Hey, Mom! The Explanation.

Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.

Monday, September 2, 2024

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3485 - Hey Mom Reprints - 2015 Traverse City Trip Collected

Me and Dad at Trattoria Stella
at the State Hospital development
1508.31

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3485 - Hey Mom Reprints - 2015 Traverse City Trip Collected

About two months after my Mom died, Dad and I took a trip to Traverse City where we had lives when I was three-six and then visited for summer vacations for most of my childhood.

I am collecting all those posts here for the first time.

#59, the third part, has music that qualifies this post as a Music Monday post.

Lots of reprints!!

There were nine posts in this sequence about the trip.

TRAVERSE CITY TRIP WITH DAD 2015 COLLECTED

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Monday, August 31, 2015

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Monday, September 7, 2015

Tuesday, September 8, 2015


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Sunday, August 30, 2015


Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #56 - Arrived in Traverse City
Hi Mom,

Here we are in Traverse City. Dad and I have taken a trip to stay at my old haunt the Neahtawanta Inn on the Old Mission Peninsula.

I will have more pictures and stories tomorrow as it's getting dark and I am getting ready for bed.

But, so far, we have been having a very nice time.

Of course, we're talking a lot about you, Mom.

I feel you watching over us, approving of what we do, though we're not doing nearly as much shopping as you would have done. However, we did walk around Fish Town in Leland in your honor.

We miss you.



Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 57 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1508.30 - 21:05
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Me and Dad at Trattoria Stella
at the State Hospital development
1508.31

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #57 - Traverse City 2015 pt. one

Hi Mom, I will finish this one later this week. Having too much fun. Need a little vacation from daily writing regimen.

When I started this blog entry (I am days behind), I thought I would pack more in. But I think it makes sense to milk the trip for more entries, so this one is just going to be about dinner at  Trattoria Stella at the State Hospital development in Traverse City.

We had some expensive dinners in your honor, Mom. Above is a picture of Dad and I at Trattoria Stella. I have eaten there several times, once with Liesel, though for lunch. Dad and I had dinner Monday, August 31st. We started with a grilled octopus with a mixture of vegies and a sausage. I had a field greens salad and then a rib eye steak, 16 oz. with shitake mushrooms. It was huge. Dad had fish, I think it was halibut or maybe Alaskan Salmon. We were too stuffed to even contemplate dessert.


Here's the sign outside for Stella. By square footage, the state hospital renovation is largest historic renovation project in the world. You can see the corner for the building, and what was once a porch for a ward.




Looks very much like an asylum basement, eh? Except with art and better lighting and looking into a boutique or a restaurant. I just liked the corridor. We walked around a bit. I bought a gift for Liesel of personal care products with Lavender. Liesel likes Lavender.



They call it the arches. I call it the catacombs or the terminal ward. Anyway, this is the part of Stella where we ate. You can see that I caught Dad taking off his glasses.


I had to take a picture of this movie poster as I have the disc from Netflix at home on my coffee table. I have been meaning to watch this film for some time.


The grilled octopus with beans and tomato and some kind of sausage.






















The rib eye steak with the shitake mushrooms and potatoes. The broccoli in garlic butter to the right.

Food documentation is important to my wife, and to you, Mom. I know you would have loved this.

Wish you could have been there.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.
Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 58 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1508.31 - 21:30
and 1509.04 - 19:36
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Bower's Harbor Cove
beach of the Neahtawanta Inn
Morning, 1509.01
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #58 - Traverse City 2015 pt. two - the Neahtawanta Inn

Hi Mom, Grading like crazy now that I am home. More tomorrow.

they have a peace pole too
so do we
I am sorry we did not shop Front Street.

That's how this one originally started and that's how it stayed until today (1509.05). I was in massive catch up mode after the vacation and taking two and a half days off work. Really, a day and a half, as I should be able to take off Sunday, though not this week. I had my vacation already for the week, so Sunday is going to be a big work day.

Mom, I know you would have liked us to shop Front Street. But I had to get home to work. I promise. Next time. I can feel your tsk-tsk. Thanks. So much guilt.


So, hey Mom, how are you doing? I sense that you're doing very well. I can feel your smile, your hugs and kisses. I know you like my picture here. Morning at the Neahtawanta Inn. I was going to Jam pack these two (today's and yesterday's) blog entries with all the pictures from the trip but that seems like a lot, and I can spread this content out a bit. Does that sound like a good idea, Mom?

After all, there's a lot of pictures of the Neahtawanta Inn and TWO videos. I hope you enjoy them Mom. Videos and pictures with comments to follow.


