Sunday in Bellingham, Washington

The above photos I took this morning. The top one out of Pat's living room window. The bottom two . . . need I say? They are of Dinky. Dinky is wearing a sweater and is surrounded by three blankets. After I took the two photographs, I covered her back up with the blankets.

I finished the Kellerman book - it got worse and worse. By the end I was completely disgusted. I am now finishing the Josephine Tey book which is excellent and should start 3rd later today and hope to finish at least four before Roberta picks me up at the airport Tuesday.

One or two more inches accumulation of snow are expected later today.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mother!

May your day be filled with chocolate

and NO snow!

and


Happy Birthday
to
Christian Michael Crowson!

Being 11 or 86 - Happy Birthday, Christian & Mother!

Happy Birthday today to two of our favorite family members! Not sure what Christian's plans are for the day -- will the Crowsons be celebrating today and this weekend? Some of us will be going to Brunch with Mother this morning. Anybody have good memories of being 11? For me, that would have been 1960, the beginning of a transitional decade personally as well as historically. Hope now is a great day/year/decade for all!

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives---Phoenix

Wondered if any of you living in the Valley of the Sun have tried any of these establishments featured on the Food Network Show listed in the title of this post?

MOMENTOUS DAY

Well, it only took a few seconds to figure out why Mother wasn't in the picture and that Catherine must have been the photographer, outside the CMH on 3/1/64! Glad to hear that some of you ate turkey yesterday for Thanksgiving and we ate turkey soup ala Luscious last night. Today a friend brought by their left over ham which was enough for about 6 meals for us and then can use the bone, etc for some great vegetable soup in a couple weeks...And then the dog will be the last to enjoy it. What is everyone up to this weekend? We will be at Lothair at noon tomorrow to watch the Georgia/Georgia Tech game, which should be closer than usual (most times Georgia stomps all over GT).

Hamburgers for Thanksgiving!

This weekend I was thinking about the Thanksgiving we had hamburgers for lunch. As I recall it was the year the kitchen was remodeled (early 1970s???) and Mother had gotten the new stove, cabinets, etc. It was when time bake ovens had just come out and she had set the oven to come on at like 4AM so that the turkey would be ready in plenty of time for lunch. When she woke up, the oven (and turkey) were still COLD which meant plan B since we were expecting several for lunch. Mother went to the ever-ready freezer and pulled out hamburgers and we had a small lunch and ate turkey late afternoon. I think those who came for lunch just stayed all afternoon for both meals.

Thanksgiving Guests

In attempting a new topic that might be of interest to most in the family, how about guests we remember from Thanksgivings past, or might I say Thanksgiving in New Vienna in years past? Standards were GHU and Blanche Matthews that I recall; Mrs. Matthews was usually retrieved from "Americare" as we called it in Wilmington. Eloise Simpkins, after the passing of her mother was another. The other stand-out in my mind would be Jackie Phelon who came home with RUK from UC but I'm not sure she was actually there on Thanksgiving. I remember her visits, though, because Grandma was "old school" and not used to associating with people of "color", although to my recollection people of color were generally more interesting in the Uible house because they had a different background or even nationality. I did not realize how little prejudice I grew up with until I moved to South Georgia....that can be interpreted any way one wishes!
Other guests you might remember would be?????

Last night we had two kinds of tomato bread, hummus, squash soup and squash soup. We had no Soy Delicious or Blue Bell.

Mom really seemed to enjoy looking through the iPod Touch's photos. She caught on to how to flip through the photos pretty quickly - once she got on to it doesn't like it if you have more than one finger on the screen at a time.

They did mention that they had excellent limo service up to the airport.

KC was, of course, a big hit. He is much more "grown-up" than he was even when the Arizonans last saw him. He is speaking English more now - and attempting to saying aunts' names - although he leaves out a few letters. So now Roberta is attempting to help him fix that to perfection - yes the aunt who didn't learn to speak until she was three years old and then was in speech therapy for years. We haven't started work on his pronunciation of "Mary Virginia" - that is a mouthful. "John" should be easy enough.

