Category Archives: Wayfarer’s Journal

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The Latest: Summer 2022

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It’s a gorgeous autumn day in Edinburg, Scotland. It has taken several weeks and a vacation across the Atlantic Ocean for me to make the time for this post. What a year 2022 has proven to be (and it’s not over yet).

This past summer was packed full of fun, both the usual and the non-usual. It began in what has become the usual way over the past twelve years, and that is at the lake with the JPs and VLs. Wendy and I arrived a little early and stayed a little late to enjoy time to ourselves and with friends Dave and Lola.

After returning to Pella, the social calendar included our support of the Pella Opera House at their annual gala.

We also enjoyed our friend, Shanae’s wedding in Des Moines. I was honored to be asked to pray a blessing over the wedding feast, and we had a lot of fun with friends. Wendy and I were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our granddaughter across the pond, which may (or may not) have prompted Wendy to offer to adopt dear little Audrey as an honorary grandchild for the evening.

We were ecstatic when, just days later, our 2nd grandchild, Sylvie Ruth, arrived. Taylor, Clayton, and Milo welcomed our new bundle of joy in Scotland on June 28th while Wendy and I were at the lake to celebrate a quiet July 4th (Taylor’s birthday, btw) holiday. I toasted Sylvie’s birth with a pint and a stogie on the deck while scoring the Chicago Cubs game. Other than having to spend a few extra days in the hospital to hit all of her health markers, everything went according to plan. So excited to have sweet Sylvie with us.

July ushered in another wedding. I was honored to officiate the joining of Megan and Tanner at the Hotel Fort Des Moines. Megan has pretty much been another daughter and we’ve had so much fun getting to know Tanner. It was a fabulous wedding and an amazing reception.

Our friends Kevin and Linda were back in Pella for five weeks this summer and we tried to make the most of it by getting together several times over those weeks. We enjoyed a summer evening of drinks and stogies on the patio. Enjoyed another evening at the Atkins Oasis. The VLs joined us for a Cubs night at the Vander Well Pub, and the six of us helped celebrate Pella’s 175th birthday at a special Pella Soiree one evening.

We also enjoyed visits from a niece and nephew this summer. Our nephew Asher joined us for a night along with his dad, Wendy’s brother Josh. We actually got to host our niece Lydia for a few days while her folks, (Wendy’s sis) Becky and Court got a few nights off. We had fun taking Lydia and Miss Camille to Pella’s new SmashPark. Uncle Tom got to take Lydia to Adventureland. It was her first visit to an amusement park.

We actually had even more gatherings with the Hall and Vander Hart crews. Wendy’s Uncle Brad and Aunt Barb moved back to Pella from Dubuque and we had multiple gatherings at their place. Wendy’s brother Jesse also came to town with his girlfriend Ania, and we enjoyed a great lunch with them and Wendy’s folks. We also enjoyed our nephew Owen’s first birthday gala.

As far as the Vander Well crew goes, all is well. Grandson Milo graduated from Nursery School and started primary school. All is well for Madison, Garrett, and the Rotties down in South Carolina. Papa Dean won both a first-place blue ribbon and a third-place white ribbon for the two stained-glass pieces he entered in the Iowa State Fair. The folks began considering a move to Pella this summer. Mom’s Alzheimer’s continues to progress, but she still manages to be adorably cute. One day on FaceTime my father was telling a long story and was holding his phone so that mom and I were basically staring at each other while Dad talked. I started making faces at her and she started making faces back at me. She’s so funny.

The summer ended with a traditional adult weekend at the lake with the JPs and VLs. It’s always a wonderful weekend of feasting and sharing of life. We spent more time chilling out at the Playhouse this summer and less time out and about. We ended the weekend with me making a double batch of the Vander Well family’s favorite Dutch treat, eireflensjes. The perfect bookend to wrap up the season.

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The Latest: Spring 2022

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It’s been a while since I posted and caught friends and family up on the latest with Wendy and me. There are so many ups and downs on Life’s road. Some stretches of the journey are memorable for their intensity and/or for pinnacle events. Then there are stretches of the journey that are less than memorable. Life proceeds, the river continues to flow, and you simply surrender to the flow. That’s how the late winter and spring of 2022 feel to me. Relatively uneventful, but not necessarily unimportant. C’est la vie.

We continue to enjoy small moments of joy with loved ones like the night we went to the Des Moines’ nightclub, Noce, with friends to enjoy the Des Moines’ Big Band. “Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life,” said Art Blakey. He was right. In the depths of an Iowa winter, some good jazz warms both heart and soul.

But it’s not just jazz. The arts, in general, allow the Creator to infuse life with the joy and Life of new creation. Wendy and I are so blessed to be part of a local gathering of Jesus’ followers who celebrate this. I was asked, once again, to be the Master of Ceremony for an “Original Works Night” that featured amazing talent and original works from poets, artists, songwriters, and photographers. It was so good. There’s even a video of the entire evening.

We continue to enjoy the blessing of great meals with good friends and the life-giving conversation that accompanies them. May this always be a regular part of our lives, as it certainly was this spring.

St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated this year with our friends, Kev and Beck, at the Hall in old West Des Moines. We thought we’d beat the rush and arrive early, but forgot that the Iowa Hawkeyes were playing in the Big Dance that afternoon. We went with the flow and enjoyed the afternoon and evening with good friends, good food, and a joyous time together with friends.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Speaking of friends, COVID robbed us of so many opportunities to be with friends and loved ones. Wendy and I took advantage of the waning pandemic to jet out to Palm Springs and spend time with dear friends in California. We enjoyed great meals, great conversation, and a jaunt out to Joshua Tree National Park. It was so good for our souls.

You never know when life will throw you a curveball. Wendy and I found ourselves at the lake this spring. We were preparing dinner. Wendy was slicing an avocado and ended up slicing her hand. An evening in the Emergency Room was followed by surgery and we continue in a season of rehab and recuperation. We’re at least enjoying the fact that she has a Harry Potter-worthy lightning-bolt scar on her palm. Trust me when I tell you that you’ve never truly experienced the breadth of humanity until you spend about six hours in an Emergency Room in the Ozarks.

We enjoyed a lovely visit from my parents. Dad continues to suffer the effects of cancer, bacterial infection, and the early symptoms of Parkinson’s. Mom’s Alzheimer’s continues to progress. Nevertheless, they continue to persevere in independent living in Des Moines as we plan for the next stages in their respective life journeys.

Wendy’s injury put a bit of a damper on our annual turn as the Dominie H.P. and Maria Scholte at Pella’s annual Tulip Time festivities. I spent some time each morning greeting visitors and tourists at the Scholte House Museum and we rode each afternoon in the Tulip Time parade. The three-day festival was a bit of a miracle this year. Right up until the day before the forecast was predicting rain for the first two days, but the first morning of the festival the rain stopped and the weather was perfect the rest of the time. The tulips were right at peak this year, as well. They looked spectacular.

The crew in Scotland is anxiously awaiting the arrival of our granddaughter. That didn’t stop them from making a vaca trip to Belgium this spring (yes, I’m jealous). Baby girl is scheduled for a summer solstice arrival on June 21. Big brother, Milo, has floated potential names for his sister ranging from “Julie” to “Harry Houdini.” We’ll trust mom and dad with making an apt choice.

We loved having Madison and Garrett (aka “G”) with us at the lake just a week or so ago. They flew into KC and we picked them up and transported them to the lake for a wonderful, long weekend. As always, the time was too short.

We also enjoyed dinner and a visit with our friends, the Burches, who were welcoming their daughter, Shanae, along with her husband and baby son back to the United States from their home in Cambodia. It was so fun to enjoy a Cambodian meal and spend an evening of love and laughter together. To watch my friend, Matthew, with his grandson was awesome.

We returned to Iowa, briefly. Wendy and I returned to KC the following weekend for an enjoyable getaway that included a visit with our friends, Matt and Tara. We then scooted back to the lake. Memorial Day weekend has finally arrived, which portends our annual VW, JP, and VL get-together. The official kick-off of summer has begun!

Wayfarer's Journal

Blogging Break!

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I’ve decided to extend my spring blogging break through Easter Sunday. I’ll be back trekking on the chapter-a-day journey on Monday, April 18th.

Don’t forget that there’s an archive of chapter-a-day posts indexed by book if you need a fix. You can also use the “Search” field at the top of the homepage to search for a word, term, or topic.

Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Easter!
– Tom

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The Latest: Anniversary Cruise

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New Year’s Eve 2020 was our 15th wedding anniversary, and we had planned a cruise down the Mexican Riviera. Covid messed up those plans like so many other things in life, and we ended up pushing it back a year.

Wendy and I headed to San Diego on December 28 where we worked remotely and took the opportunity to visit two of our team members who live there. On the 31st, our friends Chad and Shay arrived to join us for our anniversary celebration and embark with us on the cruise.

We made a late afternoon jaunt to the Gaslamp District of San Diego. It was crazy busy already so we opted to grab a quick bite at a small burger joint and pick up some wine at Ralph’s to enjoy back at the hotel. It ended up being a quiet celebration and an early night.

On New Year’s day, we headed to a great breakfast joint and did some shopping along the harbor. Chad and I found a bar to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes choke away their bowl game in the last eight minutes. We then walked up to the U.S.S. Midway museum. The decommissioned aircraft carrier was fascinating to tour. Even the ladies enjoyed it more than they thought they would. We had a ball.

The next day we boarded Holland America’s Koningsdam and headed down the Pacific coast of Mexico. After a day at sea, we made ports of call in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. Wendy and I chose to stay on the ship in Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. We really desired to enjoy the quiet on this trip. Other than a mid-day trip to the pool to enjoy a stogie while I read, Wendy and I spent a lot of time in our cabin and on our verandah. It was awesome.

A lot of people have been curious about how Covid affected the trip. The cruise required all passengers to be vaccinated and we had to produce a negative Covid test that was taken no more than 48 hours before embarkation. Masks were required in hallways, elevators, and interior public spaces when you weren’t eating or drinking. The ship seemed to be about half-full, so it never really seemed very crowded. The two things we really noticed were that the ship seemed to have a smaller staff so we sometimes had to wait longer than expected for someone to take a drink order around the pool, and we only got to hear the B.B. King All-Stars perform once. We assume that one of them must have gotten sick because all of their subsequent performances were canceled.

Wendy and I did get off the ship in Mazatlan to see Wendy’s sister, Suzanna, her husband, Chino, and our new nephew, Ian. Suzanna and Chino live in Mazatlan where they serve on the base of Youth With a Mission (YWAM). It was fun to see their apartment, get a tour of the YWAM base, and have lunch together right on the beach. The day flew by before we knew it and we had to depart. It was so much fun to see them!

Wendy and Shay enjoyed time in the Ship’s spa during the week, and we all enjoyed our evening dinners together. The final two days of the cruise were days at sea as we journeyed from Puerto Vallarta all the way back up the Mexican coast to San Diego. It was a great week. After the winter storm that we just experienced yesterday, we all agreed that we’d rather be back on the ship!

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The Latest: 2021 Holidays

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After having our home filled with our entire brood last year, Wendy and I knew that this year was going to be a stark contrast since neither the Scottish crew nor the South Carolina crew, were going to be making it back to Iowa. Thus, we begin this holiday edition of The Latest with Halloween, which we had to enjoy vicariously from across the pond. Taylor gets the great mom merit badge for Milo’s awesome firefly costume.

Meanwhile, down across the Mason-Dixon line, Madison got into the festive spirit at work with her amazing Poison Ivy make-up design.

Late autumn felt a lot like late summer this year. The weather has been unseasonably warm. It’s Christmas Eve day as I type the draft of this post and the forecast high is 59 degrees. We have a trip to San Diego scheduled next week to enjoy some “warm” weather and escape the “frigid” Iowa winter. The forecast high while we’re in San Diego next week? 59 degrees. 🙄.

Meanwhile, Wendy and I stayed busy in November. I delivered a keynote address at the fall conference of the Iowa Communication Alliance. Wendy continues to keep me on track as the “Senior Director of All the Things” for Intelligentics while also helping to manage “all the things” for Selah Studios. I also continue to serve the teaching team at Third Church, and I preached three of the five Sundays in November. Wendy and I also enjoyed, once again, being a part of Pella’s annual Tulip Queen Announcement Party again this year. Wendy is serving a multi-year stint on the committee and acts as the Director of the evening program. I was Master of Ceremonies again this year.

The 2022 Pella Tulip Queen Candidates

Wendy and I continue to feel honored to help her Grandma Vander Hart, who turned 94 this year and continues to live independently in her apartment. Wendy and I check in with her regularly and make sure she has what she needs. Some days we get to read the daily devotional for her, along with running errands and helping with odd tasks around her apartment.

Grandma Vander Hart joined us for Thanksgiving at our house, along with my parents, who drove down from Des Moines. It was a relatively quiet affair compared to some years, but we loved hosting these three. We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and gravy. The afternoon was spent lounging and chatting.

We were also honored this fall to play host for a long-standing family rivalry. My nephew, Sam, grew up a Green Bay Packers fan. Misguided as that is, he mustered the wisdom to marry a Vikings fan which only fueled the friendly rivalry we’ve enjoyed his entire life. Sam brought his family, and our niece Emma, down to Pella for George’s pizza and the Packers-Vikings game. Vikings won this time, which was a rare treat the way things have gone in recent years.

Our place at the lake tends to sit empty from November through March, but this year my friend Matthew and I headed south for a personal retreat over a long weekend in early December. The weather was amazing with temps in the 70s and 80s. It was 75 degrees one evening as I grilled some steaks on the deck, where we were also blessed to enjoy lunch a couple of the days.

Our grandson, Milo, celebrated his 4th birthday in early December, and we had to celebrate via FaceTime. What we weren’t expecting was the present that Milo had for us. He donned his “Big Brother” t-shirt to announce the pending arrival of another grandchild next summer!

We also got to celebrate the 2nd birthday of our niece, Anya in December with a birthday party at her house. It also gave us the opportunity to hang with our newest nephew, Owen.

Last year at Christmas we held the inaugural family Christmas Cocktail Contest. The kids wanted to make it a tradition, but we had to do it this year via video call across three weekends. Not as fun as being in person, but we certainly had had fun connecting online and sharing a drink and a chat together.

Christmas without the kids in town ended up being a fairly low-key affair. With the unexpected passing of our dear friend, Shay’s, mother, Wendy and I spent Christmas Eve visiting the VLs who had driven through the previous night to return from a Christmas ski vacation. We then walked home (did I mention it’s unseasonably warm this year?) where “ma in her kerchief and I in my cap” both settled in early for “a long winter’s nap.”

Having headed to bed early, I was awake for the “night watch” and enjoyed praying, reading, and some extended quiet time in the darkness before dawn until Wendy rose for the day. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and opened gifts between the two of us. We even snuck in a FaceTime call with Milo to let him show us his Christmas haul as we were getting ready for the day.

Wendy and I hosted anyone from our families who wanted to come for a charcuterie spread on Christmas Day. The guests began to arrive late morning. Covid worries and seasonal viruses prompted some last-minute cancellations, but we had a wonderful constellation of loved ones including Wendy’s sister and her family from Denver, my brother from Boise, our parents, and Grandma VH. After eating, there was the sharing of gifts. My dad and sister made a stained-glass Santa ornament for us. My mother’s favorite color is purple, so Wendy and I gave her the most purple robe we could find along with matching slippers. About mid-afternoon, the entire VL crew walked over to join the festivities. Amidst the din of Christmas revelry, we enjoyed a Zoom chat with Madison, Tay, and Clay.

Wendy’s Christmas Charcuterie Spread

By evening, all guests had departed. Wendy and I cleaned up and then had a quick FaceTime call with our friends Kev and Beck to open their gifts to us which were still under the tree. After that, we settled in on the couch to watch the Guy Pearce – FX interpretation of A Christmas Carol (it’s amazing, trust us). Other than an emergency V-Dub Pub to-go order, we enjoyed a quiet evening before retiring together with our hearts, heads, and tummies full.

Today, we head to Ankeny for Christmas with the Hall Clan.

Merry Christmas, friends.

“God bless us. Everyone.”

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The Latest: Fall 2021

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A hot, dry summer this year gave way to a hot, dry autumn here in Iowa. I don’t remember many October days in years past with temps in the 90s. In fact, our sump pump unknowingly died somewhere amidst the summer drought. When the fall rains finally came, we got to enjoy some flooding in the basement. Ugh!

September is our favorite time at the lake. The summer crowds are gone and things are much quieter, yet the weather remains very enjoyable. After our friends left on Labor Day, we stayed to enjoy some time, just the two of us.

“Hevel. Everything is hevel,” says the teacher.

Other than that, the fall has been quite enjoyable for Wendy and me. Wendy continues to take good care of her 94-year-old grandmother checking in on her during the week, taking her to appointments, and helping her with her daily needs. I became a certified Enneagram coach, which has been fun. Business travel is beginning to happen again. I made a trip to Texas in October and made a stop at one of my favorite places on earth for some much-needed quiet time.

With our beloved Cubs tanking early, our attention turned to football. We enjoyed getting out to both high school and college games. Our friends, Kev and Beck invited us to enjoy the entire college game day experience complete with tailgating before the evening game. The Cyclones even won in spectacular fashion, which was nice.

One of the joys of living life with our dear friends is the opportunity to be part of their children’s lives. Wendy and I felt so honored when our young friend, Harry, told his parents that on his 21st birthday he would like to have his first legal adult bevies with his parents, Wendy and me. We started the celebration at two of our favorite local watering holes and ended the evening back at the Vander Well pub. Fun to be part of another one of the young man’s rites-of-passage.

I was blessed with some of the best college professors back in the day. For the last three years majoring in theatre at Judson College, my Theatre prof was David McFadzean, who was not only one of the best theatre people I’ve ever worked with but was also a personal mentor in so many ways. Dave got his break and has done well as a Hollywood writer and producer. I was pleasantly surprised to get a call letting me know he and his wife, Liz, were making a cross-country road trip and had plans to spend a night in Pella. They came over for dinner and we enjoyed such a lovely evening catching up, talking theatre, and swapping stories.

Meals with friends has been sort of a theme for us this fall. One of my oldest and dearest of friends (and Taylor and Madison’s godfather) has been back in Iowa to help care for an ailing parent. He and I have been able to meet regularly for lunch, and it’s been fun to hang out with him and his son.

The Vander Well pub has also been a regular gathering place for friends, which makes us so happy. Just a few weeks ago we enjoyed a fun night out with the adults. Dinner out with cocktails and nightcaps at the pub. And, Wendy got to sport her awesome new boots.

One of our favorite things over the past couple of years is charcuterie nights. Wendy is quite gifted at putting out an amazing spread. It was so much fun to host friends for an evening of trying lots of different things while we swapped stories. I especially loved the story of our friends who met and were married in three weeks. A few weeks before charcuterie night, we were honored to be in their home to celebrate their 50th anniversary and I was asked to lead in a prayer of blessing over them. So much fun!