Atlantic Beach, 2013 - Day Three ("Hot Spot" makes it possible)

Thankfully Judy has a Verizon "Hot Spot" device making it possible for me to write on my blog today. Dwight and Douglas headed out on Sunday morning about an hour before Jessie, Miya and I finally finished loading the car and got on the road heading EAST. We made good time getting here and couldn't wait to get the car unloaded and start setting up. It takes Kelly 9 hours to drive from Atlanta so she didn't get here until much later. Judy had already been down here for a week and even though we have begged her to stay with us another week, she is planning to leave this afternoon for home. I'm going to miss her. We have the hardest time making time to get together.  I'm also going to miss her "hot spot" so will more than likely go over to Verizon and pay to hook up for the week. I could wait until I get home to write in my blog but as a rule, when I put it off, I eventually decide to just not write about something that has happened -- especially if I have to wait. I might try to write on my blog on my iPad and see how it works. Sadly, I don't know how to upload pictures on there so would have to add pictures later which once again means - I wouldn't. Oh well.

Yesterday was our first FULL day and it was very pleasant.  We always get good pictures when the sun in starting to go down.

Kelly and Jessie went onto the dock and Kelly decided to try her hand at fishing. They had already been to the "necessary" stores to get what was "necessary" for a few days.

 Jessie's family are down at their "time share" in New Bern and drove over to see us. I was so happy

 to see everyone, especially Jessie's brother Josh and his lovely bride Cindy.  It was also nice seeing

Cindy's son Matt again. I had met them several weeks ago at Doug and Jessie's when I was up for the convention.   Matt decided to go fishing with Dwight and Douglas after they got here and had a wonderful time.  Douglas was thrilled because it was his first time on a boat and he liked it.  Today they rented a jet ski for Matt to try out. They are trying to show him the best time they can before he leaves for college in California.

They actually came over yesterday to pick up Jessie and Page to go with them to the Aquarium.  Carmen had a disk with this picture in various backgrounds. It was cute. Of course I also got some hugs from Wally and Carmen and anyone who know Wally knows what a good hug that is.  They are doing everything they can to give Matt a great  week - especially since he will be leaving soon for California to attend college.  We talked them into staying for dinner and everyone seemed to enjoy the hot dogs and hamburgers Dwight cooked with French Fries and Baked Beans Jessie and Kelly made.  It was nice to have Judy join us for dinner.  We are trying our best to get her to stay down with us. I enjoyed being with her so much - so many good memories of our times here.

Dwight and Douglas went fishing today and Kelly, Jessie and Page went to the beach for awhile.  Kelly had to work first thing this morning and she just told me she is done for the rest of the week.  She just had to be at this particular meeting.

This is after Page got back from swimming with the fishes. I love how much she enjoys everything she does.  Such a delightful child she is. I can not believe she will be in the 7th grade this coming school year. I so hope it is a good year for her.  Yeah - if you have noticed how late it is, Judy left her "hot spot" down here with me for the week.  I promised Mark I would pay for any extra charge due to my using it more than has been paid for so far.  I really appreciate it because it saves me a trip to the Verizon store.  I have been writing on this post for most of the afternoon because of starting and stopping with everyone one coming and going and coming and going....maybe more later. 

This and that mostly snatched from Facebook.....

Just a quick entry with some pictures to get a little more caught up on things. Am so looking forward to our upcoming vacation at the coast. In the meantime----

I wanted to share a picture of sweet Toni. I snatched this from a picture of her and her sisters off of FB - as usual. I just fell in love with the color on her and how it makes her smile pop.

On a sad note, this is a picture of her sweet Rocky. She has had him for many, many years and he recently passed away. It broke all our hearts because we all know how much she has loved him for so long. It is very hard to lose one of our beloved animal friends.

I also wanted to share this delightful picture of Katie holding Patrick and Kristyn's little man. Of course I snatched this one from FB also. She commented on the fact that it looks like he is smiling at her and it actually does.

Another steal from FB - this is Pam's grandchildren.  They were getting ready to eat a sandwich at the picnic table and when she looked out, she noticed they were praying.  How sweet is that.  Obviously a good pattern has been set for them to follow.

