Saturday, September 20, 2014

OK-if you have read everything below this, go to Fall/Winter 2014.

 

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Last night we went out to dinner and as I was driving my new car, we were messing around with some of the features so I was driving perhaps a bit oddly-slowing down when I was trying to figure something out and a couple of times I crossed the center line (when there was nobodycoming) to see how the lane minder system works, when all of a sudden a message pops up---driver alert!!  with a picture of a cup of coffee!!  It tells you when you should pull over and rest and get some coffee based on the way you are driving! Automated back seat driver!

 

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Doesn't seem possible that it has been 13 years since the terrible day when our country was attacked. As always, we prayed for the families of those who lost their loved ones. This morning Oliver and I went to Summit Place for the morning prayer service and we had a big crowd and a lovely service presided over by our Deacon.

The week has been a busy one. Tuesday night I went to my piano lesson and it didn't goall that well. My teacher said she has never seen me so tense and I did NOTplay well so she sent me home with one new song and all the ones from last week that I hadn't learned! Haen't had much tiime to practice this week so looks like Saturday will be practice day.

Wednesday I went to the Retinologist to have my "freckle" checked out. I have a nevis (mole) on the retina of my left eye that has been there for about 20 years but I have it looked at frequently just to make sure it remains harmless. He exaines my eye, and takes digital pictures, then I had an angiogram (they inject a dye into my arm and then take pictures of my eye as the dye moves through it) and then I had an ultrasound. He said everything is just fine and he will see me in a year.

After the service this morning, we went to Blufton to pick up my car! It was parked right in front of the dealership and was so shiny and pretty!. The salesman spent a little while explaining some of the instruments and then sent us on our way. We had to sit in the driveway for about an hour reading the book and figuring out how to use everything. The most amazing thing was when he demonstrated the Park Assist. When you want to  parallel park, you drive slowly past the cars and when the car spots a place that it the right size,a picture comes up and it tells you to stop. So you put it in reverse and then take your hands off the wheel!!  Yes!!  And the car moves the wheel and you control the accelerator and brake-it tells you when to brake and then put it in forward and it turns the wheel the other way and tells you when to stop. When you are parked in the middle of the space, it tells you that you can turn the car off!!  It is just crazy but great fun!!  Can't wait to  go park somewhere!!

Tomorrow is the Docent's luncheon at church and afterwards, I am on duty until 4 PM. We are going out to dinner tomorrow night with our neighbors so it will be a busy day.

Beauty and the Beast

Lady and the Tramp

We really DON'T intend to have the same color cars but  it just happens!!!!

 

 

Monday, September 8, 2014

Over a week since I last posted and I'm not sure where the time went. It never seems like we are doing very much and yet time seems to fly!

We both went to the eye doctor on Wednesday and then on Thursday I went to Summit Place, an assisted living facility, for my first morning prayer group. We had 8 or 9 of the residents join 3 of us from the church and we had a very nice service. The prayer service is the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month and the 2nd and 4th Thursday we will be joined by one of our priests for communion. I hope to participate every Thursday as much as possible.

After spending HOURS researching new cars, we went out Saturday THINKING we were going to LOOK at 2 different SUVs.  But you know how we are--we never go look without buying-think boat shows, houses, puppies!! As we drove into the Lincoln dealer, there was a beautiful red MKS (a car) sitting right next to the black SUV I thought we were going to test drive. We both loved the car immediately and tried to think about why we thought we needed an SUV. When we take the dogs somewhere, we never put them in the back back-the hatch place. We always strap them into the back seat with their harnesses. And we don't carry much in my car as we have Oliver's truck. And the trunk on the MKS is HUGE! So, much to the salesman's surprise, when he came back out after getting the keys to the SUV, we asked to test drive the car!  At first I thought I couldn't see as well out of it, until he pointed out that the seat was in it's lowest position. Once he raised it for me, I felt like I was sitting quite high! It is so high tech-he had to get out of the back seat about 5 times to come show me how to work something-starting with the volume control for the radio! The last time I bought a new car (that wasn't a company car-I had 13 of those in 28 years) was a 1977 Olds Cutlass!  Technology--and prices--have come a LONG way since then! This car has so many fancy things on it, it will be years before I can learn it all! I was mainly focused on the safety options but ended up getting lots of other stuff too. Among the features--the Blind Spot Information System-there are lights in the side mirrors that tell you when there is a car in your blind spot. The Cross-Traffic Alert tells you when something is coming from the side-like when you are backing out of a parking place and a car is coming down the aisle that you can't see-or a kid on a bike! The Adaptive Cruise Control allows you to set a speed and a distance-like 4 car lengths-and then if the car ahead slows down and you get closer, it will automatically slow your car down until it's safe to speed up again. And if you get TOO close to a car in front, it will brake for you!  The Lane Keeping System has a little grabber thing in the seat that grabs your butt to tell you that you have drifted too far towards the line. The Park Assist practically parks the car itself!! The Rear View Camera-well, that speaks for itself! The Power Adjustable Pedals allow you to sit back farther  from the steering wheel but still be able to reach the pedals-this keeps the airbag from whacking you in the face quite as hard in case you have an accident. Sooeaking of which, if you DO have and accident and the airbags go off, it automatically dials 911. The Navigation System is all voice activated-so you can say an address and it will take you there or you can say I'm hungry to find restaurants or I need gas to find a station, etc. It recognizes over 10,000 commands! About 9999 more than my dogs do!! Then there are all the little niceties like a power sunshade on the back window to keep the pups cool, 12 way power seats with a massaging function-when you set that, it massages your butt as you drive along! It has heated and cooled front seats, and heated back seats and heated steering wheel-not that we are likely to need those! So anyway, it is quite nice and I'm excited. They didn't have one on the lot that had everything I wanted but were able to find it at a dealer in Atlanta, so they are swapping with that dealer and I should have it Wednesday or Thursday this week. This all started because Nancy said they might come see us and Oliver woke up the other morning and said that we didn't have a vehicle to pick two people and luggage up at the airport! I will miss my little BMW but it will be nice to have a bigger, safer car. Here's a picture of what it will look like-except this one has tan interior and mine will be black.

