Pottery Tuesday

It's a long drive to Bay City from our lake house but we did it, just so we could spend the afternoon painting pottery at Ward Studio on Water Street. 

Max smiles before he gets creative with his star bowl. He also did a bird and a wizard, painted to look like Dumbledore of the Harry Potter stories. 

Finn is ready to do a star plate. He also did a tiny turtle dog tag and a football bank. 

We did seven pieces in all. Now those pieces will be fired in a kiln and come back to us looking all shiny and new. 

Summer Formula

It's the perfect formula for a summer day. Take two boys, two pond nets, one pail, and one afternoon. Toss in a willing grandmother and two walkie talkies.

The result is an afternoon spent hunting crayfish (one dead one discovered) and netting for fish (two dead ones captured).

Upside Down Moment

During those l-o-o-o-n-g moments at a birthday party, you know those times waiting for the birthday child to open presents, or blow out candles, or for the cutting of the cake, well, during those achingly long times comes a moment when things get silly and boys turn to laughing and then, well, then, really fun photos happen.

This was such a moment.

Viva, La Worm!

Baby Caleb, two months old, did not miss a beat when his "big brother" cousin Max showed up with a worm this past weekend.

Peeking out from under his monkey blanket, Caleb had that look of "oh boy, I can hardly wait to go worm hunting with you, Max" on his face. Caleb's dad didn't miss a beat either, as as discussion ensued about how the worm got into Max's hand and then into the house and about how the worm might not survive the heat and would enjoy returning to the back yard.

As the sixty plus grandmother observing the whole worm thing (dirt so near a newborn, plus a worm), I look back on my days of raising kids. Especially around babies, we were so unnecessarily germ phobic.

Not so today. Max was invited to take the worm back outside. Caleb survived without any histrionics from the adults and the world kept on turning.

Viva, La Worm!

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum at the University of Michigan held an open house even on Sunday afternoon that focused on "behind the scenes" experiences for children and adults. Our grandsons had the opportunity to do lots of really cool research type things as they moved from one station to another during the afternoon.

Model skulls of prehistoric ancestors of homo sapiens were lined up in one classroom. The instructor showed the kids how the skull of a mammal that walks on four feet differs from one that walks on two feet (the brain stem emerges at a different location at the base of the skull) and then demonstrated spear and arrowhead making.

On another floor of the museum, the boys learned about owls and got to take apart some of the pellets that owls make and then regurgitate as a part of their nutrition cycle. We all enjoyed looking at the bird and mammal displays, especially the snowy owls since these owls have been spotted this winter in Michigan.

Barbershop Visit

Max and Finn have had a day to chum around with their grandparents while their dad is undergoing surgery. So we made a visit to the barbershop after having lunch at McDonalds. Later we did piano lessons and pizza and we watched part of the opening ceremonies of the Sochi Olympics.

Finn likes his haircut and smiles sweetly for Grandma's camera in this classic "mirror in the barbershop" photo. That's Max, getting his cut, way over on the right side of the photo.

Maple Chain

Max made a maple chain at his after school program today. He used fresh maple leaves and broke the stems off of the leaves.

Each stem became a fastener, like a paperclip, that fastened the top of one leaf to the bottom of another. We photographed part of the chain up close. Max's chain was over four feet long.

It was a very cool art project.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Midnight Chess

A very large chess set, so big that you can walk across it, occupies one end of the very long porch at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Kids staying at the hotel quickly learn how much fun it is to play a game of chess on this giant sized game board.

Our grandsons gravitated toward the big set and even got to play a game or two after dinner one night. The hour really wasn't midnight, but in this photo, it surely looks like it could be midnight chess.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Snake Discovery

"We found a snake, a big one! Come look!"

The boys asked permission to go down to the lake after breakfast. Our rule this year is that they may go down the bluff together, but they must ask an adult before going and tell an adult when they come back. So off they went, only to return with a very excited nature report -- they found a snake on the seawall.

Back down the bluff they went, this time with Grandpa and a camera in tow. Sure enough, the snake was still there, sunning itself, and Max got a really good photo. Back in the kitchen, we compared his photo to several that we found on the internet (web searches are amazing when you have kids who are learning things fast) and determined that the snake was a Butler's garter snake, found in the midwestern states and considered an endangered species in Indiana.

Ah, the joy of boyhood -- discovering snakes at the lakeshore. Life doesn't get much better during the first week of summer.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Wading

The boys and I went wading in Lake Huron, out on White Rock Shoal, this morning. We saw fish spawning just beyond our feet, four distant freighters, and lots of sun-sparkled rocks.

I took lots of photos, including this one which has a wonderfully generic quality, almost like it could be a salt water beach, like the Atlantic or the Pacific. Water has a way of generalizing my thoughts. It rolls and swirls; the waves toss and coddle. From distant horizons to cold, squishy toes, water calms and collects and soothes.

It was good to go wading in the sun, with the boys, today.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Beside Blue Waters

The Clark brothers are having a good time, playing on the lawns at Cedar Bluff beside the blue waters of Lake Huron. Finn confiscated the garden tools, with my permission, and dug a small trench today around one of the trees near the new garden.

"Look, Grandma. I put water in the trench here and it rolls down to the other side," said the budding hydro engineer as he poured what must have been the tenth sprinkling can of water into the muddy slit.

Max built a tepee using a curved piece of driftwood and some dead sumac branches. His structure, braced and eventually tied together, affords a place for one boy at a time to crawl and feel surrounded by the framework made by hand.

We planted garden (tomatoes, mostly), launched rockets (one went on the roof and by evening the wind brought it down), ate two meals outside (breakfast and lunch), did art in the studio, and read some more chapters in "Paddle to the Sea."