I wanted to capture the sound of the surf that I was listening to all night with the windows open.



This one is from the day before in the afternoon when it was windy.


I never tire of pictures of the Neahtawanta Inn. 


I love to think that all the people whom I have introduced to the Neahtawanta have gone back often. I don't think this is true, but I like to think it.



The most gorgeous view in the Traverse area.




The glimmer of the dawning sun on the water in the morning. The cove at the Neahtawanta is often more serene, shielded from the greater rough waters of the open bay or of the left-most coast and Lake Michigan open to Wisconsin.







This is my spot. Where I spent the majority of my days so many times in the almost 15 years that I regularly vacationed at the Neahtawanta from 1993-2007, See my computer screen in the lower right corner. I am sitting on the same couch where I have always sat, enjoying the gorgeous view.

Thank you, Neahtawanta Inn. You have been a healing, spiritual, and serene presence in my life since 1990 when I visited you for the first time.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.
Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 59 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1509.01 - 20:25
and 1509.05 - 9:31
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Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #59 - Phonogram and Traverse City 2015 pt. three - plans

Hi Mom,

I just brought the two Phonogram graphic novels with me on my vacation (such as it is, two days, three depending on how you count) as an after thought. I was planning to read the book I started a while ago, The Girl in the Road by Monica Bryne, and I spent the whole time I was up north reading Phonogram. (I was also going to read more of my Java text book but that didn't happen either.)

This is a theme of my life: plans that do not come to fruition. I have learned over the years to plan fewer things and that when I fail to do everything that I have planned to do that I do not beat myself to a pulp for being a failure. But it's difficult. I plan too much. I hold myself to a high standard, and then I have trouble not being disappointed in myself. You know this about me, Mom. In fact, I think I learned this behavior from you because I sure did not get it from my Dad.

Anyway, Phonogram.

Phonogram is a comic graphic novel about Brit Pop, such as Blur, Manic Street Preachers, Oasis, Suede, The Long Blondes, Dexys Midnight Runners, and The Pipettes, among many, many others.

There are two books published in 2007 and 2008, and with a new volume starting, called Phonogram: The Immaterial Girl, I had been wanting to read the previous volumes before I read the first issue, published last month. Also, I have become quite a fan of both creators: Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. Gillen and McKelvie currently produce a comic called The Wicked and the Divine, which is sort of related to Phonogram, though not directly.

I previously wrote about The Wicked and the Divine on this blog in an entries called

Weekly Comics for 1406.18

and

Weekly Comics for 1407.16,

as I hotly and eagerly anticipated the release of this comic after enjoying Gillen and McKelvie's collaboration on The Young Avengers.

Anyway, in Phonogram, characters are phonomancers who can use music to cast magic. There's a grander plot with relationships and tons of music trivia but that's essentially it.

What really hooked me was the entry into music that I knew about but did not own and have not listened to much or at all, and Gillen wrote very detailed glossaries for all the quoted song lyrics and music references in the comic book. I was fascinated. Sitting on the porch of the Neahtawanta, I realized I could dial up music via You Tube on my phone and give a listen to several of the songs right there. And... WOW. For instance, I had only ever listened to Dexys Midnight Runners' song "Come On, Eileen." The other stuff is amazingly good. Also, I had seen the band name, Manic Street Preachers, on British music magazines for years and had never explored their work. I did not know that one of their original members, Richey Edwards, had disappeared in 1995 and is presumed dead by suicide (jumping off a bridge).

I was mesmerized.

Other than great time with Dad, and with your spirit and presence, Mom, the greatest thing I got from the vacation was a new love for Brit Pop and the comic Phonogram.

A better explanation than the one I gave can be found here:

PHONOGRAM - THE COMIC - WIKIPEDIA

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Here's four of the featured songs that I rather like

"Pull Shapes" by the Pipettes


"Motorcycle Emptiness" by the Manic Street Preachers


"Ice Cream" by the Young Pony Club


"Parklife" by Blur


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I took the following picture for Liesel as there had been some discussion about her coming with us to Traverse City, but then she picked up some work hours. She has been wanting to kayak or paddle board all summer. So I took this picture and sent it to her with the message: "this could have been you."


Likewise, Liesel took a picture of this salad, and wrote me the same message: "this could have been you."

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.



Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.



