The Turner Family

There are hundreds of these scrap metal-collecting carts around town. They are all the same and always have two young men pushing, pulling, riding or sleeping on them. This particular pair had hit the jackpot. I spotted them while on my way to the school on Friday morning.

Hello All, Just a few photos from yesterday here at Port Aransas. We were at the local birdwatching site at a wetlands area, and a large alligator appeared from the tall grass. The locals say it was his first appearance of the year from hibernation, and that he is the only large alligator in the area. We were told the only other large one had to be relocated because it became too aggressive and would appear in peoples yards. So, we got lucky. He wallowed over to check out the birders. Last evening was the local Mardi Gras parade. In this area, 70 % of the parade is geezers (and geezettes?) in decorated golf carts. We did manage to catch some beads. Tomorrow we leave here, headed for the hill country and serious barbeque research. Love, Dad/Bil

Last weekend Meg and I went on a little day trip with some friends to Aburi Botanical Gardens. The Gardens are about 20 km north of Accra but because of the roads it took us a little over an hour to drive. Aburi is a quiet little town on the top of what we would call a foothill. We declined the guide but probably will hire one next time around. We had lunch at a small restaurant in the Gardens. Like most African restaurants the menu was four pages long but they only had one item available, chicken and rice. Luckily, it was very good. We also had an audience of three chickens and one kitten. The chickens were pretty brave and wandered underneath and around the table for the entire meal while the little kitten sat just outside the gazebo. When the waiter came around he would scare the cat away but didn’t even acknowledge the chickens, who were being much more aggressive. This massive tree was covered with this plant that looks like a houseplant gone Jurassic! Calabash! Meg wanted a pi...

A few pictures from South Padre Island. Kay standing at the edge of Laguana Madre at sunset. This was taken outside a little bar where we would go occasionally for cold shrimp and beer in the afternoon. Bike riding gets her in the mood for a beer, and having a heartbeat gets me in the mood. This is facing west at the bridge that connects SPI to mainland Texas. The yellow sign says to be alert for pelicans. On windy days (virtually always in south Texas) the birds may land on the bridge railings. The speed limit on the bridge is 55. We've never seen a pelican impact a windshield, but I bet it's dramatic. This bridge was hit by a drifting barge which brought down the three or four main spans. It happened the week of 9/11/2001, so it attracted very little attention nationwide, but us bridge guys were very alert to it. There is a manmade shipping channel from the Gulf that extends about 25 west miles in to Brownsville, TX. From that channel, it's about 10 miles south t...

Just for fun, Cynthia and some friends put together a team for the Traverse City Women's Championship Bowling Tournament. We called our team "The Amazons" and determined that, to be on the team, you have to be at least 5'8" tall and weigh in at at least 150#. (Most of us exceed that requirement.) Because we bowled on Valentine's Day, we decided pink would be the theme and all agreed to spray our hair pink for the event. In order to look mean, we also had to do the under-eye smudge, but that had to be pink too. Thought you might enjoy a couple of team photos. In case you're wondering how we did - we didn't score very well on the lanes, but we certainly caused a lot of "second looks" among all the other bowlers and spectators.

Meg’s Christmas present this year was a room makeover. We had thought she would have twin beds in her room so we didn’t bring any bedding for a queen-sized bed. Needless to say the room was a little dull. So we recruited her Aunt Janet to do a makeover. Janet and her daughter Sydney put their heads together and came up with the most amazing room for Meg. They even asked friends and family to send pictures, which are displayed in a really cool wall hanging. Everything is hand made from the bedding and pillows to the wall hangings and the curtains. A lot of thought and hard work went into the room. Meg was so surprised and bit overwhelmed, it was just wonderful! (Sorry, I got it all on video but the file is too big to upload... or something?)

Dietrich and I had a recent email exchange regarding our blog posting on the book on which he collaborated. See below for more information, and a link to his sailing adventures. Very interesting reading, and great photos to boot. Electronics and digital information has made our world very small. Hi Chris, A link to your family's blog was forwarded by the author of the cottage book. I didn't see Jeff in the family list. I wonder how he is? And then how about your folks? A few years ago I shot photos of the enlarged GLHS for Clark Construction and hardly recognized much of the building. Bonds are good. We are currently in Black Point, Exumas, Bahamas. I blew off a year of work and Annie my wife has retired from teaching 6th grade in Traverse City. We have sailed from TC through the Great Lakes, Erie Canal, Hudson River and down the ICW to get here. Whew. On Saturday I was on the water shooting a Bahamian sailing race and have attached a shot from the Farmers Cay Regatta. A...

