5th Saturday, snow, plans with dear friend and butterflies.....

Wow - the 5th Saturday of the year 2010 and next to the last day of the first month - whew - that went by quickly. We finally got some snow and it is pretty. Sadly we have had sleeting and freezing rain most of the day so not really good for playing in (as if I were even thinking about going out there!). Good day to work on Big D's books but so far haven't started. :-) I did get caught up with a dear old friend who saw me on-line and has been trying to get me to visit her and her hubby down at the coast for several years now. Finally she said - "this weekend - come down and we will go in service together". I talked with Big D while we were on-line and it is now a definite plan. I love definite plans - a real goal to work toward. I will leave Thursday morning and probably not come home until Monday morning because I really want to go to her meeting on Sunday and it isn't until 1pm. We are going to meet for lunch on Thursday in a quaint little coastal town before you get to where she lives for lunch and some shopping and I may hook up with two other friends down there at the same time! Exactly what I needed - a definite plan! We have known each other for years but only started getting close (other than our kids-her two beautiful daughters and my children-being friends) several weeks before they moved down East. I really love this woman and her family and am looking forward to some up and down time with her. It is so funny because I had just been skimming through the Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips and the smaller Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor that I picked up from the library but have kept putting off really getting into. I have already extended the due date once so decided I needed to at least skim them to see if I wanted to invest. I think I will go on eBay to see if this one is available. It has pages like a work-book and maybe that will help me in my determination to be more pro-active. We'll see. As I skimmed some of the pages and read a few of the experiences, it made me think of my young niece Starr who died as a result of complications from medication she had to take most of her young life for Rheumatoid Arthritis. Once I get my scanner fixed, hopefully I'll be able to post a picture of this beautiful young girl with white blonde hair and huge blue eyes who endured unrelenting pain over her entire body from the time she was about 4 years of age. She was 23 when she died on January 18th. She would have turned 35 this past November. Her life was hard on so many levels and at times her disease along with severe family issues (some of which came about because of her chronic and debillitating illness causing fractures in everyone's life) made her hard too. She wasn't hard during the last time I saw her looking so happy, radiantly beautiful and totally enjoying herself at my son's wedding a few months before she died. She loved my son very much and was so happy to be with him for this important occasion. She even came to our room to help him get dressed and danced with all his friends (even though she still had a cast on her leg) in a beautiful blue dress. She also enjoyed the rehearsal dinner and my son and his wife have a picture of her there with them. She also wasn't hard those few weeks before she died and called me from the hospital where she spent more time than any young person should have to. I heard the fear in her voice but they released her so we thought that once again, she would persevere. Sad to say, it wasn't to be. My brother-in-law wrote a beautiful poem for her entitled by her first name but I'll call it Golden Butterfly for this Blog. It was read at her Memorial. The last little quote is super-special between all our children and their uncle who wrote this poem.

Golden Butterfly

A golden butterfly landed on our window sill, we raised the window for it to come in-if it will.
And it came in so beautiful, we wanted to sing, then we noticed it had a broken wing.

How long can a butterfly fly, if it has a broken wing?
Twenty-three years with many tears and a lot of suffering.

Starr's childhood sickness was supposed to take her long before it did.
The doctors thought that she would die while still a little kid.

But this butterfly with the broken wing, taught us all how to live.
She had to struggle through everything, but was always ready to give.

She clung to her friends and family too, she didn't want to say good-bye.
She wanted to get close to me and you, and now, we know the reason why.

Butterflies don't live very long, but they're beautiful while they're here.
It saddens us when they're gone, but they leave us with good cheer.

Most dogs have two eyes, but Starr's Bojo had only one.
And she treated him like a valuable prize, and they both had a lot of fun.

We'll miss our golden butterfly, she was a special one.
We'll miss her dropping by, just to have some fun.

We'll miss her in the Spring time, when butterflies land on our sill.
And we'll think of her everyday, yes we always will.

Perhaps some day we'll meet again, and laugh and hug and sing.
Especialliy when we understand, she'll no longer have a broken wing.

And to her cousins whose tears now trickle, remember always --
"Once upon a dime, there was a nickle"

Thinking of you baby girl......and thanking you dear Wayne for a beautiful poem.

KurtKandy...

