June 2021

Strawberry picking in the first week of the month was the best we've seen in years. We'd normally pick a several quarts in about an hour, this year within 40 minutes we have over 24 lbs of berries, so big and perfectly ripe red.  The result was four pies, a batch of jam, shortcake, and a couple pounds still left over for the neighbors.  Last year's picking was overwhelmed with people due to Covid and their anxiety to get out (nothing else to do), this year was a quieter return of the regulars.

Nick and I made a trip to Cabela's one Sunday morning to pass the time. I bought a new pair of walking/hiking shoes from a guy who had retired as a pilot for Ford, and from our shared timeline, we probably flew together twenty years ago. We enjoyed the taxidermy and fish tanks, and got out without spending too much.  Also stopped at our breakfast place in Petersburg, Papa's.  Sadly our regular server is moving on... graduated from college. The pic here is of our table at Star Diner on Saturday mornings (every Saturday since 1995).

Brandi took a short vacation to Atlanta at the end of the month, easy round-trip flight. With mama gone, Nick and I ventured out.  On a perfect Sunday afternoon, we headed to Akron to watch the Erie Seawolves play the Rubberducks.  The Tigers AA team has three future stars in the lineup, and we found front row seats for $17 apiece. Two-dollar hot dogs, cold beer, a boat of pierogies and kielbasa, and a lot more cheap junk food kept us in our seats for eight innings, with a 9-4 win, and no rain until we got about five minutes north of the park upon leaving. He's a good sport spending the entire day watching baseball, not really Nick's thing, but he was good conversation and easy to hang with nonetheless.  Highly recommend this park, nestled inside downtown Akron, small capacity, and great sightlines.

We opened the pool mid-month, delaying in anticipation of possible cicadas that never came. Our happy place in the summer, the peaceful pool hidden in the trees. (He didn't get paid for his help this year, though, he got a little lippy with Grandpa... gotta learn that lesson.)  New neighbors are well behaved, liner is intact, Nick shaped the hedges better than I even could, we're ready for summer.
Don't think he's not extremely helpful, though, one evening Nick made dinner, he grilled us burgers (and then disappeared, it's not assumed he'll join us at the dinner table without an invitation.)

There's a new video here of Nick playing piano. He won't let me listen usually, I had to beg him for a short concert, in a weak moment. The music is from a popular video game.  Here's the original, and here's Nick's version.

Photos here.

Jason

May 2021

Nick surfaces from his suite upstairs for food, wanders into the kitchen and peeks into the fridge.  I'm sitting at the island, it's as if I don't exist.  He pulls out some leftover rice and proceeds to warm it up in the microwave, but not before spilling some over the counter, onto the floor, eating some off the floor, nearly dropping the bowl, flinging it several yards across the kitchen, attempting a cleanup with the towel, while mumbling to himself, "Nothing of value shall go to waste."  He's better at mowing the lawn, got a good routine from several mows this summer, he can nearly take that job on himself.  And he's now able to plant trees nearly independently, we placed two young spruces in Grandpa's yard where some older trees have faded out.

The SFS graduation was on a day of pouring rain at Gesu church, a ceremony for the eighth graders headed into their freshmen year. Feels like I could have predicted Nick's place in the event before it even started, as it mirrored my own experiences.  The host who read off the names of each graduate, as the approached the principal for their certification of completion, skipped Nick's name in the order, forgot to call him aloud, and then proceeded to double back with the tone and attention of an afterthought, "Oh, and Nick Mantel," she mumbled. They had awards for damn near every category, and by my account every kid in the class of roughly 50 received stood and received at least one, except Nick.  I'm proud of the kid, excellent grades, and under the radar, don't peak in high school.

At home, we've started to remodel the basement, where eventually I will be able to work from home with more space.  Walls are roughed in, electrician is up next.  (We could always use some more foam, of course, that too.)

I took a weekend to visit friends, which was a shortened by a spike in blood pressure, so I stayed closer to home.  I had a nice dinner with Miranda, before continuing on to watch Noah play baseball at a tournament in Louisville all day on Saturday... five hours of ball, a comfortable chair in the shade, very relaxing and much needed.

Pics from May here.

Jason

April 2021

Guest speakers came to St. Francis this month, so I asked Nick about the event. After several minutes of prodding, he finally shared a little.  "This girl from Haiti had a horrible life and now she doesn't, and this deaf priest with deaf kids and deaf parents was a good speaker."  Priest with kids?  Is it any wonder the class where he can't make the grade is religion? He doesn't pay attention. His grandpa planted the pumpkin plant from January in the garden, and when he shows Nick, the kid asks, "Is that a tomato?" No, it's the plant you started.  Driving the slalom, hits the cone.  But give him an assignment on his laptop to build something, and the attention to detail is all there.  Only if he's interested.

He's finally had his first old t-shirt tossed when he wasn't looking, would wear the same stained shirt with holes in it every day, outgrew it two years ago.  Probably should have kept it for his summer job mowing the lawn, but he can't be trusted to wear is only when appropriate.  And he got a lesson in darning socks because he wears holes in socks so fast, either from the long toenails or the intense way he walks.

All that said, about annoying teenage patterns, his piano recital was excellent.  Yeah, he messed up from lack of practice, but the talent is still there, and listening to him play is magical.  His grandmama stayed to watch him play before returning to Alabama.
Oh, and there was Easter Sunday in there somewhere.  Brandi continues to keep him engaged by placing cash in the plastic eggs. Twenty dollar bills make egg hunts much more interesting.

A few pics here.

Jason

February & March 2021

Nick laid low in February and March while Brandi and Lisa continued working in the attic (or falling through it), so the men stayed hidden to avoid an assignment.  We don't mind working, but prefer to stick with what we know, like detailing the Mini for Grandmama while she flew home for a couple weeks.  And we trimmed back Grandpa's hedges for the spring.

He had Eli over one afternoon for a couple hours, so inviting friends to the house (even if they are masked) is some sense of normal. We continue to practice his driving when there's time to ourselves, and we've been to the park a couple times to play catch.  Sadly the most eventful activity of the month is that everyone except Nick now has all of their Covid vaccinations.

Nick's quote of the month, as he picks at the rubber bands on his braces: "I hate being asymmetrical."

January 2021

I didn't think these post would continue, at 14 Nick doesn't want to be talked about, can't get him to write about himself... can't get him to do much of anything, really. The photos are dwindling, Covid doesn't help, and each day feels routine.  But we'll go a little longer. We did celebrate briefly for his birthday, his mother got him balloons and hid them in my closet, which he found ahead of time, even though he never goes in my closet. I imparted on him how critical it was for him to act surprised when she brought them out.  Good life lesson.  Otherwise, life lessons are slow, since he's dialed out most of the time.  His grandpa is willing to pay him for piano practice, but he doesn't. I have a very short list of chores that can earn him money, but he doesn't.  He did blow $450 on a model train, so his fun money is gone, not sure how he'll earn it back.  All that said, he's making the grade at school, was Student of the Week at karate, and listening to him tickle the ivorys is beautiful.  And he shoveled the snow, once. Work in progress.

Grandmama came to stay for a month to help Brandi work on the house. It was a game of musical beds to find her a comfortable spot, which came to an end when she fell asleep with a box of Cheeze-Its and turned Nick's bed dressing yellow/orange.  Nick whispers to me, "she's going to the cot, I'm taking my bed back."  She's so good to him, though, soldering his train parts, talking for hours about nothing. At dinner one evening, Nick motioned to the last steak on the table, and I pointed to his grandmother, to suggest he should offer it to her before he takes it.  Instead, he looks at what's left on her plate and says, "You gonna eat that?"

As we try to toughen him up, his mother says he's afraid of me, which I disagree.  If he was genuinely afraid of me, would he look at me when I'm pissed at say, "If I could draw some eyebrows on you it would be easier to read your emotions."

 2021 Photos here.

Jason