The Wedding Stories, Sunday, May 1, 2022

Today is the 20th birthday of our youngest grandchild, Spenser Busk Covert, and we are together with him to celebrate. We don‘t recall ever having been able to celebrate this annual event with Spenser, and now he is a full grown man entering his 21st year!

Just to be clear, he has always received birthday greetings from us, usually on the actual date, we haven’t been ignoring him. The day after the wedding was again a sunny and cool morning in Temecula. The hot air balloons were rising, although the household was a little slower to rouse following yesterday‘s events and last night‘s party celebration with all the drinking and dancing; only a few early risers saw the flights.

Mark again manned the breakfast station, providing a brunch of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, toast and bagels for the crowd. Breakfast cereal and fruit were also available as well as orange juice or screw drivers for the ambitious! Ed & Jake‘s birth mother, Cholly Dober and her husband Mike Serviante stopped by and joined us for breakfast as they had early checkout from their hotel. Cholly sat on one of the lounge chairs and promptly dozed off in the sunshine. Mike looked around the BnB, and then visited for a while.

After brunch the younger folks gravitated to the hot tub and pool lounge chairs. Electronic devices were brought out and photos were exchanged. Shortly after noon, Meg and Ed arrived just in time to bid a fond farewell to Cholly and Mike. The newlyweds then donned their swimming gear and spent a relaxing few hours visiting and soaking in the hot tub and pool, before heading back to their place to shower and clean-up for the evening.

The grandkids, together with Deb, Darcy, Glenda and Jeff decided to drive into Old Towne Temecula for a bit of exploring. Abby stayed back to work on her “tan” and parboil herself in the hot tub. Jake and Audrey did some reading and lounging, Mark began his packing and gathering of all the detritus they had deposited over the week. The crew returned, declaring Old Towne a bit of a bust. It was full of quaint shops crammed with weekend tourists from the big cities, and very little of interest. Next up was clean up in preparation for the evening meal. Spenser had requested Asian food for his birthday dinner, and he wanted it at a restaurant, not Grampa Mark’s take on Asian cuisine, even though Mark was half way through J.Kenji Lopez-Alt’s new 500 page tome- The Wok. Ed had made reservations for 16 people at the nearest P.F. Chang restaurant. Our crew of 12 plus Meg and Ed, and Meg’s mom and stepfather, Sally and Tom Kinnear. Everyone ordered off the menu, and due to the size crowd and length of the table, all the meals won’t be listed. However, at our end of the table we could spot beef fried riced, broccoli beef with steamed rice, kung pao shrimp with steamed rice, some steamed pork dumplings and crab Rangoon wontons. The food was excellent and filling, though it pretty much destroyed the dieting that had been going on for the weeks leading up to the wedding.

We adjourned back to the air BnB for a group singing of Happy Birthday, and a chocolate cake and chocolate mint ice cream in honor of the birthday boy! Meg and Ed headed off to their resting place (for some reason, they were tired!), our crew sat around by the pool and fire pit roasting s’mores, and chatting and drinking. Mark again was a short hitter, retiring around 11:30. Deb and the others stayed up and completed their packing for the big departure tomorrow.     

2021 Year End December 31, 2021

 We are at the end of another year that seems like it was five years long! Annual year in review letters can seem boring, especially to those of you who could care less about all the kids-grandkids-pets- travel that we will be sharing. We understand, which is why you can just as easily dump this in your trash folder or not even open it.  It seems so easy and that is OK by us. We understand.

2021 started so hopefully. We were about to embark on a new year. Trump was almost gone, his protestations not withstanding. Vaccines were close to being released. Technology and science were set to win out over the Coronavirus; civility, propriety and reason were about to enter into the White House; the great national divide was about to be sutured together for healing. January 6th snuck up on us and, just as an entire nation had stared dumbfounded on September 11, 2001, we again were transfixed by the images on our screens of our nation being attacked, this time from within and hectored on by a man who is so self-involved, so dismissive, so … so… so…Well you get the picture and we don’t need to belabor the point. If you think we are being too harsh, you don’t really know us. We’ll leave it at that.

