September is winding down.....

Wow - that was fast. I'll have to say that for the most part, September has been a pretty good month, especially this past week. I was so happy I was able to go over to Marlan's for the "Meet and Greet Party" for Phineas a few weeks back. It was my first time seeing Marlan since she broke her leg plus I got to be with her entire family.

 Little Em just gets prettier every day. She can't get much sweeter - look at that smile! Marlan has a beautiful family including her precious grandchildren.

 Dwight and Judy got to get caught up. We were excited to hear all about their 50th Anniversary plans.

And of course, the little man of the hour. His Mom handed him to me as soon as I got there and left him with me for quite awhile. I truly didn't mind since I could have held him even longer.

I can't forget Bain - he just gets cuter every day.  It makes me sad I have never seen him.  Hoping the next time the family is here she will be able to bring him over for a visit. 

I ran across this picture of Moni and Tadashi - I love it. We were so happy to see him really enjoying himself that long weekend.  It was so good seeing all of them at the first Belma's Pearls Family Reunion a little over a week ago. 

I really liked this one of Stephanie, Douglas and Ted.  Stephanie rented the beautiful club house that is in the Park where she lives.  Several of the kids played tennis and of course Steph beat them. 

Of course I love this one of Moni (my first girl) and Kelly. I'm thirteen years older than Moni and she is 12 years older than Kelly.  I get to keep up with Moni on Facebook as well as her handsome brother Sid. Her sweetie - Tom - came by for a nice visit.  We enjoyed him very much.

Someone took quite a few of us all sitting together and this was the first one taken. I decided since we were all already smiling so big, it should be the one I showed - the natural one.

I'm not sure what Sid is telling me here but it must have been a good one. And yes Moni - before you say it, I definitely see Mama here.  Uh Oh. 

Here is Faye calling everyone to eat.  Not really, she was talking to everyone and I think someone asked her a question.

Of course Kelly is always aware of the more important needs of the moment and rose to the occasion with a much needed fan of sorts. Faye only got a little emotional when talking about Barbara but for the most part she did really well.  She then asked about the Belma's Pearls poem so I pulled it up on my iPad (it is on my blog) and I read it.

This is one of many that were taken. It isn't that great of me but I think it is the best of everyone else. Overall - we decided it was a big success and we are planning to do it on the same weekend every year. I can't tell you how happy we were to see Tadashi, Paul, Lori and Brandon.  The trip was totally exhausting but they got there and we enjoyed them. 

So I will end the reunion pictures with three of my favorite family members - Big Al, Moni and "Little Sid".  We were sad that Big Sid wasn't there but totally understood. Someone gave him tickets to the Duke Football game and we all know how much he loves Duke.  They were excellent seats but sadly Duke lost by 4 lousy points.  Made us all feel sad but we know Sid really enjoyed it.

I have to brag since Jessie and Doug's Chili won 2nd place in the Annual Chili Festival.  Their Chili won the last two years so they figure losing by just 1 point wasn't too bad.

Isn't this the cutest thing? It is a picture of Hiro in his brand spanking new blankie.  I know, we are nuts aren't we?  But we do love our babies.

 I'll close with these pictures of GG and Leif. I'm so jealous because Dwight is going down there fishing this week and will get to see all of them.  Hopefully I'll be able to go next time. He deserves a trip away and thankfully, Zandra will be here with me all week.  She and Mike came in tonight and feasted on Dwight's BBQ Ribs  and potato salad. Mike leaves Monday for a Golf Tournament.

Update on Jess and other tid-bits.....

Dwight and I got on the road around lunch time Saturday and we got to the hospital a little over three hours later. I'm not sure what we did before we had GPS but I sure am happy we have it now because we would have had a hard time finding the hospital without it.

