Snowverkill

I wouldn't go so far as to say I hate the snow, and I have been enjoying the many snow days we've had this past month. (We only had two days of school this past week, and three full days the week before).

But it is getting to be a little much. I have never seen our new apartment without it's blanket of snowfall. It's only by faith that I know there is grass in the yard surrounding our place because I've never seen it. We got slammed by our third snowstorm this winter this past week, with heavy snowfall beginning on Presidents Day and continuing through Wednesday morning. This one was probably the worst we've had so far--we had probably 12 inches of accumulation on top of the snow that was still on the ground from the last storm. Below and above are some pictures I took during one of our snow days. The majority of what you see in these pictures is the result of straight snowfall, not drifting or snowplow piles.




This is my car buried in snow.





Winter here in America is not as bad as I thought it would be, but I am looking forward to spring, when I won't have to "warm up the car" in the morning, when taking the Feller outside won't be a production, when the roads will be less hazardous, and, of course, the temperatures will be warmer.

It's a little warmer now-above freezing, that is--and some of the snow is beginning to melt. But winter isn't through with us yet. More snow is predicted for Sunday night and Monday morning.

A Table for Two

The table two for two on Valentines Day, 2010, complete with two chairs, his and hers laptops, the latest copy of Columbus Magazine featuring the best new restaurants in the city, and--serving as reminders of the ever-present new member of the Maycock family--a Cheerios snack case and a bottle of baby lotion.


It sat in a little corner of Bab's tiny second story apartment in a hundred year old house--a tall, black cafe table with matching bar chairs. I suppose in a pinch you could crowd four people around it (if you could rustle up two more bar height chairs), or use it as an hors d'oeuvvres serving table when the apartment was crammed with more people than could possibly fit around any table that could reasonably fit in that shoebox of a place. Of course, one could easily eat alone there, but when you eat alone, you're usually camped on out on the couch with the TV for company rather than a table looking across at an empty chair. No, this really was a table built for two. And that little table was there at the very beginning.

It stood a silent witness, to our early flirtations, our long and earnest conversations,our first kiss. It carried the first meals Barbara prepared for me--a fantastic chef's salad comes to mind as one of the earliest meals I ate at that table. (Even then Babs was the goddess of the greens, a mistress of remarkable salad creations.) It was storage space for wedding paraphenalia in the hectic monts before our Big Day, and on that day, it witnessed a bride and groom flushed with joy hustling past in wedding white and morning coat, and then us passing again dressed casually on the way to their honeymoon. The table served us well in our first year of marriage together. Many times we opted to eat on the couch, but for special occasions--Sabbath lunch, Sunday brunch, and special romantic meals involving candlelight and the promise of passionate dessert afterwards, only the little black table for two would do.

And then we moved to Saipan, and the little black table was dismantled, tossed into the back of moving truck, and stored in the basement of the Leen home in Springboro, OH. It's metal legs were trussed with rope and stowed on a shelf, the round tabletop was rolled into a corner. And there the table stayed, all but forgotten here in America for more than a decade.

When we returned from Saipan, we had a little boy in tow, and there was no need or desire for a table for two. We talked at length about the various types of large dining tables we'd need to buy. The size of the dining room was a vital consideration as we apartment hunted. It needed to accomodate a table that would seat six at least. But once we found that perfect apartment, financial realities set in. We'd need to save up for that perfect dark wood dining set, and in the meantime we needed somewhere to sit. We really only needed a table for two for now, as the Feller still dines in a high chair; and so it was that the little black cafe table was resurrected from it's basement grave, loaded on another moving truck and carted up to a new lease on life in Columbus.

I reassembled (more or less) the table about a week after we moved in, and on the weekend of Valentines Day, 2010, while the Feller played happily on the floor, Babs and I sat down at our table for the first time in a long time.

