Our first family concert since the pandemic was at the Magic Bag in Ferndale where we saw two great Blues/Rock bands live. The first band was GA-20 which is a band from Boston and was simply awesome. The second was J.D. Simo who had a definite Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robin Trower style guitar.

After the concert, Mary and James got a chance to meet the band members, buy CD’s and T-shirts (which they autographed), and get their pictures taken with the band members. They were all great and a great time was held by all.

I should mention that this was the first time we had to actually provide proof of vaccination for anything.

Continue reading “Concert At Magic Bag in Ferndale 2021” →

Since we had the pandemic last year, it had been two years since we had any guests at our house (outside of plumbers and roofers) but that came to an end October 9th as our 11th Halloween party took place.

James had college classes this day so he did not show up till 4:30 from Wayne County Community College, but once their he became the “balloon guy” filling up helium balloons for all the kids.
Once again, the most popular item was the magic mirror (this was our third time using it) and guests got to take home a souvenir picture of themselves.

Since many of the guests were St. Albert Alumni, we also had St. Albert pics and the new book available in the garage for pickup.

A great time was had by all and it appears we will be having at least one more Halloween party next year.
Continue reading “2021 Halloween Party” →

The Haunted Garage Sale was held at the Dearborn civic center next to the library on Michigan Avenue. James could not attend because he was in Saturday classes at Wayne County Community College but Dad went and picked up a few things.

Perhaps the neatest display was the apothecary display of various witches potions and spells all in bottles that looked like they were hundreds of years old when in fact they were probably only a few days old.

The event was well attended but still seemed not as busy as it used to be, perhaps its the pandemic or perhaps its just that the new venue is so much bigger than the other auditoriums.

Continue reading “Haunted Garage Sale 2021” →

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday James
Happy Birthday to you

It was certainly a long path for James to get his license as the pandemic hit right after his time at Apollo driving school. Once he got a learners permit, he had to drive 50 hours with a parent, with ten of those hours being at night. Once he got that completed he had to wait to take his second schooling which was done virtually, then the final exam which was done in Ann Arbor. Finally he had to go to Detroit to pass his actual driving test which consisted of parking and driving on and off the interstate (I 94 in this case, but he had lots of practice doing this). The pic is James and his Mom leaving with a signed cert that he would take into the Secretary of State the next day (his Birthday) and get his well earned license.

All in all it was quite an adventure not only for James but for his family.

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Mom
Happy Birthday to you

Driving around we found that a Halloween store was open so we took a quick visit to see what was new. Their display this year featured an assembly line that was maintained by the skeletons. It was pretty cool. We bought a couple small items but the store assured us that there would be much more in stock in the near future. We think this might be the earliest one of the Halloween stores opened as it is not even September yet.

Anyhow it was a fun way to spend a hot summer day. Continue reading “First Halloween Store Opens 2021” →

When the pandemic isolated James from school and other social events, he spent a year working on one of his favorite hobbies, puzzles. James had a 32,000 piece puzzle of New York City and he began putting this together.

He divided the puzzle into 8 sections and then divided each of those sections into 1 square foot sections which he glued together. He then took the entire package to Swapka field and worked under the pavilion for about two hours putting this puzzle together. Since it was too big for our garage, this was the first time James saw his puzzle completely together.
Continue reading “32,000 Piece Puzzle Completed” →

We visited Novi (second time in two days as the Wounded Warrior fund raiser was the day before) for their Halloween convention. All sorts of celebrities were there signing autographs, most of them we did not know but it was nice to see fun they were generating. We ended up getting several items including a Zombie Girl prop for our upcoming Halloween party in October.

The event was held at the Sheraton on 8 mile in the Farmington/Novi area and was a great break in the action for the family who had not been able to go to events like this the past year due to the pandemic. Continue reading “Novi Halloween Convention 2021” →

Dad visited some of his friends at a Wounded Warrior fund raiser in Novi. Mike, Tom, and Jim each have special roles in making this charity the success it is. It helps people who have been wounded meet expenses and they do this through fund raisers such as a bean bag tournament. Next month will be a golf tournament fund raiser so these guys are really staying busy working for a great cause.