BACK FROM KY...

...and trying to catch up at home, work and church.

The trip was successful and fun.
This little house is where I lived for the first 7 years of my life.

This house was made into a two car garage when we moved to this stone house located on the same lot.

This house is where I lived until I graduated from high school.
My mom lived in this house (while she collected "stuff") for 48 years. This is now Carol's house and garage. They got a nice paint job earlier this week.

We are cleaning out a lot of stuff and trying to organize what she wants to keep and I think we are doing remarkable well.

It took my dad 8 years to build this house and even though we know we will probably sell it someday it holds many happy memories for all of my family.

BUMPER STICKERS

I don't like to put bumper stickers on my car but I love reading them on other people's car.
It is amazing how much information can be sent in such a small space.
I saw this one for the first time today.

GUESS WHO'S BACK

Our friends Rolf and Rikki are back and as always Rolf brought me chocolate, chocolate and more delicious chocolate. I just love that man.

NICHOLAS AND JACKSON

Have you ever seen a dog that liked wearing clothes so much that he dresses himself.

This little white dog is Nicholas and the black one is Jackson. Can you tell which one likes to wear clothes?

These dogs belong to Faith. She just started working with me recently and when she told me that after she baths her dogs she dries them and puts clothes on them. She said that Nicolas loves it and Jackson hates it. When she told me that the picture above was taken one day when she didn't dress them after their bath and that Nicholas dressed himself. As us you can tell he still needs to master this skill but I was so impressed that I bought him a new outfit.
Isn't he cute. It reminded me of Maison in his camos.

AUTUMN IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR

I love living in Florida but my favorite season is autumn so I always get homesick for Kentucky when this time of year comes around. I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I didn't go north in the fall to see the leaves chaning.

I think that it is one of the most beautiful things of all. I have my airline ticket for Louisville for Oct 11. I will only be there for a long weekend and I hope it isn't too early in the season but you never know.

BASIL FOR SALE

When I was at Carol's house in August she gave me a little packet that looked like confetti. Inside the tissue confetti were herb seeds.
I put the confetti under the soil in this planter. I had killed off a few plants on one end so there was plenty of room.
Now I have fresh herbs growing on my lanai. The tiny one on the left is parsley, I think, but it is struggling to survive. The other 3 are basil and they seem to be growing very fast so I thought that by Christmas I might have enough to go into the basil business.
Get your orders in early, supply may be limited.

THREE FULL DAYS OF FUN + TRAVEL DAYS

No photos the first day. David played golf and I shopped and checked out everything in town. The QE2 was in the harbor that day.
We always enjoy ourselves when we go to Bar Harbor.

We ate fresh vegetable out of Brad's garden with our fresh lobsters.

This shack isn't used for anything but it makes a great photo. It is owned by Emery's Cottages. Brad and Barbara's son, Wally and his wife, Carol own the cottages. Check them out at http://www.emeryscottages.com/

The view from Emery's Cottages is so peaceful.

This is where we stayed. Brad and Barbs house is right next to Emery's Cottages.

BAR HARBOR TRIP STARTS TOMORROW

Tomorrow Dave and I are leaving for vacation. We will be stopping in Atlanta and Detroit on the way to Bangor, Maine to check out the passengers in those airports. It was the only way we could get affordable tickets so we decided to just enjoy the variety. If all of the connections work as planned we will arrive in Bangor around 11pm and after a night in the hotel Connie and Phil will pick us up Friday morning and take us to Brad and Barb's in Bar Harbor.

David, Brad, Connie and Phil have a tee time for Friday and I plan to just act like a tourist and enjoy some shopping and sightseeing.

Saturday, if the fog is not a problem, I am sure we will be enjoying this view from the top of Cadillac Mt.

I plan to eat as much lobster as I can and to enjoy spending time with Dave and our friends. I am so excited!

READING AGAIN

David just finished reading this book last week and insisted I read it before he takes it back to the girl he borrowed it from. He said that it was one of the best books he has ever read. I am over 60 pages into this 248 page book and I am feeling so sick to my stomach that I have to read fast and continuously now to get to the good part. Stay tuned...

The Shack is a fiction book written by William P Young. Let me know if you have read it.