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Now playing: Leo Laporte, Scott Bourne, Andy Ihnatko, Alex Lindsay, Chris Breen, and Ryan Shrout - MacBreak Weekly 110: Payin' The Apple Tax
via FoxyTunes

OVERLOADED

In honor of National Diabetics Month, I just enjoyed a bowl of:

Chocolate Extreme is a rich chocolate ice cream surrounded by a thick chocolate fudge swirl, loaded with chocolate coated peanut butter cups, chopped pecans, almonds and walnuts.
"I don't know if the half gallon could hold any more ingredients," said Paul Kruse, Blue Bell CEO and president. "If you enjoy an ice cream with lots of mix-ins this is a flavor you have to try. You get a tasty combination of peanut butter cups and nuts in just about every bite. Of course a big spoonful of just the creamy chocolate ice cream and fudge sauce wouldn't be all that bad either."
Additional chocolate and mix-in indulgent flavors from Blue Bell include Fudge Brownie Nut, Rocky Road and Chocolate Brownie Overload. "Chocolate is consistently one of the top selling ice cream flavors," Kruse added. "You can enjoy a simple Milk Chocolate Ice Cream or a flavor filled with nuts and other sweet treats. With Chocolate Extreme, I think we've created an ice cream that can fill the craving of any chocolate lover."
Chocolate Extreme [new flavor] Ice Cream is now available in stores.
I don't think I have ever had an ice cream with so much stuff in it and so CHOCOLATE. Remember stopping at UDF in Wilmington and picking a scoop of whatever flavor we wanted? There is a new ice cream/candy store here in Dublin but it is like over $3/scoop so one visit was PLENTY.

Note: the other favorite flavor we have is also from Blue Bell, called Moolinium Crunch. Interestingly enough, Blue Bell covers 99% of New Mexico, 90% of KY and 100% of GA and several other states between here and there.

Weather

It is supposed to be up to about 75 degrees today, but right now it is about 49 degrees. I've been thinking about turning on the heat - really only to make sure it still works before Mother gets here. I still haven't done it, maybe tonight.

Has everyone else turned on the heat already?

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Now playing: Leo Laporte - Leo Laporte - The Tech Guy 505
via FoxyTunes

Johnny Marzetti

Back to the food theme -- anybody remember Johnny Marzetti on the school lunch menu? When I first met Gerry he introduced me to a very similar dish which in Maine was called American Chop Suey. Ingredients included pasta, hamburger, and tomato sauce, baked in a casserole. Don't remember eating it at home, seems like we hardly ever (never?) had pasta, but do remember eating it elsewhere. And I learned today on the Ohio History Central Blog that the Ohio version was introduced at an Italian Restaurant in Columbus in the 1920s. Click here for more details or to go to the Ohio History Blog.

Old Ohio Map

Here's a map I copied from a blog called Cartophilia: Maps and Map Memorabilia by Cartophiliac showing the original land grants that made up the state. The map was part of a discussion about a new book called How the States got their Shape by Mark Stein which I currently have on reserve at the library. Hope to have it by next weekend to share with Dad!

New Arrival

Bed has arrived!

 

Top mattress had a note saying that it is designed to be used with or without box springs. The photo above is with the box springs. It is lower than the old bed. I put one of the folding chairs beside it to show the relative height - but not sure that shows it very clearly.

Picasa Web Albums

You might want to check out Picasa albums - I've gone through and done some face identification on both mine and Roberta's. I marked a number of people as "unknown" or labelled just "Uible" "Ballantyne" "Crowson", etc. if I recognized family, but not specific first name. There is still a lot of cleaning up to do, though. Click here for my photos or here for Roberta's.

Borrowing a Ladder

When Catherine and Gerry were here last week, I briefly borrowed a ladder from the neighbors. When I took it back he commented that I was welcome to keep it longer (than the about 10 minutes I had borrowed it for). And that I was welcome to borrow it to put up Christmas decorations. I told him I was planning on doing less this year than last year. He seemed unsure that was possible.

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Now playing: podcast@wsj.com - Wall Street Journal Tech Briefing - 11/07/08
via FoxyTunes

Alligators

(from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Two_american_alligators.jpg) (not a photo of Aunt Mary's alligator, nor Adams')

One of the podcasts I listened to this morning talked about White House pets - dogs, a turkey (thus began the Thanksgiving tradition of pardoning a turkey every year, not because of militant vegans), etc. They mentioned that there was a president who had a pet alligator.

