Geronimo!!

Look who came to my Book Fair.
Geronimo Stilton!
I only wish I would have remembered to have my
picture taken with him.

Fashion?

Good Lord! Who would even model a suit like the 'person' on the right has on?

A New Toy to Get

There is a new Brain Age out, Brain Age 2. Betsy got a DS Lite because we had so much fun at lunch with mine. For her birthday this month she got the Brain Age 2 chip. It's hard. Gotta have it honey!

Dreams, Mom, and Mortality

Recently my dreams have included Mom. Not the Mom of the last 20 years or so who has slowly slid into Alzheimer. This summer when we visited her in the nursing home, there was no connection. Not even with music. She glared and then retreated into some inner world.

My dreams have her when she was able. This latest dream has her spotting cows in a pasture for Steve. Dreams seldom make sense that way, but she was walking through high weeds. I was taking the easy way with a dirt trail, but she was able to go anywhere.

This summer Steve and Scott were discussing what they remembered about Mom. Scott mostly remembered the beginning of the ‘slide’. The cooking errors, the confusion, the depression. He was too young to remember anything else. Steve, being a little older, didn’t remember JUST the worst.

Where does the mind go? Do those in nursing homes dream? They spend a lot of time sleeping and being inward. Do they still have dreams?

My Grandmother slid herself into a nursing home. She was always a a little crazy. Mom said that if she ever got that way she hoped that someone would just shoot her. We don’t shoot, we hope. Hope they’re still there, comfortable, will recognize us.

I hope I don’t make the slide. It seems inevitable because it’s in the genes from Grandmother to Mother. I have arthritis. Knees, toes, hips. The eyesight gets more powerful lenses to correct. I would go mad if I became blind. I learned that after the Disney Drew Carey sit in total darkness for 7 minutes experience. The hearing not quite as sharp. But the brain I work on the most. Sudoku, Brain Age (got a 22 once), Big Brain Academy (best I can do is B-) , the Set game day puzzle where my goal is to solve under 3 minutes, Chuzzle, Bejeweled, Noah’s Ark.

I still have my dreams. Today I lost my front tooth. Heard it snap off and had it in my hand. I tried to immediately remember the sub-finder phone number because I wasn’t going into school! When I looked in the mirror it looked OK…..I woke up and immediately felt my teeth with my tongue. Whew! I still have my dreams.

1 Month

This is a totally different cat than the one I tried to photograph a month ago.

Then she ran from place to place and you couldn't even get to touch her.

Now, she is a cuddle bunny. She will drape herself over your arms and purr. These photos are right here on my computer desk. Happy 1 month birthday Dixie.

Up-up-up

Dixie is trying out her vertical skills. We trimmed her nails a couple of days ago so that everything wouldn't get those little pin holes. The kitchen table cloth has little pin-dot holes where she sits on the chair under the table, but feels around to see what might be on the table.

She has climbed the back of chairs and is trying to perfect her chin-ups to see what is on top of the kitchen counters.She walks around studying things. The clock second hand keeps moving and tempting her.

Well, tonight she climbed the big fake ficus tree in the living room. Clear to the top and was peeking out like a squirrel. I'm going to bet this won't be her first try and we may find the whole tree fallen over when we come home one of these afternoons.

What I Do on the Side

It's Amish and it's Blackberry and it's ME!!

The Name

We finally settled on a name for our new kitten.
Dixie! She is a southern cat.
What's up Dixie cup?
Dixie Queen
Dixie Belle
Dixie Chick
Whistling Dixie

She loves to play.

Welcome to the Newest Member

Today we brought home a new kitty. We searched at about 15 different vet places before we found her. She is unnamed. Any suggestions?

Post Trip

The camper has been emptied and all the bedding cleaned. I washed the outside with the extension brush and that used muscles I felt the next day. The floor got scrubbed and Blaine caulked so places. It smells brand new and except for the 12" crack on the windshield, looks great. Tomorrow (supposedly) in the morning the glass folks will replace that too.

