Home Alone

I felt so sad when Greg, Noi, NeeNee and Brenan left this morning for their trip to Florida. We shall miss them: Brenan's guitar music floating down the stairs from his bedroom, Greg working at his laptop on the dining room table. Noi working on her Ebay business, NeeNee texting friends on her phone.

Paul and I cleaned out the dining room dish closet this morning. (Mostly Paul - as I didn't know what he was doing til I looked over the breakfast bar and saw him on the floor sorting linens) Now - this is a HUGE closet. 4W X 2D X 8H.

It has a lot of linens, but also very heavy dishes. It has five shelves, plus the floor. After we arranged everything, put all the Christmas linens in a plastic bin to be stored upstairs - something we should have done long ago, we noticed that one shelf, that had the sets of dishes for 24, had bowed in the middle where they were placed. Oops. An accident waiting to happen. I could just imagine it collapsing when we were in Florida and coming back in April, to find many of them broken. So. . . we removed all the items from that shelf and rearranged the dishes - dividing the heavy ones to each side rather than the middle.

I don't have Paul normally read my blog before I publish it, so if he finds a mistake, I will usually correct it later on. So. . . there are 8 leaves in our dining room table when it is completely opened. Not 5. It seats 14, 12 or 16. Paul says he doesn't know. All I know is it is long. And old. If it breaks, we're in serious seating arrangement trouble. Ah - I have such potential problems, don't I?

Gracie has discovered she doesn't like 15 degree weather. She refused to do her business this morning and proceeded to come inside to finish the job. Can't blame her there. Would you want to do that? Not a pretty picture, is it. Paul just commented from his computer that it's supposed to go up to 47 tomorrow. Eat your heart out, Florida. You're having temps like that, aren't you. Get it all over with, because we want warmth when we get back there! Enuf of the gray days! Early sunsets! Late sunrises!

Well - that's all the news from The Woods Edge. How're things goin' in your neck o' the woods?

Tuesday after Christmas

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time figuring out what day of the week it is when the holidays are upon us. Here it is Tuesday morning and I was thinking it was the day to put the trash out. (Friday) (There's so much!) Then - Of course it seems like Monday (to our family) because yesterday everyone was here for brunch by eleven o'clock. Doesn't that make it Sunday in your mind? It does to me. Confusing, isn't it.

So. . . Monday was the day we decided we could all get together, as one unit, to celebrate. Missed you, Brenda and Nancy, but our home-away-from-home-relatives seemed to both have a very Merry Christmas away from us. That was a good feeling, not necessarily in the happy category. Next year we hope that circumstances change: That they can come. We know that each year, lives and circumstances change and we have to adjust to what is best for all.

Nancy put a picture of Yvonne (Evie) in a pretty dress and Santa hat on her facebook page and labeled it "Santa Baby." Remember the song? Very apropos. I will be seeing Evie and her brother at the end of January when I will be flying to Chicago and baby-sitting while Dan is away at a conference and Nancy goes to work. She was able to take the semester off and has been home since September when Evie was born.

Jil's blog told of a very merry Christmas weekend - visiting and bonding with his cousins and uncle Bob. I feel they've really pitched in and helped him adjust here, away from his wife, Epril, in the Philippines. The paperwork is still going on for her coming to the States.

I would say I kinda got off track there from the Brunch subject. We had a delightful brunch - I, as usual, cooked too much and everyone brought something to add: breads, muffins, etc. We certainly have a lot of Strada left over. It tasted even better this morning. Thanks to my dear friend, Marcia, for the recipe. I made two batches for 20 people. Much too much. There was also homemade macaroni and cheese - lots of leftover there, even though the grandkids loved (inhaled) it.

After we ate, the grandkids opened their gifts from everyone. Then they had their (what we call) white elephant raffle. They each get a number, and open gifts in order. If they see an opened gift they like, they can take it from the other person. I'm sure most of you have done that before. The kids went out into the snow and had a snowball fight and went sledding on the hill. Meanwhile, the grown-ups had their white elephant raffle.

Later on in the afternoon everyone was around the big table - the one that opens up with 5 leaves, playing card games. Two different games were going on at each end of the table.

Gracie is adjusting to lots of company. She barks and barks when they arrive, but manages to quiet down after a while. She still shivers in the snow, but has learned that zooming makes her warm up. She even lay down on NeeNee's lap when she was watching a video last night.

Last night Jeff, Dorothy, Alaina, and DJ left for home after coming in on Sunday afternoon and staying over Sunday night. Our Corning granddaughter is here for two nights with NeeNee. It's always so good to have her here. She has such a good time! and we enjoy her. Plus - The more the merrier.
I must share: Dorothy came up to me when we were alone, and gave me a big hug and said "thank you for coming back up North to celebrate Christmas. It means a lot to all of us." That made my heart feel good.

Speaking of good: Santa was very good to me. He gave me a new digital camera. I have lots of pictures to put up when I have time to do the necessary steps. Don't worry, it'll be soon enough. I also got a digital picture frame that Paul hung up on the wall near the first floor guest room wing near the loveseat. We added a lot of pictures to that for everyone to enjoy and had it switched on all day. When it's not showing pictures, it can become a clock.

Everyone knows how much I love to read, and I got several gift certificates from Amazon to use on my kindle. What a wonderful feeling it is to be able to window-shop on-line at my leisure and decide which e-books I wish to read! Then in 60 seconds I can read them! Or a sample from them. I usually do a sample first.

Paul and I are going to lunch with Lue and her sister, Sharon, in a while. Sharon, my step-daughter, dropped her kids off here to be with their cousins while she works today. Greg and Noi will be "watching" them. Plenty of left-over food for lunch for them! I had some strada for breakfast. Not very hungry now.

Well - will write again soon. Hope you all enjoyed yourselves. Thank you for your cards and letters. I will get my newsletter written in January. It's too busy right now to think about it.

So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

A Lull

Unbelievable as it may seem, it's Christmas Eve, actually - my favorite part of the Christmas holidays, and I have had a little catnap, and found time to sit here at my computer and compose a message to send out.

NeeNee, Brenan and Noi are watching a movie, Greg's napping on the floor, and Paul's on the other computer. I've done a load of wash, folded it. Noi's got one in the machine right now.

There's been the usual mishaps related to gifts. . .

One: I lost (misplaced) twosmallinexpensive gifts for the children's gift exchange. So I set out at 7:30 this morning to Toys R Us to replace them. I know that as soon as we relocate our gifts to under the tree in the living room, we'll find them. My plan is to add them to the Kids Stuff to be used when we have grandchildren visiting. (We have two small trees - one on our dining room buffet, and the other on our half-wall near the living room entrance.)We have a wintry glass-lit village on top of our library-bookcase. Our gifts will go down there.

Two: I didn't run out of paper, ribbons, scotch tape or scissors. I ran out of labels. So my next stop was at Walmart's to get that. Their Christmas wrapping stations were very disorderly. To put it mildly. I forgot my list so I came home without coffee - a very drastic problem - so my Dear One went back and got that, plus some things he needed himself. So it wasn't a complete waste of his time.

This was a neat time to Christmas Shop - hardly anyone around, and so no lines. I stopped at Sam's Club and they normally won't allow anyone near their store who doesn't have a business membership before 10:00. It was 8- and everyone was entering. There, too, it wasn't crowded and everyone entered and exited at the same door. Unusual.

I was home by 10:00 and found that three other grandchildren had joined NeeNee and Brenan - Ida, Charlie and Lee. Their mom and dad were working this morning. Yesterday Ida and Lee joined us when Sharon needed to go Christmas shopping.

We've found that our bills are not being forwarded from Florida. Jil sent me a list of all the ones that were down there. Not good. We requested he send them priority mail. We hate to have late bills! And with the Christmas mail delivery and the postmen being overwhelmed, I do hope he remembered to send it out so we can get it asap. It is hoped he has.

There's a little snow on the ground. What you would call a dusting. Not enough to sled ride, but enough to kinda call it a White Christmas.

We're headed to Sharon and Dave's tonight for a finger-food dinner. We're bringing sticky rice and chicken satays. I supplied the chicken. Noi will supply the know-how. After that we're going to their church for the Christmas Eve service.

Did you know that Santa's journey can be tracked on the computer through Norad? Look it up on Google: Tracking Santa. Ida and I looked it up, and he had been on the Great Wall of China and when I last looked, he was near Australia. Neat. Wherever he's been on the map they put a "present" icon.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Time for a cup of coffee. Thank you, Paul.

That's all the news for now. How're things goin' in your neck o' the woods?

Continued thoughts from yesterday.

NeeNee seems to be feeling better. She was up and about late yesterday afternoon and seems to be active enough and ate enough to be considered okay by all our standards. This is good because today Greg and family are going up to Ontario to visit Jeff and Dorothy for the day.

Brenan stayed up to see the eclipse, but there were too many clouds, he said to see anything. I guess Greg stayed up longer, or awoke later on, because he said that he saw it - the clouds were moving very quickly. I may have my numbers incorrect, but I believe I read that we hadn't had this particular kind of eclipse in 420 years.

Sue, my cleaning lady, is now wanting to work in here, so I'll close.
What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Literally

Where have all the days gone? I don't mean to misconstrue that question - but - literally - where have the days gone. . .it gets dark so early up here! I never realized it til we came back from Florida, where the sun gets in my eyes around 5:00 on our lanaii, which faces directly west! Now, here in NYS it's dark at 4:30.
Welcome Winter. Literally. Actually. So, it's going to start getting lighter now that the winter equinox has arrived! Oh, bless-ed sunlight!

BTW - I heard that there was an eclipse of the moon last night, or early morning, and Brenan was going to stay up to see it from his window in the Kids' Kamp. I wonder if he did. We gotta make a sign for the Kids' Kamp door. Love that name.

Poor NeeNee is feeling under the weather. She is staying upstairs with Noi today, taking it easy. Sure hope she feels better soon. It's not fun being sick, and being away from home. I understand Greg and Brenan are off Christmas shopping. (I was away all day) I went to Bath to see my favorite hairdresser, and have breakfast with my friends Carol and Ruth. So good to see them. It's too infrequent that I do.

However, Carol is renting in Circlewoods this year for three months - January through the beginning of April! We are so excited about this, and I'm sure I've mentioned it several times before. I tend to do that. So we'll be seeing a lot of her!

I always seem to plan a lot to do when I go to Bath. Each time there are places to go, people to see. That's good.

We watched the movie, Inception, last night on our blu-ray machine. All I can say is. . .what? Even the newspapers say you should see it at least twice, to be able to understand it. I agree. Brenan and NeeNee watched it in the car on the way coming up. So they had the jump on the rest of us. I did like it and kinda understood it. Paul left in the middle and went in to his computer.

I had forgotten how much people like warm, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, just out of the oven. Last night, after supper, while we were watching the movie, I baked cookies, and everyone inhaled them. The first dozen were gone before the second batch was done.

I've got to admit. . .Paul improve on my cookie baking. My way: I usually take a teaspoon of dough and drop it on the cookie sheet. He said - no - try it this way: take the dough from the teaspoon. Make it into a ball. Put the ball on the cookie sheet. I have to agree. They looked better. (They tasted just as good, though. Ha.)

Thank you all for your Christmas cards. We appreciate your thoughts and wishes and photos of kids. It's nice to see how they've grown each year. And we thank you again. Please note that I've not had the time nor inclination to make up our Christmas newsletter this year. I've decided to do it after Christmas, when we're back in Florida, and make it a New Year's letter instead. Paul says not to worry about it because I post in this blog so often. BUT - There are people who don't read my blog. My thought is. . . I can write my blog's address in the newsletter so that those who don't get a chance to read it, or didn't know it existed, can now be one of my readers. Isn't that exciting? Another "Ha."

Where has the time gone? It's almost dinner time, so I will close.
Now you know what's happenin' in our neck o' the woods. What's happenin' in your neighborhood? Literally. Keep those Christmas cards an' letters comin'!

A Correction

Paul read my blog and said I "lost it." Meaning my mind. I agree. It wasn't a Santa that was lit. It is a Snowman that's lit. The same thought applies, though.
Mea Culpa.

Challenging Times

We're back home in upstate NY. . . after traveling for our usual three days, 1,270 mile trip. We froze! Reason is freezin - of course, but because of a change in plans we found oursevles doing all the more shivering. You see, we originally planned to fly home for Christmas, so we didn't bring any outer winter clothing with us. However, we're changing cars. We drove the new Toyota Corolla back here with us, and will be taking the Kia Spectra back with us after the holiday season.

We were really nervous about snow travel, but the Good Lord was looking out for us, and we had a beautiful trip - if not sunny all the time, at least it was not snowing! But COLD. And windy. Paul had a challenge with the little car. Our first night we stopped just north of Columbia and Paul had to take Gracie out. He looked like a sheik because we put a hand towel under his baseball cap and tucked into his jacket to cover his ears.

I always thought that people who dressed their dogs up were down-right silly. I still feel that way, but I must admit, Gracie really needed the red winter vest we bought her. Our "Florida dog" has never been in cold weather so we both felt sorry for her, when her whole 4.5 lb. body shivered from the cold and she'd lift one foot after the other to keep at least one foot warm. Oh, well. We all have to adjust!
Ok. I will admit to you - I bought her some little boots. She refuses to wear them though. And they're big for her, even though they're small. They fell off even when tied. She needed extra-small. She'll adjust. She has to. There are such things as winter dogs, you know. Take Ivan - Nancy's siberian husky. He revels in the cold weather with his big heavy double fur coat. Or Greta, Lue's puppy.

So - we have our little tree up. It's decorated. Actually we do have two. Plus a village, plus our mirror has lights around it. Paul decorated the porch with lights, our lit Santa (the electric kind/ not the overly cheerful kind. . .my cracked brain saw him with a bottle). We have other decorations around the house. When I get my camera hooked up, I'll put some pictures up.

BTW I don't think I'll get a Newsletter written before Christmas. Perhaps I'll write one afterwards. Make it a New Year's one. I do want to keep in contact with the people we get cards from and it's always good to hear from everyone.

Got the cutest pictures over the internet of my almost-three month granddaughter, Evie. She looks so much like her brother, Vincent, who is four. Nancy got a video camera from her dad as an early Christmas gift. Vincent went ice-skating with his dad at a rink in Chicago, and they recorded it and shared it via e-mail. Oh, my. The poor little guy was flopping all over the place without a care in the world! But - he finally got up and "took off" and you could see he had a marvelous time. He was so excited.

I think the internet is such a marvelous invention to keep in touch with family. Think of all the settlers and pioneers who left the East to go out West, with the possibility of never seeing their loved ones again. We've come a long way.

I could write more, but I have things to do so I hafta' close. That's what's happenin' in our neck o' the woods. What's happenin' in yours?

Challenging Times for the Feeble-Minded (me)

My mind was fully awake at 6 AM yesterday morning mulling over the logistics of Christmas shopping, while I was here in Venice for everyone. . . here in Florida, in St. Louis, in NYS, in NC. It was the usual stressful, sinking feeling of being behind enough to shake me into action before it was too late. I knew some things I needed to get, so I began early morning at Walmart. They didn't have what I wanted. So I started over next door to Books a Million to get something else. I got inside and I heard my phone ring in my pocketbook. Strange. It had a different bell-tone.

After a while, I realized that it was Paul's phone, not mine. He was obviously at home, looking for it. I found an empty table in the coffee area, and after taking all of my "stuff" out, I found it at the bottom of my purse. I called him back, but got the answering machine. I paid for my purchase, left the store, and returned home. He was just taking Gracie for a walk. He laughed. (He is the calmest individual I know) Here's the explanation for me having his cellphone in my purse: I didn't remember this happening, but I guess it did. It seems Paul gave me his phone for safe-keeping when we were at the doctor's office late yesterday. I forgot about it being there. (alert: doctor's appointment: All okay. Nothing serious.)

Anyway - on the way home from Books a Million, I thought about all this rigamarole of Christmas shopping. And in my mind, I made a very bright decision. No need to shop in stores for everything. I decided to take advantage of one-stop computer-shopping.

I sat down and let my fingers do the walking. Of course, it took me all morning to find my first purchase of what I wanted, at a good price. My next stroke of brilliance was to send them to the giftee. For Example: Evie. Vincent. Their presents are scheduled to arrive at the St. Louis address with their names on them. This is where my grandchildren will be for Christmas.

I love Amazon.com. e-books, which I discovered when I got my Kindle. But Amazon has so much more for sale than just books, with good prices. Often less than other places.

I got a gift certificate from Brenda for my Kindle. Okay. Perhaps you can learn from the following. And take the following as a lesson as an example in stupidity from me. . .

Amazon stated that anything I buy will be subtracted from the g.c. So - they took my g.c. amount and subtracted that from the total amount of my order. Nuts. I'm very selfish and wanted that g.c. only for me! my wishes! my e-books!

I decided to "speak to a real live person." I couldn't find the 800 # to call because they don't list it on the site. (Isn't that amazing?) I looked it up on Google - and there it was. As so often happens, I got someone in India (I'm sure, since he was difficult to understand.) Very easy to eliminate the g.c. from ordering items. Just click the check-mark in front of the g.c. to eliminate that step. Duh. Any simpleton should know that. So now I was happy as a clam. Great news. I could order and not use my gift certificate! All was okay with the world.

So - Can you see why my day was completely taken over with Christmas gifts? I didn't get to Curves. I didn't blog. I didn't get much ordered, but I learned a lot. Hooray for me.

Thank you Epril for your nice e-mail. It was good to hear from you, my dear. If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me again.

Epril, my daughter-in-law, from the Philippines, is actively engaged in the steps it takes to come here and live. She and Jil miss each other very much and are looking at her arriving here in Florida in April. Epril in April. I love it.

So - that's all the news from this edge of the woods. What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Cornucopia

Hooray - here it is. Ida's cornucopia/pictures she sent us. Sharon - make sure she sees this. Okay?




We loved it, Ida. Thank you very much.


Can't have just one picture. You can see the cabinets Paul painted a couple of years ago in the kitchen.
The second one is of the tube/light in the kitchen. We always think there's a light on and try to turn it off!

Picture. . .less

Saturday morning. How's everyone doin? We had a frost last night - it makes for good sleeping. Paul said the backyard grass was coated white when he took Gracie out early this morning. It quickly disappeared. Our flowers are fine.

Paul said Gracie saw a lot of dogs around the circle this morning and touched a lot of noses. Good for her. Dogs are such sociable animals. So different from cats. It is a pleasure to have an animal that comes when called and loves to please. I loved my cat, Ella, very much and found her good company for the 18 years she was with me. Most of my pets were dogs though. Gracie comes from a long line of much loved pets.


Knowing myself better than anyone else, I am frustrated. The reason for my frustration? I had planned on adding some more pictures to this blog, but I find that I can't get the pictures to this machine from the port the camera sits on. I know I wrote down Import Pictures & Videos as the first step. However I can't find the Import Pictures and Videos icon. I guess my dim brain is functioning at less than 50% - and at age 70, I hope that's not par for the course! Jil is asleep. I won't wake him. Eventually, he will wake and help me as he's done with my other pictures.

Last night we three went to the Moose Club in Englewood and met Marian and Bob, and his son and my nephew, Bobby, for dinner. The Club has quite an extensive weekly menu. I put a menu in my pocketbook to copy, so we might remember what they served every night. There were several delicious options during the week which we'd take advantage of, if we remembered. The prices on drinks and food are great too.

Unfortunately people can smoke in private clubs such as the Moose, (and even though they're in the bar - not the dining/dancing area), for non-smokers such as myself, it's still not the greatest. So you have to weigh the cost of temporary, once in a while, second-hand smoke. There are so many smiles, dancers, listeners . . . enjoying the food, companionship, country band, that it's hard not to have a good time. The good times win. I wouldn't bring a child in there, though.

So - we'll copy the menu, return the original copy, and perhaps remember what food's there on such and such a night by taping it on the fridge. But remember my brain is dim. The light is not out, but it's fading.

Pictures: I took several photos of two lovely coloring pictures Ida sent us via snail mail. They're on our fridge. I wanted to share it with you all. Ah. That shall be for another e-mail. I took several - selecting the best one and deleting the others. Speaking of deleting: How're you at deleting e-mails? I'm afraid I'm not very conscientious about deleting them. But I'm very good at hoarding them. The other day, however, I got annoyed with myself for having over 550, and spent some time getting rid of them. A good lesson: it didn't take as long as I thought it would. Just minutes.


So - for a picture-less posting, I had a molehill I made a mountain out of, and enjoyed writing it. Hope it was enjoyable for you.

What's up in your neighborhood? That's what's happenin' in our neck o' the woods.

More potpourri

The photo below is a foggy early morning across the street from us. I don't remember what day that was, but I can pretty much guarantee that after Paul took this picture, the sun came out and it was beautiful!








Can you guess what this is? No? Don't blame you! Greg and Noi took us to a very interesting pizza place in Gainesville. It was made up of JUNK! This is a water-wheel junk fountain located in the middle of the parking lot. It was at least 15 feet high. This picture does NOT do it justice.

There was an outdoor eating area where we could take the dogs and marvel at all the "things."














This is celebrating an early Christmas with Brenda, Eric and Emma. Greg is being Santa. Behind Greg, in the front hall, is the Nativity Scene with the Creche he made this year.

A potpourri of pictures!

Jil is helping me with getting photos down-loaded correctly - so that I can put in text with it. This will be a potpourri of photos as I practice - cutting and pasting, etc. There is so much to learn! I appreciated his help.

This one is of Jil at work a couple of weeks ago. (He no longer has his braid.)




This is the wall Paul put up in place of the sliding glass door into our bedroom from the lanaii. Greg made the pen and ink drawing of our house here for my birthday last year - and we thought it looked extra nice on the new wall.




We went to Cedar Key which is a small island on the gulf with stores and restaurants. We visited a museum and outdoor area to the water and took a picture there with everyone - including the dogs.



I very foolishly forgot to bring a sweater or jacket to Gainesville so I borrowed one of Greg's for our excursion to Cedar Key. We had dinner at an outside dock behind a restaurant where we could take the dogs. (Brenda inquired about where they'd accept pets because they're not allowed in restaurants where there is food being prepared.) Gracie was shivering so much, we gave her my (Greg's) jacket. She snuggled right down.



This is a picture of the kids at the outdoor restaurant we went to.






. This one is cute. It has Neenee and Emma in their "Thing One and Thing Two" hoodies with Brenda in the middle, and Greg behind - you can see his hands!



This photo below shows our beautiful Thanksgiving table with the napkins Noi folded so carefully.



This photo was an experimentation of flash at night - I've found that the photos always seem to do better with a flash. There's our house with Paul's Christmas lights.



I will do some more practicing tomorrow!
That's what's happenin' in our neighborhood. What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Tuesdays

Tuesday always becomes the day that I try to finish the things I meant to complete on Monday. For example: Paul and I decided yesterday that we should give Gracie a bath, plus her flea treatment. That didn't happen. Since the bath needs to obviously be before the flea treatment, we never got either accomplished. So- the domino effect: not sure I'll be getting to Curves either today since it's open til 1:00 and opens up at 4. May not have time. (I did!)

Paul was out walking Gracie around the big circle. He just came back and I asked him "how it went." He said it was strange - he wanted to go the opposite direction and she wanted no part of it. She HAD to go the regular way. I guess humans are not the only creatures of habit.

We had a huge noisy bucket truck in our backyard this morning. They're trimming the bottom branches off all the large palm trees at Circlewoods that are at least 15 feet high. What a noise. It's amazing that Jil didn't wake up. It was right outside his window. Lots of branches cut that are now where they fell, around the trunks on the ground. From watching other areas here, another truck will come by and pick them up soon. An interesting aside: we're not supposed to drive or park on the lawn because of pipes being buried there. So - how come these large trucks can do it? (Aha - Could it be - I'm sure it is - they know the secret of where the pipes are and therefore can avoid them?)

Jil, Paul and I went to Walmart yesterday and got some colored lights to decorate outside. Paul wound a set around our light-pole. It looks like a cross. He said that was the idea. There're also colored lights strung around the living room double window, the bushes out front.

I can't help but compare what he'll be doing when we get up north for Christmas. Same thing. So. . . I wonder if the temp. will be the same. Do you think? No matter what. . .I do hope he'll do a less taxing job up there than he usually does, and not go all out. After all, our time up there will be abbreviated. There's a limited time for putting up and taking down.

So. . .what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

We're Back. . .

Yes. We're back after five days. I have done a couple of loads of wash, the last of which will be placed in the dryer after I finish typing. Suitcases are rather empty - need to check on that - we've been to church this morning, and out for breakfast afterwards.

It's amazing how much more cooler it is up in Gainesville than it is here in Venice. Although we could have just had cooler weather up there. It's hard to say. I forgot to bring a jacket or sweater. So I had to borrow one time to time. It was so good to see Emma, Brenan and Neenee again. (And of course their parents!) It's been since this summer when they all were up visiting us. We hadn't seen Greg and Noi since last April at Eastertime here in Venice. Greg looks great - his leg has healed very well and he doesn't even limp! He broke it really really badly when he slipped on some leaves on his roof and fell off last Spring after we left for home. Ouch.

Little Bode is still smaller than Gracie. Gracie always seems small to us, but Bode certainly wins the prize in that category. He's a cute little pup and has such a nice personality. He's more subdued than Gracie, but Brenda says he also has a temper. We only saw that once, when Gracie became too obnoxious over confiscating one of his toys. We watched her a little more carefully after that.

Our hotel room was excellent - it had a nice computer area in the corner with good lighting that we discovered only the last of the four days we were there! Duh. It's interesting that each day our stay got better and better. By the fourth day, we were happily settled in. Gracie took a while also. She awoke very early on Wednesday morning (before daybreak and 6 AM) which worked out good because our alarm clock in the room was broken. We couldn't change the time which was 50 minutes slow, had set the alarm accordingly, but didn't trust it. We were due to puppy-sit that day with Bode and Gracie at Greg's house while they all went to Harry Potter World over in Universal Studios in Orlando.

They planned to leave a little after 7 AM. because it's a two-hour trip from Gainesville - the same as it is from Venice. I had visions of our day being terrifically long, but it all went quite well. They had a great time, even though there were a lot of people at each part of the theme park. They had to wait on line after line, to get into events. But - all in all - they were glad they went. They were back around 10 PM. During the day, I had time to wrap presents for Brenda, Eric and Emma to put under Greg and Noi's Christmas tree. Paul had his computer and I had my Kindle. We watched tv. The dogs were very good.

Thursday Paul and I began the day later than yesterday, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade at our hotel room and kinda just enjoying a quiet time. Later on that morning, we went to Greg's to join them for a very tasty turkey dinner with all the trimmings mid-afternoon. Noi had new plates, placemats and plate/chargers to use. She even folded our cloth napkins into a beautiful design. The table looked lovely! So - I had a chance to talk with my kids - Nancy was very busy with her company at the time, lots of noise and commotion, but graciously spent time talking with me. She even caught Vincent as he raced around so that I had a chance to wish him a Happy Thanksgiving. Nancy said Evie had a bow in her hair! Jil had a good time at the Clarkes. He took some brownies I made as a "house gift" to share with them.

I got an e-thank you card for an e-Thanksgiving card I sent Jon's family from Nicole, Jon's wife, and she mentioned how much they enjoyed having Jil with them for Thanksgiving. It's nice he could become re-acquainted with Jon and Nicole, and meet their young children.

Have I mentioned that Jil has captured the use of my netbook and Skype, so that he and Epril can have a continuous "feed" to each other's lives? It's interesting to see him "walking around" with the netbook in his hand showing Epril what the house looks like, what he's doing. While we were gone, he re-arranged my kitchen cabinets for me. This is what my son did earlier in his life. So he continues this habit. It was nice to come home from Gainesville to find everything "in order". However, now I will need a ladder, because I have trouble reaching some of the things on the top shelves, that used to be within easy reach on the bottom or second shelf. And thus the problem of being vertically challenged continues. ( I was almost going to say horizontally challenged...which I'm not sure I am or am not. . .probably am. Thanksgiving didn't help matters there. ) But it was a lovely weekend. There's more to come so I'll write again soon, plus have pictures.

So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Last call . . .

Tomorrow we leave for Greg and Noi's house to celebrate Thanksgiving. Brenda, Eric and Emma arrived last Friday - flying in to Orlando from San Francisco. Greg picked them up at the airport and they've been enjoying some really nice Florida weather up in Gainesville. Just as we have here in Venice.

Usually I don't mention beforehand that we're going somewhere, (due to security)but we have Jil here, who will be staying behind, because he has to work. So our house will not be empty! Jil's been invited to go to the Clarkes for Thanksgiving dinner with Uncle Bob and Bobby. Carol and John are very generous people and we (and he) appreciate their invition for Jil to join them. There, he'll see Jonathan and his family also.

This morning Jil and I went to the Municipal Building of Venice where he got his driver's license taken care of. Beforehand, we went to another department and he signed up to vote. There was absolutely no problem getting his license, and he drove home. Now he'll be able to drive my car while we're gone, and he won't feel so isolated. So - another item off the check list. Since he was out of the country for a decade, a driver's license hadn't been a priority. We anticipated problems. None came up. Yea for our team.

We're going up to Gainesville early because we're going to puppy-sit Gracie and Bode Wednesday, when everyone else goes to Orlando to Universal Studios. Puppies don't do well there!

Got a nice note from Lue - thanks, Lue. We miss you - look forward to seeing you and everyone at Christmas. Give Greta a hug from us.

Wow. It's 5:00 already - as you know, 5:00 is a magical hour - so I must go - may you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know Nancy and Dan are having the Molden clan for dinner (with all the trimmings! I'm talking about the turkey. . .) Enjoy. I'm sure we'll talk to you by phone.

Oppositional Defiance Behavior?

Sometimes it's hard to judge writing. Is the author mad? Sad? Glad? This is written - "tongue in cheek."

Having just read Jil's last paragraph about our puppy in his newest post on his blog, www.junglejil.blogspot.com; I have to defend our puppy against the irrational thinking Jil posted most recently. I agree that her behaviour is not the best some of the time. But some of the time she's adorable. What can I say? I have to defend her right to be a puppy. As you know, walking across the table, is not in line with what we would call acceptible behaviour nor are some more puppy behaviours Jil mentioned. Right now, when she's sleeping she's adorable. Sometimes she's adorable even when she's awake too.

So. . . .there!

Moving right along. . .

Things are moving along down here in the Southlands. The weather continues to be gorgeous and I hope all you northerners are very envious of our present weather. It is perfectly beautiful - few clouds in the bright blue sky, but they do appear in the afternoon. No rain, however. We do need it. I read about possible snow in upstate NY, on our e-paper from Corning.

Jil worked days this week. I don't know if I mentioned. . . he began a new account and needed to have some inservice work done, plus it was possible he might need guidance, which he could get from his team leader during the day. I believe he'll switch over to nights again after this week because there's a 12% increase in his pay if he works from 12 AM to 8 AM. This, of course, was his days working in the Philippines. So there has been a bit of a struggle to get adjusted to actual nighttime work.

There was an article on Roadrunner a week or so ago about jobs available for working from home. Medical Transcriptionist was one of the top popular positions. It ranked way up there. He's really happy with this new account because he's able to increase his workload considerably. (He gets paid by the line. )

I've been to Curves twice this week - yesterday morning and today. I like it very much. It's a medium-sized circuit and you need to go around only twice. Everyone is very friendly, and the owner and manager both recognized me and greeted me by name.

I had some difficulty, to put it mildly, with my medicare account. This was also problematic because it took me a while to find this out. (We're having our mail forwarded.) They had stopped paying my medical bills. I immediately tried to join up on-line where I could check my statements and they said they didn't know me. Oh, great. So. . . knowing this, I did some IM online Saturday, and they couldn't resolve it, so Monday I called the number they suggested and found out I never changed my address for social security. They suggested I go to the Social Security office in Venice. This worked out very well. I knew right where it was located. It's really close by, located in the Publix plaza right down the street, and I'd been there for Jil last week. They changed my address for me. I got on-line yesterday and it was fine by the afternoon. I called the hospital where I had my thyroid surgery and my bill had been paid!

Good! Incidentally, when I got my new car, and when Paul had gotten his, we found out our credit scores are both excellent so I didn't want to, nor did I have to, spoil mine.

We're finalizing our trip to Gainesville next week. Paul, I and Gracie will be leaving Wednesday,Thanksgiving Eve, and staying until Saturday. We're staying at a motel nearby because Greg's house will be full with the Hopsons. Paul talked with Brenda noontime here, 9 AM there, as Eric, Emma, Bode and she were boarding the plane to come East. They're landing in Orlando and Greg will be picking them up. I wonder if they able to fly first class, as they did last time. I'll have to ask.

Nancy posted some cute pictures of Evie and Vincent on her Facebook page. I'm not sure how to download them, but I'll try to find out from Jil. He's working right now and I don't want to disturb him.

Paul is down at Lowe's this afternoon windowshopping. Looking for outside floortiles. We're putting in a patio (eventually). So I guess I could say. . .he's beginning to put his "ducks in a row." As usual he likes to think about things for a while and plan things out before starting projects. Gracie has found a sunny spot in the lanai and is lying there contentedly for the moment. I took her out because she was whining a while ago, perhaps she needed to go? or because I think she just missed Paul. She wanted to walk around the perimeter of the house, perhaps looking for him. Or Martini.

Paul just got home. We were in the dining room and Gracie jumped up on a chair and onto the table and walked right across it to us. He thought it was very funny, so I was "the bad guy" and did the yelling. I told him Greta would never have gotten away with that! Paul thought the whole thing was funny. I don't know if the idea of Greta being on the table, or Gracie walking across it got him laughing, but one or the other did. It was funny, but not so funny if she does it again.

I guess that's all the news from this end of the Woods. What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

What's Happenin' Here

Okay. To be honest, I realize that yesterday's post was rather cryptic. We needed to mull things over as things have been changing so quickly. It's only been less than two weeks since Jil arrived from the Philippines - but ideas have been swiftly changing and we needed to think things through a bit. First one thing was suggested, then another, and another before it could be decided. And even now I still have to use the word "probably" in my sentences, but here's what we are up to. . . as of this moment. Probably.

Jil is going to bring Epril here to the States. He is optimistic that she can be here by March. He's going to go back to school here in Florida to become a medical radiological technician while continuing working for the medical transcriptionist company he works for now. Jil will need to be a resident of Florida to take advantage of the Florida state colleges' low fees. This will take a year.

Since this house is empty usually 9 months out of the year, we have offered Jil and Epril our home for the time being. While Epril is still in the Philippines, she's going to begin work on an E-Bay company selling merchandise (jewelry? small inexpensive"girly" items) with her sisters probably on Facebook. When she gets here, she will moniter her sisters' work, plus order the merchandise. Plus she'll probably get another job too. (Walmart?)

The details change. I'll try to keep you posted. If any of you have ideas, they're certainly welcome. It's an exciting time for all of us!

So - that's what's happenin' in our neighborhood. What's happenin' in yours?

What if's. . .

As most of you know, Jil is presently with us. We're all looking at the various paths that will be our/his future. There's been lots of discussions, questions, lingering thoughts, that we needed to be aware of so that we can see what way is the best - mostly for him, but no less for us.

It's obvious that each day/time in our lives produce different signals that let us make decisions on which path to take. These days aren't any different. It just seems like there are many more ways to go. My philosophy (?) contains thoughts that God gives us our free will. He watches us use these signals, sits back, and assigns no so-called grading but that He continually is aware of what we do with what has happened to us. How do we use them? There are so many paths to interpret.

If this seems puzzling, think how frustrating it is for us. May I again say how glad I am that Paul is in my life. He sees things from a different perspective - as a relative outsider. (interesting choice of words I have. . . relative-outsider. Kind of an oxymoron.) His suggestions are ones to heed. But of course, he isn't an outsider because these decisions influence him too.

Licker

Jil and I took Gracie for a walk yesterday. After dropping in to see Cousin Alice, we were walking home when Gracie became reacquainted with a beagle whom she'd met on a walk with Paul. When the beagle's mistress began petting her, Gracie, as she always does with whomever she meets, began to lick her hand. The lady said with a smile - "Oh, she has trouble controlling her licker."

It made my day. That's a good one.

Times

I will repeat, as I often think, where did the week go? Don't we all do that at our age?

With adjusting to Jil's schedule, and continuing on with ours, it's been an interesting 5 days. Jil is trying to work nights, sleep days but his sleep routine keeps being interrupted. Skype is a great way to keep him in contact with Epril. That is certainly a good way to talk with people, but Epril didn't understand. This morning, she called him at 7:30 AM, thinking it was PM. There goes his sleep. She means well of course. I know Cousin Alice talks with Sue and her family in Peru. They're on the same time-zone, however. That makes a big difference. But here, each day, some more things smooth out.

Paul and I are in the process of windowshopping for another car to have down here. The 2001 Chrysler Malibu that I got in 2003 is showing signs of age. So here's what's wrong. The intake manifold gasket is leaking coolant. Paul looked up the 2001 Malibu's on the internet, and the intake manifold gasket is a problem with this specific year's model. Lots of complaints about it. We took the car to several reliable garages. The cost estimate averaged around $900. That plus the a/c works unreliably - another $700. We could have it all fixed. Then next year? Something else could happen. Yesterday after we went to the last garage, and got the last estimate, we did some car-looking. This is really the fun part to see what's out there. (a/c is a given.) We're looking at new and pre-owned cars. I imagine I'll end up with a pre-owned with cruise and automatic. In the end I have to consider car payments, which I haven't had in a long time and I'd like to keep down to a dull roar.

So - I was right about November weather down here. It is perfectly gorgeous. You go outside and you can't "feel" it. It's not too hot nor too cold. It's just the perfect temperature and sunlight. Paul went to the garden center this morning and got some red and yellow hibiscus plants (they were on sale 2 for 1). He planted them on the southside of the house. Plus an accent plant. We're looking for a tree for the backyard to replace the shade tree we took down a couple of years ago. Since our lanai faces directly into the sun in the afternoon, I want a tree to shade us against the sunlight other than blinds during our "late-afternoon conversation hour."

This weekend is the seasonal (one of four) Beer and Bratz up at the clubhouse. At noon on Saturday they serve beer, hotdogs, hamburgers, sausages, beans. I signed the three of us up for it.

Wow. It's lunchtime already. Where has the time gone? (sounds like a broken record, or a returning cycle of this opening paragraph, doesn't it?)

We miss you all. Wish you were here to enjoy this marvelous weather. So. . .
What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods? Snow flurries??? LOL

Making Adjustments.

What a beautiful day it is today - this morning was cool, but it's warmed up so we could put shorts on.

Jil arrived a couple of minutes early into Ft. Myers airport - and everything went well. We got home around 12:30 - but thanks to Daylight Savings Time - it couldn't have worked out better if we had planned it, because we gained an hour and got to bed before midnight. We were exhausted after a 90 minute traipse down there and then back up here. But nothing like Jil. He was so exhausted after traveling more than 24 hours. Needless to say, he was very happy to have the trip over with.

