Looking Back As We Look Forward

It is so hard to realize that Christmas and Thanksgiving have come and gone so quickly.  In the blink of an eye the events that we worked so hard to prepare for have been reduced to a handful of memories.  It seems that if we didn't have the photos to prove that they truly existed we just might deny their very existence.  If someone asks me if our family had a good Christmas, I would have to reply that we did have a great Christmas and really enjoyed it. 

In fact, I think this was one of the most enjoyable and most fun filled Christmas times that I can remember, but that having been said, if I am not careful, I might let the stress and fatigue that came with the days of "getting ready" with the shopping, decorating, cooking, and all the rest (or lack of it) override the joy, beauty, and happiness that should have been paramount during this time. It is so shockingly easy to forget the "reason for the season" and I regret that I let that happen even when I feel so blessed in so many ways. I am not much on resolutions, but in the back of my mind, I resolve to seek ways to make our next Christmas more meaningful, restful, and filled with  joy for our blessings.

With the coming of the New Year, I also, find myself reflecting on some of the events that I will always associate with 2009--both good and bad:

2009 will always be the year we went to Alaska.  One of our Christmas gifts that I consider to be priceless is the wonderful book from Kim, Vince, and Cole that chronicles our trip in photos and comments.

2009 will always be the year that Jordie became a freshman in high school and for the first time since the 5th grade we saw a renewal of appreciation for school instead of dread for each day. New friends, new coaches and sports teams to be a part of along with new teachers and the new school have worked miracles for his attitude toward school.  It was also during 2009 that he became as tall as his Grandad after passing the rest of us much earlier.

2009 is another year in which we with great happiness saw our young Cole, make huge strides in school.  He loves going each day and has a strong love for learning that I have rarely seen in other children.  We are constantly amazed at what he teaches us with his great store of information and his talents.

2009 brought Izzie and Raider, our new grand-puppies, to live with Cole and his family.  

2009 will be remembered as a year for disappointment for our daughter, Jami, who worked so hard to train to run her first marathon, only to find herself in the hospital that day.  We pray for her continued healing both physically and spiritually.  

2009 will always be the year that we were profoundly disappointed that an athlete that we admired for his physical talent and for his seemingly good character, fell so far from  the man we imagined him to be and pray that he will find the strength he needs to put his life in order and to do what it takes to become a true man of character and honor. 

2009 brought a totally unexpected illness to one of our dear friends who just recently celebrated a fiftieth wedding anniversary with his wife who is also a dear friend.  Now we pray for a total recovery from this illness and the patience he will need for all the hard work (pt) that lies ahead.

In 2009 we have seen some of our friendships fade away just as we rejoice that we have felt other friendships strengthen.  

As we see 2010 approaching, we want to take the time to wish each and every one of you true happiness, good health and healing during illness. as well as fun, faith, and friends.  

Happy New Year to one and all!

Jim and Nicki

 

Guilty Pleasures: The Twilight Saga

Written by Driscilla Storrs

I didn't mean to be a part of the Twilight phenomenon.  The Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer spent 102 weeks on the NY Times Best Seller List for Children's Series, have sold 70 million copies worldwide, have been translated into 38 languages, and won the 2009 Kid's Choice Award for favorite book.  They're classified as children's books and young Adult fiction, but I was astonished at how much I enjoyed the books and the lengths I would go to to keep reading them.

It was my daughters who first mentioned Twilight.  "You should read it, Mom.  You'd really like."

"What's It about ?" I asked. 

"Vampires."

"I don't like stories about vampires," I answered.
Too many B movies about vampires when I was
a teenager, I guess.

"But these vampires don't bite people.
They're different.  You'd like the book.

I dismissed it again.  "I don't really read much
fiction.  I read mostly history, biography...I just
don't read fiction very much."  They dropped
the subject and so did I.

Last fall, Twilight, the movie, came out with much anticipation.  I read about it.  Our girls went to see it and reported disappointment.  When the movie came to DVD, we rented and watched it without a lot of enthusiasm.  It was okay but certainly not remarkable.


Several months ago at work, in casual conversation with several co-workers, my supervisor asked, "Driscilla, you read, don't you?"  I wondered if it was a trick question. I work in an institution of higher learning:  EVERYONE reads.  "Do you mean something specific?" I asked.


She clarified:  "Have you read Twilight?"


"No I haven't.  I've heard about it.  I just don't read much fiction."


