Empty Nest, Full Hearts

My wife jokes that her and I are both orphans. This is because our parents have each passed away now. It came upon us in a gently alternating format, therefore we each in turn were able to help the other. Her Dad, my dad, her Mom, mine. Sounds sort of like a nursery rhyme that way.

A second wave of separation has now descended upon.  as our daughters have all moved out of our house. Our youngest lives with her best friend at her parents house.  Our middle daughter has moved her family to another state. Though the oldest and previously mentioned youngest daughters live just a few miles away, we don't see them near as much as we would like.

But fear not, though our lives have changed, evolved....I believe we are ready to gracefully don our new roles as empty-nesters and 'top of the food change'.  (This is another way to say that with our parents having moved on to the next world, our turn is next).   I did not get a chance to have a whole lot of adventure in 2014 as I had envisioned...but 2015 hopefully will see more adventure and accomplishment for both my wife and I. We are already making some plans....so stay tuned.

 We also have the pugs to care for and love.  When the grand-children come to play, the playroom and the   kitchen fills with sweet noise and action.  So much more than empty, our nest is lively and active and safe and welcoming.  Both critter and grand-child know they are welcomed and wanted and loved.

I won't pretend that moving into this phase of our lives won't have it's share of difficult times.  Even now we already have times when we miss the girls and their families. We also experience sad thoughts when we remember those who have come before us and have moved on. Though our nest may be empty, our cups are very full. Though age has marked us with a few more wrinkles and some strands of grey we still have great purposes to fulfill here in this lifetime. Though our knees may be a little less sturdy and we are a bit less flexible and not quite as fast as we once were, we still have things to do, and places to go.  The Lord is not finished with the two of us yet.

Cheers, nca

Booking

Yeh, one of those...'when I was a kid...we never' posts. I can't help it. My mind's eye sees something and I don't know how to stay silent.

My Grandson is a charming sort. Tall, good looking kid, with a polite attitude; good nature, bright. He is not 9. He was over at my house the other day, and he was showing me some books he had picked up at the library that week.

Ahh, the library.  I love libraries. I loved them since I was a kid and first obtained that spoked independence that comes with having a bicycle. Have bicycle, will travel. Have library card, will read. Growing up cash poor in Phoenix limited the things to do on hot summer days....but libraries were free and oh the places a good book and a descent imagination could take a boy! Frank Baum could take you to OZ, The Hardy Boys could engross you in a exciting mystery in Bayport. Or you could assist Encyclopedia Brown solving a crime from Idaville.  Or how I envied and admired Horatio Hornblower navigating the warm waves of the South Atlantic and outsmarting the 'frogs'!


So, as my Grandson was showing the books, I was happy to see that he was enjoying the precious fruits of the library during his fall break as much as me or any of my brothers would have all those years ago.  And I certainly don't want to stifle his growing love of books at this age.

But looking through the books, I was somewhat shocked to see the blatant commercialization of the reading materials he had chosen. Three of the books were Lego produced and were heavily laden with pages containing minimal text and Lego land configurations of Ninja and Star Wars themed story lines.



Two other of the books were based on the popular video game series Skylander. And the last book was a drawing book on how to draw Pokemon.

To be honest, as I paged through all 6 of the books, I could certainly see how each of them would appeal to an 8 year old boy. And I would be crazy to discourage any youth from reading of any kind.

Still, I can't mask the thoughts going through my head concerning the direction of literature in the future.  Will the offerings of our libraries and bookstores become more and more commercial? Are we moving to more commercial forms of entertainment for our youth? Are we suppressing imagination and replacing it with blatant commercialism?   More importantly, will the youth of today ever be able to get lost within their imagination under the spell of a  talented author like I was all those years ago?

JK Rowling turned back the clock 17 years ago and returned the joys of literature to the youth of the world. I was amazed that literature was so alive and so thrilling to a new generation. I hope the joys of opening up the first chapter of a new world will continue to be experienced by youth for a long time to come.

Cheers, nca

Girls Girls Girls

Oh, one other general thought to share on this night of introspection....

Various people have made comments somewhat on the line of....'sorry you never had any sons'. Or, 'do you ever wish you and your wife had had a boy', or 'do you ever wish you had boys?'.