Remember when Aunt Mary (Mary Hiestand in Hillsboro, wife of Harry) who had a pet alligator? She used to take it once in a while to Hillsboro elementary school for her class (5th grade maybe?). She had a great backyard with all kinds of bushes and stuff for the alligator to roam around and of course another favorite alligator place was the bathtub. I don't remember them having two bathrooms, so I assume that they all shared the bathtub - not at the same time, of course.

KC the cow

A week ago today KC dressed up in his cow Halloween costume. He wasn't all that thrilled, especially with the hood since he is not yet a hat/hood kind of guy. And getting him to pose is impossible. Also, he doesn't have a sweet tooth so the candy part didn't appeal to him either.

Photo identification

From All

Does anybody recognize the person and place in this photo? Roberta barely recognized the person and didn't recognize the place . . . even afer I told her what the place was.

I'm pretty sure the dress was a bright green with white polka dots.

News and Sid's Blog

Anybody else seen the news lately?

Sid and I worked a bit on his blog last night. For those of you who have not yet commented/seen his blog - click on "his blog" in the previous sentence.

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Now playing: ABC News - Obama on the Trail: History and Heartache
via FoxyTunes

New Neighbors+Excitement

Mom and Dad may remember that about a month ago our neighbor's house was for sale when they were here....they have leased it now to a mother and her teenage daughter who moved in (from Tampa, FL) Saturday. Tonight when I came home at nearly 9PM, there were 2 firetrucks and a police car blocking the street! The mother had not been feeling well and so they came to check for CO (carbon monoxide) but did not find any. After a thorough health check (better than I've had done in many Drs. offices!!), they pretty much came to the conclusion that it might have been a reaction to the exterminator's spray this afternoon or possibly an inner ear infection/vertigo....

Plans for the Day

Another exciting day in my life - have a couple of computer appointments today plus have plans to stop at Kings around lunch time to work a bit on the front deck area, help Sid a bit on his blog, drop a couple shortcuts on Kings' computers so that Roberta can find the blog - and, perhaps, she will stop calling to complain to me about that. Then this evening, I'm going to tackle the window screens here, and maybe clean a couple of windows.

I do remember the production it was in New Vienna. I thought the fun part was lining up the screens on the sidewalk by the driveway and spraying them clean - probably some water fighting was also involved. Washing the windows themselves . . . not so fun.

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Now playing: NPR - NPR: 10-28-2008 Day to Day -- Midday Magazine
via FoxyTunes

Comments

Is it just me that can't post comments anymore? Maybe I need to check the blog out on a different computer.... Congratulations to Sid on his blog. I'll stop by and visit (the blog) soon.

Weather

Weather high for today is supposed to be only 87 degrees and no 90s or 100s in the forecast for the rest of this week.

Kings and I are off to Coco's this morning for breakfast with Sharon. Then on to Changing Hands bookstore. I mentioned by email that maybe since we'll be in the neighborhood (Tempe) - we could stop in at Ikea and or Whole Foods.

Anyway, I've got things to do before we leave . . .

Oh, one more thing, Sid now has a blog: Sid's Blog. Feel free to comment. We're off to a somewhat slow start. Sara, Cynthia and Judy seem to get their techie skills from their current step-mother, not their father.

Christian Science Monitor and other news

Did you see where the Christian Science Monitor is going (mostly) all online? There will still be a weekly edition in print.

I get most of my news from New York Times (online), Google News and podcasts. I almost never watch tv news . . . although I do get some network news podcasts. One of the nice things is that way I can just delete anything boring - like sports. I've had to hit the delete button more often recently - something about some big game (games?).

Serena, are the comments being goofy again? I can't seem to post a comment.... regardless of whether I'm signed in or not. Do you think the CSM is following in the footsteps of the Mesa Tribune or did they independently come to the same conclusion? Wonder how long before the AZ Republic will do likewise. Personally, I skim the headlines and focus on the book news and anything else that grabs my attention. I miss the daily newspaper but not so much that I want to resubscribe -- we haven't taken it for several years now.

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Now playing: NPR - NPR: 10-29-2008 Most E-Mailed Stories
via FoxyTunes

ROBERTA

Did she eat? Maybe she was deprived, which would explain why she eats her food and then cleans Sid's plate....

Did Serena and Roberta eat?

I remember vividly Serena's fondness of spinach, even for breakfast :( The only memory I have of Roberta is the old movie of her licking chocolate icing off of her fingers in mock delight to the camera...
Anything you two would like to add????

