Saturday, March 28, 2015
Notice--this will be the LAST entry for Fall/Winter 2015. The next entry will be under Spring/Summer 2015.
For the past two weeks I have been sneezing, hacking and coughing but it seems that the pollen is lessening somewhat. The good news is that Pat (my piano teacher) and I were both well enough for me to have a lesson Monday so I have left Frederic Chopin behind (at least for now) and am learning some new music hich I am enjoying very much. I attended the organ concerts at church the pst 2 Fridays and Oliver joined me yesterday, Then we went to the hospital for my monthly visit to parishioners and then to the marina to visit our empty slip and get a weekly parking pass.
Today was the celebration of the 190th anniversary of the visit to Beaufort by Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, Marquis de Lafayette - otherwise just known as General Lafayette. This is a very big deal here-there is a black tie dinner and ball, which we did not attend, and a fun afternoon at Waterfront Park with events for the kids, music and food for all, capped off by fireworks. We went into town at about 5PM and had dinner at our favorite restaurant Olde Bull Tavern, then I had a huge cup of ice cream and Oliver had another beer and then we sat and watched the fireworks. It was a really nice evening.
We still are waiting to get up to Vermont to see about getting a boat for that empty slip! We may go next week-otherwise we will wait until April 13. Our dear friends Fred and Renee from Illinois are coming to visit us on April 7 and we can't wait! We also have the air show at the Beaufort Marina Corps Air Station on April 12 which we are looking forward to.
Oh- we had to take Marina to the vet on Thursday. She is not eating well and that is totally unlike her so I wanted her to get checked out. We're waiting for results from her blood work but the doctor didn't really find anything except a lot of tartar on her teeth so she may be having tooth pain. We have her on antibiotics while we await the blood work and then will decide whether to have her teeth cleaned here or take her to Charleston where there is a dentist in the clinic with her cardiologist, just in case there would be a problem with the anesthetic. That is likely what we will do. Keep a good thought for our baby girl!
The afternoon was beautiful down by the water today
The fireworks were quite nice
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
We recovered from our trip to Vegas just in time for the pine pollen to hit! I was fine last Friday and had a fun afternoon as docent at church. Rose-I met a lovely young couple from Lucerne, Switzerland and had a nice long talk with them! Also had a whole bunch from Toronto-they were all trying to avoid going back to the snow and cold. But Saturday the pollen overpowered me and I was coughing, sneezing, had a runny nose, swollen eyes-miserable! I started on allergy medicine right away but we had to skip church on Sunday as I would have been just too disruptive and since I couldn't taste anything, we decided to celebrate my birthday some other time. I'm feeling better now, although still very croupy. I did go get my hair done today though and will start back with my regular activities tomorrow. I skipped my nursing home service last week until I was absolutely cure I didn't have a cold and skipped my piano lesson this week for the same reason. It's now been 4 weeks since I had a lesson and I am ready to break up with Fred (Chopin) and move on to someone else! We are patiently waiting for the weather in Vermont to improve so that we can go look at a boat up there. They have to be able to move it near water so that the engine can be run during the survey and so far they've been unable to do so. We hope to get up there before the end of March. We have friends coming on April 7 and wouold like to have a few days before that to get ready.
The pool is up to 72-not warm enough for me but perfect for Marina and Skipper.
The flowers are blooming-along with the pine trees!
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Well, most people buy a boat and then rent a slip. Not us! Although we are in the process of boat buying, we already rented our slip at the The Downtown Marina of Beaufort! This is the only single load slip (has a finger pier on both sides) in the marina that would fit our boat so we jumped on it while it was available. Stay tuned for word on a boat to fill it!
Saturday, March 7, 2015
We just got back from a wonderful few days in Las Vegas with Bunny and Jonh and Whit and Alex. We had such a great time, although we are so totally exhausted now! Not easy keeping up with the younger set but we did our best. The 3 hour time change is really a bear to deal with though. Wwe left early Tuesday morning because we took the dogs all the way to the end of Hilton Head Island to their kennel-the only one we found here that we really like for them-and then it's another hour to the airport from there. We flew through Dallas and we still hate that airport. We had over a 90 minute connection but after sitting on the train that goes from one terminal to the other for 15 minutes as it was stuck between stations, we had to gulp down a sandwich in about 5 minutes. Got to Vegas by 5 PM and it was so good seeing everybody. We had dinner at Mon Ami Gabi at Paris and sat outside to watch the water show at Bellagio across the street. It was just a really nice evening. We went back and crashed while the Craigs and Craig-Davenports went for a little gambling. Wednesday was Whit's birthday and we had liunch at Gordon Ramsey's Pub and Grill-it was excellent. We spent the afternoon walking through different casinos and then had dinner at Fix at Bellagio before going over to Bally to see Jubilee, the Vegas review. A bit more gambling before turning in-we felt much better than we had the night before! Thursday we started with breakfast at the Peppermill Restaurant, a big favorite in Vegas. The food is excellent but the bloody mary's are what brought us there. The restaurant is WAAY at the north end of the strip so we wandered through Circus Circus and then back down the strip to Caesar's Palace where we sat outside in the beautiful sunshine and had drinks. Then on down to a few more casinos, ending at the MGM Grand. After a bit of a rest, we went to Wynn for drinks and then to the Palm for dinner. And THEN the highlight of the trip-a ride on the High Roller. It is a 550 foot high ferris wheel-the tallest observation wheel in the world! We decided to pay for the tickets that included the open bar (go figure) which is right in the car!! Complete with bartender! Great fun and capped off the trip perfectly. After walking back to our room, it was 12:30 before we got into bed and we had to get up at 4:30 for our flight. We got back to Svannah almost an hour late, then had an hour ride to Hilton Head where we picked up the dogs and then an hour home so we didn't get here til 8:30. We were just exhausted but better today. Thanks to Bunny and John for giving us such a wonderful time!!