Happy Birthday to BiL John yesterday!!! Hope it was fantastic!

We had a most joyous day at church yesterday. It was Rally Sunday-kicks off all the new activities- and it was an amazing service. We had all the choirs, the brass quartet and an awesome bagpiper! Our Rector gave a wonderful sermon-his are always wonderful but this was especially so-and had even many of the men wiping their eyes (including my husband!). After the sermon, we had an announcement by the headmaster at Holy Trinity Classical Christian school (which was started by St. Helena's) regarding a challenge that had started 6 months ago. An anonymous donor had offered to match funds if the church, school and community could raise $750,000 for a scholarship  endowment. Not only did they reach the 750k, but actually raised over $900k, so the fund is starting out with over $1.6 million to allow children who's families can't afford the tuition to attend this incredible school. After that, we took up a special collection for the persecuted Christians in Iraq and northern Africa. Jeff (Rector) said that the goal is to do more than just relocate people. He said if all Christionas simply move out of Iraq, the light goes out-instead we hope to find a way to stand with them and make it safe for Christians to stay in their homes. When a special collection was taken up following hurricane Katrina, over $100,000 was raised on one day-the hope is that yesterday's collection will exceed that amount. I wish that all the people who have nothing EVER good to say about the  "rich"-whoever in the world that might be-could see the generous giving from the people in my church. Unless they are doing their part as well, they should just pipe down!!

This week will be busy as well, as we pick up my car, I visit Summit Place again and on Friday there is a luncheon for docents after which I will be on duty at the church until 4 PM. It has been raining on and off for the past couple of days and while we desperately needed the rain, now I want it to stop so I can get a bit more pool time in with the doggies!

Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone has a great day!!

 

Friday, August 29, 2014

The weather has been so nice this week! The humidity has been down, but really warm in the afternoon, so the dogs and I-and even Oliver have been swimming a lot. We took the dogs in for their heartworm tests yesterday and the vet found that Marina has a heart murmer that she did not have in January. She doesn't how any symptoms of heart problems but will have an echocardiogram in the next few weeks to see what is going on. On a bright note, she had a complete blood test and everrything looks really good so we are hoping for the best. We got a second opionion from our "in-house" vet, Dr. Alex!

Today was my first day as a docent at church. I was, I think, a decent docent. I only had 7 people come and there was only 1 question I didn't have the answer to, so that'snot bad. I very much enjoyed being able to walk around the church by myself and really look at everything. Then my piano teacher Pat, our music director, came in to practice for Sunday and I got to hear her amazing organ playing AND watch her play our brrand new Steinway Concert Grand piano. It is amazing!!  I am struggling with my lessons this week but now I am re-energized as I would love to play the Steinway!! Pat says I can but I want to be a bit better before I give it a try.

Here are some pictures from church. This is from the choir loft-the best view in the house!!

Our beautiful organ and Pat's back!

The altar was handcarved by sailors from the USS New Hampshire, a supply and barracks barge that was anchored in the harbor right after the Civil War, during the Reconstruction. In the late 1800s, there were 2 hurricanes that tore out the wall behind the altar, but didn't damage the altar itself!

This was the original bell, cast by a Dutch company in the early 1700s. It was buried during the Revolutionary War, to prevent it from being stolen or destroyed, but then disappeared. In 1949, Nelson Doubleday (of the publishing family) died and left instructions for it to be returned to the church. Our current bell was cast in New York in 1940. It is rung for funerals and special occasions-like Christmas or Easter. The rest of the time, a recording is played.

This baptismal font pre=dates the Civil War. It  is the only church relic to have survived.

 

 

Saturday, August 23, 2014

It has been a really hot week here! I've spent lots of time in the pool with the dogs but we had a heat advisory for the past couple of days so we had to be careful. On Friday morning I had my docent training and will have my first time "on duty" next Friday and then the second Friday of every month. I think I will really enjoy it. Last year, over 8000 people visited the church, from almost every state and from many countries around the world. I have to study up on 300+ years of history before Friday, though. The man who heads the program is very interesting and we walked all through the graveyard and he had some really good stories to tell.

