Jack and Jill

Paul and I went to our first Jack and Jill tonight, a pig roast. Our friends' son is getting married next month. We had a really fun time. Different, but fun.

Dot

Now that Dot is feeling a little more comfortable in her new surroundings, I want to start bringing over some of her pictures. This picture was taken some time in the 1960's I think. She and Emilio DiLorenzo (who, by the way, had the best Italian tenor voice ever) used to sing together on the Bethany Hour, a radio program on Sunday mornings. This picture, along with a plaque, was given to her as appreciation of her 20-year committment to the Bethany Hour.

Today I put the picture and plaque up in the little memory box that everyone has next to their bedroom door to identify their room.

Prims

This is the last story time in Prims for this year. Our badges are done!

But...a new group comes in September, and we start all over again!

Dinner at the Atrium

We had dinner with Dot at the Atrium tonight. She has been raving about the food there and now I know why. We had a very nice dinner with her. I'm so happy that she is doing so well there.

Summer Sunday

Today was a very hot Sunday. Not as bad as the last few days but still hot. Almost too hot to be outside in the little pool... at least for me, Kris and Janelle. Mason and Marley kept cool though!






Marley has been into playing with Legos lately. This was the first time that we thought it would be alright to have them out with Mason here. He is not the type to put things in his mouth so we took a chance. He loved them. All through dinner he kept saying "play Legos?" These used to be Kristen's and Mark's. We sure have a lot of them!

Deerfield Flowers

Today we took a ride to Grafton, VT to get some cheese. On the way home we were going through Deerfield on a back road that cuts back out to Rt 5. We went by these fields of flowers that were so pretty I just had to get out and take some pictures.








This is a digital scrapbook page that I made a few years ago. This house is on Mill Village Road in Deerfield where I took the pictures of the flowers. My grandfather was interested in buying this house at one time. He and I actually got out one day and talked to the house owners. I looked around at all the little sheds and barns, and somehow this place just captured my imagination. It used to be about the only house on the street but now it is shrouded in duplexes and large homes. I'm sure one day it will be gone; that will be a sad day. (You can click on the picture to make it larger).

Making pasties on a hot night!

Yikes. This heat wave is unreal. This article is from MassLive.com

One more day of heat before a cool down
Published: Friday, July 22, 2011, 8:37 PM Updated: Friday, July 22, 2011, 8:47 PM
By Dan Brown, abc40 Meteorologist masslive.com

Good Evening,

It was a record breaking day with temperatures reaching into the lower 100s! We reached 101 out at the Westover Air Reserve Base matching the hottest day in July. We crushed the daily record of 97 with ease.

Things will be cooler tonight with readings falling into the middle 60s by morning. However tomorrow will be another very warm day with highs back into the 90s. It will be muggy tomorrow too. A front will bring much cooler and drier weather for Sunday. Highs will be back into the 80s with dew points in the 50s. That will feel really nice! By the way if your heading to the beach this weekend the weather should be great to be out by the water both tomorrow and Sunday.

Have a great night!
Dan Brown


Marley, Mason and Mark came over tonight but we stayed inside. Too hot to go outside.

Actually, Marley came with an agenda......

She wanted to bake. I hate baking almost as much as I hate crafts - LOL!

She wanted to make "pasties" and she made up the recipe in her head. She mixed flour, sugar, and water, rolled it out, cut it in half and put honey in one, and shredded carrots in the other (!!) and then folded them. We baked them in the oven.

She had fun making them and then had us all try a piece. When she tried it she said they were terrible (they really were). Mark said they were almost good, Baba said it was tasty and sweet, and Big Baba said "Schmeckt gut" - German for tastes good (he has said that so much over the years that we have all taken to saying it!)

Space Shuttle Atlantis landing

Today marked the completion of the Space Shuttle Program with the final mission and landing of the shuttle Atlantis. History in the making and I wanted to document it.

In other news............

Mason and Marley came to visit Grandma tonight. They haven't seen each other in over two weeks because of vacations. I think they missed each other.

Like Mother Like Daughter

I turned around to make sure Marley was following me in the grocery store and this scene brought me back to when her mother used to read everywhere, even while brushing her teeth.

A mug for grandma

Today Marley gave me this mug that she painted for me last week at daycare. Junie loves crafts (as opposed to someone else we know who hates them lol).





Such a treasure.

Sad!!

Today we had a little going away party for one of my co-workers. She is deserting us. Here is the group (minus three people who were not here today). A motley crew, huh?