Here are pictures from the High Roller
This is what the cars look like from the top.
Hold me-I'm so frightened!
Here we are at the top!
Singing frog at Wynn!
The view from our wonderful room at the Marriott Grand Chateaux
Friday, February 20, 2015
Well I see it's been quite a while since I posted anything! Are we not doing anything or are we too busy? Not sure which is the case. Seems like we don't do too much and yet we are always busy. Pretty much we've been doing the routine things that we do every week. We did have lunch with our realtor down here to get some input on our Wisconsin house and we did re-list it. we had an offer while it was off the market but we couldn't make progress with it because the buyer insisted on a sale of house contingency and we couldn't accept that. We've sort of gotten used to not thinking about the house much!
I went to a very nice dinner with a group of about 90 women from our church so met a lot of new people. Our speaker was the wife of our newest priest and she did a great job and was very entertaining. Also have been to prayer services at Summit Place every Thursday and I docented last week. I met some really nice poeple, including a couple from Ipswich, MA, where we stayed at a bed and breakfast a few years ago. We went to Ash Wednesday services this week and of course services every Sunday. We also both got our teeth cleaned and I gotmy hair cut and colored so from the neck up, I'm all set!!
We are getting ready for a short trip to LasVegas week after next and are hoping it is really warm there, as it has been COLD here! Yesterday it was 26 when I went out to prayer services and I wore a coat for the first time in over a year! Ny Sunday it is to be 70 though.
My piano lessons continue to get more and more challenging. I had a great lesson last week-my teacher was very impressed with every song that I learned. I can't quite figure out why some weeks I do so much better than others. I think I practice as much on every song but maybe I just like some better than others! This week I am learning a Chopin piece and I just love it. Every morning I can't wait ot get to the piano and sometimes when I wake up at night I practice the "air piano"!!!
Oliver has been spending hours and hourson the computer and on the phone with our dealer looking at boats. Yesterday Hank sent him a boat to look at and he had me look at it and by the time we went to bed, we had told Hank to make an offer on it-contingent of course on our seeing it and having a surveyor check it out! We''ll see what happens-if it goes through, I'll post some pictures!
In the meantime, here's one of the many piano jokes I have sent my teacher. Thanks for stopping by!!
Monday, February 2, 2015
Wow, it doesn't seem possible that it is February already-where did January go?! We've been busy since I last posted. Along with my normal weekly activities of services at Summit Place and my piano lesson, I also docented and did hospital visits to parishioners-we had three the day I was on duty and Oliver went with me but sat in the car while I chatted with the three patients.
We also made a visit to the vet-both dogs had itchy hot spots and it's some kind of allergy. Marina had to go on an antibiotic because she had actually broken the skin with her biting but she's all healed. Skipper continues to scrtach on and off so he takes benadryl and gets a steroid spray. They also got groomed one day and then boarded for a couple of days so they've been busy!
We went up to Charleston for the boat show. It was a rainy day but that kept the crowds down and since most of it is inside, we were able to see everything we wanted. Oliver is trying to decide just what kind of boat he wants. I have set the budget and want a boat that we can take short trips on, and he would like to be able to fish so we are torn between a couple different types of boat. He spends hours on the internet every day looking at boats.
We made a quick trip to North Carolina to see Oliver's sister and brother-in-law. They are both in failing health and his niece called to tell him so we went up to visit. It was quite nice-we saw both of them as well as Oliver's niece and her husband and daughter, and his nephew, his wife and their son and daughter. His niece's daughter is getting married in May so we will be back up there then, if not before.
