The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Ramona's picture

    Back in Michigan but not quite home

    By Ramona on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 8:19am | Personal
     

    Just to let you know I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. We've been living out of suitcases for almost two weeks now as we worked our way north from our winter digs.  We're in the U.P finally, on the last leg home.  Should get there today and I'm hearing bad news about a snow mound that still needs digging out before we can get to our door.  Should be interesting.

    Our nephew plowed out our driveway but put his back out before he could shovel the walk.  Don't know what we're going to do with him but rest assured he'll be punished for this.
     

    Our house in winter


    But the worst of it is that my brother Mike died suddenly of a heart attack on March 21.  He was 66 years old. My brother Chris and I are his only next-of-kin and we've been trying to do what we need to do to put his soul to rest and to clear up his affairs.  Someday I may write about him but for now it's too soon.

    Life will settle down soon, I hope, and then I'll be back to doing what I love to do best:  Antagonizing the hell out of myself and others.

    Mona

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    Personal

    Comments

    Sorry to hear of your loss, Ramona. U.P. took me a few moments. Is Michigan like New Hampshire, with a persistent winter and a short, bug-filled summer? I recall black fly season, NoSeeUm season and Skeeter season.


    by Donal on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 11:59am

    Yes, all of those, Donal, but you can't beat the Upper Peninsula for sheer beauty.  (I may be biased, I don't know.) 

    When they're roasting in southern Michigan we're enjoying the warm breezes.  Nobody with a lick of sense has air conditioning up here.  We might need it three or four days out of the summer and that's it.  The winters are grand for those who like winter sports but our blood has thinned out so we're more the sitting-by-a-cozy-fire types now.


    by Ramona on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 11:09pm

    Having lived in southern Michigan, I don't quite remember ever "roasting" cool

    Maybe cuz I waz a transplant. I do remember snow piles in June, so can only imagine what UPers have to dig out of.

    I've heard skeeters are the (upper) state bird, guess that's part of the charm, sitting by the lake with mosquito blowtorches.


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 2:06am

    PP, if you don't remember roasting in Michigan in the summer you either didn't live near Detroit or you lived there when things weren't normal.  smiley

    The mosquitos and black flies can be vicious, but they went to parts unknown last year.  Not that we missed them or thought about inviting them back.  We'll see if they remember how good our blood is this year.


    by Ramona on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 7:50am

    Well "roasting" to a southern boy might mean something different, and I wasn't living on Telegraph where heat radiates and demands a quart on the front porch in the long summer evenings. And then again, maybe things have never been normal devil


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 7:57am

    Oh, I see. Southern boy, hmmm?  Yes, it's all relative.  To us Michiganders temps in the 90s with 90% humidity is roasting.  We Yoopers like to gloat is all.  Ha!


    by Ramona on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 5:52pm

    Yeah, that would be roundabouts November/December weather for us, 'fore "winter" sets in. But fog looks a bit like snow if you squint hard enough.


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 6:46pm

    But it's not the heat it's the humidity.  (Nah, it's the heat. . .)  

     


    by Ramona on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 7:18pm

    My condolences on your loss, Ramona.   Sending prayers and good thoughts to you and your family.


    by MrSmith1 on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 12:43pm

    Thank you very much, Mr. Smith.  I should have said we're his only next-of-kin, not his only relatives.  I should fix that.


    by Ramona on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 11:10pm

    I too am sorry for your loss.


    by Richard Day on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 1:24pm

    Thank you, Richard.


    by Ramona on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 11:10pm

    I too am sorry to hear of your challenges. Life can sure knock us back when we least can deal with it. Pray incessantly for the helper. When you get settled, think about moving to AZ. We dont have 52 weeks of either shoveling snow or mowing lawns. Life can be great, poolside.


    by Resistance on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 1:59pm

    Thank you, Resistance.  Very kind.  I like AZ to visit but you can't take the gal out of the Great Lakes.  (Except for three months in the winter, when I still tend to gravitate to water, only much warmer than where I come from.)


    by Ramona on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 11:22pm

    Sorry for your loss, Ramona. I know that you were (and are) an excellent sister both to Mike and to Chris.


    by Doctor Cleveland on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 8:32pm

    Thanks, Doc.  I'm not sure my little brothers would have agreed when they were younger and I was baby-sitting!


    by Ramona on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 11:23pm

    It is always a difficult task to settle a family member's affairs, but it can also help heal the grief.  You are in my thoughts.


    by trkingmomoe on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 11:50pm

    Thank you, Momoe.  This is something we never thought about, and obviously neither did he.  We hardly knew where to begin, but we're learning fast.  No will, so it's a challenge.


    by Ramona on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 7:56am

    I'm very sorry about your brother, Mona. We've missed your antagonizing. Be well.


    by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 12:30am

    Thank you, Michael.  Trying to bounce back but not nearly as elastic as I used to be.


    by Ramona on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 7:58am

    Have you tried stretching?


    by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 12:38pm

    All stretched out.  Now it's sags and bags.  Not that I'm complaining.  It could be worse. 

    I think.


    by Ramona on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 5:55pm

    My deepest sympathies for what must be a shocking and heartbreaking loss, Ramona. Too soon.

    As far as your much more trivial travails, some up nort' news: spoke to a dear relative in Mercer, WI today and she said she was finally really getting tired of the ice caked around her back door that was so bad she couldn't open it....


    by artappraiser on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 3:42am

    Thanks, AA.  Yes, we did some shoveling and chopping before we could get the doors open, too, but my lungs and my back held out so I was thrilled!


    by Ramona on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 7:59am

    What a sad mission to have to complete upon your return to our beautiful state. My condolences, Ramona. Still, it probably feels good to be home again.


    by wabby on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 8:23am

    Thanks, Flower.  I'm still in shock, I guess, and the finality of it comes in waves.  But I'm really happy to be back in Michigan.  Saw Sandhill cranes in a field today, so they're on their way back, too.  And a mink on a dock.  Hundreds of Canada geese, of course,  and a beautiful eagle sat still on the top of a broken tree trunk long enough for me to get a picture yesterday. 

    I love being back for the migration and I swear I'm seeing green buds so there is much to look forward to.  Our bay looks to be frozen solid but I'm hoping it's just an illusion.  smiley


    by Ramona on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 5:42pm

    Sincere sympathy.  I lost my older brother suddenly two years ago.  The shock took some time to get past.  Take care.

    --------------------

    And about your ice: if there were some way we could average out our weathers.  Highs here the past three days were low 80s.  Way too high for Spring.

     

     


    by EmmaZahn on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 10:35am

    So sorry about your brother, Emma.  Thank you for your thoughts.  Where are you that you're getting temps in the low 80s?  We could use a little of that right now.


    by Ramona on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 5:47pm

    Appalachian foothills in north Georgia! With an early Easter, I expected an early spring but not a seque right into summer. 


    by EmmaZahn on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 7:28pm

    Ah, low 80s. I remember them fondly. I will treasure our moments together forever.

    by Ramona on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 8:06pm

    I will try to send you a few 80's.  It was 87 here today.  100% humidity is the norm. You have a pretty house in a nice setting.  Looking forward to your next post on Michigan politics. 


    by trkingmomoe on Thu, 04/11/2013 - 1:23am