- Days ago = 60 days ago



- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1509.02 - 21:55
and 1509.06 - 19:57


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Long Lake, Traverse City, End of July 1972


Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #60 - a reflection for throwback Thursday


Hi Mom,

This is what I wrote when I started this entry: "I am behind on my posts. I have  been grading like a maniac to meet deadlines. Readers, if you come across this page, it's still under construction as are the last three posts. Catching up tomorrow and this weekend."

In two days, it will be a week later since I started this entry, and I am not yet caught up, let alone ahead, which is the goal. But I continue. I press forward.

 Check out this image left. It is mostly white space but that will make sense as my text runs along side it. It's the text of what you wrote, Mom, on the back of the picture at the top of this blog entry. You are very precise. Although you did not know the exact date the photo was taken, you knew it was mid-late July of 1972, which would put my age at 10 and 1/2 years and Lori's at two years and 11 and 1/2 months, as it would have been just before her August 9th birthday.

I love this handwritten note. First of all, I love your handwriting, Mom. You wrote in cursive all her life. Dad, Lori, and I all took to block printing, but not you, you stuck with cursive. I had so many notes from you over the years in your delicate scrawl. I wish I had saved more of them.

Because after the meningitis, we worked on handwriting. You were all right in the first years after your recovery, and then you started to decline.

Probably the palsy that took your life, even then.

I saved so many hand writing samples from the post-meningitis period.

I promise, Mom. I will re-learn cursive and use it for notes that would make you proud, like on birthday cards to Dad.

Anyway, this is a picture of us all (minus Dad who is taking the photo) on the beach at ou rLong Lake home and later summer vacation rental. I will write more about that in a few days because Dad an I got go in the old house!! But for now just this picture and memories of your handwriting.

I love you, Mom.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 61 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1509.03 - 19:37 and 1509.08 - 20:11
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Dad and I at the Riverside Inn in Leland

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #62 - More on Traverse City pt. four - Leland and Suttons Bay

Hi Mom, Here's some more photos from my trip to Traverse City with Dad.



Riverside Inn, Leland

Riverside Inn, Leland

Tip jar, ice cream place
Sutton's Bay

Sutton's Bay

Sutton's Bay



Fishtown, Leland

Fishtown, Leland

Fishtown, Leland

Fishtown, Leland

Fishtown, Leland

Fishtown, Leland


Fishtown, Leland
Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.
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- Days ago = 63 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1509.05 - 20:00
and finished 1601.01 - 9:37
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Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #63 - our house - Traverse City pt. five

Hi Mom,

Still running behind. Have to get this posted, but first, I have to take the dog for a walk.

During our trip to Traverse City, Dad and I went to look at our old house on Long Lake. We showed up right at the time that the owner was cleaning the place, and so got to go in and look around.

It was amazing to see our old house where we lived from 1967-68 but then stayed many summers there after (most summers of my growing up years).

Here's some photos.

Damn, my paunch is too prominent

















the  entrance

my old room

closet in my room is just the same

stairs to my room are unchanged

cubby desk in my room is much the same

The porch is very different though
COMPARE above photo TO THIS:



Other cabins on the property

the Neighbors

the beach and the cove

the point

down the shore to the left

another shore view, left

Long Lake

up the shore, right
Above is the beach where my father filmed my sister and I running every year. We need to splice those film clips together to show us growing up.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 64 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1509.06 - 16:34
and finished 1601.01 - 9:32
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Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #64 - whiskey time! Traverse City pt. six

Hi Mom,

I worked most of the day, but I am now lapping up some delicious bourbon that Dad and I bought in Traverse City. Dad bought one bottle, and I bought the other, but somehow, I now have both. Most peculiar.

I was hoping to not only catch up on the under construction items in writing to you by today, Mom, but also get the comic book stuff posted before the start of school (tomorrow). But I have learned my limits. I can only do so much. I can only work so much. There's a point at which I must stop to avoid certain misery.

More soon.

In Traverse City, Dad and I visited the Traverse City Whiskey Co.

Here's some photos.






I now am the proud owner of a classic bourbon and a cherry infused bourbon whiskey from this fine establishment.

Rang in the new year with some!

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.
Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 65 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1509.07 - 19:28
and finished 1601.01 - 9:13
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Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #65 - Ends and Odds - Traverse City part seven


Hi Mom,

A week ago today, we stopped at this place in Cadillac for pasties. I also bought a raspberry pie that I ate at the rate of one piece a day and finished Sunday. Five pieces? That's not bad.
















Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.
Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 67 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1509.08 - 19:41
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That's all of them!

Thanks for tuning in.


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COUNTDOWN!!!


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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2409.02 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3349 days ago & DAD = 005 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

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