Yesterday we had a Super Bowl party for our church group-we take turns hosting dinner every month so we picked the Super Bowl. We were disappointed with the way the Packer's season ended but it was probably good they weren't playing because we can get a bit rowdy when they play!! There were 12 of us (one couple had out of town guests who came with them) and we had enough food for 40, at least! We had appetizers, brats, sliders, chili, fruit, cookies, chocolate raspberry trifle, almond cake and lots to drink! The game was interesting and nobody was very committed to either team so we were able to ahve a nice social event but still keep an eye on the game. Everybody stayed til almost 11 and then Oliver and I cleaned up-it was VERY late before we got to bed and I had a meeting at church at 9AM so I was (am) really tired! My piano lesson is today at 5 so I will be glad to get through that-I'm a little tired of playing the Hokey Pokey and Hava Nagila, so I hope she passes me on those and we can move on!
On Wednesday we are having lunch with our realtor here, to pick his brain a bit as we list the house in Port again. Thursday I'll be at Summit Place but that's all we have planned for the week, thank goodness! We are supposed to have nasty weather Thursday night-very cold and rainy and one forecast even says maybe some ice! We will definitely stay put!
Thanks for stopping by. here's a picture of our Super Bowl appetizer tray yesterday
Saturday, January 17, 2015
FINALLY the sun is back and it has warmed up. We had a really gloomy, rainy, chilly stretch and it got very annoying. Hopefully we are back into normal winter now. Haven't done too much since I last posted, which I guess is why I haven't posted! The strangest thing happened though. Not too long ago, my washing machine was making a crazy racket and when the repairman came, he discovered a nail in the drain. Apparently Oliver had left a nail in his jeans and it fell out and went halfway through the drain. Well, the other day I was doing laundry and a terrible racket started coming when the spin cycle came on! So out came the repairman again and after some time, he was able to get the tub out and found a BIG piece of underwire from a bra that was DEFINITELY not mine! AND a purple sock! Both of these things had been in the machine for at least the past 18 months-since we bought the house-and who knows how much longer! So--when you say that the washer or dryer ate one of your socks, it just may be true!!
Other than that, just the normal day to day stuff. I went out to lunch with my neighbor last week, went to my prayer group at the assisted living facility, took my piano lesson and docented yesterday. Last night we had a Foyer Group (our 10 person church group) dinner and enjoyed an evening of talk and good food. We're tired today, though. Tomorrow after church we'll wak the dogs and get ready for the Packers-Seahawks game. We don't really expect the Pack to win and id they do, not sure howI will deal with Super Bowl Sunday, when we are entertaining the Foyer Group at our house!
My piano lesson was long and good this week. I have now progressed to the point where Pat can teach me a lot more technique. She emailed me the next day and said she enjoyed it so much she felt SHE should pay ME!! But she didn't!!!
This coming week I have piano, prayer group and hospital visitation for any of our parishioners who are hospitalized. On Friday we're going to Charleston to the boat show. Although I am not totally sold on getting another boat, Oliver would really like one so we probably will get one. Our good friend and Sabre dealer Hank went to look at one in Annapolis for us yesterday but we haven't talked to him yet.
Hope everybody has a happy week. Thanks for stopping by!!!
Thursday, January 8, 2015
You have got to be KIDDING me!! When I went to Summit Place for prayer service this morning, it was 22 degrees! We tried to walk the dogs this afternoon but it was just too cold so I came in and took the rest of our Christmas decorations down. Got everything stowed away in the attic. Now we are looking at boats-danger, danger will Robinson!!!!
Look at our fountain this morning!
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Happy New Year to all!! Seems like 2014 just flew by but then don't they all. John, Jeannette and Debbie all came on Sunday and we sat outside in the beautiful warm and sunny weather before our dinner of beef brisket and trimmings. John and Jeannette went back to Savannah but Debbie stayed with us until Wednesday. We had recorded the Packer game so when we went to bed, Oliver and I watched it. It was so exciting and nerve-wracking but we didn't want to skip to the end so we watched every excruciating minute! Unfortunately the good weather did not last-it rained a bit on Monday but we went into town anyway and ate an early dinner at Luther's before coming home and watching a movie. On Tuesday we ran a couple of errands-the grocery store, the hardware store and an art supply store and watched another movie. Wednesday morning I had to go to church and help with music - we removed all the Advent and Christmas music from the books and put in all the music between now and Easter. It was a really big job but apparently I missed my calling-I work VERY fast on an assembly line and I did 25 of the 42 books myself. In the meantime, Oliver and Debbie drove up to Hunting Island State Park-it was chilly but sunny and they had a nice walk up there. When we all got home, we had lunch and then she left for Charlotte. The rest of the week has been quiet, by design! Oliver has run a couple of errands but I haven't left the house except to walk the dogs. Tomorrow we are greeters at church and then will be back into our weekly routine. I have a piano lesson Monday night and will be glad to be "certified" on my December music, which has consisted mostly of carols, and move on to something new!
Here's a picture of Debbie, Dad and Dogs-as always, they loved having company!!