The answer is pretty simple.  I love my daughters deeply and without reservation. They were a joy to raise, they are amazing as grown women, and being their father was and is fulfilling, amazing, and I would not change anything about the place I hold in the family tree.

As for sons, I have two. Sons in Law, yes. I don't fight the law, the law won. They are my sons in the eyes of the law. I love them and consider them my own.

As for 'do you ever wish you had boys?' I now have three grandsons. I never knew how cool it would be to have boys...I was always content with my daughters and never really expected that parenthood outside of daughters was remotely necessary for my personal fulfillment or happiness. But, sure...those grandsons are awesome and I can see that there is a certain appeal with boys that I never really understood.

Still, my daughters were and are my gift from our divine Heavenly Father and I cherish my stewardship deeply and with proper and no small amount of gratefulness. To find myself now with the added joy of three wonderful grandsons is truly blessings upon blessings. And my three granddaughters are an icing on a very divine cake. My cup, runneth over.  surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life.

Cheers, nca

A Turn Of Phrase

I am a lover of puns and other language related humor.  My daughters are known to roll their eyes at my routine musings. The English language has so many opportunities to paint silly pictures with words.   Humor derived in the turning of phrases is amusing and merry. With light or heavy brush strokes,  it is possible to turn a phrase around to add innuendo, wacky humor, even sarcasm.

Turning of phrases to me includes turning phrases around on their own backside. I think one common one we are all familiar with is turning the word 'butterfly' into 'flutterby'.  Not particularly funny, but a great example of how turning the word around allows much more meaning to be obtained. What does butter have to do with these winged insects?

But, do these creatures not flutter by when you see one? The turn of phrase is more appropriate then the original word.

Today, in a work note, I turned a common phrase, 'more bang for your buck' on it's tush to achieve 'more buck for your bang', a phrase with several levels of meaning, including some obvious (a gun and a deer), a couple innuendos, and even a possibility of a racial undertone I don't particularly care to emphasize. Yet, it added color and texture to another one of those yawn inspiring work notes I deal with all day long.


Oh heck, what's not too love about the English Language? With a twist of a few letters, a strange and new word creature is created. The mad word doctor Kotkas has struck again.

So, just to play a bit with words....I will try a few other phrase turns here just off the top of my 'tongue':

"Going to Hand in a Hell Basket'.  Well, OK.

"A hand buried in the bush is too worthy' - Ahh. oh my.

"When Johnny Comes, March him home".   You start to see the the innuendos piling up now, right?

I am not saying each of these are exactly barn-beaters. But you can see the possibilities now, right? And each of these came up right as I was typing them.

I love playing with words. Therefore I blog.

Cheers, nca

The View From Here

This month my work team and I move over to the Corporate Building in Downtown Tempe. This will be the fourth building I have worked at for the Airline and it will be a big change.

That will be my cubicle in the red circle on the 5th floor. Yep, still a cubicle. But I can't help to think how far I have come from being the nerdy kid on old Amelia Avenue, to sitting here in the corner looking out over the Valley of the Sun.

This is the view East toward Tempe.

In the foreground is one of my all time favorite restaurants,  Monte's La Casa Vieja, and across Mill Avenue you can see Hayden Flour Mill and A Mountain. Just west of A Mountain is Sun Devil Stadium where I enjoyed so many great Football games. ASU was a big part of my life as both student and employee. Sometimes I think part of my heart is still there with the maroon and gold.

And this will be the view from my cube looking north.

In the foreground is Tempe Beach Park and Tempe Town Lake. Further north is Papago Park, and farther in the distance are the dry humps of beautiful Camelback Mountain. So much of the stomping grounds of my life can be seen from my little desk now.

I often reflect on where I have come from, this wild crazy life. From here I can visually see much of that. I don't know what paths the remainder of my life will lead. I have no fear. Bring it on!

Cheers, nca

Hy-View Subdivision

Another really cool neighborhood in Phoenix Metro is the Hy-View Subdivision. Located north of Papago Park and just a tad west of Scottsdale, the area boasts interesting architecture, a beautiful urban mountain park, and even an amazing piece of Arizona history.