****VOTE****

I was not too excited about our upcoming election until McCain picked his VP. The more I hear about this woman the more I want to vote. I purchased this little tile to put in my kitchen. The coffee motif is perfect.

WASN'T HE PLAYING VOLLEYBALL IN MY BACK YARD YESTERDAY?

It is so nice when you get back in touch with people you love and lose contact with. Chad was like one of my own kids for many years.

He was funny, always around and at times down right loveable.

He was a giving kid. He brought me Christmas presents when he was a teenage. One of my favorite is a poem that I have framed and hang up every Christmas. The title is "The Night Before Jesus Came." Every year when I hang it I say a prayer for him and his family where ever they may be.

DAVID'S NEW TOY

Well, thanks to a new golf cart David can now get from one green to the next tee at a little faster pace. More importanly, he can be sure it will make it up the small hill going to #2 hole. That's the one we can see looking out our lanai.

I don't really think that golf is a sport where you get much exercise (unless you are as bad as I am and have to swing many times to hit the ball).

This snazzy little demo cart was used at a course on Sanibel for 6 months before we got it but it is still like new and will get much use.

WEEKEND VISITOR

Natalie came over after school to spend the night. When she got up Saturday morning there was condensation on the sliders so when she saw me cleaning it off she wanted to help.
That is a lot of glass for a little girl.













She logged quit a bit of time playing with the Barbie dolls.








She worked hard making her own birthday cake. We used an old lamb mold that Nick, my grandmothers husband made (probably before I was even born). The cook was rewarded with the beaters.

While we were waiting for it to finish baking Natalie's 5 imaginary friends came to the door. She let them in and made them sit on the sofa until we were finished. Their names were Clair Cobb. Yes all of them.





The finished project was pretty cute.




After all the hard work we had to relax at the pool. The water was a little cool after all the rain but that didn't stop us. Natalie, David, the Clair Cobbs and I all played and had fun.








Natalie lined the Clair Cobbs up and we went home to get ready for the party.









We went shopping for another gift, purchased balloons, plates and candles, she wrapped her own gifts, and set the places. She got to sit by the cake and the Clair Cobbs shared seats at the bar.



When Tara arrived we had the party and Tara took the party photos.

TARA'S NEW CAR

Tara called tonight after we got home from dinner to see if she could come by to show us her new car.

It is so nice. It has leather interior and it looks great!

Here is David coming to check it out too.

I wish my car looked that good. I am so happy for her, all of her hard work is paying off.

CELEBRATING 64 YRS ON SEP 3

I found Mom and Dad's cake topper in her cedar chest. The ladies head was broken off but Jason, a guy I work with fixed it as good as new.

On the bottom JAPAN is stamped on it. I remember when I was young all of the nic naks were from Japan. Now everything says made in China.

This is something worth keeping, just in case one of their Great Granddaughters wants to use it at their wedding. She has 7 of them and I hope they all inherit her value of marriage.

BLAST FROM MY PAST

For the first seven years of my life I lived in a little white house that was later converted into a two car garage . My dad had started building the "New House" on the front of our property before I was born. We anticipated moving into that house for years and with every nail that went in we were that much closer to living in a home that was nice, pretty and spacious. A home that we could be proud of.

We received these glasses as a house warming gift when we moved from the garage into the "New House".

We only used these on special occasions but they are a reminder of my very happy childhood.


We always stored the set in the original box so you can see that the cost was $5.49 back in 1960. That was expensive for us. This was also back before bar codes.




I wish I could remember who gave them to us.

ONE OF MY TREASURES

Anyone that ever knew my cousin Linda loved her and loved being around her. When I was a child she would take me on the bus downtown to see a movie or she would take me ice skating. She didn't just do this for me but she did it for all of her nieces or nephews or children of her cousins. She would also take them to the State Fair and get everyone dressed up in costumes to have a photo taken. She would go to the drive-in or any other fun place she could think of. She didn't have to go anywhere to be fun. Christmas Day was never complete until she arrived. She was an airline stewardess and was responsible for Dave and I going to Europe.

There are so many stories I love to remember about her. She always thought David had "Hot Legs", she kissed Troy on the mouth the first time she met him, one time she was going to do a jump when she was water skiing and chickened out when she got to the ramp causing her to go up and then slide back down it on her butt. They had to pick splinters out of her for quite some time. Painful for her but a very funny story for everyone else.

When she got cancer she went to Camp Bluebird. It was a camp just for cancer patients. She made this bird feeder while she was there. She gave it to Mom so when I found it while cleaning last week I had to have it.

Dave and I went to Home Depot and got this pole to hang it on. We hung it up Saturday but took it down this morning because a storm is coming. I am so glad to have it right out there where I can see the birds enjoying it.

RECAP KY TRIP

We had a very successful and fun trip to Louisville.

I found and brought home some really cool things from my childhood and some things that were in our family long before I was even thought of. I am a firm believer that things should be used up instead of kept in a safe place to save for a later date but if other people felt that way I would not have these treasures that I brought home for myself and for others. (We also would not have filled a 40 cubic yard dumpster or made some $$$ at the scrapyard)

Soon, I will show you photos of the "things" that I had to pull out and carry 1,000 miles because they had meaning to me but first I wanted to show the real important treasures.

We had a family reunion and the photos of that haven't been sent to me yet but it was a wonderful day.

These photos are of my cousin Rich (Richard to the family). He has been a stage hand for most of his adult life and a party boy since he was big enough to walk. He was always fun. He and Robin were quite the team. We lived at opposite ends of town but we loved their visits. Richard and his brother had cool toys we didn't have, so we were impressed.

One of my favorite memories was when they would come to visit and bring their soft red rubber kick ball. We would play with it for hours and then when it was getting dark and they had to go home Robin would kick it as hard as she could into the field of tall grass. The result was that we would just keep it for them until they came back.

Richard never got mad but the memory he has of me, the younger cousin was not as pleasant. He remembers me tattling on him for cursing. He said that he only said shoot and darn. That is not the way I remember the story. (You would think that after 50 years he could let that go.)

I also remember him taking me to school one time when I was 5 and staying with them. He went to Catholic grade school and I was his "Show and Tell" that day. I stood up in front of the class of 5th graders and said the books of the Bible. I thought that was a cool day. I got to sit in a desk just like the other kids until lunchtime when my aunt came and picked me up.

This is not a very good picture of Carol but since it was at the end of the week when I worked her, Richard, David and Ronnie like slaves I thought it would be okay to post it. She is with Irene, Rich's wife. We had such a fun time I look forward to seeing them all again.

WRAPPING UP FOR AWHILE

After 5 days of dragging stuff out and 4 days of begging shoppers to take our stuff we got tired of playing this game and took down the signs.

I really did have a good time. We had lots of old friends stop by to visit and to help. Now that there is a sidewalk along our road here we got shoppers that were just walking by. One lady even came on her motorized wheel chair. She even purchased a coffee table and 2 end tables for a whopping $10. David delivered those for free.

My cousins came by last night and picked up all the good stuff that was left to take to their yard sale that they will be having in a couple of weeks.

Today David will take the last truck load of metal to the scrapyard and collect the last check from that. Carol and I are going to collect trash from the house and basement to finish filling the dumpster. Tonight we will be going to dinner with my cousin, Rich and his wife and that should wrap up this trip to Louisville.

KENTUCKY REPORT

After spending one night on the road we made it to Kentucky Friday evening. We stayed at a Country Inn in Valdosta, Georgia. I highly recommend Country Inn. The room was nice and the bed was comfortable. However, I do not recommend traveling over 970 miles in a Toyota truck. Not so comfortable!
We have used the truck since we got here to take a load of clothes to Goodwill. Today I want to take a load of aluminum to the scrap yard.
Dave, his friend Ronnie, my cousin Richard, Carol and I cleaned out the garage and the garage attic yesterday. Today we start on the basement. It is even worse than the garage but since the dumpster is over half full we probable won't get as much done down there.
Oh, I almost forgot to thank you all for remembering me on my birthday. I got calls from every end of the country, cards, chocolate covered (monster-sized) strawberries (that were shared with my work crew), a CD. solos in two different languages and a recording from a group similar to the Von Trapp family.
Seriously you all couldn't have done better making my birthday a happy one. I love you.