A Visit With Olivia (and mommy and daddy)

Grandma made me a new hat.

Putting on my own hat!

Giving Melmo a hug. I love Melmo!

Guest of the Day

I was in Florida working and staying at a Crowne Plaza in Ft. Myers. I was checking in to my hotel and the clerk said, "You are the guest of the day! Look at the monitor!" And this is what I saw. "What does that mean," I asked. It meant that I was upgraded to a suite, got a ticket for a free alcoholic beverage, ticket for a free breakfast, access to the Priority Club floor where they have fantastic hors d'oeuvres from 5-8 and milk and cookies from 8-9, + 1,000 extra pts added to my Priority Club account!!! And I was there two nights, so it was really pleasant!!! Occasionally good things happen on the road!

Flowers, flowers and more flowers

My pride and joy this year has been my flower bed in the front of the house. 3 years ago Elizabeth and I spent hours and hours creating the bed, putting in place over 200 castle blocks, filling it will bags and bags and bags of soil and then the same with mulch. It was truly a labor of love - for me anyway. Since we moved here in 1986 I have never liked the look of the front of the house. After the boxwoods finally (thankfully) started to die and I got AG to get rid of them it looked so bare and the idea for the flower bed started to take shape. The first year it was kind of sparce with plants here and there. I began planting lots of perennials with annuals added in between. The second year was a little better with the perennials coming back, planting more and understanding how to get rid of slugs who ate way too much and what grew well in what kind of light. This year, who knows what happened, whether I finally know how to fertilize correctly, how to prune correctly, the snows of this winter left plenty of nitrogen in the soil, or just plain dumb luck, but everything seems to be growing and blooming by leaps and bounds. I'm even going to have to move a few things that are being towered over by others. It is such a joy to go out every day to see what is growing and blooming. I hope the pictures I will add today let you see how it looks and how happy I am with it.

Well, Christmas day has passed and the snow is almost melted. I have taken down the few decorations I put up this year and they are packed in the basement for another year. I went to church this morning for the service of Lessons and Carols. We Episcopalians don't begin to celebrate until Christmas Eve and then celebrate until the end of epiphany so the season hasn't really ended for us. I am looking forward to spending some time with my son and his family sometime in January to exchange gifts and of course enjoy their company.

I am also looking forward to a better year in '10 for my health. '09 began pretty badly in February with my back problems and went downhill from there with falling down the stairs at Andy's in July, fracturing a vertebrae, two herniated disks, a-fib and time in the hospital in Ft. Lauderdale, becoming resistant to my chemo, sinus problems, food poisoning and a lovely virus that zapped all my strength. And even with all those problems I realize that so many have so many more problems than I.

So.......onward and upward to a new year hoping that health issues of '09 are gone, looking forward to watching my granddaughter grow, walk, talk and so many more exciting things to come. I hope that the excitement and fun of Christmas carries on for everyone throughout the next year and years to come.

Olivia Grace - baptism/Halloween

What a wonderful weekend we all had in Charleston. Olivia Grace was baptized at Grace Episcopal Church on her father's 29th birthday.

I sure do love my daddy.

And my first Halloween was pretty cool, too!

Olivia's visit to Lenoir (with her mommy and daddy)

We had a wonderful visit

with Olivia and her mommy and daddy this weekend. She is such a smiley, sweet, and laid back baby girl.

Grandpa got to hold her. Grandma

had been sick so didn't get the wonderful

experience of holding her granddaughter

in her arms. So sad!

In this picture she was laughing

outloud at her grandpa - wish you

could hear the adorable giggle!

VEGAS

Vegas has been such a treat for us to have for the past couple of weeks. She has settled in quite well and since I've been on the road for the last 2 1/2 weeks, she and AG have become great friends. She talks to him and rubs against his legs several times a day. She has even become comfortable enough to sleep under our bed every once in a while. Tonight she sat in the den with me for almost 45 minutes and allowed me to get a few pictures. This one she allowed me to take after she preened for about 15 minutes and then relaxed.