44 Years Ago

We have in our possession something that is priceless. We have David's first grade writing book from 44 years ago. Apparently each day the students had to write stories in their books about whatever they wanted to write about. Spelling didn't matter as you will see below. On our final night together for the Christmas holidays I took the book out and we read the stories David had written so long ago. We laughed until we cried! Below is one story about a turtle then be sure to watch the video as Jamie and Jordan attempt to read another story. It will show what our night was like as we read thru these stories. Absolutely priceless!

We think this is what he was saying:

The turtle. I found a turtle. It was Skippy. Holly Skippy. I'm glad I found you. Skippy Holly Holly Skippy. The End.

click the little arrow to see and hear the video of another story... too funny!

Playtime

We have had a lot of playtime during the holidays, both inside and out. Even the dogs got into the act at times. We played quite a few games. Below are some of the fun playtimes.

Jamie and Hannah playing checkers

that's me when we were playing Mad Gab, there were about 12 of us playing and we had so much fun trying to figure out each phrase

Hannah and I playing tic-tac-toe




Jordan and Sasha playing catch

Hannah with her cards

Jordan and Hannah playing Go Fish

we were playing one of our favorite games, Mexican Train, a dominoes game. No one looks happy in this photo but I assure you we were having a lot of fun!

Hannah tossing the frisbee for Sasha

a fun night playing Trivial Pursuit, 90's edition

Christmas Geocaching

Jordan got his own GPS as a Christmas gift so yesterday afternoon Hannah and I went with him to find three geocaches. We were three for three by the time we finished but the first one was really hard to find. It took us an hour to locate it. The clue given said it was hidden "in a hidey hole in the base of a tree". That sounded easy enough and the difficulty level was not very high so off we went. Little did we know that when we got to the area that nearly every single tree there had a hole in the base of it. The GPS coordinates seemed to jump all over the place. We searched high and low, over and over and over. Jordan and Hannah were ready to give up but I persisted and finally found it. In the photo below you can see Jordan pulling the box out of the hole in the base of the tree that was leaf covered.

This was the second cache and much easier to locate than the first one. It was hidden at the same lake but on the other side so we had to drive around the lake to find it. The GPS led us right to the site and within a minute we had located it. Jordan traded for a nice brand new, still in the package, tape measure and Hannah took some playing cards.

The third and final cache was hidden in the picnic area of a nearby Rest Area on I-85. The difficulty and terrain levels were both pretty high but were very deceiving as we walked right to it and found it with ease. There was nothing difficult about it. This time it was hidden in a small tupperware container at the base of this large tree near the fence. Hannah traded for a dollar bill.

We had a lot of fun, got some exercise and checked out some areas we never knew of around here. It was a nice day weather wise and we always have fun geocaching.

Chritsmas Town USA

McAdenville is a small town in North Carolina known as Christmas Town. Each year all the residents of the town decorate their homes with lights and people come from all over to drive thru the town. Thousands of visitors make the drive and we joined them last night. After getting off the interstate we sat in a long line of cars for well over an hour before we finally got into the town. After driving thru we turned around and drove back the other direction and pulled off in a parking area. We took hot cocoa and sausage balls and enjoyed those and made some photos. I must say that photos don't do justice to how beautiful all the lights are. Nothing is gaudy or over done, but instead just beautiful. Below are a few of the photos we took last night.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone! We had a fun night last night, playing Trivial Pursuit '90's edition. Jamie was the winner. We had cups of hot chocolate with whipped cream topping, yum! This morning we opened gifts and had a wonderful breakfast. Jamie made a delicious breakfast casserole and I made Mimosa's for everyone to drink. We also had Christmas coffee to drink. We will be picking up Hannah soon and then go see a movie. That is tradition for our family on Christmas Day. We hope each of you are having a wonderful day.

