Ramblings

Two days after Christmas

2011-12-28T20:53:00.000-06:00

Christmas is without a doubt my favorite holiday. I love to decorate my house, buy and wrap presents, and bake for the holidays. Since our children have families of their own, we only get to spend Christmas with them every other year. And this was our year.

So last Tuesday, all of our family came home except Mallory and Chris. So we had four children plus one son-in-law and six grandchildren. Krista and Phoebe only got to stay for three days as they wanted to get back to spend Christmas Day with Mallory and Chris, but everyone else was here for the full week.

We had a great time. Every day an elf named Elvis left a letter for the kids with a new craft for them to do.

The first day we made chocolate crinkles.

The next day the kids made houses out of Rice Krispie squares and candy. Rhett and Nicolas planned their decorations carefully.

Cam and Noah tried to put as much candy as possible on their house!

Another of our traditions is to take family pictures on Christmas Eve before we go to church.

Gary and I pose with five of the grandkids. They look so nice with their Sunday clothes.

We also had a white Christmas this year. The kids were very excited that it snowed on Christmas Day. Isabel had asked Santa for snow - and he came through this year! He also came through with video games, cameras, Barbie dolls, and other wonderful gifts too numerous to mention! No one was disappointed.

So everyone left yesterday, and I have spent the past two days washing sheets and towels and taking Christmas decorations down. The house is almost back to normal, and it is very quiet!

It's been sew long!

2011-11-08T19:31:00.000-06:00

At one time I think that I was a pretty good seamstress. I made many of my own clothes, as well as clothes for the girls. I made Easter dresses, Christmas dresses, Sunday dresses, prom dresses, and wedding dresses. Yes, I made all three of my daughers' wedding dresses. However, after I made Aimee's dress, I quit making clothes. I have made quilts and curtains, but no clothing. I think that it just got easier to not make clothes. The focus of fabric stores changed from dress-making to quilt making and crafting, and patterns became very expensive - $20 or more. So, I have not made myself anything for a long time.

But several weeks ago, my aunt died. I went to San Antonio to be with my cousins and to help them clean out her house. She had some beautiful wool fabric that she had bought in England and Ireland when she lived there with her family in the 1960s. I couldn't stand the thought of throwing that away or donating it to Good Will, so I brought several pieces home with me. And I started looking at patterns again. I finally found one that I liked for a piece of winter white wool and today, I cut it out. I hadn't realized how much I had missed working with really nice fabric until today. I had planned to start sewing tomorrow, but I agreed to substitute teach so it will have to wait. Back in the day, I probably would have been sewing right now. But I don't do my best work at night anymore, so it will have to wait. Maybe this year I will have a Christmas dress that I made myself!

Lots of birthdays!

2011-09-16T16:40:00.000-05:00

Birthday season in the Renner family is here. There are 15 of us - Gary and I, 4 kids, 2 in-law kids, 7 grandkids - and 12 of us have birthdays between September and February. There are 4 this month alone. Cameron on the 14th, Jana on the 15th, Aimee and Casey on the 22nd. So, Happy Birthday to my September babies!

When the wells run dry

2011-08-19T20:56:00.000-05:00

We are in the midst of an extreme drought. It has not rained here for almost a year. It is dry! I read an article the other day about the drought which stated that drought is a creeping disaster. In other words, while we know immediately about disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, we don't really realize that a drought is happening until it is full-blown. Since we are not accustomed to rain every day, or even every week or month, we go along waiting for rain until it has been 8, 10, 11 months since we last saw precipitation. And that is where we are right now.

Gary's uncle Cotton was here last week from Louisiana and took some pictures. They aren't pretty, but this is what it looks like here right now.

The house with the blue pool in front is the house where our kids grew up. We had a huge yard with shade trees and most summers, the grass was green, not like this year.

I have come to believe that every place has its own kind of beauty, and that is certainly true about the Texas panhandle. Where else can you see the horizon in all directions? Where else can you see the stars at night with little competition from city lights? When I visit Krista in North Carolina, I am always glad to get back to the flat land so I can see both where I am going and where I have been. But it is hard to see that there is any beauty in the pictures above. It looks like the dead of winter instead of the middle of summer! Besides having had no rain, we have also had a record-breaking number of days with temperatures in the 100s. I, for one, will be glad when winter comes. And I promise that I won't complain about the cold!

Two weeks of fun

2011-07-18T20:26:00.000-05:00

For the past two weeks, three of my grandsons stayed with me to attend the Summer Drama Workshop. SDW has been going on in our little town for almost 50 years. It started back in the 60s when one of the high school alums agreed to spend two weeks teaching a bunch of elementary school kids to sing, act, and dance. I was in high school - or maybe junior high - when it started, and I was asked to be the pianist for the event. It has been going on ever since,
and now there are three different productions - elementary, junior high, and high school. There have been many different directors, some from out of town and some from here, but it is something that draws about 100 kids between the ages of 5 and 18. Many of these children are not local, but most of their parents grew up attending Summer Drama and now they come to stay with grandparents for two weeks of singing, acting, and dancing.

So this year, Rhett, Noah, and Cameron came to stay with me for this event. Aimee participated when she was in school and was eager for her boys to have this experience. She decided to spend the two weeks here as well, and it was a great two weeks. The boys had to be at the high school by 9:00 every morning, and we had three hours to visit, do laundry, buy groceries, or whatever needed to be done.

Each boy had a speaking part as well as songs to learn, so we worked on lines, songs, and dances. You can probably see that they are not terribly excited about this!

The rest of the time the boys were playing video games, board games, the Wii, or whatever else we could think of for them to do. We even got some early school shopping done for each boy. Noah's favorite purchase was this black fedora! He wore it a lot!

On Friday, Aimee, Rhett, and I went to see the last Harry Potter movie. If you haven't seen it, and you are a HP fan, you will not be disappointed. It was very good.

Then on Saturday we had our annual Cheeseburger Festival at noon. It was hot, so we didn't stay too long, just long enough to sample some delicious cheeseburgers. The show was Saturday evening, and it was pretty cute. The boys knew their lines and their songs and performed like pros. It is amazing that the director can take 40 kids between the ages of 5 and 11 and put a show together in 9 days. Kudos to Allison!

Today has been pretty quiet around my house. But that is OK. I love to have my grandchildren visit, and I love to be able to look forward to their next visit!

Warning! This is a rant!

2011-06-10T21:50:00.000-05:00

Thoreau wrote in "Civil Disobedience" that that government is best which governs least. He would see the truth in his statement if he were living in Texas today.

We have a constitutional amendment which requires a balanced budget for the state, and since we have a huge - in the billions of dollars - deficit, the solution proposed by our distinguished legislators is to cut school funding by $4 billion! As you might imagine, this has caused a loud outcry from teachers and parents and anyone else who happens to believe that the education of our children should be a priority.

For the past 20 or so years, we have had a 22-1 student teacher ratio in grades K - 4. Needless to say, if school funding is cut that much, the ratio will be more like 28 or 30 -1! And even with a 22-1 student teacher ratio, Texas ranks about 36th in educational effectiveness. Are we aiming for 50th? It looks like to me that if we are not doing a very good job with 22 pupils per teacher, we are not going to improve if we add more kids to each classroom!

Success for students depends on the quality of the education that they receive in the first four grades. If a child cannot read on grade level by 3rd grade, that child will never catch up. I taught in both elementary and in high school, and I saw kids who had struggled in 3rd and 4th grade still struggling in high school. I heard some of those kids try to read Romeo and Juliet and The Crucible in my classes, and it was painful for all of us. I had students who had never finished reading a book in my junior English classes. I don't think that all of them just didn't like to read. I think that some of them just were not able. I used to be somewhat ashamed that I did a lot of oral reading to my students, but not anymore. I think that I read to them because some of them just could not read by themselves - and I knew it.

I should also mention that Texas has a solvent Rainy Day Fund. Now some of that fund is to be used to cover the budget shortfall for the current fiscal year, but no one seems to want to use it to pay for educating our kids.

What is wrong with this picture?

It's raining!

