Day 181 -- Halloween 2017

This post will have nothing to do with Halloween except to say we did not participate as usual.  However, it was a very productive day for me.  I didn't even leave the house until dark when we went out to eat to avoid the assault at the door by the goblins.  I never mind the little ones that come early (although none did this year), but I despise the teenagers and adults who come to the door later.

We went to a new spot to eat called the Backporch Pub and Grill or something like that.  The problem for me is that almost everything had jalepeno peppers in the dish somewhere--even the mashed potatoes!  Finally I decided to ask if they could take the jalapenos off the patty melt and I got that--and it was delicious--but too big for me to eat all of it.  

Day 180 -- ESAC Meeting in Austin

Today I had to rise and shine early and get to Austin for the Education Standards and Curriculum meeting at TREC that I have now chaired for 4 years.  What made this one different from all the others is that I had to say goodbye to 6 of my committee members who are rolling off the committee at the end of the year--and that leaves a really big hole in the group of 13 people.  Voting on a chair will be done at the January meeting so I don't know if I will be re-appointed or not but this is a great committee that I have loved working on.  We are getting some good things done for real estate education.

Day 179 -- Snapchat

Today I learned about a new app called Snapchat which is where Cassie is posting all the cutie bug pictures of Charlotte.  If you try it, just know that you only get to view the photos twice and then they disappear for good--so if you want one of the photos, take a screen shot.

Day 178 -- Wainscott/StephensSt family reunion

Many months ago, my cousins and I decided we should have a family reunion on October 28 because we had skipped it in 2016 and no one was getting any younger.  No crystal ball could have told us that before October 28 got here we would have lost Uncle David, Dad and Uncle Jack within 2 months time.  But we decided since we had seen each other 3 times on 3 sad occasions, we should get together and have some laughs and celebrate life.  So we all congregated at the Old Bunkhouse on the Stamford Cowboy Reunion rodeo grounds in Stamford as we had in the past.  Aunt Peggy, Uncle Nathan, Aunt Gay, and Uncle Jim represented the oldest generation--all my remaining aunts and uncles out of the original 8.  I am glad we proceeded with the reunion--it was good for all of us.  I was sad that Mom didn't feel like coming.

Siblings

Older generation and second oldest generation!

Higgins

Peters

Stephens Family

We were the orphans of the group

Debbie and Leonard

Day 177 -- Drive to Haskell

Today I bought food for the family reunion and drove to Haskell.  If you want a first, refer back to one of the ones from yesterday!

Day 176 -- Three First in One Day

I have such a hard time sometimes coming up with a new thing everyday and then other days just lend themselves to multiples of first!  

My first new thing was to lead my Bible study group as the main leader was in North Carolina.  I study for it all week, and felt the lesson went well.  We were out at a cute little ranch house in the country and sat outside to do the lesson and afterwards eat lunch.  I had to laugh at lunch.  The lady whose house we were at offered to fix lunch since she lives so far from town--so she made fried bologna sandwiches and pimento cheese sandwiches.  I had to fill them all in on how Dad fed Danny and me fried bologna for every meal for about six weeks when Grandmother Hines had brain surgery!  

The second first event was taking BG's dog Eddie to the facility to visit with BG.  It was so cute to watch them greet each other and visit for about a hour or so.  I don't know which one was more excited to see the other--they really love each other and I hate that Eddie can't live with him.

The third first event was a rehearsal with a small selected group of singers from the Master Singers who were picked by the director to sing at a Veteran's Day program in Georgetown on Nov. 9.  He has never split the choir into a small group for special events before, and I was amazed that I was chosen.  He has even given our group a name:   "Thrive".