Saturday, December 27, 2014
We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and getting ready to have a fantastic 2015-once we all get used to writing the new date on our checks! We took a quick trip up to Michigan to visit Mary and the rest of our Grand Rapids family. Despite good weather across the entire country, our flight was delayed, we were re-booked twice and finally arrived in GR just 3 hours late! We've had worse trips this time of year! We had a nice quiet evening with Mary and the next night a fun dinner out with Carol & Tom, and Ashley and the boys. We enjoyed Mary's home made pizza on Saturday night and Sunday morning found us leaving the house before dawn. Our trip home was uneventful.
On Christmas Eve we attended services at our church. The music started at 10:30 and the service at 11 but there were so many people there that communion took quite a while and we weren't home until 1 AM. I put my pj's on and we exchanged gifts, which we generally don't do but I'm glad we did this year!! Oliver gave me some beautiful earrings and a pretty jade cross necklace, as well as a Fitbit. I gave him VIP tickets to the air show in April at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. The Blue Angels will be there-we've seen them several times but enjoy it every time. Included in the package is breakfast, inside and outside seating right on the flight line, a barbecue lunch, beer, wine and soft drinks, private restrooms and VIP parking. We'll be able to spend the whole day there comfortably! On Christmas Day we joined our neighbors Justine and Charlie for a wonderful dinner at their house. The weather was beautiful and we loaded up the golf cart with our food contributions and headed to their house late afternoon. It was a nice day.
Yesterday Phyllis and Bobby stopped by on their way to Charlotte from their daughter's home in Savannah and we had a nice visit with them. Debbie is coming tomorrow and we hope that John and Jeannette come for the day too. It's been a wonderful Christmas season so far! New Year's Eve will be quiet for us, as always, and we're looking forward to getting back to our normal schedule!
Here we are having dinner at Carrabbas
Cooper and Sullivan were the best little guys-never a peep out of either of them
Mary's neighbor Armen owns this beautiful wedding kimono that he let me try on.
A beautiful sunrise from our plane
My earrings
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
We haven't been all that busy so not sure why I haven't posted! I have had my usual weeks of worhiping at Summit Place with residents and members ofmy church, and I was on Docent duty this past Friday and met severalinteresting people who stopped by to visit. Friday night we went to the Rectory for a party and had a really nice time. There were a lot of people there but it is a big house so not too crowded. Half of the group brought appetizers and half brought desserts so there was quite a selection of goodies. We celebrated Marina's 11th birthday as well. The doggies both got ice cream and Marina a couple of nice presents. Today I ma having lunch with my neighbor and then a mammogram-what fune-and tomorrow will help my piano teacher switch out the chorister's music. Sunday was Lessons and Carols at church-a truly beautifyl service with readings and beautiful songs from all 4 of our choirs. Now we have to get the music ready for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services. On Thursday we leave for Michigan for our early Christmas with Mary and the Grand Rapids family. Lookign forward to it, especially since it seems that the weather will cooperate!! If I dn't get back to the blog before Christmas, hope you all have a blessed and happy holiday!
Marina's birthday party
Finally finished decorating the house
I made peppermint brownies and sugared cranberries for the party
Sunday, December 7, 2014
We've had a very nicr week-end and we're sitting outside now with a fire. Yesterday was son John's birhtday and also the Wingmen (motorcycle club) 24th annual toy run. We went down to their clubhouse in Savannah at about 10:30 (so we could get a parking place) and ate a yummy barbecue lunch and then watched the hundreds ofbikes roll in.They bring in children from a local orphanage and a truck full of toys and Santa gives all the kids a toy. They were just precious. The rest of the toys go to Toys 4 Tots. There were literally hundreds of bikes and people. They had food,drinks and two bands-one outside and one inside and both were very good. We left in the afternoon and came home to walk our dogs and then had a fire. We roasted hot dogs for dinner and I had TWO s'mores for dessert. Today we had a wonderful guest preacher at church and the choir was exceptionally good. I'm getting ready to light the grill for our chicken but here are a few pictures.
Oliver roasting my hot dog
Santa arriving and handing out gifts at the Wingmen Savannah clubhouse
Friday, December 5, 2014
We had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner with John and Jeannette but Debbie couldn't come-she was home waiting for the other sock to drop! We enjoyed leftovers every day until we left for Atlanta on Tuesday morning. We planned to leave at 8AM, as soon as we could put the doggies in the kennel but coming home from my piano lesson on Monday night, my low tire pressure light came on. Oliver went out to check the tires Tuesday morning and discovered a nail sticking in one of them! We went over to Goodyear to get it plugged but when they looked at it, they discovered it had gone into the sidewall and the tire was ruined. With just 2400 miles on it!! We came back and got Marina and Skipper, took them to the kennel and then went to the Lincoln dealership. The guy who looked at it was funny-he called to see if they had a tire and then told me they only had one-I said well I only need one! Then he told me well it is terribly expensive and I said, well what is my alternative? He said there was no alternative so I said-well, let's put it on-I have somewhere to go!! It WAS expensive-about $350-but there WAS no alternative! By 11AM we were on our way to Atlanta and got there about 3:30.
