We have a lull. I should say I have a lull. Everyone else is busy. The big kids and their folks are at the mall for the day. The kids got gift certificates and money for Christmas and are having a great time, I'm sure.
We had a dusting of snow last night. It's been sunny for a few minutes so Paul and Dan have the Vincent and Evie outside. They're out sledding on our back hill. In fact, I heard through the grapevine (via Dan) that Paul even went down once! Nancy and baby Walter decided to see what was going on. Walter fussily put on his snowsuit so he could joined his brother and sister outside.
I don't own boots. At least I don't think I do. I haven't worn them in a couple of years. I can see the top of the hill from my window as I type, and periodically there's someone there and then they disappear from view, so I guess they're sledding. Dan has my camera so I hope he's using it. ( He did and got some great pictures.) Gracie's having a grand time - barking through the back window at all the commotion.
We've had a busy couple of days. Somehow the days are becoming a blur.
Monday: Brenda, Eric, Emma and Lina arrived from California/Germany - via NYC then a stop in Middletown to visit relatives, get a rental car and came in on Monday afternoon, the day after Brenda's birthday which she spent in NYC. Greg, Noi, NeeNee and Brenan came in later that night from Florida.
Tuesday, Christmas Eve: Sharon had everyone up - on Christmas Eve early to help decorate Christmas cookies and have some pickled baloney for lunch. It's a family favorite. Pickled baloney. (I can't see why.) Paul and I went for lunch. While we were there, it snowed - perfect to make it a White Christmas Eve. We didn't get to church . . . the first Christmas Eve in a long time. We hadn't actually planned on going, so that was okay because we were expecting Jeff and Dorothy.
Jeff, Dorothy and DJ drove down after work, on Christmas Eve night around 7:30. The roads weren't good, but they were coming from up near Rochester, a three-hour trip. It was slow-going. Dorothy brought Chili for us all for supper. We had 17.
Wednesday, Christmas Day: Sharon, Dave, Lee, Charles and Ida join us all for brunch cooked by Greg, Jeff, and Eric, at 11:00 and then they stayed for the rest of the day.
An aside: During a flurry of activity, Dorothy came up to me and said, 'you know Jeanne, there's a lot of dog toys and slippery mats around on the floor. You'd better be careful.' Then she said 'I say the same thing to my mother.' I, of course, felt rather indignant - her mother's in her 80's. I'm 73. Not a spring chicken, but nevertheless...
So, wouldn't you know - with all the people here, all the throw pillows, shoes, boxes, etc. I climbed over some stuff and took a fall trying to get some glass candlesticks out of my bookcase. Tripped over my own feet, I think. Sometimes my sneakers don't want to go where I want to go. Didn't hurt myself, but it shook everyone and me up. Everyone rushed to help me up. Hurt my pride more than anything. Stupid. I'm a little sore, but that's all. The rug is very soft. The one-hundred year old candlesticks were fine too.
Nancy, Dan, Vincent, Evie and Walter arrived early afternoon from Nancy's dad's house all dressed in their Christmas finery, and the Corning relatives came in a little while after them. All told, including baby Walter, we had 27 for dinner.
Even though we had 27 for dinner, we still had family missing. And they were missed.
Bill and Epril are in Florida. They went to Pensacola to spend Christmas with Epril's cousin and her husband. I saw pictures of the four of them on Facebook. The table was laden with wonderful foods for a Christmas feast. We talked with them on the phone later on Christmas day as they driving home - a seven hour trip. Unfortunately, the sound wasn't that good, but Nancy and I still had a chance to chat, and I promised Bill that we'd call them tonight on the phone (just to touch base again.)
We were starting a white elephant gift-exchange, and everyone was so noisy. It was hard to hear. And before that:
Alaina, Dorothy and Jeff's 23 year-old daughter, is in the Peace Corps and is just settling in, in Uganda. She had a time set to call us at 1:00, so everyone crowded around the phone in the living room. It was on speaker/phone so we could all listened. And then she talked to people individually. Both Brenda and Greg had been in the Peace Corp so Paul's family is very familiar with it. Alaina still isn't settled in, but when she is, she'll be getting lots of packages from home.
I think I mentioned to you all, that as a Christmas gift to Paul and I, since we requested NO GIFTS, they're all chipping in to plan menus, shop, cook, clean-up, do all these wonderful things for us while they're here. It's been wonderful and we've appreciated it all. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family.