Food from Childhood

Mary, I was going to comment on your post, but appears with the new comment system (hopefully) we now can't comment on older posts. Anyway, Here's a place to put all those food comments when I have more time! We're off for our morning walk in the next few minutes. I do remember the ham loaf -- not a favorite of mine though. Plenty of meatloaf, tuna casseroles, chipped beef, and endless hams in my memory bank. My birthday request was always for stuffed porkchops -- more for the stuffing than the pork though, with spice cake and orange frosting. Fruits and veggies (and way too much cottage cheese) were always in abundance.

Disqus

Still trying to get rid of Disqus - Disqus keeps insisting that it is so simple you don't really need instructions.

So far, the only sure solution I see is to just abandon the blog and start fresh. I could always dedicate this blog to why one should NOT install Disqus.

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Now playing: NPR - Ellen Burstyn Chronicles Life's Turbulent Journey
via FoxyTunes

Eating from childhood?

Today for lunch, since it was just Christian and I, I had a potpie. Seems like we had them often (?) when I was young---probably when Ruth stayed with us and the menu was a little more flexible. And I remember mother would make grilled cheese, which I didn't like so she would fix me grilled peanut butter and jelly. Anyone else remember what we ate growing up?

Seems like mother made carrot cake and german chocolate cake more often than anything for dessert, although I'm not sure why. The main meat I remember her fixing was HAM and hamloaf. I would like to fix hamloaf but not sure what to put in it for the "liquid" (in meatloaf I use tomato juice....). Looking forward to hearing responses, and I'm sure Serena has the best memory of the family, as always!

Pictures

Serena.....Aunt Mary....as well as Rob, Cindy, especially Marianne have loved pictures you printed off. And Mares wants to know how to get into the Uible album. I was showing that to her yesterday while Aunt Mary was playing bingo. Your bread has made a big hit too. Back to the pictures, Aunt Mary could read the print below the pictures. Nothing wrong with her eyes. Sounds like lots of good eating in SCW to me! I want to get this going now before I lose it.

Restaurants and Sid

Since Sid's beloved wife is out of town, we've been hitting the  restaurants. The first night we went to Paradise Bakery. That was pretty successful - chicken salad sandwich, vegetarian sandwich and free wi-fi.

The trip to  Ihop was also successful - pancakes, eggs and bacon, but no wi-fi.

Friday night we went to Rosie's here in Sun City West - not as successful. Sid didn't care for his lasagna and I thought the mushroom ravioli was too rich.

Yesterday we went to Golden Corral  . . . there was a lot of food, but very little of it good. shrug.

Today we are going to Hole in One - or as some people refer to it - Hole in the Wall.

Our other plans include Coco's tomorrow morning with Sharon as waitress and then on to the Apple Store and Costco. Sid has been interested in going to those three places all week-end.

I'm thinking of finishing off Sid's week of restaurant indulgence with New York West Bakery on Tuesday morning.

By far, my favorite restaurant of the bunch has been Paradise Bakery. Sid has said he likes about anything, but no vegetarian restaurants.

I'd like to go to Pita Jungle - but I think it might be too "vegetarian" for Sid.

Update

Last night Kings and I went to Line Thai for dinner with Sharon O'Shea and Ruth and DC Black. We all had a good time. Food was good, although I ordered Pad Thai medium spicy and it was downright bland.

The Blacks did ask about Roberta's siblings and nieces and nephews. We told them about the big April blowout when Wednesday (Wendy Jean Morgan) and Ken got married.

Well, I see the sun is pretty much up now - I'm getting ready to go out on bike ride. I've gotten a new bicycle seat which is much more comfortable and gotten the computerized odometer on the bike fixed. The latter came with the bike (which cost $25 at the thrift store) . . . well, actually both the seat and the computer came with the bike. The computer only needed a new battery. The seat was beyond help. I'm thinking about replacing the seat on the bike that Murray borrowed when he was last here - he said it was very uncomfortable. I haven't really had a problem with it, but . . .

The weather has hit a major cool down finally. Expected high today only 95 - and at least the forecast is no triple digits this week.

We're Back & Happy Birthday, John!

Happy Birthday to John today. Great pictures of Kate and Andrew we've seen recently.