I was reading my daughter's Blog the other day (sorry Page, I still haven't had time to go back and really read your new entries and/or make comments) and realized I sometimes miss the obvious. Because I use middle or nicknames for people on my entries (unless I accidentally "slip" which isn't unheard of), and my husband and son have the same middle name and my daughter and granddaughter have the same middle name - I have been using the number 2 beside the son and granddaughter to distinguish when talking about both of them in the same entry. HELLO???? I realized when reading my daughter's blog that I should have been using my son's stage name - Kurt Kandy. Yep - my famous son - the poet, writer, artist, musician and actor! The way he came to use this name is when he and his wife started writing and/or acting in some of the No Shame Theater pieces along with some of their friends. This is the way it works: People create their own short (5 minutes or less) performance piece in any style and rehearse it as much as they want—or read it cold—it’s up to them! They have to get there in time to fill one of the available open slots and take their place in the spotlight. Leah wrote a commercial that I wish she could find because it totally rocked! It was a good outlet for Kurt's creative talents which are many. The hiccup is it takes a lot of your free time away from things that are more important so is very hard to balance. Kurt has always been the entertainer - even as a young boy. I mean come on - the man is cooking steaks on the front porch here! :-) - not in a Broadway play - or is he? This made him quite different from other boys his age who were working so hard to be cool. It endeared him to so many who understood his talents and the sometimes overpowering need to express them and saw him for the really cool dude he has always been. All of this eventually led to Kurt acting in a few summer stock plays. As much as he enjoyed doing this, it became obvious that some of these endeavors took too much time away from the more important things and put him in close association with people who do not share his goals for himself and his family - so he has had to back off on getting too involved. It is hard to have so much creative energy stored up inside of you without having too many outlets you can see for them to be expressed in a way you might want. That is where the hard part comes in - finding the responsible way to exercise your talents in harmony with you true goals. Sad to say, most people don't have a clue how hard it is to curtail the urges that go with the need. I love this picture of Kurt with a dear friend from our KH in Durham he has known his whole life. Kurt thinks so much of him and really liked this picture too. If I haven't told you lately (which I doubt) I'm proud of you Kurt Kandy and love you very much......

Catch up ....

Okay - catching up - what does that mean? Its a very rare occasion when we can sit down and catch up on all of the things that we need to but we can at least make a stab at it. After taking Miya to the doctor yesterday, I had to get my shower for my own doctor's appointment. I had printed up some pictures on the really nice paper Roseanne got me from her job of my doctor with his new dog so I was ready. It was while I was in the shower that I realized my headache (from taking my new BP medicine) had changed and had become a migraine (of sorts). The bottom fell out and it rained most of the afternoon making my driving hazardous at best (don't worry Page - I was very careful). I needed to go to the grocery store and barely made it to their restroom once I got there so the migraine has escalated to another level. Didn't think I would ever get back home. I listened to most of the meeting on the phone (had an important phone call in the middle) and it was nice. I do so appreciate being able to listen on the phone but it is not the same as being there with the friends. The important call was my doctor calling. We were expecting him to call Big D to tell him what meds he needs to take to try and get his triglycerides down but he called on my line to talk to me first. It turns out he was still unhappy with my BP (the bottom number was great but the top number is still too high) so he doubled my dosage and I'm to go back next Thursday for him to check again. He also wanted to thank me for the pictures and said he does so like that picture. I told him I did too and had figured out why we all do - it makes us smile. He agreed. After he talked to Big D, we both just sat and felt a little sad that we have now reached that age - hello? When did this happen? Weren't we going to be different from everyone else? Yeah - right. If my headache would just go away, I could deal with the other little side effects I'm experiencing. I had two nice long chats with Page today - poor baby - she was having a pretty rough day herself. I hope she has a great weekend and once she takes care of an onus (burden, necessity, obligation, or responsibility - especially a distasteful one) that will hang over her head until it is addressed, I'm afraid it will be on her mind. She reminded me of how I used to get mad about work and would take it out on her and the family when I got home. Hmmm is that true? Probably so but I will try to always be a good listener to her because I do remember the frustrations of having a busy job with tons of responsibility. What did I mean by catch up? I pulled together some paperwork that needs going through in a big way because I am so late on sales and property tax; reconciling checking account; all things to do with Big D's books; paying bills, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera as the King of Siam would say. I did make some of those onerous (1 : involving, imposing, or constituting a burden : troublesome >) calls you put off for when you have lots of time to just sit on hold after pushing tons of buttons waiting for a real, live, breathing human being who "might" not put you on hold. Whew!! I also set up an appointment for Monday with the lady to come back and change Big D's insurance to another company that handles his Medicare because the first one (for one month) went up enough on the co-pays that it makes all the trouble worthwhile - especially if he is going to start taking medication also. Stole some time to talk with Mae and get caught up on how she is doing. It turns out her daughter is quite sick. Not sure exactly what is going on but hoping everything turns out well. It was nice to hear her voice if only for a little while. It turns out Little D is still having problems with pain on his right side. After having ultrasound of gall bladder not show any stones, he went to his chiropractor who still says he is having problems with his gall bladder - doesn't have to be stones - can be something else. He gave him a diet to try - hope it helps. Hope to go out in service with my dear spiritual daughter, her hubby and her little boy tomorrow morning and am so hoping this headache will abate enough for me to do that. My headache let me pull together some things and make the phone calls but it would not let me do the actual paperwork. Hopefully I'll be able to do some of it tomorrow after service. Good grief!!!! That is definitely enough rambling for one day.