Day 175 -- Vistas of Stillhouse Hollow Lake

Today we had a fundraiser meeting at one of the member's homes who lives out at Stillhouse Hollow Lake in an area I had never been.  As you approach her house, you must drive up a steep hill, and when you crest it, there is the entire lake spreads out before you--it was beautiful!  Her house sits down the hill on the lake side of the road and has  beautiful view of the lake all across the back.  I so enjoy seeing these great houses that some of my acquaintances live in!  I didn't get any photos because I wasn't there for the purpose of snapping pictures!  But if you are ever here, I can drive you out to the area and you can see for yourself!

Day 174 -- Serious catchup day

After my week away, I had so much to catch up on--laundry, CASA paperwork, practicing my choral music, unpack and put away.  So what did I choose?  To practice my choral music for about 4 and a half hours--a new record at home for me.  I am getting very nervous about getting all this music learned--24 pieces for Christmas and another 4 for a special Veteran's Day performance, and about 22 non-Christmas songs for a concert Nov. 19.  I am overwhelmed by all this and uncertain that I will be able to get it all done well.  My memorization skills are what is troubling me--I can't seem to get words down, etc.  Just pray that I will get this done--I love it and don't want to fail at it.  I'm so glad to have my wonderful singing hobby back!

Day 173 -- Final Court Hearing

Today was the final court hearing for my longest ever CASA case in which 3 children had been taken from their parents.  After 16 months of coaching these parents on what it means and how it looks to be parents, I felt they were finally ready to resume the duties of parents.  So my vote was for reunification of the family.  So was that of the CPS Caseworker so we got to see this family get their case dismissed and become finally on their own again.  My prayer is that what they learned through this and the hurt they had through not having their children, will keep anything from happening to them.  CASA rules forbid I put their pictures on the internet, but they are such cute children.  It was a great "first" for me to see a family reunited.

Day 172 -- A Do-Nothing Day

After all the excitement of the past week with Weston, I spent the day doing absolutely nothing.  I can not brag of anything I did that was a first really except that I took the day to rest--not doing laundry, unpacking or anything.  Perhaps that is the kind of first I needed for this particular day.

Day 171--My First Cross Country Meet

After spending the night with the Watts when Weston and I got back from our trip, I was up and out early to go to Ruth's last cross-country meet--and her first equestrian competition for the season.  There is never a dull moment on a Saturday with the Watts children going all directions for sports or other events.  I had to say bye to my traveling companion Weston and the two other boys, as they had their own things to do that day including a soccer game and a scouting event.  Mandi, Ruth and I took off for the cross country meet which was not too far away.  My first impression was controlled chaos when we got out of the car and walked over to find a place to set up our chairs.  But it was really pretty organized for the number of kids participating at different levels.  I enjoyed getting to be there to see Ruth run.  She did really well--in my mind, just coming across the finish line is doing really well!  Once she finished that, we jumped in the car and headed to the equestrian meet.  Ruth ended up changing clothes in the car on the way there--timing was close but she got there in plenty of time for her two events.  She came away with a 2nd and 4th place ribbon and looked great as usual.

 

Day 170 -- Home Again, Home Again

We were up bright and early for our trip back to the airport which was 45 miles away more or less.  However, the GPS assured us it would take 2 hours and 15 minutes to get there.  Thank goodness we had a 10:30 flight!  It was definitely bumper to bumper traffic most of the way.  But we made it safely to Norfolk and were able to view some of the massive ships at the Norfolk Naval Yard and shipbuilding places.  Because we got in right before dark, we didn't see any of that on the way out of town so that was very interesting to see.  We made it in plenty of time, and because it is a smaller airport, it was easy to return the rental car and just walk over to the terminal building.  Our flight home took us to Baltimore for a layover long enough to grab some lunch and then our last leg back to Dallas.  It was good to see Texas again, and it was great fun to see Weston excitedly tell his family about his adventure with Nana.  These are memories that are so precious now and will grow even more so as time goes by.  I am so grateful to be able to do these trips with each grandchild and thankful for the trust their parents put in me to take care of them while we are out and about.  Weston is such a great traveler because he has had so much practice.  Many times on the trip, he would fill me in on how much easier domestic flying was than overseas travel--he's already a pro at world travel!