"You really should read it though.  I think you'd really like it.  I'm reading the last book and I've only got 100 pages to go, so I'm reading it very slowly.  I don't want it to end."  That sounded like a great recommendation for a book.

A couple of weeks later another co-worker asked me if I'd read the book, and I told her the same thing, "No...I don't read much fiction..."

"I think you'd really love the books.  I'd let you borrow my copies, but I keep going back and re-reading, and I don't think I could let them go long enough for you to read."

Hmmm.  Another great recommendation.

In August, we went to Colorado on vacation.  All of the family gathered at our daughter's home to celebrate the birthday that our grandson and I share.  (It was a fun
visit, but that's another story.)  One night I noticed the book, Twilight, on the bookshelf and remembered the recurring recommendations.  I asked if I could read it while we were there.  Our days and nights were very busy and I barely opened the book, so when we left, I asked if I could take the book with me.  The girls offered to  let me borrow the other books, too.  "Is is a trilogy?' I asked (ignorantly)."


"No, Mom, there are four books."

"Four?  I don't want to take four books.  I'm not sure I'll even finish this one.  I'll just take it for the trip."  With four adults, two children, and four dogs in the van (that's another story, too), there wasn't much time to read.  About six hours into the trip, things got quiet in the van, so I got the book out and started to read.  I was hooked!  I was surprised at how engrossed I was in the story.  That was Sunday.

When I went to work the next day, I took the book with me so I could read on it during my lunch hour.  Though it was 498 pages long, it was a surprisingly fast read, and I knew I would soon be finished with the first installment of the romance between 108-year-old-but-17-forever vampire Edward and 17-year old-and-normally-aging human Bella.  I talked to my supervisor. "Do you remember when you asked me about Twilight?"  She nodded.  "Well, I'm almost through reading it, and I was wondering if I could borrow the second book from you.  Could you bring it tomorrow?"


"Sure," she said, "I'll try to remember it"  She would TRY to remember?  That meant she might forget!  I needed a more definite answer, some reassurance that she would bring the book, so at the end of the day, I caught her at the elevator and reminded her.


I finished Twilight Monday night.  As a teaser, the book included the first chapter of the second book, New Moon, increasing my anxiety to follow the lives of Edward and Bella.  I went to my supervisor's office the first thing Tuesday morning, and to my relief, she had remembered the book.  I practically snatched it out of her hand before she could change her mind or someone else might come into the office in time to see my desperation.  I took New Moon to my office, very anxious for lunch so I could start reading it during the break.  I read the book at every opportunity that day and night though real life kept intruding and demanding my time.


By Wednesday night, I knew I would be ready for the third book, Eclipse, by Thursday. 
I didn't want to harass my supervisor about the next book, so I checked the library online.  There were numerous copies listed but they were all checked out except one.  It was available in the Young Adult Fiction section at the downtown library, and it probably wouldn't stay on the shelf very long.  Afraid it would be gone by the time I got off work on Thursday evening, I asked my husband to pick it up on Thursday morning as soon as the library opened.  He wasn't sure he even had a library card since we usually to to the library together and put all the books on my card.  He agreed to go to the library and get a card and check out Eclipse.  I casually mentioned the library might have a copy of the Twilight DVD and maybe he could check that out , too..  Later he called me from the library and reported he now had a library card and was searching for the book.The poor unsuspecting man was about to use his new library card to check out a teenage vampire romance.  I said, "If anyone asks you, tell them it's for your granddaughter."  What?   I had just encouraged my preacher-husband to lie!  He called a few minutes later and reported that he had found the book and DVD and no one had made comments about his selection.  That night we watched the movie again; it made more sense after having read the book.

Friday, I started reading the third book.  I thought I would read it during the weekend, then call my supervisor to bring the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, on Monday. By Saturday, I was nearly through with the third book and was almost embarrassed that I was reading the books so fast.  An online check of the libraries showed no copies of the fourth book were available.  Perhaps it would be more discreet simply to buy the book, so a trip to Barnes and Noble seemed to be the best option.  I searched through B&N and finally found a complete display of the Stephenie Meyer books, again the Young Adult section.  The first three books were available in paperback, but the most recent was available only in hardback at $25.  I couldn't justify spending $25 on the last book when I hadn't purchased the first three so I swallowed my pride and called my supervisor's cell phone number.  Standing in the Barnes and Noble vestibule, I made the call. "Hi B.  How are you?  Are you at home?"


"No, I'm at United doing my grocery shopping."


"When will you be home?  I tried not to sound desperate.  There were other people entering and leaving the store.