2011-06-02T20:32:00.000-05:00

At this very moment - 8:28 on Thursday night - it is raining. With lightning and thunder. And real, honest-to-goodness raindrops! Am I excited? Yes, because it has been a long time since we have had any rain - like about 8 months. So if it rains all night, we will still be in the middle of an extreme drought, but the grass will be a little greener and the flowers will look a little brighter.

Existentialism

2011-04-19T08:59:00.000-05:00

When I was a freshman in college, I took a course in philosophy. One of the concepts which my professor seemed to be excessively fond of was exisentialism - which simply stated is that one is solely responsilble for giving his or her own life meaning and for living that life passionately and sincerely despite obstacles encountered. However she never stated the definition that simply so I spent most of my college years completely misunderstanding the philosophy. Since I was an English major, I encountered the idea of existentialism in most of my literature courses. It remained an obscure concept to me as I just did not have the life experience to grasp the simplicity of the rather complex idea. I think that many complex ideas are presented to those who basically do not have enough life experience to grasp them. I remember teaching and reteaching and reteaching certain ideas before the light bulb finally went off in the heads of my students. I finally understood that it wasn't my technique or lack of technique that took them so long. It was maturity.

The reason that I am even writing about this is the road signs in New Mexico. My oldest daughter and her children live in El Paso and the quickest way to drive from here to EP is through eastern New Mexico. And in New Mexico the powers who decide such things have posted signs along the highways which read, "Gusty winds may exist." Now anyone who has ever been in eastern NM - and West Texas - know that gusty winds DO exist. In fact they exist almost every day of the year. It always amuses me while I am driving through the barren countryside to see those signs. I can picture someone thinking that he or she was being very intellectual in deciding on the wording of the signs when in reality that person should have just stated the obvious, " Caution: Dangerous cross winds!" Like we have in Texas.

Finished!

2011-03-29T20:12:00.000-05:00

At last! After watching me finish several quilts for his cousins, Cameron finally got his. He was very excited and liked it a lot!

Wind, wind go away

2011-02-28T09:04:00.000-06:00

I think that it has been almost a month since I last posted. During that time we had some extreme cold - several days under 10 degrees - and yesterday we had the first of probably several severe wind storms. Spring in the panhandle of Texas is rarely pretty. We may have some days that are pretty nice, but we usually have wind. It has been an extremely dry winter, so with the wind will come dust. Yesterday there were even some grass fires in the Amarillo area that spread to residential areas and burned more than 50 homes and 30,000 acres. When the wind blows at a sustained speed of more than 50 miles an hour for most of the day, the humidity is sucked right out of the air. It was a most unpleasant day! We were lucky here to avoid the fires. Our fence even managed to survive mostly intact. Right now, there is almost no wind so I think I will go sweep my garage before the wind starts blowing again.

I am working on a jigsaw puzzle quilt for my grandson. It is the fourth jigsaw quilt that I have made - one for each grandson, each made in his favorite color. Cameron has watched me make each one and told me what his favorite color was. But, each time he talked about his quilt, he changed his mind about his favorite color. So his has more colors in it than the others, but he is very pleased with it and is waiting eagerly for me to finish it. I hope to finish the quilting this week. I will post a picture when I give it to him. I think that Noah was the most excited to receive his. When I gave it to him, he wrapped it around himself and ran around the house like Superman! After I finish this quilt, I will just have one more to do. This will be for Phoebe, and I am looking for just the right pattern for her. That is what I like best - the choosing of the pattern and the fabric!

It's Been a Hard Day's Night

2011-01-31T17:34:00.000-06:00

Left to my own devices, I would probably go to a concert or a play at every opportunity. However, the person with whom I like to go places does not particularly care to attend events of a cultural nature very often. So, I try to pick my events sparingly.

Several years ago Aimee and I attended aTrans-Siberian Orchestra event in OKC. We both loved it, so the next year when TSO scheduled their Christmas programs, I noted that they would appear in Lubbock. I bought tickets for Gary and me and waited eagerly for the scheduled night. To say that Gary did not care much for the experience would be something of an understatement! I think that his kindest comment was that TSO was a rock band on steroids.

Therefore when I saw in Friday's entertainment section that Liverpool Legends, a Beatles tribute band, was scheduled to perform in Amarillo on Sunday night, I asked Gary if he would like to go. His answer, "I knew I should of thrown that paper away, but if you want to go, I'm in."

So we went. What fun! They both looked and sounded like I remember the Beatles sounding 50 years ago. Has it really been that long! I could have sung along with almost every song, but I didn't. Some people did though! And there were people of all ages there. This program is the brainchild of George Harrison's sister who handpicked the young men who portray John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I never saw the Beatles in person, so this was the next best thing!

It's a small world

2011-01-13T16:09:00.000-06:00

First of all, I want to announce that I finished my friend's scrapbook. I am actually a little embarrassed because once I started working on it, I realized that most of the folders in the box were empty. I only had about thirty pages left to scrap. Since the high temperature during the last three days has been about twenty degrees, I stayed in the house and finished it. What a relief!!! Now I need to catch up on my own scrapbook.

Gary and I had houseguests last night. They were two young men, twins, from North Carolina who are traveling around the US making a documentary on volunteerism. This is some kind of project sponsored by the United Church of Christ (Congregational to us). They were on their way to Tucson and had called our pastor to see if they could spend the night with him. They don't get paid for doing this, but their expenses are paid by contributions. So apparently, the less time they can spend in motels, the more money they have for their project. Anyway, the preacher said that he would feed them, but needed someone else to put them up for the night. So we - or rather I - volunteered.

They didn't arrive here until about 9:30. But we visited with them for about an hour and a half. They are very interested in the world around them and want to learn as much as they can about the world around them. They are intelligent and articulate, and I am very impressed by them.

They are very excited about their project and have about five more months of traveling around before they finish. What a great experience for them - and for us for having met them.

We have several things in common with them. They are twins - we have twins. One graduated from UNC - Chapel Hill, Krista earned her Master's degree there. The other graduated from East Carolina - Chris graduated from East Carolina. I wish them well, and hope to hear from them somewhere along their journey.

2011 - and more

2011-01-04T20:44:00.000-06:00

I hope that everyone had a merry Christmas and that your new year will be a good one. We had a quiet Christmas with Cameron being the only grandchild here and Casey and Jana the only children. I enjoyed our holiday, but I do hope that next year everyone can be together as it has been three years since we were all here at Christmas.

Several years ago the Friends of the Library ran a fund-raising campaign so that we could set up a perpetual endowment to fund programs which would probably not be budgeted for by the city. Although we are very fortunate here in Friona to have a good support group for the library and its programs, we felt that it would be beneficial to have some extra money. So for three years, a group of us wrote grants, asked our friends and relatives for money, and canvassed business groups to raise enough money to fund an endowment. The principal of the fund will remain intact while a percentage of the interest will be used for different kinds of programming. I am not a fund-raiser! I do not enjoy asking for money! I did write some grants, which is not quite the same thing, but I was glad when the campaingn ended.

Today our retired teachers' group met and our program was about the new Literacy Center, right here in Friona. Its purpose is to assist adults who do not speak English to learn the language. And, the best thing is that much of the renovation of the center was paid for by the interest on the endowment fund! I think that while we were working on the fund-raising, I never envisioned something real that the interest would pay for! Wow! This is something that will not only help those adults who are learning English but will benefit the entire community.

While I am not usually one who makes New Year's resolutions, and certainly not one who would tell what they are, I am going to make one very public! A friend of mine gave me 16 years of photographs of her daughter to scrapbook - about four years ago. When she gave them to me, she said that she was not in any rush. I think that she should have been! So my resolution is to finish all of her scrapbooks this year - hopefully before summer! Now that I have witnesses, maybe I will finish. I don't have that much left to finish - it is just doing it! I worked a little over an hour today and finished four pages, so all I have to do is work a little every day. Wish me luck!

Christmas Present

2010-12-24T14:55:00.000-06:00

Compare these two pictures with this. The baby boy being held by Krista is now the father of this handsome 7-year-old boy. The only thing that hasn't changed is the Advent calendar. I think that it has been hung in my house every Christmas for the past 40 years or so. My kids hung little felt and sequin ornaments every night in December, and now my grandson follows the same tradition.

I hope that everyone has a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year!