Dorothy, Jeff and DJ left for home, after Christmas dinner, because they all had to be at work today. Jeff retired in September, but he's now working at Home Depot. Dorothy works for Wegmans, and DJ works at a lawyer's firm in Rochester.
Nancy and her family moved into the big guest room upstairs, vacated by Jeff and Dorothy. The kids are on air mattresses. Baby Walter is in the walk-in closet in his crib. I have two cross-stitch baby pictures on the wall, and a rug on the floor, so other than windows, it looks like a little room. He has a night light they brought with them. Nancy said he's very comfortable in there.
Evie has decided that Gracie wuvs her because she's always giving her kisses. (She doesn't realize that Gracie does that to everybody. She has trouble controlling her licker.) Evie and Vincent are both being very gentle with her. For little kids, that's good.
It has started snowing again. The kids came inside a while ago. I found some hot chocolate on the shelf. Evie told Nancy and me that when she was tired she said she told them (Paul and Dan) that she wanted to go home. Nancy said - isn't it great? You are home.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Well, you can imagine. . .
I have all sorts of error messages coming on my BlogSpot account. Since I'm writing from a "different spot" (home now) perhaps that's the reason. Oh, well. Carry on.
Yes. We're home now. Feels like we've been home two weeks and it's only been four and 1/2 days. I won't count this as a full one, since it isn't yet.
What a lot of stuff we've done. Well, you can imagine coming home to an un-decorated house, presents to be picked up next door, then open boxes, match gifts with list in folder, wrap presents, go shopping for things still needed - go several times. Well, you can imagine. Well, you say - so what? I know you're all going through it - in some manner or other. All families are the same at this time of year.
Paul is busy putting a new lock on our front door - one that is extra sturdy because, while we were in Florida, one of the neighbors found it standing open. This is a deadbolt lock that requires a key. It looks very good. I don't think anyone could open it unless they have a key. But let's not tempt fate.
Post note: Paul is having a devil of a time with it. Some of the screws aren't working right, so he's had to file them down, etc. and the thing cost $129.00 at Lowe's yesterday.
Our trip was good. We rented a car from Venice on Monday morning. We packed our suitcase (1). Paul didn't bring any clothes. He said it was all here. I packed it with mostly stuff rather than clothes. Ex. Christmas music, Song sheets, Photo album - all things for people to see, do, sing. Needed to "make the Christmas bright." As the song goes.
So off we went to St. Petersburg airport. Gracie was as good as gold. As you know, Paul's been training her with treats in her carrier - walking her around the house. When we parked the car, we gave her some cheese with her pill inside. It worked very well. We went through security. Got to our gate and saw the plane outside, waiting for us all to board. NOT TO BE.
The pilot was sick. They needed a new one. There weren't any extra in St. Pete's. They had to send to Sanford for another - a two hour trip - but on rush hour on I-4 it took three hours. He got there and we left. We let Gracie out of her carrier for a while because it was such a long time, and Paul walked her around a bit. She did a lot of sniffing - lots of smells. We were concerned about her bladder control, but she was a true heroine (not sure how to spell that - looks like the drug, but you know what I mean). She whined a little when we put her under the plane seat, but she slept the whole way. It was a very smooth trip.
.
An aside, while in St. Pete's airport, we had a chair for Gracie between us at the gate. She was in her carrier most of the time. Paul left to take a walk. There were plenty of seats around, but an old lady came by and wanted his seat. I explained to her that it was taken. She said - well, can't you put the dog on the floor? At this point someone else pointed out all the seats around and she could sit by her. I'm always slow on the uptake. Afterwards I thought - we paid more for Gracie's ticket than our own - we shouldn't feel guilty that she had a seat of her own, even if she had to be under a seat onboard the plane! Especially if there were more seats. If there weren't, I would have gladly put her on the floor, or held her on my lap. But that's neither here nor there.
We got to Elmira to VERY cold weather. Didn't have my winter coat. There was a good 8" of snow on the ground. They didn't have a winterized section for us to walk through into the terminal, but they did have an open-air three-positional ramp that had been de-iced. Just like we had in St. Pete's. All I could think of was - Slip on ice. broken hip. Dead soon. But that was only for a second. My suitcase did roll down the third ramp section, but a kind attendant stopped it and me from sliding the whole way. The airport runway was fine. No ice. It's strange. I thought of snow, but I didn't think of cold and ice. I'm fine now. It took me a day or two to adjust. Lue was there to meet us. God bless her.