Joh's surgery started at about 9 that morning and by the time Bunny went to visit him for the second time in the CICU at 6:30, he was sitting up in a chair!! Bunny, Alex, Whit, Spencer and John came over to our hotel room to kill the time until they could see him again at 8:30. Good thing we brought beer and wine with us!! While Bunny went back to the hospital, we ordered pizza and ate when she got back to spend the night with us. We were less than a mile from the hospital so it saved her a long drive home. She was back at the hopsital by 6:30 the next morning and we joined her at about 9 for breakfast. We all went to the CICU at 10:30 and he loo9ked really good! In fact, they were packing him up to take hime to a room. All the tubes had been removed except for an IV port and he hopped into a wheelchair and off we went. We left to go to Publix for more beer and wine and then went back up late afternoon to see him again. When Alex came, we left and went back to our room. At 7PM we walked across the street to a Mexican restaurant and met Bunny, Spencer and little John for a really good dinner. Spence and John left, and Bunny went back to the hospital. She spent the night with us again but at least didn't have to get up quite as early. When she left for the hospital, we left to come home and were here by 2PM. John was released from the hospital and is now home and resting well. He's got 5 "holes" where the robotics were inserted and had an incision into his carotid artery but didn't seem to be in too much pain. We're all glad it's over!
Tomorrow we are going down to Savannah for the Toy run put on by John's motorcycle club. We're just going to the clubhouse to watch all the riders come in and then have lunch and then we'll come home. We hope to get downtown to see the lighted boat parade here tomorrow night.
Here's John's hospital-it was very nice
Bunny and I having breakfast at the hospital Wednesday morning
John sitting in his chair 24 hours after surgery!
This tree was on the hospital across the street from John's hospital and I took it from our hotel room
We had our first orange from Oliver's tree-it was very tasty!!
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Happy Thanksgiving!!!! I hope that anyone who traveled has arrived safely and will enjoy a wonderful day. We are hoping that Debbie comes today-she planned to but her dog somehow ate FOUR socks and is currently in the er waiting for the last 2 to come out. John and Jeannette can't come til tomorrow so our big feast will be on Friday but we are nonetheless thankful for our many blessings, today and every day.
On Tuesday we took Marina to Charleston to see the cardiologist there. She has a heart murmur and needed an echocardiogram to determine if she needs any treatment. We had good news-while her heart is slightly enlarged, she doesn't need drugs now and will have a repeat echo in August.
We had lots of rain but today is a sunny and beautiful day and we are ready toheadout for our morning walk. hanks to everyone for followingo ur blog and being in our lives!!
Here are my supplies for dinner-looks like I have it all covered
We have lots of these little lizards around. As the weather gets cooler, they look for places to curl up and hibernate. This guy picked a box that happened to be INSIDE so out he went!!
Marina and Skipper were nice enough to allow Oliver to share their bed
Tuesday, November 18, 2015
It is cold here-but I know NOTHING like it is in many places so I hope everyone stays safe and warm. We've not done too much since I last posted but I was on docent duty at church last Friday when a couple walked in and I said, as usual, where are you visiting us from? They said Wisconsin and I asked where and they said near Milwaukee. So of course, I said where, because I lve near Milwaukee!Turned out they live in Mequon (15 miles away) AND they are friends with Barbara Bode, my two-doors-away neighbor!! Isn't it a small world? They stayed for over an hour and we had such a nice chat. They were SO nice that they offered their house to us if we come up this summer-since our house is empty. They spend the summer at their lake house and used to rent their Mequon home but now it just sits empty all summer. How nice of them!!
My ppiano lesson went very well on Monday night, thank goodness. I don't want anymore bad "report cards". Of course now I am sucking up to the teacher-going to church tomorrow to help her sort music for the children;s choir for the Christmas season.
Today is Skipper's birthday-he is six!! We started the day by taking marina to the vet for an echocardiogram-she has a heart murmur. We dropped her off and then went to the grocery store, only to get a phone call from our vet saying that their machine had broken and she couldn't do the test. So we picked her back up and now she is going to Charleston next week to see the cardiologist. Nyway, Skipper got a present from us and a nice package from his Aunt Sue (Cody's Mom) and tonight they are having peanut butter doggie ice cream!!
Oliver has been growing oranges for the past several months. look how well they are doing!! They are under a sheet tonight in case we have frost.
Skipper got a Packer's football and some Brew Buddies treats from Aunt Sue. He kindly shared the brews with his sister.
