I think I'm allergic to kleenex.

Every time I blow my nose with a Kleenex, I sneeze.  It must be Spring.  I don't remember having allergies, but perhaps I've adopted them now in my later years. 

Hello again!  I'm sorry for the time I've missed writing, but you should see our calendar! It's good to be back and writing!  It's amazing how many doctor appointments we've had.  Wish I could say we were having fun, but hey - at least most of them were check-ups.

 Even Gracie had a check up.  She weights 5 lbs 1 oz.  A great big little ball of FUN.  She now has a new rabies shot, and some others.  We had blood tests, etc.  I'm sure you all know the drill.  It really has taken up a lot of time.  Many days filled with appointments.    And we've been getting organized back up here in our northern home.

I must say - we have managed to have fun, though.   Although Paul isn't too happy about what we've been doing. 

Hey! What's that? . . . . What is  Jeanne having fun doing, that Paul is not?

 Car shopping.

 Paul doesn't like dealing with car salesmen.  I've had a good time going out and test driving all kinds of vehicles.  Such fun.  And all the phone calls I've been getting.  I feel really popular.  All these young salesmen are calling me. 

Yes.  I'm looking for a new car.  We did a lot of shopping online in Florida and did some calculating, and it looks like I'll be having a new car pretty soon.  Probably by the end of the month I'll be driving it out of the showroom. 

So - that's been taking up a lot of computer, and real-time. 

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I've also gotten interested (again) in genealogy.  I  joined Ancestry.com again and have had fun working on my family tree.  It is so interesting to look at old census records, draft records, death records, and see who were my ancestors and where they lived, their jobs, children, grandparents.  I went back as far as 1840 census and plan to continue digging. 

What started it all was that, just for fun one night recently, I googled my grandfather's name and several entries came up. ( FYI - my grandfather owned a soda factory.  His father started it in the 1860's. )

  One of the google entries had a picture of a soda bottle  with Grandpa's name and the address of his old factory embossed on it.  The picture was on e-bay.  So, I bought it.

 When it came, it had an icon embossed on the back which I didn't recognize, so  I e-mailed the seller asking if he knew anything about it, and let him know that my grandfather was the owner of the beverage factory.  It was his name on the bottle.  This is what he replied:

"Hi - so happy to hear that these bottles are going back to their original owners.  I always knew that there were loved ones out there to whom they would mean a lot.  I don't know about the logo on the back but I can tell you a bit of the interesting story connected to these bottles.  These bottles were found in a brownstone building here in downtown Brooklyn.  When the building was being renovated, there was discovered a small room in the back of the basement which was bricked up.  This room contained many bottles from local soda/bottling companies.  There was a dumbwater there in the back of the building going up to the rear of the first floor.  With a little digging into the matter, I learned that there was a bootlegger using these bottles during Prohibition, which might have saved these bottles.  Anyway, there was a restaurant on the first floor which served the hooch.  An old-timer from the neighborhood said the back room of that restaurant was a watering hole for many colorful characters.  Glad you are happy with the bottle!"

 I find it extremely interesting to know  some more things about my grandfather and his factory. I can remember going there as a little girl and seeing the big bottling machine and all the bottles being filled.  Later on, when I had grown up,  I had heard the rumor that grandpa's business could have been used for making "hootch." at night, after hours.    So I guess it wasn't only the soda water that provided the family with such a comfortable living. 

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I just got back from a long weekend (Friday to Monday) in Chicago for my grandson Vincent's 8th year birthday party.  Paul and Gracie drove me up to Rochester Airport on Friday and picked me up on Monday.

Vincent had 5 second graders at his house to celebrate from 1-4:00 on Sunday.  I could have sworn there were 10 of them. . . . if you know what I mean.  Luckily it was a beautiful day and they could get outside.

Vincent's dad (Dan) was extremely helpful.  He and Vincent went out on Saturday, after Vincent's soccer game, and got all the decorations, and paper goods, and balloons.  Then on Sunday morning he decorated the dining room with a mural, tablecloth, etc. Vincent blew balloons up Saturday afternoon and Walter (15 months) had a fit.  He was scared  until he saw how much fun they were to play with.  It frightened him when one broke, but he got used to it quickly. 

Dan took over during the party - he took the boys outside so they could play, and took them to the park.  He also went to the grocery store and bought pizza and cupcakes and juice for them, and supervised a Pokémon game.  What a great guy.  He kept them busy for the whole three hours. 

Evie was adorable. (3 1/2) She told me that she decided she was going to be shy when the boys arrived, but I noticed that she joined in with all the celebrating - inside and out. Plus one of the boys brought his brother, who was 5 and he and Evie got along very well. 

Walter said  his first word . . . . "Ivan" . . . . while I was there.  (Ivan is their Husky who went to Doggie Daycare during the party.  Very wise decision.)   It was "I-an" for a while and then he got the v in it (once or twice).   He also started walking two weeks ago, so he looked like a little baby Frankenstein with his arms out and his rocking  back and forth on his legs.  Cute.

So, today I had a doctor's appointment, and it's a little rainy now.  Yesterday we had the drive-way sealed so, when not in use,our car is sitting on our front lawn for the next couple of days.  Maybe soon there'll be two cars . . . .  in the garage again.  Wouldn't that be nice.

From one house to the other, with some stops in between

We're home!  The trip was tiring.  Because of all the bad weather that was forecast, we left on Sunday, April 27th and spent our usual two nights . . . Sunday and Monday. . . on the road.

The week before, Mark - Bob's friend, was with us.  He left our house the morning that we left for home.  Bob, bless his heart,  took our sheets, washed and dried them for us when we left.  What a guy. 

It was hard to leave Bob.  He's planning on selling his house and moving to Alpharetta, Georgia, to be with his son Jon and his wife Nicole and their family -   Brooke, Jonathan and Talia.  So it was bittersweet.  We know Bob will be happy in his new home surrounded by a lot of love. He'll have his own apartment downstairs.  We'll miss him, but it'll be the best move in the world for him.  We're expecting him to visit us in Florida and in NYS!

 The first day was fine. We got to Walterboro, a new stop for us, and had a good night's rest.

 It's always fun to see the difference in the fauna from the first day to the last.  It's always green and lush when we leave Florida. The Gardenia bush out front of our house was in full bloom.  Someone. . . perhaps Mark, perhaps Bob, put a flower on the car console.  The car smelled beautiful.  They're so white and I love the smell.  It reminds me of sweet cream.  Don't know why, but that just comes to mind.

We got up earlier than usual on Monday and had a good start for the day.

We planned on stopping in Staunton, Va. and then on home.  In the morning, the day was going so well, we thought we'd travel on another 100+ miles so then we'd have a shorter final  trip home on Tuesday.

 However, it started  raining hard when we got within 50 miles of Staunton, so we stopped early - 3:-00 and stayed at the motel at which we usually stop.  There's a nice little cozy restaurant across the road that has take-out, so Paul got some hot turkey and beef sandwiches (great comfort food) and we enjoyed  having a glass of wine and eating in the room.  So good!

 We had an early start again on Tuesday morning, but it was pouring.  Disappointing to say the least.

The trucks on the highways are sending up such spray that it made for very low visibility- almost like white-outs in snow.  Paul was really really tired when we got home.

 We took a break in Pennsylvania and stopped for a while at the Amish Country Cupboard.  It's located a couple of hours from home, and it's a favorite stop with travelers.  Paul just relaxed with Gracie, and I went inside and strolled around the numerous rooms (full of unneeded things.) He said he brought her in for a while, but an employee came up to him and asked him to take her out. 

The Country Cupboard is one of those places where one room leads to another room, leads to another room, etc. and the more you look, the more you see.  They have a wonderful bakery and so I stopped and got some donut holes for a car snack.  They have a nice restaurant and some day when we don't have Gracie with us, I'd like to have lunch there.

Now we're doing all the things that need to be done.  It's finally getting organized around here - suitcases unpacked and put away.  Although I have a red suitcase that has all my file stuff, cookbook, stuff - that's not clothing.  It's sitting here looking at me. 

Nancy gave me two Papillion calendars for Christmas.  I left one home and took the other to Florida.  I brought the Florida one home and it's by my computer.  I really need two calendars.  We consult them often.  I don't write on them because Paul makes one up on the computer and we use that one for appointments and such. 

Bill and Epril are home!  They sent pictures via Facebook when they got into NYC.

 They stopped in Beijing, China for a long stop - it had originally been 24 hours (?) but their flight from Manila left late.  You can't send messages/photos from China, so they had to wait til they got off the plane in JFK.  They again had a long wait - 5 hours, but, as I said it gave them time to download pictures onto Facebook.

 They did walk on the Great Wall.  It seems a Chinese man is not a man until he walks the Great Wall of China, so Paul said. . . this makes Bill a man. They took a beautiful picture of the two of them.  It should be framed.   I was so excited for them.  I'd been there in 2004 and it brought back such great memories. 

Bob, again, saved the day by picking them up in Ft. Myers Airport last night, May 1st.  Speaking from experience, I'm sure they're very tired, but with lots of happy memories.  And happy to be home. 

We had lunch with Lue, her sister Sharon, and Paul's daughter, Sharon yesterday.  It was good to get caught up on their news and to see them.

 Our friend, Ruth, wasn't there because she had her second knee operation a week and a half ago.  We brought her some flowers and visited for a while.  She's getting antsy.  Good sign.  She did say that the second operation wasn't as painful as the first.  Good!  My friend Carol O said the same thing. 

 We also saw our friend Carole at the restaurant.  She and her husband Tom visited with Dayle and Daryl in Australia last month.  They said it was wonderful!  Dayle and Daryl are still on their trip.  I mentioned them on an earlier post this year. . . They're on a three-four month cruise to Australia and New Zealand.  It included three cruise ships!

By the time we're in NYS, the trees are bare - perhaps a dusting of green - so they'll be out soon.  Daffodils are out.  Our next door neighbors stopped to see us last night.  They said Spring is a month late.  I can believe it.  I've seen five minutes of sun.  Yesterday.  Paul's been busy outside clearing up the brush.

So I guess I'd better empty that red suitcase.  My coffee's cold.