N and R Travel to France

N and R have begun a two week adventure in France and Belgium. They began their trip visiting Oncle Daniel and Tante Valerie. Off they went to the Eiffel tower to take some scuba lessons to prepare for next years trip to Seabase, and then they will go to Belgium for a few days before returning to Paris to do a weeks touring with R's French class.

Amazing Marcel breaks 18 minute barrier

Marcel ran to a new personal best in the 5K, smashing the 18 minute barrier with a 17:54 performance in the "Make Tracks for the Zoo" run. He was disappointed that he narrowly missed third place honors in his age group, as another runner beat him in a sprint to the finish, earning a stuffed monkey. The race used to be called the "Race for the Apes", but had been changed to the more boring name.

W also ran, turning in a respectable 26:38, with extremely consistent split times. He has never smashed any 18 minute barriers.

Jim Schoemehl 5k

Early Saturday morning Renny, Nichole and Walter ran in a fundraising 5k in Webster. Every year the seniors of WGHS raise money for ALS aid and research. Marcel was not allowed to run in a "fun" race the day he was to compete in the District track meet at Kirkwood High School. At the sound of an airhorn the Blume-Knoles started off together. Renny and Walter pulled ahead of Nichole in the first half mile. At some point Renny peeled away from his father.

Name	Time	Pace
Renny	21:59	7:45/Mile
Walter	26:46	8:37/Mile
Nichole	30:54	9:57/Mile

R First Blume in History to Play Lacrosse

Renny is playing his second season of the gladiator like game called lacrosse. He plays the position of "middy" which features body checking, constant running, and both offensive and defensive play. Gradually, N & W are learning the rules, which are actually fairly simple, sort of like ice hockey.

Marcel Blazes to New PB 2:09.8

Running in his first varsity 800 m race (which was also the last track meet of the season), Marcel blazed to a new personal best time of 2:09.8, an impressive time for a sophomore. M placed second in his heat, serving notice that he may be a force to reckon with in coming years.

Marcel Sweet 16

Marcel celebrated his birthday by passing his driving test and receiving his first driver's license. The now 5' 11" teenager passed the day before his birthday by running his personal best time in the 800 m run with a blazing 2:12 time. Earlier in the week he recorded a 5:05 time in the 1600 m, which qualified him to run on the varsity squad for the first time. M is now looking forward to driving a certain white '67 Corvette with Nevada plates.

Grandma Harriet Surprised at 75

Grandma Harriet was caught completely off guard by a surprise birthday party held in her honor. Aunt Margaret planned the whole affair and had the guests bring succulents to be planted in H's honor.

Bingo Rises in Status

Bingo was finally allowed to eat at the table, and made the most of it at the Mardi Gras Mystic Krewe of Barkus Dog and Pet parade. He wasn't quite sure what to make of his sudden rise in status, but adapted quite quickly and exhibited excellent table manners, never gobbling food or eating with his hands.
Grandmamy Jeanine was impressed.

Snow in St Louis

 
Marcel cowers before the graven image he has created with his brother. 

Excellent Xmas

It was an extremely excellent Xmas, because Grandma Harriet and Auntonia visited their Missouri kinfolk in St Louis. A new gas stove was installed by W and his friend Duke, just in time for Xmas eve dinner. Dinner featured salmon mousse, filet Americain, and excellent chocolate pudding cake. The night before Christmas, feverish work on an extremely difficult and frustrating jigsaw puzzle of Zion National Park was completed. Accompanied by a Ben Stokes soundtrack, the puzzle team Marcel documented the proceedings in a highlights film. This accomplishment seemed to excite the puzzle instinct and work began on another ambitious Statue of Liberty puzzle that was also completed. Auntonia was impressed by the free art museum, and W had forgotten the nice collection upstairs, so he enjoyed the works with new freshness.

At some point it was decided to visit the Laumeier sculpture park. W being W, had to search for a geocache as well.