You are going to put that where??????

Today was the day for Princess Miya Chula Yum-Yum's annual visit to the Veterinarian. I can't believe she is 2 years old now. Actually she does very well when we go here - probably because everyone tells her constantly how beautiful she is. Oh yeah - she loves to hear that! :-) I only put the name Miya on her records but everyone knows the story of her complete name and like to talk about it. Between my research, Bentley's research and suggestions from Page and Little D, we finally agreed on a name. My friend Keith (and probably several others) thought I had lost my mind making such a big deal out of this cat's name but my hope is she will live to be the 18 to 20 years these cats are known the do and we will always be happy with her name. I love how cautious and CURIOUS cats are! The staff was talking about how intelligent they feel cats are compared with dogs and other animals and of course I had to agree. Dogs can learn many tricks but cats don't have to. It is just that simple. Then of course, they had to clip her nails! The indignity of it all. She does NOT like that at all. :-) Her doctor was very happy with her this visit. We talked about how she licks/pulls her hair out of her back legs but she can see no signs of her being emotionally damaged. Hello? It appears some cats have a condition with one symptom being excessive licking. She isn't making sores anymore since I increased her dosages of flea meds so she thinks it will be fine. They took more pictures of her for their records - they really are great. Of course, she was happy when it was time to climb back into her little "cave" (carrier) and then it was my turn to have the anxiety of going to the Veterinarian! I got the bill!!!! Yikes! It costs so much - tons more than we have to pay when we go. Of course we have insurance but still - it's crazy! Between this and the flea meds and the top of the line food and kitty litter - hello? Children didn't cost this much. Just kidding - she is worth every penny for the joy she brings me - especially when she wants to snuggle into my chest while we are watching TV and sleep there for awhile. Yum. I felt so bad today (migraine that has escalated all day) I almost asked Big D to take her but I just couldn't do it. Anytime he sees a cost of anything I purchase for or because of her, I have to listen to the craziness of spending that kind of money on a stupid cat! Yeah - Yeah - The next thing you know he is rubbing her and "chatting her up". It is better to just not talk about the costs of anything for her and then it isn't an issue - at least it isn't an issue I have to LISTEN to.

Third Wednesday of the year 2010....

That means there are only 49 Wednesdays left. Bummer! We had our CO and his lovely wife last week and it was great! The meeting Sunday was exactly what everyone needed even though Eileen and I got quite teary during one of the new songs and at the end of the Resurrection talk. Not sad tears - tears of appreciation for our hope. The weather this week has been quite nice - bright sunshine (Vitamin D) and easy walking territory. I was quite sleepy today - not enough sleep so far this week. I finally tracked my car down last night and my dear friend brought it home around 7pm. Aren't good friends the best? This morning we had three beautiful children working with us. I asked one of the little girls that was walking with us - "How does it feel to be so smart?". I LOVED her answer - "It is a lot of information."! We howled. She truly is one smart little girl. They loved my earrings, and this one kept running her little hands through my hair telling me how pretty it is and they pretty much checked me out thoroughly. After we ate and were waiting to get started back this afternoon, the one who worked with me earlier asked me if she could sit in my lap. I picked her up and she snuggled in while I rubbed her little back. Is there a better feeling in the world than a little one sitting on your lap feeling real sleepy? My cup runneth over. After we finished service today, I drove over to where Roseanne works and got the little thingamajiggy (USB 2.0 Reader/Writer) to put the pictures from my NEW camera onto my computer! I need to get a different program on my laptop to view and edit pictures. I don't like the one I have at all. I know it is probably easy to change but I'm too tired to even think about it right now. Big D has gone over to his friends to have a beer (or two) and hopefully will pick up dinner on the way home. Hope springs eternal in the human breast.....

One of those surprises that keep you smiling for hours.....