When we got inside the airport gate area, Paul zipped open the carrier a little bit and Gracie's quickly pushed her nose and head out. . I commented to Paul as he walked along that she looked like the hood ornament on a car.
Lue is on her way to Boston area. The weather is good. She's driving with her dog Greta. She left at 7 AM so that she'll get there before dark. She said since they're so close to the coast, it's dark there about 3:45 at this time of year. It's a 7-8 hour trip. God bless her. She went to a fish fry with us last night so we had a chance to be with her before she left. She looked good.
Bob is in Alpharetta with Jon's family. They'll have quite a house-ful as Cookie and Clarkie, Nicole's parents, and her sisters and families will be there to visit from Florida and Long Island. Reminds me of our house here. We'll have between twelve and sixteen staying with us - depending on the day. On Christmas day we'll have twenty-six for dinner. The "kids" are taking care of everything. We did buy a turkey. Paul may cook up some wimpies. (sloppy joes for those of you who aren't informed) I bought ground beef.
I called my good friend Marcia in North Carolina. She said it was 80 degrees. They were out walking. Their cat Cleo is on her last leg - 19 years old and ready to be put down. Marcia becomes so fond of her pets, as do we all. I can't imagine how I'll be when the time come for Gracie leaving us. So they've cancelled their trip to visit her brother Bob in northern Florida. It is what it is.
I saw a picture of Brenda, Eric and Emma on the airplane. So they're on their way! Or probably even in NYC by now. They're picking up Lina, their exchange student coming in at 3 PM from Germany to spend Christmas with us all.
Our grandson, Lee, stopped here yesterday and spent several hours in Paul's workshop working on some presents. . It was good to see him. It was quite cold in there, but we were glad to have him visit. He was very secretive about what he was working on.
We are actually quite well-adjusted to being here and getting organized. Presents are all bought. Most gift wrapping is done. Thank goodness! I'm waiting for Paul to disappear so I can wrap a couple for him. I did buy him the recliner for the new Florida room. I wanted something for him to unwrap here though.
I'm disappointed that there probably won't be any snow for Christmas. (So Bill and Epril - don't be sad that you're not with us. Epril will have to see snow some other time. Although we do miss you both. Glad we could get together on Sunday.) It's been warming up and it's supposed to go up to 50 degrees this weekend. Yes. 50 degrees! There'll probably be rain, but no snow is forecast. That's good, in a way - since we have so many people traveling. We would have preferred clear weather, and perhaps it will be, but rain is better than snow. As long as it isn't icy. But I had wanted snow for Evie and Vincent to sled ride down our back hill.
I am nursing a cold. Much sneezing. Haven't had one in years. Hoping to be better by Christmas. There's still time.
Yes. We're home now. Feels like we've been home two weeks and it's only been four and 1/2 days. I won't count this as a full one, since it isn't yet.
What a lot of stuff we've done. Well, you can imagine coming home to an un-decorated house, presents to be picked up next door, then open boxes, match gifts with list in folder, wrap presents, go shopping for things still needed - go several times. Well, you can imagine. Well, you say - so what? I know you're all going through it - in some manner or other. All families are the same at this time of year.
Paul is busy putting a new lock on our front door - one that is extra sturdy because, while we were in Florida, one of the neighbors found it standing open. This is a deadbolt lock that requires a key. It looks very good. I don't think anyone could open it unless they have a key. But let's not tempt fate.
Post note: Paul is having a devil of a time with it. Some of the screws aren't working right, so he's had to file them down, etc. and the thing cost $129.00 at Lowe's yesterday.
Our trip was good. We rented a car from Venice on Monday morning. We packed our suitcase (1). Paul didn't bring any clothes. He said it was all here. I packed it with mostly stuff rather than clothes. Ex. Christmas music, Song sheets, Photo album - all things for people to see, do, sing. Needed to "make the Christmas bright." As the song goes.
