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| Grandpa with Hazel |
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| Happy Hilde with Hazel |
November was a notable month, beginning with some joyous
time in Palatine. Mark and Hilde enjoyed
so much cuddling the newest grandchild, Hazel Williams Henkel, and observing
the happy family together. On the second
of November, Evie’s parents and brother arrived so both sets of happy grandparents
could be present for Hazel’s baptism. It
was hard to leave Hazel and family---babies are only so tiny and sweet a little
time. Mark and Hilde are looking forward
to more time with the Palatine family this winter.
On the weather side, November relented after an early cold
blast and some dis-spiriting snow showers.
The rest of the month was “warm” and dry, fine fall weather. This allowed Mark to clean up the garden and disk
things up, plus put up the snow fence.
Mark and Hilde spent a couple of afternoons in the Seneca woods after
the loggers were done, clearing a path to the deer stands and then reinforcing
the stands. Lots of fresh air and exercise
on that project! Then they built a stand
down in the Rudolph woods. Unfortunately
all the preparation was for naught. Not
only did Jim end up missing deer season due to work, Mark, who went out several
times in both locations, did not see a deer.
While Hilde will miss venison in the freezer, she didn’t miss the
cutting of all the meat, to look on the bright side.
Although both the Fritzes (Kayme’s parents) and John and
Evie generously invited Mark and Hilde to Thanksgiving, they elected to spend
their first ever (in 45 years) Thanksgiving just the two of them. It was quiet, meditative and full of
thanksgiving—so many things this year to be thankful for! They worked off turkey and pie calories by
spending a couple afternoons clearing more brush from the Rudolph field. There are many more days of work waiting on
that hillside there.
As Mark finishes his first year practicing law from home as
Henkel Legal Services, Mark and Hilde are both happy about it. Mark has selected some ag-related cases and
referred others to other attorneys. Without
office hours, he is able to work around the house and on all the outdoor properties,
and still keep cases moving. The house
is rather cluttered with files and paper piles, but that is a minor issue—Hilde’s
crafts create clutter also. Working remotely is a success!
Hilde’s final term on county board continues to be loaded
with extra meetings and challenges. Some
things are finally falling into place and she has hopes of filling all three
extension vacancies before her term ends in April. Meantime, she is spoiling folks by bringing
something tasty to every meeting.
The final focus for Mark and Hilde is preparing to take over
the Stevens Taekwondo Academy. Dr.
Stevens is retiring in December and in preparation, Mark has worked his way
thru the on-line references, the diversity training and will do the first aid
and procedures stuff soon. Meantime,
Hilde has been organizing a reception for Dr. Stevens next month to celebrate
the 36 years he has taught and encouraged many, many students. The more than 550 STA black belts have spread
out across the country, but nobody forgets their taekwondo master—it is just
hard to find the students after so long a time.
To finish off the month, Hilde took a resounding pratfall at taekwondo
while teaching chasing kicks and got up sore but laughing, despite the
concerned faces of the younger students.
Hope you all enjoyed some of the sunlit milkweed and spectacular sunsets this November!