What happens in Vegas...

2010-12-05T19:35:00.000-06:00

We are off to Las Vegas tomorrow. Gary is taking some equipment to a convention, so I am going along for the ride. Maybe we will have some time for other things besides the convention.

Last Saturday we walked the kids to Reeve Lake and got this picture of the five of them. Aimee and Jana wanted family pictures for their Christmas cards and we had a perfect day for outdoor pictures. Of course, I wanted a picture of them with me, so the girls took that picture for me! If Krista and family had been here, I could have used the picture for my Christmas cards!

After the family photos, they tried their luck at skipping rocks across the lake. It was harder than it looked!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

2010-12-01T21:03:00.000-06:00

I am glad that it is December 1. On Monday, I started decorating for Christmas. You may remember that last year I did not decorate at all because we went to Australia. But this year, we will mostly be home, so I will decorate. I have a collection of Santas that I put out on Monday. It seems to take most of the day to clear the shelves, get them out of their boxes, and display them. While I decorate, I always listen to Christmas music, so I had an enjoyable Monday!

Yesterday and today, I had several different things to do out of town, so I have not finished decorating. I think that I will wait until the weekend to decorate the tree so Cameron can help me. He will be the only grandchild here this year, so he can choose the ornaments that he likes the best. I used to love decorating the tree with my kids and have many pictures of the four of them hanging ornaments on the tree.

Happy birthday to my oldest granddaughter tomorrow. We love you Mallory!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T07:56:00.000-06:00

This morning Nicolas and Cameron woke up at 6:10! Is it going to be a long day or what? Right now the boys are playing a Wii game and Isabel is watching. Soon we will all be in the kitchen making pies, cinnamon rolls, a cake. I'm sure that the boys will not last very long, but they think they will.

Nicolas had homework to do over the holidays and finished it yesterday. He was boasting about it last night at dinner, so Gary assigned him some "Granddad" homework. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with for answers.

I wish everyone a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving.

Of birthdays, Nooks, and Thanksgiving dinner

2010-11-18T20:04:00.000-06:00

Well, my birthday has come and gone. We spent the night in Amarillo because I had an appointment with the retina doctor at 9:30. So we ate at Macaroni Joe's, stayed at the Ambassador Hotel, and bought a Nook! When the Nook first came out, I wasn't sure that I wanted one. I love the feel of books, and I couldn't imagine that I would like something that wasn't even a very close replacement. However, two of my daughters have one and really like them. So when Gary said that he would buy me one for my birthday, I decided that it was time to try one. I think that it will be good for traveling as I always have several books in my suitcase when we go somewhere, and books are heavy! So I have one, and I will see how I like it.

This morning at breakfast we were reading the USA Today and it had several articles about the impact that baby boomers have had on society - both good and bad - and the fact that the first group of us will turn 65 in 2011. One of the articles stated that baby boomers were the first "entitled" generation who grew up in a time of relative affluence. So because of that, we raised children who feel even more entitled and expect even more. Interesting, to say the least. I think that most of our parents grew up during the Depression and were determined not to have to live without the basic essentials of life. I don't really think that I feel entitled to a better life, but I'm probably not a very good judge of that.

On a good note, I received a very good report from the eye doctor. I have had retina problems for almost 9 years. My problem is prevalent among elderly people who have either high blood pressure or diabetes. None of the above applied to me. I am generally the youngest and most able person in the waiting room! It seems like every time I received a good report, at the next appointment, something has gone wrong. But today, everything looked great, and he told me that my vision and my retina were as close to "normal" as they could be. Good news indeed!

Thanksgiving is just a week away. I sort of have a menu, but I need to decide what to have besides my famous fruit salad, although most of my family probably wouldn't care if that was all that was on the table! What's not to like about whipping cream, strawberries, pineapple, and bananas!

So, is it winter now?

2010-11-12T21:30:00.000-06:00

You know that you live in the Panhandle of Texas when it is 75 degrees during the day and then it snows during the night. Yes, last night it really snowed here. Of course, it melted pretty quickly, but when I woke up this morning, it was snowing. I wonder if this means that we will have another cold, wet winter? I did finally move my geraniums into the garage yesterday - just in time!

I taught in the junior high today - 6th grade science. Wow! What an impossible age - caught between childhood and teen-hood, between elementary school and junior high. They really don't fit anywhere! The teacher left three puzzles for them to do covering the concept he taught yesterday. One was a scrambled word puzzle, another was a crossword puzzle, and the last was a word search. In other words, reinforcement for the vocabulary of the concept, like force, inertia, gravity. All I have to say is that I hope he plans to do a lot of reteaching!

It is twelve days until Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to seeing most of my kids and grandkids for a few days. With the grandkids in school, it is harder to plan visits. So I am glad that we will have this holiday together. Unfortunately, we won't see Krista and family. Too far and too expensive!

Reflections on an upcoming birthday

2010-11-01T20:06:00.000-05:00

The spider is gone from the garden - to wherever spiders go in the fall. The web was still there, sort of, on Saturday until I knocked it down. It was hooked on to the fence and a tall flower, and I had a hard time getting rid of it. I guess that something that took so much work should be hard to get rid of.

One day last week Aimee wrote that she had been missing her friends and family. It was funny that I had also been missing my family. It must be something about the time of year. While fall is my favorite time of year, there is still a melancholy feeling about things ending.

But it is also my birthday month and I will be 64. I have always loved the Beatles song "When I'm 64" - "When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now. Will you be sending me a valentine, birthday card, a bottle of wine." Of course, when I first heard that song, I was probably 24 and 64 seemed to be an impossibly long time off. Something about 64 suddenly seems so old. I've sort of skated along the last 10 or so years thinking that my age was more middle aged than -gasp- old. But really, do I think that I will live to be 128!

I certainly do not feel like an old person, and, vainly, I do not think that I look like an old person, but the fact is that I have lived over 60 years. I saw the first man walk on the moon, I remember JFK's assassination, I have lived through what students study in classrooms as history. Don't get me wrong. I am thrilled to be here, and I hope to be around for many more years. I still have a hundred things on my bucket list that I hope to do someday.

I think what someone needs to do is come up with a word for someone who is almost 64 and doesn't consider herself "elderly" or "old" or any of those other somewhat negative words. Maybe I need to add that to my bucket list!

I guess that I need to remember something that I read - "It's not the years in the life but the life in the years."

Maybe when I was knocking down the spider's web, I was somehow comparing it to life, my life specifically. I have worked hard to spin my life so that maybe it will last a long time.

PS And maybe someday I will finally learn how to fold a fitted sheet!

My spider is bigger than yours!

2010-10-09T17:50:00.000-05:00

Fall

2010-09-28T08:46:00.000-05:00

I may have mentioned this before, but fall is my favorite season! I love the cool mornings and evenings, the sunny days without much wind, and the leaves beginning to turn various shades of yellow, orange, and red. I also love the fact that my flowers look pretty without much work on my part. By this time of the year, I have usually decided to let whatever weeds are still there to stay there. After all, the first freeze will kill them just like it does the summer petunias, zinnias, and marigolds. So for me, fall is just a time of enjoying the fruits of the hard work of the summer.

Of reunions and birthdays

2010-09-14T09:25:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was homecoming, Maize Days, and the celebration of the centennial of the Friona school district. It was also the 45th anniversary of my graduation from FHS. I was "in charge" of my reunion - something that I won't do again - and also on the Centennial committee, so it was a busy weekend. Adding to the festivities was the reunion of my father-in-law's siblings which was also held in Friona! But that is another story for another post.

The centennial celebration was awesome! My mother was the oldest graduate there. She graduated in 1936, and we had a couple of graduates from the class of 2010. I think that we probably had about 800 people who showed up for at least one of the planned activities. All I can say is "Wow!"

There were about 21 of my classmates who showed up. We had 65 graduates so I guess that isn't bad. Some of the ones who didn't come had contacted me and were accounted for, but there were at least 20 that we didn't hear from. We had two men who made their first appearance since 1965. And our class sponsor for three years was present. She was 24 the first year that she taught in Friona and has been here ever since. We made big plans for our 50th reunion. My class was the largest class to enter high school back in 1961 and we like to think that we made a big impact on the school. One thing that we did was to win first prize for our float in the Maize Days parade all four years that we were in high school. So, guess what? We are planning to build a float for our 50th! Hope it happens!!