One thing he worried about and expected was a problem with the computer hook up. It didn't materialize. Thanks to Paul's work. Jil said he worked last night from 11:30 til 3:00 AM. He intended to work from 10, but fell asleep on his bed. He's going to continue to work the night-shift while here in the states. Not sure when he's planning on sleeping because he isn't into any sleep pattern yet.

Discovery - you can down-load classical music off the computer! Jil is so happy. He hadn't played the piano in 10 years and downloaded the second movement of Beethoven' Sonata Pathetique and played it without much trouble. He downloaded some Chopin nocturnes, and now he's trying them out.

Jil is adjusting to "our ways of doing things." Such as: We need quiet early afternoons after lunch when we rest. And he even just offered to help me get my blog to be just wonderful! All the things I do haphazardly, he'll explain to me and help me with! (Getting captions on photos. . . for one thing) And I bet he'll help me with Facebook too.

Paul and he took Gracie for a walk around Circlewoods this morning.

Paul and I are going to Sears this afternoon to look at patio pavers. Paul's drawn up the plans and this is the next step.

This is for Carol O. - I know you'll be interested in this. I have found the nearest Curves to be in Englewood right off of route 776 just 8 miles away. Since I go 10 miles to Curves up in NYS, I don't think that's too bad. There were 15 people working out when I went for the first time this morning. Because her clientele change from summer to winter, the owner's discovered that the only way to make a profit is to have abbreviated hours when it's open. So - it's from 8-12, and 4-7, no Saturdays hours at all.

That's all the news for now. How're things goin' in your neck o' the woods?

Connecting to people away from us. . .

Our computers are working great! Which is a wonderful thing because Jil needs to have a reliable computing system here.

Paul got a phone call last night from his brother, Bob. He and his wife, Louise, live up in Du Bois, Pa. He really enjoyed talking with him. Bob said he reads my blog and it lets him know what's going on around here with us. It's good to get feedback like that. It always makes me feel good that my thoughts are going elsewhere, other than out of my head and into thin air!

We were watching a movie I had taped a couple of days before from Turner Classic Movies. (TCM) Things to feel good and proud about: I taped a lot of movies. I figured it out all by myself. Things to feel foolish about: I put captions on for this one. . . which was a silent movie. Yes. It had its own captions. I thought that was really very unclever of me.

We're also watching PBS's miniseries - The Circus. We taped the first one - on Wednesday night and looking forward to the rest. It's the story of the Big Apple Circus - how they select new performers each year, the life behind the scenes. I hope they somehow show Venice. Don't know why they would though.

For those of you who didn't know - Venice and Sarasota are leading areas for Circus buffs. Years and years ago, John Ringling (of Ringling brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus) had a magnificent home and grounds down here, that he opened up for the public, on Sarasota harbor, and he left his home and included a wonderful art museum and circus museum. There is still a world-reknowned Clown School in Sarasota.

For years, his circus performers/animals wintered in Venice. Ringling built them a stadium here so they could keep up their skills. The stadium is still there and there's still an outside trapeze area set-up right by it. When you drive over the Circus Bridge (so-called) and look to your left, sometimes you can people taking lessons and still using it. There are also large cages that contained the lions, elephants, etc. There were two circuses - the Red and Blue "Teams". And every year, before they left on tour, they'd put on a free farewell performance for the Venice people. My parents told me about going one time.

Jil is due in tonight at Ft. Myers International Airport. He comes in at 10:30, but he arrived in Detroit late this morning. He's going to have a long wait there. We got a phone call from him, but we couldn't quite connect. He's in the states, tho. From what I remember, it's quite a very grueling trip. Really bad. More than 24 hours. It's nothing to look forward to. The weather here has turned cool, and I imagine he'll be cold. Guess he'll be shopping for more suitable clothing. It always amazes me that they sell winter clothing down here. Epril sent me an e-mail wondering if he was in yet. It's confusing for all of us because there's twelve hours' difference and it's night there and it's day here. He gets in tonight our time. Then to confuse matters more, tomorrow starts day-light savings time and we'll be an hour earlier here. We gain an hour tonight. I'm always happy about that.

Gracie, Paul and I walked up to the clubhouse this morning to get tickets for the Beer and Bratz which is next weekend. They have these four times a year. Every season. It was sunny, cool and fairly windy and Gracie didn't want anything to do with behaving. Her attention span was zip point nothing. No loose-leash walking for her. When we got home we took her in the backyard off the leash, and let her zoom. She did.

Still haven't got my camera set up yet. When I do, I will post pictures.

So - that's all the news for now from the woods. What happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Well, well, well. . .

My computer is working (for the time being. . .knock on wood!) It's been working erratically since I've come down and I haven't had a chance to do a posting that I'd chance sending. The machine will work and then kaput. Yuck. We have been using my brother Bob's Comcast account since we're in such close proximity. . .the networking works well. However, since Jil will be working from home, we thought it wise to invest in our own internet service from Comcast this year. I'd feel just awful if Jil had trouble. He doesn't need any more problems. Things are so complicated recently. Lots of angst still going on. BUT, things appear to be falling into place.

To make room for his workspace, we've taken down one of the twin beds and we're storing it in a storage facility. That was lots of fun - windowshopping for good prices. We wanted an air-conditioned unit, and when we finally decided on a place - it was interesting to see how much it reminded me of the Indiana Jones first movie at the end when they showed inside this huge warehouse. Well, perhaps it isn't that big, but it made me feel uneasy. Luckily our rental unit is close to an outside door. The guy took us inside to show us where it was and said not to worry about turning off the lights - they were on a timer. Oh, great. I just needed to be in there when the lights went off and it was pitch black. I guess I'd bring a flashlight. . . just in case.

Folks - if you've been thinking along these lines. . . we still have two king-sized beds available for company! Air mattresses can be purchased also. We'd certainly make room for company. We miss you all.

Edna's bell wasn't quite right for Gracie to ring. But thank you, Edna.
Reminder: we wanted a bell for her to ring to tell us when Gracie needed to go outside. Right now - we have to take her out when we think she needs to go. We found another bell at Walmart - the kind with a handle that you shake to ring. It's on a string near the door. Every day in every way. . . we keep getting better!

Bob cooked a potroast last night and he and Bobby brought it here for the four of us to eat. It was scrumptious.

Okay - I have to say I didn't use the One Subject Per Blog idea with this posting that Jil suggested and I agree is a good way to go. But -There seemed to be so many different things I wanted to mention. . . like when you telephone someone you haven't spoken to in a long time. I feel like it's been ages since I wrote. In fact, it doesn't seem possible that we've been down only six days. As Paul said, it feels like two weeks!

Funny. I hear mowing going on outside and I immediately pictured Paul on his mower up in Millport. Good things happen when you're here - those are the men hired to do the mowing - not Paul. Speaking of whom: He's just come back from shopping and checking out my Florida car. . . giving it a trial run. All seems to be okay. Right now he's checking on the white paint and some dirty dark marks that appeared on the back end. The car always sticks out from the carport and is susceptible to this.

Paul and I got some heart drawings from Ida that Sharon sent us. One was for Paul's birthday, and mine was just for me. It did our (my) hearts good! Thank you, Ida. Please relay that for us Sharon!

And I hope Sharon is feeling better. When we were at her house to celebrate Paul's birthday, she had her foot in a "medical boot." (not sure what the correct term was for that.) She had plantar's fasciitis (another spelling?). The doctor just recently also found out through X rays that her heel was fractured also. I can't imagine how painful that must have been and is. She sent an e-mail to her brothers and sister and us.

The darn postal service is unreliable. Paul never got his absentee ballot. I got mine. Paul called the Board of Elections and they said they were sent at the same time on the 19th.

So - that's all the news from the Woods Edge. What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Things are getting settled.