Developed into a neighborhood in the early 60's, the neighborhood was designed to blend into the desert a little better than other Phoenix neighborhoods from that time of unbelievable growth in the Valley. And good thing for that, nestled close to the beautiful 'rugged' Papago Park, that decision was very wise planning for those years.

South of the neighborhood is Papago Park with it's beautiful red rock formations, a feast for the eyes.


Crowing Papago Park is the fantastic Hole in the Rock with a view south toward the busy Sky-Harbor Airport.




In addition to the rugged landscape, the area hosts the Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Gardens. If you ride your mountain bike south-east from the Hy-View neighborhood toward Hunt's Tomb, you might be able to catch some of the rare Arabian Oryx grazing up on the Red Rocks. No entrance fee, tell then Kotkas sent you :) .

It is hard to think when zooming your bike through this lovely desert bordered neighborhood that you are just minutes away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Phoenix.

I also mentioned history. During World War II the Papago Park area hosted a Allied camp built to hold Axis prisoners. The POW camp was the home of a famous escape plot still talked about by old-timers. Indeed, the Elks Lodge that borders the Hy-View subdivision has some of the few remaining pieces of the old POW camp.

Another of my favorite Valley neighborhoods. I will blog about these and more, but please share some of your favorites.

Cheers, nca

Sunnyslope

Now that I am the last of the 'Kotkas' siblings living in the Phoenix metro area, I wanted to highlight some things I really like about the area. A lot of people think of the Stucco Cardboard box houses in the suburbs when they think of housing in Arizona. Lots of ranch style homes with little personality.

But trust me when I say that there are many charming neighborhoods in the Phoenix metro area.

One area I drove through recently was Sunnyslope. Sunnyslope is in the northern part of traditional Phoenix, designated roughly between 19th street and 16th street west and east, and Cactus and Northern for north and south.

The area is not cookie cutter by any means. Even when I was a kid I enjoyed biking and later driving through the houses near Central Avenue and Northern. They seemed opulent (yet classy) in comparison to the little dinky tract home of my youth.


Lined with mature trees and irrigated expansive lawns. Nice size lots, and a variety of architecture types. Xeriscape was not even a term when these houses were built. Not that I have an issue with that urban philosophy, but the trees and the rolling lawns do seem to give this neighborhood a life.


North of the neighborhood, and easy bike ride away, are rugged mountains excellent for hiking and mountain biking.

Many of the lots in this area are a tad bigger than other Phoenix urban neighborhoods, and it is not uncommon in some areas to see the house sitting slight angled to the street instead of straight forward.

Truly, a neighborhood worth visiting.

Cheers, nca

Home is Where Your Heart Is

My youngest brother and his family are moving to Colorado this summer. That makes me the last of my siblings to live here in the Valley of the Sun. sure, there is a nephew, a niece,  and some distant grand nieces/nephews, along with my daughters and grand-kids....but I alone represent the 'great' Adler clan that was a fixture here since the early '50s.

 What did the Valley and Arizona mean to the Adler clan?

Where do I start?

Little League Baseball on summer evenings, Madison Pool splashes, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Bell's Restaurant, Mining Camp, Papago Park and Legend City. Town and Country Shopping Mall, Thrifty Ice Cream, pretending to be mannequins. Finding junk in the alley, the Indian Trading post, Bayless Groceries and museum.

St. Thomas, altar boys, Catholic girls, nuns and swimming pools. Playing ditch'em, British bulldog, and kill the guy with the ball on the football field. Camelback Spartans, Brophy Broncos, and CCD.

Phoenix Giants, Dodger Broadcasts, Phoenix Suns and Gorilla. TGIF, Ramone's and La Placita. Wallace and Ladmo, Lew King Rangers, Gerald, Romper Room, and Dewey Hopper fan club.

Long bike rides all over the Valley, knowing where all the good drinking fountains were hidden. Pink Sidewalk and the reservoir, Squaw Peak (Piestewa), North Mountain, South Mountain, Estrella and the San Tans...not to forget Coon Bluff, Superstitions, Mingas, and the Bradshaws. Bapchule, Ditch Day, 7th Grade Dance, 8th Grade Dance. Ice Cream Socials, Big Surf, Cinema Capri and Chris-town Mall.