We returned yesterday from our Reno trip -- had a great get together with our friends from Oregon. Flying to Reno on Monday afternoon the plane was practically empty, but coming back yesterday the flight was packed. Wendy, whose possible new job would include traveling, informs us that business travelers return home on Friday plus people getting away for the weekend. News on the home front is that KC got his first hair cut this week -- we haven't seen him yet so no picture to post.

Joe was here, I was not

I did not make it to the dinner at Luby's last night with Joe & Michael, Serena, Roberta, Sid & whoever else was there. Joe & Michael are traveling back to Santa Fe after emptying Michael's place in/near Palm Springs. My understanding is they are shipping the furniture to their new place in Florida. Perhaps Serena or Roberta will post more details. Despite not making it to supper, I had a productive day: walking, working, got transmission flushed in car, did errands, went to the gym. Working again today (Friday) which means I have the weekend off -- Yeah!

KC at the zoo again

KC and Wendy both enjoy visiting the zoo, and now that the weather is getting a bit cooler (and the zoo opens at 7AM until the end of September) they have gone to the zoo the last three Saturdays in a row. They are getting their money's worth out of a zoo membership.

KC at the zoo

KC & Wendy went to the zoo yesterday. Wendy said he loved the monkeys, has a special fondness for the goats at the petting zoo and greatly enjoyed the water feature.

Roger Ballantyne 1943-2008

In Memory of Roger.

Where's Waldo?

In looking at these pictures, can you guess which one is NOT Harold Uible? And if/when you do, any guesses on who the young man would be?

A Thousand Splendid Suns and more books!

The sun may shine in Afghanistan, where this book is set, but it does not illuminate a pretty picture of life from a woman's perspective during the last 30 years during which this novel takes place. Nevertheless, this is a moving story of love, survival and hope, despite the hardships and horrors. The author, Khaled Hosseini, Afghan born, also wrote The Kite Runner, a semi auto-biographical novel set in Afghanistan and the US, which I read in 2005.
In other book news I've now finished #10 in Patrick O'Brian's historical fiction series about the British Navy around the time of the War of 1812. This one, The Far Side of the World, and the first one, Master and Commander, were combined in the movie version released a few years ago starring Russell Crowe. Now I'm debating whether to watch the movie now or after I finish the whole series of 21 books. One more and I'll be over half way done!

And in case you are concerned about whether I'm still keeping up with the youth book reading required to do my job well, don't worry -- also just finished a teen science fiction series, the Hungry City Chronicles; and currently reading a possible Newbery contender called The Underneath.

Sid, Serena & KC

Taken at the Eggery yesterday for brunch. Not pictured: Roberta, Wendy, Gerry & Catherine

Another Driver

Ginny got her license this morning with flying colors and promptly dropped me off at home to take the car to school! Hopefully she and Christian will make it home in one piece this afternoon....

Line Thai

Gerry and I met Wendy, Ken, KC & Serena at Line Thai last night for dinner -- they also had a big wedding event/dinner going on so it was a bit more crowded than otherwise. Food came out quickly but we had to wait longer for the bill. KC appreciated Serena's walking/entertainment service at the end of the meal. Sorry Roberta & Sid couldn't join us -- next time we'll look for a restaurant Sid likes better at a location closer to Wendy & Ken's! KC came home with us afterwards for an overnight visit and we plan to take him to the park/playground after he wakes up this morning. Before 8am it's not TOO hot. I have to work this afternoon so we'll take him home in the late morning.

Pictures, etc.

THANK YOU, Serena, for getting us started on the blog. I check it everyday to see if anybody else has posted anything new. Speaking of which, is anyone going to post pictures from the NE trip on the blog or their picasa web album??? hint hint...

Ballantyne Grandchildren 2001

Ballantyne Grandchildren

L-R
Row 1 Mary Uible Crowson, Sarah Dailey Helm, Gretchen Dailey Cook, Joe Dailey
Row 2 Roberta Uible King, Catherine Uible Morgan, Bob (Robert) Ballantyne, Tom Dailey, Bill/Freeman Dailey
Row 3 John Ballantyne Uible, Roger Ballantyne, Blaine Ballantyne

(missing: Ellen Walkley and Serena Uible)

Glendale Greetings

Finally getting back to some semblance of my pre-vacation routines, and read all the new blog postings! I'd make comments about them individually, but then you all would have to click on the comments for each posting instead of reading this. Anyway, I have survived my first three days back at work -- Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday -- had yesterday off as I work today. And today is the FINAL day in the Summer Reading Program so should be extra busy with lots of children picking up their prizes. Including the teen program we have ~11,000 participating this summer, up 15% at the Main Library. Glad to have good numbers for my personal final summer at GPL.

