Saturday, January 15, 2011

Winter Creek

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It was 45 degrees at noon, and the girls were antsy. Penny was verbally complaining. Belle just looks at you with that look. You know the one if you have animals. So I bundled up, fired up my 4-wheeler to loud barks and yelps and dances of great approval, and pocketed my camera.Here is the view from my place .




Bob has been running the girls for a long while now, as I find the cold makes the sinus infection I have had worse. I try masks, but the cold on my face really hurts. He has been talking about "tracks through the creek the whole way, in slush that has hardened." I said what kind? He thought raccoon. I think he's right. But the odd thing is the tracks go back and forth. Wonder what that little critter was up to?





Maybe this coon is old, like me. Maybe it goes one way, then forgets what it was after and then turns back again. One thing is sure, he's making tracks!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Twenty Eleven and the lottery

So we've made it to another year.

When the promise of a new year fresh and clean stretches before us, it feels like a storm has passed. The sun comes out and there are rainbows and bluebirds...

It rained today. Ah, well. It held off this morning long enough for me to wash the bird poop off the truck. Bluebirds?

Monday I go back to work, and I did enjoy my time off. I feel better, and finally took the last of the antibiotics today. I have read a few books, the one I am currently reading I am passing on to my brother, and my nephew if they haven't already read it. Charles Kuralt's AMERICA. He spends a year going back to the places he loved while traveling the country for CBS.
January was New Orleans, but February was Key West. Nostalgia set in. March was Charleston, S.C., and April , New York and Virginia combined. But, May was Grandfather Mountain, N.C. I have been there as well and could see what he wrote in my minds eye. He said, " I have always felt at home in the mountains. I don't know why."
I get that. I love the sea and the Keys, but the mountains settle me.
He proceeds to talk about the things my brother and I always talk about in the woods. The flowers and the trees, a woodpecker a raven, or a deer. Which bird was that, or did you hear that? Thats an owl. Kuralt says, "I can't identify many birds by their calls, one of the gaps in my knowledge I want to correct someday. I'd rather know bird songs than French."
I get that too. I spent months tracking and marking turtles here on my property. Each time I would spot one was like finding treasure.
The next chapter will be Alaska, a place I have always thought I would like to see. My 'bucket' list has visiting all the National Parks as my #1 to do in the still 'long' list. Riding in a hot air balloon is another. I figure I have plenty of time...
Bob and I play the Mega Millions, and one thing we love to do is talk about what we would do if we won. Our first thought is always family. My siblings and his would all benefit as would our neices and nephews. There would be no worry about houses and vehicles, for they all would be able to afford both, as well as college for the children. It's a lovely mind game we play, and as Bob says, 'someone's got to win, why not us?'
What a different world 2011 would be if we were to win the lottery, although beleive it or not, I would finish the year at school because of the little guy I am responsible for, and Bob would finish the jobs he has set. Then he starts designing a fishing boat, but I want a deck boat.Ok, both !
And so the game goes. If you can't dream, why have a mind?
I have already won the lottery of life in so many ways, and I am thankful and grateful for each new day and for all my family and friends.
But seriously, Mega Millions would be a blast !
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Sunday, December 26, 2010

And so this was Christmas...

and in the end.....



and in the beginning of the unwrap...

This is Tessa standing then Trisha, her Mom, and Michele's hubby, John being entertained by 'Oreo', Michele and John's dog with his new squeeky bone from Belle and Penny.



Michele, Bob in his chair and Caines head...Wayne, Michele's X is to the right..


True was trying to be patient while Caine worked with his train from his Gi-Gi...True is Trisha's youngest daughter...Confused yet?






The dogs all got squeek toys...Belle and Penny de-squeeked theirs in seconds, and they got chew bones, which they went out with. They go out the magic hole. Oreo isn't savvy to it yet and gets awfully confused when the girls "walk right through the door an disappear".

This is Trisha on the right and Tessa, her oldest daughter in the middle with Michele on the right. Beleive it or not , Trisha and Michele are not related. Michele was married to Wayne, they divorced and Wayne hooked up with Trisha when she was alone and pregnant with True..The girls call Wayne Daddy..Now Michele is married to John and their son is Caine...
Got that straight now??.....neither do I.

Caine and True are playing the piano...Wayne is conducting in background..



Michele is winding down...

The kids should be back soon from Bedford. They went visiting friends and family and are picking Caine up from his other Grandma's house.They were headed home tongiht but the weather is so bad, they will wait until tomorrow..smart.

I am full, but somehow I seem to keep eating more when the appropriate hour comes around !

This has got to cease...New Year's is a 4 letter word...

DIET !

...another year over...









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Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas in Virginia with Love

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The decorations are scattered about the house. The fireplace has the traditional angels, on top and at the base on either side. The large corn husk and paper angel was given to me by a friend, Janine, and I set it over a light. I like angels about me.

Above the piano is the picture of my guardian angel, my Dad. The piano is so old, but itstill sounds good to me when my grandson and I sit at it and he 'plays'. It was in John and Michele's house when they bought it, and they nor anyone else wanted it...but me. My husband and 2 neighbors moved it from Bedford to here with much effort.


Even the outside of the house is festive. Besides the wreathes and the white candles in the windows, there are birds that decorate the shrubs, the ground and the feeders. The cardinals look so pretty in the snow.




The tree is a Frasier fir we cut the week after Thanksgiving. Naturally it has an angel on top. Red bows have long been the final touch on our trees. The blue stars in the window were given to me by a friend, Karen, and they go up every year.



This year my grandson Caine and his Mom and Dad will be here for Christmas. Christmas Eve will be the traditional dinner with turkey and all the trimmings and a ham with mac and cheese. Wayne and Trisha and their two girls will be with us for dinner and the gift exchange. Having the kids here will make Christmas more like when I was a child with all my relatives gathering at a different familie's house each year. My Dad always played 'Santa' and handed out gifts. What a magical time it was, and I didn't even know how lucky we were. For me it was tradition, something I expected and took for granted. What great memories I have of my family and all the cousins; the women all sharing the kitchen work and then the big games of penny-anti poker played by the adults after desserts.We were blessed.
Today my brothers are in three different states in New England, and I am here in Virginia. Most all of the adult relatives are long since passed, as is my Dad. I have one Aunt left from my Dads five siblings, Aunt Ruth in Florida and none from my Mom's side. My Mom is still very much alive at eighty-seven, and she is in N.H. with my youngest brother. The cousins are scattered, as are most families today, not like when I was a kid and everyone stayed close by.
This Christmas I send my love to all my family and friends wherever you may be, no matter how far away, you are always right here in my heart.
Merry Christmas with love from Virginia.
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About Me

My photo
union hall, S.W.Virginia, United States
Newly retired from Franklin County Public Schools.Prior to that I was a cosmetologist for several years.