Saturday, November 12

Some of my favorite "Heroes"

Lily Marie has overcome more adversity than any 1 year old should have to endure.

Student Megan, who played OSU volleyball, and Rae LeCompte who guided me to my eventual teaching career.

University of Tennessee women's basketball coach, Pat Summit has won more games than any coach men or women. Is currently facing her toughest opponent, Alzheimer's Disease.

Ahhhh, Saturdays! I just love 'em. Most of you that know me very well, know that I love all things sports. If it involves a ball of any shape, bats or sticks, pucks or birdies, skates or skies, I will be watching. Remember World Wide Sports? I loved it. I'm not sure where my love for sports came from. The only thing we ever watched once we had a TV was WWF Wrestling. On Saturdays, after chores and dinner (dinner being our noon meal) we watched the likes of Don Eagle and Gorgeous George body slam each other until the referee determined the winner by 3 hard slaps of his hand on the canvas mat and then holding the victor's hand high above his head. We never watched football at home so my first exposure was on the Sundays we would visit Grandma & Grandpa Long in Columbus. After dinner the women stayed in the kitchen washing dishes while Dad and Grandpa went into the living room to watch TV. Much to my dad's dismay and my great joy, Grandpa tuned in to a football game. From my seat hiding behind Grandpa's overstuffed chair, he had long before adopted a "children should be seen and not heard" policy, I would excitedly watch the game called football. The smell of cherry pipe tobacco waifing through the air, I was mesmerized by this game. There was an air of innocence in the games that were played back then. There is a part of me, that inner child, that is very angry that the media of today finds it so necessary to find wrong doing at every turn. It seems nearly impossible to have a hero that doesn't have some dirty laundry hidden away somewhere in his or her past. As an adult, I understand that media has made us more accountable for making bad choices which is a good thing. Today will be a very sad day for me as Penn State takes the field without Joe Pa and actually this entire year has been rather disappointing. I guess the lesson for our young people is that we not only need to be concerned with what we do but also those things that we fail to do. Or perhaps the lesson could be to begin looking for our "heroes" a little closer to home! Oh, and if you have any dirt on Davy Crockett, please don't tell me, that might just put me over the edge! Have a great week end!!

Friday, November 11

My sister, Judy, talking with a Pearl Harbor survivor on our visit to the USS Arizona last November.

Paying tribute to those who lost their lives during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Matt on board the USS Missouri. He had the opportunity to be on board when they moved the ship from dry dock.

My dad was in the Merchant Marines during WWII.

Today is the designated day to honor our veterans. I will give a shout out to my son in law, Matt, who is currently deployed aboard the USS Port Royal and my dad who served during WWII in the United States Merchant Marines. I am currently watching a basketball game between Michigan State and North Carolina and it is being played aboard an aircraft carrier. In a few minutes they will be taking a special time out at sunset for the presentation of the evening colors. I think the ship is in port in San Diego, at first when I saw President Obama I thought they were in Hawaii but I was mistaken. Sara had told me that Obama and several world leaders have been in Honolulu all week and traffic was a nightmare because of all the road closures. Any way, the game is pretty unique. I'm looking forward to the OSU basketball game at 9. I am pretty much over football this year. I can hardly make myself watch the Browns and the college scene has been one disappointment after another. On a lighter note I heard on the news that weddings for today were up by 110% because so many couples wanted to be married on 11-11-11. Thanks again to the men and women who have or are serving in the military.

Thursday, November 10

What I am thankful for, I love how excited Lily looks when Luke opens the door.

The sky as I was driving to art class. The clouds were soft and white with a tinge of pink and the full moon right above. And then the cold front moved in.

I apologize to the faithful that read this blog. I feel my posts have been few and far between as of late. Partly, I think because the weather has been so gorgeous that I have been outside quite a bit and also because I am trying to prepare for Christmas a month early. We will be having Thanksgiving and Christmas in Delaware next week since I will be gone during the month of December. The church bazaar last week end was pretty successful, I haven't heard a final tally but my Stained Glass notecards all sold as well as the two framed prints that I donated. If you are interested, I do have my notecards at The Abbey, a gift shop in the old Catholic Church downtown, and they are having a Holiday Open House this week end. I believe the Catholic church is also having their bazaar on Saturday and several craft shows including Helen Haenszel's out on Olmstead Rd. Someone told me there is even a wine tasting at the Garden shop at the eastern edge of West Jeff? Who needs a grocery store!

Stay tuned, my next posts will more than likely be from Delaware and New Jersey and in the month of December they will be coming to you direct from sunny Honolulu. As I close this post I would like to ask each of you to say a little prayer for all the families and their children who are fighting childhood diseases. It takes such a toll on everyone concerned. I have three regulars in my prayers, 7 year old Madeline of Columbus going through chemo after being diagnosed with neuroblastoma, 5 year old Trey Love of Pennsylvania fighting against reoccuring neuroblastoma and 4 year old Celia who is the victim of little known Batten's disease. There are far too many statistics of childhood diseases but sometimes we need to forget the statistics and make them more personal. Pray for healing, understanding and faith in a power greater than we can fathom. Examine your life as it stands today and take stock of the many blessing that surround you and give thanks.

Saturday, November 5

Robin wants Batman's candy bucket, and this is before they left the house!

Batman loves his little sis!

Every super hero needs a damsel in distress. This is Luke at his pre-school, the damsel is Ava. When Trish asked Luke if Ava liked him his reply was, "I not know Mom, everybody likes me!"

A super hero convention, I'm thinking the teacher of this group is probably underpaid!!

Went to the church bazaar today. I actually went early just to buy the caramel candies that the UMW women make each year, last year they were sold out by the time I got there. I am sending a package to my son in law and he likes all things caramel so I hope he likes them. At 10:30 I stopped by the Madison House to pick up Mom so she could visit her friends at the bazaar and have lunch. I had asked several of the other ladies from the Madison House if they would like to go but Mom was the only one who felt good enough to go. I'm glad she was able to go with me, she enjoyed seeing her prayer group friends, eating lunch and just getting away for a while.

*The pictures today have nothing to do with the post but are some Halloween pictures that Trish put up on Facebook of the kids on beggars night. It appears that Lily was a double agent and posed as Minnie Mouse and also as Batman's side kick, Robin. (she is quite gifted, you know!)

Friday, November 4

This was Tuesday's rainbow. It had faded some by the time I got home.

If you look closely you can see the turkey vultures roosting in our sycamore tree. As of today they are still here.

I framed two prints of my stained glass paintings and donated them to the church bazaar. I also took down several sets of note cards that you can purchase. After next week they will be available at The Abbey also.

After talking to my sister this week on her birthday, we realized that last year at this time Judy and I were in Hawaii. What a great trip that was! And what a beautiful week we have had this week. Each morning the views were spectacular with the sunrise and the low lying fog hugging the creek. The turkey vultures, that I mistakenly thought had left, spread their wings to catch the early rays of sun to dry and disinfect their feathers before heading out to rid the highways of small roadkill. I found myself thinking that I would never want to leave our place here on the Little Darby unless it were for several of the colder months in the winter. Well, no need to dwell on that thought since I am getting ready to spend my December in Honolulu. I am frantically getting my Christmas wrapping finished so we can have an early Christmas with Trish, Chad and Andy's mom. Sara is doing well and will start having bi-monthly doctor visits and she started her birthing classes. Next week she will tour the hospital.

Don't forget to shop the United Methodist Fall Bazaar tomorrow, Nov. 5 from 9a.m. to 5p.m. I'm heading down now to deliver my two Toll House Cookie Pies and some of my note cards and a few white elephant items. Have a great week end and enjoy the weather, it may be the last of the warm days.

Monday, October 31

Luke & Lily, not so sure Minnie Mouse is real happy. Maybe she wanted to be Robin!

Levi Jackson State Park, London, Kentucky!

The Harvest Party at the United Methodist Church on Saturday evening. Hawaii, complete with the beach. I went w/50lbs. of sand and came home with about 30lbs. Fun, fun, fun!!

I was next to the Malt Shoppe. They were giving away root beer floats. Awesome!!!

Mr. Harrison Triceratops was checking out Noah's Ark.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Think I will just share some Halloween Pics. Enjoy!!

Friday, October 28

The vulture with the red head is an adult, the dark ones are juveniles.

I have no idea how this ended up in our yard, what ever it is.

Molly and Maggie became very good playmates in a very short time.

We miss you Melody, glad you are so happy. Retirement looks good on you!

One month from today I will be in Hawaii preparing to meet out new little granddaughter. I'm getting excited especially since the weather is getting cooler. This morning I watched several of my favorite birds, turkey vultures, fighting over something really gross. Last night when Molly and I went for our walk we counted about 60 vultures roosting in the woods. Tonight there were none. I think it is about a week earlier than their usual migration but perhaps they were watching the weather channel and saw that snow was on the way!

We had a pleasant surprise this evening when we got a call from our friend Melody Kuhl. After retirement she headed south and has recently relocated near Charleston, South Carolina. She brought her new little Jack Russell puppy Maggie and she and Molly got along great. It was so much fun to watch the interaction between the two. Maggie was not intimidated at all. She seemed to think she was the same size as Molly. We wish Melody well and hope to get down to visit her in the near future.