zoomed in on our tree

Here Kitty...Kitty...Kitty

We brought both the cat and the dog with us for the holidays. When we arrived here I put the cat in the master bedroom along with her food and water bowls, her bed and her litter box. She had everything she needed in there and was perfectly fine. I closed the door so she wouldn't get out. The next day David felt sorry for her and let her out so she could explore her new surroundings in this house. Sometime that morning we had the vacuum cleaner out and Oreo is terrified of that so apparently she ran and hid somewhere. Before leaving to go to the airport to pick Jamie up we tried finding the cat to put her back in the bedroom but she was no where to be found. We called and called and searched everywhere for her. David had made several trips to the car to unload things that morning and we wondered if she could have escaped out the door. She never goes outside but you never know since she was in a different enviornment. Several hours later we arrived back home and still no sign of Oreo. The litter box had been used and the food from her bowl was gone so that was a good sign. Again we called and called and no cat. That night just before going to bed I went in one of the bedrooms to plug in some window candles and there she was, under the bed! Of course we had searched under all the beds earlier. My theory is she somehow got up inside the box springs and was hiding in there all day. I was so thrilled to see her that I didn't care where she had been. She's been tucked away in the master bedroom ever since, door closed, and she is perfectly happy in there. Whew!

Family Time

We had a little family get-together last night at the house we are using for the holidays. We ate dinner together, talked, laughed, watched a few old home videos from twenty years ago and played the game Mad Gab. A fun time was had by all. Below are a few of the many,many photos we took during the course of the night. Enjoy!

left to right: the goddesses

Debbie, Mom, Lindsey, Jamie, Hannah, Heather, Linda and Katlyn

the fellas: Rusty, David, Buddy and Jordan

Jordan plays a tune

then David takes over

Jordan and Jamie

Hannah's Christmas Play

Tonight David and I were honored to attend the Christmas play at Hannah's school. It is a small school and grades pre-K thru grade 5 were part of the play. The theme was Christmas around the world and each class sang songs from various countries. Hannah is in 2nd grade and her class sang the song "Aye Said the Donkey" and Hannah was the donkey and had the first verse solo. Below you will find a little video of her singing. When the kindergarten class came out on stage one little boy had the entire audience laughing hysterically. He had spotted his mother in the audience and loudly announced to every one that he saw her. Before we knew it he had spotted another boy's mother and again announced it. Then another and another. It was so funny! At one point when they had finished a song everyone applauded but apparently this boy's father had not because the boy shouted "Dad... you are supposed to clap!" By that time the entire audience was laughing hysterically. It was so funny. Another funny moment occurred when Hannah's class was singing the donkey song and it was the sheep's turn to sing. There were two curly horned sheep that supposed to sing that verse but another kid standing behind them was also singing and one of the curly horned sheep turned around right in the middle of the song to say "you are not a sheep, you are not supposed to be singing! Priceless! What a wonderful night. We are so fortunate to be living so close to our grand daughter. She is such a delight and just melts our hearts. How blessed we are!

Hannah singing her solo verse

this is Hannah's entire 2nd grade class on stage

Millenni's Traumatic Morning

Being RVers has its drawbacks at times. For instance, when you finally find a talented person to cut your hair then move on to a new location and have to find another. The same goes for dog grooming. Millenni has been groomed monthly since I first got her more than 8 years ago. She has had good groomers and bad along the way. Everytime I pick her up I am always told how good she is while being groomed. I am pretty specific in how I like her groomed so I give details and take photos of her when I take her to a new groomer. This morning she had an appointment with a new groomer. When I went to pick her up I was disappointed in how she looked but didn't say anything. I have never told any groomer that I was not happy, I just don't ever take her back if I was unhappy with the cut. This time the groomer let me know right away that perhaps she was not the best groomer for Millenni. She said that Millenni was extremely stressful with a lot of anxiety and didn't enjoy being groomed. She also told me that normally it takes her an hour to groom a dog like Millenni but it took her more than 2 and a half hours just to do her legs and that put her far behind on the other dogs she was grooming. I couldn't believe it. Millenni has always been good and I've never had a groomer tell me that she was stressed out. Also, I specifically told her I didn't want her looking like she is wearing pant legs and sleeves. I hate that look! And of course that is exactly what she looks like now. ARGH! I think I know why Millenni was so stressed though. She was crying all the way home in the truck then nearly jumped out of the door as soon as I opened it and immediately peed and pooped. I think she just needed to desparately go to the bathroom! No wonder she was so stressed out. We have been back home for nearly 3 hours now and she has been asleep ever since. Poor baby, she must be exhausted. So now it looks like I will need to find a new groomer or else drive her to her previous one (who was fantastic!) who is 2 hours away. She definitely won't be going back to this one!

Cat Stalker

I saw the Muscovy duck out in the yard this afternoon and decided to go feed him some crackers. He is so tame and comes right up to the RV. I noticed the neighbors cat was out in the yard too and was stalking the duck. I threw out the first few crackers and the duck quickly grabbed them and before I knew it the cat had pounced on the duck. The poor duck was trying to fly away, wings just flapping but he wasn't getting up in the air very far and the cat was relentless. The duck finally got away and made it to his safe haven in the lake with the cat follwing right behind him. Lucky for the duck the cat didn't jump in the water. Unfortunately that was the end of the duck eating the crackers. I will have to try it some other time when the cat is no where in site. Poor duck!

Holiday Parties

We attended the last of the holiday parties last night. I have never been much of a party person but David always enjoys them. No big surprise there. The one last night was nice though. It was at the home of someone David works with and there were about 10 or 12 couples there. We had great appetizers followed by one fantastic authenic Italian meal, then dessert. I have never been a real lover of Italian food. Yes I love pizza but as far as what we consider Italian here in this country it mostly consists of various forms of pasta with either red or white sauces. That I don't care for. What was served last night was entirely different though, no pasta and no sauce, and I loved every bite. We had some delicious type of garlic beef and another dish of some type of Italian chicken covered with capers, garlic, prunes and cheese stuffed olives. Also antipasta salad and some side dishes. It was to die for! And the desserts were all homemade and out of this world. The meal reminded me of meals I have eaten in France. After all the eating we played a couple of fun games. The first was called Curses and only about half of those attending played while the rest of us watched. Next we all joined in to play the game Win, Lose or Draw. We divided up into Men vs Women teams. We agreed to play to five and when the women took the win the men decided we needed to play another round, this time to 10. That round ended in a tie. We had a lot of fun and time passed quickly. Holiday parties aside now I am concentrating on getting everything ready for our kids arrivals on Saturday. Meal planning, grocery shopping, decorating the house... I am worn out! But at least the parties are behind me.

Alpine Village and Lights

When David arrived home from work we took off for a night out. A little boy in the RV park who is Hannah's age came along with us. Brendon and Hannah enjoy playing together when she comes to visit us here. He has 2 older sisters but they were out with friends last night and we thought it would be fun to have Brendon join us. First stop was the little Alpine Village set up in downtown Greenville on Main Street. There we ate chili dogs and drank hot chocolate while listening to a great live band. Hannah and Brendon rode the carosel before we left. We watched the horse drawn carriages go up and down Main Street and even got to see the Santamobile before we left. From there we went to Roper Mountain for the Festival of Lights. I must say that although it was OK, David and I both agreed it was not what we had in Austin at Zilker Park so we were disappointed. It was still nice and Hannah and Brendon loved it so that was what mattered the most. We were still hungry so on the way home we stopped off for pizza. We returned home and David built a fire in the chiminea and we sat outside by the warm fire while looking for the meteor showers which we never saw. It was a dark and clear sky but no meteors were to be seen by us. Oh well... we still had a wonderful night.

Hannah gets ready to eat her chili dog while David (in background) buys the hot cocoa

artificial snow was blowing in the Alpine Village to make it feel like winter time

toy soldiers greeted us as we arrived at the light festival

this was one of my favorites of the night, the canon shot candy canes into the bag

a pretty train

wish this picture turned out better, these poinsettias were so pretty

a Christmas teddy bear

Brendon and Hannah at the amphitheatre with the Christmas trees

Feeding the Duck

Hannah feeding the duck

We Were Fooled!

All afternoon I have been thinking about the comet and the more I thought about it the more I was convinced that was not it that David and I saw on Tuesday night. Tonight I pulled up a sky map showing the location of the comet and it was not where we saw the "thing" in the sky the other night. The odd thing was.... As soon as I walked outside it caught my eye because it was so big and bright. I had thought the comet had faded and was no longer visible to the naked eye. This object was straight up in the sky, a little more toward the west. By the time we went to the laundry room to get the clothes and back out it appeared to have moved straight up and was fuzzier than before. It was then that I got the binoculars and we looked at it. David said he could see it moving and I told him he was crazy, you can't see a comet moving! Well technically you can but over a period of nights, not while you are looking at it. Later when I went out to look again it was right in the middle of Cassiopeia and was continuing to move eastward. By that time it was really faded and more difficult to see. I kept saying it was strange to be moving but when we looked at it thru the binoculars it certainly appeared to be a comet... Bright at the head and had a tail shooting behind it and bending toward the right (east). I went out again later and couldn't see it at all. Now I know why! It was not the comet at all. Here is what I discovered after searching online for some answers tonight.

http://www.sun-herald.com/breakingnews.cfm?id=4129
Fuzzy object spotted in night sky here(Last updated: December 11, 2007 9:44 AM)
It wasn't a plane. It wasn't a bird. It certainly wasn't Superman (or even Tim Tebow).
But something was there in the early evening night sky over our area Monday night. It was far bigger than a star, fuzzy like a comet, seemingly moving only with the slow rotation of the earth.
Many assumed - incorrectly - that it was Comet 17P/Holmes, now causing a stir among those who enjoy sitting in the backyard at night and aiming telescopes at distant space objects. But it wasn't Holmes. It wasn't a comet at all.
The authoritative Web site Spaceweather.com provided the answer this morning for thousands of people from Florida to New England who spotted the fuzzy ball in the northeast sky. It was a fuel dump.
According to Spaceweather.com, "This cloud mimicking Comet 17P/Holmes is fuel dumped from the upper stage of an Atlas rocket that launched a classified satellite into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office on Dec. 10th. The event created a splendid display for about 50 minutes and then faded into the night."
That's just about how long the fuzzy light in the sky lasted here.

EXTRA: See the fuel dump on video captured by Kevin Fetter of Ontario, Canada.

So that solves the mystery! Be sure to watch the video here to see what it looked like to us. Tonight I was able to spot the comet... In the correct location but only with the binoculars and it is very faint. We have been watching it for a month or more and have seen it on numerous occasions that is why the object we saw the other night has been bothering me to the point I had to search for what it may have been. It didn't look the same and was not in the correct location. Now we know why.

Seven Comets and Counting...

I saw my first comet back in early 1970. Bennet's Comet was the largest and brightest of all the ones I have seen. Over the years there have been several: Khoutek in 1973 ,West in 1975, Halley's in 1986, Hyakatake in 1996, and Hale-Bopp in 1997. Now I can add Comet Holmes to the list. This one is hanging around for awhile and hopefully it will get brighter as time goes on. We first saw it about a month or so ago when it appeared as a fuzzy spot in the nighttime sky. Viewing thru the binoculars made it easier to see. We also saw it thru the telescope at the planeterium last month when we took Hannah there. Last night I was looking for it again but didn't see it anywhere. Tonight I walked outside to go over to the laundry room here at the RV park and glanced up and there it was straight up overhead, big and bright and it immediately caught my eye. I came back inside and grabbed by binoculars for better viewing. We have some whispy clouds tonight that obstruct the view on and off but for the most part it is clear and even with all the light pollution we have here we are still able to see it naked eye. I have always loved seeing comets. I have seen several photos of Comet Holmes online but none look like it does tonight so will have to wait until I can find one to post. I tried to take some photos with my camera but nothing shows up. Oh well... If you haven't seen it yet, get outside on a clear night and look up! You can't miss it. Also later this week are the Geminid meteor showers so I will be out looking again. In a few weeks comet Tuttle will be making an appearance and I hope to be able to see it as well.

Bennett's Comet 1970

Comet Kohoutek 1973

Comet West 1975

Halley's Comet 1986

Comet Hyakatake 1996

Comet Hale-Bopp 1997

***full credit given to the photographers of these photos***

Codi

Yesterday we went to visit my mother and then out to celebrate her birthday along with other family and friends. We had a lot of fun as always. Afterward we went over to visit my aunt and uncle and their adorable little doggie, Codi. He is a Westie and such a friendly fellow. He gave each of us equal lap time and is Mr. Personality. Millenni wasn't with us this time but last them we visited Millenni and Codi had so much fun playing together. When we got home David and I discovered we were both covered with white hair! I am soooo glad that Millenni is a non-shedding dog. Here is a photo I took of Codi as we were leaving. He stood at the door watching us all say goodbye. Wish I had taken some better photos of him inside but this will have to do.

Feeling Toasty

Awww.... so cute! This picture says it all. Curled up in front of a warm fire on a cold day.

Llamas

I spent the day decorating the house where we are going to spend the holidays. Got the tree up and decorated and also some other inside and outside decorations. Glad to have that done. On my way back to the RV I passed by a farm with some llamas in the yard. Of course I had to pull over and take a picture.

Poinsettia

Have you ever wondered how the Poinsettia, that beautiful, bright red (and other colors) plant that is so popular at Christmas time, got its name? Since this is Christmas season I thought I would share some of the info with you so you will know how this plant became known as the poinsettia. This summer I discovered the books of Robert Morgan, an author from my neck of the woods whose stories I thoroughly enjoy reading. One such story about a bridge in this area led to my discovery of how the poinsettia got its name. Joel Roberts Poinsett was the first Ambassador to Mexico, appointed by President John Quincy Adams in the 1820s. Poinsett was a botanist and during his time in Mexico he discovered this beautiful plant and brought it back to his home in Greenville, SC where he propagated the plants and gave them as gifts to friends and botanical gardens. The Mexican people gave the plant a new name, poinsettia, in honor of Joel Roberts Poinsett. Even though Poinsett had an outstanding career as a United States Congressman and as an ambassador he will always be remembered for introducing the poinsettia into the United States. He also later founded the institution known today as the Smithsonian Institution and held many titles during his lifetime. Some interesting facts regarding the poinsettia include the fact that its milky white sap was once used as a fever reducer and the purplish dye extracted from the leaves was used in textiles and cosmetics. Cuetlaxochitl was the name given by the Aztec’s but by the 1830’s it was known in the US by the name poinsettia. The name Poinsett is common here in this part of SC, we have the Poinsett Highway and the Poinsett Bridge among other things. I had never thought about how these places got their names nor had I wondered how the poinsettia got its name but know we all know! I sure am glad the name was changed for the plant because I am not sure I could even pronounce cuetlaxochitl without it sounding like a dirty word!

Joel Roberts Poinsett

Poinsettia

Tag!

OK, so Jamie blogger-tagged me and now I am "it" and have to post 7 random things about myself. Let's see... where to start...

1. I LOVE shoes! I have always loved shoes. I can't have enough. I think part of this love is the fact that when I was growing up we didn't have a lot of money so we basically got 2 pairs of shoes each year... a pair of penny loafers for school and a pair of tennis shoes for playing in the summer time. It is usually the first thing I notice about a person... what shoes they are wearing!
2. If I could spend the rest of my life traveling I would. I have loved traveling my entire life and I especially love learning about new cultures and experiencing first hand how they life, eat, work etc..
3. I always hear music in my head. My daughter mentioned the fact that she wakes up with a song playing in her head every morning... so do I but for me I hear music all day long. I think that is one reason I am basically a happy person.
4. I have often thought that I would have enjoyed being a scientist of some sort.... I love things like astronomy, Egyptology, and technical things and think I would have enjoyed getting really deep into subjects like that. Not in this life time though.
5. I am a Grandmother! I have one grand daughter, Hannah, who is the apple of my eye. I adore that little girl.
6. I used to be interested in gourmet cooking. I thoroughly enjoyed it when our kids were younger and living at home but now that it is only David and myself it is more difficult. I enjoy all sorts of foods and it was a lot of fun experimenting in the kitchen.
7. I really enjoy home decorating. We have moved around a lot and I always enjoyed having a blank slate to decorate. I try to incorporate feng shui into my decorating too.

OK, so that's my 7 random things about myself. Now I will have to figure out who I can tag.

Bubbles Everywhere

David called me yesterday morning as soon as he got to work to share with me one of the funniest things he had seen in a long time. The company where he works is a beautifully constructed, multi-million dollar, architectural building that includes a huge water fountain in the front. When he got to work this morning he noticed something different… during the night someone had apparently poured bubble bath into the fountain and it was full of bubbles! He said that when he got inside everyone was laughing over it and the security guards were going over video from the security cameras and had just discovered that at 11:30 the night before a car drove up and a figure got out and ran to the fountain then quickly back to the car and it drove away. Sounds like someone was up to mischief. The end result seemed to have provided lots of laughter at the office. Only wish I had been there with my camera to get a photo. I did find a few photos online of the company and the fountain (without the bubbles).

this was the fountain that had bubbles running out all over the place as everyone arrived at work on Friday morning

a view of the building with the fountain showing just to the right of the red car

a pretty night time view of the building

Visitors

Along with the usual Canada geese we have also had some other visitors to the lake where we are currently camping. Below are some photos I took this week. The duck with the red face appears to be a variation of a Muscovy. I couldn't find anything that looks like the gray and white duck that seems to be the mate of the Muscovy. As for the small black ducks, I have not been able to find anything like them anywhere either. They are small, black with white beaks and a small white spot on their tail. There were about 30 or so of them in the lake when I took the photo.