It is our second full day of being in the Southlands and we seem to be winding down from all the little things that needed to be fixed when we got here. It doesn't matter how careful we approach our leaving here in the Spring. There's always things that need to be taken care of before we can enjoy it. For example: We couldn't turn our shower on. It was frozen (in Fla???) in place. Paul fixed it. Our year-old refrigerator is making a noisey sound every once in a while. We turned it off when we left - my Dear One's great suggestion. We think he fixed the irritating hum. Haven't heard it lately. Our bedroom fan which is forty years old, is making a clicking sound when we try to sleep. I think we're due a new one!

I ordered the paper. Starts tomorrow. Paul had a haircut. Little things are being done.

I had told Paul that the weather here in November is outstanding. I think that may have jinxed us the first couple of days. (until now) because we've had really really warm and humid weather coming down to Chocowinity NC and also here. But today - is glorious! Paul opened all the windows and the screened doors - to let in the fresh air. He just got back from a walk with Gracie. Humidity is gone. Sunny, bright. Gracie today has learned that she can zoom in a complete circle (inside) the house. She was so cute.

Our trip down was great. We stopped at Edna and Mike's for an early lunch and conversation. I mentioned to Edna that we were thinking of using a hanging bell near the door for Gracie to tell us when she needed to go out. Edna gave us a bell - that we have hanging on the back door knob. Paul has to lower it a bit - hang it on a nail - so Gracie can reach it better. But we're very enthusiastic that this will work for us! Let's hope so. I think the correct order of things will be "Do you want to go out?" Paw hits bell. We go out. Then perhaps eventually it will dawn on her - hit bell. Go out! Hit bell. Go out! Hit bell. Go out!

Tuesday night we spent in Chocowinity NC with Marcia and Hal. Their place is in a lovely brick-homed golf community of beautiful homes and winding streets. We spent most of the time sitting on their back porch which overlooks the golf course, so we would hear "whack" every once in a while as the golfers went past. Marcia said they seldom had balls in their yard, which to me meant their golfers must be really good, since their backyard continues onto the golfcourse with only a few trees separating them from it.

Whew! My lovely old computer decided to go into the quitting mode . . . I was doing a scan - in the background when I was posting, and all of a sudden - bam - nothing. This blogspot.com does well with saving work -thank goodness. I had visions of repeating all I've written so far, and knew I wouldn't have the gumptions. Aren't you all lucky!

We're getting ready for Jil to arrive next Thursday. Kind of. He'll be "operating" out of the guest room and we're thinking of taking down one of the twin beds and putting up a work area of some kind. But I think we'll wait til he gets here to see what he needs. We know he needs the work space, and he needs peace and quiet to do his transcribing. The guest room can be closed off so he can work and not be disturbed. It will be a big change for the three of us. Prayers are surely welcomed.

Cousin Carol stopped by yesterday to welcome us, when I was out food shopping. It was nice to be thought of. . . and I'm sorry I missed her, but we had a little chat by phone last night.

Guess that's all the news from the Circlewoods Crew, aka known as the Woods Edge Crew, So I can still say "That's all the news from the Woods Edge." What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

We're Here!

Yes. We made it to Venice late this afternoon. All is well. Everything is working. . .including my computer finally.

Gracie got re-introduced to Martini, my brother Bob's papillon. Really cute! She's about 3/4 of Martini's size. Gracie is very subservient (?) and Martini seemed really to like her. They played together. She didn't want to have much to do with her last Spring because she was very rambunctious without much sense. After all - she was only 3 months old then. Now she's an old lady of 10 months.

Had a good trip - will blog about it soon enough. . .had trouble getting this old (?) computer up and running, but my Dear One was able to get it going. Now it's bedtime. Gonna go to bed!

So. . .what's happenin in your neck of the woods?

In the Blink of an Eye. . .

Things change. I didn't want to write this, but it's necessary.

I was waiting for my son, Jil, to publish about it in his blog www.junglejil@blogspot.com; which he did today.

As I was finishing up my blog on Friday, yesterday, I got a phone call from Jil, in the Philippines. He hardly ever calls. We always converse via our blogs or e-mail so I immediately knew that something happened and it wasn't good. We had been writing back and forth lately about this possibility. And trying to ease the pain and worry as much as possible. So. . .this is what happened:

After 8 years overseas, working for this company, Jil's United States medical transcription company gave him an ultimatum - he has two weeks to return to the United States or he would lose his job. This means he must leave his lovely wife Epril, whom he adores, and her family whom he equally loves. He is heartbroken, naturally and is trying to find a way to get back there to his loved ones as soon as he can. But he rightly ascertained that he couldn't stay without a job. He will be looking at ideas to what he can do, other than his present job situation, that will allow him to return. (At least he still has and will have a job.)

Jil has a one-way ticket from Manila to Fort Myers International Airport on Nov 3rd. He'll be staying with us for the time being. (Family is so important when he is so emotionally fragile.) Paul and I discussed this beforehand, and he was so good about it. I really married a good, caring man. I can never say enough how lucky I am or how truly I appreciate him.

So - that's all the news here - unhappy though it is - And what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods? I hope it's better on your end.

We're Gettin' Ready to Go

We've begun the steps that start us on our journey South. We got a car. Check. Deck furniture is in. Check. Flowers are taken care of. Check. Lists are made. Check. Crossing off things on list. Check. Doing wash. Check. Bills. Check. But there's always so much to do. Poor us: We're not going out to dinner tonight (Friday night) because we've got a lot of left/overs to eat or throw out. We've got two invitations to go to on Saturday - Lue invited us for brunch, and Sharon invited us for dinner. Wow. You would think that something was coming up! We're leaving? And it's also Paul's birthday on Monday, which means it's Dan, my son-in-law's birthday coming up soon also. Where has October gone??? And I need to get a card for Paul. He doesn't want anything for his birthday (what else is new?) but I'll think about it and get my dear one something when he mentions something. I'll sneak it up on him!

We're planning on stopping to see Marcia and Hal in North Carolina on our way South. They've always been so good about inviting us to stay, and we've always enjoyed their visits with us up here, and in the South. It's time for us to let them be hosts! It's a little out of our way, but that's okay. BTW - that's on my list - to call Marcia and see if we can come! No. I haven't done that yet.

That's all the news from this end for now. What's happenin in your neck o the woods?

Got a Car!

That's right. We went to a third (very large) dealership this morning (with Gracie in tow - our cleaning lady was there and it wasn't fair for her to watch her - that's like double the work - Gracie's so active. And it's not fair.) in Corning this time.

We were so concerned after getting that awful quote from yesterday's dealership, but thought a third would perhaps put us in the ball park. At least we'd be able to compare three rather than two. And we hadn't seen what we really wanted with the first two. All we could think was - how come there was such a discrepency between the two we'd seen??? Well . . . we were in for a surprise . . . this third one's quote came below the first low one! And it was the right color for us - titanium. Which to me is dark gray. And it also had a backup video camera without the dvd machine. Sorry Gracie.

BTW - she was very good. She sat on a chair, or in our laps for a good two-three hours while they checked and reviewed figures on their computer, made phone calls to the company, and basically got us a very very good price without us really negotiating. They kept coming out and apologizing because it took so long. It took so long to get it done because they are right between the 2010-2011 models, and their computers programs were set up for 2011. Unfortunately, they didn't have any 2011 - nor could they be found yet. We checked every place we went, and they haven't come in yet. I understand they're a lot different style. New motor.

The dealership was in a beautiful large new building - decorated as if it was in the 1950's - picture this: two old red and white mobil gas pumps (replicas), decorated with the flying red horses, set in in the back of the showroom. The price registered on the pumps was $.33.9. The sales offices were set at our right in what appeared to be a diner. The office help, or head honcho or whatever were to the left of us - in what appeared was the entrance to a a movie theater. The marquis said "The Fast and the Furious". To the right, in the back, near the service area, was a wooden display show case of 1950 priced candies - Good and Plenty - and others kinds (but not for sale. 1 cent a lb.) behind glass. Right by them was a candy vending machine with our present day prices. No thank you. And some on-the-house coffee. Okay - good price.
The place was so different, it made me kinda nervous about the car price because their overhead must be very high. Could they afford to give us a good price? Our salesman was older, (as were a lot of the help) and knowledgeable, - gave us good vibes. The whole place did. We sat in the showroom at a little round table for three. Had to pull a chair up for Gracie.