I'm sure I can go on an on.  The Valley has so many memories for my siblings and me. I don't want to be the old man/keeper of memories. But the memories stack up in my mind like vintage hub caps at a junk yard. I don't want to throw them away in case one or two of them are actually valuable to someone.

It is strange to think that I am the one that stayed. In my youth I was sort of the one that hitch-hiked around the country and seemed relatively unstable, like a tumbleweed. Yet, 55 years into the Valley I am the last of us 8 siblings still here. With daughters and grands, I am not going anywhere.

This is a good home, a very good home. And home is where the heart is.

Cheers, nca

Kotkas 100th Post!!!!!

My daughter did this illustration to commemorate the 100th Kotkas Post.

http://www.pinterest.com/kickthephan/

Cheers, nca

My Aunt's Home in Ft. Branch Indiana

I have very fond memories from my youth visiting my Aunt and Uncles home in Fort Branch Indiana. I loved my cousins and my Aunt and Uncle. I loved their beautiful home set among the cornfields. I loved fishing from their pond and the small town atmosphere of nearby Fort Branch and Haubstadt.

Later in life, I was able to take my daughters back to visit my Aunt and Uncle. They were able to enjoy some of what I loved so much. This short video commemorates that visit. I hope you enjoy.

As I have been looking back on my youth since my Mother passed away, I have many very sweet memories of time spent with family, near and dear or extended, and always remembered with loving hindsight.  Thanks for letting me share some of them here on Kotkas.

Cheers, Nicholas.

Elvira Riffert Adler

As lead up to the upcoming Adler family reunion, I edited this video of an interview with my Grandmother, Elvira Adler.  Back when my youngest daughter was 8 or 9 we traveled to Southern Indiana to visit. My older daughters filmed this interview, and I think it is a wonderful keepsake of a very special person.

Elvira Riffert Adler lived from December 31, 1904 until June 2, 2005. I really only was able to see my Grandmother a few times throughout my life. One of the visits was the subject of a poem I posted on a previous post.

We are blessed by the people we come across in our lives.

Cheers, nca

3/18/2014

Yesterday, I said Good by to my Mom, Bettye. She passed away at 86, troubled and alone. I am dealing with a wide range of emotions and thoughts about my Mom; some good, some not so good. That's all between me and her, and most of that is not the subject of this post at all.  Those are emotions I will deal with, and with the help of my daughters and wife I will get through those feelings and work them out in my mind and my heart.

Here, on this blog....I just wanted to celebrate one particular aspect of my Mom. For all the years I knew her she dabbled in various arts and crafts projects. Over the years she painted, molded, wrote, chronicled, sewed, knitted, crocheted, beaded, pasted. She played the Piano and Organ.  Her hands were busy at all times and she produced beautiful, crafty, and creative things all the days of her life.

Here is an example of one of her wall hangings.

This was hand done in yarn with either a crochet hook or a yarn needle. I don't know. But the colors and details standout, the hours of work she did alone in her little apartment permeate from every fiber.

When we visited her apartment, dozens of pillows like this adorned her craft room and she always encouraged us to partake and to share in her works.

For Holidays she made theme orientated crafts, which along with her collection of Nut Crackers filled her apartment with a sense of festive joy.

For us kids, my 6 brothers and sisters, we probably took Mom's skills and talents for granted. During all the years growing up watching her sew and mold and craft, we probably did not appreciate her gifts and hand-crafted treasures as we could have. Busy lives, growing to adult hood, raising our own families. Moving onward and upward, time and distance separating us from her.

But as sure as our gene pool and our personalities were influenced by her, undoubtedly to some degree her craft talents live on in all of us, testimony to the importance and power and influence of family upon us.

This very blog site is an example of her 'crafts' influencing me. I may not be able to sew or knit, but I can blog and I can appreciate art in all it's wonderful forms.

Mom, may you now find peace and acceptance and joy in your new eternal home. May you know that your children and grand children and great grand children all love you, miss you, and have been touched by your short time here on this Earthly home.

In my mind, I see you in some Heavenly sewing room with your hands working rapidly on some really cool wonderful project....with a bunch of young spirits gathered round you learning your techniques.