We were very happy to see Katie who was visiting at the time.  I had begged her not to cut her very long hair off but she obviously didn't listen. I hate to admit it but it really does look good.  And it is still long enough for her to put up when she goes on her runs. She promised she was going to have her pictures from her adventures in Africa up and ready to view soon.  She talked about the Safari she went on, how gorgeous the Lions are and about her riding on an elephant.  As a child I used to dream of riding an elephant the way that Tarzan and Jungle Boy did.

They were just finishing their lunch when we got there so I ran Douglas off his chair/bed and rested a bit.  It was great being able to get caught up with them and for us to see for ourselves that Jessie is improving.  They had doubled her Coumadine and were still giving her morphine shots for the pain. Jessie gave us her key to her Mom and Dad's house and we headed on over there when we left the hospital.  Carmen has turned the lowest level into a lovely apartment where we stayed.  Dwight was hungry so after he got me settled in he went to get something to eat.  I dozed and when I woke up I realized he had been gone almost three hours.  I called and he answered with, "Hey, I was lost but now I'm found".  Poor thing got all turned around and drove all he way back into Roanoke the long way.  He had called Douglas who got him on his way back home.  It was good being with Samantha, Wally and Carmen.  Samantha slept with me Saturday night. Dwight went out and bought biscuits for everyone the next morning after which we left and went back to the hospital.  After we visited awhile, we headed back home.  The weather was gorgeous both days.  Sadly, the trip whipped my butt.

 

 



I snatched some pictures Darrell had posted that he took at the Circuit Assembly in Salisbury this past weekend.  The first picture shows some of the renovations including the two big screens up front now. The second picture is of two of  my Dwight's distant cousins - Ellen and Faye.  They are sisters and rode on the bus with Patsy and Ruby who are in the next picture. That is Ade sitting behind Patsy and Ruby. The picture above is Katrina and her youngest, Em.  Darrell told me a little about the assembly and how it was not only encouraging was but very loving.  It made me wish even more I had been there but Marlan and I will get to hear it in several months when we go with our children to theirs. 

I loved this cartoon of Zoe playing hopscotch. We loved this game as children. You could use a stone to draw it on a sidewalk or a stick to draw it in the dirt.  Then you found a big stone to toss and you had the game of hopscotch!!! How easy is that? 

 

 

I got a package in the mail and inside was this sweet card from Marie!  Zandra had bought the material and a pattern and I was thinking about making a quilt. I know, I know - don't laugh too hard!!!Eventually I gave it to Marie and forgot all about it.  This is what she sent me.  It is a runner and I love it.  Thank you so much Marie - you are so talented and so very sweet.  I found out something important - I don't do quilts.  You and Zandra would be proud of me though because I have been doing some "repair" sewing to the quilt Kelly sent home with me from the beach.  She uses it when we go down and decided to just leave it and the full-size sheets with me from now on.  I love it and am using it in my chair now.

 

I wanted to post a picture of the little bird house - I finally hung it up in the window too. 

I snatched this picture of Darrell's parents from his site - she reminds me a little of Maggie here.

I just had to share this - the caption says it all!  I wonder if we would find this under our couch?

This made me think of the nights me, Dwight and Kelly used to watch movies together here in the living room. If it was a good movie, we all had "moisture" showing up during the sad scenes.

This is a picture of GG's sister-in-law - Jane. She lives down the street from us but we seldom see her.  We miss when she used to walk past our corner every day for her exercise.

More pictures Darrell took from the assembly this past weekend. His lovely wife on the left, their oldest daughter at the top with her little girl and his Aunt Karen and his youngest daughter at the bottom right. I just got off the phone with Jessica.  She is still at her parent's house.  She sounds much better but still not great. I urged here to take it easy and not push to get back to work too soon.  Matt stopped by for a few minutes this afternoon.  He had a bit of time between studies and stopped in to see how we are and to find out about Jessie.  I told him I am looking forward to getting back out some now that it is getting a little cooler.  He said his foot is better - still not great but he is stretching it and that is helping.  Dwight's niece from Outer Banks just called to see how Jessie is doing. She has been baby-sitting her new grandson and enjoying every minute of it.  We can't wait to meet him ourselves in a few weeks. 

