May-June 2012 Events!

Kent, Linnea, and Psyche

May 27 Kent, Linnea, Jesse, Hyder, Psyche Saad, Miraal, Najam, Asrar, Aliya, Layla, Humera

Actually, life has been a nonstop series of events since Kent and I returned from India on February 1, 2012.  We almost immediately began working on getting the house and grounds ready for Psyche and Saad's May 27 wedding at the house.  Kent was still working on our main bathroom, building all the cabinets from scratch, doing all the plumbing, electrical, and tile work, too.  In the midst of all this, we had the usual problems around the house -- leaky roof in the workshop, burst sewer pipe in the basement, electrical outage in the casita, and so forth.  I also faced the illness and eventual loss of my dear friend Angela Clarke on June 8, just a little over a week after Psyche's wedding.  The wedding came off beautifully on May 27, as one can see in Drew Schrimsher's lovely video and in various photos on Facebook. Highlights of the wedding.  Immediately following the wedding and the departure of Saad's sisters, their children, and their father, Kent and I flew to Michigan for a short weekend visit and celebration of my cousin Jo Anne Arrowood Swanson and her husband John's Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary.  I was then home for about a week before I flew to Boston for the Children's Literature Association conference, where most of my time was taken up by my duties as chair of the very first Phoenix Picture Book Award Committee.  After only three nights home in my own bed, Kent and left in the minivan, driving to Minnesota and Michigan, where we will attend my 50-year Newberry High School Reunion in Newberry, Michigan.  So, here we are, ensconced in the Presidential Suite (!) of the New Victorian Inn to which we were upgraded.  But do not visions of luxury dance in your heads.  This place looks like a slightly refurbished Super 8, although we do have two rooms, and a huge spa tub in the bedroom!