Early in the year, we celebrated Deb’s 70th birthday, this time via a surprise Zoom call including friends, relatives, co-workers and various fans. Not the greatest surprise party ever staged, but it got the job done in the time of COVID. This set the tone for a host of following 70th birthday events during 2021 for her friends: Jan Morrison, Deb Duggan, Glenda Pierce, Peg Strickland, Char Thiessen and Judy Cormaci to name just a few.

We completed two projects on the house this year, one intentional and one not. The intentional was to finish the remodel of the lower level (some would say basement) room into a library/TV room/alternate guest room. The unintentional was caused by a burst pipe in a wall of our family room. During a run of sub-zero days, a water line pipe leading to the laundry area burst at 11:00 one night. Luckily for us, we were awake watching television and were able to get the water shut down in a matter of minutes. The plumber arrived two days later to make the repair and then we spent a few weeks tearing out drywall, insulating the area after it dried out and then repainting.

As to travel, about the farthest we journeyed was to the COVID testing sites to have our nasal passages tortured. We tested every few weeks; it felt like we were doing something, and as Mark is immunocompromised, it felt like cheap (free) insurance. Besides we went to different sites each time so were able to travel around the city some. We were out weekly for grocery shopping, Mark drove and waited in the car, Deb masked up and went in for the supplies, trying to maintain her 6 foot safe space and spraying her hands after each trip.

In April, our friends Del and Karen Sennentz stopped by for lunch at our house on their way back to Kearney and then the drive home to Phoenix. They had come to town to get a glimpse of a first great-grandchild. Since we did not get to Arizona this year, it was our only non-Zoom chance to see them. Later in April we drove to Fairmont, Minnesota to visit Deb’s uncle, Gilbert Picken to celebrate his 90th birthday. Gilbert (Uncle Bud to Deb) was the last remaining member of that generation on her side of the family. Following our visit we journeyed to Minneapolis for shopping and a dinner with our friend April Dillon, then home again. We were saddened to learn of Gil’s death just after Thanksgiving. He fell at his home and never recovered consciousness. We are so glad we got to spend this day with him and his daughter and son-in-law Diane and Scott Posner. 

Also in April, we began work on an additional vegetable garden at Abigail’s house. Her back yard is very sunny and lends itself well to the raised beds we have built over the years. This year’s addition was extra deep to accommodate potatoes and other root crops. We also began laying out border gardens for shrubs and flowers around the yard. This is going to be a long term project but allows us to be creative on a whole new gardening canvas.

In May we stopped our weekly blog chronicling our COVID adventures, thinking the pandemic was drawing to a close. Shows what we knew. Regular readers will know that we lost our beloved cat, Sushi in May. Later in the summer we became the caretakers of Cleo, an older small black cat that had been Abigail’s cat for some years. Cleo was struggling with the onslaught of other dogs and cats at their house, and we had a hole in our hearts which Cleo was soon to fill. In May we also received a visit from Mark’s high school friend David McQuinn and his wife Susan. Dave’s mother passed away last December and they traveled from their home in Minnesota to lay her ashes to rest. They stopped by the house and we spent some afternoon hours on the patio enjoying a bottle of wine and reminiscing. We hope to catch up with them in the future in our travels.

In June, Ed and Meg came to visit from their home in North Hollywood, taking a break from their respective jobs as Director of Corporate Computer Security for Warner Media, and partner in Morman Boling Casting Agency; the occasion being Ed’s 30th High School Reunion. They joined us again over the Christmas holidays, filling the house with even more seasonal spirit. We will next see them at the their wedding ceremony in Temecula, California in April 2022. 

Ed’s kids are doing well, Christopher gainfully employed at the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier, Avery finishing up her degree at Towson University in Maryland, set to graduate in May, and Spenser learning how to cook and be a chef at a restaurant in Hagerstown, Maryland. Jake’s kids are safe: Sabrina stationed with the Air Force in Florida, and Adrian flying away on December 27th to take his oath and head off to Air Force Boot Camp at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. In Pleasant Ridge, Michigan, Jake continues to keep Ford Motor running and Audrey stays more than busy wrangling the employees and customers of her successful Woodward Pet Sitting Service.