Once you've been married for awhile, and especially once a child comes along, the idea of table for two seems impractical at best. But I've come to believe that no matter how much life changes, no matter how much the family expands, a married couple needs a table for just the two of them. A child can easily become the center of a man and woman's world, but it's important to remember the love that created that child in the first place. Someone once said the best thing a mom and dad can do for their child is love one another. And so a table for two is not just a romantic luxury, it is a vital necessity for the emotional health of the whole family. That table might be found at a great restaurant downtown while the little one is with a sitter. It might be a picnic blanket on a summer afternoon when the kids are in daycare or off at camp. It might not be a table at all--just some pizza cradled on your laps while you cozy up in front of the TV for a movie after the Feller has gone to bed. However it manifests itself--the table, the time for two is a must.

Unfortunately, our little black table isn't doing so well. I don't think I reassembled it quite properly, and currently it's rather wobbly, the top held precariously in place by just one screw, the other ones having fallen out of the crumbly holes in the bottom of the tabletop. As soon as our budget allows, we'll purchase a proper dining table that will allow us to enterain guests, and eventually allow the Feller to sit with us. In all liklihood, the little black table will be consigned to the trash heap, though maybe, if I can find some longer screws that will stay in place and Babs is willing to endure it's out-of-fashion style, it can find a new lease on life as a patio table out on the balcony or soemthing. Still we'll use it for now, and even if the table doesn't last, I'm confident that the marriage will, as long as we keep making it a priority to find a table for the two of us to share.


Making breakfast on Valentines Day, Sunday, February 14, 2010

Enjoying a Valetines day Brunch for two.

I made Eggs Benedict for the first time. Delicious!


The Short North district in downtown Columbus, OH. On the afternoon of Valentines Day, Babs and I took the Feller over to J and Evelyn's and they watched him for several hours while we had a "date day." We at at the Press Grill on High Street, broweds the galleries and shops in the Short North, and warmed up with some hot coffee from Cup O Joe's.

We were supposed to return the favor to J and Evelyn the next day, when they would leave their son with us in the afternoon while they had a date. However, we got slammed by yet another snowstorm Monday and they decided to take a rain check (or would that be a snow check).

Babs excited to be in the Short North. It's her favorite place in Columbus. She'd live here if we could afford it.

Just the two of us then (at the Centre Meetinghouse, on our wedding day, Sunday, July 27, 1997). . .

. . .and now (at Cup O Joe's in the Short North, Sunday, February 14, 2010).

At Last At Home

The view from the balcony of our second story apartment in Sugar Run, New Albany, Ohio. The buildings in the distance on the right is another residential complex we looked at called The Farms at New Albany. While their apartments were gorgeous with hardwood floors and brand new stainless steel appliances, they were smaller than the one we ended up choosing, and more expensive. I sensed we were paying extra simply to be a part of their "Lifestyle Community", as they term it, which they marketed heavily. One would need, it seemed, to be willing to pay a premium simply for the privilege of living among the young, hip, and beautiful. This photo as well as the others was taken today, Sabbath, February 6, 2010. We had a big snowstorm yesterday. It was a nice day to stay at home!

In my paper and pen journal entries, I always include at the beginning of each new entry, an indication of where I am writing from. The vast majority of my entries have been labeled simply, "At Home." At varous times the location has varied for a considerable length of time--In college, the location was "dorm" or "apt". In 1994 and 1995, it read "Chuuk", and most recently for the past seven months or so I've been located variously at "the Leen's House", "J's House", or "CAA." Now at long last, I can once again report that I am simply, "At Home." Babs, the Feller, and I finally moved into our apartment, and we are very much enjoying being in our own home again.

We were blessed to find a beautiful apartment in the bedroom community of New Albany, Ohio. The two bedroom, two bath apartment in an apartment complex called Sugar Run features, an open "great room" floor plan for the kitchen/dining area/living room, 9 foot ceilings, and best of all an abundance of large windows in all the rooms letting in lots of natural light. After months of searching, on Barbara's part, we're very happy with the place we found. It has all that we need and so much of what we wanted--all at a remarkably reasonable price. I've been getting the sense from friends and colleagues that New Albany is a rather upscale community. Whenever I mention where we live, I usually get a raised eyebrow of surprise, and with some even the question--"Isn't that pretty expensive?" The fact is we found several very nice apartments in this area--most of which were considerably less than the properties in more "humble" zip codes. I like New Albany too--it feels a bit more removed from the city (even though it's only a ten minute drive from here to work or our son's daycare). They have a small shopping area about three minutes from our home, which is convenient.

We began the week at J and Evelyn Carlos' house in Blacklick, Ohio, about half an hour from the school Babs started work on Monday and also got the keys to our new place that day. However,we didn't move in until Thursday afternoon because we were waiting for the movers to bring up our bed and other furniture. J and Evelyn were kind and patient hosts this week and we deeply appreicated their hospitality--especially since Elijah kept tearing up their house. We told them they were getting a preview of what they'd experience with their young son later this year. I wish we'd thought to take pictures while we were there, but in the hectic scrum of a week of moving, I never even took the camera out of my bag.

So here we are, the final piece of our new life here in America finally put in place. Work has been difficult of late--at the end of days that can often be disheartening, it's good to come home to my family. And at the outset of what many times turns out to be a tough day, it's nice to start with breakfast with the Feller (Barbara goes to work at seven in the morning, so I'm responsible for waking our son up, feeding him, dressing him, and getting him to daycare by 8 A.M.). I can go to bed a little later now, and sleep a little longer too--the hours and miles on the freeway are finally finished. We're on our own once again, and at last, we are at home.

A lot of boxes still to unpack. Photo taken Friday afternoon, February 5, 2010


The living area as seen from the kitchen.

A shot of living, dining, and kitchen area. Our furniture right now is a mismatched hodgepodge of items from our first year of marriage in Michigan (the black bar chairs and small papa-san chair in above photo) and furntiure given to us by the Leens (the couch in the picture for example). All that we brought back from Saipan is in those dozens of the flat rate postal boxes piled in the middle of the dining area.

Music time with the Maycocks

This morning we opted to stay home from church. Babs was feeling a little under the weather, and I didn't feel like going out on the roads so quick on the heels of last night's snow storm. During the leisurely hours of Sabbath morning, we took some time to work on some music as a family. Well, mainly it was Babs on the piano, but the Feller and I joined in where we could, me working laboriously throuigh the chords for "Father, I Adore You" and Feller adding the beat on his hand drum. It was fun, and I look forward to the day when we all will truly be able to play together. Below, some photos:

A video tour of the our new apartment.

Six Precious Months

The Little Feller and his grandma enjoying some time together.


Far quicker than I think any of us could have predicted, our time here at the Leen’s home is coming to an end. While we are excited to finally be out on our own here in America, we are also quite sad to end this precious time with our family. Of course, Columbus is no Saipan. We won’t have to wait a whole year to see Mom and Dad Leen again. It might be a couple weeks at most, and many times it’ll just be five days till the next time we see them again. But it won’t be the same as sharing daily life with them, as we have for these past six precious months.

It all came together so quickly. Just over two weeks ago, my best friend J’s wife, Evelyn called up Barbara to let her know about an opening at the Stepping Stones pre-school. They needed someone right away and Evelyn had actually agreed to work a few hours each day until they found some one. Barbara called Stepping Stones the next day, Friday, and they asked her to come in Tuesday for an interview. The day after the MLK holiday, Barbara and I drove up to Columbus—me for another day a work, Barbara for her interview—while our son stayed back in Dayton with his grandparents. The interview went well, and two days later, they called her back for a second “working interview.” She went to the interview, they offered her the job, and she accepted. She’ll start on February 1st.

This past week has been unsurprisingly hectic. Babs came up to Columbus with me again on Monday to do more apartment hunting, and sure enough, by the end of the day we’d pretty much settled on a lovely two bedroom place in New Albany with an open floor plan and lots of light. The plan was to shift our base to Columbus the next day, staying with J and Evelyn until the Conference movers could get our stuff. But then on Monday night, within hours of each other, Barbara’s mom, Babs, and me were all struck down with the stomach flu. All plans ground to a halt as we spent the next 24 hours in bed or in the bathroom. The action picked up again on Wednesday as I went back to work and Babs stayed in Dayton working on other essential tasks for the move. Thursday, Babs, the Feller, and Mom Leen drove over to Columbus. Mom watched the Feller while Babs continued to hustle through still more moving and new-job tasks. Thursday night, Mom went back to Dayton and the three of us stayed at J’s. Yesterday, we came back here to the Leen’s for our final weekend here. We’ll pack up our things so they’ll be ready for the movers and head back to J and Evelyn’s to stay until our things are moved and we can shift over to our apartment.

Of course we’re very happy about this change. It’s what we’ve waited and prayed for. It’s come at the right time too—the Commute was finally beginning to take it’s toll on me, as was being away from Babs and Elijah so much. But we’ll miss the cozy little life we’ve had here in the Leen home for the past six months. As crazy as it sounds, in a way, I’ll miss being so far way from work. Living here, when I went home, I went home. There’s no way to get dragged back into my work life from this distance. Weekends here in Springboro feel like mini-vacations, literally miles away from the workaday week. We’ll miss our Saturday night dates to the movies. (While they probably have a dollar theater in Columbus, we won’t have the free baby sitting!). We’ll miss this lovely, quiet neighborhood of big yards and long driveways. The Feller and I will have to find a new route for our father-son walks.

But most of all, we’ll miss Barbara’s parents. It’s been surprisingly easy for us to live together these past months. More than that, it’s been a joy, simply to spend time together every day. This is why we left the tropical dreamlife in Saipan—for these precious ordinary moments—watching TV with Dad, shopping with mom, sitting down together for Sabbath lunch or taking a day trip to Cincinnati. We’ve loved seeing our son get to know and love his grandparents. And I know it’s meant the world for them to have him around every day. For that reason, their excitement over our move is perhaps more muted. A cleaner, quieter house will be nice for them but I’m sure they’d take the Feller with all his noise and clutter any day.

Today we’re grateful for God’s provision of a good part time job for Babs, but we’re also grateful for the special six months we’ve spent here in the Leen house.

Below, are a few pictures from last weekend, representing simple, yet priceless and precious moments together.


Watching TV together on a Saturday night. We didn't do this a lot, because usually Babs and I went on our weekly date to the Dollar Theater on Saturday night. But last weekend, our son had the stomach flu (the same bug the rest of us got a few days later, I believe) so we opted to stay home.

A common sight in the Leen household during our stay: Dad engaged in the Sysphian task of washing the dishes. With so many of us in the house the stack of dirty plates and multitude of used glasses never seems to disappear, but Dad never complains.


Story time with Grandma.


Talking things over with grandma. The Feller loves his grandparents. At this age, if he hadn't been around them every day, they'd probablly be strangers to him whenever they did see him. Now I feel that he won't forget them, especially since we'll see them on a fairly regular basis. . .



Knowing how important it is for our son to spend time with his grandparents so he'll know them, we're working to get my mom in on the action. We spent a few hours in his room on Skype talking to her and Dawn via webcam. We're hoping that regular appointments with the webcam will help our son get to know and love his Nona in the same way he has gotten to know Barbara's parents, living with them.

After Sabbath lunch, this past Sabbath. We sat around talking for a long time instead rushing off for naps. I don't think any of us are taking this time for granted!

Thanks Mom and Dad Leen for giving us a roof over our heads, wheels for the road, hours of free babysitting, and most of all your patience and love in sharing your home with us. I know, to you it might seem no sacrafice to spend everyday with your daughter and grandson, but nonetheless we want you to know how grateful we are. We love you!

Snow Day

The front yard the day after the snow day.

Yesterday was our first snow day of the winter, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I'd gone to bed late the night before, and I hadn't purchased all of the supplies for our scheduled 8th grade hot lunch. I was gearing up for an extremely stressful day--likely late for work, scrambling to get the lunch supplies, and cooking while my students were working. Instead I got to sleep in until 9:30 A.M., enjoyed a sumptious breakfast with J and Evelyn, and traded music with J for awhile before heading out for home around 1:30 in the afternoon. By that time, the roads were clear and dry and I was back in Dayton by 3:00 P.M. I was able to spend some extra time with Babs and the Feller.

The first hint of the snow day actually came Thursday. The weather forecast was ominous, with predictions of the 3 to 5 inches of snow starting late Thursday morning and lasting through Thursday night. All of us--students and teachers--were keyed up with anticipation, hoping for school to be let it out early. By eleven in the morning, we'd only received a little snow mist and I was ready to resign myself to another ordinary day. But by lunch, it was snowing hard. At the end of recess the first of my students' parents showed up to take them home early. From then on, the school closings, early departures of my students multiplied at the same frenetic pace as the snowflakes.

By the end of the school day, only three of my class of eleven were left, and the world was blanketed in swirling white. Thursday is normally one of the days I stay overnight in Columbus, and on this snowy day, I was glad not to have to make the trek back to Dayton. As it was, the roads were jammed with cars and mounds of dirty snow, and it took me an hour and a half to drive the twelve miles or so to my friend J's house.

By Friday morning, the three to five inches had arrived and school was cancelled for the day! While I'd take the tropical warmth of Saipan over Ohio's winter chill any day, when it comes to weather-related emergencies, a good snow day is much perferrable to a typhoon day. All you need is enough snow to stop the buses--no one's roof needs to get torn off, the power doesn't have to go out, and the clean-up is generally a lot easier. The winter is still young--perhaps we'll see some more snow days before it's over.

The photo above, and these below, were taken this morning, Sabbath, January 9, 2010, in the aftermath of Thursday and Friday's snowfall. It's beautiful!


The garden


A neighbor came and used his little snowplow to clear the drive.


A lovely winter's day.


Check out my latest entry in Faith Journeys, "Looking Like Jesus."

A Quiet Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Maycock Family! This photo was taken at the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati, Ohio on Tuesday, December 22, 2009.

For many people, Christmas is a highly stressful time of year. There are parties to attend, shopping to do, money to spend (or not, but you spend it anyway), trips to take. But for us, the holiday season has always been a relatively quiet time. We've had a few Christmases fraught with stress, but they've been the exception rather than the rule.

Thankfully, this Christmas was yet another quiet one. I spent most of it at home, looking after our son, reading, and watching TV or movies on my laptop. We made three "trips" during the holiday, once down to Cincinnati a few days for Christmas, and twice up to Columbus-once the day after Christmas for the baby dedication of J and Evelyn's son and the other, last Wednesday for a dental appointment. I know Babs might have liked to go out more, but I was thankful for the break from the long-haul driving that is part of everyday life for me now.

One other thing about quiet Christmases. They go by much more slowly, which makes the vacation feel longer!


The Little Feller and I explore the conservatory.


Bab's sister, Jenny strikes a pose at the Krohn Conservatory. Jenny and her husband, Matt, spent Christmas week with us. Even though having seven adults, one baby, and two dogs made for a very full house, it was so nice to have them with us. We had a really great week!


Matt and Jenny


Babs is making more of an effort to be "earth-friendly" these days, and in keeping with that "green" emphasis, she decided to make her own wrapping paper. Using old brown paper bags and magazines, she created the beautifully wrapped gifts you see here. The only downside is that it took a long time to wrap gifts using this method. Around 1:00 A.M. Christmas morning, she finally ran out of steam and chucked the rest of the presents into gift bags (which can be reusued!)


Christmas morning! Our son still doesn't know what Christmas is, but he sure loved all the presents! More pictures and video of him on Christmas morning will be up on his blog.


Dad, Jenny, Shiloh and Matt.


Mom and the tree.




The Little Feller opens his gift from Nona. There is a precious video of this on his blog.

Let it Snow!

Snow! Photo taken today: Tuesday, December 29, 2009

I never missed snow when I was in Saipan. "Let it snow, let it snow somewhere else", I said in a blog entry from last December. I was perfectly content with the endless summer of Saipan, and once we made the decision to move back to the Mainland, I dreaded the bitterness of our first winter back.

However, I since we've been back here in America, as the temperatures have dropped as fall turned into winter I've found that the cold hasn't bothered me as much as I thought it would. Furthermore, I found myself as excited about the season's first snowfall as a little kid on Christmas morning. I checked the weather forecast daily, eagerly awaiting predictions of snow. Our first snowfall of the season was a few days into December, and while the roads were a bit tricky on the drive to work that morning, by the time I reached Columbus there was no snow at all, and when I returned home that evening, the snow that had fallen in the Dayton area had long since melted away. There were a couple of other snow showers in the weeks leading up to Christmas break but it never got cold enough to stick. So our first real snowfall of the season was on Sabbath, December 19, 2009, the first day of Christmas vacation. I woke up Sabbath morning to a world blanketed in white.


Waking up to our first real snowfall. The view outside our bedroom window, Sabbath morning, December 19, 2009.

Of course I was especially excited to get the Little Feller out there to experience his first snow. It turned out that everyone was a little slow getting ready for church. Barbara's mom was in bed with a cold, and by the time Barbara and her dad were ready to go, we'd already missed Sabbath School. So I volunteered to just stay home with Elijah (since all I'd be doing at church would be following him around in the foyer, since he's not yet learned to sit still through an entire church service). Of course the first thing we did was bundle up and head out into the winter wonderland of God's creation. The Feller loved it, of course, and had a blast exploring the once-familiar now remade in a covering of snow.

My son and I set off to explore the winter wonderland. Sabbath, December 19, 2009.


The view of the garden and back yard from the back patio. This is where the Feller celebrated his first birthday. How different it looks now!_

That afternoon, temperatures warmed again and the snow slowly melted over the days leading up to Christmas. There would be no white Christmas this year.

But this past Sunday, the snow started falling in earnest again. When the snow began to fall, I was watching the Little Feller while Babs was at the store and I made the mistake of carrying him outside for just a moment so he could experience the heavy snowfall. He seemed interested, reaching to try to catch the flakes, but he didn't seem overly fascinated. Since we were both outside without coats, we went right back in and immediately he started crying. He wanted to go back out! I was on the phone with Carol Paez at the time and thought I'd finish up the conversation first, but he kept fussing. Two more times I carried him outside, the cell phone cradled in my neck so I could keep talking. Each time his whining ceased the moment we re-entered the gently falling snow, and each time he started crying as soon as we came back inside.

Finally, I bundled him up and took him outside for a proper snow adventure. The snow's been on the ground since then and every day Feller and I have ventured out for a little while to play in the snow. It's funny, because both yesterday and today , he asked me to go out. He'd bring over his hat, saying "hat! hat!", and then his coat, and then his shoes, indicating that he wanted me to put them on. So we'd bundled up: snow pants, coat, woolen hat, and mittens, and head out into the snow.

The front yard. This photo was taken today, December 29.


He's having fun! Look for more snowy photos of the Little Feller as well as video on his blog. It is a private blog, so if you can't access it, e-mail me and I will invite you to become a member so that you can view it.

I know it's early in the season, and I'm sure I'll soon tire of the bitter temperatures. I know that the commute to work is going to be slower, and perhaps on some days impossible with the snow and ice that will surely continue in the next two or three months. And while I tend to have the same kind of unreasonable enthusiasm for a winter storm that I used to have for typhoons in Saipan--no school!--I dread the possible power outages and storm damage that could come with such an event. (In fact much of the rest of the United States experienced just such a winter disaster, with record snowfalls on the east coast the weekend before Christmas, and parts of the midwest and south blanketed this past week. The really bad weather completely skipped us here in Ohio). Despite all this, at least for now, I say let it snow, let it snow, let it snow here in America.


I made a snow angel for the first time in my life yesterday during one of our forays outside. This is another one I made today. Next up is a snowman, but the snow is too loose and powdery right now to get a good snowman going. With several months of winter to go, I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities.