Category Archives: children

The Penske Chronicles, Day 2

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, Community, Family, impediments, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

December 27, 2025- It sits across the street, like a monument to the end of an era. There it will receive its load, over the next few days, as my Prescott home is dismantled. It will “watch” silently, as furniture collectors come and go; as a cleaning crew arrives to remove twelve years of my footprint.

This Penske and I made it to the former Home Base I around 8:30, this evening. There was no one around, and as I collected a small amount of mail & newspapers, the night remained silent. Only the heater interrupted the stillness, providing its comfort with an occasional clanging and blowing.

The day started out much differently. Almara Inn’s housekeepers, a spirited team of three women, were on the job and bantering, not long after I got myself together. One of them, seeing no vehicle in front of the room, thought I had left and was delighted by the prospect of finishing early. I didn’t dampen her spirits by much, though, as I was out by 9:30.

Breakfast at Del’s was a quiet delight. The house was full, and my meal, ample. Two families were among the crowd, quietly keeping conversation. Two little girls, one clutching a doll, made me think of our Hana. It doesn’t take much to bring her top of mind. That will probably be so, for the rest of my life.

The road west was fairly uneventful. I was reminded, at a fuel stop in Albuquerque, to avoid tight spaces with this rig. No harm done, though, and I was able to gas up there, and again in Holbrook. I stopped for lunch at Dancing Eagle, in Laguna, and opted for the casino snack bar, over the busier full service restaurant. The small crew at the snack bar was working just as hard, and prepared a decent chicken quesadilla.

The storm that had ravaged southern California, earlier this week, made its presence known as I went through Flagstaff. It was no where near as fierce as it had been, though, and by the time I reached the Sedona junction, there was no sign of precipitation. The sizeable group of travelers kept in order, and we all made it safely downhill.

Once off I-17, there was scant traffic, and on up to Prescott we went-the last time I will make that trip as a resident. Three more days, and this soon-to-be Texan will carry Arizona in heart, only returning as a visitor, now and then-just as I do to Massachusetts and Maine.

Home Base for the Holiday

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Family, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

December 25, 2025, Plano- Hana and her parents came through the door at 1:35 p.m., after a long and careful discharge process. She was fast asleep, and stayed that way until it was time for her 3 p.m. feeding (Every three hours is the newborn’s lot). I had pretty much tended to the business of the house for three days, to the relief of exhausted Mom and Dad. They worked out the home routine, while I prepared dinner. Hana slept on and showed signs of dreaming. I wonder what a newborn’s dreams are like.

Although we do not celebrate Christmas, with gifts and such, the Divine saw fit to give us the sweetest gift of all, a young person who already shows glimmerings of personality and tells us when she wants to eat and when she has had enough. I would wager nearly every baby tries to show who s(he) is, and those who pay attention are the best friends a child could ever want. Our little girl simply stops nursing when she is full-smart idea.

To me, the celebration of Christ’s Message at this cusp of Solstice is a celebration of hope, as the Northern Hemisphere slowly regains its light. Nowhere should people be more hopeful than in a new family, settling into a new house, with a new configuration. Nowhere is the well of love greater, than in this home on a cul-de-sac, in a working class neighbourhood in a thriving suburb of Dallas.

Tomorrow I head back to Prescott, finish up clearing out my old apartment and do whatever I need to do to dispose of furniture that no one seems to want back there. Today, though, was Home Base for the holiday.

The Midnight Clear

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

December 24, 2025, Plano- Before the exterminators left yesterday, they said that if there were any vermin in the attic or in the eaves, I would hear them, as there was no insulation in the house, overnight. I didn’t even hear crickets, so I guess that means it was a midnight clear-of rodents.

Hana reportedly slept well, getting up for her 3 a.m. feeding, which was dutifully supplied by bottle. The breast pump’s inventor deserves the Nobel Prize for Peace, in my book. Mothers have to shoulder an enormous burden, as it is. My son, knowing how important natural milk is, has stayed at his wife’s and daughter’s sides for the past three days and is holding his own.

I am likewise keeping the home fire burning. Speaking of which, while the workmen were funneling new insulation into the attic and eaves, our smoke alarm would occasionally go off. It would stop on its own, after a few minutes. I kept watch and noticed only that smoke was coming up from the outside barrel, where the attendant was mixing the insulation material. With the front door remaining open, for circulation, the smoke would occasionally waft in. No harm was done, though, and a few hours after they left, I turned our HVAC thermostats back on “Heat” mode,

Culling our endless supply of cardboard consumed my afternoon, then I visited H Mart, a Korean grocery store, about five miles away, replenishing a few items that Yunhee will welcome, upon the family’s return, tomorrow morning. It’ll follow another midnight clear.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Best Laid Plans

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Family, impediments, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

December 23,2025, Plano- My plan was to stay the morning at the house, then head over to the hospital. That evaporated in ten seconds, when the workman uttered a simple phrase: “This’ll be an all day job.” “This” was the reason I was staying here-preparation for replacement of the home’s insulation. That means removing all old insulation, which, I noticed takes eight hours. I will say that I, being the resident who house sat, had the better deal, compared to the workman who spent his day in the attic. I turned off the heat, but at 73F outside, he has to get some enjoyment out of this line of work, to endure eight hours (minus a 20-minute lunch break) in a cramped space.

I was also considering heading to the hospital tomorrow morning-until the same guy mentioned he would infuse the house with new insulation, bright and early. Well, it may be warm outside now, but winter is sure to come and we don’t want to put the basic necessities off, just for the holiday. Hana, for one, does not seem to like being cold. She expresses her sentiments quite well, when her swaddle is being changed.Once she’s clad again, all is well.

I managed to get some constructive work done today: Filling three yard bags with leaves, unpacking all the boxes from last weekend’s jaunt and setting up my clothes closet, then running necessaries out to the hospital, after the workers left for the day. Sometimes, the best laid plans give way to even better things. I ended the day by rocking Hana for about fifteen minutes, and she was content.

A Few Inches; A Thousand Miles

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Posted by on in children, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

December 22, 2025, Grapevine- About 6:40 a.m., CST, I got the message: Hana Penny Boivin had arrived safely, traveling the short, but sometimes harrowing distance from her mother’s womb to the waiting hands of an obstetrician. She immediately sought her mother’s embrace-and food. My first grandchild weighed in at 7 lbs, 2 oz and is about 18 ” long. She has healthy lungs and an assertive nature. There is no guessing if she wants something. That’s our girl!

I came 1,060 miles to be with this wondrous soul and her parents. I would have come 3,000 miles , or 7,000. Now I can safely say that, once two remaining items of business are completed (Finishing up in Prescott and making a promised visit to dear friends elsewhere) are completed, my focus, physically, emotionally and financially, will be primarily on this family of mine.

It is no secret that this little girl captured my heart, way back eight months ago. Prayers have gone out every morning, including this one. They’ve been answered, mightily. She has strong, proactive parents, so I am even more confident that this person is going to be an achiever. My main role is cheering from the sidelines. It may be a bit premature, but this song by Neil Diamond comes to mind.

No Second Class

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Education, Family, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

December 17, 2025- The lone pedestrian took his turn in the crosswalk, as I approached the intersection, with one car ahead of me, and prepared to turn left-once the man had reached the curb. The driver ahead was also turning left, and edging up to the very crosswalk, while the pedestrian was still in it, made a show of going around the poor soul. Pedestrian and I both shook our heads simultaneously. I get quite exercised about that sort of close call! What if the pedestrian had stumbled and fallen backwards?

I bit later, I took some items to a friend who said she might be able to use them. After sifting through the stock and taking about half of it, she mused about people routinely bringing items, almost expecting that she would take the lot. I don’t dump things on people. I leave them with what they can actually use and find other places for the rest.

Public libraries have graciously accepted seven boxes of the books that have accumulated over the past fifteen years-between Phoenix and here. I have kept those volumes that I know will get read, especially the children’s books that I look forward to reading to my grandchild. The books that are left should fit in the car, along with the clothes, on my first trip out to Plano. I also donated another two boxes of assorted household items to other services.

The furniture will involve more calling around and seeing which agency is interested and can pick up. The first, which shall remain nameless for now, is rather fussy about what it will take. No matter, I no longer deal with them, anyway, for other lapses of ethics, as regards the homeless. I have a hard time with those who foster a mentality that divides people into classes.

There are no second class citizens.

Not Overlooked

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

December 16, 2025- The tall, soft-spoken man had become used to being overlooked. This morning, though, he was tired of it. When asked to wait for our Blood Donation center to finish being set up, he obligingly sat down. Then, things happened in rapid succession: The Center opened, ten people came through the door and lined up to be admitted, while he stayed seated. Once the line had been processed, the man was called over. He was livid.

He got an apology and was processed, then, still grousing about unfair treatment, he went to the donor interview seating area. One of those who had preceded him in line struck up a conversation, heard him out and offered to let him go ahead. That took the wind out of his angry sails and he calmed down. After a satisfying donation, he told the registration volunteers that they were not at fault, and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.

Many people in our society, and in large communities across the globe, feel overlooked, anonymous. Many indeed are. The human brain can only process just so much, and can only pay attention to just so many, before encountering someone who just doesn’t register, whose needs don’t compute. The brain is part of a physical system. It is finite, although it is also far more capable of achievement than most of us allow.

A lot of anonymity in society is due to spiritual dissonance. We are all primarily spiritual beings, living for a time in a physical frame. Those who don’t recognize their spirituality are far more likely to both feel overlooked and to compartmentalize their relationships with others. Isolation is a dangerous thing, both for the person experiencing it, and for those at whom the isolate, eventually, lashes out. Those who feel overlooked will eventually, invariably, find each other, and form groups with skewed visions of reality. Terrorism then ensues, either by someone acting alone or by the group.

The ISIS attack on American Army Reservists in Syria, over the weekend; the mass murder in Sydney; the murders of a conservative activist and an Uzbeki student, in Providence; and even the killings of Rob and Michele Reiner, all follow the pattern: One or more isolated people, to some extent or another exacerbated by mental illness, and in many cases separated from their true spirit (even if they claim to be acting on behalf of a Faith), and feeling misunderstood, lash out in a horrifying manner. They misunderstand their own nature, and taking the seeming indifference of others-who are themselves a bit cut off from their spirituality-as proof that they are owed retribution, lash out in a horrifying manner.

Each individual needs to know that s(he) is responsible for own spiritual education. Parents and adults close to a child can help him or her in that regard. Adults can help one another, but in the end, we each need to take agency for our spiritual existence.

Several of us heard the gentleman’s cry for recognition, this morning, and turned around what could have been an ugly situation. This can be done anywhere, if we recognize the Source of our lives and strive accordingly.

All In

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

December 15, 2025- There is only one constant, when transitioning from a long-time residence to taking over someone else’s long-time residence. It helps to have money set aside. I have found it will be in my best interests to invest in a U-Pod, which will mean two stages of the move, owing to Hana’s birth and the U-Pod’s schedule being on two separate wavelengths. I am only grateful that I can manage to do justice to both.

I divested myself of about half my wardrobe, saying goodbye to things that I have kept, but not worn and things that no longer fit. I have done the same to my book collection. Those volumes that I am unlikely to ever read, or that I have read and think will be enjoyed by others, have been passed on. Finally, the furniture: I have scant need for anything that is in this apartment, save a folding card table, once I am in Plano. Most will go to one thrift store or another. One piece is likely to be bought by someone in town.

Today was my last visit to the Coffee Klatsch, and last time volunteering at the Soup Kitchen. Both groups are filled with fond memories and people who will miss me as much as I do them. Life will go on, though, and a friend has already stepped up to take my place on the serving line. He will be an excellent fit for that operation, and made a good impression this evening.

So, the wall art and the small knick-knack keepsakes will be covered in bubble wrap. The family archives will be prepared for transport, some at the end of the week and the rest in the middle of next week. Our darling will appear in between it all. I am all in for the whole process.

Sunbows, Deer Antlers and Red Flags

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Entertainment, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

December 12, 2025- The sunbow appeared in the northern sky, as I walked downtown from HB I. It was an affirmation that all had ended well, after a tumultuous day. It was Acker Night, time to walk about and enjoy the lights, music and camaraderie that foreshadow Christmas here. I ran across several friends and walked around with Hiking Buddy Akuura and another one of her friends. The musical fare ran the gamut from hip hop to novelty Country. The latter included a revision of “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, with Arizona taking the place of West Virginia and US 89 replacing the generic country roads. There were fewer Grinches, and no Krampases in sight. There were plenty of children and dogs wearing deer antlers, though. It was also warmer and more serene than the pushing and shoving that has sometimes characterized the crowds downtown.