I use a variety of sources and criteria for acquiring books for the library: student and faculty recommendations, lists, professional reviews, among others. When the 2009 Michigan Notable Books list came through my email, I was surprised to see our former neighbor, Dietrich Floeter amongst the recipients. Scroll down to Historic Cottages of Glen Lake , and he is listed as photographer, his photographs described as "lavish." For those interested, here's also the link on Amazon .

Meg accepting her award for achieving High Honors on her report card. Garrett and his friend Hunter during a school fieldtrip to the Akosombo Dam , their backs are to Lake Volta , the largest man made lake in the world. The Akosombo Dam produces 70% of Ghana's electricity. (Will he ever grow out of the silly faces?) Meg and Rihana, our Model United Nations student we hosted for four days. Rihanna is an eleveth grader from Burkina Faso . There were 60 students from 13 different schools from around the world who participated in the MUN event at the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Center here in Accra . Meg was asked to be a scribe and had a wonderful experience.

Hello from South Padre Island, We've been here for almost three weeks. We have a two bedroom apartment in a two story, ten apartment, building about a block from the ocean. It's not as nice as our find last year, but clean and neat and just fine for us. There's a small pool, which attracts the sun seekers around noon and a happy hour gathering every afternoon. Kay has been continuing the exercises that the rehab people in GL taught her, and we have been riding bikes almost every day. She's up to a half hour ride now and is really happy to be back on a bike. She has always enjoyed riding here and was really looking forward to it. This makes the whole trip worthwhile. Some days it's challenging due to the wind, but she perseveres. We have checked out most of our usual haunts, as well as some new ones. Thanks to Harry alerting us to the Texas Monthly article about barbeque joints, we've added two new places that had some fine offerings. We have yet to make it to th...

The bandages came off yesterday, and Tiffani, Sophia and I were all pleased with the outcome: the web was deepened significantly, and the graft and healing is coming along well.

A camera and microphone are installed on all modern Macintoshes, along with an application called PhotoBooth , which allows users to take photos of themselves, along with movies. Thursday after Sophia's surgery, Seamus was upstairs playing Mario Kart on the Wii , and from the back room, curiously, I could hear Sophie discussing the previous day's procedure and figured it was via PhotoBooth. Without anyone's urging she videoblogged the enclosed entry, and I tracked down the video file in her account to upload for everyone's information.

Sophia had a summer appointment with her hand surgeon scheduled due to some pain in her left middle fingers. The recommendation was to separate the fingers a bit more, so we concluded that we would do it over a holiday so as to minimize any impact on her schooling. Wednesday was the day for the surgery, so we failed to avoid the school calendar. This is the waiting area for pediatric surgery. The Mott Children's Hospital provides folks to both entertain and inform those awaiting surgery, which was a really terrific service, and there was all types of craft resources available: Sophia colored two cloth dolls and a frog, all of which she was allowed to keep. Thankfully, Sophie thought to color a bold, green Spartan S on the back of one doll's jersey, too. The weather was snowy overnight and in the morning, which pushed us for an earlier departure to ensure we made our 9 A.M. arrival time. Surgery was scheduled for 10:30, and at 10 we were told there would be a half hour delay. A...

We started 2009 the same way we started 2008 - at a New Year's Eve Pow Wow in Manistee. Fortunately it was indoors at the high school gym. Here are two very short videos - First one is Glen dancing. The second video is Johnny Petoskey, a friend-of-the-family who is a "grass dancer". Grass dancer's outfits are supposed to simulate the tall grasses that grow on the prarie and their dancing moves are supposed to look like they're stomping down the grass. Enjoy. I'm finally learning how to use the features on my digital camera and I'm discovering already that it doesn't have a big enough memory. Aunt Cyn

Our two Christmas trees and the new furniture. First we opened the stockings. Later we got to the big gifts under the trees and Garrett was so excited he couldn't sit down. Meg loved everything, she's already half way through her first book and has picked out her outfit for the first day of school. Our homemade gift from Garrett! Merry Christmas!

As some of you might know I joined the Hash House Harriers shortly after we arrived in Accra, I had heard about this "drinking club with a running problem" years ago but never took the opportunity to seek one out. When we arrived in Accra I realized if I wanted to continue to run I would have to find some running companions so I decided to give this group a try and I have never regretted it. The group meets once a week and never at the same location so it has been the best introduction to the streets of Accra and other runners. Every year the Hash has a Red Dress Run to raise money for a local charity. All Hash members are to wear red dresses and then run through the city. Believe me we sure drew a lot of attention with about 35 of us participating. The two ladies in the picture above are the backbone of the Hash, I don't know their real names, I only know them as Tight --- and Dirty Dancer. The Gentleman with them is a long time member from Europe who is recovering from ...