"Well, I'm about halfway through my list, so it'll probably be another 30-40 minutes.  Why?"

"Will you call me when you get home?  I'd like to pick up Breaking Dawn."  She laughed and assured me she would hurry.

I waited around Barnes and Noble until she called, then went to pick up the last book.


I finished it Sunday.  Though the last part of the last book was not as engrossing as the rest had been, by then Edward, Bella, Jacob, Carlisle, Alice, the vampires and werewolves were friends to me, and I was at a loss when the story was ended.  Maybe I should read all the books again-except I didn't own them and I didn't think I could go through the runaround of borrowing them again.  My reputation at work was already damaged.  I heard my supervisor recommending the books to some else and she added.  "Just ask Driscilla.  She read all of them in a week."


Fortunately, one of our daughters came to my rescue.  She told me about an incomplete book, Midnight Sun, which was available online.  It was a retelling of the first book but from a different perspective.  When an unauthorized draft was posted on the internet, the author stopped work on the book  but made the draft available on her web site.  I read Midnight Sun on Monday night.  After that, I'd read all of the Twilight but I continued to spend time with vampires and were-woves by watching trailers of the upcoming movie, New Moon,  based on the second book of the series.


I'm not sure exactly in the Young Adult demographic, but there is abundant evidence that the appeal of the books has reached all ages.  A couple of weeks ago, we went to Rosa's for Taco Tuesday, always a busy day for the restaurant.  A middle-aged cashier had a copy of Eclipse sitting to side of her register apparently hoping to read during a break in the customer line. A friend of mine--in her early 40's and mother of two young adults--told me of her obsession with the Twilight saga;  she had joined and online group called Twilight Moms, has two Twilight charm bracelets, bought tickets to the second movie as soon as they were available, took a vacation day so she could attend.  On the Today Show, a tour bus guide told the interviewer that visitors to Forks, Washington, (population 3000), the location of the story, included not just teenage girls but even their grandparents.  There is more evidence that I'm not the only senior citizen in the Twilight fan base: one of the sponsors for the New Moon movie trailers is Polident!

The Blessings of November Fell Gently Around Us

A few days after Halloween what originally had been subtle changes in the weather and our landscape become obvious harbingers of the changing season.

While the grass was still green the ornamental grass lost its pale green color and became golden straw in the flower beds.  The chrysanthemum struggled to survive a bit longer.

One afternoon in the blink of an eye the rains came, turned, to sleet, and suddenly covered the ground in a very light snowfall.

The following days the trees in our yard turned first a bright yellow and then to orange and very quickly the ground was flooded with great piles of leaves.

"Fallen leaves lying on the grass in the November sun bring more happiness than the daffodils."    Cyril Connolly in Country Living Magazine

The rocks in the rock garden  almost disappeared under the blanket of leaves.

 

When we sat in our chairs which had previously been our refuge for reading and relaxing, we discovered that the leaves tried to fill our drinks and our hair, but Chloe our cat spent hours chasing the mysterious playthings that were falling from the trees.

"Autumn--a second spring when every leaf's a flower."  Albert Camus

By November 29, we could no long pretend that it was still autumn.  With between 2 and 4 inches of snow covering the ground, we knew winter had arrived no matter what the calendar says. 

As the weather changed the birds flocked in in even greater numbers to enjoy the feeding stations in the yard.

 

November brought 2 new grandpuppies, Izzie and Raider, to live with our grandson, Cole.

 

 

Grandson, Jordie, made the Randall Freshman Basketball team in November.

To read about our Thanksgiving, click on "read more" below.

Spring in Fall

Just when we thought our entire yard was dead, after over 50 days of 100 plus degrees this summer--------RAIN-------------and voila!  (Clara)

Fall and spring such mercurial seasons!  The weather is so unpredictable that we are constantly surprised and/or disappointed with what we see outside our windows.  The flowers and plants remain resilient just as Clara's photos above prove by their determination to survive and to delight just when least expected.

Fall/Autumn will be the topic of our next post "Fabulous Fall".  We will feature our love for the season in photos and quotations  that represent the beauty of the season through our eyes.  This will include Thanksgiving gathering, meals, decorations and love of family gatherings.  Just as we did with Halloween, we would love for you to share with us.  We will add to the post your favorite quotations and photos until November 29.  (Nicki)

Perfectly Scary: Halloween 2009

New Halloween Photos have been added to this post.