Today we went down to Savannah for the Harbor Freight sidewalk sale-Oliver got quite a few new tools, a big fan for his work shed (although it is air conditioned!!) and some pretty neat organizational things. I found a nice little sewing chest, stocked with needles, threads, scissors, pins, snaps and other sewing items, as well as a bunch of microfiber cloths. Then we met John and Jeannette, and a couple of their friends, at a restaurant near their house for a late lunch. We got home about 6:30 and the dogs were sure happy to see us! Tomorrow is church, so that means an early day for us, as we walk the dogs around 6:30 AM!!

Here was the temperature as we were leaving the restaurant!!

I went out to the pool house to get my watering can to give some of my plants a drink. As I walked into the shed, I heard a big noise and this  branch fell from the very top of one of the trees! It weighs about 10 pounds and would surely have left quite a dent in my head had it fallen about 1 second earlier!! Will have a prayer of thanks at church tomorrow!!

 

Monday, August 18, 2014

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mary/Mom!!! Hope your day was as special as you are.

We had a quiet week-end-just a little housework, swimming and church. Our Rector gave a very moving short talk about the terrible tragedy unfolding in Iraq and asked us to all keep these Christians in our prayers. Not many of us will be asked to lay down our lives for our faith.

It is very hot here now and the dogs can only take short walks and then Oliver and I go for a longer one without them. But I played with them in the pool for quite a while today and their Dad spent some time with them as well.

I am starting docent training this week to give tours at our church. Since the congregation is over 300 years old, I have a LOT of history to learn. I'll be on duty one day a month for 3 hours and I'm looking forward to it.

Here's my pool thermometer-you may not be able to see it but the temp is now 88 and it's wonderful.

Oliver enjoyed his floatie time

 

Friday, August 15, 2014

It's been a relatively quiet week here. We went to church on Sunday and were so pleased to have our Rector in the pulpit for the second time in three weeks with yet another spellbinding sermon titled Stormy Weather. I could have really used it LAST week but enjoyed it nonetheless and I HOPE I will remember it whenever faced with adversity. I had my teeth cleaned on Tuesday and everything looked good, although my dentist was in the hospital with a UTI so I have my hygienists word to go on!! Yesterday the piano tuner was here and that was quite interesting. He took practically the whole piano apart! One of my keys was not working and fortunately, it turned out to be just a spring missing so was easily fixed. But the tuning!!  88 keys, each with 3 strings, each string tuned individually, both with a nifty little instrument and with his trained ear. It sounded really good when he played it-sounded pretty much the same when I played!!! In between all these things, I spent lots of time in the pool with the dogs. The weather has been nice although Monday we had a huge thunderstorm and it scared both dogs half to death. very nice since then, though, and yesterday the humidity was down so we really enjoyed it. Oliver has been working in the pool house and has made it look amazing-tons of new shelves and he has almost everything put away. Yesterday he quit at 4--a bit early for him--and played in the pool with Marina and Skipper. He enjoyed it so much that he has decided every day at 4 will be pool time!! That will be a vhange-while I go in every single day almost, I think he's only been in 5 or 6 times in the whole year we have lived here! Maybe if he enjoys being in it, he won't mind the exorbitant  amount it costs to keep it up!!!

I put Marina's thundershirt on when the storm started but she still hid in the shower!

 

Saturday, August 9, 2014

It's been so nice to wake up the past couple of days without that sick feeling in my stomach thinking about poor Sammie. She's doing well, although they have already pulled 30 ticks off of her and I think Alex has her on a drug to prevent any tick-born illnesses. She's very happy to be home and we are encouraging her to write a book--How I Spent My Summer Vacation!  Now I am just sitting waiting for the swelling on my eye to go down. I got bit by a deer fly while I was swimming the other day and it made my left eye really puff up. I have been taking Benadryl every few hours and I think it is down a little bit-hoping it's gone tomorrow so I can go to church. In the meantime, I've just been floating around the pool with the kids. Hope next week is a much better week all around!!

Skipper has gotten very brave about jumping on the floatie and taking a ride

Sometimes he lets me go along

 

Thursday, August 7, 2014

What a stressful week! In spite of sightings that were called in almost daily, Sammie just couldn't be found. Bunny, John, Alex, Whit, Spencer, and John r were out every day from sunup til sundown hanging up posters, following leads and calling her. In the middle of all of this, Alex and Whit's dog Frank developed bloat and died on the operating table. I spent many hours on the computer and on the phone talking with a pet detective and finding tips for looking for lost dogs. And this morning it all paid off!!!  A man was driving down the road, glanced at the creek alongside and thought he saw a dog standing in the middle of the creek. So he turned around and came back and saw a poster and then saw the exact dog!! He called Alex and she asked him to please just watch and not approach Sammie, as she is timid and would run. By the time Alex got there, she had already moved on but Whit brought one of the traps they were using and set it near the area. When he came back a bit later, there she was in the trap, eating!!!  Although she had not tripped the door closed, when Whit called her, she ran right to him-happy to be rescued!! He called Alex and shared the joyful news and soon there was a tearful reunion. We are so happy and hope that this story will encourage other people. NEVER EVER EVER give up!!!

Here are two VERY happy girls!!