Vacation, 4th Blue Ridge Parkway and Trip down South 2011 - Day 10

When we left our motel this morning, we drove through the town of Buena Vista looking for a breakfast place. Of course it was 11:00 and there were no breakfast places still open, so.........guess what we had? Right, barbecue! I have had enough barbecue to last me a long time.

In this restaurant there were little bags of water with pennies in them hanging in different areas all around. My curiosity got the better of me and I just had to ask the waitress about them. She said that she had heard they kept the flies away.
She said there were so many flies that came in the restaurant and they just drove her nuts so she thought it was worth a try!

We got on the Parkway and drove all the way to the end, then got on the Skyline Drive and drove to Front Royal where our trip had started.

I was feeling a little sad that today was our last full day of vacation. Tomorrow is 10 hours of highway driving home.

Here are a few pictures of our drive back.









When we first saw this deer she was starting to cross the road right in front of the sign. By the time I got my camera out she had gotten to the other side of the road, still in view of the sign though. Cool, huh?



Such a fun 10 days. Maybe we'll do it again next year!

Vacation, 2nd Blue Ridge Parkway and Trip down South 2011 - Day 9

Today we spent most of the day at the Blue Ridge Music Center. When we got there, there was only one guy playing a fiddle. Throughout the afternoon more musicians came. I think some of them knew each other but they were all ages. They played fiddles, guitars, banjos, and some type of harp thing. They were really good. I just can't imagine how they all knew how to play together. One would start and then the others would gradually join in. It must be wonderful to live close to this music.

I spent some time today in the museum, but I kept being drawn outside to the music. It was so much fun to just watch them play together.

Vacation, 2nd Blue Ridge Parkway and Trip down South 2011 - Day 8

Today we took a detour off the Parkway to go to Rye Cove, VA.

Before we got started, we went out for breakfast. This was on the window of the restaurant. I guess fried pork chops are big down here. At least this said "breaded" pork chop, not fried. Breaded gives you a little clue as to what it will be like.




Anyhow, back to Rye Cove.

Last year we bought a CD of Old Time Country Music that had a song that captured our attention. It was called The Cyclone of Rye Cove. It was about a tornado that hit the schoolhouse in Rye Cove in 1929 and destroyed the school. Out of more than 150 grade school and high school children, 12 children and one teacher were killed, and 54 were injured, many seriously. When we got home last year we looked it upon the Internet. AP Carter of the famous Carter Family was in the next valley and heard about the tornado. He went there to help out and was so moved by the devastation that he wrote that song the next month. Last night we were somewhat in the vicinity so we decided to take a side trip off the Parkway and see if we could find the plaque that was supposed to have been put on the new school. Our Garmin found the school for us and we actually saw the plaque last night. It was about 9:30 so it was dark but Paul took some pictures. We headed out today to check it all out.



This is the bell that was in the old school. They incorporated it into this little memorium.





In one account of the disaster, the school principle stated "I was walking through the hall when I saw what looked like a whirwind coming up the hollow," Noblin said. "Trees were swaying. As it neared the school building it became a black cloud..I think I yelled. It struck the building. The next thing I remembered I was standing knee deep in a pond 75 feet from where the building stood before it was demonlished."

This is that pond.



We also saw the little log cabin that was built by the Red Cross to help with the disaster. It is beside the new intermediate school near the back. There was a sign on the door, a dedication in 2004 to the memory of the Rye Cove disaster.





We drove around lots of back mountain roads today. Beautiful country, lots of Appalachia scenes.





We were ultimately heading back to Galax to go to the Blue Ridge Music Center to go to an outdoor concert but the Garmin took us on a lot of beautiful back roads.





The concert was really a lot of fun. They have them every Saturday night in the summer.



Tonight they had Women of the Blue Ridge with Jeannette Williams and Heather Berry. So much fun!

Vacation, 2nd Blue Ridge Parkway and Trip down South 2011 - Day 7

As we were driving between mileposts 268 and 269 we passed a motel that looked familiar to me. I made Paul turn around and believe it or not it was the spooky Park Vista Motel that our Garmin lead us to that was closed last year. It was still for sale but somehow it didn't look as spooky as it did that stormy night.





Last year we had come to it via a long winding country road from another Parkway exit. It was getting dark, foggy, and raining and it looked so spooky. Now we know why there was a motel in the middle of the woods; it was really right next to the Parkway. That night we had gone back down that long winding road, crossed the Parkway at a different place and then went down a long descent on the other side of the mountains to Wilkesboro where we found the Addison Inn. We could have just gotten on the Parkway right by the Park Vista Motel!

After we passed the Linn Cove Viaduct it started raining and we decided to do a detour off the Parkway.



I'm not sure where we got off, but it was soon after the viaduct. More about that tomorrow!