Today is my grandson Cameron's birthday - he is 7. Jana's is tomorrow and Aimee and Casey's is next week. In case you are counting, that is four birthdays in eight days. Jana was 8 when Aimee and Casey were born, and I remember that she was very concerned about what would happen to her birthday if the twins were born before we could celebrate. They were very considerate though and waited a week before making their appearance. We celebrate most of our birthdays between September and January so this time of year can get pretty expensive! So a big happy birthday to Cameron today, Jana tomorrow, and Aimee and Casey next Wednesday.

Lost in the city

2010-09-03T09:05:00.000-05:00

I have a funny story about Salzburg that I want to share. In spite of the rain and general gloominess of the day, I think that Salzburg was one of my favorite cities of the trip. We ate dinner on Saturday night at St. Peter Stiftskeller which calls itself the oldest restaurant of Central Europe. Charlemagne is supposed to have eaten here in 803, so that does make it pretty old. It is a former monastery, and the formal dining room upstairs has stained glass windows and frescoes on the ceiling. We ate in the basement - which was very nice also, but not quite as fancy as the upstairs dining room.

Anyway, after we ate, our tour manager told us that she had ordered taxis to take us to the bus. In most cities, buses are not allowed in the old town areas so we would have had to walk about a mile to meet our bus. Since we had dried out and warmed up, she decided that it would be better for us to ride to the bus. In the picture our group is waiting at the entrance for our rides.

Before the taxis arrived, I heard her say that we might have to wait for a few minutes on our bus as he was having to travel through the city to get to where we would meet. Mother and I got into a taxi with two women from Arizona and California who were traveling with us. From the very beginning, I thought that our driver was very rude and impatient - he honked at cars traveling slower than us, etc. Anyway, after about a ten minute drive, we arrived at a vacant lot. He stopped and said, "Out, out, out!" We asked where our bus was, and he said, "Auf Wiedersehen, Auf Waiedersehen !" and gestured for us to get out. So we did since I had heard Rebecca say that we might have to wait for the bus. But after we got out, it was very apparent that we were not with the rest of our group. The lot might have been a parking lot, but it was completely empty and no one else was there! We were wondering what to do when I noticed another taxi with people in it - and they were with our group! Yay!! Their driver had also wanted them to get out, but one of the men refused until the driver assured him that this was the right place. Fortunately, someone had a satellite phone and was calling Rebecca to let her know where we were. They got out also and we stood in the rain until she showed up with a taxi to rescue us. She was not very happy with the two drivers, and I'm sure that she let the company they drove for know that she was not happy!

But, it ended well. We were not lost for very long and did make it back to the bus!

Souvenir

2010-08-31T18:09:00.000-05:00

I know that I have been back from my trip to Europe for a month now and haven't posted one picture! But I have been working on my trip scrapbook and found some pictures that turned out better than I thought they would, so I decided to post them and write something! These pictures are from Salzburg, and the day in that city was really disappointing to me. Before we went, I was excited about Salzburg for two reasons: it is Mozart's birthplace; and it is the setting of The Sound of Music. So, I had big plans for my day in Salzburg as we had a guided tour in the morning and then were to have the afternoon free. I wanted to go to Mozart's birthplace, which is a museum now, and then spend some time just walking around Old Town. But, it was raining when we left Innsbruck, it was raining when we got to Mirabell Gardens where we had our group photo made, it was raining when we finished our group tour - it rained all day! I took a few pictures while we were walking through Old Town, but since it was rainy, almost everyone was using umbrellas. So, most of my pictures are of ...umbrellas! I was also trying to watch my mother so she wouldn't slip on the wet cobblestones. And also because to her all umbrell- carrying people looked alike, she wondered off with a different group a couple of times.

Anyway, after lunch, our tour manager suggested that we ride the funicular to the Hohensalzburg Fortress overlooking Salzburg. This castle was built about 1000 years ago and Salzburg has never been attacked, so I guess it was a pretty good deterrent! The top pictures are taken from the castle looking toward Salzburg. You can tell how rainy it was, but I like the color of domes on the Cathedral. The bottom picture is the fortress taken from Mirabell Gardens. It is very impressive looking, but inside it is pretty bare. I don't think that anyone ever lived or stayed in it for very long. We did go through a torture chamber, but most of the rooms were empty. It was so rainy that my jacket was soaked by the time we came back down. There were vendor booths at the exit of the funicular, and I saw a fleece jacket that had Salzburg printed on it. I told my mother that I was going to buy it no matter how much it cost! Fortunately, it was on sale and only cost 29 euro. So instead of a music box with Mozart music, my souvenir from Salzburg is a red fleece jacket with Salzburg printed on the front!
I think that I just need to save my money and go back!

Summer recap

2010-08-17T09:24:00.000-05:00

I really do not know where the summer went! Yes, I know that I was gone for for 26 out of 35 days in July and August. But three of my grandkids are already in school, one will start tomorrow, and the other three will start Monday. Even though I am retired, the middle of August still signals that summer has ended. When I was teaching, I usually started working in my room on August 1 so that it would be ready when students started. I do not miss those days at all.

My trip to Europe with the bank group and my mother was a good trip. Switzerland, Austria, and Bavaria were beautiful. I took hundreds of pictures, literally, and none of them do justice to the actual beauty of the Alps and surrounding countryside. The Passion Play was truly awesome. It was hard to watch the action, try to listen to the dialogue in German, and read the script in English so I would know what was going on. It was quite an experience.

Gary and I picked up Nicolas and Isabel the Sunday after I returned, then we took them to Tulsa to see Aimee and family a few days later. It was extremely hot in Tulsa, but the kids had a good time with their cousins. Jana, Aimee, and I went to the Cherry Street Farmer's Market on Saturday morning which was fun. Fortunately, it was cloudy so we weren't walking around in the hot sun. We went to a balloon festival that evening and that was fun, except for leaving the parking lot. That took forever!

It was a busy, but fun, summer!

Not in Kansas anymore

2010-07-18T17:56:00.000-05:00

When Aimee and I went to North Carolina a couple of weeks ago, I took a quilt that I had made for Mallory, my oldest granddaughter. It was made from Wizard of Oz fabric with different scenes from the movie as well as individual pictures of both Dorothy and Glenda, the good witch, and yellow brick road fabric. It was fun and pretty easy to put together. The result is shown on the right. Now I just have two more quilts to make for grandchildren. I hope to get them made by this time next year.

Aimee and I had a good trip to North Carolina although I have to say that whoever said that it was only 18 hours from Tulsa to Wake Forest has never made the trip with us! It was more like 22 or 23 hours. I think that if we ever do it again, we will fly - in spite of the cost. Aimee wrote about the trip on her blog, and since I know that we have some readers in common, I won't repeat all that we did.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I leave for Switzerland, Austria, and Bavaria. I am excited about the trip and will post about it when I return. My suitcase is packed and only weighs 35 pounds so I have 15 pounds that I can use for purchases on my trip. I really wanted my suitcase to be pretty light as I am going with my mother and will need to be able to handle both of our suitcases. I suspect that hers will not be 15 pounds light! So until I return, enjoy your summer.

A little of this, a little of that

2010-07-05T21:01:00.000-05:00

I just realized that it has been almost a month since I last blogged. I don't think that I have been that busy, and I am sure that I had things that I wanted to say. I just don't know where June went!

Tomorrow, I am going to drive to Tulsa to see Aimee's new home. Then the next day we are leaving for North Carolina to visit Krista and her family. I am really excited - for several reasons. First, I haven't been to NC for two years. For some reason, I didn't get there last summer. Although I have to say that summer is not really the best time to visit. Second, I am going with Aimee and Rhett and Noah. I feel like we are going to have a great time driving. It will be neat to cross the Mississippi River with them, and drive through Nashville, and through the Smoky Mountains. Even though we will be on I-40, with millions of trucks, it is really a beautiful drive, and I am glad to be going. And third, it is always fun to see Krista's girls in their own setting. Unfortunately I don't get to see them very often, and it seems that if they come to see me, it takes them a few days to get comfortable with the surroundings. But in their own home, they are much more relaxed and I can see them as they usually are.