This post has been divided to keep it from appearing too long.  At the bottom of this post click on "read more" to see the rest of the photos.      


    











     




Treats and Sweets

Warty Witches Hats

Hidden Treasure Mini Brownie Cakes

Just waiting for the trick or treaters with candy
tucked in a box of potions and spells!

A special box of candy for a special trick or treater


Setting the Scene

Niece Julie and her children display the winning pumpkin dragon

The Happy Pumpkin guy 

with a broken arm.

Turn on the Lights and They will Come

Ninja Snake Eyes
AKA, Cole, grandson of 
Jim and Nicki

Even Ninja Snake Eyes
Need puppy love (Izzie)

Ellie and Nathan

AKA Dorothy of Kansas

and the Dragon

Grandchildren of Robert

and Driscilla, Halloween 2008

Dorothy and Dragon stop

for the camera again


We love the red slippers!

Obie Wan AKA as Tre, son of Julie

 

Master Anikan Skywalker and Asoka Tano

Children of Julie and Tony

Marshall age 5 (above and below)

whose proud grandparents

are Harold and Donna Simmons

Kelli--Mother of Marshall above

Daughter of Jim and Nicki (our baby)

in her Cougar Costume

Click on read more for more Halloween photos

VEGGIES GONE WEIRD

                                  The pumpkin looks pretty normal, right? 

I have this thing about putting a pumpkin on the porch every Halloween, 

then leaving it there to see how long it lasts. It is a conversation piece at 

Christmas, Valentine, and sometimes Easter before it collapses. This year it made

it past 4th of July-------my all time record! Someone must be

growing super pumpkins!

The bean is an Asian variety--------36 inches long. 

One is enough for stir fry for two--------and mighty tasty.

 

Don's cousin grew the carrot! We don't even like to talk about it.

Who knew a carrot could be nasty?

Several years ago we grew broccoli in our garden.   Much to our surprise we found this all ready to harvest one day.  He was just too cute to cook, so like Clara's pumpkin we still have him setting out as a conversation piece.

The same year, this potato was harvested out of the same garden, and he too is still part of our family.  It is amazing how attached we can become to our veggies and they make great "veggie tales" (or meals) to share with our family and friends!  However, a baked potato or French fries would be awfully good.  I just don't think that I would enjoy seeing his eyes on the plate.

 Mr. Broccoli and Mr. Potato live at Jim and Nicki's house.

A Really Special Wedding Story

As many of you know I am always curious about how couples meet, fall in love and get together.  I love to read about or hear those romantic and often really funny stories about these events and the weddings.  Today I have a great story for you that appeared in the Amarillo Globe News today.  The title of the column is "Marriage Stands the Test of Time"  and it is written by Jon Mark Beilue.  

I am sharing this particular story because the couple involved is someone that most of us remember very well as one of our teachers at CHS during the 1960"s.  Our former English teacher, Darryl Morris and his wife Sharon are celebrating 50 years of marriage.  They have a great story to tell.


Click on the link above to go to the Amarillo Globe News online version.  They do have a place for comments or of course you can make comments on FB or here on our blog.

                              Darryl and Sharon Morris

HOLY ROCKS

       Don and I fell in love with holy rocks, began picking them up when spotted.

Moved to Boerne-----our lot was nothing but holy rocks-------the whole hill country is nothing but holy rocks.                   

Anyway, we still love them.

Can you pick out the impostor?

Book Talkin' and Tumblogs

Written by Nicki Sooter Wilcoxson

Recently, quite by accident, I saw author Pamela Redmond Satran in an interview on the Today Show.  The interview concerned her newest book which is interestingly entitled How Not to Act Old.  Because the words aging and old are words that often appear on this blog, I was drawn to purchase the book fully expecting that the book would probably make me feel somewhat like someone was pouring salt on open wounds or like someone was actually pulling out my finger nails.  In other words I really expected to feel even older than I did before I read the book.  Nevertheless I jumped right into the book which is described as "an irreverent guide which is essential for anyone who doesn't want to embarrass their kids--or themselves." 

Because the book is a small paperback, it is an easy read even though it contains 185 ways to not act old.  Right away I knew I was in trouble when #1 declared "Stop Using email"!  It seems that email is an "old" form of communication replaced by text messaging, Twittering, and Face Book.  No one leaves voice mail anymore or even listens to it.  This seems to explain why our young no longer answer our phone calls or return our "messages" or emails..  Well darn!  I still love email and even at the risk of knowing it is "old" I'm just not ready to give it up. (But I do send text messages too)

All of the 184 "ways" that followed were interesting, at times very shocking, and often really funny. They run the gamut of addressing people in their 40's, 50's, and 60's and cover such issues as words we should or should not use (awesome, dude!), topics we should avoid in conversation such as our grown children, our health, menopause,  and parenting advice.  Old folks will learn how to vacation and how not to vacation and how not to work old as well as many other jaw-dropping behaviors we should or should not avoid.  

