February 26, 2010…Atlanta

Upon leaving Texas we made our way to Atlanta, GA.  We arrived there on December 23.  You may remember that we lived in Atlanta for 30 years before retiring.  We were able to visit with old friends which we really enjoy.  We even got to spend a weekend in the north Georgia mountains with 3 other couples.  Helen, GA is a cute little town designed to look like something out of the Swiss Alps.  We had done this every year before leaving Atlanta so it was nice to be able to get together one more time with “The Group”.  Here are Jim, Blair, Ron and Bob at our rented cabin.

And here are the girls…Suzanne, Donna, Anita and yours truly.

The guys traditionally make the 3 mile hike from Unicoi Lodge into Helen where we join them for lunch.  They looked like street  people…see their empty cups.  All they needed was a sign that read “Will work for food”.  After lunch they hike back to Unicoi.

We were able to spend time with our good friends Linda and Richard Shepherd.  During our stay we had a delicious meal that Linda prepared for us at their home. She is a great cook. Linda and I have know each other longer than we have known our husbands.  And we’re not telling everything we know about each other!

Sorry I did not get a better picture of these good friends.

We spent a wonderful evening at Deb and Richard Boswell’s visiting with our friends from the church we used to attend, McKendree UMC.  Deb and Richard are so gracious to always get everyone together at their home when we are in town.  We really appreciate it and had such a great time.  As always, the food was outstanding.  Thanks Deb and Richard. 

Connie & Bill, Gary in the back, Bob, Bob and Karen (they are also past neighbors), Patty, Dick and Sandy in the back and Richard and then Debbie, B.J. and Lloyd.  We are so blessed to call them friends.

We also had the opportunity to visit with friends Lisa and Phil Collymore and Dan and Carol Finch.  We met these folks when we attended Crossroads Community Church in Lawrenceville before going to McKendree.  It has been several years since the 6 of us have been able to get together.  Here are Lisa and Carol. 

Bob, Dan and Phil.  Dan was and is an associate pastor at CCC which has been renamed Twelve Stone…which now has a congregation of about 10,000 people.  When we attended there were probably about 300. (Again, sorry for the photo quality.)

Okay, we are half way thru the Atlanta trip.  More to come.

Moving on…

We’re Alive…February 15, 2010

Yes, we actually are alive and well…hard to believe.  Since coming back from Alaska in September we have spent 3 months in Coffeyville, Kansas working for Amazon.com during Sept, Oct and Nov.  We hooked up with Mark and Susan Didelot and Dan and Rita Desmond while we were all working. We had not seen the Desmonds for probably a year or more. We met Dan and Rita in 2005 while we were all working at Adventureland in Altoona, Iowa.

We spent an afternoon with Dan and Rita visiting the site near Coffeyville where Laura Ingalls and her family lived for about a year or so.  Remember the TV show…Little House on the Prairie?

We left Kansas on November 28 and headed for Texas.  We spent a few weeks in Caldwell while we had work done on our house which included the removal of the original slate roof that was put on in 1941 and the installation of the new roof that we hope will last 20 years…it sure won’t outlast the slate.  We also had all of the outside trim repainted.  Hopefully we won’t have to do much for the next few years.  This was before the trim was done.

We always try to spend a few days with my sister and brother-in-law.  While there we drove out to see a winery…this area is outside of Austin.  It was really pretty there but none of us even tasted any of the wine.  But, we did enjoy the Christmas decorations and the winery itself.

We said our goodbyes and our thanks to T&S for being great hosts…as usual my sister prepared lots of great food for all of us to enjoy and we were off to Shiner, Texas for a few days.

We stayed at a really nice city park in Shiner where our friends Janie and Vince joined us for a day.  We had not seen them for almost a year.  Shiner is a very, very small town that is known for the Spoetzl Brewery that produces Shiner beer…the most well known being Shiner Bock. Vince says “We’re here!”

When you enter the gift shop area you are asked to choose to sample one of several beers.  Then you are given 3 wooden coins which you can trade for additional samples.  They ask that you only sample 2 before the tour and the final two after the tour…who were we to argue.  I do think Janie was showing a bit of attitude!

The tour did not last very long but was interesting, especially the copper vats…they have someone that shines them all the time…they were beautiful. 

After leaving the brewery we found the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church that is know as one of the painted churches…it is so pretty and attracts many visitors each year.

Janie and I left the boys on a park bench and we visited some of the little shops downtown…I should tell you that Shiner only has about 2,000 inhabitants.

We were able to visit with friends while in Texas including Bob and Joanne Srutka in Willis, Tx.  We had not seen them since we parted ways in Alaska…we headed for work at Amazon and they continued with their travels.  We enjoyed a wonderful lunch that they prepared for us at their beautiful home in Willis, Texas that was so beautifully decorated for Christmas. 

It is always good to see Precious also…especially when she is calm enough to actually get a picture of her.

And then it was time to say goodbye to Texas and head for Atlanta, GA to spend Christmas with our family and friends there.  Stay tuned for further updates.

Moving On.