 

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Unfortunately our week-end has come to a premature end. Alex, Whit and John R were to come yesterday but when Whit took their dogs to the boarding kennel, the staff let their youngest (Sammie-a 1 year old collie) slip out of her collar and escape. Whit, Alex and John spent all day looking for her before going home for the night and then starting again early this morning. Bunny, John and the kids have left to go back and help with the search. We spent the most of the day yesterday contacting vet clinics, shelters, and the police asking for help and thanks to our MANY Facebook friends who have shared her picture more than 400 times already. She was sighted a few times yesterday but is very timid and wouldn't come to anyone. This morning we found a service that is sending out robo calls this afternoon to all houses within a 2 mile radius of where she disappeared. We are still hopeful that she will be found but we are all very sad that the week-end has ended this way.

 

Thursday, July 31, 2014

FINALLY the big family week-end is here! We have been so excited about it and Bunny, John, Spencer and Bennett arrived yesterday at around 4PM. They got settled in and then the kids took a little swim before we settled down for cocktails and snacks on the porch. Dinner was a low country boil--shrimp, sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cob with some delicious cheddar and dill scones that Spencer made for us. Dessert was skillet s'mores and they were just scrumptious! We sat on the porch until around 11, although John and Oliver went to bed a bit earlier. This morning Oliver and I walked the dogs and then had breakfast with Bunny and John and watched it POURING down rain!  By the time Spencer and Bennett got up, the rain had pretty much stopped and the Craigs went shopping for pool toys while Oliver went for a few  repair supplies he needed. We had lunch around the pool and then a ferocious game of pool volleyball broke out! Marina and Skipper are absolutely worn to a frazzle with all the attention they received! The sun came out and it was a really lovely afternoon.  Everyone is now taking showers and we plan to go to Dockside for dinner and then back here for dessert. Tomorrow John R, Alex and Whie arrive and we're really looking forward to that. The weather is not predicted to be very nice for the entire time they are here but we think we can deal with that. We will be eating out Saturday night and going to church Sunday and probably to brunch. Lots to do.

Enjoying cocktails on the porch

Spencer made this beautiful tray for us!! Of course we love the nautical theme and we told her that our Rector's sermon last Sunday was about HOPE!!

Here's the great scones she made! Or at least the two that were left!

Marina and Skipper learned today that is they jumped on the floatie, they could get to things in the middle of the pool!

The very competitive volleyball game

It really got competitive when Bennett joined!

These bathing beauties were exhausted!

 

 

Friday, July 25, 2014

The POD is finally gone so the move is officially declared OVER. Well, except for the estate sale going on in Port this week. Julie emailed me this morning and said she went yesterday and it was packed with people, cars all over and she laughed at some of the remarks in the basement about our boating stuff--like, what the heck is this?!!!! We're really looking forward to hearing after tomorrow how it all went. The important thing is it will all be gone and we don't have to deal with it anymore.

We've had a nice couple of days. The dogs and I have spent lots of time in the pool-headed out there again in a few minutes. Oliver has been working on the yard and is off picking up mulch--and canned pumpkin, which I forgot to buy at the store this morning and only discovered when it was time to add it to my muffin recipe!!! Yesterday I made two quiches and 60 cookies-getting ready for next week. Very excited about everybody coming.

Look who is back in her garage finally!!!

 

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

After 3 more days of getting up at 5AM, we finally have the garage empty, except for the boxes, which we can't move until the POD gets picked up on Friday. Almost every single thing has found a home and tomorrow I will clean house and see where I am. This has been a huge process-much bigger than I thought it would be, but then I hadn't moved in 20 years so probably forgot!! Took time off yesterday to get my hair cut and had the dogs groomed on Monday-we were all VERY shaggy!! Oliver took my car for an oil change this morning and now is trimming bushes aeround the pool. I'm going to make a couple of quiches to put in the freezer for next week and maybe some cookies. Feels good to have the work done so I can concentrate on something fun-like getting ready for the family next week! The weather has been a little unpredictaable this week-goes from sunny and hot to thunderstorms back to steamy. Looking forward to little floatie time this week-end!

Here's how the garage looked at the end of the day yesterday.

 

Sunday, July 20. 2014

It's only 5AM but I am up and ready to get back to unpacking! Our POD was delivered at 2PM Friday and we had it unloaded-into the garage-by 4. We couldn't find the key right away and before we knew what happened, the driver took a huge set of bolt cutters and mangled both our lock AND the latch on the POD!!  I had to call them and let them know that WE hadn't done that-and at the same time found that they weren't coming to pick it up until August 5! And further-if they didn't pick it up by July 25, they were going to charge us for rent until August 25 AND for insurance on our stuff! I patiently (ha ha) explained that my "stuff" was in my own house and their POD was 100% empty so we have NO intention of paying one more penny, regardless of how long it sits here. Then I called the local (Savannah) office and the guy there told me that he had one truck broken down so was working with just the other one for pick ups and deliveries. He had no good answer when I asked him to explain how this was in any way MY problem and has agreed to be here on the 25th. I get so tired of having to push people into doing their jobs! Anyway, we got right to work yesterday morning with some unpacking. I had already rearranged our closet and bathroom to accommodate what I knew was coming but even so-we have WAY too many clothes and they have now spread to all the closets upstairs! Started on the dining room boxes and today will tackle the kitchen. My goal is to be totally done by Friday so I can concentrate on Bunny and John's upcoming visit. Last night we went to Old Bull Tavern with our neighbors Charlie and Justine and it was a nice respite from all the house mess. It was the busiest night of the year in Beaufort-the second night of the Water Festival and there was a big concert in the park-but there was a parking place right in front of the restraurant-hope this was an omen of things to come!