After my first read through, I felt, well, just a little ticked off and really really annoyed. (Maybe I was just in a bad mood before I started reading!) I felt as if I was way on overload with TMI (too much information).   Over the next few days, I contemplated what I had read, reminded myself that I was taking it all WAY too seriously and that it was intended to be humorous.  All in all it is a fun read if you can keep your perspective and remind yourself that "we are who we are" and "it is what it is"!    

For those of you who don't want to spend your time and money on the book, I do highly recommend that you take a fun trip to the blog which is also entitled "How Not to Act Old" and is published by Pamela Satran as well.  Many of the "ways" are posts and it is fun to check them out.  All of the posts are not in the book and many of them are not on the blog but rather just in the book, but you can certainly get a new perspective on not acting old by putting the blog on your list of favorites to check out on a regular basis. 

Additionally, "How Not to Act Old" has a home on You Tube where you can receive lessons on short videos that demonstrate some of the reasons why you need to read the book.  These actually made me laugh.   

One wonderful bit of information that I learned on the blog is that "blogging is just too 2008" and the new thing is to  tumblog.  This is a totally new thing and word for me and because I love new things, I had to investigate.  This quote from the HNTAO blog post   #152: Don’t Blog, Tumblog defines tumblog:

 "What is a tumblog? Rather than a conventional string of written posts, a tumblog is a collection of quotes, photos, videos, and thoughtlets."

Sounds great to me and I was hooked as soon as I saw this wonderful example of a tumblog.  Check it out below.

 Book Lovers Never Go to Bed Alone

Doing Time: It's the Little and Not So Little Things That Count

Written by Nicki Sooter Wilcoxson

What a wonderful Day!  We went to church early this morning, then to ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship), then to eat lunch with J.R. Bell.  We chose Mexican food so J.R. wouldn't have to go home and eat a PBJ.  J.R.'s wife Jan is in the Dallas area visiting her mom and their daughter.  Since Jan and J.R. are in our ABF class, we often meet for Sunday lunch.  It is always enjoyable for us.  Even better when we came out of church , it had begun to mist and now we are having a nice light rain.  The temps are chilly and it is wonderful to wear jeans and socks today.  My sweet kitty, Chloe, is not having fun because she is ready to go out and the rains is cramping her style.  Now she is just sitting crying and looking pitiful.  Poor Chloe!  Lucky us!

Whoa!  Did he just say what I think he did???

A couple of years ago our pastor, Tommy Politz, preached a series of sermons on Sex, Dating, and Marriage According to God's Plan.  I wasn't certain what to expect, never having encountered these subjects in church.  When you factor in a touch of Puritanism on my part and my modest nature, you can bet that there was some squirming and cringing in my seat.  However, it was an excellent series and when Christmas rolled around , Jim and I gave our daughters and their husbands packaged CD's of the sermons.  The CD's were in Valentines boxes along with chocolates and a CD of love songs.  I am sure that they appreciated the gesture even though it has never been mentioned again.  LOL

Now two years later Pastor Tommy has begun the second series of Sex, Dating, and Marriage According to God's Plan version 2.0.  In the series of 6 sermons we have now covered 3 of them.  The first 2 concerned marriage and the dreams, desires, and wishes that come with the couple into the marriage.  One of the points that gave me pause for thought was when he said that the most important thing that needs to be brought into the marriage was the knowledge that both the bride and groom will hurt and be hurt by their partners.  To emphasize this he said that both a hammer and a cross were needed to signify the hurt and the cross for the need to forgive and be forgiven.  I believe this is certainly more realistic than the desire to live happily ever after in a house with a white picket fence.

