting the then-oh-so-mod cat-eye glasses...oooh. ha ha ha! What were the fashion optical gurus tripping on when then came up with those??? ha ha ha!)

Front row, sitting on the floor, l to r: Keith, Les, Karen, Herb, Tim and Debbie

My first picture. Woohoo!

Hi All!

The profile picture was taken back in 2001, but it is a decent pic of me nonetheless. It took me the better part of an hour to put it on this blog. I discovered that a component of my scanner software was missing from my files...it having been deleted by me, thinking I didn't really need it. But as you can see I managed to figure out how to fix that and...Voila!...there you have me. (Boy, if it took me an hour to do all that, I wonder how long it will take me to figure out how to put a video on here...ha ha ha!)

Playing with technology

Saying as I am technically challenged in certain ways, I have decided to do a practice blog in preparation for what I hope will be a blog of a trip with my kids (Chantelle and Alex) to England next summer (June-July 2008) to see my sister Debbie. I thought it would be fun to share our experience as it is unfolding and what better way to do that than on the web, where all our friends and family can see it.

So on this practice blog I will try my hand at photos and video in some of my posts to get ready for the big "experiment". Am I starting very early? Perhaps. But given my lack of savvy with such things (I am lucky to have figured the blog set up...ha ha ha), it is best to give myself LOTS of time. Also, because attending grad school takes up much of my time, starting now will allow me not to feel rushed as trip time approaches.

Another thing I just thought of: I am hoping that some of my siblings might share information and their photos (both of our birth family and of their own families) as a way to share memories and to keep all the family members up-to-date about what is currently happening in the lives of each of us.

And to my siblings: I know at least one of you has an old group pic of the Fowler family. I would like to put it in one of my early posts. Could you please scan it and email it to me so that I can include it in one of my beginning posts? Or if you care to lend me the photo, I will do the scanning myself and send back the photo promptly. And if Dad and Inga don't have a computer and internet access already, maybe we could come up with something collectively so that they, too, can see the blog. I would love for them to be able to share in it.

p.s. I know the pink is really "girly"...indulge me, please! Oh! "Shelly" comes from some people at work and it goes better with "sojourn" than "Mic" does. But, I'll answer to either ;)