Here's how our garage looked at around 4:30 on Friday

Oliver carried tools around to the pool house

And here's how we looked by 4:30 Saturday

A lot of those boxes are empty, so we made more progress than it appears!! Can't wait to get it ALL done!!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Good thing we made it as far as we did on Saturday, as we still had 8 hours to do on Sunday. But the weather was better (although the traffic was worse) so we were home at around 3PM. We were both just exhausted but managed to get the truck unpacked and I got the suitcases unpacked and clothes put away. It was sure good to see our house. Oliver went to bed at 6PM and I followed not too long afterwards. On Monday I totally re-organized our closet-in preparation for the additional clothes coming with the POD-and got almost everything else put away. Tuesday I treated myself to a lunch out with my neighbor Justine and then went to the truck dealer to get in on the last phase of Oliver trading in his truck for a new truck. It's a bit smaller than The Beast-about 3 feet shorter-and doesn't have a back seat. Since we have decided NO MORE ROADS TRIPS, we don't need such a big truck. Probably after the end of the year, we will trade Beauty in on a big car or an SUV and then we should be set for a while! Yesterday was bathroom re-organization day for me. When we moved here last year, we had so much room because we didn't bring much from Georgia, so I wasn't terribly careful about how much room I used for things. But now that we are bringing LOTS from Port Washington, I have to be a bit more organized so decided I would get it done before the stuff arrives. I still need to rearrange the kitchen and hopefully will do that tomorrow before the POD comes. I ordered a nice "floatie" for the pool from Frontgate so yesterday and today the dogs and I spent a bit of time relaxing in the water. Marina jumped right on the floatie with me but was quite surprised when I paddled to the deep end! I put Skipper on it and took him for a ride and he wasn't too sure about it!  The Water Festival starts here tomorrow-10 days of arts and crafts, fun events (dragon boat races, air show, boat tours) as well as entertainment, food and fireworks. I hope we will find time to take some of it in but will see how our unpacking goes. Bunny and fam come on the 30th so I need to be ready by then. I did not have time to practice my piano much while we were gone and I cringed when I sat down yesterday-have lost a bit over the past 5 weeks! I hope to get a lesson in next week but will need to do a lot of work before then! Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for the unpacking details!

We had the floor refinished in Port and we had to move the couch into the kitchen. Marina and Skipper thought that was interesting.

So Skipper took a little walk on the counter. I see he almost stepped in my wine glass while I was taking this picture!!

Here's the scaled down Beast

 

Saturday, July 12, 2014

We are safe and sound in Richmond, Kentucky, after a 520 mile day-mostly in a pouring rain! Woke up at 4:45 AM so we were on the road by 7:30. It just seemed weird to walk out and close the door, leaving so much behind but knowing that it will all be empty in a couple of weeks! Such a stress filled month and I forgot to mention that yesterday morning when Oliver checked the tire pressure on the truck, he found a nail sticking in one of the tires and a slow leak! So off he went to Goodyear and fortunately they fixed it for him right away. Just another glitch in a month filled with them!! The photographer came yesterday and took some really nice pictures of the interior of the house. Unfortunately the sun was not out so she has to come back to get a few more. Driving through Indiana today, we passed a big PODS truck with 3 PODs on board-we think probably one of those was ours!!  It is on it's way to Savannah and will be delivered on Friday. Not sure I am 100% happy about that as I know how much is in there!!!

Had our coctails and then I walked across the parking lot to Steak N Shake so we have had burgers, fries and I had a chocolate shake--we are happy and full! Now to walk the dogs and then turn in. Can't wait to be home tomorrow night!!

 

Friday, July 11, 2014

Well, we THINK we are ready to leave tomorrow!!  We are so stressed-so tired-so emotional-this has been so much harder than we thought it would be! But it is so good to have it done and to even think of doing this on the fly-after the house sold-is just mind-numbing! Just a few of the things we have done since we got here-changed realtors, scheduled an estate sale, had a professional photographer in to take pictures for the realtor, raised a stink with the city and got our road repaired, went through 20 years of belongings and packed a 16 foot by 8 foot by 8 foot POD and sent it on it's way, cleaned the house, visited Libby and Dave and girls, and crossed Lake Michigan to visit Mary, Carol & Tom, Ashley, David and boys, had a locksmith come and re-key the locks because we accidentally threw all the front door keys away!, and spent far too little time with friends and even missed some entirely--you know who you are Pat and Jerry and others!!  We appreciate the patience and understanding of our friends who we couldn't spend as much time as we'd like with-you just have NO IDEA how hard this has been!I If I started to think too hard about this, I would start crying (and I NEVER EVER cry!!!). If we hadn't had June and Bill next door, I don't think we could have gotten through this-the meals, the gardening, the internet!! In a million years we won't have neighbors as wonderful and we love you two more than you know!

