Sunday, October 27, 2013

Snowbirds Have Landed

Once again we are settling in at our winter quarters.  Like some Native Americans years ago, as Autumn turns cold and frosty, we've packed up our belongings, loaded the car to capacity and fled to a warmer place.

Each year the trip seems longer and more tiring, more traffic everywhere and our little Miss Lizzie sure dreads the long ride.  Mostly she dislikes the strangeness of the motels.  She seems quite content while we are at Cousin Janice & Phil's for our second night out. {Thank you Janice and Phil for your hospitality and the wonderful supper you always prepare for us.}



We arrived on Wed. at mid morning.  Home-away-from- Home.  After unloading and getting some tidying up and unpacking done, I took a break and went for a nice long swim in the pool.  Actually I just mostly 'noodle' around!  The water was SO warm... 85 degrees.  Warmer than the late afternoon air which was 80 degrees.  Then home to have some homemade soup brought along frozen in our cooler and nearly all thawed out.  Finally, early to bed for a good nights sleep and in the morning, a new day.

The warm sun and gentle breeze reminds us today that the trip wasn't so bad after all.  Friends from home email to say the first hard frost this fall came on the night of our departure.  Snowbird friends stop by to welcome us back and more are expected to arrive today.

Today is Sunday, just a week from the day we left VT.  After church today the Sunshine Village Fishermen put on a great Fish Fry for all to enjoy. It was really good!  So it seems we are off to a good start of another season with our Sunshine family.

Dennis has been busy getting the bushes and fruit trees trimmed and it looks really nice around here.  The grass has grown thicker and looks great.  He is doing the trimming now.  Our nice neighbor keeps the lawn mowed all summer for us in exchange for the use of our carport for his golf cart!    Den had trouble getting our golf cart/work cart going and had to take a trip to Leesburg yesterday to buy a new part for it.  Goes good now!

A few days before we left home, we were blessed with a beautiful addition to our family,  Great granddaughter, Selena Renae Richardson, born on Oct. 17th and weighing 8 lbs. 9 oz..  She came into the world, lustily voicing her thoughts about her new environment.  She arrived the day after my birthday. We are SO glad she made it before we left!  It was great to welcome her and see the happy faces of her Mom and Daddy and to snuggle her for a bit.  After her first loud comments on things, she was very serene and calm as she seemed to be looking around and sizing up all these new wonders.


'GG' and Selena Renae


Patrick, Lindsay and Selena


"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, the bankroll smaller, a home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth looking forward to."
  Author unknown

Glad you came by to see what's up with us and hope you are all having a wonderful late fall.  Blessings to each or you.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Happy Happenings.

We sure have enjoyed wonderfully warm days, cool mornings and pretty foliage this autumn.  We seem to be a week or two ahead of other years as it is about peak color now.  Usually it is closer to Columbus Day.  After having plentiful rainfall this summer, we are now in need of rain.
From the back patio

As we count down the days until our annual migration to the warmer south, we delight in spending  a busy time with friends and family.  Met with class mates, mine for breakfast as we gather once a month and Den's for luncheon once a month.  Both well attended events and always a fun time.

Our 12th great grand baby, a girl is expected to arrive before we leave.  Sure hope we get to meet her before we have to go!

Last weekend I attended a church retreat with others from church at a lovely, quiet place in the hills of northern VT.  It was a peaceful and inspiring time at a beautiful spot.  I've had some really good times too with our daughter, Angel and her hubby, Paul now that they are once again living here in VT just across the meadow.  Angel and I have had some nice outings together.  On Wednesday she picked the apples at her place and we made 3 kettles full of applesauce and 4 pies.  A nice fun and productive day.

Angel and one of her apple pies.

Had a nice luncheon at church on Friday, the monthly Senior Luncheon with home made Chicken Pie and the fixings, made by Pastor George and Avis' apple pie for dessert. Yum!  We took a ride up to Darling Hill for our final trip there this fall.  Beautiful ride and a sweet time with friends for supper.  

Enjoyed a surprise visit from our Grandson and his family from the Northeast Kingdom this week too,  So glad to see them and stock up on hugs to last until Spring.

Our little Miss Lizzie kitty has to have a tooth extraction.  OUCH!  No insurance for that! OUCH again!  Thought maybe that new Obamacare might just cover that .. she IS our 'baby' and is under 26 and living at home, (she's only 9 ) But guess I'm dreaming, huh?  Oh well.

Saw lots of neat things at the Chester Fall Festival this year.  Someone is making these great warm mittens out of old woolen sweaters that have been felted (some by accident) or by intentionally putting them into the washer with very HOT water and agitating them for awhile.  Then these fibers shrink and make  nice tightly woven and really warm woolen mittens when you trace a pattern of your hand on the sweater, cut them out and sew them together.  The ones we saw were also lined with a thin fleece and the cuffs were from the sweater's wrist and bottom ribbing.  Now you know just what to do with your nice wool sweater that got tossed into the washer with all the other clothes and shrunk to child size!  I actually did make mittens without the linings, for my kids from a sweater I shrunk once years ago.  Now they are selling them for $27.00 a pair !  So it isn't a brand new idea, just a revived one made 'trendy'.  AND by people smarter than I was!  

I'm a bit weary this Saturday night.  After a whirlwind week, we went to the Weathersfield School today to attend the annual Antique and Unique Car Show.  It is a huge fund raiser for the 8th grade class' trip this coming June.  A roaring success and a good time to meet old friends and look over all the nice old and odd cars on display. Around 100 of them today.  So I think I'll just crash and turn my brain to 'off' for the evening.  Too tired to knit so the poncho I am working on will have to wait for another evening.   "Night all"!

"Commit whatever grieves thee
Into the gracious hands
Of Him who never leaves thee,
Who heaven and earth commands...     Paul Gerhardt