Have you ever had a surprise visit from someone you haven't seen in a few years that kept a smile on your face for hours? That happened to me today!!! It was around 2:35pm and we had time for one more call before calling it a day. We drove past my house and I noticed a white car with a woman in it looking at something in her lap. Hmmm? Who was that? SO - I did a U-turn and came back to check it out. After I pulled in behind the car and got out, one of my friends said I see another person in the car Jane so be careful! (Oh yeah - we have been robbed SO many times everyone was a tiny bit paranoid.) :-) It was gorgeous Roxy and her beautiful son - OMGoodness! What a HUGE surprise! She is my daughter's close friend but they haven't seen each other in awhile either. LIFE - it happens to all of us doesn't it? I gave my keys to my friends to take my car with them so we could visit. Of course, she brought gifts - that is so like her - SO SWEET! Her gorgeous son has gotten so tall - he was excited to see we had a cat so that means it has been at least over 2 years since I've seen them. I couldn't believe how well Miya did with him holding her so much but she actually seemed to like it. Of course I had to show them Page 2's 9 year pictures and they were appropriately impressed! LOL. Page has taken them to Chuckee Cheese and they have come over for the kids to play together in the past. It was so nice to get caught up a little and of course she wanted to see pictures of everyone so we looked at some of our recent beach trips pictures. They were going to a movie and she wanted to get Page's new apartment number. She suggested that I not tell Page about her visit (so she could surprise her) but I couldn't keep it to myself. When Page called tonight I was still smiling about the visit and finally broke. Page was so excited to hear she had come and started reminiscing about how she used to go over on Friday nights and all the good times they had together. Of course she loves JG to pieces so I promised we would make sure to all get together when she comes in the Spring. I gave Roxy my Blog address so if you are reading this - please forgive me for giving up the surprise. I couldn't keep it in. I told Page not to call you but she wasn't sure she could hold to that so you may already know! Either way - thank you both for making my day yesterday! What a treat - especially the chocolates! I almost had to fight Big D for them! He said to tell you thanks too! ;-) Please drop by anytime. I will send you the pictures I took now that I have your email address.

Dr. Watson I presume......

Roseanne and I went to see Sherlock Holmes today and it was everything we thought it would be. First of all, we both love mysteries, English movies (and Guy Ritchie), Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law and how Sherlock and Dr. Watson always prove there is nothing supernatural about the crimes being committed by using the science of their day along with the ability to notice everything in a room quickly. It is a combination CSI/Psychic (the guy on TV who has unbelievable powers of observation who pretends to be a physic). It was quite authentic - you never saw but one person taking a bath the whole movie and Sherlock is scruffy and dirty looking most of the time and that is being kind. After the movie we went to Manchester's Grill to pick up dinner.While waiting for our dinners, we had a glass of one of our favorite wines (bought the bottle and brought it home for dinner). Roseanne also gave me a nice gift - a digital camera! It is a Canon PowerShot A630, 8.0 mega pixels and I LOVE it! I'm still getting used to it being a little heavier than my old one but it could not have come at a better time. As much as I have loved my little Fuji - it is eating batteries quicker than I can keep them in the camera so I guess it is good-bye old friend and hello new Canon (that I can actually see what is in the screen when I take or want to view a picture)! Woo Hoo! The waitress seemed to enjoy our conversationand took a picture of us with my NEW CAMERA while we were waiting for our dinners!! Another wonderful evening with one of my favorite people in the world - my friend and my sister on so many levels they blend. Those evenings are just too few and far between but what can you do in these busy times. She is married, has 4 children (all married now), 3 grandbabies (one lives in VA) and a busy social life between them and the congregation. I am happy we have been keeping our promise to each other to MAKE time to at least catch a movie together from time to time. We are still planning our little retreat - nothing definite yet but hopefully we will be going soon. Thanks for my lovely gift Roseanne - I love it and YOU!

THIRTY-EIGHT......

Thirty-eight is just a number - just like fifty is just a number. We keep up with the number of years we are alive for several reasons such as; when to start school, when we can legally drive a car, when we can legally get married without a parent's permission, and when we can legally drink alcoholic drinks to name a few. Colorado was named the 38th state of the USA in 1876. Gerald Ford was the 38th President of the USA. This was unusual because he was not elected to that office or the office of VP. He was made VP when Agnew resigned in December, 1973 and rose to the office of President in August, 1974. He was the only President to serve who was not elected to either office. AND my Page turned 38 years old today. After losing my first child in 1968 while living in Norfolk, VA, I was somewhat anxious when I discovered I was pregnant again. It had slipped up on me because we had just moved from our house way out in Orange County near the Eno River to a new townhouse apartment in East Durham. The really funny thing is my new OB/Gyn had just told me several weeks before I would have a really hard time conceiving and I was pregnant at the time (okay - probably about 15 minutes but still).I love the picture Chantel took of Page on one of her trips to Europe. She took so many pretty pictures of my daughter who I know gets tired of seeing her face on my page but what can I say? It helps me to review my blog from time to time and catch a little glimpse of this woman I love so deeply. Neither one of my children have ever celebrated birthdays. When they were younger, I seldom mentioned much about their actual birthdates as I didn't want them to be confused. Most of the children they knew had big hoo-ha's on their birthdates but my children never lacked for gifts, surprises or adoration from their parents and friends.A scene from one of the City Slicker movies with Billy Crystal always stood out in my mind and made me laugh so I started calling my children on their birthdays (if I could remember) and say something like, 38 years ago on a very cold January morning, I woke up with a big pain and within so many hours...you get the picture. I never intended to make it a tradition but I think they both liked it when I remembered to do it. So you will know how NOT confused they ever became, neither of them ever remember my birthdate and sometimes I forget myself which at my age is definitly not a bad thing. A friend sent me a web site http://www.blurb.com/ where we can download our blogs and have them bound into books. I'm putting this here so Page (and Bentley) will look into it for us. :-) Love you and Miss you Page.....