So before I break my no crying rule, here are a couple of pictures. We had a wonderful trip across on the Lake Express-it was cloudy but so calm-and coming back was amazing-sunny and hardly even a ripple. We had such a wonderful visit with Mary and all the family. Cooper was such a good boy-he renewed our faith in children after our difficult trip over! Actually-I guess Ashley and David and Libby and Dave renewed our faith in parents-all their kids are so good!!

Here's a beautiful picture of Great Grandma and baby Sully

And Lake Michigan on a perfect day-we surely had many wonderful times on the big lake!

We'll post when we are home-can't wait!!

 

Sunday, July 5, 2014

We just returned from a nice visit with Libby and Dave and the girls. Their new house is just gorgeous-they did a great job picking out all the finishes and I can't believe how much room they have! We went to church this morning and saw lots of old friends, including Alice, and the new Pastor at Living Hope. Yesterday we decided to re-grout the shower in the master bath and it was a much bigger project than anticipated and we didn't finish until this morning-Oliver was up at 5:30 working on it. And actually, i did a bit more just a while ago, and we are going to put sealer on tomorrow but then we're done. We have a bit more touch-up painting to do tomorrow and I plan to clean house and pack for our quick trip to Mary's. Had a wonderful dinner last night at the Pasta Shoppe-that is one of the places we will truly miss. When we left for dinner last night, June wasin our back yard planting flowers, and when we left for Libby's today, June was in our front yard weeding and mulching!! I think we must be out of our minds to leave these wonderful neighbors-in a million years we couldn't find any as special.

Here are a few ppics of Libby, Erina and Molly

June working in front and her handywork in back!

 

 

Friday, July 4, 2014

Happy Independence Day!!  Or as our dogs call it-the Annual End of the World Extravaganza!!  Which is why we will be home tonight with them during the fireworks, singing as loudly as we can since we have no TV and no radio aound here! If it wasn't for Good Neighbor Bill's aircard, we would be going crazy right about now!

The POD is on it's way to Beaufort!!  We were putting last minute items in it practically til the very last minute. I just dread thinking of unloading it when it arrives in SC on July 18, but it is such a relief to have all the packing done and to know that on July 26, this house will be totally empty. We have a new realtor and feel good about her-she is aggressive, professional and thinks outside the box so we will see what happens. But at least we won't be in a situation where we are in SC and have 30 days to clean out the house!!

We had a really nice evening at the marina last night-the firts cook-out in a couple of years! Lots of our friends were there and the food was yummy. It was a beautiful day but got really cold as the evening went on. Today is just gorgeous as well and we plan to take a little stroll into town to enjoy the music on main street today and visit at the marina for a bit. Sunday we will go to church and then out to Waukesha to visit the MacCuddens and then to GR on Tuesday. The time has flown past but we are anxious to get home.

Where is neighborhood watch when you need it? People-if you see this happening, you should be very suspicious!!

Bye bye POD!!

Enjoying the sunshine!

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Finished packing the POD today!!  Now I REALLY think I am almost done. Washed all the windows in the family room, inside and out, and finished the bathroom, which was a real pain!!  We are really hoping to have a relaxing and fun week-end at the marina with our friends and then the trip across on the ferry next week and then leave for home on the following Saturday or Sunday. It depends how dusty the house gets from the floor refinishing--although June has offered to have a dusting party with me!!

This picture doesn't really show just how much we have in this POD!!! The whole end past the tall sheet of plywood is full! Dreading the unpacking in Beaufort!

 

Monday, June 30, 2014

The packing continues! Everey day I think I am done but then I remember another closet or drawer or room I have forgotten and I pack just one more box. But the POD people come on Wednesday so I have to be done by then!!  Saturday night we had a great dinner at Twisted Willow with---Paul & Sharon, Joe & Rose, Dorothy & Russ, and Mike & Sandy. I was glad to have some left over macaroni and cheese for lunch on Sunday!!! Yesterday we took a long walk and got to spend quality time with Mike and Sandy as they cooked breakfast on the grill and Grandpa and Grandma (Russ & Dorothy are Marina's grandparents) on their boat! The weather turned very warm here so we came home, turned on the a/c and kept working until 3:30. Then we jumped in the shower and headed out to Kapco Park-just down the road in Mequon-to meet P&S and Rose for a Lakeshore Chinooks game. It was an incredible evening-so warm and sunny and we enjoyed the 14-3 win over the Madison Mallards as well as a yummy dinner. Such a great way to spend a summer night. This morning I had my yearly dermatologist visit-all is well-followed by a nice walk with Sue and Cody, then back to packing.

Here is a little fawn that was here all day yesterday. I think Mommy came back for it last evening

This is a very sad picture, although only our marina friends will recognize it! Sharon wrote this quite a few years ago and we just erased it today. Sniff!!!

 

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Wow-we have gotten SO MUCH done in the past week!  First of all, thanks to Junebug and Bill for even making this entry possible!!  Bill was out of town this week and of course needed his air card but we spent quite a bit of time over at their office using their internet-and having June print things for us! Don't know what we will do with out The. Best. Neighbors. EVER!!!