Mary -- liked the pictures of Don's pre-birthday celebration.
Roberta & Sid -- beautiful great-granddaughter and Sally looks good too!
Mom & Dad -- hope you are having a good visit with Cris & Angela.
John -- thanks for your call. (Do you need some book recommendations?)
Serena -- I'm participating in a Library 2.0 training (via blog) -- may post about that later

It is 88 degrees!

Took Roberta to work this morning - she started work at 7am - after a quick stop at Basha's. She said you could tell  it was low season - no line at all. Normally Basha's is pretty busy at that time of morning.

Later today I pick up Sid to take him to Chez Nous for the two of them  to go for medical appointments. Then on to Sun City to pick up van  at Hans Auto Repair. Then on to airport to pick up Morgans/Counts  - including Wendy Jean. I did manage to get baby seat out of Toyota ... does cutting all the straps make any difference?

Anyway, got a full day planned . . . need to get going.

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Comments

I had been waiting for Disqus to post how to remove Disqus, but keep comments. I got tired of waiting and just removed Disqus. I probably should have gone through and saved the comments, although I could just dig through Disqus and re-post. I may do that later . . .

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Miriam Callard

Above are photos with, among others, Sally Liszewski Callard and Miriam Callard -Sid's first great granddaughter. She is cute, but not speaking English yet.

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Mary Ellen Dailey Walkey

Her son has a  site - Moontimes.

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She also mentioned that it would be fun to do reunion on Kiawah Island - where she lives. That is only about 4 hours from the Crowsons.

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Back from New Hampshire/Massachusetts

Yesterday's trip went well - Sara and I left Northampton about 5:30 so I had time to fairly leisurely look around the Hartford airport which seemed  quite nice. They have big  rocking chairs on the sort of front main hallway for the  concourse so one could sit and watch planes land/take off. I sat and drank my McDonald's coffee ($1.89 for a small - but huge milk dispensers so I could drink my coffee half and half with skim milk in my own  container - which made the price more palatable).

Then Midway was fun to look around - I think the last time I was there was about 25 years ago. I got a gyro from a little Greek place and a coffee from a little burger place called McDonald's. Anyway, planes were all on time - well, last plane was about 10 minutes late, but everything else went very smoothly.

Sid and Roberta picked up both Sharon and me and also Sid's walker which had not made it to the airport with their flight earlier this week. We stopped at McDonald's on the way back to get something to drink. I  did try their iced coffee again - although out of the 6 or so I have had over the last 6 months, the first four were great. The last two have tasted more like sweet flavored ice water, with the emphasis on water and ice. So, I may be back to coffee and ice - probably cheaper and healthier.

I did have some leftover hummus last night before I crashed, but there isn't too much in the refrigerator. I'm  thinking about going out for breakfast and then do some quick shopping at Basha's. I haven't decided whether it is worth biking over to Wal-Mart area to eat breakfast earlier or just wait because I don't think that anyplace within a mile or so  is open early, early for breakfast. Actually, the distance is not so daunting as the bike security/traffic, etc. (not to mention the heat). Although right now it is only 73 degrees - projected high only 97.

Anyway, time to put in the third (and last) load of clothes for  the day. Then all vacation clothes will be clean, although I'm not sure that shorts I wore for the Northampton  cleaning project will ever look beige again. On the  other hand, since  they both had  a small hole just below the back pocket, maybe not a big loss. I'm pretty sure they were bought ($.50 each) at the United Methodist rummage sale last fall - great shorts, just  flawed by a small hole.

By the way, Catherine, Sara is also a great lover of the Alexander McCall Smith's series of #1 Ladies' Detective Agency book. She has the latest in the series which is the only one she hasn't read  yet.

Well, I'm getting really hungry - may head  over to WalMart area - can always go to McDonald's.

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The Birthday Boy

This would be (L-R) Sammy Crowson, Don, Linda Crowson Thomas and Danny Crowson

They were kind enough to supply their little brother with the hat, "Older than Dirt" balloon, handmade bowtie, laughing mirror held by Sammy and various other "old age" items.