So off we went to St. Petersburg airport. Gracie was as good as gold. As you know, Paul's been training her with treats in her carrier - walking her around the house. When we parked the car, we gave her some cheese with her pill inside. It worked very well. We went through security. Got to our gate and saw the plane outside, waiting for us all to board. NOT TO BE.
The pilot was sick. They needed a new one. There weren't any extra in St. Pete's. They had to send to Sanford for another - a two hour trip - but on rush hour on I-4 it took three hours. He got there and we left. We let Gracie out of her carrier for a while because it was such a long time, and Paul walked her around a bit. She did a lot of sniffing - lots of smells. We were concerned about her bladder control, but she was a true heroine (not sure how to spell that - looks like the drug, but you know what I mean). She whined a little when we put her under the plane seat, but she slept the whole way. It was a very smooth trip.
.
An aside, while in St. Pete's airport, we had a chair for Gracie between us at the gate. She was in her carrier most of the time. Paul left to take a walk. There were plenty of seats around, but an old lady came by and wanted his seat. I explained to her that it was taken. She said - well, can't you put the dog on the floor? At this point someone else pointed out all the seats around and she could sit by her. I'm always slow on the uptake. Afterwards I thought - we paid more for Gracie's ticket than our own - we shouldn't feel guilty that she had a seat of her own, even if she had to be under a seat onboard the plane! Especially if there were more seats. If there weren't, I would have gladly put her on the floor, or held her on my lap. But that's neither here nor there.
We got to Elmira to VERY cold weather. Didn't have my winter coat. There was a good 8" of snow on the ground. They didn't have a winterized section for us to walk through into the terminal, but they did have an open-air three-positional ramp that had been de-iced. Just like we had in St. Pete's. All I could think of was - Slip on ice. broken hip. Dead soon. But that was only for a second. My suitcase did roll down the third ramp section, but a kind attendant stopped it and me from sliding the whole way. The airport runway was fine. No ice. It's strange. I thought of snow, but I didn't think of cold and ice. I'm fine now. It took me a day or two to adjust. Lue was there to meet us. God bless her.
When we got inside the airport gate area, Paul zipped open the carrier a little bit and Gracie's quickly pushed her nose and head out. . I commented to Paul as he walked along that she looked like the hood ornament on a car.
Lue is on her way to Boston area. The weather is good. She's driving with her dog Greta. She left at 7 AM so that she'll get there before dark. She said since they're so close to the coast, it's dark there about 3:45 at this time of year. It's a 7-8 hour trip. God bless her. She went to a fish fry with us last night so we had a chance to be with her before she left. She looked good.
Bob is in Alpharetta with Jon's family. They'll have quite a house-ful as Cookie and Clarkie, Nicole's parents, and her sisters and families will be there to visit from Florida and Long Island. Reminds me of our house here. We'll have between twelve and sixteen staying with us - depending on the day. On Christmas day we'll have twenty-six for dinner. The "kids" are taking care of everything. We did buy a turkey. Paul may cook up some wimpies. (sloppy joes for those of you who aren't informed) I bought ground beef.
I called my good friend Marcia in North Carolina. She said it was 80 degrees. They were out walking. Their cat Cleo is on her last leg - 19 years old and ready to be put down. Marcia becomes so fond of her pets, as do we all. I can't imagine how I'll be when the time come for Gracie leaving us. So they've cancelled their trip to visit her brother Bob in northern Florida. It is what it is.
I saw a picture of Brenda, Eric and Emma on the airplane. So they're on their way! Or probably even in NYC by now. They're picking up Lina, their exchange student coming in at 3 PM from Germany to spend Christmas with us all.
Our grandson, Lee, stopped here yesterday and spent several hours in Paul's workshop working on some presents. . It was good to see him. It was quite cold in there, but we were glad to have him visit. He was very secretive about what he was working on.
We are actually quite well-adjusted to being here and getting organized. Presents are all bought. Most gift wrapping is done. Thank goodness! I'm waiting for Paul to disappear so I can wrap a couple for him. I did buy him the recliner for the new Florida room. I wanted something for him to unwrap here though.
I'm disappointed that there probably won't be any snow for Christmas. (So Bill and Epril - don't be sad that you're not with us. Epril will have to see snow some other time. Although we do miss you both. Glad we could get together on Sunday.) It's been warming up and it's supposed to go up to 50 degrees this weekend. Yes. 50 degrees! There'll probably be rain, but no snow is forecast. That's good, in a way - since we have so many people traveling. We would have preferred clear weather, and perhaps it will be, but rain is better than snow. As long as it isn't icy. But I had wanted snow for Evie and Vincent to sled ride down our back hill.
I am nursing a cold. Much sneezing. Haven't had one in years. Hoping to be better by Christmas. There's still time.
Friday, December 13, 2013
When you get to be my age. . .
When you get to be my age. So some of you can relate, some of you - not yet.
I had a wonderful night's sleep last night.
I got in bed and fell asleep within a nice length of time. Not an hour and a half. I didn't waken during the night. I woke up this - morning at 8:00 when Gracie awoke us both. She wanted to go out. It felt so good and refreshing. ( I meant just the weather. )
The only thing I considered possibly a deterrent to my happiness. . . is the happiness that it was cold out. (for us) Meaning. . .Tomorrow morning I have planned on going to water aerobics. That would be out of the question if it's so cold. (cool) No one would want to do it then. That'd be a shame because I really am enjoying how I feel when I'm done exercising in the pool. My knees are fine, and I have a lot of energy the rest of the day.
After a partial week of fluttering into oblivion, our DVR has stopped working. I am so annoyed. Paul studied it and studied it. So this morning we went down to the Comcast office. Day of all days - there wasn't a line - so we were able to get there, get out, within 10 minutes. The man was so polite and helpful, we thought, so . . . now we've got a new machine but it still isn't working. We've called Comcast, and I guess we'll have to again. They said to wait 45 minutes for it to reboot. The man at the office, said wait 5-7 minutes. (we thought - now we have to go do some phoning, with the phone on speaker mode so I can help Paul hear correctly.)
My computer is erasing my words as I write - the above paragraph I've written four times. Each time it has disappeared. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with our TV situation, as we have a bundle with Comcast: TV, Computer and Phone. This is unusual. I will try and not let it annoy me and I will go out and help Paul. He just said - it's the RNG 200 M. It causes all kinds of problems. You can only record one program at a time. The older version let you do two at a time.
My happiness is eroding.
We had a good Carol Sing last Saturday night. There were 12 people here at the house, so we could do a full The Twelve Days of Christmas. If you remember, I made up copies of the songs we were going to sing. . . in nice big beautiful print. The only problem there, was that I hadn't collated it so that it was a little confusing. To say the least. So this week, I collated it all, stapled them together, and guess what - I'm bringing them up North with me for Christmas, along with the piano music. So, all you northerners, be aware and ready to sing Christmas songs with me at the piano. Be in a happy mood. It should be fun. We'll make sure it is.
So- I guess my computer has stopped erasing words. Good.
We're going to the Christmas dinner/dance Saturday night. Alice is going with us and our new next door neighbor, Linda, who also joined us Saturday night for the Christmas Sing. Linda lost her husband a year ago on December 18th and it was a hard time for her. As can be expected. I'm glad she'll be coming with us, and that Alice, also a widow, will be there. We usually don't stay for dancing. We won't tonight.
We have our TV working. Kind of. All is well again. Of course all our recordings have been erased. But that's easy to correct. Just record them again. I take that back. It's not. It is breaking up, the sound comes and goes. Paul's checking the cable now and working on some other things.
Bob is busy getting ready to go to visit his daughter Christine tomorrow on the East Coast. He's going to leave from there to go to Alpharetta and spend Christmas with his son Jon's family. He'll be gone until around the time we return here to Fla. from our sojourn up north. We'll be going to a fish fry tonight, however, so we'll see him before he goes.
We got Gracie a Thundershirt. From the vets. What's a Thundershirt? It is for pets who experience stress from thunderstorms, travel anxiety, other things that make them anxious. It holds her very close, almost like a mother would hold a small child. Like an Indian papoose (?) We tried it on her after we got home and she was fine with it. Her tail didn't go down - which is a sign of unhappiness - and she didn't mind when we left it on her. She was as bouncy as ever. I had mixed emotions about getting it - it was costly. But after seeing it on her and observing her, I'm glad we got it. Besides, it's like a little coat, so it should be good for the cold weather when we arrive up north.
Bill and Epril are coming for dinner on Sunday so we're leaving our Christmas decorations up until they leave. I put up some decorations but there isn't much, because we're only here til the 16th. It was good to see their tree last week. It looked good. Epril did a good job of decorating it.
We went to the Christmas Lights Concert at the church last Sunday evening. They had been speaking about it for several weeks during church services. And. . . What a beautiful experience it was! There were about 100 people, all the men in tuxedos, women in dressed in black dressy outfits, lots of candle light, beautiful music - the choir, an orchestra, the bell choir, the piano, organ. The church was completely full. I brought some Kleenex with me but only needed to use it twice. I'm very susceptible.
The next time I write, I'll probably be upstate. If it's not a state of confusion, I will be writing. Will try. It'll be good to see everyone. We're both looking forward to it..
Pray for our DVR. It needs it.
I had a wonderful night's sleep last night.
I got in bed and fell asleep within a nice length of time. Not an hour and a half. I didn't waken during the night. I woke up this - morning at 8:00 when Gracie awoke us both. She wanted to go out. It felt so good and refreshing. ( I meant just the weather. )
The only thing I considered possibly a deterrent to my happiness. . . is the happiness that it was cold out. (for us) Meaning. . .Tomorrow morning I have planned on going to water aerobics. That would be out of the question if it's so cold. (cool) No one would want to do it then. That'd be a shame because I really am enjoying how I feel when I'm done exercising in the pool. My knees are fine, and I have a lot of energy the rest of the day.
After a partial week of fluttering into oblivion, our DVR has stopped working. I am so annoyed. Paul studied it and studied it. So this morning we went down to the Comcast office. Day of all days - there wasn't a line - so we were able to get there, get out, within 10 minutes. The man was so polite and helpful, we thought, so . . . now we've got a new machine but it still isn't working. We've called Comcast, and I guess we'll have to again. They said to wait 45 minutes for it to reboot. The man at the office, said wait 5-7 minutes. (we thought - now we have to go do some phoning, with the phone on speaker mode so I can help Paul hear correctly.)
My computer is erasing my words as I write - the above paragraph I've written four times. Each time it has disappeared. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with our TV situation, as we have a bundle with Comcast: TV, Computer and Phone. This is unusual. I will try and not let it annoy me and I will go out and help Paul. He just said - it's the RNG 200 M. It causes all kinds of problems. You can only record one program at a time. The older version let you do two at a time.
My happiness is eroding.
We had a good Carol Sing last Saturday night. There were 12 people here at the house, so we could do a full The Twelve Days of Christmas. If you remember, I made up copies of the songs we were going to sing. . . in nice big beautiful print. The only problem there, was that I hadn't collated it so that it was a little confusing. To say the least. So this week, I collated it all, stapled them together, and guess what - I'm bringing them up North with me for Christmas, along with the piano music. So, all you northerners, be aware and ready to sing Christmas songs with me at the piano. Be in a happy mood. It should be fun. We'll make sure it is.
So- I guess my computer has stopped erasing words. Good.
We're going to the Christmas dinner/dance Saturday night. Alice is going with us and our new next door neighbor, Linda, who also joined us Saturday night for the Christmas Sing. Linda lost her husband a year ago on December 18th and it was a hard time for her. As can be expected. I'm glad she'll be coming with us, and that Alice, also a widow, will be there. We usually don't stay for dancing. We won't tonight.
We have our TV working. Kind of. All is well again. Of course all our recordings have been erased. But that's easy to correct. Just record them again. I take that back. It's not. It is breaking up, the sound comes and goes. Paul's checking the cable now and working on some other things.
Bob is busy getting ready to go to visit his daughter Christine tomorrow on the East Coast. He's going to leave from there to go to Alpharetta and spend Christmas with his son Jon's family. He'll be gone until around the time we return here to Fla. from our sojourn up north. We'll be going to a fish fry tonight, however, so we'll see him before he goes.
We got Gracie a Thundershirt. From the vets. What's a Thundershirt? It is for pets who experience stress from thunderstorms, travel anxiety, other things that make them anxious. It holds her very close, almost like a mother would hold a small child. Like an Indian papoose (?) We tried it on her after we got home and she was fine with it. Her tail didn't go down - which is a sign of unhappiness - and she didn't mind when we left it on her. She was as bouncy as ever. I had mixed emotions about getting it - it was costly. But after seeing it on her and observing her, I'm glad we got it. Besides, it's like a little coat, so it should be good for the cold weather when we arrive up north.