I had entertained thoughts of heading up to Bellemont, with six boxes of books, earlier this morning. It occurred to me, though, that time was getting short to advertise and sell the sofa hide-a-bed. So, I took the measurements and a couple of photographs, and posted on Craig’s List. It didn’t take long for the grifters to come out of the woodwork. Offers of purchase on Venmo and Zelle came via text. Needless to say, after ridding myself of three or four such pests, (one of whom sounded quite convincing, until his “coach” came on in the background and was heard telling him what to say), I found it necessary to call my bank. If the thieves had my contact info, they might have been able to hack my account. So, proper measures were taken to safeguard my assets. Nothing was compromised, in the end. I will sell the item for cash and nothing else. It was a good day of learning about private sales of items.

I will use Sunday as a Books to Bellemont day. It is a lot less stressful now, knowing that there are alternatives to driving back and forth from Prescott to Plano, twice. I will talk with U-Haul reps on Monday, for transport of what might not fit in Sportage.

These things, too, shall pass and Christmas in Prescott will remain a bright and shiny memory, for years to come. Plano, and the Metroplex, have their own holiday festivities. My family will enjoy them all, as a unit.

Blue, Green and Red

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Hiking and Nature, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

December 10,2025- In the Fall of 1979, a co-worker at Villa School, in Eloy, had a vehicle and wanted someone to go with her to Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. My hand went up, as I was actively visiting as much of Arizona as I could on weekends, without the benefit of owning my own vehicle. So, northward we went, first to Flagstaff’s Fort Tuthill (fairgrounds), then down along U.S. 89, stopping next at an overlook and purchasing a few items of Dineh jewelry. (She, for herself and I, for another co-worker, whose birthday was approaching).

Then, the magic started to unfold-a riotous blend of colours: Blue sky, green trees and grass and red rocks presented their unique co-existence all along the windy canyon road, carved long ago, by Oak Creek. The creek itself served up a hearty torrent, at Slide Rock, which hosted a popular Arizona State Park. We looked for a bit at the happy families, kids squealing in delight and teen boys on the ledge above, daring one another to jump off into the creek. (None did, given that their fathers were close by, wielding veto power). We soon went on, down towards Sedona, creeping along behind a bicyclist, who was half arrogantly occupying the center of the lane and half scared to death that his brakes might fail. The slow pace only amplified the majesty of the place. We took in Cathedral Rock, Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock, all from their bases. I was an avid hiker, but my co-worker was not. I made a mental note to return to each of these, and explore further.

Over the years, Sedona has been a regular destination-either alone, or when accompanied by Penny, by our son, Aram, by his wife, Yunhee, by members of the NAU Hiking Club or, most recently, by my present Hiking Buddy, Akuura, the area has not once failed to present the most majestic of views. Those views change with the position of the Sun. Light and shadow are everything in the Southwest, and nowhere more so than in this most wondrous of places, where canyon meets mountain.

Akuura and I took in Red Rock State Park, for one final excursion, before I devote myself full tilt to dispersing many possessions and packing up the rest. It was an exquisite day, weather-wise, and so we took in Eagle’s Nest and Javelina Overlook-and several points along the way.

The blue and green were gearing up; the red a bit subdued, yet, at the base of Eagle’s Nest Trail.

The hues deepened, though, as my shadow and I walked towards the switchbacks that led to the overlook.

It may not look treacherous, but the sign is quite accurate.

The first phase of Javelina Trail passes by an area where several mule deer were grazing and another area, where a lone javelina was moving away from a small assembled group of bird watchers/deer oglers. We would encounter the deer again, towards the end of our hike, but that was the last we saw of the boar. This magnificent little spire could be called Love Rock, for all I know, but it is a standalone outcropping, along the flat trail, just before Apache Fire Loop rises off to the right.

Once atop the Javelina Trail, the iconic view of Cathedral Rock offered itself.

We briefly pondered the trail east to another part of this majestic expanse, but then opted to head back down to the Visitors Center-and on to lunch. Just before getting to the Visitors Center, we encountered the family of resident mule deer, enjoying their lunch.

The final visit to Sedona, of this year at least, came to an end, with a celebratory lunch at The Belfry, at the entry to Old Town Cottonwood. I long ago swore to spare my readers any food photos, but this chandelier is worthy of praise.

I will someday be back in Sedona, and God willing, I might even have a wide-eyed granddaughter along.