Don's PRE-50th

Don's sister and 2 brothers surprised him (not me...) this weekend in celebrating his 50th birthday. We had dinner at Come Home to the Country tonight and that's where the picture was taken.

shown L-R

Ginny, MV, Don, Christian

In this picture, L-R Danny Crowson, Linda and Richard Thomas, Don and Mary Crowson, Sammy Crowson

The Northeast

Had a great time in the Northeast with parents, John and older sisters and other assorted relatives. Now back in Northampton at Sara King Lennox's.

Yesterday Sid, Roberta, Sara and I went back to Essalon - the place the group went for Sunday brunch. The food was very good - we ate outside - no waiting at all. When Sara got back from the airport we did quite a bit of work on the garage. Except for actually taking the trash/garbage out, we got it relatively cleared out.

Today we are going to work on the basement. I've been working on laundry and have moved a few pieces of furniture up and out of the basement, but otherwise sorta have to wait for Sara to see what comes next.

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Family photo, Northampton, etc.

Interesting how only John's, and perhaps MV's clothing style are still similar to the ones shown here. I did love that rose checkered wool jumper with the pink top - one of the few outfits that my older sisters hadn't already worn.

Well, I need to head down to the basement and do laundry. The plan is breakfast at 9ish and then I have time for a swim. Lunch at 12ish with Judy, Sara, Sally and Miriam and then we head on to the Fairfield Seacoast Inn then supper in Maine.

We did have a lovely dinner last night at Whatley Inn (pronounced "Whitely"). I had scallops. We had brunch at the Essalon - both excellent places -the food in Northampton and surrounding area has been great! Also been fun meeting Sally, Judy and Miriam. Although Miriam didn't have very much to say.

Well, laundry is calling.

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Sushi and sashimi in Northampton, etc.

Last night Sara and I walked to Moshi Moshi - a Japanese restaurant. We enjoyed sushi and sashimi there. Northampton is a pleasant, historic scenic place - rather reminds me of Asheville.

Weather here is pleasant - high today is to be 86, low 54. I told Roberta that she should bring her jacket since her blood freezes when the temperature hits 70 and below. Kings arrive this evening. Jonathan Lennox, Judy King Lizshefski(spelling?), Sally Lizshefski Callard and baby Miriam Callard arrive tomorrow.


Sara has two friendly cats wandering around. One has the habit of biting into paper - which is a bit strange. One of them - I'm not sure which - perhaps both - like to walk across computer keyboards while they are in use, which can make typing a bit of a problem.

MV - Sara is very interested in genealogy and she has some theory that Uibles and Kings came from the same area in Germany. I'll give her your email address so that she can quiz you at length about what you know. I told her I knew I had ancestors and that some came from somewhere in some part of Germany, but that was about the extent of my knowledge.

Back to work . . .

Now Reading

Ginny and I are working on this classic...which I had never picked up before. It is part of her required reading this summer for 11th grade along with Tom Sawyer and Mere Christianity.

Five Dysfunctions

Read this on Mary V's recommendation after reading her previous recommendation, Traveler's Gift.
Info from the book: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencioni once again offers a leadership fable that is as enthralling and instructive as his first two best-selling books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. This time, he turns his keen intellect and storytelling power to the fascinating, complex world of teams.

Made me feel better that part of the reason my work "team" doesn't function more perfectly, is it's size (10), rather than mismanagement! Better to divide into two teams for some purposes.

Happy 4th of July!

No fireworks in this post though -- although a good view of the fireworks could be had from our roof, just in case any of you ever want to try it. The Glendale fireworks are held at GCC, just north of Olive from our house, and I did read that 40,000 people are expected to be there this evening. Neighborhood parking will be at a premium.

What is wrong with this photo?

From All

Why do both Roberta and Andrew look unnaturally quiet?

S. J. Dailey

From All

Is it Sara Jean or Sarah Jane Dailey? I have two different photos - one with what appears to be Mother's handwriting indicating the latter. The other is a much fancier handwriting - I assume Aunt Virginia's. Anyway, one has the name spelled Sara Jean, one spelled Sarah Jane - or maybe it is a problem with the handwriting/reading.

I have posted a number of new photographs on the Picasa Web Album - trying to get the Ballantyne/Dailey photos up before the trip East. Those Daileys have the freckles - or at least had.

The photo with Rudisills, Roberta and Catherine is in the Picasa Web Album - was that actually taken at Grandma's/Granddad's? The steps don't look quite right to me.

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