Of course, this is a piece by John Everett Millais called Ophelia. It actually is quite beautiful to me. The colors, the detail - beautiful.  Hope you enjoy......

Oops - one more sweet baby and ART......

I had already closed out the last post and was getting ready to put my computer away when I noticed someone had sent me a text message. Along with the message was the following picture of Randi's sweet little boy, Bain.

Isn't he the prettiest little thing? I wish I could get my hands on him. Pam has been babysitting for Randi to work some this week and is going home tonight. She said GG is still doing really good so that made me and Dwight very happy. We really need to get back down there sooner than later. We will plan that as soon as we get home from our vacation. I was sad to learn that Jen and her family are not going to be at the coast while we are there after all.  We thought they had planned to be there at least some of the time we were going to be there.  They will be missed.......

The mailman brought me two packages today. One was my Biotene gum (I was down to the last pack of it and beginning to panic) and the other was art supplies I had ordered. As you know I follow other blogs - a few of which are listed on the side of my page.  Geninne's Art Blog is one of my favorites because of her talent and writing skills.  I found her through Kelly who was following her blog and I fell in love with her work also. Through her blog, I have found several other blogs I also follow. 

 I emailed her to let her know I had purchased two of her "Activity Journals" with tons of pages of her drawings and instructions on how we too can learn to do something similar. I asked her what pens she uses for drawing and for color and ordered both of them to try.  I figure we can play around with them at the beach. She also uses colored pencils but I have some of them from once before when I was going to start painting/drawing.  Uh-Oh - have I just wasted more money for no reason?  I also received the "One Zentangle A Day" book that is also supposed to help you learn about Creative Drawing. Hope springs eternal in my case. I can't even cut a straight line that has been marked for me.  I know - sad.  The good news is that Kelly, Jessie and Page all love to draw and paint so I know they will enjoy it so none of it will go to waste. Oh well........

A new baby, a friend in China, another new baby and a few other things....

A new baby boy has arrived. Patrick and Kristyn had their sweet little boy yesterday afternoon. Their due date was July 22 and they missed it by one day! Katrina, Brandon and the kids drove down to visit and welcome the new little one to their ever growing family. We were all hoping for a boy so everyone is happy.





What a cute baby boy. I know they are still having a hard time keeping the big smiles off their faces as they welcome this new little one into the world.  He doesn't know it yet, but he has entered a family full of love so he will be a happy little man.

This is one of the many pictures Matt has shared so far from his trip to Asia. He is in China right now and will ultimately end up at the International Convention in Japan in several weeks.

 

This is one of the "nicer" of the public toilets they have available.  Yep - that's it.  And you had better have your own toilet paper and hand cleaner or you will be "up the creek" so the speak.  Remind me to do some very intense "squats" for about six weeks before I travel over there please. 

Evidently the food is pretty good. He has sent some wonderful pictures of the different foods he has been eating so far.

I will be sharing a few more as the time passes and he shares more with us. He always takes great pictures from his many adventures. No wonder he has friends all over the world. Everyone loves Matt.  I know we sure do.

I've been holding onto this picture of Jess with her baby girl Lyla. She is growing up so fast. Isn't Jess beautiful in this picture?  The face of a very happy Mommy.

I had to share this picture of Jon at the beach.  He and his family were having a real family vacation in one of their favorite places.  I'm really looking forward to our week down there next week.

I love this family picture of Ivy Jo and five generations. Her Gma just flew in from Australia and she is in her 90's! She sure doesn't look like it. What a pretty family. All three of the young men in the background are Ivy Jo's sons. Yep - they are all very handsome young men.

We also have a new baby boy across the "Pond".  His name is His Royal Highness George Alexander Louis of Cambridge.  I can't help but think about Princess Diana as I look at the pictures of her first grandson born to William and Kate day before yesterday.