Talent = A marked innate ability, as for artistic accomplishment.

I thought I would look up the definition of the word talent. I put one definition in the title of this particular entry and another one is; "Natural endowment or ability of a superior quality". Is it really that easy to define talent? I don't think so. I have quite a few very talented people in my immediate family including writer, muscians, actor, painters and comedians. I have personally written poetry off and on most of my life but very seldom have shared or kept what I have written. I have drawn pictures but have only kept one so far that my sister Ruth, who is quite a good artist, put into a little plastic frame for me to keep. I can pick out tunes on the piano (took lessons in the 4th grade I think for one year) but can't really play. I can carry a tune (used to be able to do that a little better) and I don't know that I'm a good dancer but I do so love it and music of all kinds - just can not stand still. I enjoy arranging fresh flowers and can tell a joke or a story pretty good. I was an excellent manager and won an award for training at the national level when I was working. HOWEVER - I think my real talent is my ability to appreciate other people's talents fully. Case in point are the two additional paintings my dear Katarina has added to the one she has already finished for her little girl's room. As you will recall, the first one was the Princess and the Pea. The second one is Cinderella! I think what I like about this one other than the wonderful colors is how Cinderella reminds me of Katarina. Personally I would love to have this picture in my bedroom. It would bring me comfort to think of my Mom as being in the picture. The third one is Rapunzel. I'm not sure yet, but I'm leaning toward this being my favorite one so far.I think it is a combination of colors and the nice big flowers. Either way, they are all delightful. I wish she could run some prints for those of us who would love to have copies of them. Hint - Hint.

Nifty, Nifty - who turned 50?

Say it isn't so!!! How can it be that my oldest niece is 50 years old today? It seems like just yesterday I was holding her while rocking her in Daddy's big platform rocker on Ross Road smelling her baby smell. Such a beautiful baby she was - from the minute she was born. For a thirteen year old, it was like a little miracle. My last doll Mama bought me was a really big doll that I kept upstair. I'm talking big! Mama had a picture of Dee in that doll's dress! It fit her perfectly when she was a toddler and looked so cute on her. Of course my sister didn't mind that I was so crazy about her since it guaranteed a built in baby-sitter/slave! I know I have spoken of her on my blog before but I couldn't let this little milestone go by without mention. I especially have it mention it since she brought it up on FaceBook earlier today! Personally, I liked my 50's. The picture is of her and her dear hubby and her beloved Dorothy Dog. I don't get to see her too often - maybe the family reunion if we all get there but she leads a very busy life. I have come to the conclusion that she doesn't know how to make a bad picture. I mean really - I can't think of one time I've seen one of her. I do have a picture of her and her mom and they look exactly alike. Believe me, her Mom is beautiful too - always has been. Her's was the first name I spoke aloud as a toddler and she has always tried to "take care" of me like she does everyone in her life that she loves. Love you 2lbs Dee! You too Big Al!

Wednesday.... officially a good hump day....