Loved my traveling buddy--here on the Surrey County
Ferry that I mentioned in an earlier post.  The trip over to Surrey County
was probably the best part of that side trip--nothing but farmland in
Surely County, Virginia, we discovered!

Day 169 -- Jamestown Settlement and Surrey County Ferry ride

Today is our last big outing before we have to head home so we headed out to Jamestown Colony.  It seemed to be pretty anti-climatic for Weston after his big day at Monticello and Appomattox yesterday.  We first went to a museum/learning center/hands-on experience/replica of the colony.  It was very nice, but about 10 bus loads of elementary aged children made it less than it could have been.  We spent a lot of time dodging them.  After leaving the museum, we drove over the the National Park where the actual location of Jamestown Colony is located on the James River, and watched some archeologists doing some excavations and looked at other partial and rebuilt structures there.  Our last visit in Jamestown was Weston's favorite--the glassblower.  I have to admit, it is my favorite as well!
Lots of photos on Google+ but here are some highlights.

Below decks

Cannon aimed and ready

Reporting for duty

Archeologists working at a dig in the old
remains of the church built in Jamestown Colony

Replica frame of the long house at Jamestown Colony

Part of the wall of the fortifications at Jamestown

Learning the art of rope-making, Indian style

Checking out a dugout canoe

Replica of one of the 3 ships used by the John Smith expedition

Day 168 part 2--Appomattox

Finally had enough and threw Weston
in the slammer!

Weston was really wanting to see Appomattox while we were in Virginia because he knew it was the ending of the Civil War.  I had never been there either, so it seemed like the thing to do!  The only drawback was that it was about an hour or so away and then it was going to be 3 hours to drive back to Williamsburg.  But hey, we were closer to it than we would be any other time so we took off.  The first thing I learned is that Appomattox Courthouse is NOT a building, but a town.  I always pictured the generals showing up at the courthouse on the town square, sitting down and signing papers.  But it was the name of the town where the house was in which they met to final bring a horrible war to a close.  There were many buildings restored or replicated in the little town, some of which were open and could be toured.  Very pretty area.

The famous painting which shows Grant and Lee shaking hands before the signing of the surrender terms.

The home in which Grant and Lee met to sign the surrender and laying
down of arms.

The table where Lee sat as he signed the agreement to surrender.

Day 168 part one -- Monticello--Highlight of the Trip!!

Weston told me this morning that he woke up at 3 a.m. because he is so excited about going to Monticello today.  I can't wait to get to "watch" him discover it today as he learns more about Thomas Jefferson for a school project he will do in the spring.  It was about a two hour drive to Monticello with lovely fall scenes along the way.  Once we arrived at Monticello, Weston got out a pen and notebook and began taking notes on everything.  It did not take the all-adult tour group that we were in with as well as the tour guide to notice this and comment on his diligence to get information.  He was completely enthralled--and what a joy that I got to watch that.  I probably took 60 pictures while we were there, so this is only a small sampling.  Visit Google+ to see others,.

Walk up to front of Monticello

Location, location, location

View from front porch--Blue Ridge Mountains

Part of the garden

Slave cabin interior--Sally Hemming's 

Outside of slave chin

Another view of Blue Ridge Mountains

Back view of Monticello

Jefferson designed this carriage

Jefferson also designed this 7 burner
cooker--grates go over the holes, with each having
a separate fire source for different temperatures

More of the kitchen

More of the lush garden

Weston was taken with the large bellows used
to stoke the blacksmith fir

Another shot of the massive garden

Some of the lushness of the garden--pumpkins, gourds,
longest beans ever, flowers (some eatable)

 

Jefferson's burial site

Weston and Jefferson trading ideas on a few things.
Jefferson was 6'2" so Weston as a little way to go--but
I'm sure will surpass that height!