PHOTOS FROM MIKE MADDEN: Mike, his parents Curt and Virginia, Curt and Virginia and Baby in 1953, Sean, Mike's vinyard
[Mike and Sean are our first cousins, sons of Curt and Virginia. Uncle Curt was mother's brother. For you family historians, Mother was the oldest of four. The others were Curt, Mildred, and Kent. All are deceased. Aunt Virginia lives in a retirement home in Springfield, MO]

And here is the note Mike included with his photos:

"Hey, sport! [He is writing to Sue!] I wish I wasn't so busy. Maybe Quest Diagnostics will retire me soon and I can get all caught up. When I retired the first time, I got caught up and didn't like it, though.

I got pretty overwhelmed with the vineyard this summer. This was the third year for about a third of the vines and they just went wild. I spent every minute of every weekend trying to stay caught up with maintaining trellis problems, tying up vines, mowing and spraying. In the meantime, my day job was busy, too. I have 4 call centers to run and I'm trying to build a 5th one for a new product. I also help design software for our current products and then implement software changes that drive better performance or efficiency improvements.

Sarah and I had a great time last year at Hermann. We are doing it again this year, but I didn't know if I could go until late last week and we are going to be there Saturday and Sunday of this week. I did hear from Sabrina but I thought they had decided they weren't going this year. I remember that great meal at The Cottage restaurant off in the woods.

I'm pretty burned out at this point. I've been getting home at 9 or 10 at night every night and then working the vineyard on weekends. Here are some pictures you might like.

I noticed you were over in Louisville. I think that is a very fun town. Hope you are feeling OK. You did great last year in Hermann. Especially in the bar!

Hope to see you soon.

Mike"