Love and Cheers, nca

There is Gold In Dem Der Hills

Seeing the medal count updates on American television always can be puzzling to me. Our national media presents daily medal count updates which seem to stress the importance of where the United States is compared to other countries of the world. The emphasis is on 'total medal count'.

There are several issues I have with this.

The obvious is, why do we as Americans put so much emphasis on nationality when it comes to the Olympics? We will sit through hours of prime time television to see how an American Ice Skater who pulls a 6th place finishes out, and miss out on excellent gold-medal performances by other international athletes simply because there is no American contender for that event. Are we Americans so enthralled by our own nationalism that we can't even appreciate the excellence of individual athletes? I actually think not, however I do think we allow our national media to dumb down Olympic coverage for us. We should probably demand more from our media.

The second issue is even more simple. Since when did silver and bronze medals really become so important to us? It is very American to say 'winning is everything', and second place is like 'kissing your sister'.  So why, when it comes to the Olympics....do we tally up 2nd and 3rd place finishes for comparison???? It seems so...un-American?  If we were to redo that chart above in gold medal order, we drop to 4th place, below Russia, Norway, and Canada.

Norway and Canada! Oh, that feels so bad! .... Not. These are the Winter Olympics, and those are all countries with Nordic climates and histories of winter excellence. It is really quite an accomplishment that the United States is even in that mix. That we had 9 Gold Medal athletes is commendable, and I am proud of each and every one of those athletes. There is pride too with the other 19 American medalists too. Heavens, I applaud every great athlete around the world for their intense training, their perseverance, their stamina, and all the other fine traits that make them able to compete athletically at the international level.

But let's not diminish the excellent work done by other athletes the world over. Norway is a country with a population of just over 5,000,000 people. That compares to Russia with 144,000,00 and the United States with 318,000,000 very favorably. 11 gold medals in Sochi 2014 for a population fractional to their bigger international opponents is quite an accomplishment. And I can't remember hearing the Norwegian National anthem once on my TV.

This is for you, Norway (and Great Job)

Cheers, nca

So look out for those beauties oh yea

Today, for the first time since my heart surgery, I was out puttering on my bike. Nothing fancy or strenuous. I had filled up the tires and I was testing it out.

I was immediately taken by the rush of wind in my hair, my calves pumping and the feelings of freedom that rolling on two wheels always symbolizes for me.

I know, my balance was absurd; rusty and uncoordinated. And my stamina was a joke. But there I was rolling on two wheels as I have done since a kid. The ticking of the derailleurs, the tilt of the turns, and the musty burn spell of applied brakes.  No, no helmet...shhh, don't tell mi esposa. But helmeted rides are just not the same. I did not have them when I was a youth....and by gosh I did not need one today!

The bicycle for me has always been an emblem of freedom and Independence. It was on our bikes that my brothers and I were able to transit hot Phoenix neighborhoods in our youth. My red Schwinn Cruiser was my trusty steed, galloping me into adventures and away from the troubles of home.

Once I hit teen age years I saved up my allowance and cash from mowing yards for my dream bike, the sleek Schwinn Ten Speed. This bike came with more liberty and opened up greater adventures. It also cemented friendships as I would ride to school with my best buddy each day. In the evenings I would cruise to work, which in turn gave me greater financial independence. With a Ten Speed and some cash in my pockets, the world was my oyster.

On my Ten Speed with my buddies we roamed the streets and suburbs of Phoenix, exploring the nooks and crannies together. We would go on long rides to South Phoenix Mountain preserves, and we would head north to the Airport at Deer Valley to hop rides with the pilots. We explored Papago Park, Old Town Scottsdale, and watched the Dodgers play Spring Training Games against the Giants. Our bikes were are tickets to freedom and our keys to high adventure exploits.

As an adult, I converted to motorized vehicles. I continued to ride bikes here and there, but then they were more for exercise or leisure. The motorcycles and jeeps and VW bugs allowed me to travel farther and faster, and to have passengers...and (goodness) date girls. Still, bikes will always be the symbols of the freedom and independence of my youth.

Hopefully, with air in my tires I will start pumping the old pedals again now. Do you think there are more adventures I can get into at 55?

Cheers, nca