Phoebe will celebrate her fifth birthday tomorrow. It's hard to believe that she is already five. She is our youngest grandchild, our baby, and she isn't a baby anymore! Five years ago, we drove to NC in the RV that we had at the time. Talk about an endurance trial! I think that we decided that we weren't really RV people after that trip!

Five days after I get back from Krista's, I will be leaving for Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. I am going with a group sponsored by our bank, and with my mother, who was 90 in October. We are going to Sound of Music country and to a Passion Play that is performed only once every 10 years. It should be a great trip.

So cool!

2010-06-09T16:56:00.000-05:00

I kept three of my grandsons last week - Rhett, Noah, and Cameron. Like any good grandmother, I planned something for them to do every day so that they would not get bored, homesick, etc. On Tuesday, I took them swimming, and one of Gary's cousin's sons was a lifeguard. The boys have seen him only occasionally, but they were so excited to see him. He said hi to them and gave them all high fives. When the boys came back to where I was, Rhett said, "He is so cool! Can we invite him over to play with us?" Now this young man is 17 and will be a senior, but I said that I would call him later that afternoon.

Well, he was busy for the next three days, but he said that he would come over on Friday. Not only did he come over, he stayed for three hours! He played baseball (in 100 degree heat!), played the Wii, watched them play their DS games, talked to them like they were real people, and even ate dinner with us.

Wow! The boys were so happy, as you can see in this picture. And Rhett was right - he is so cool!

500 Miles

2010-05-21T12:16:00.000-05:00

Today marks the 9th anniversary of my dad's passing. He was a good man, a gentle man, and a quiet man. I don't remember that he ever told me what to do but I always had an instinct for things of which he would disapprove. He had high expectations for me which was somewhat unusual for fathers of female baby boomers in the 50s. When Gary talked to him before we got engaged, his main concern was that I finish college - and I did!

He died less than a month before his 84th birthday and less than a month after his and mother's 59th wedding anniversary. He was happiest when working and even the last few years of his life liked to go to the barn and work on motors and engines. He had been in poor health for a couple of years so his death was not unexpected, but it was still hard to see him go. People have said that he is in a better place, and I hope that is true.

When my brother and I were young, we went on a family vacation every summer. I think that our first one was when I was 7 and my brother was 3. We went to most of the western states and saw the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Disneyland, Mt. Rushmore, and many other places. But the one thing that I most remember was that our goal every day was to drive 500 miles! Yes, 500 miles a day. That was before 70 mph speed limits, interstates, cell phones, portable DVD players so we played the license plate game and I read. And we would travel for 3 or 4 days in one direction then turn around and go toward home, but always taking a different route. And when I say that we saw Yellowstone, that is what we did. I remember waiting to see Old Faithful erupt, then we drove through the park - no hiking or anything like that. It was only after I was older, that I even realized that one could do something like that. We even drove through Death Valley in the middle of the day in a non-air-conditioned car! And lived to tell about it!

So, on the night that Daddy died, the minister came to the house to get some information for the sermon for the funeral and that is what both Joel and I remembered. And at the end of the funeral, the minister said, "I think that Ernest is in heaven, it is probably 500 miles away, and he made it in one day."

Big Day!

2010-05-18T15:53:00.000-05:00

These beauthful childen belong to our oldest daughter. Nicolas celebrated his first communion on Saturday. He looked so handsome and grown up! Isabel told him he looked like he was going to a wedding. As we were walking up to the church, a woman walking the other way asked him if he were getting married! I think that he was a little embarrassed at that.

Since I am not Catholic, I had never been to a first communion so I really didn't know what to expect. But I found the ceremony very moving and impressive. The priest spoke to the children and basically told them that the happiest people were those who put others first. I think that is a message that one can not hear too many times. And it is especially appropriate for 8 and 9 year-olds who tend to be somewhat self centered anyway.

Jana hosted lunch afterwards, and we had been concerned about the weather. Would it be too hot or too windy or rainy or ? But it was a beautiful day. No wind, not too hot nor too cold, sunny. Days like that are rare anywhere in Texas but especially if one has some outside activity planned!

Then on Saturday night, Isabel performed in a ballet recital. This is her third year to take ballet and her third recital. She did such a good job! She really loves to dance and it shows in her performance.

It was a very busy day!

Just some thoughts

2010-05-11T14:59:00.000-05:00

I am waiting for my homebound student to come to my house, so I will write a quick post. She will be going back to school next week, but she has a research project in English so she is coming here for internet access. The school has laptops for students like her but I could not ever get the one checked out to her to connect to the internet so I took it back. The district tech person was not helpful at all! I decided that she could use my computer and it would be much less frustrating for me.

I guess that no matter how long I am out of school I will always think of May as the end of the year. I have been retired for six years now and I still get that somewhat nostalgic and bittersweet feeling that I always had at the end of the year. Maybe because I have worked more at the school this year instead of only working with students at home! But I am looking forward to summer this year.

Rhett and Noah will spend a week with us in June, then Aimee and I are planning to drive to NC to see Krista and family in July. My mother and I are going to take a trip to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the middle of July - if everything goes as planned - so this summer will be busy. I may also have some other grandchildren visiting at various times.

Have a nice rest of the week and a nice weekend.

Independence

2010-04-23T08:12:00.000-05:00

This has been a busy week! One thing that I did was take my mother to the doctor. For her age, she is in remarkably good health. She takes medication for high blood pressure. Period. That is really the only thing that she takes regularly for her physical well-being, and except for occasional antibiotics that is it. Like I said, for someone who is six months past her 90th birthday, I think that is remarkable. But, she still has regular doctor appointments, and I am not sure whether that is for her continued well-being or because of the fact that my brother is a cardiologist and her cardiologist is one of his partners. For about the past two years, I have been driving her to her appointments. And this is something that she does not like at all! Both my brother and I feel that for various reasons, she should not be driving out of town. She, on the other hand, thinks that she can still do everything she could do twenty- or even ten - years ago. So we have this continuing conversation about the necessity of my chauffering her to these appointments.

ME: Your appointment is on Tuesday at 10:45. We need to leave about 9:00. (I set the time about fifteen minutes before we really need to leave because she does not get around as fast as she used to.)

MOTHER: I can probably make it without you.

ME: No, we have discussed this before, and both my brother and I think that I should take you.

MOTHER: But I really hate to ask you to do this.

ME: I know, but I have nothing else to do on that day, and I really don't mind doing it.

MOTHER: I know. But I still don't think that you need to take me.

And on it goes! And we have had this conversation about 50 times!! I do understand that it is important to her to maintain a feeling of independence. However, she has told everyone but me that it really tires her to drive out of town and she is always tense when she does, so I guess I don't understand why she doesn't just accept that I am going to take her. I don't know what she will do when she has to give up driving altogether, as I know that day is coming. Probably sooner rather than later. That will be hard for her because I think that driving is so symbolic of independence. For everyone. Think of 16 year olds getting the prized driver's license. But at some point, reactions slow and it becomes dangerous not only to the elderly driver but also to everyone else on the road. So I guess that this conversation will continue with her hoping that I will relent and let her go by herself and my hoping that she will accept the fact that I will not change my mind. An impasse!

A New Look

2010-04-08T08:38:00.000-05:00

When I started this blog, I just randomly picked a template without giving it much thought. However, the more I looked at what I picked out, the less I liked it. Did I really want a mauvy background look? Did it make me seem like an old lady with blue hair? Was that how I wanted to represent myself in cyberspace? Well, the answer was "NO!" So, I have spent an unseemly amount of time browsing through templates, websites, etc. to find something that I thought represented the "real me" somewhat better. I can't really say why this was so important to me because as far as I can tell, I only have two readers, but it was.

So here is my new look. I hope that it gives a better idea of who I am - not that my two readers don't already have an idea of who that person is!

Spring is here?

2010-04-07T20:20:00.000-05:00

The calendar says that it is spring, but it was windy and cold here today. In fact it has been windy for about a week. Unfortunately, that is spring in the Texas panhandle. We get a lot of windy days. But I have phlox blooming, daffodils blooming, and tulips trying to bloom. I also have some lovely purple weeds that I really need to get rid of - but it is too cold!

