In the Same Zip Code

Jane Rudert McMahan - Lila Steinhoff 10-22-2014_3409I left West Palm Beach on July 23. Friday, October 22, was the day that these two people from my past showed at at the Cape Airport.

Jane Rudert McMahan, left, is one of Wife Lila’s old high school buddies. They flew down from St. Louis on Cape Air to attend this week’s monthly Class of ’66 luncheon.

Wife Lila is in town to celebrate the wind-down of Mother’s Birthday Season, see relatives, go to the luncheon and, maybe, to see me.

I am pretty sure this is the longest we have been apart since I was going to school in Athens, Ohio, and she hadn’t yet made the escape from Cape. It’s nice to be back in the same Zip Code with her.

Birthday Season 92-364/365ths

Mary Steinhoff birthday season 10-16-2014Wife Lila arranged for Mother’s Almost Birthday to start off with a delivery of a bouquet of of cupcakes from Class of ’66 classmate Marilyn Maevers Miller. Miz Miller is an artist in the kitchen. (If you are interested in any of her handiwork, drop me an email.)

“That’s not for eating”

Mary Steinhoff birthday season 10-16-2014Marilyn also dropped off a huge pot of mums from her garden in Charleston. She saw me eying them hungrily, and quickly let me know they were real, “not for eating.”

Only amateurs have birthDAYS

Mary Steinhoff birthday season 10-16-2014When you’re pushing 93, you’ve had time to figure out how to stretch your birthday into a Birthday Season. Brother Mark and I got her a new TV for her bedroom a couple of weeks ago (that was a selfish move on my part: the old one weighed as much as a Volkswagen and didn’t play nicely with the antenna I had installed in her attic). Mark and Wife Robin are driving down for the weekend Friday, and Wife Lila is due from Florida next week.

Some packages from the Western Branch of the Steinhoff arrived marked “Do Not Open Until Your Birthday.” Curator Jessica will be here around Halloween, and I am hoping that she’ll fill the holes in her suitcase with some of HER fine baked goods to carry on the celebration.

As soon as she sees the taillights of my van pulling out of the driveway, she’s thinking about flying out to Tulsa for Thanksgiving. We’re hinting strongly that Florida would be a good place to spend Christmas.

So, light a candle on October 17, and let Mother know you blew it out in her honor.

Past Birthday Seasons

Where are the Gleaners?

Tomatoes in Meigs County OH 08-31-2014When I spotted a field with a bunch of small, round, orange objects in it along the Ohio River Scenic Byway near Letart Falls, I turned to Curator Jessica and asked what she thought they were. “They’re not big enough for pumpkins,” I observed.

The question was answered about a quarter-mile down the road when we came upon field after field of tomatoes whose vines were turning brown. Wife Lila is proud (rightfully so) of the tomato plants in her backyard garden, but here were miles of them rotting on the vine.

“Pinhookers” clean fields in Florida

I’ve seen “pinhookers” around Immokalee pay farmers a small amount of money in order to harvest the leftovers in a field, so I wondered why nobody appeared to be doing that around there.

What were those people called in the Bible who did that? I asked Miz Jessica, who had been to church before our jaunt and should be up on that kind of thing.

“Gleaners. It comes from the Book of Ruth and the story of Ruth and Boaz,” she said without hesitation.

I wish I had been going straight back to Florida. I’d have brought Wife Lila enough tomatoes to keep her canning for weeks.

Mother and the Class of ’66

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014I hadn’t planned to go to the Class of ’66 lunch when I was in town. I had too much going on, the ’66ers are young whippersnappers, and the affair was being held at a place where I swore I’d never spend another penny after two bad experiences.

Then, I got this Facebook post from Jane McKeown Neumeyer: Ken, ask your Mom if she would like to be my guest at Monday’s Class of 66 Luncheon. I could swing by to pick her up. She is definitely an honorable member and more honorable than most of us. If not, maybe, you could drop by with your Mom during lunch sometime so that those of us who only know her through your blog could meet her. Oh, and we could see you, too. LOL!

Marilyn Maevers Miller puts on the pressure

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014Marilyn Maevers Miller weighed in: Thank you Jane, what a lovely idea!!!! By the way….she is so much fun!!

Wife Lila and Mother went down to Marilyn’s joint in Charleston one time and I understand that there was much hooting, hollering, hijinking and hilarity at the meeting. They laughed about it for days.

Marilyn, in the striped outfit, was on her best behavior today so I’d trust Mother to go down to Charleston for another play date.

Sally Wright Metz tugged on her arm

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014Sally Wright Metz tried to figure out which of Mother’s arms was the fake. She gave them both a pull, I think, but they stayed on.

Bob and Dick

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014Dick McClard, left, wonders how such a delightful woman could turn out a commie pinko son. Bob White is less judgmental.

Jane wouldn’t let go

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014I didn’t know if Jane McKeown Neumeyer was pulling a Sally Wright Metz arm check or what, but I didn’t think she’d ever let go of Mother’s hand. I’m glad she pressured me into bringing Mother, though, she enjoyed the celebrity treatment.

Brune Standard Time

Brad Brune '66 lunch 07-28-2014_7373Brad Brune, operating on his normal Brune Standard time, arrived late and after the group photo had been taken. He always likes to make a grand entrance.

The Group

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014Here are the folks who showed up (minus Brune). It looks like Mother has been accepted into the Class of 1966. I just hope they can keep up with her. (Her October Birthday Season is approaching. She’ll be 93.)