Today in the third sermon we covered sex according to God's word.  OH MY! The book in the Old Testament that was the basis for the lesson was Song of Songs (Solomon) Chapter 3.  The main point was the gift of sexual intimacy.  I'll bet some of you thought that church was BORING.  Now see what you are missing!  By now some of you might be thinking what the heck kind of church are they going to?  The answer from us is the greatest church ever, Hillside Christian Church.  Should you feel curious about the series, you can actually see and hear the sermons online. Once there click on online service.  Not surprisingly, these topics are being presented in many churches across the US now and despite my continuing red face, the series is excellent, thought provoking, and well worth your time.  Why, I'll bet the cd's will be ready for purchase just in time for Christmas so you can share them with your children and I am sure they will be as happy as my kids were to get them from their parents! You too can hear that wail,  MOM!  LOL

Martha Stewart is in the house and that is why I have gained  ###$**%  pounds!


One of the domestic goddess talents that I have is that I really love to bake.  I especially like baking during and for the holidays, but I get tired of the same old cookies even though I do love to eat them.  Last year I decided to focus on making  snowball cookies for family and friends.  I searched the Internet and my cookbooks for recipes for all kinds of snowball cookies.  I was amazed at how many I found--chocolate, lemon, chocolate chip, peanut butter, peppermint and more.  I had fun making them, loved eating and sharing them even though they were messy, but still yummy.

One Christmas I made brownies, but once again I found as many recipes as I could for brownies and then I made them and cut them in to 4 small bite sized pieces for brownie bites.  I am drooling just remembering the smell and the taste of each one!

Now I have a new cooking passion.  Martha Stewart recently published a collection of her cupcake recipes, Martha Stewart 's Cupcakes.  Having heard about the popularity of cupcakes and never having made them except when our kids were little, I was ready to experiment.  Once I had the book in my hands I discovered that there are "175 inspired ideas for everyone's favorite treat."  Of course, I have no intentions of making all 175 recipes but I am having a great time selecting about one a week to bake, starting with the ones that seem easiest to do.  So far I have made the Banana Pecan Cupcakes, Strusel Cupcakes, Chocolate Chunk Cookie Cupcakes, Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes, and today the Brown Sugar Pound Cake Cupcakes.  Each of them can be topped with a variety of icings to enhance the pleasure of eating the delicious treats. With enough practice I hope to learn to use a piping bag with a tip to do the cute Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas cupcakes.  Jim and Jordie are my tasters and they give 5 thumbs up for my efforts.  Because each recipe makes about 24-28 cupcakes, I have to make sure we give away the majority of the treats.  So far no one has refused seconds.

Getting to Know you: Reunions-Virtual and Face-to-Face

This past weekend the CHS Class of '64 met in Childress for their 45th class reunion.
Denese Stevens will give all of the details and photos on FB as soon as she recovers from all the celebrating.  I believe she said there were 27 in attendance from the class. She said that in one night they went from being 63 back to 17 and had a wonderful time.

After about 47 years of being separated, I have after many years of searching been re-connected with my wonderful friend from Muleshoe thanks to Facebook.  Both of us have been looking for one another and the other night when I looked once more for Kathy Gray Hartsell there she was.  We are slowly getting reacquainted by writing short installments of information about ourselves.  Kathy lives in Ardmore, OK and her sister lives here in Amarillo, other family members in Lubbock, and the Dallas area.  This means that we have been crossing paths many times over the years.  Kathy was in Muleshoe HS Class of 1963 and we lost contact shortly after my family and I moved to Childress.  Life is good when old friends become new friends again.

You can't be serious!  You are NOT THAT OLD!

Has your mailbox suddenly been filled with letters and brochures from insurance companies vying for your attention and business?  Has the word Medicare suddenly appeared in your consciousness?  If so, you must be 65 or nearly 65.  Jim will make that magic number and transition in November so we have spent quite a lot of time on the phone and online gathering information so we can make the best decision about his Medicare health insurance, prescription card, and secondary insurance and though it has been a stressful time, he now has his card; it has been laminated, and now it is in his wallet ready to go on November 1.  Being the sweet young thing that I am, I have another year before I have to worry about it and by then Jim will have already worked out the problems and solutions for me! 

There is a touch of Fall in the air.

Football and Fall   Go Tech    Sorry, Jordie    Go Sooners

Fall Baseball and trips to Flower Mound to watch Cole play baseball while weekends in Amarillo bring Fall Baseball games so we can watch Jordie play.

September 21 brings a new "Dancing with the Stars."  Now honestly who doesn't want to see Tom DeLay dance???

Ellen Degeneres and American Idol--brings a breath of fresh air.  I might actually watch this year.  Bye-bye Paula.

Fall flowers, falling leaves, crisp days, the smell of burning wood, flocks of birds filling the bird feeders, pumpkins on the porch.

Each fall day brings a blessing--may it be so at your house.