Abigail continues her payroll work at PayPlus, the provider for Home Instead Franchisee payrolls. Home Instead was sold this year, but, so far, her firm continues to provide services. Darcy and her partner Bud (formerly Maria) continue to share Abigail’s home. Darcy wrapped up her employment this summer with Omaha Girls Rock and they have embarked on a new venture called East Oh! - a web based business providing information and safe sex equipment. If you are interested, you can check their website -www.eastohomaha.com. 

Mark continued his volunteer work with Nebraska Extension Master Gardeners program, herding a crew of twenty-three mostly elderly volunteer gardeners around the 13 gardens they have created at The Josie Harper Hospice Residence. Deb continued providing travel services to a dwindling group of clients. The clientele is much older, travel in times of COVID is much more difficult, and life is getting too short. She has a few trips booked for the coming year, but is more than happy to hang up her computer, clean out her files and let it slide. 48 years may be enough. We shall see what the future brings.

Mark’s aunt, Carolyn Covert Wilcox died this past summer at age 95. She was the last of that generation on his side. We had not seen her in a few years and so must remember her only in our memories - all good ones. On the brighter side, life goes on and continues. Our friends Zöe and Garth Highland gave birth to the third member of their expanding brood - Arthur Michael Highland on July 12. This was a difficult pregnancy - Zöe spent the final 8 weeks in the maternity ward of the Nebraska Medical Center. Zöe’s mom, Bernadette Cleary, wrangled a special dispensation visa to arrive from her home in County Tipperary, Ireland prior to the birth and spent nearly three months helping out. We were able to welcome Bernadette to our front porch for a wee glass o’ wine some evenings - only to relieve the stress, mind you. Bernadette has returned to Ireland, Arthur is thriving wonderfully, his sisters Iris and Esmè are not yet tired of him, and mom and dad are coping. All is well.

In October, Deb and Abigail flew to New York State to attend the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival, allegedly the nation’s largest gathering of all things wool, including the animals, the yarn, the weavers and the knitters. Abigail met people from around the country, some of whom even follow her knitting on You Tube. If you want to follow her, look for Covert Knits on You Tube.

In early December, Deb drove to Nebraska City and met with her friend Glenda Pierce who drove in from Lincoln. The two of them then proceeded south to Weston Missouri to meet with their other high school trouble maker - Peg Strickland. They did some Christmas shopping at Weston’s fabulous Christmas Market, returning home the same day. A long day well spent and renewing an old and enduring friendship.

We hope this letter finds all of you and yours well and safe. Please keep washing your hands, staying safe and masked up. We have great hopes of getting on the road in 2022, and if we are successful, we will see you then. We love you all - Deb & Mark.

Omaha Pandemic, Friday, February 26, 2021

This has been an exciting week around the pandemic stricken Midwest. Lots of snow, lots of melting and lots of birthdays to report on. First the weather: the temperatures ranged from a low on Friday the 19th of -19.6ºF to a high on Wednesday the 23rd of 55.7ºF, a swing of 75º in the period of 5 days. In addition to the snow already on the ground, on Sunday, we received an additional 8.5 inches of very wet snowfall in the space of about 6 hours. This was the heavy wet stuff, which in days gone by would have been perfect for snowball fights, building snow fort, or rolling and constructing a snowman. We did none of the above. Only shoveling.

Friday afternoon and into the early evening, we finished clearing the basement area for the scheduled construction on the weekend. We didn’t finish until after 6:00, effectively cutting into our cocktail hour. We were forced to dine on the wonderful assortment of cheeses that our friends Marsha and Ted sent for Deb’s upcoming birthday, of course accompanied by a decent wine, not from a box!

Saturday was not a quiet day. Our contractor arrived in the morning to drop off materials and then headed back to another Menard’s store for more supplies. He returned just after lunch and commenced installing all the metal framing for our basement project. He finally pulled out of the driveway by 5:30 in the afternoon.

During the day, our first doorbell ring was the florist, delivering a stunning floral bouquet from Abigail, via the local Janousek florist. (Abigail is really into supporting local businesses!) John and Lynn Covert stopped by to deliver a card and gift for Deb and then, our friends Glenda and Jeff drove in from Lincoln to drop off some birthday gifts for Deb, whose celebration wasn’t really scheduled until Sunday. They stayed for a glass of Rose’ Prosecco which they kindly brought with them, together with a “Texas style” brownie properly decorated. Later in the afternoon, a friend, Robin Putnam stopped by with a birthday card and another lovely bottle of wine to enjoy at a later date. Evidently, we were to be blessed with a birthday weekend, as the actual date was on Sunday, the 21st. This was all to celebrate her 70th birthday, a milestone of sorts; we seldom sit around in our late middle age envisioning life at 80, so the hoopla was appropriate.

Sunday dawned snowy as noted above. Since the 21st is also our friend Kevin Rose’s birthday, his 63rd spent in sunny Tucson next to the pool as we shovelled, we texted him a begrudged greeting. We brunched on our normal Eggs Benedict, cleared the driveway and then finished the electronic Omaha World Herald and the paper New York Times. Around 3:00, Garth and Zoë Highland walked over, together with Iris and Esmè to deliver some flowers and a large “birthday” collage that the girls had prepared. At the same time, neighbors Beth & Tom walked over carrying a bottle of wine, a card, and some cheese and brownies. We chatted from the deck, masked up and properly distanced.

Due to the snow, the planned celebration at our house was moved to Abigail’s. We left and headed to the service station to recover Darcy’s car, which was in for an oil change. Deb delivered the car while Mark drove over to Paddy McGown’s Pub to pick up our take-out dinner consisting of a huge club sandwich for us accompanied by a bag of their tasty “Reuben egg rolls” some deep fried “blarney stones” (pepper encased in spicy cheese and deep fried,) and some other of their specials for the girls. 

Before dinner, we gathered in Abigail’s knitting room, ostensibly to show Deb some of her most recent creations, but actually to surprise her with a Zoom Happy Birthday song from some 30 or 40 of her friends and relatives. Needless to say, she was surprised. We truly knew she had not suspected a thing as she immediately complained that she had not put make-up on or fixed her hair, effectively catching her unawares. It was truly memorable and we again thank all of you, many of whom are our readers for helping her to celebrate. Kudos to Abigail and Darcy for organization, preparing and also for baking Deb’s favorite chocolate ribbon cake, a treasured recipe from her own Mother.

After dinner. We viewed a special presentation of Darcy and Maria’s - “Deb’s Antarctic Vacation” which they had hysterically mocked up from photos. Deb was shown basking in a swimming pool on board a ship in the Antarctic, seen petting sea lions and penguins, and sunning on a glacier. This is the only Continent she has never set foot upon, but she is still hoping. If not, we have this “film” as a remembrance.

We returned home Sunday night, exhausted and exhilarated at all the festivities we had crammed into a weekend when we were supposed to be stuck inside, with only our “bubble” to spend time with. But the festivities didn’t stop there. On Monday evening, Deb and Tim Duggan brought a hot home cooked meal of Indonesian pork roast, mashed potatoes and yummy gravy as well as ice cream and cake and a bottle of wine to share with us for a dinner. They stayed until nine, toasted the passing years and then left us to think of all we had enjoyed over the snowy weekend.

Tuesday was suitably low key. Deb enjoyed her monthly zoom book club meeting while Mark tried to understand the Scots accents on another episode of Hamish McBeth. Sometimes he is able to turn on the captions but most times that small electronic switch eludes him so he struggles to keep up. Ostensibly they are speaking English but not always recognizably so.

Wednesday is grocery shopping day, so Deb is off to visit the various markets and lay in supplies for the coming week. Wednesday Drinks night was fully attended and we completed the evening with some more cheese and wine, this time box wine! We have been binge watching a show called The Sinner at the recommendation of Marsha and Ted; interesting but definitely R rated for violence, nudity and language. We are enjoying though.

Thursday was again a quiet day, Deb toiling away on reservations for clients who have begun to awake from their imposed isolation and are making plans for year end 2021 or early 2022. So much for thoughts of forced retirement for her. Mark broke out the wok pan after years of disuse and made a chicken stir fry for the evening meal. We also have a fresh batch of liverwurst pate whipped up for snacks so are good for the rest of the week and into the weekend.

Thanks again for all the help on the birthday Zoom. stay safely distanced, wash your hands and schedule for your vaccine. We are all pulling through this, slowly but surely.