Last Saturday night we had cocktails on Paul and Sharon's boat and then the 6 of us (Joe and Rose) went to Beanie's for dinner. Our favorite waitress ever (Jean) works there and we just felt like no time at all had passed since last year! On Sunday we went to Bill and June's for a wonderful dinner, with Barb and Dave joining us as well. In between eating, we continued our packing and were surprised at how quickly it all moved along. The POD was delivered on Wednesday and when I saw it pull into the driveway, I thought it looked so small but once it was positioned-a really interesting process-and opened up, we knew right away that one was all we would need. By Wednesday night, we had it mostly packed! I ordered pizza and June came over to eat with us.  On Thursday, an estate sales guy came over and we were SO impressed with the service that they offer. They will spend 3 days going through everything, organizing, displaying and pricing it, and then have a 3 day sale. He said there could be as many as 1000 people come through in the 3 days!! After the sale, wahtever is left is picked up by Habitat for Humanity-they use what they can, pack up clothes and ship overseas, throw out whatever needs to be discarded, vacuum, mop, wipe down counters and sweep out cupboards!! Amazingly efficient and the we get 70% of the proceeds. Easy money!!

Yesterday we had our real estate agent and 2 home stagers come thorugh. They were just full of great ideas for rearranging things but after all was said and done, they actually agreed with us that our particular house is going to be sold on location, and will show as well empty, so we are going ahead with the sale! And of course the idea of hundreds of people coming through held some appeal for them!!

I forgot that on Monday we had a hardwood floor guy come give us an estimate and he will be sanding and refinishing the wood floor in the den week after next. We are taking our oriental rug with us and the floor has faded so badly. That's the one major improvement that we are going to make.

Last night we went to the Port Hotel with Bill and June for their 27th anniversary. Actually we went with June, as Bill was trying to get home from Texas after his Cinncinnati-Milwaukee flight was canceled. He eventually joined us and we had a nice dinner and then a few drinks at the Yacht Club. Forgot to say that we stopped at the Club last Saturday night for karaoke night and it was well after midnight then and last night before we got home! We are definitely burning the candle at both ends here. This morning we left the dogs at home because Marina was limping a bit and walked down to the marina. Had nice long visits with Paul & Sharon, Jerry & Marge, Pat and Mike & Sandy, who were cooking breakfast on the grill. I had no idea bacon could smell so good!! I'm now trying to finish packing the clothes I plan to take home with me and Oliver is getting ready to do some touch up painting. Sharon made reservations at Twisted Willow for dinner tonight so we will join them a little later. Tomorrow we might go to a Lakeshore Chinooks game, if the weather clears up, which it doesn't appear to be doing. Monday I have my yearly check up with my Dermatologist and Wednesday the POD people come to take our stuff away. Next Sunday we will go visit Libby and Dave, see their new home and baby Molly and sweet Erin. On the 6th we are taking the Lake Express ferry over to Michigan for a couple of days with Mary and will probably leave for Beaufort on July 12 or 13. Crazy busy month here but we are so glad to be getting everything done.

Here is our POD

There are tie downs inside but my husband-being the brilliant guy that he is-found a better way to secure everything. There are four sections to the POD and my really fragile stuff is in the second section, totally protected now by the plywood he installed!

15 years ago we planted a little branch like this that we received at church (Pastor Alice-do you remember this?)

This is that little branch today!

Just one of a million memories we have after 19 years here. if I thought too much about them all, we would never leave!!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

First day of summer and it continues to be foggy and cold here in Port Washington!  We went out to do errands yesterday and it was just pouring down. But since we are working hard packing things, it doesn't really matter. After 5 days, we pretty much have the basement done and today I will start on the kitchen. At times I feel good about how much we have accomplished-and the next minute I feel that we are so far from being ready for our PODS delivery on Wednesday! I'll be glad when it gets here so we can get a feel for how much more we have to do. We had a nice time last night-went to dinner with Sue and Tom Shannon and Paul and Vicki Czisny, to celebrate Sue's birthday. After an excellent dinner at Twisted Willow, we stopped at Newport Shores and saw many friends-Sandy and Mike, the Wilkinsons, Marty and Roxanne. We are sure tired this morning though and have dinner tonight with Paul & Sharon and Joe & Rose. Looking forwardto it, though. I'll post a couple of pictures today-thanks to our wonderful neighbors, I have had internet access via Bill's air card but need to return it to him today so won't post again for a few days. Here are the boxes I have packed (many of them supplied by June!!!)  and the things from the basement Oliver has brought up. No idea where we will put all this in Beaufort!!

 

Thursday, June 19, 2014

We have gotten LOTS done but we are certainly getting tired. We bought a lot of boxes on Monday and I started packing that afternoon. The dining room and living rooms are almost done but waiting for more glass and dish boxes to arrive today so I can finish. The two guest bedrooms upstairs are almost done-I shredded THOUSANDS of pictures, just to make them less bulky. Thank goodness that we now have digital cameras. Oliver has been working in the basement and today I have to get down there to start going through my Christmas ornaments. We are going to have an estate sale so we are trying to be ruthless with what we actually keep but the pile of boxes and stuff in the garage keeps growing! We have an 8x8x16 foot POD being delivered on Wednesday, with hopes that everything will fit into just one. We should know within a couple of days if we are going to need a second. Once it is filled, they will come and get it and it goes to Savannah and then will be delivered to Beaufort. This system seesm to be fitting our needs very well-since we couldn't say for sure what day we would be ready, it would be hard to schedule a moving truck, so PODs is a great way to do it. A bit expensive but worth the additinional convenience. When the POD is delivered to Beafort, we can unpack at our own pace or just stack it all in the garage.

