The hawk that came for breakfast and other news

Hello eveyone. It is a lovely Sunday afternoon here. Sun has been out intermittently and temps are in the high 50's. After a few days of cold with lows in the low 20's, it seems nice to have it a bit warmer. Guess we can be grateful we aren't getting the type of weather that the west and midwestern parts of the U.S. have been getting. I understand that in Bruce's neck of the woods they got quite an ice storm. I haven't heard from him in a few days but guess no news is good news. Jody was planning to move out with him this week so I expect he has been busy getting her settled in.

This morning when Jack and I were sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast Jack noticed a hawk sitting on one of the fence posts in the back field. I went out with my camera to see if I could get a couple of photos. Here is the result.....



We think it may be a red tailed hawk as they are apparently quite common in the this area.

And while we are on the subject of photos, Heidi had mentioned in her blog about her penchant for "killing" plants. Not to brag, but have to show here how beautiful one of my african violets is at the moment. I have five of them on my kitchen window ledge and they seem to like the diffused light. Since we have a wide porch, they don't get direct sun.



I celebrated my sixtieth birthday (yup, the big 6-0) recently. Incredible how quickly the years pass. But then, despite the years passing I am at least still around to enjoy life, and for that I am extremely grateful. In celebration I treated myself to a new van, which really was long overdue. I have 133,000 miles on my 2000 Mercury Villager and although I haven't been having problems with it, I could see the handwriting on the wall. I finally was able to find a 2007 Nissan Quest with just 500 miles on it and managed to get a GREAT deal. Jack and I took it to Naples, FL last week and it rides and drives beautifully. Lets hope it will prove to be as reliable as my Mercury has been. The trip to Naples was planned so that we could attend a mini class reunion of sorts. One of Jack's classmates, who currently lives in NH, has a vacation home on Ft. Myers Beach. For the past several years he has had a gathering of many of the classmates during his month-long vacation. We went last year and had a great time, as was the case this year. Here is a photo of the "old farts" (grin) who attended. All of the spouses of the classmates were busy manning the cameras. Jack is the one near the center in the bright blue shirt. The guy in the light blue shirt on the right lost everything during Hurricane Katrina and he and his wife are just now beginning to rebuild their home. Guess the rest of us really need to count our blessings.



Till next time.....

Rain, rain go away.....

Good afternoon.....a rainy Sunday here. In fact we have had lots and lots of rain since we returned to Quitman. Temps have been very mild as well, just like much of the east coast. In fact we even had the air on one day last week.

I just received a photo from Bruce of him and Jodi that was taken in San Diego when Bruce visited her at Thanksgiving. Thought everyone might enjoy seeing them. I think they look like a great couple. She has plans to move to OK sometime around the end of Jan. so sounds like things are getting serious with them. I sure wish them all the best.



Jack and I had a call from a high school friend of Jack's when we returned from Highlands. He and his wife, who live in NH, will be having a "mini class reunion" at their vacation home in Ft. Myers Beach, FL next week so Jack and I plan to go down to visit with everyone. Sounds like fun I think. There was a similar get-together last year and we really enjoyed ourselves. We will combine it with a car shopping trip and a trip to Lake Placid, FL to check out the possibility of purchasing a small condo there. We would like to buy something in that area to use as a "home base" when Jack has to go down to meet with clients. I have done some research online and there are several good possibilities so we will see how that goes. As for the car shopping, my van now has over 130,000 miles on it (thanks to all my travels in the past four years) and although I haven't had any problems with it (it is a 2000 Mercury Villager) I figure my luck is about running out and it will undoubtedly "nickel and dime" me to death if I don't get rid of it soon. Haven't had much luck finding something similar in this area that is used but with low mileage. Have decided I no longer want to spend the money for something new so will look for a good used vehicle. I am hopeful that perhaps I will have better luck in the Naples area.

Have a great week everyone. Till next time......

The first day of 2007

My goodness, here it is 2007 already. Where have the years gone?? But at least it is a lovely day here in the Smoky Mountains today after our heavy rains yesterday. Seemed wonderful this morning to wake up to those beautiful Carolina blue skies.

I am including a few more photos of our holiday. Here is Jack's son, Jonathan, and the other two are of Jonathan and his girlfriend, Stef......





They left at noon today to head south. They plan to stay tonight at our house in Quitman and finish the drive to Miami on Tues. Jonathan has to return to work (he is a graduate of film school and is currently involved in making independent films and music videos in Miami) and Stef returns to her studies on Thurs. She is working towards a degree in elementary education. It was wonderful to have them with us for the holidays. They made several day trips, including one to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinberg, TN and one to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. The trip to Pigeon Forge turned out to be a bit more than they bargained for. When they were ready to return to Highlands they found that the route home over the mountains had been closed to all traffic due to snow and ice. They had to return to Pigeon Forge and take an alternate route home which involved about an hour and a half more driving. Fortunately they arrived home safe and sound but it was quite an experience, particularly for young people who live in Miami and are not accustomed to mountain roads being closed.

We spent a quiet New Year's Eve yesterday here at home. It literally poured all day so we "hung out" and watched a lot of DVDs. We finally had a chance to see The Devil Wears Prada, which I can highly recommend. We also spent part of the day working on a jigsaw puzzle. I haven't worked on one in years and had forgotten how much fun it can be. Of course, it was a bit of a challenge to keep Garfield (my cat that you can see snoozing on the back of the sofa in one of the photos) off the table. He was particularly interested in batting the puzzle pieces around. Fun for him on a rainy day ! ! !

We will be closing up the house tomorrow for the winter and heading back to Quitman. Holidays are now behind us, but it certainly was a wonderful time. I had Jonathan and Stef assist in taking down all the Christmas decorations down yesterday and everything has now been stored in the basement for another year. The house seems rather drab without all the colorful Christmas lights. Today will be spent doing up all the laundry and getting things in order before we leave tomorrow. When I return in the spring I will arrive to my tulips in bloom so that is something to look forward to.

Hope everyone had as joyous a holiday as we did and that 2007 will bring all of you nothing but the very best.