Paul picks up the car tomorrow morning at 10:00. I have Bible Study at 9:30 which I don't want to miss since we'll soon be leaving for Fla.

I think I've exhausted this subject. Oh, yes. I think we both need to become more observant. Especially me. We thought that it was a brand new idea (and what a great idea!) to have two glove compartments in the car, but the dealer today showed us that we have two in our present car also. One on top of the other. We'd both thought the top one was where the airbag was located, but no. There's a latch and right there, above our tiny little glove compartment that I complained about, popped open a nice lovely new much bigger glove compartment. Never used. Did we laugh at that! Plus we found out about six weeks ago that the middle console that we didn't care for, between the two seats, is removeable. Another laugh! We'll have to remind ourselves to read the manual on this one. We never know what we'll find!

So what's happenin in your neck o' the woods?

Wheeling and Dealing with cars

So far - this is working out pretty well. One subject per posting.

Paul and I have been car/van shopping. What a lot of rigamarole. Yesterday,
we went to the dealership where he leased our present van and the ones before that. The owner quoted a price to us. It was fine. We decided to go to another dealership and check out their cars and pricings.

So . . . we found a new van that we loved at this second dealership. And a really young salesman who looked like he couldn't have been more than 23 yrs. old. The van had everything we wanted plus more. . . which was a dvd player, headphones, etc. Since we don't have any children, perhaps Gracie could use it on long trips??? But it was a package deal with the back-up camera which we really wanted. You couldn't get one without the other. (Actually, I didn't care for the car color - a metallic bright blue. But when you're in it, you don't see the outside color anyway so I didn't mind it. )

Were we in for a surprise! At the second dealership, the young guy and his section boss came up with a lease price that was DOUBLE the first dealer. Paul seems to think the first guy may have made a small mistake, but not enuf to warrant the huge difference. We'll see, as we go to another dealership tomorrow. And back to the first guy. It sure is interesting to go car-shopping. The second dealership was shocked when we told them the price we were offered by the first guy. They didn't change the price though. Perhaps they did a little bit. They also offered for us to finance the van for 84 months at the lower price. That is seven years, folks. Which is great at our age.

Paul seems to think we may get a call tomorrow back from them. It would have been nice to help that young salesman out.

So - that's all the news from this end of the woods. What's happenin' in your neighborhood?

Grandma's tooth

Jil has the right idea. Write about one subject per blog. I, however, seem to find one subject just leads into another. But I'll try.

As you all know, I have a new granddaughter, Evie, who is now the very old age of 23 days. She's not supposed to be teething yet - and of course that's a given. Well - I have her beat for this year.

My wisdom tooth is coming in . . . and so I'm teething. I went to the dentist this morning and the bone sliver that was protruding from the back of the side of my mouth, was pushed there by that nasty old wisdom tooth that is coming in sideways - due to the fact there's no more room in my mouth. (my guess). It doesn't hurt at all now that the bone sliver is out. It was not attached to anything, and she just took some twizzers and pulled it out. But she said I need to see an oral surgeon. Great. She took X Rays for him/her. We want to leave for Fla. asap. (within reason)

Okay. I thought about it and decided since she'd taken the piece of bone out, there's no pain at all. So - last year we very wisely got set up with a doctor down there. I can call him from up here and get a suggestion from him for an oral surgeon down there! I have my X Rays which I'll take with me and he'll want to see.

Mondays

October in upstate New York can be exceedingly beautiful. It was yesterday, and we took a Sunday ride in the afternoon with Gracie. But it also can be gray skies. That's what it is today. I hear that Florida weather is getting really great - from two great sources: My cousin Alice and brother Bob. Mid 80's during the day, 60's at night. Sunny. We're comin' down. ASAP. We're planning on making stops along the way to visit good friends, though. So it should take longer. We'll contact them when our plans are more set. And let you all know.

I love Mondays. I always have. I guess it's the routine of every-day living that I love. HOWEVER, it feels like we're in limbo here right now. Reasons:

I have a medical/dental problem at the back of my throat - gum, left side. Have seen the dentist several times recently about it. (several weeks.) And my doctor. . .who couldn't see it at all. And I think thought me a hypochondriac. My dentist could see the section - infected. So she put me on antibiotics. The doctor couldn't see the area. He didn't have a dental mirror.

Now there is an area right there, I can see and feel what looks like a small sliver of tooth has protruded slightly out. My theory which has not been corroborated: I think perhaps I'm teething. Yes. Evie. I beat you to it this year. My thoughts are a wisdom tooth (I only had one appear during my lifetime, which was removed a long time ago, the rest are hangin' in there) decided to make an appearance. It looks like a small, tiny section of tooth. It does a number on my tongue which rubs it as it's on the side. So far it hasn't hurt much. I've been taking antibiotics for a while which (my opinion again) has decreased the chance of infection. So. I have another appointment with my dentist tomorrow at 9:00. So I won't know til tomorrow.

We're van hunting. It's that year and season to turn in the van for another. We know where we'll get it, but don't know much else. 2011 models haven't come out yet in the model we want, so we'll look at 2010 ones. Today, we're going out to do it.

Talked with Nancy last night - and Evie is up to 5 hours between feedings at night. So, she's growing. Nancy said she's still tired, but knows there's an end in sight. When you have a first baby - everyone tells you there's an end in sight, but it's hard to believe when you're going through it. The second baby has the advantage of a mother who knows for certain there's an end in sight! Vincent is doing well. He hasn't asked for Evie to be sent back. And he's very loving.

I sent a package to the Philippines for Jil - I'd ordered some things for him via Amazon.com. This was three weeks ago. Using USPS instead of Fed Ex which is so expensive . . . we wondered if that was the smart thing to do, but it finally arrived. That was great news. Now I can send other things he requests through the post office. We just have to be patient for it to arrive. The post office guaranteed it would be out of the country in three days, then it couldn't guarantee when it would arrive.

Paul talked with Brenda last night, and they discussed a "problem" we've been having with Gracie - she doesn't let us know when she needs to go out. Brenda said she put a bell on a ribbon on the door knob and she has Bode tap it each time he goes out. He's almost doing it on his own. Great idea, Brenda! Can't wait to use it. Perhaps Gracie will then let us know! Paul spent a good deal of time looking for a bell upstairs. No luck. Luckily it's the season when Christmas bells are appearing in the stores. So we should be able to get one!

So - it's time to start our day and go car shopping. That's all the news from the Woods Edge.
What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

New Pictures - The Library - upstairs - Part 1

I had eight pictures of the new upstairs "library" which just got new carpetting this morning. This has four - including the tube-light in the bathroom. Part 2 has four more. I was out for the carpet-laying, but Paul had an opportunity to put some furniture up there . . . just to make it seem like a room! My goodness, what a wonderful job he did. (putting furniture in, all the rest - so many things.) Now, when we get back from Fla. in the Spring, we'll get some real furniture for the room. Like a sofabed. And some bookshelves.

More pictures - Upstairs "Library" - Part 2

More pictures

We had such good weather while I was in Chicago. We spent a lot of time outside.

Somehow these got deleted. Not sure why.

A continuation of this morning's post. . .

This Fall picture turned out better than I expected. The red colors aren't as red, but the oranges and yellows are good. You can definitely see Vincent with his red hair and his red T shirt as goalie. He learned to put his hands out like that at soccer camp this summer.
I naturally got the pictures kinda mixed up, but you can see the rest. Evie is having her first bath. Vincent went outside and did some chalk drawings on the sidewalks.
Oops. Wonderwhat happened to those???