Wednesday, November 12, 2015
Happy Veteran's Day (a day late) to all those who are serving or have served. We went to meet John and some of his bikeclub friends at a Toys 4 Tots run sponsored by the Beaufort club. Most of these young men are veterans or active service members and they do some really wonderful things for charity. we enjoyed a nice lunch and I had the opportunity to talk for quite a while with his friend who is a current Army Ranger. The bravery of this young man is truly awesome.
Yesterday we spent a few hours in Hilton Head at our favorite places-me at the outlet mall and Oliver at Home Depot. We both did some serious damage to our Visa and I don't know which of us was most pleased with our purchases!
Happy Birthday today toour friend Sandy. Hope it's a great one!
Here's Santa appearing at the Toys 4 Tots event.
Collecting toys and money
Will (an Army Ranger), John and Oliver
This time of year we have amazing sunsets in Beaufort. I didn't take this picture but Monday night on my way to my piano lesson, it was just aboout as beautiful.
Friday. November 7, 2014
The big day is finally here! The one we've been waiting for! Our new Publix is open! Actually it opened yesterday but you couldn't even get in the parking lot by 11AM!! So we're going at 7 this morning and hopefully there will be at least one spot open for us. It's the little things in life.
Oliver finished the nativity yesterday and it is awesome. I can't wait to put it out.
Here's what it looks like in daytime
And here's when we turn the light on
And here is what it will look like when it's really dark
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Wednesday, November 5, 2014
This has already been a busy week! On Monday morning, we drove up to Charleston to look at two dog boarding kennels, in case we ever fly out of CHS instead of SAV. Didn't like either of the places, so we stopped at Harbor Freight and then headed back. Made a stop at the Carolina Cider Company and sampled a few things before buying a bottle of Muscadine Cider and one of Blackberry Cider, as well as a container of Praline Peanut Butter! Yesterday we went out mid-morning to vote and then last night met the other 4 couples from our church foyer group and had a really nice dinner outside at the Port Royal marina. Today Oliver worked on my nativity scene-which should be done by the end of the week-and then we went over to the Marine base at Parris Island for their 239th birthday celebration (although the official date is November 10). My grandfather trained there almost 100 years ago! It is a beautiful base-lots of live oak trees and lots of palm trees. We watched some drilling for a while and visited the Iwo Jima monument before heading to the training building for the ceremony. Their marine band played for a bit while some historical pictures were being shown, and then there was a prayer before the presentation of the colors and the national anthem. Then they had a VERY interesting presentation-they had marines dressed in the unifroms starting back in 1775, when the marines were founded, right up til present day. After a few remarks, they brought the cake in and the Commanding General cut it with a sword. The first piece went to the oldest marine in attendance-he was 100-and then he gave the second piece to the youngest marine-just barely 18. The colors were retired and then the Marines' hymn played before it ended and they served cake to everyone. It was such a nice ceremony and seeing so many young men and women who are willing to give their lives for our country made yesterday's vote even more meaningful. Tomorrow is my prayer day at Summit Place and Friday we have a wonderful organist from Belgium playing at church.
Here are the young marines drilling
The Iwo Jima monument
The program
The band-you've never seen such shiny instruments!!
Some of the old uniforms
The cake!!
Being cut by the General's sword
The oldest marine
And the youngest
Saturday, November 1, 2104
Holy cow!! It is 49 here! We're freezing to death even with our gloves and hats and parkas. I am afriad my swimming season is over. Kind of a busy week here. My piano lesson onTtuesday night was just dreadful! My teacher writes in my notebook every week and this week it contains words such as Mon Dieux! Mein Gott! My Lord!! And sometimes I get stickers on pages that I do really well-no stickers this week for sure! So I have spent several hours every day working hard and I think I am back on track. I don't have a lesson this Tuesday because we have a Foyer group event-that's a group of 5 couples from church that get together once a month-so at least I have an extra week to practice. On Thursday I visited Summit Place for our weekly prayer service, on Friday I went to an organ concert at church-a wonderful organist from Italy and sat next to my paino tuner!- and after the concert, I went to the hospital to do my visits with parishioners, two this time. So today has been a quiet day, except for two COOOOOOLD walks with the dogs and a 3 hour visit from the Direct TV man, who finally has our problem fixed. This coming week we plan a quick trip to Charleston to check out a boarding kennel there, just to have another option for the pooches.
Here's me roasting our hot dogs the other night
And isn't this just the most perfect s'more ever?
Monday, October 27, 2014
Happy birthday (real) to my baby sister Bunny!! We are finally-I think-rested up although we really didn't do too much this week. I have all the beds made up and the bathrooms cleaned and the floors vacuumed upstairs and after eating leftovers every day, finally have disposed of all the food. We went to church on Sunday and Oliver is working on a few projects while I try to practice my piano. The weather has been just spectacular but it gets quite cool at night so the pool water is only about 72 now. I lay out in the sun but haven't been swimming. I'm hoping there may be a few more days yet when I can get in.