Today was such a good day, I decided to give myself some virtual flowers. These are one of my favorite flowers and I snatched this picture from a web site. To be honest, Monday and Tuesday were good also but today was a little better. It was my third day back out in the trenches and it has felt so good to be back doing what I love and being with the friends. We have our dear CO and his wife with us this week and the special meeting last night was great! They are the sweetest couple and we so enjoy our special week with them. Eileen joined us for service this morning and it was nice being with her since I haven't seen her for awhile. Her Mom has been so sick and is now in the hospital. Hoping with all my heart things turn around for her and she feels much better soon. Got with my dear friends Gerl and Gail at lunch time and we all came to my house. Gerl had brought her lunch (but did have one of Big D's leftover Krispy Kreme donuts for dessert). I heated up some leftovers from last night for me and Gail. She also had one of Big D's donuts but I had one of his coveted chocolate covered cherries. Yum. I can't believe I only had one! After that Gerl and I hooked up with Keith and his grandmother for street work and it was a wonderful afternoon! Have I mentioned that Keith's mother is Gail? His "other" mother is Gerl. When Gerl's beautiful son died as a teenager, young Keith adopted her and they have a very special relationship. Keith loves his grandmother so much and is very protective of her. To be honest, we all are but you can't let her know it. She is so special to so many people. I met her when I was dating Big D. We went to her big house to bring something to his older brother who was a friend of her husband's. They were sitting around the kitchen table - she had red hair and a beautiful smile and her hubby was a handsome man and HUGE - no - not fat - BIG! Keith is a big man but his granddaddy was much bigger with a big voice and laugh to go with it. At that time, they had 6 children who all ran in and out of the kitchen to check out who had come in. I noticed a green Bible on her counter in the kitchen and picked it up. She asked me if I knew what it was and I said yes, that I had one and that my sister was studying in it. She asked me who my sister was and when I told her, of course she knew them. Turns out she knew my brother-in-law from when he was a small boy in her neighborhood. After I got married and started studying and attending meetings, I got to know her so much better. Eventually, they had two more little boys and when her mother-in-law died, they had her teenage son come live with them. Basically, they raised 9 beautiful children. She was there for me on so many levels that even she will never realize. Both of my children adore her and have wonderful memories of the times she kept them off and on when I would take a part-time or short-term job. We had many late night conversations about everything from raising babies, female health issues but especially husbands who caused us much consternation from time to time! I have been so blessed to have had so many wonderful strong older women in my life to help me along the paths women have to travel. I am home now with Princess Miya and Big D.We have decided to have the Home Plate special for dinner tonight - meatloaf and chicken dumplings! Yum. We get take-out from there every so often but definitely like the meatloaf night best. We normally get one plate of the meatloaf with several veggies (turnip greens are good) and a cup of the dumplings with hushpuppies and it feeds both of us with some left over. I do so love their sweet tea. This place opened in 1995 and has been great for our senior citizen community. My sister-in-law loves it because it is seasoned a little like our mother's food was.

The Princess and the Pea....

I was a young girl the first time I heard/read the story of the Princess and the Pea. I know it was in elementary school - Oak Grove Elementary (the old one). Page did a 100 mile, 2 day Bike Ride for MS several years ago. My sister Ruth went to Atlanta with me for it. We volunteered so we could stay close to her - got the nice red Volunteer shirt and everything. We got up early on Saturday morning, put the bike rack on my car, picked up Page's friend (and bike) and drove to where the ride began about and hour so away. Well - once they stopped at our volunteer station, we left. I thought - heck - I'm not sitting around here, I'm going to the next stop so I'll know my daughter is okay. LOL The ride was pretty grueling on country roads with big hills but we also went through some of the prettiest little villages scattered along the route. My sister and I were pretty busy - we picked up bikers who had broken down (thank goodness for the bike rack), saw some bikers miss their turn and went several miles out of their way (again, thank goodness for the bike rack), picked up Page's friend so she could rest until the next stop where she and Page took off to complete the first 50 miles. That night, we all stayed in a hotel - our room had a pull out sofa bed and a nice Queen sized bed. I told Ruth she could sleep in the bed with Page and I would take the sofa. Page took her sleeping pill (you need to go to sleep within 30 minutes or it doesn't work). Well, Ruth kept talking and wanted to watch TV so Page told her to switch with me and put the closed caption on and let her go to sleep. The next morning, Ruth woke up and moaning and groaning and complaining about having to sleep on the sofa bed and how Page had hurt her feelings. After she got out of the sofa bed, she came over and got in bed with me (Page was getting ready to take a shower) and kept saying, "I'm a Princess and that Pea kept me awake all night!" It was pretty funny. She can get so dramatic. I borrowed this painting my good friend Katarina did for her daughter's room. I love it myself. It instantly made me think of mine and Ruth's great adventure during the 2 day Bike Ride - especially the Princess and the Pea. We saw so many pretty places along the way. After being in the car all day for several days, Ruth finally snapped on Saturday when Page's friend was in the back seat. Out of the clear blue sky, she just snapped at me and I didn't know exactly what was going on but I'm one of the King girls so I automatically snapped right back. Still not sure what made her so mad - she had pouted because I insisted on waiting to watch the bikers start at the starting line (I cried for some reason). She was ready to go right now and evidently she is used to getting her way! LOL Evidently it scared Page's girlfriend really bad. Later Page told me she gave her an account of what happened. It went something like this if my memory is still working correctly - [She was like, your Mama's sister snapped your Mama's head off and then your Mama's head whipped around and she asked her sister what in the world is wrong with you? And then your Mama's sister growled out something in a really threatening way and I was trying to be as quiet as I could because I was afraid I might get hit if blows started being exchanged and then your Mama said something in a really strong voice and all of a sudden, they started talking to each other like nothing had happened at all and I'm like, what the heck? I know they were just getting ready to trade blows out of the clear blue sky and then BAM, they were acting like nothing even happened and to be honest, I don't know what did happen.] Page said she laughed and laughed at her friend and said, Now do you understand why I keep saying how glad I am that I don't have sisters? They can turn evil on a dime honey and you do NOT want to be near when they do. Personally, I think the girl was over-reacting. If she thought that was a fight, she has never seen a fight - especially between sisters. Sissy girl!