She really was a beautiful woman.  It is so sad that she died so young and when her two sons were still so very young. It makes me so proud of William when I see how devoted he seems to be to his lovely wife.  You can tell from the pictures how excited they are about their first child but the last picture of William's face also shows that his tolerance of too much public intrusion will not be allowed in his life again. The family still hold the press responsible for her untimely death as her car was trying to get away from the paparazzi when the accident occurred. She had given up her royal title and tried to live a normal life out of the public eye but it never came to be.   wanted a private life.

This is a picture of the latest King George VI pictured with Prince Charles on his third birthday in November 1951. He Queen Elizabeth's Father and William's Great-Grandfather.  He became the king after Prince Edward abdicated the throne in order to marry a divorced woman.  There was a wonderful movie entitled -  "King George VI: The Man Behind the King's Speech" - about this interesting man. He had a slight speech impediment and had to work very hard to overcome it in order to make a very important speech over the radio. 

                                 

I looked up a picture of another of the new Prince's name-sake - this is also one of the many that were named Prince George.  Man, when you start looking back at some of the history, it can get pretty confusing.  I do recall reading about Queen Elizabeth II and about how young she was when she became the Queen.  There was a movie made some years ago called The Queen starring Helen Mirren. Helen Mirren did a wonderful job in that role and I really enjoyed it.  Since most of the earliest settlers in this country came from England, I guess it is only reasonable we would be interested in where we came from.

Kelly and I have started counting the days until our vacation begins next week!!!!!

My circadian rhythm is way off......again....

Here it is almost 4:30AM and I'm wide awake - again. This is a problem I have suffered with off and on for most of my life. It was very hard when I absolutely had to get up early to be at work. That doesn't make it okay now though. I'm finding it harder and harder to stay awake in the mornings which only adds to the problem. Oh well, maybe I'll be able to get to sleep after I write a little bit.

I'll add a few of the pictures I snatched from Facebook of the Port and Poetry Party that turned out much better than the ones taken with my phone. This is very good of Briana as she is reading her poem. She wasn't feeling well that evening but as always, she looked beautiful.

I love this one of Toni because you can get a better view of her sweet boots. This woman loves her some boots.

This is a very good picture of Marlan as she is reading her poem. She showed me the book she found her poem in.  

I would like to find some time to just sit down and peruse it for a bit.

I wish this picture showed the details of Patsy's sweet little "hat" better.  She is a very funny lady.  I haven't been in her company often but the few times I have, I think I would like her.  She does make me laugh.

This is another one of "the three amigos" as Sherry calls us. You can tell I'm starting to "wind down" for the evening. I was bushed the next day but it was worth it. I am so glad I went.
It is now after 5:15AM so I will sign off with two cute pictures I snatched from Facebook.

I think these pictures pretty well speak for themselves. Just a few examples of why I love cats so very much. You can tell the first picture was taken of a bachelor's refrigerator. It has all the essentials necessary for a guy to be happy. The last picture speaks for itself.  If a cat sees a box, bag, or an opening, he/she is going to climb into it if possible.
Dwight said he enjoyed being at the coast. Even though it was hot, there was a nice breeze on the water, he caught a few fish and he had a delicious fresh seafood dinner. I guess you could say that overall, the trip was a big success.  I've studied my Watchtower for tomorrow and am so hopeful I'll be able to get up and go in the morning. Signing off at 5:45AM.........and wide awake!

Unique, special, one-of-a-kind....

Yeah, that all sounds real good doesn't it? In reality, it can be a big pain in the patootie. It turns out the reason they haven't scheduled me to come get my CPAP machine is because my "type" of Sleep Apnea is "special" and requires a "special" machine. Evidently they tried two different machines on me the night I slept in my mask and neither one of them worked. The doctor isn't sure exactly why I have this issue. He said it might be from the results of the surgery and radiation and all of the deformities caused by them, the medication I'm still taking for pain, or it may just be that I'm special. The good news is they have one that they think will work but it is very expensive and the only way insurance will cover it is if neither of the other two work. SO, my insurance should cover it. They are going to schedule another sleep study using the machine and see if it works. I think I just heard my Mother's voice saying, "Only you Triciajane, only you."