Something is not working!

2010-04-05T20:58:00.000-05:00

I have been the homebound instructor for the school system for the past six years. Homebound instruction is for students who are unable to attend school for medical reasons. Usually in our school that means girls who have given birth - they are given six weeks of "maternitiy leave" and if I meet with them for four hours a week, they are not counted as being absent. Not really a bad thing for them, and not a bad deal for me either as I am paid an hourly rate that is the equivalent to my hourly salary at retirement. Since schools are evaluated on the number of drop-outs, it sometimes helps to keep the girls in school long enough to graduate.

Every year, except for last year, I have had between two and four students. Last year I only had one young woman at the end of the year, and this year at the beginning of school, there were no girls who were about to give birth. I thought that maybe we had turned a corner and were going to see fewer high school girls becoming mothers.

Well - how wrong I was! In the past month, two girls have had babies, and there are six more girls in high school who are pregnant. Six! Most are due next fall, so I will most likely be working from the first or second week of school until Christmas.

To say that the teachers, counselor, principal are concerned is an understatement. We have a huge epidemic of children giving birth to babies. They are not ready for parenthood. Many of them face this momentous step as a single mother. Most of the time they do not know what they are going to do for child care when the return to school. It is a huge problem! How are they going to care for this new life with no education and few skills? Many of them are intelligent and had planned to further their education in some way until they had a baby. After - they don't know what they are going to do.

The official position of the State Board of Education on teaching contraception is to teach "abstinence only." I really don't think that our school district is the only one who is experiencing this explosion of babies, so I wonder why the "powers that be" don't realize that something needs to change.

Madness

2010-03-22T08:44:00.000-05:00

I am not a sports fan. I rarely just sit down and watch a sporting event on television. Nor do I plan my life around sports. Except ---- during March when the NCAA basketball tournament is played. Then I become the ultimate sports fan!

So, last weekend I watched almost every basketball game that was televised and wished that I could have watched some others. One of our daughters and her kids were here and I even got my grandson hooked on filling out a bracket. Is that bad? I don't know. But I guess that there are worse things than betting a movie and night out against a homemade apple pie.

Kansas was not kind to my bracket as I had picked the Jayhawks to win the whole thing, but my consolation is that so did my husband!

Excitement

2010-03-12T08:00:00.000-06:00

I am excited today because we are going to visit our youngest daughter and her family for the weekend. They are going to move soon, and although their new home won't be that much farther from us, I wanted to visit their present home one more time as I really like the place that they are living now. I'm sure that I will like their new location also, but it is getting harder to pick good times to visit because the grandkids are getting older and busier. I think that one of our grandsons has a soccer game this weekend, so we will get to watch him play.

On another note, it snowed again yesterday all morning. Fortunately, the ground was warm and the snow was very wet, so it melted very quickly. But it was cold. We have had a very cold winter and I will be glad for spring, or at least warmer weather. Of course, spring in this part of Texas means wind, so along with the warmer weather we will have days of gusty wind. Along with the good, we have to take the bad!

Our oldest daughter and her two children will be here next week. I hope that it is not too cold, windy, etc., so we can do some fun things. It will be nice to have them here for a few days. I do enjoy seeing my grandkids!

What a difference a month makes

2010-03-04T12:05:00.000-06:00

I just took this picture about 30 minutes ago. I have some lovely purple flowers coming up in my mailbox garden. The picture below was taken just over a month ago. The mailbox garden was covered with quite a lot of snow. The pile of snow in front of Gary's car stayed piled up like that for almost the whole month. But it is gone now; it is almost 60 degrees today; and I have flowers coming up! This winter has been a real winter! I know that sounds funny, but usually if we get snow, it is gone in a couple of days. But this year was different. We got snow and it stayed cold so the snow didn't melt. I was working almost the whole month, so it really didn't bother me that much. I went to work and I came home. I really didn't have time to think about going anywhere, so the snow didn't really bother me. Now I am glad that the snow is gone. Four weeks of it is plenty for me. We will still probably have some cold weather, and it may even snow again, but I know that spring is just around the corner, and I am glad that I don't live in a place where snow stays on the ground from October to May!

Just dropping in

2010-02-19T19:53:00.000-06:00

This week has passed so quickly! Compared to the six weeks that I was teaching, it has seemed to fly by. I spent a couple of days putting things away that had been left out or out of place, a couple of days working on my scrapbook of our Australia trip, and that's about it! But I enjoyed every minute.

I've also been watching the Olympics. I love the terminology of the snowboarding and other extreme type sports. The "rider" is "dropping in" on the course, for example. I stayed up late two nights watching figure skating - my personal favorite. I'm glad that I didn't have to get up to go to work those two mornings!

Retired again

2010-02-11T20:26:00.000-06:00

Well, I am finished with my teaching stint. I have spent the last six weeks teaching 8th grade science. I always knew that I wouldn't really care to teach in junior high, and as it turns out, I was right! But, I survived. I think that the students learned at least some of what I tried to teach in spite of very firm resistance on their part. Their last assignment today was to write a letter to their teacher telling her ten things that they had learned in the time that she was gone. And, most of them were able to come up with ten things without very much prompting on my part. So, I will be able to resume my real life.

The unexpected

2010-01-13T21:32:00.000-06:00

In case the two or three of you who read this are wondering, I didn't drop off the face of the earth. Instead, I have been teaching 8th grade science since January 4. The regular teacher had a baby after Christmas, and since 8th grade students have to take the TAKS test in the spring, the administration wanted a certified teacher to teach while she is on maternity leave. So, I agreed to do it - even though English is my field and high school my preferred level.

I never thought that I wanted to teach in junior high although while I was teaching gifted and talented, I did some team teaching in junior high. However the teachers with whom I worked were junior high teachers, and I really didn't have to meet with the classes every day all year long. So, I did have a little experience with junior high students. And I have to say that I admire anyone who can teach that age student year after year! The daily drama, the raging hormones, the "know-it-allness" gets old pretty fast.

Last week really wasn't bad. I had been in the classroom with the kids several times during the fall, so we were familiar with each other. I have done enough studying that I am ahead of them and can pretty well answer most questions - or if I can't, I tell them I will find out. So it has been OK.

But Monday night, one of the 8th grade students was killed in a car wreck. It has been so hard for the kids. At that age, it is so hard to understand the finality of death. At that age, most kids feel invincible anyway, so death is not usually something that they think of in relation to themselves. This is the first time in a very long time that the junior high has lost a student to death, so many of the teachers had not dealt with such a tragedy in relation to students whom they were teaching. We have lost several students in high school - two while I was teaching - and it is an experience that I had hoped never to repeat. The class that student was actually in is never the same. The whole dynamic of relationships within that class is broken and can't be repaired - for the rest of the year. But, we have to go on. Unfortunately, that is also a hard lesson and one that I am sorry that these children will have to learn at such a tender age.

The funeral is tomorrow morning, so school will not be dismissed. Students who wish to attend will be allowed to go, then I suppose that they will be expected to return to school. I really don't know what to expect in the afternoon classes. I can't imagine that they will be ready to do anything related to school, so I am going to have to have a Plan B. Or, they may not even return to school, in which case, I will have about five students all afternoon. Whatever happens, it will be a very long day!

But we will survive the day, and the next day, and then it will be the weekend, and on Monday, we will start over with our new normal. That is another lesson that they will have to learn, and I hope that I am up to the task of teaching it!

...and a happy new year

2009-12-31T13:43:00.000-06:00

It snowed for a while this morning, and I just happened to see this beautiful, lacy pattern on my window. I took the picture and the next time I looked, it was melting. It reminds me of how quickly time passes. It seems like just a few weeks ago that we celebrated the beginning of 2009, and now it is the end.

I wish for all of you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010 - not only a new year but a new decade. Last week our Sunday School lesson addressed the fact that the decade just ending today was the worst in memory. September 11, Hurricane Katrina, the economic decline - these were just a few of the examples given for the designation. However, I don't feel that it was "the worst." For one thing, we were blesssed with seven beautiful grandchildren between 2000 and 2005. I was able to retire from teaching, and Gary was able to sell the feedyard! So I guess that it depends on one's perspective and experiences as to what "worst" means. So whatever you felt about the year and decade just past, I hope that 2010 is better!