GG will be 80......

My hubby's older sister will be 80 years old tomorrow!!!! How can that be???? This woman has been a strong catalyst in my life for more years than I can recall. I first met her as the young, sexy, vibrant mother of my childhood friend. They lived in a red house on top of a hill - I thought it was so cool - a Red House! It had a big white chimney on the front porch and we used to walk on a path through a field to go to my friend's grandparent's house. My friend was the oldest of four active children who were trained from an early age to be responsible and all had chores to do at home. It wasn't long before I learned my friend was related (niece) to a boy I had noticed at a very young age. It turns out her Mom was the oldest and married young and had two children older than her mother's youngest child. The young boy I had noticed eventually became my husband so my friend became my niece! I know - a little convoluted but it works. I love this picture of my friend, me and my hubby at the coast. She is as pretty as her mother and grandmother and I love her dearly. I wish I had a picture in my computer of when GG was younger. She became a strong female in my life and helped me through many of the perils of marriage and motherhood. I think I have already related how all of us young mothers would end up at her house with our babies and what wonderful memories I have of that time. She also taught me other important things like how to drink alcohol without ever getting drunk or sick! My hubby and I used to go on a weekend fishing trip with her and her hubby at least once a year and oh the wonderful memories of those times! We would be out on the boat very early and fish all day. I came to treasure those weekends! She loved fishing as much as my husband does and a few times on Sunday, we would stop by the deep canals on our way home and she and my hubby would fish the canals while me and Papa would read the Sunday papers and maybe take a nap! When her first grandchild was born, she became GG and her husband became Papa. When Papa died, it left a hole in my heart that will never be filled. He was a true patriarch and I loved him dearly. This is a picture of GG with her oldest daughter's three girls. Both of GG's beautiful daughters had three daughter's themselves. Her oldest son had three sons and one daughter and now she has three great-grandchildren - 2 girls and one boy. Her youngest son didn't have any children. I got a lot closer to her younger daughter later in life. She lives on the Outer Banks where she and her wonderful husband decided they wanted to raise their children. She is as pretty and smart as her older sister and I have come to love her very much. She is super organized and loves to clean house more than anyone I know. :-) Her daughters say she has callouses on her hand from carrying the vacuum cleaner around! I don't want to be as heavy into cleaning as she is but I could use a little bit of what drives her. All of the kids are very close to GG and stay in contact with her on a daily basis. She has often told me and Big D how blessed she has been with her children and grandchildren and we have seen it first hand. She stopped by the house today on her way home from an errand but after she witnessed one of my coughing spells, she left post-haste! LOL She ain't no dummy! I called the youngest daughter after she left. Big D was wondering if GG knew they were having a little 80th to-do this weekend and she said yes, but she may have forgotten it. Since there will be so many people, they are all meeting for finger foods and a cake at the Manchester Grill. I'm glad I got to see everyone several weeks ago as I will not be going to the Grill. Just to show you how special the youngest daughter is, she is coming tomorrow to clean GG's house before everyone else comes in. The oldest son, his family and the oldest grandson and his family are all going to be staying with GG this weekend. Wish Papa could be here too........

Good friends.....

What a nice surprise I got today. Two of my dear friends sent me a nice little basket of flowers! I got a call about an hour ago asking if I were going to be home this afternoon because I was going to get a delivery. I started wondering what in the world could I be getting! Aren't they beautiful! I love fresh flowers! What is really funny is one of the sister's who sent this to me is the one who called me Sunday saying, "Okay, this has been going on long enough. What is wrong." She is so funny, dry as toast and I love her dearly. The other sister is also very sweet - she was baptized at the convention this past summer after working through some really tough situations. She has a very large family who were (and still are) all having a hard time with her decisions but she was strong. She has moved across town so it is hard to see each other often. She may eventually change congregations which might be best for her but we would really miss her. Another funny thing is I was just starting to feel sorry for myself. You know- everyone has forgotten me, no one misses me, I could lay in this house and rot before anyone knew it kind of pity party going on and Knock, Knock - the nice reminder that someone does really care. I know - I should write a book about how to feel sorry for yourself. Face Smack! As my dear friend loves to say - "It's my pity party and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want, to, cry if I want to, you can cry to if it happens to you!" So there.

Passing along the memories....