Today is sort of a schizophrenic kind of day. It is sunny and 82, but Oliver is making a nativity scene for me for my Christmas decorations and we are going to have a fire in the pit and roast hot dogs and s'mores!! Might have to have the ac on inside and a fan outside but we'll enjoy it. My piano tuner was here today to work on my squeaky pedal so I can't practice until later this evening, when something he had to glue has time to dry.
Here are a few more pictures from the big week-ends.
Enjoying the fire
The last men standing-Oliver and Whit stayed up late Sunday night having man to man talk!
Nancy took a little nap on Monday
So did Marina and Skipper-they were absolutely exhausted!
We don't see a lot of deer in our yard but now that it's the romance season for them, we have spotted them a few times
Chuck-my piano tuner-had to take my pedals off to fix the squeak
Oliver has my nativity scene well under way. He made this same one for me a few years ago but we donated it to a church and then I decided I wanted another one! Good thing he's very patient about making things for me.
Sunday, October 20, 2014
Wow-it's been a long time since I posted!! We were really busy for a couple of weeks getting ready for the big family get together, as well as attending to our normal activities but still I don't know where the time went!
Nancy and Nick arrived Tuesday night at about 10:30 PM in Savannah. Oliver went to my piano lesson and we sat out a huge storm while having wine with my teacher, before heading to the airport. We arrived home about 12:30 and sat up til after 2 AM talking so Wednesday was a pretty quiet day, although we did go in town and walk around a bit and visit our church. On Thursday, we headed up to Charleston and visited Patriots Point, where we spent several hours touring the Yorktown, an aircraft carrier, the Clagamore, a submarine, and the Lafery, a destroyer. We also visited the Cold War submarine memorial. It was a full day but we had a good time.
The weather has been beautiful and Bunny, John, Spencer, John R, Alex and Whit all were here by 2PM. We headed outside right away and enjoyed the afternoon before having a low country boil for dinner and enjoying several rousing games of front, left, center! Saturday was a slow morning, as everybody trickled downstairs a few at a time! Alex and Whit brought their 5 month old puppy Bentley with them and we were pleased at how well he and Marina and Skipper got along! We laid around the pool and there was a game of pool volleyball and lunch, and then Alex, Whit, John and Nancy headed into town to watch the Georgia gam at a bar. A bit later, Bunny, Spencer and John R headed in for some shopping, and finally Oliver, Nick and I joined them before we went to Old Bull Tavern for a delicious dinner. Although we were up late, everyone managed to get up and get ready and we left for church at about 9:30 AM. I wanted to take some pictures so we found a good spot and got some good shots before settling into 2 pews for the beautiful service. I was proud to introduce my family to our priests. After church, we went to Lowcountry Produce for brunch. When we got back to the house, everyone headed back out to the pool except for Bunny and Spencer, who went back into town to buy some tee shirts. Last night we had hamburgers and hotdogs, and then sat around the fire and made S'Mores. They were yummy. That was followed by chocolate wine and beer and lots of talking and laughing! oliver and Whit were the last men standing, not coming in until almost 1AM! So here it is a little after 8 and Bunny and I have been up for a while, Oliver just joined us, and we'll see how long it takes everyone else to make it! I have a quiche in the oven so am ready for whatever! The Atlanta crowd will leave today and then tomorrow Nancy and Nick and Oliver and I will go to Savannah for lunch and a look around before we take them to the airport. It was a long time coming but our family week-end couldn't have been more perfect and we will have wonderful memories-and pictures-to tide us over til next time!
Nancy and Nick on the "visitor's bench" downtown
Bathing beauties
Bentley learning to swim! That strange contraption around Whit's chest is his underwater camera!
Skipper very graciously shared his floatie
The girls' volleyball team
The boys volleyball team. the girls won!!
The dogs loved having Whit here to play with
Enjoying the fire pit
Nancy brought us tee shirts but I don't think this is what she had in mind
The family at church (except Oliver, who was taking the picture)
And then Bunny took the picture!
And here are the Craigs and Davenports
Sunday, October 5, 2014
I simply cannot believe it is October already! Our weather has been nice this week and last night we were able to turn off the air conditioner for the first time since last spring! This morning it feels so fresh. The dogs and I have been able to spend time in the pool while Oliver continues to work hard outside. He has powerwashed the house, the pool house and the sidewalks and yesterday he powerwashed and painted all the gates and part of the fence.