43

2009-12-29T13:48:00.000-06:00

Gary and I have been married 43 years today. I remember my grandparents celebratinng their 50th anniversary soon after we were married, and Gary's grandparents celebrating theirs just a few years later. At the time, I thought that sounded like an eternity. And now, just seven years away from that milestone, it both is and isn't an eternity! It is a long time - we have been married over two-thirds of both of our lives and been together even longer. Many of our couple friends are no longer a couple so it seems like we are a minority in that respect. I am very glad that we are celebrating this anniversary and hope to celebrate many more!

Recap

2009-12-26T20:24:00.000-06:00

I spent last Friday in Melbourne. I walked through the Central Business District to the Parliament House. Since it was the beginning of the holidays, there was not much activity. I thought that it was very British looking.

The Christmas tree was on one of the main shopping streets. It seemed strange to see all of the Christmas decorations in the summer!
I guess if that is what you are accustomed to though, Christmas in the winter would seem strange.

The name of this fast food place was priceless. I think that potatoes were the only thing on the menu!

The Yarra River runs through Melbourne. I stayed in the South Bank area which is on the south bank of the river. I crossed a pedestrian bridge to go into the CBD. Melbourne was a lovely city, and I would like to revisit it someday.

This is it

2009-12-18T03:51:00.000-06:00

Our stay in Australia is over. We are supposed to fly out of Melbourne tomorrow at noon. So far, the security screeners' strike has not happened, so maybe we will get out of here before it does.

I spent the day walking around Melbourne. I walked around quite a lot of the central business district, and I saw the Parliament House. There were so many people walking around! I guess the school holidays started on Thursday. I finally walked back to the hotel to start packing. Clothes never fit in quite as well on the trip home!

Gary got here about 4:00. I am washing his two sets of clothes right now so he will have clean clothes to fly home in. Qantas called him yesterday and told him thathis suitcase is in Dallas. He told them to leave it there and we will pick it up on Saturday. I am really glad that it was found. It has probably been in Dallas the whole time!

We went to a steak house and had an OK meal. I have not been terribly impressed with Aussie food. It is not very flavorful. I have eaten some things that I thought were all right, but I am probably not going to go home and look for an Australian cookbook!

I hope to see my family on Sunday in Dallas. Until then, G'day, Mate.

Who knew?

2009-12-17T05:11:00.000-06:00

Who knew that in the lovely little town of Albury, New South Wales, AU that there would be no wi fi? And who knew that even if one could access the internet at the lovely public library, one could not post on her own blog or even comment on anyone else's? So that is the story. Gary went various places with Bruce, and I stayed in Albury in his apartment with no internet hook up. I am now in Melbourne for two nights and we will -hopefully-fly home on Saturday - Noah's birthday.

I really had a very nice time in Albury and the surrounding towns. On Monday, Bruce's wife Helen and I went to some of the small towns in the Murray River Valley. Beechworth was my favorite. We went to some shops where I was able to buy souvenirs for most of my list. I stayed at their farm Monday night, then she brought me to town on Tuesday. Albury is about the size of Amarillo but I was able to walk everywhere I wanted to go. Their apartment is very close to one of the main shopping streets with cafes, museums, and shops. I have some pictures, but I'm paying 55 cents a minute for this hook up, so I will post pictures later - probably after Christmas.

Monday evening I went to their oldest son's graduation from 6th grade. He attends a public elementary school in a small town close to their farm. Here, students go to elementary school for six years and then secondary school for six years. The ceremony was both an awards ceremony and the graduation. It was very typical of all elementary functions that I have attended through the years - babies crying, people talking to one another while other people's children receive awards, etc. But the one thing that really caught my attention was the fact that every one of the children was white, Caucasian! I mentioned that fact to Helen, and she said that there is very little cultural or ethnic diversity in the smaller towns in this part of Australia. I was very surprised. This is not meant to be critical, certainly, it was just surprising to me.

I came to Melbourne by bus and train. I was supposed to take the express train, but there was a bush fire about 30 minutes out of Albury, so we had to take a bus to Seymour to catch another train into Melbourne. When I got to Melbourne, it was raining, and although I caught a cab with little problem, he dropped me off across the street and about half a block from my hotel so I got a little wet getting into the hotel.

Tomorrow I am going to explore Melbourne until Gary gets here, then I hope we get to eat someplace really nice. Our plane is supposed to leave at noon on Saturday, but there is talk of a strike by the security screeners. It is supposed to start next week, but with the way our luck has run on this trip, I wouldn't be surprised if they move the date to the weekend!!!

Australia is a nice place to visit. The people are very friendly and polite. I love to hear them talk, but I still sometimes have to ask them to repeat. I'm making a list of Aussie-isms. One of my favorites: when one walks into a store, someone will ask, "Are you fine, then?" I will post some others later - when I have cheaper internet!

On Sunday, we are to meet our children and grandchildren at Great Wolf in Dallas for Christmas. I am very excited about that and will be glad to see everyone. I haven't seen Krista and her family for almost a year. And that is too long!

A few pictures

2009-12-12T19:24:00.000-06:00

The top picture is in Brisbane. We were sitting on the bus waiting to bo back to the airport, so I took a picture of the Christmas banner. It does seem a little strange to see Christmas decorations while wearing summer clothes!
This picture is a building in Melbourne that I liked. I don't know what it is, I just liked the shape!
This is a view from the Spirit of Tasmania looking back at Melbourne going to Tasmania. It was cloudy and rainy although the picture doesn't really reflect that.
We ate lunch at this inn while in Tasmania. Gary and Bruce met with some people to try to sell them a feed mill and they treated us to lunch. It was really a neat place. I had a Cornish pastie which is a meat and potato mix wrapped in pastry. It was very good. The inn was for sale, but Gary told me that I couldn't buy it!

Yesterday we drove to Albury where Bruce and his family live. We had a picnic in a botanical garden which was just beautiful and then walked along the Murray River. We were able to relax some not have to hurry to get somewhere else! Later today Gary and Bruce will leave for Howlong, where Gary will see the feed mill that he sold last year. I will stay in Albury for a couple of days then ride the train back to Melbourne where we will meet to go back to the US.

Still no word on where Gary's suitcase is. Surprise, Surprise!!

More on the arrival

2009-12-12T00:42:00.000-06:00

Continuing the story: We finally left LA about 2:30 in the afternoon of Dec. 8th - 10 1/2 hours later than scheduled, and 15 long, long hours later landed in Brisbane at 11:30 local time. We had to go through Customs, retrieve our bags, then let Customs inspect our bags; so we went to the luggage carousel to get our luggage. My two bags finally showed up, but Gary's never did. I say Gary's, but it is really my mother's bag that I borrowed for the trip. You know what is coming, don't you? Anyway, we asked the man standing by the carousel where to report a lost bag, and he showed us where to go. While we were waiting in line, he asked our name, and when we told him, he said that the bag on his cart was ours. What happened was that Gary's bag and another red bag were mixed up in Dallas and mistagged, and someone else's bag was in Brisbane and ours was in someplace that is still a mystery! The woman who was helping us was so nice and gave us a voucher for $100 to buy some clothes until the bag showed up as well as a toiletry kit for that night. She was very sure that the bag would be found and sent to us the next day. That hasn't happened. Every time we call to check on it, we are told that our bag is in Brisbane and will be sent immediately. Well, the bag in Brisbane is the one that isn't ours, so we may never see that bag or Gary's 3 pairs of brand new pants and 12 favorite shirts again! And on top of everything else, something happened to my bag and it was shaped like a guitar! I turned it in and Qantas paid for me a new bag.

Enough of that! We were then bussed to a very nice hotel in Brisbane and slept for about 4 hours before we had to get on the plane for Melbourne. It was very warm at 6:00 in the morning, and I realized that we were really in Australia and it was really summer!

We had an uneventful trip to Melbourne. Gary's sales rep Bruce met us and took us to a hotel to rest before we got on the boat for Tasmania. I am having problems loading pictures, so I will close now and try to post some pictures later.