Bill and Epril are coming for dinner on Sunday so we're leaving our Christmas decorations up until they leave. I put up some decorations but there isn't much, because we're only here til the 16th. It was good to see their tree last week. It looked good. Epril did a good job of decorating it.
We went to the Christmas Lights Concert at the church last Sunday evening. They had been speaking about it for several weeks during church services. And. . . What a beautiful experience it was! There were about 100 people, all the men in tuxedos, women in dressed in black dressy outfits, lots of candle light, beautiful music - the choir, an orchestra, the bell choir, the piano, organ. The church was completely full. I brought some Kleenex with me but only needed to use it twice. I'm very susceptible.
The next time I write, I'll probably be upstate. If it's not a state of confusion, I will be writing. Will try. It'll be good to see everyone. We're both looking forward to it..
Pray for our DVR. It needs it.
Monday, December 9, 2013
What a Treat!
One Saturday this past Fall, when the autumn colors were at its peak, we went for a ride with Gracie to try out my new camera.
I wanted to take some photos, and if any came out well, we could make them into poster/paintings to put on the walls of our new room. It'd be a great way to remember our beautiful upstate New York area, while we're living down here in also beautiful Florida. .
Paul. . . God bless him. He took one of my pictures and had it made into a poster/painting. He gave it to me last Saturday. The photo is of a little fishing hole where he liked to stop and fish.
( Paul liked to meander and found this little spot.)
If I must say so myself, the colors are delightful. I used the camera's vivid color setting. It has the most appealing lemon yellows, greens, and light blues.
There was a sister photo to this one. . . of Paul and Gracie looking for fish down into the water together. It is adorable. He has on a red shirt and she has on a red harness. So - I had that one made up today, and now we have two matching photo/paintings.
As I was waiting for this photo to be completed, (I knew it was going to be a while - at least over an hour,) so I had some lunch at Walmart's new Burger King restaurant that's been opened up only a week.
You could tell it was new - There weren't many chairs and tables set up yet. It was very crowded. But I found one small empty table with two chairs. I had planned on being by myself: It was going to be a long wait, so I was going to have a cup of decaf coffee, some lunch, and read my Kindle.
A little, tiny elderly lady, with a cane, came into the restaurant. She had a hamburger, coffee and fries and was trying to navigate everything with her cane and found a seat at an eating bar facing out to the rest of the store.
I asked if she'd like to join me. Oh, she was so grateful. She didn't know how she was going to manage that high stool with the cane and all her food. (I know how she felt).
Well, I had a most delightful time listening to her talk. She ended up being quite a conversationalist. I had her life history before the hour was out. She just kept on talking and talking. I don't remember when I've had such an interesting experience. She even included whoever was sitting at the table next to us. (which included a couple who told us they were celebrating their 52nd anniversary today, and when they left, there was another gentleman who was able to tell us the name of the sport we couldn't guess: lacrosse.) And they were as spellbound as I was.
One of the things she said was -
When she was a little girl, her mother took her by the hand and told her - Now. . . when you're out in public, make sure you always smile at people who look at you, and if they look you in the eye - well - then you must say smile and say hello - how are you? because you never know if they've had a good or a bad day, and if they've had a bad day, then they will be happier for you being friendly. And so she told this to her four children and they've always been friendly and outgoing. They're in their fifties, she said. Except for one who died at age forty-seven. She lived up in Massachusetts and worked in medicine.
She'd been retired since 1991 after having three bad breathing episodes. I had thought she was lonely and probably needed to talk to some one so I was happy to oblige, but that obviously wasn't the case because she'd just finished volunteering at the Jacaranda Library. She's been volunteering for twelve years! She said she was quite tired today. She started work at 8:00 that morning. She had to get some milk. That's why she was at Walmart. She said she never seemed to get just one thing though. (Doesn't that sound familiar?)
The hour went by very quickly and we both said our good-byes. What a treat that was!
Then I got home here, we put up the other picture, and I started on my computer. I found this saying. I wrote it down, but forgot to check where it's from, but I'm still going to write it out so you can enjoy it too.
Happiness can be found even in the smallest places. Whether you're having the best or the worst day ever, more joy is just waiting to be discovered. The next time you're feeling blue, remember that happiness is unavoidable and may even be right within your reach.
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