CPap and other stuff......

I have tons of pictures I've been meaning to share so I decided to just put them up.  I know it will be sort of random but I use my blog not only as a journal but also a calendar of sorts.  I am very  unhappy with my new computer. I can NOT manipulate my pictures to use on my blog anymore.  I need to get Darrell to help me with it.  I want what I used to have - it was so easy to crop and make them look better on my old computer.  I will now attempt to put a few pictures that don't need any editing up.

I opened up my old red pocketbook and found tons of stuff in there including my little date book I ordered from Geninne's Art Blog a few years ago.  The pretty little extending back scratcher was one of the gifts from the beach and the two little origami pockets were made by JoJo and given to me at the meeting.



Another sweet box with kitty cats on it for my jewelry.  So cute- it is all wood.

 Handmade necklace and matching earrings made by Yonn Valdez. She and her dear hubby have returned to Arizona - she will be missed by all the other pioneers I'm sure. I will also miss his great comments at the meetings.

 Last night was my second night using my CPap and I did pretty good.  I do believe I had the mask a little too tight... I had a very red mark on my forehead and across the bridge of my nose which is still quite sore. I'll be careful to not make it so tight tonight.

 I finally found the perfect place for my iron LOVE sign. Debbie thought it was a good place too and put it up there for me. She can do anything.

 Sorry - I just had to share it.  I would love to have a shirt with this on it.... it even looks a little like Miya when she isn't very happy.

 I put this one up because it reminds me of some pictures Jen has framed in her living room. She should do one like this and include Dixie.

 Uh-huh - I've got it.  Never doubted it - nope, not for a minute.  This is TOO cute.

 This one tugs at my heart strings --- strongly. I can see myself in that chair with a nice cold glass of sweet tea.  It also makes me think of Monica and Patsy who both have places at EI - color me "envy".

 Pam's beautiful grandson. His Mom is going to bring him over to see us in a few weeks when all the family is here.  We can't wait to get our hands on him and snuggle that sweet neck.

 This is another picture of my bird book with my appointment with Dr. Sharpe stuck in it. It seems like that was a real long time ago....a lot has happened since that important appointment.

This is what the screen of my laptop looked like when it died. I makes me so very sad - especially since I still haven't gotten the hang of my new one - at all. 

A picture of Zandra with one of her beautiful granddaughters. What two happy faces there.

 

I have been getting hot lately - usually my feet stay cold no matter how warm it is.  I still need the

 heavy purple one when I go to sleep.  A better picture of the little origami pockets JoJo made me.

I finally hung the pretty little vase Monica gave me. I was looking for something else and found the fishing line instead.  I'll take another picture of it once I put a flower inside it.

I have to share this picture I snatched from Facebook.  This is my very handsome cousin - Alan. His Mom was two years older than my Mom and I used to go stay with them in the summer. He is a little younger than I am. I see a lot of my Aunt in his face here.

This is a note Page wrote on her Mom's chart in her hospital room.  She is so ready for her Mom to be better and home again. I'm really looking forward to seeing her tomorrow also. I have had several friends call me to tell me they will miss me tomorrow. I'm sad about it too but thankfully, Marlan and I will be able to go to the assembly with our children in several months.  We both realize how blessed we are to have that option. As a matter of fact, we would have gone to at least one day of their assembly anyway so we are fortunate to have a back-up plan. Hopefully Marlan's leg will heal and she will be able to be up and around sooner than later. This has been very hard for her - very hard.

 I'm closing with pictures I was given permission to share by sweet Sonia in France. I asked her about it a long time ago but never got around to sharing it. Most people know how much I love dragonflies - so this picture really caught my eye. Hope we find Jessie doing much better by the time we get there tomorrow. Hate she is having to go through this.  Have a great weekend everyone.