My cold is much better-less coughing and not quite as much noseblowing! I was able to go back to my normal schedule, although my piano teacher was out of town so no lesson this week. I met with the team leader of our church hospital ministry team and will be doing visits to parishioners who are hospitalized starting the end of this month. I have also joined the bereavement team (I guess that's in case the hospital doesn't work!!). That team provides all the food and support for funerals held at the church. Two of my neighbors and one other gal I know are on that team so I will enjoy it. Thursday I was at Summit Place for prayer service and Friday we had planned to go downtown for the first night of shrimp fest but it was raining and we were hungry, so we ate at home and then enjoyed a phone call with Joe Schaefer for his BIRTHDAY! He doesn't like when people point out that his BIRTHDAY was Friday but we hope it was a happy one! Our daughter-in-law Jeannette also had a birthday on Friday-the same day thatJOE SCHAEFER was BORN, so yesterday we went down to Savannah for a lowcountry boil and oyster roast at their house. They have a very nice and interesting group of friends and although we are always the only "mature" people there, we always enjoy their parties!
Busy week upcoming. Church this morning, piano on Tuesday, Summit Place on Thursday, docent duty on Friday and some shopping and cooking to get ready for our family get together. We are really looking forward to that and hoping that it goes a bit better than the last one-no runaway dogs, in other words! Alex and Whit are bringing their youngest puppy with them so Skipper and Marina should be well occupied!
Here are a few pics from Jeannette's birthday party (wish JOE had been there to celebrate his BIRTHDAY!)
They have a huge backyard
Oliver with John and a friend
The birthday girl
Monday, September 29, 2014
Well I am now a week into this cold and still coughing every few minutes and totally stuffed up. And to top it off, NOW I find I have mustard algae!! Oh not me, but my pool has it!! I noticed yesterday some yellow color and today there was more so I called my guy and sure enough-mustard algae. Happens because we had a lot of rain and little sunlight and it caused the chlorine content to drop too low. So he scrubbed and shocked and added and did other magic things, and it will soon be healed. Sooner than I will, I think.
We walked the dogs this morning and ran into George, one of our neighbors, and he told us that he was on a kitchen counter changing a light bulb and fell off-onto his wife, who also fell and broke her wrist! So now we have a broken neck and a broken wrist within our 12 houses!! I'm being really careful!
We went up to Charleston on Friday to visit Tractor Supply, Kohl's and Costco. On the way back, Oliver stopped at a place that sells firewood to get some information-he bought an outdoor fire pit a couple of weeks ago and needed wood. He went over there yesterday and bought a whole truckload of wood-all for $50 and Maxx, the owner, also gave him a beer! He enjoyed his time with the "guys". He decided he needed someplace to store the wood OFF the ground-so as not to attract snakes-and out of the rain, so he made a nice little wood "house" behind the fence. He's so talented.
Here's the wood house-it has a nice tin roof.
We sure enjoyed the game yesterday! Marina and Skipper love the Packers!
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Very strange-I just re-read what I wrote on Monday and I sure went downhill fast after I posted the message. I got up and took shower and got so nauseated that I had to lay down and then just never got back up!! Turned into just a really really bad cold. I canceled my meeting on Monday and my piano lesson last night. Today I got up and we took the dogs to be groomed but now I'm resting again. The weather is nasty here-cool and rainy-and will be like this the rest of the week. Hope both weather and me are better next week!!!!
Monday, September 22, 2014
I typed a long message the other day and then hit the wrong button and it all went away! I just hate when that happens! Anyway, our week wasn't too busy. Oliver is working on a couple projects and I have been spending hours and hours on the piano. After a rough lesson a couple of weeks ago, I just loved Tuesday's lesson and am working hard to redeem myself. On Tuesday, I went out to lunch with my neighbor and friend Justine. She showed me a few bruises and cuts she had sustained in a fall on Sunday-she stood up from a chair, leaned over to pick something up, got dizzy and just toppled over! More about her later.
Thursday I read the scripture for our service at Summit Place assisted living, I really enjoy visiting there. In fact, this morning I am meeting with someone at church to talk about doing more nursing home/assisted living visits. On Friday night we went to the home of Wendy and Boyd Reynolds for the first Forum Group dinner. This is a group of 10 of us from our church who will get together once a month for a dinner, brunch or other activity. It's way to expand the number of people we know and we really enjoyed it very much.
Back to Justine-she called me yesterday and said her neck hurt her so bad that she felt she wanted to go to the ER but her husband was out of town. So I went over and got her. Luckily her personal dr. who is also our neighbor, was on call. He ordered a CT scan and came back to tell her she had a neck fracture! This was after the nurse tried to draw blood and her vein blew up-blood everywere and a huge hematoma on her arm!! So then he called the spine guy who looked at the scan on computer and found she had TWO fractures! They hustled her right into a neck collar and called an ambulance to take her to Charleston. So after 5 hours, I came home alone. Hoping to hear from her today. While at the hospital, I starting having a frog in my throat. Drank tons of water, took lots ofcough drops, came home and had wine and hot teaand this morning my voice is about gone! Guess sinceit's the first day of fall, it's fall allergies. Anyway, I have a busy week with a meeting today, hair cut and piano lesson tomorrow, dog grooming Wednesday and the service at Summit Place Thursday, so----got to get moving!! Thanks for stopping by.