Auntonia enjoys her sole nephews

Grandma with her favorite sculpture

Ice Storm Encases Blume's

A huge ice storm encased the Blume house in ice, but still left the family with power as the rest of St Louis began to freeze. W had gone to the RSNA show in Chicago and missed the beginning of the storm, though he still felt the effect because his return flight was canceled. Fortunately, he and a colleague were able to rent a 4x4 and drive back to St Louis. Eight hours later, they arrived to a St Louis encased in ice with downed trees littering the streets. Schools were closed as the first "snow day" in three years was issued.

A large falling branch narrowly missed the house, leaving lots of yard work.







However, no more raking is necessary...

Historic Visit By WMES

Perhaps embarrassed at being seen in Missouri, WMES (William, Margaret, Emily, and Stella) arrived in disguise to watch the annual Turkey Day Football Game, which Webster Groves won. A traditional Thanksgiving dinner followed with turkey and associated fixings. Earlier in the day, the visitors were kept busy by running in a three mile race through historic Kirkwood. W ran a personal best of 24:15, but Renny still finished two minutes ahead of him. Margaret and William and Nichole also managed to finish the race, running almost the entire distance, despite being unaccustomed to Missouri's harsh unforgiving weather.
Official race results

Renny Blume 22:47 104th place 21st in age group

Walter Blume 24:16 134th place 29th in age group

Nichole Blume 31:17 169th place 32nd in age group

Aunt Mag and Uncle Shag chose not to run down the "competitive" chute, so do not have official times.

Then, on Friday, the collective group visited the Arch for a traditional game of football, followed by lunch at the Crown Candy Kitchen and a visit to the awesome City Museum.

Blumes Strike Back

In a two day assault, WNMR struck back at the fall leaf invasion. The back part of the yard required 27 tarp loads to clear on Saturday, and the side yard with its mere thirteen trees was conquered on Sunday with less than 20 tarp loads. Celebration was had by watching the extremely violent James Bond film and throwing Aerobies extremely long distances. A second triumph occured when Marcel's room was finally completely sanded and he was able to move his bed back in, setting the stage for a visit from Emily, Stella, Margaret, and William.

W and N Blow it Big Time

W and N went to the movies Saturday night, finally pausing to relax together after a hectic day doing chores. W carefully switched his cell phone to vibrate, just in case he got a rare phone call. The movie was a rather overly hyped comedy making fun of people from Kazakhstan. After about 15 minutes W felt a vibration, and reaching for the phone noted that the number was not one that he recognized, so he decided to ignore it. But about 2 minutes later, the phone vibrated again, and this time it was Renny calling. Feeling extremely important to be called up during a movie, W hurried out to the lobby to see what could be so important. Renny calmly informed W that they had forgotten that Saturday night was the "Fortnightly" dance. This would not be so bad in itself, but W and N were responsible for dance cards. Dance cards inform the middle schoolers of their social fates for the evening, and W and N generate these cards approximately once a fortnight for approximately 100 middle schoolers. Despite W's best efforts at computerizing the process, it is never smooth, as middle schoolers are extremely unpredictable and tend to pop up even when they are supposed to RSVP.
W and N rushed out of the movie and back home. In the meantime R had expertly put on a tie and coat in preparation for the evening's events. R still managed to get three dances, despite being an hour late, and the show had gone on without the dance cards.

Seven Days Later...

  

W Completes Task Worthy of Sisyphus

W managed to briefly feel good about all the leaves he had raked up, but the trees purposely held on to a few for the next round...

4:15 p.m.

9:55 a.m.

R symbolically illustrates house deal status

House deal falls through

The possible house that WNMR might have possibly purchased is no longer a possibility. Long discussions on the cell phone while driving to Iowa drove home the point. Many factors came into play, highest on the list being the slowing housing market and the heat of negotiations.

Halloween pumpkin burning tradition continues