The boys are having a great time beside blue waters.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Great Lakes Kids

School is out and the grandsons have been retrieved from their parents for their annual June visit to Huron County. Ed and I traveled to Max and Finn's house yesterday, had lunch with their Mom and Dad who are bound for France and Spain for a few weeks, and traveled back to Cedar Bluff.

We made a Culver's stop (concrete mixers, lemon ice, turtle sundae) in the Detroit area and also stopped to see freighters at the Blue Water Bridges in Port Huron. A kindly tattooed walker took our picture with the bridge and Canada in the background.

It was a big freighter watching day. We saw at least six ships on our way up the coastline to the lake house and we started reading "Paddle To The Sea" last night before bedtime. The boys get to be Great Lakes Kids for a few weeks now.


Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Learning How To Spin

Finn got acquainted with the spinning wheel this week. First he learned how to run the treadle by pushing down and then letting his foot ride the treadle up. He started the wheel, pulling on a spoke with his finger and making the wheel turn clockwise.

Then, using a bent paper clip, we threaded the end of a skein of yarn through the orifice, over the hooks and on to the bobbin. The next step was to hold the yarn, start the wheel, and treadle. We set the brake with a touch of drag and the flyer turned, pulling the yarn onto the now revolving bobbin.

We had to stop and start a few times, but Finn and his brother Max, both got a good sense of the wheel's action in a short time. Next time we'll have some unspun roving and use this lesson to learn how to spin fiber. This first experience gave the boys a good idea of how a wheel works.

Spinning wheels are so old fashioned. It is good to see the boys go between their devices with the little glass screens and the spinning wheel with its wooden parts and human powered mechanics.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Brotherly Love

My camera caught Max and Finn in a quiet moment of brotherly love when they sat long enough on the edge of the wishing well at Tohono Chul Park last weekend. Finn draped his arm around his brother and faced the camera with boyhood innocence.

The rest of the stroll in the park was not a stroll in the park. Finn thought that the park would be one with a playground and it was a garden type park. Still, this photo belies the disappointment of the day, that mother and grandmother would deceive him into walking the paths of a garden.

Once again, this grandmother learned a lesson. Be clear and accurate when describing activities. Also, when all else fails, stage a diversion, like the gift shop.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

New Eyes: Finn's Saguaros

Finn liked the cacti that he saw in Arizona this past weekend. Here's a page from his art book with two saguaros, some desert vegetation, and the Arizona sun high in an ultramarine blue sky.

The ochre yellow critter above the cows is a scorpion. We did see a live scorpion, but it was safely behind glass at the Desert Museum.

The cows and the little hedgehog are rubber stamps from Grandma's collection. They have little to do with the desert but lots to do with the weekend since they were in the stamp box and available. Finn paints the rubber stamps with watercolor and then he does the stamping. That's how he gets a two color hedgehog. Finn taught me his technique last fall when we were stamping autumn leaves.

Both Max and Finn used water brushes and watercolor paints along with stamping supplies to create art while they were here in Arizona. The kitchen counter was filled with stamps, stamp pads, paints, markers, new Smash books and other art supplies so that when the boys arrived they could start their art work.

Doing art is a neat way to document all of the new things that you see when you first come to the desert.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Honey Nut Morning

Mornings at Grandma Wanda's house in Michigan mean Honey Nut Cherrios in the little Honey Nut cartons from Target. Well, Arizona couldn't be any different, so here's Max, enjoying his morning cereal, while his mom catches up on email with a cup of coffee.

Needless to say, I'm still picking up Honey Nuts from the floors. The little bits of cereal are always a sweet remembrance of fun weekends spent with family.


That green bag on the floor behind Max is the "Pig Bag" from the Piggly Wiggly in Lomira, Wisconsin.  On Saturday night we filled the Pig Bag with used books from Bookman's Used Bookstore on Ina in Tucson. Max and Finn took one book each back to Michigan in their rollabouts. The rest of the books will arrive via Priority Mail at their house this week.

Won't Hannah and Vallee have a good time when they come to Arizona? We can eat Honey Nuts in the morning, swim in the sunshine, walk in the desert, and fill the Pig Bag with books at Bookman's!

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Cactus Curiosity

Max and Finn picked the yellow pineapple-shaped fruits off the top of barrel cacti and opened them up to see what is inside. Here's Finn, using a cactus spin to pierce the skin of the fruit.

And here are the seeds that are inside of one fruit. Finn pulled the skin aside and watched how many small black seeds emerged.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

The Couchy Couch

Max and Finn and Liesl are visiting us this weekend. Cactii and scorpions are big topics of discussion. However, Max has made a discovery.

"Grandma," he said as he snuggled down into the sofa, "your couch is SO couchy!"

Here's Finn enjoying some morning screen time on the couchy couch before our big day out exploring the desert.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Halloween Stickies

Grandson Finny gave me a set of window stickies from the dollar store. He got to spend some of his allowance money on Halloween goodies.

"Grandma, do you want to take these?" was the question he asked me when we visited him in September. He had sorted through the window stickies collection and found a duplicate set.

"Sure, Finny. I can use those at the lakehouse," I replied. So the glowing, gummy stickies came to my house and are decorating the sunroom door.

Thanks, Finny!

Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler

On The Dock

The dock on Lake Auburn holds a fascination for the cousins. You can catch minnows with a dip net. You can watch Uncle Pat shoot fireworks off of the end of the dock. You can jump in and swim to the raft. You can canoe and kayak from the dock.

Wisconsin's inland lakes are a small wonder when you are almost five and almost eight. Max and Finn enjoy an evening of dock time in this image taken on a magical night at the lake in Wisconsin.

Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler