Memory Lane - Movin' on Up...to the Eastside (January to September 1986)

Just like George and Wheezy (Louise) Jefferson, if you recall. Without the chain of dry cleaners.

I chose the title for this post based on the fact that the biggest Burk family event of 1986 was our trans-Woodward migration from Deer-burn (as the locals say it) to The Pointes. We originally moved to Dearborn because I was working in the Dearborn IRS office and Nancy was working in Ann Arbor. The location made for reasonable commutes. But by 1986 we were both working in Downtown Detroit, so the commute was no longer an issue. 

It had always been our plan to return to Grosse Pointe by the time the girls reached school age. Christine was just about there, so we pulled the trigger. At that time houses were selling before the listings were published. Realtors were working mainly from faxes. It was crazy. 

We saw about 15 homes through the month of April, but nothing clicked with us. Then we got lucky. We saw 651 Vernier the day the listing came out. Loved it and put in our offer by mid-afternoon. By early evening we had reached agreement on a price with the seller and signed a contract. But then we shifted from overdrive to a crawl. Because the appraisal industry was so far behind due to the pace of sales, it took until late August to close. It was nerve wracking, but it all worked out.

While moving to The Pointes was a return to the nest so to speak for my Bride, it was a whole new ball game for a Bay City boy and his little brown pickup truck (with no interior trim package - very un-Pointes-like).   

I actually got a speeding ticket my first weekend in The Pointes, right in front of my house. I had pulled out of my drive and hadn't gone more than two blocks. The cop who pulled me over said I was doing 39 in a 35 zone or something like that. But I think we - I and my Chevy S-10 club cab - were profiled as "obviously not from around here". Which of course at that time, we weren't. 

True, Nancy and I had lived just down the street in Harper Woods the first year we were married. But that was a rental. We weren't even on the tax rolls. Hardly counts.

The irony is that despite my vivid memories of everything that move entailed, I can find no pictures to document it. My gut says that we took pictures, but there are none in our extensive slide library nor in our print collections. There was not even a picture of the house in the real estate listing. The house sold before they could take one. As a substitute, I offer this picture taken the following spring. Things hadn't changed that much since the move. Note the itty-bitty weeping cherry tree. 

About the no-pictures thing, our move was right about the time we retired our old camera and went to 35 mm. We may have mislaid an exposed roll of film or two in the transition. Or we just might have been too embroiled in move issues to remember to take pictures. So I'll have to rely on my memory when we get to August and September.

The camera we retired was sort of cool. It was Pentax 110 with a lot of features like its big brothers. It had flash, telephoto and panoramic lens attachments and had been a wedding gift from very close friends.

But, even as a low-brow snapshot photographer I'd grown weary of the limitations of the small 110 film. So, we upgraded to this 35 mm baby.

Of course, by today's standards both of these devices are pretty dinosauric. But in the '80s and '90s they served us well, as did a few successor 35 mm instruments. Surprisingly, I had a habit of dropping them over the sides of canoes, leaving them on car roofs (as I was stuffing an offspring into her car seat) or spilling an assortment of beverages on the lenses. 

My review of the available images from 1986 revealed that in addition to a lack of pics of our move, most of the year was lightly documented. There were two exceptions. Cathy's first birthday and Christmas. Plenty of pics for those events.

An example of how lightly documented parts of 1986 were, here is the entire photo collection from early January until the end of March. 

In retrospect, I guess this shot of Christine in her snow outfit (a la Randy from The Christmas Story) and Cathy in her bathing routine pretty much cover the bulk of our family activities over the winter. 

April saw a little more excitement due to the Easter holiday. Nancy's parents Rae and Marge joined us in our Dearborn Baby Ford for a social hour and dinner. Here are a couple of pics of the kitchen staff assisting with meal prep. In this first shot Christine is waiting for her next assignment. You can tell because she has her coordinated sweater and work barrettes on (as some of you likely know barrettes and other hair accoutrements have always been a big part of Christine's persona).

Here is her apprentice enjoying the action and looking forward to the day when she'll be sporting her own work barrettes.

Then there were the traditional multigenerational pics with everyone holding everyone else, within reason.

Grandma Marge with Cathy.

Grandpa Rae with Christine.

And Nancy and I with both of our little darlings.

It was a fun day and a forerunner of Easters to come.

May wasn't quite as exciting as April, but there was Mothers Day. Here are a few pics. The focus was on the newbie it appears. Here's Cathy just happy to be invited to another party.

In this shot she's in her walker, beginning to grasp the concept of mobility. And liking it. 

And here she is in a familiar position, gnawing away on a teething ring while sorting through all the new experiences. 

For Christine, Mother's day brings some guilty pleasures. A little private time with Mom.

And a rare opportunity to play outside in your party dress.

It was about this time that Christine began to grow into her new role of big sister, mentoring Cathy in some of the more important toddler skills. Like how to gum the flavor out of a piece of toast without actually eating it.

Or how to enjoy an extended social hour in the tub under the pretense of bathing. The delighted look on the girls' faces says it all.

There were more advanced skills that Cathy wasn't yet ready for that Christine was more than willing to demonstrate. Like escaping from the rocket-shaped climbing structure in the park - just before a warp-core breach. Tricky stuff.

Cathy seemed to thoroughly enjoy the lessons, as indicated by her expression during this post-training snack break. 

But occasionally big sister drilled her charge a little too long, resulting in this situation.

But all in all, June was a fun and educational month - for all of us.

July saw an uptick in activity beginning with a visit to Linwood to see my parents. Still, not much photo evidence. Just these two snaps. The first is of my father Wendell taking the measure of his latest grandchild. And she of him I believe. 

This second pic of son Ted and my sister Wendy's son Tristan is somewhat of a rarity. These first cousins saw each other less and less as time passed and their lives took different tracks. But when they were together, they got along famously. Here they are hijacking Grandpa's lawn tractor for an unapproved joy ride.

My memory is that they were busted before takeoff, but I could be wrong. Maybe Ted can remember.

Later in the month we headed back to Ipperwash Beach and the family cottage. A primary activity that summer was acclimating Cathy to life on the lake. In this next pic Mom and big sister are helping the newbie get her surf legs. It was rocky going as she had not yet quite acquired her dry-flat-land legs.

An easier skill to master was muckling. According to the Internet, there are a number of meanings for the words muckle and its present participle muckling. None of them apply here. In Southern Ontario, and especially at Ipperwash Beach in the LeRoy family, it means splashing around in water. In this case, at the shore of Lake Huron. Disturbing others while splashing around in water is an advanced form of muckling, just to be clear.

Below is a shot of Cathy receiving instruction in this essential childhood skill from her mother - a master muckler in her youth I've been told. 

In between training sessions, our girl needed some R&R. What better way to recharge than to slide into the family turtle for an afternoon float. 

While big sister takes a break from her own refreshing dip to offer a few words of encouragement. 

The highlight of our Ipperwash visit that July was Cathy's first birthday. It was a grand affair in the finest cottage-birthday tradition. Some pics. First the birthday girl in her party dress.

The chair may look familiar. Cathy is at least the fourth generation of McKellar women to nestle into this family treasure. It's had a colorful history, first in the '40s and '50s in service to Nancy's Grandma McKellar in London, Ontario. Sometime in the '60s (we estimate) it journeyed to the LeRoy family home in Grosse Pointe Woods where it took up residence at the foot of the basement stairs. Nancy's childhood dog Tiny fancied the chair and for quite awhile claimed it as her sleeping quarters. 

Later, in the '70s, the chair was returned to Ontario, namely to Avon Rae cottage where it put in about 30 years as the primo place to sit on the cottage's fabulous screen porch. Then in 2005 it came back to America for good, moving along with a few of its companion pieces to our new cottage in Greenbush. It's now in its 19th year at Wiser Times, holding court in the family room. It's showing its age a bit, but still pretty darn comfortable. But back to the birthday party.

There were distinguished guests, like Cathy's grandparents Rae and Marge.

Along with her Great Uncle and Aunt Ken and Evelyn from Toronto.

And the traditional first-birthday cake. Chocolate, to ensure the biggest mess possible. Here's a before shot, taken in another family heirloom the cottage wooden, safety-feature-free high chair.

  And the action shot. Cathy did not disappoint.

Following a pretty extensive cleanup process, there were the presents. Here the birthday girl is enjoying what appears to be a shape sorter of some design. 

The next few pics demonstrate just how much of a team sport a birthday can be.

Suffice it to say the party was a hit. With all three Burk girls playing key roles. It was a grand finale to our summer visit to Avon Rae. I think.

I think it was a finale, but can't be sure. Because this is where the mysterious photo void begins. We may have been at the lake in August. I don't know. What I do know is that Christine turned five that August. I'm guessing there were pics taken, But I don't know. Can't find any. Sorry Christine. Your Dad's a slug. At least he was in August of 1986.

What I do have is this picture of Christine at Cathy's birthday party in July. She looks happy and is opening a new toy. I believe she's opening one of Cathy's toys, but that counts. Sorta. Right?

So we have this nice picture of Christine at four years and 11 months. In a party dress. At a birthday party. And a sincere hope from Dad that in the years I have yet to digitize I find no other egregious lack of birthday pics. Shameful.

So now I'm in the void until Halloween according to the family photo history. As mentioned earlier, mid-August to mid-September we moved to 651 Vernier. I'm left with only my memories of that period, and should note that while my memory is clear, it's not always accurate (or so I've often been told).

I remember that Nancy and I were both traveling a lot during that time. I was on the road for the closing which Nancy handled alone with my POA. Nancy was traveling on the day the hired movers came to Dearborn and lugged the large pieces of furniture to Grosse Pointe. I was single-parenting that day, keeping our girls out of harm's way while doing my best to direct the movers according to Nancy's instructions (where do you want this sofa lady).

I remember parking Cathy in a baby seat on the Vernier Rd. front yard. For at least a couple of hours. She was mesmerized by the steady flow of articles passing her by on the way to the front door. And yes, that was an excellent example of what in our family is known as DLS (dad-level supervision).

I remember two guys just slightly bigger than I using fancy shoulder straps to hoist our upright grand piano, carry it down our basement stairs and set it in a designated spot in our (soon to be) rec room. Amazing.

I remember my sisters Cindy and Wendy delivering my Dad's pickup to us from Bay City. I used it to run several loads of small items over to the new house the week before the big movers came. Most noteworthy was the kid's swing set wedged upside down in the bed of the truck, with some odds and ends (including a grandfather rocker) stacked on top. A real Jed Clampett moment.

I remember moving the final items of our household over the Labor Day weekend in our Oldsmobile station wagon and little brown pickup. Our good friends Pat R. and Linda M. came over on Saturday and helped us finish up. Two weeks later, I remember Nancy and I joining Pat and Linda to help them move into their new home in Beverly Hills. I would say both moves were successful as we are each still in our "new" homes these 38 years later.

But what I remember most about our move and that time is the feeling of immense happiness for having found and successfully acquired what I felt for sure would be our forever home. So far, that feeling is still there. Every time I pull into the drive. 

Until next time on Memory Lane. 

Grosse Pointe Charles 

NFTL - RDate 139.1

It's been over a year of Memory Lane posts since I last stopped to reflect on the present, and recent changes in life at 651 Vernier. The biggest change of course is that we are now three. My mother Dolores has escaped from the hurricane belt and taken up residence in our cozy abode, just in time for winter. It all happened pretty quickly at the end of October. To summarize, there were three steps.

One, we rented the customary equipment.

Two, we had happy hour on the road. Somewhere in northern Georgia I believe.

And three, we had happy hour at 651 Vernier. Voila! It was done.

Well, that might be a little understated. Actually, there were a few more steps. But that story is best told up close and personal, with fluids. 

There have been other developments in the recent past, of course. So here are a few Notes from the Lab to catch up and get the blog year started. 

Chores (7/29/12, Last Update 5/13/20): In my last update on this subject I lamented the loss of our beloved house cleaners due to the COVID lockdown. I'm happy to report that the cleaners are back and have been for awhile. When they returned I was so relieved to be rid of my dusting ordeal that ever since I've been on the lookout for other ways to reduce my totally unimpressive chore load.

An opportunity arose a couple of months ago when our leaf cleanup team appeared (got rid of that chore three years ago). As the leaf team was wrapping up, I limped into my Bride's office grimacing sufficiently and complaining of sore joints. Poor baby. With a barely discernable whimper I suggested that it might be time to think about lawn mowing services. Being the thoughtful caregiver that she is, Nancy caught the boys before they were able to leave the yard. A deal was struck. They start in the spring.

Now if I can only find someone willing to stop over once a week and pick up the steady stream of twigs and small limbs that my aging maple trees regularly deposit in my backyard. Any takers? There could be a free mower in it for you.  

Up North (8/15/12, Last Update 9/29/21): Things have been hopping up at Wiser Times. Just a few months ago a number of old friends came north looking for a second life. Some were from Avon Rae cottage in Ontario, the former LeRoy family summer home. They were displaced when Avon Rae was prepared for sale, so Nancy and I made the trip to the old cottage to rescue who we could. In this next shot these homeless Canadians have just clamored aboard the last vessel departing for the new world. 

You can tell from the disarray that the trip was "festival seating". The kayaks bullied their way to the best spots. The gray wooden box in the foreground has achieved heirloom status in the family and had to be preserved. It was cobbled together by Nancy's father Rae years ago to serve as overflow storage for liquor. In a delightful windfall we found an unopened bottle of Wiser's still tucked away in the box. 

This next shot was taken as we approached the border, always exciting.

Several of the travelers were worried as they had no ID, but we sailed through without incident (the Wiser's was hiding in the bow of a kayak). 

Finally safe in America, the Canadians joined other refugees that had been displaced from their homes in Florida and GPW due to my mother's relocation. Already boarding temporarily in our garage, the Floridians and Michiganders welcomed the Canadians with open...arms? All were awaiting new assignments. It was sort of an Ellis Island moment.

A couple of weeks after this photo we rented a truck for the third time in little over a month, loaded everything up, and quietly journeyed up I-75, M-13 and US 23 to Wiser Times. Everyone cooperated. No trouble with the authorities.  

In addition to providing sanctuary for this trove of family treasures, Wiser Times added a couple of new amenities last year. In the spring, a basketball hoop. We'd been talking about this purchase ever since we put in the garage slab several years ago. The problem we wrestled with was whether to hang the hoop on the garage or get one on a pole. 

The garage option had the advantage of low maintenance. It would never have to be moved or stowed for winter. But it would have meant drilling holes in the garage siding, hoisting up and installing that puppy while on a ladder, and playing on a half-court longer than it was wide. If you know of my checkered past with power tools and ladders you no doubt can see the other problem with this option. So after much debate, safety overcame facility and we opted for this free-standing beauty. 

We like the features - adjustable height, pass trainer (the round target thing) and water-filled base. But our new super-toy will require annual installation and fall storage out of those fierce winter winds off the lake. Eh...you can't have everything.  

Assembly was a little tricky, but we managed with engineering and muscle help from son-in-law Matt. Here's a shot of a key moment - inserting the pole with the attached backboard and hoop into the support structure. 

Not unlike that moment in the Ten Commandments when Moses raises Sethi's big honkin' obelisk into place. But without the ropes and push-pull men.

It was all worth it. The hoop was a huge success over the summer becoming one of the most popular toys in a house filled with toys. Some action shots.

Lena loved practicing her dribbling. But at this stage hadn't quite figured out how to put the basket into her game. Ian on the other hand, no problem.

Our other new purchase was a space-age plastic shed for storing our inventory of beach chairs and umbrellas. This item was also long overdue. For years I had experimented with various methods of securing our beach furniture over the winter. This included toting everything back to the garage (too much work), covering everything with an assortment of covers (they always blew off) and stacking things on the leeward side of the house (the snow and rain took their toll anyway). Fortunately, the lake intervened.

A few years ago a section of wooden dock washed up on the beach. It was about eight feet long and three feet wide, consisting of cross pieces mounted on three runners. It was waterlogged of course and very heavy. Somehow son-in-law Matt and I managed to drag it up on the beach and prop it up on timbers and concrete blocks (items that had washed up out of the lake in previous years). Eventually, the dock section dried out and became a little easier to move. For the last couple of years I used it for summer storage of our kayak fleet.

Then, one late afternoon last summer, while lazing in an Adirondack communing with Lake Huron, it struck me. That dock section was just about the right size to support a shed for my mistreated beach furniture. Before you could say chaise lounge the plan was hatched. From my Adirondack I Amazon-ed an appropriate shed and scheduled it for arrival at the cottage just before company was due to arrive. No flies on Chico.

The rest is an oft-replicated story. Tool-challenged host needs something repaired or installed. Host invites generous and caring guests who understand host's limitations. Guests arrive. Through casual conversation (happy hour?) guests learn of the host's dilemma and quickly surmise he's over his head. Guests pretty much take it from there. I've found this dynamic is equally effective at home and the cottage. Here are some pics from the shed caper, starring the crew chief Deandra and her underpaid technicians Jeff, Jim and Miranda.

Supervisory intervention?

Tab A into Slot B.

Are we done yet?

It's a shed!

Happy beach chairs.

Another productive day entertaining guests. I was wiped. 

The Purge (8/30/12, Last Update  5/15/14): Some of you may be wondering just how were we able to incorporate the new possessions described in the last section into our already pretty full households. The short answer is - with difficulty. While the bulk of items from Avon Rae were eventually delivered to Wiser Times, just about everything brought from Mom's home in Zephyrhills took up residence at 651 Vernier.

The cottage delivery was pretty easy. It was off season, so most everything was summarily dumped in the garage for later sorting and placement. The only exceptions were two easy chair upgrades, one from Florida and one from GPW. We made room for them in the house by donating the two chairs being replaced. But it will be a busy spring at Wiser Times.

The real story was 651 Vernier. It was major. More than a purge was necessary to create a proper environment for our new roommate and her stuff. No longer needed furniture, clothing, toys, stuffed animals, exercise equipment and old TVs were donated, relocated to the lake, or "walked the concrete mile" (see original Purge post). 

Other furniture was relocated within the house. And much of our closet storage was repurposed. But it all worked out. The portion of Mom's household that made the trip north is fully integrated into our home. Including the 65" TV tucked into one corner of her combination craft room/bedroom/hideaway. I think I'm done purging for awhile.

Vans (2/14/13, Last Updated 5/15/14): In my last update on Vans I courageously informed the world that life without a full-sized conversion van was going just swell. And that we had progressed even further into a one-car family. Since then I've mentioned a time or two that the one-car thing has continued to work, with only the most infrequent of minor inconveniences. 

This summer during an extended happy hour on our drink patio, we realized just how much responsibility our one-car protocol puts on, well, our one car. It must be ready at a moment's notice to power up for an emergency trip to Taco Bell, a thrift store or heaven forbid the liquor store. It must also be willing to transport all manner of provisions, equipment, critters and medical supplies back and forth to our northern retreat in Greenbush. All the while providing we the customers with the comfort and convenience we need and deserve as senior citizens.

And then there are those multi-week sojourns up and down the country when we virtually live on the road, toting a vast array of leisure garments, sporting equipment, board games and survival snack foods. Our baby has been from coast to coast and top to bottom of the good old USA. So, we felt it was time for a little recognition for our beloved Buick Enclave ST with the special Buick logo on the grill (that's even cooler than a compass in the stock).

The Buick already sports our family license plate of 25 years - TRPSRUS - interpreted as either "trips are us" or the "trip-a-saurus", depending on your age bracket. You would think that would be honor enough for any motor vehicle. 

But because of our car's faithful service, and the amenities we've added to make sure we have a good time while on the road - hot and cold snack bags, after-market CD player, Manhattan kit (trips over 300 miles), travel Farkel, we even carry a casserole dish - we have renamed the Buick the "Party Boat". Here's a pic taken right after the installation.

The plate actually says "Chuck and Nancy's Party Boat". Eat your heart out, Elon.

Home Ownership (9/27/19, First Update Since the three post series): In the interest of full disclosure, there was another reason we were able to accommodate my mother's world into ours so easily. We have spent the last 18 months or so updating the infrastructure of our home. Majorly.

In my earlier posts on home ownership I focused on the if not constant at least semi-regular need to fix things. Things that break or wear out with use. Things that fall victim to that greatest of homeowner nemeses - water. Most of the stories I've told in the past had to do with our cottage. New deck, new windows, new siding, new roof. Some reconstruction of flooring and interior walls. You know. Same ole, same ole.

But all the while we were restoring our little piece of paradise up north, we were ignoring some long overdue upkeep at home in GPW. So in early 2022 we decided to face the music. And as these things go one thing led to another. We started with windows. Most of our windows were from the original construction of the house in 1952. The "newer" windows were installed in 1969 when the family room addition was built. All were pretty tired and had to be replaced.

We then moved to the heating and cooling systems. With new windows it made good sense to replace our 70 year old 55% efficient gas furnace (main part of the house) and our 70% efficient hot water heat system (the 1969 addition). And while we were at it, why not toss out the hot water heater and go tankless for all our hot water needs? So we did. I had never seen a "tankless-combo" before. It looks like either an op art sculpture or the control room of Captain Nemo's Nautilus. Take a look.

The furnace replacements resulted in about 240 additional cubic feet available for storage in our basement. That gave us the wiggle room to work with when the Mom thing happened. 

You would think all this hullabaloo would be enough to make us feel safe and secure from the ravages of harsh weather and the inconvenience of potential system failures. But no. There was one more thing we felt we needed. So we added one of these to the pile.

Our belief now is that our power will never go out again. And we made sure that there's still room on the patio for our picnic canopy. 

I See You in the ICU (4/14/21), First Update): I never thought I'd write an update to this post. It tells the story of a hard bump on the head I received from a fall off a two-step ladder. I was cleared of any serious injury but not until after a wild ride in an ambulance, several hours in the ER and a night in the ICU. But, it turns out I do have an update.

Last July 4th weekend Nancy and I were enjoying a visit with all the kids at Wiser Times. Nancy thought she'd crawl into our hammock for a little rest. As she laid back into this recently refurbed family favorite, we heard a crack. Followed immediately by a loud "bonk". The crack was the 4x4 hammock post snapping off at ground level. The bonk was the falling post whacking my beloved squarely in the forehead. Hard. Nancy and the post went down in a heap.

After a few seconds, we realized what had happened and began to process the situation. Nancy was stunned but conscious. She was also bleeding. A lot. It was she who actually took charge, shaking us out of our fog. We applied a compress to her head which greatly reduced the bleeding. And after a couple of minutes of trying to figure out how to get her to the car, it became obvious that an ambulance was needed.

While we waited for the ambulance, I stood by the road on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. She kept assuring me the EMTs would be there any second. It took about 20 minutes from call to arrival. The other family members stayed with the victim who remained conscious and calm throughout the whole episode.

Suffice it to say that the ambulance arrived, the volunteer crew (including a township employee at home just down the road) proficiently eased Nancy onto a gurney, up our driveway and into the ambulance. They sped off to the hospital in Tawas 25 miles away (no siren much to Nancy's disappointment; she wanted the full treatment). I put on some street pants and followed the ambulance in my car.

By the time I got through the administrative barriers at the hospital and back to Nancy, she had been triaged, X-rayed and was about to be stitched up. The gash in her forehead was deep, but it was a clean split rather than a tear. The stitching went smoothly. After some after-care instructions and a little more administration, she was released. We returned to the cottage to update the family and make the patient as comfortable as possible. 

Since the "incident" a number of things have happened. Nancy's wound has healed nicely, fading to a faint line of character, if noticed at all. She has balance issues every once in a while due to some inner ear crystals that were rearranged during the blow. But she says they're fading with the passage of time and the benefit of periodic head-turning exercises. She has no problems with her vision or hearing or physical activity.

The broken hammock post hasn't fared as well. The part that I could get my hands on met a fiery death. The part still in the ground will face a similar fate once I can induce a couple of my "generous and caring" friends to help me dig it out. There's also been a rule change at the lake about wooden hammock posts. Taboo. I now have a nice steel pole hammock frame in a box in the cottage garage. The frame involves no posts in the ground and can be relocated around the yard easily. I'm just waiting for a warm spring day (and guests) to assemble it. 

I have my Bride's permission to share the following images regarding her ordeal. First the scene of the crime, taken by the volunteer Oscoda CSI unit. 

Here we have the patient resting comfortably in her ER bed waiting to have her wound stitched up. Not the happiest of moments, but she hung in like the trooper she is. And the doctor did a beautiful job,

As proof here's a shot from later in the year of Nancy frolicking with her grandchildren. Head as good as new. Although it looks like Ian is beginning an adventure of his own.

On this note, I'll close. To my readers, thanks for checking in. I feel all caught up now and ready to return to Memory Lane. See you in 1986.

--Grosse Pointe Charles