Carly Steinhoff Archives

July 6, 2014

A Sign of the Times

When we moved into our house in West Palm Beach, it had two bedrooms and one bath. When Sons Adam and Matt were little, they shared a bedroom. I drilled a hole in the door and installed a wideangle lens peephole so we could see if they were (A) Awake; (B) Asleep or (C) Up to mischief.

In retrospect, that might have been more useful when they got a bit older.

In 1986, we added two rooms and another bath to the back of the house. Matt got the new back bedroom and Adam got the old one to himself.

Mother ran across a wooden sign that read “The Adams” in a yard sale. Wife Lila rearranged the letters so it spelled “ADAM” and we hung it on his bedroom door. (Covering the peephole at the same time.)

Adam hits 34

Family and friends gathered to celebrate his 34th birthday on July 6, even though his official Birthday is July 7.

Grandsons Graham (barely visible at left) and Elliot are quick with the puff. I was too slow to capture the lit candles.

Room is officially mine now

Just before we left the house, I grabbed a screwdriver and pulled the ADAM sign off the door.

His acceptance of it concedes that the room is now, officially, my office. I have to decide what to do with that peephole, though.

July 4, 2014

Have a Happy 4th of July

Mother doesn’t need a holiday to break out The Flag. Here she is with Curator Jessica on November 4, 2013.

With Robin and Mark

Robin Hirsch and Mark, October 17, 2011

Graham and Adam

Grandson Adam and Great-Grandson Graham, October 16, 2011.

Tulsa Branch

Amy, David and Diane July 21, 2013.

Florida Grands and Greats

Mother with Matt, Elliot, Carly, Adam, Graham, Malcolm and Sarah, the Florida Steinhoffs, on August 9, 2013.

Mother and Flat Stanley

Mother and Malcolm’s Flat Stanley for a school project November 1, 2011.

June 12, 2014

Plumeria AKA Frangipani

I usually leave garden and flower stuff to Wife Lila who has a gardening blog, but I couldn’t resist posting these photos taken outside the doorway to Adam and Carly’s house Thursday night when we went out to see the grandkidlettes. We’ve got some Frangipani outside our dining room window, but I don’t think they are as striking as these.

Wikipedia says the clue to growing the plant – also known as the Hawaiian Lei Flower – is a careful balance of water and sun. We must have hit that balance by accident because Lila broke off some branches of an existing plant and stuck them in the ground where they are growing happily and flowering like they were part of the original plant.

Click on the photos to make them larger.

Fragrant flowers are a tease

The flowers, the article said, are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar, however, and simply dupe their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar.

March 23, 2014

I’m a Year Younger!

March 24th is my birthday. Like I wrote last year, since I thought I wouldn’t make it past 60, I haven’t paid much attention to birthdays.

Sunday afternoon, the Florida Clan (note “clan” is spelled with a “c,” not a “K”) descended on the house. In addition to Matt, Sarah, Adam, Carly, Malcolm, Graham and Elliot, Neighbor Bill and Friend Anne showed up for ribs, turkey burgers and birthday cake.

Miz Anne, bike partner and Road Warrior, had the temerity to ask me how old I was going to be. I suspect she was flaunting her youth.

“Sixty-eight,” I replied without hesitation, “if I make past midnight.”

“You’re not going to be 68”

“You’re not going to be 68,” Wife Lila responded. “You are only 66. You were born in 1947. You’re going to be 67.”

I didn’t bother to pull out a calculator because it was a given if I wanted to make it past midnight to whatever my new age was going to be, the right answer was, “Yes, Dear.”

(When I got back to my office, though, I pulled out my calculator and did the math. Not unexpectedly, she was right.)

So, I just got a year younger instead of a year older. (I wonder how many forms I filled out over the past 12 months where I claimed to be 67?)

I hate to break the news to Curator Jessica. She checks the obits every morning to see if she can lay claim to my Ohio photo collection for the Athens County Historical Society’s museum, and she’s going to be sorely disappointed to find out I’m not as old as she thought.. (Although, in her case, she has to stand on a stepladder to see 30, so I don’t know if she can tell the distinction between pretty old and REALLY old.)

By the way, you can click on the photo at the top of the page to see me celebrate my birthday with my Grandmother in Advance before my cute wore off.