We're still getting up at 5 or 5:30 every morning. The past two nights we have had huge thunderstorms and poor Marina trembles and pants the whole time so none of us get much sleep-except Skipper, who could care less!!  We feel so terrible because the annual veteran's fishing outing was a wash-out yesterday. Every year several busloads of veteran's come from Milwaukee, many from the VA hospital, and local fishermen  volunteer their time and boats to take them fishing. There are many voluunteers  who help, asmany of the vets are in wheelchairs, and they have a big fish fry, entertainment and lots of good food. They still had the fish fry and entertainment and I understand they played cribbage and other games but still I know it was a huge disappointment and I feels so sad for them.

Must get to work- 6AM-day is half over!!!  But here are some pictures of the fog that rolled through yeserday afternoon.

Saw this big fog bank rolling across the lake

And this little boat racing to stay ahead of it

But it enveloped the boat

And swallowed up the lighthouse too!!

 

Monday, June 16, 2014

After a VERRRRRY long drive, we arrived in Port Washington on Saturday at around 12:30PM. We left Beaufort on Thursday and had a short 3 1/2 hour drive to Charlotte. We gave the dogs some exercise and chatted with Phyllis and Bobby and then put the dogs in their crates in the bedroom and went over to Debbie's. We spent an hour there and then we all drove back to Phyllis and Bobby's for cocktails on the porch and a delicious Mexican meal. We stayed up WAY too late (almost midnight) and thought we might not make it far on Friday-like maybe not out of North Carolina!!  But we tradedd the driving and got west of Dayton-about an 8 1/2 drive. We found a nice Clarion Inn and walked the dogs, had coctails, and then hamburgers from the restaurant. More dog walking and then we all fell into bed. We got a nice early start on Saturday-7 AM which was 6AM Wisconsin time-so that's why we arrived so early. We got the truck unpacked, Oliver went to the the grocery and we did our best to stay awake til it got dark (didn't make it, though!)  Yesterday we woke up at 4:30!!. Went to Menard's for supplies--turns out things still wear out in your house, even when you're not there!  Oliver had to change about 10 light bulbs, then put in a new tub in the laundry room, and new faucets in the boy's bathroom. After talking with son Jihn for a long time, we went to Bill and June's for drinks and a yummy dinner-what a treat! We were up  a bit late last night but still got up at 5:30 this morning-the dogs aren't used to the time change yet. We walked them and now we are at McDonald's-we have no internet at the house. Nor do we have cable  so Oliver spent a lot of time hooking our TV to the antenna, so we can get local channels. Need to work on figuring out the moving strategy so will post again when I can!!

 

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Well, we are pretty much "recovered" from our vacation!  The jet lag seemed to last a lot longer than usual but we are back to normal now. I did dozens (it seemed) loads of wash and more housecleaning than should have been necessary when nobody was here for 2 weeks. I've spent many hours catching up on my piano practice and Oliver is working hard in the yard. The dogs did very well in their deluxe kennel. We're getting ready to head to Port Washington in a week or so and not looking forward to the long drive but excited about seeing our friends and our house-hoping for decent weather but you never know with Wisconsin in June. Thanks for checking in and hopefully I'll have something a bit more interesting to say next time!!

 

Saturday, June 7, 2014

We've had a busy but productive week. Oliver is building another fence in the back yard, this one to cut down on street noise that we can hear. It's been very hot but he goes out at 8 and doesn't come back in until 5-although yesterday he stopped for 3 showers because he got so hot and sweaty. I try to get him to jump in the pool-where the dogs and I spend a lot of the hot time-but he doesn't really like to get in.

I had a meet and greet with my new doctor yesterday. I just love her-she's in her mid 40s and is so warm and frinedly. And she told me I was about the healthiest person she has in her practice! Better knock on wood, I guess.

I have worked hard on my piano this week, since I won't have a lesson until late July. My new pieces are hard and I have secretly thought that perhaps my teacher is trying to torture me, but every day I get a LITTLE bit better. It's a good thing I have a keyboard in Port so that I can continue to play every day.

We had a nice dinner out last night with Charlie and Justine, our kitty corner neighbors. The Lady's Island Country Club remodeled their restaurant and we were quite pleased with it. The service is still a bit shaky, although the manager pitched in and helped things along, but the food was really good. I had an almond crusted grouper that was delicious and the grilled asparagus was perfect! It's nice to have some place new and very close to the house. Charlie and Oliver have a lot in common-wordworking and such-and Justine is very nice. We have lunch every month together and I enjoy her company.

Wednesday night we went to church for the ordination of our newest priest. He is  a wonderful young man with a beautiful family-4 boys, the youngest two twins. We were just amazed that there were over 500 people there---on a Wednesday night in the summer for a 2 hour service!!  And everybody dressed up. The adult choir and the RSCM choir sang and the brass quartet played-just a very beautiful and moving event.

Must go do some housework and a bit more organizing for our upcoming trip to Port. Thanks for stopping by.