Last week I was thinking about how Page will be 38 this month. I had just turned 25 in November before Page was born in January. My Mother was 30 years older than me. It helps me remember how old people are when I think of how many years there are between us. My first niece was born January 13 after I had turned 13 in November. When Page was born on January 15th, that same niece had just turned 12 two days before; so the oldest niece in my family will be 50 this month! Now THAT is hard to believe - especially when you see how young she looks. This is a picture of me when I was 381/2 years old. It was part of one of the group pictures my sister's and I had taken every so many often. If you click on the picture you can see the necklace up close. I was drawn to several pieces of my Mama's jewelry for as long as I can remember. My boyfriend had a big picture made of me when I was about 14 or 15 and I wore my Mother's cameo necklace (Daddy had given it to her and it had a tiny picture of each one of them in it). I laid claim to that necklace and wore it constantly for years and years. I also wore her original wedding rings. Daddy bought her new ones when I was a girl so she let me wear them also. In every picture my sisters and I had made, I am wearing that necklace. When I was about the age of Page, I told Mama the pictures were fading away and I wanted to try to replace them. It was then that she told me to consider the necklace mine. So this week, I passed the cameo necklace on to Page. I don't wear necklaces too often these days. I used to be known as the unique necklace woman but when I got older, they started getting on my nerves within an hour. Mama also gave me a gold necklace Daddy had made for her. It was a gold chain holding an Italian gold coin my sister purchased for my Dad when she lived in Italy. I took the chain from the coin to use on another necklace and need to put my hands on it. Hmmmm. I propped the tiny little diamond up inside the box to give you an idea of just how small that little stone was but it was gorgeous to me. The band got so thin I had to stop wearing it. Daddy would agonize over what to buy Mama when it came to gifts. He wanted that gold coin to give her in a big way! I remember one year he gave her a beautiful dresser set - comb, mirror and brush. I think he did pretty good for the most part. Daddy was such a complicated man or maybe I should say he was conflicted. I don't know. But one thing I do know and have known all my life - Mama loved Daddy - pure and simple. There would never be another man for her. She took the bad with the good and kept moving forward. And Daddy loved Mama. His problems got in the way a lot but I always knew he would be there if any of us needed him and felt a huge hole in my life when he died. Miss you Daddy - not the drama but YOU. Page gave me a pretty pair of earring this past week. I love them! I haven't been able to wear them yet but plan to as soon as I can get out of this house which hopefully will be soon. Isolation is not a good thing! It wouldn't be so bad if I felt like doing something besides writing on my Blog and checking my FB every so often. :-) What I need to be doing is working on Big D's books in QuickBooks so we can get taxes done as soon as possible. I have about seven months worth of computer and paperwork to do. It isn't helping that for some reason, I can't print out last month's invoices. Everytime I try, I get blank invoices and I can't figure out why. It is nice to look out my office window and see the sun but Big D just warned me - that sun ain't going to warm me up! He said it is brutally cold. I think I'll call some of my pioneer partners and get them to drop off some not at homes and get busy at home. Now that is a plan!

Been in the cave too long......

Big D and I took Page to meet her Mom and Grandma yesterday afternoon in Danville, VA. Big D heated the car up real good and packed it for me so all I had to do was bundle up and climb in. I really needed to see some sunshine but was still coughing too much and felt a little worse than the day before. So far, that has been how this has gone, feel real bad, feel little better and then BAM, feel much worse, etc., etc., etc.. I hated to tell Leah but Page2 started coughing Friday night and was still coughing Saturday. Please don't let her have what I have - she has to go to school next week! She hadn't been taking her allergy medicine so there is hope. I had one of my studies over the phone when we got back which was wonderful! I haven't seen this beautiful young woman or her sons in several weeks so it was good talking to her. I had a nice long chat with my friend Ruth who lives in Florida. Her hubby said they were about to freeze down there! Page1 told me it was real cold in Georgia too. The wind makes the cold so much harder to be in. I'll just stay in my little cave here thank you very much. Leah's Mom said Leah's dad is real sick too and it sounds a lot like what I have. I spoke with him on the phone and he said - "I can't tell you how tired I am of getting sick AGAIN". I assured him that I actually know exactly how he feels. He is such a sweet man and one of the best huggers in the universe. The sun shining through the car windows made me so sleepy - it was nice. The meeting today (over the phone) was great - especially the WT study about prayers. It made you think on a personal note about your own prayers and how they relate to our relationships. Eileen called - she can't find her book for our study so we are going to do it tomorrow (over the phone). I don't want anyone to take a chance on catching this if they can help it. I wanted to add one more picture from our week together. Page had her Shrek ears from her game on and everyone was throwing the rings at her head. Cute. Oh - that cute shirt she has on? Yeah - well it is still here at Granmommie's house along with several other shirts, pants, underwear and sweatshirt with hoodie. Oh yeah - Granmommie is in the dog house - she forgot to look in the laundry room for more of her clothes when she packed. Leah said it was okay but it really isn't. If I ever get out of this cave - I'll buy a mailer that will hold them and send them to her. Oh - Leah also said Page is still coughing but hasn't had a fever so still hoping allergies.