We're here

2009-12-09T23:52:00.000-06:00

After many snags, glitches, etc., we are finally in Melbourne. We left on Monday as planned. However, when we left Los Angeles at 11:55 pm on Monday, we had no idea what was in store for us. We had only been in the air about 30 minutes when the captain announced that we would have to return to LA because the flaps were stuck in the wrong position and it was very unsafe for us to continue. Well, OK, that sounded reasonable. However, first we had to fly around for an hour to dump excess fuel. Then the captain announced that we were heading back to LA but she (yes, a female captain) wanted us to know that she had called fire engines and emergency vehicles to be there - just in case! However, since I am writing this you can probably figure out that we landed safely.

Then we waited around for an hour or so while the crew and Qantas tried to decide what to do. Finally at about 4:00 in the morning, they decided to cancel that flight and use another plane the following morning - and we were to be bused to the LAX Hilton. Keep in mind that there were 400 people on this plane and that it was 4:00 a.m. and there was one clerk on duty at the Hilton. So about 7:00, we got into a room. We got a wake-up call at 10:30 and were told that we would be picked up at 11:00 for departure around 1:00 p.m. If you believe that happened, Well ... I don't know what to say! We did get on the plane about 1:00 but several people who were supposed to also be on the plane decided to try to get another flight, so they wanted their luggage. The captain said it would take about 15 minutes and about an hour and a half later, we finally took off.

I will continue this exciting saga, maybe tomorrow, with pictures, as we are about to go to Tasmania on the night ship!

Closer

2009-12-05T20:09:00.000-06:00

I have spent the day packing and I think that I have everything that we need - if not in the suitcase, at least out and ready to go into the suitcase. Besides packing, I finished my Christmas cards so I can mail them on Monday before we leave.

The next time you hear from me, I will be posting from Australia.

Merrry

2009-12-02T09:44:00.000-06:00

I. Love. Christmas! This year, since we are going to be gone most of December, I am doing no decorating, cooking, gift buying or wrapping. And while one part of me is very excited about our trips, the other part of me is almost sad that, for this one year, I will do none of that. I have a collection of Santas that takes me almost one whole day to get out of various boxes and containers. I have several boxes of other decorations for the tree, and I have a beautiful Christmas quilt that my mother hand appliqued that I hang in the living room. So, I needed something to do to fill that void that was in me.

The candles on the left are just what I needed. I subscribe to a scrap booking website that occasionally has a series of webisodes on different paper crafts. This week it is on handmade gifts. Yesterday's webisode was on these cute candles. And I had all of the supplies - didn't have to buy a thing! The top candle is decorated with alcohol inks and glittery stickers called dazzles, and the bottom one has ribbon and brads decorating it. They took me less than an hour to complete and I think they are pretty cute. One will go to my mother and the other to my mother-in-law. The best part is that I feel like I have done something for Christmas - you know, to recognize the season.

Our trip is less than a week away. My middle bedroom is filled with suitcases, carry on bags, and summer clothes. I am trying to decide exactly what I will need since it is summer "Down Under!" I know that I will probably take too much - I always do. Plus I have to pack for our trip to a water park with our family after we get back. Gary and I will not return home between trips, so I am packing for two very different types of trips. We will have a great December!

It will be very interesting to be in a place where Christmas is celebrated in the summer. I will be interested to see what kind of decorations will be on display. I will take pictures!

My oldest granddaughter Mallory is 8 today. Happy Birthday, Mallory! You are growing up way too fast!

I also have two grandsons with December birthdays. Rhett and Noah will be 9 and 7 in a couple of weeks. None of them should be this old!!!

Snow

2009-11-29T19:22:00.000-06:00

This is a view of my backyard late this afternoon. Early this morning, big soft flakes of snow were falling. It was really pretty. Of course, Jana had to drive back to El Paso today, so the snow wasn't so pretty to her. But, she made it back fine!

We had an adult Thanksgiving. My mother, Gary's parents, Jana, Casey, and Gary and I were present for dinner. It was very quiet! It was nice though and Jana and I got to do some adult things on Friday - go to a movie that was not animated! We went to see New Moon. I had read the book but not seen Twilight, and Jana had done neither, but we enjoyed the movie.

Winner

2009-11-25T20:42:00.000-06:00

Last night Donny Osmond won the"coveted Mirror Ball Trophy" on Dancing with the Stars . I'm not sure that he was the best dancer, but he probably had the most loyal fans. As for me, he was about the only "star" that I had even heard of! In fact, Donny and my girls go back a long way.

I think that both Jana and Krista had Donny and Marie dolls when they were small, and we watched their tv show every week. It was a good family show. Then when Jana lived in Boston, I visited her and we saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on stage. It was a great production, and at the end, Joseph (Donny) was raised above the audience with some kind of harness and rope apparatus. We were properly impressed, and after the show, Jana said to me, "Oh, Mom, I felt like Donny Osmond was looking right at me!" I felt that way too.

I wish everyone a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

Countdown

2009-11-24T14:08:00.000-06:00

This is a map of Australia. It is not a very good picture, but I have a new camera and was trying it out!

In thirteen days, Gary and I are going to go to Australia. It is a business trip for him and a pleasure trip for me. Truthfully, I told him that he couldn't go without me.

We will be flying into Melbourne, which is in the green area at the bottom of the map. It will be summer there, and I think that in some places it has already been 100+ degrees. Maybe not in Melbourne since it is on the coast, but I think that I would rather be warm than cold! One can always go into an air conditioned building to cool off.

I have been studying my travel books trying to decide which of the places that I must see in our limited time. We will only be there for ten days, so I am trying to choose wisely. And hopefully during those ten days, I will be able to post pictures and updates of our activities. And maybe I need to practice using my camera before then so the pictures aren't fuzzy!

Ham and Cheese on Rye

2009-11-20T23:02:00.000-06:00

I really never pictured, when I was younger, what my life would be like when I was older. I always thought that I would have grandchildren, whom I would love dearly - and I do. I just never thought of what all being older would entail.

First of all, I have to say that I love being retired even though I am still involved in teaching. For the past several years, I taught students who for medical reasons were unable to attend school for an extended period of time. Except for one student, all of these were young women who had babies while still in high school. I have to say that working with these girls was extremely rewarding, especially when I now see them around town with their young children whom I often held while their mothers worked on algebra, or government, or English. So much of that job entailed offering encouragement and support to them so that they would complete their high shcool education and hopefully go on somewhere for further education. Some did and some did not, but I feel that I did perform a much needed service to them. However, this year, for whatever reason, there is no one that is in need, yet, of homebound instruction, so I am substitute teaching. More about that at a later time! But, back to my original thought, it is something that I never saw myself doing.

Another thing that never occurred to me was that I might have divorced children. My grandparents - both sets - were married for sixty + years; my husband's grandparents - the same; my mother and daddy were married for fifty-nine years when Daddy passed away; my husband's parents just celebrated their sixty-fifty anniversary. My husband and I have been married for almost forty-three years. So, divorce is not something that is common in our family. but two of our four children are divorced with custody of their respective children.

Our son has a job where his busiest time is the weekend, so for the past several years, we have kept his son every other weekend. This has been a joy for us as he is a delightful child, but I feel such a responsibility when he is with us to provide a nurturing and loving environment. When he is with us, I want him to see a what a good relationship between two people is. Don't get me wrong, I think that my son is a great father who is very loving and nurturing, but I think that children need to see the give and take of a couple relationship too.

The last thing that I never foresaw was that I would be a caretaker for my mother and my in-laws. Fortunately, all that means right now is taking them out of town for doctor's appointments and checking on them several times a week. And I am more than glad to do it. After all, these are the people who raised my husband and me and devoted eighteen years of their lives to us. To say that I feel an obligation to them sounds as if I begrudge them the time I spend with them and that is certainly not the case. But it is something that I certainly did not see in my crystal ball when I was younger.

I have heard the term "sandwich generation" used to refer to us baby boomers who have responsibilities both to our aging parents and to our children/grandchildren. It is a good term; it is an apt term; but it does not begin to describe the richness of the experience of being in the middle of four generations!