I snatched this picture from Monica's Facebook page. It was evidently taken at the Family Reunion last month. Somebody posted a question to Monica on FB asking her which one of them was Mary Poppins.  Of course, that would be Alice. She is never without an umbrella. She has probably lost count of just how many umbrellas she has. 
Was hoping to get to my meeting tonight but just text messaged Karen telling her to go ahead without me.  Didn't sleep well last night and have felt pretty lousy all day. The headache got so bad I finally broke down and took something for it.  I am happy Karen has agreed to spend tonight and tomorrow night with me so Dwight can enjoy his time at the coast with Steve.

I took a picture of this from the funny papers today and text messaged it to Donald, Sheila, Geral, and Linda. It made me remember a conversation we all had out in service one day about this game. None of them had ever heard of it and they kept saying it must be a "white" thing. I think it was Donald who finally told them that yes, he had heard of it before and what kind of game it is.  I sure do miss those good old days out in service all day with all the other pioneers.  It seems like a distant dream now.  Gotta get off the computer and call in to the meeting.
 

Shakespeare, More Convention, Poetry, CPap, etc....

I will go ahead and get the really sad news out of the way. Katarina and Brandon lost their sweet 10 year old kitten named Shakespeare a few days ago.

He was such a pretty and sweet boy and will be sorely missed by the entire family. I also have a few more pictures from  mine and Marlan's trip to the District Convention with our kids.  I am still basking in the happiness of being able to be there every day. I only missed one hour of the entire program.

I had to share this one of Katie in her new dress. What a great color on her. She was one of the volunteers who sat beside a contribution box before and after the meetings as well as during the lunch period each day. 

The first one is of me holding Hiro Friday night and the second one is me holding our sweet Vincent before leaving for the convention on Saturday morning.  Vincent is over 15 years old now so he is getting pretty feeble.  It made me happy that he still "claims" my lap every time I come to visit. When I mentioned how Hiro claims my lap when I'm at their house but will not let me hold him when he comes to visit, Douglas reminded me that in our house, Miya is the "alpha" cat and I belong to her.  I guess that makes sense. 

Now I will share a few from the Poetry Reading Party Ivy Jo had this past weekend. I have been so disappointed to not be able to make it before so I was pretty happy when Marlan said she would pick me up and take me this year.  Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that it was a "Wine and Poetry" party.

I brought two special poems to be read. I asked Dawn to read my first poem which is the one Douglas wrote the day after Page was born. It is such a sweet and special poem from his heart and highlights all of our fears during those first very scary days.

Judy read my second poem which is the one my brother-in-law wrote about my Mom several days after she died. There is a copy of it on my blog and where I got the name of my blog from.  It is called "Belma's Pearls".  Judy asked me if she could read that one since she was with us that night and stayed with us until Mama had taken her last breath.

Sherry called this one "The Three Amigos" on Facebook. I have a series of pictures I snapped real quick one after another of Sherry that are hilarious. I will only share with her though because I love her.  Oh yeah - they are "that" funny.

I brought something else pretty special home from the Poetry Party besides memories of a good time .  This lovely, plush, purple blanket that Ivy Jo gave me. I LOVE it!  Guess who else loves it? Yep - Princess Miya Chula Yum-Yum. She crawls up in my lap to sleep on it every chance she gets. She looked pretty on the brown one I have been using but I will have to admit, purple really is the color that represents her "royalty" better.  Spoiled rotten cat.

Dwight asked me if I needed anything from the Farmer's Market this past Saturday morning so I told him to pick me up some Sunflowers like the ones Jessie brought me awhile back.  They are no where close to being as big as the ones she found but I think they are pretty anyway.  I'm just glad he put forth the effort to get them for me. 

I had to go back and spend the night at the Sleep Clinic last week to be fitted with my new CPAP mask and try sleeping in it.  Dwight took a picture of me in the mask before he left but it was too blurry to keep. He really didn't want to stay overnight again so I told him to go back home and just pick me up the next morning. I felt a little funny there alone to start with but after I finally went to sleep, I actually did very well.  Now I'm waiting for an appointment to go pick up my machine and to learn how to calibrate it.  I have no idea when that will be and am just hoping they didn't give me a date/time and I forgot to write it down.  Hmm, I think I will call them tomorrow and check on it.