-It's nice to be able to just hop out of bed and not have to scoot.
-To be able to use the potty and not wonder if there is enough potty deodorant down there.
-I don't have to be dressed and 'ready to go' by any certain time.


The front walk is getting a do-over. Last summers Chattahoochee make-over was flaking in the front. Last year it rain on the new slurry they put down and it bubbled and wasn't quite right. Today they pressure blasted it all off, re-slurried and scored the tiles. Sometime later this week they will color it. I'm thinking it will look more gray stone as their colorist got bad knees and doesn't do it anymore.

It's time to think school and getting up early again.
We had a great trip and I think we saw ALL of the relates this year.Incredible.

Thursday, Aug 2-Day 18

Thursday, Aug 2

Not much to report today. I finished Potter last night! Sigh.
We drove from Gatlinburg to a really nice camp in Walterboro, SC.
We seem to have had something crack our windshield. Neither one of us can think of anything that happened, but now we have a repair when we get home.


The office has a huge area where they have their parrot. He his not is a cage and has a lot of toys, keys, water bottles, and stuff to play with. Her/his name is 'Bang'. They said they have a lot of toys so it won't be bored, otherwise it would start loud shrieking.


We are back in the South with palms.

Penguin, we're headed for your house tomorrow!

Wednesday, Aug 1-Day 17

Wednesday, Aug 1

We met Kauffam in Dollywood. We had a great time although it was hot.
Impressions
Hilly.
Not THAT many rides.
Many music shows that you can see.
UP
Uneven
DOWN

We all ate dinner at Bob Evans so we could go next door to the Christmas Palace.
I love that place. I wish they would decorate my house. The new thing is black Christmas trees.

Tuesday, July 31-Day 16

Tuesday, July 31

I had a big hill to climb to the showers this AM and it was really awful trying to get back to the camper as my feet kept sliding in the shower clogs. It must have taken me 10 minutes. I was NOT a happy camper.

It's been over a week since the last time we did laundry and we don't have any more clean underwear. We chose not to use the ones at the campground, and went to one nearby. Gave me a chance to read Potter while they washed and dried.

Drove into the KOA closest to Dollywood. We met Kauffam and they had some drama-drama. Seems there little cabin is on top of the mountain and they burned out their brakes on the Neihardt camper driving down and it's in the shop. They had to rent a car to get around.

They had just picked the repaired camper and drove us to Cracker Barrel and then up to the cabin. OH-MY-GOD!!! I swear the incline was 95% and hairpin single lane roads with 'driveways' that went straight up and looked like run-a-way truck ramps.









The cabin had a fantastic view because there were at the top. The kids have a loft. There are 4 TVs, a pool table, a hot tub on the deck, and a fireplace.
Steve left his camera bag at Cracker Barrel, so we left with him before we used the hot tub. We will do Dollywood with them tomorrow.

Couple of Hillbillies belying the Amish heritage.

Monday, July 29-Day 15

Monday, July 29

With an early start, we are headed South.

We are headed from NY to Tennessee to visit with Kauffam if we can.

This ornamental grass and this lavender flowers were at Micky Dee's.

We were headed for mid-Virginia. We drove through the states of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, and finally to Virginia. We are packing in the states today. Staunton KOA is a President's Award Winner and we can certainly see why.

They had a fishing lake, playground, volleyball, a game room with pool tables, mini-golf, a swimming pool, 4 hot tubs, and laundry.


There were bunnies all over. They were very tame and not the color of wild bunnies. These were brown and white and would stretch out right next to you. There must have been at least 20 and this was a huge park.

The KOA was by a stream/river and you could fish or walk out on the stepping stones. It wasn't deep, but was clear and fast moving.

There was also a falls.

The only thing wrong is weak cell phone and Wifi signals. While I'm able to type this, I can't post pictures.

Sunday, July 29-Day 14

Sunday, July 29

I was lucky to get a date for my sailing XPerience since I only emailed them Wednesday and you're supposed to give them 14 days. Sail time was at 3:30. We all went to NYC early. We ate lunch at the Underground Mall near Penn Station & Madison Square Gardens.

Then we WALKED to Heavy Melody. This time Mark showed us the Guitar Hero. Blaine & I both played bass. Mark showed us his beat box project till it was time to head for Chelsea Piers.

We need to take the bus this time.
Rain......rainier........rainiest!!
RAIN.

Of course pier 59 was the fartest one. Major walking......after about 1,000 stair steps in the subways, busses, trains.

My boat, the Adirondak

A view of us on our boat. Exciting!

Reality was rain.
I canceled. Gave the certificate to Mark to use , sell, or give away.

Now we have time to kill before catching the train so to Penn station and K-Mart. A Yankee's hat and a top later, we were finally ready to head to Hoboken.

PATH....NJTransit
Be Considerate
Talk Softly
Please Keep
Feet Off Seats
NEXT STATION
HARRIMAN

The train was faster because it didn't stop at every station on the week-end.
Again the most people get on at Secaucus.

Saturday, July 28-Day 13

Saturday, July 28

Since we had such a late evening last night, we had a lazy morning. Eventually we drove over to Chester to Shop Rite for supplies. We thought we'd take in a movie, but it didn't start for several hours so we headed to the bowling alley. Mark and Blaine bowled. I don't think Mark has bowled for quite a long time.

We still had time to kill, so we drove to a Target. We got off at the wrong exit and were on our way up a LONG hill to West Point. We had to find a place to u-turn.
We found our way to the Target and replaced Mark's old belt.

We finally were able to see our movie, Harry Potter. I thought it was well done.



Back at the campground, we worked on our evening meal. Blaine got out the safari grill while Mark & I worked on the campfire. We must have had the worst newspaper. The thing wouldn't burn even when the match was on it. Blaine was able to finally get the outside cooked, but not the inside. Mark & I were able to get a fire after using half the paper, about 10 fire starters, and 30 minutes of constant tending. Eventually we got it going and Blaine finished cooking the hamburgers on the fire and we roasted the hot dogs.

Next was the marshmallows. S'mores. Yum.

After the huge sugar rush, we played UNO. Mark 2 games, Dad 1, Mom 0
Then Trivial Pursuit. Mark 3 pies, Dad 4 pies, Mom 4 pies and then we called it quits. Moths were drawn to our lights and an energetic grasshopper scared us to death.

Friday, July 27-Day 12

Friday, July 27

We got to Harriman to catch the train in plenty of time. The ride is over an hour long with many stops. Secaucus seems to be very popular. We arrived at Hoboken and found our way to PATH. This is to take us over to NYC to 33rd st.

The first stop at Christian something or another didn't stop and I saw a lot of police officers. The train continued to 9th, 12th, 23rd and was supposed to go to 33rd, but they announced there was a problem and we all had to get off. Now we walk from 23rd and 6th to 28th and 7th.

Hoboken station

Empire State Building

We found Heavy Melody where we are to meet Mark after work at 6 PM. There was a Starbucks right next door so there was our coffee break. Since we have a couple of hours to fritter away, we headed towards Macy's. Walking another 6-7 blocks.

We rode all the escalators to the very top floor, bought a Macy's bags, and since my foot and knees were killing me, we had a drink. Then it was time to walk those same blocks back to Heavy Melody.

We were able to meet everyone and then headed to a pizza joint nearby for supper and off to Sunnyside, Queens. The problem with taking any subway in NYC is the steps. There are at least 30 down and then 35 up.

Sunnyside is cute. Mark's Apt is full. Once he was packed it was back across to 23rd and 6th to catch the PATH. We had trouble finding it and made a couple of wrong tries. MORE steps.

By the time we made it back to Harriman and our campground it must have been 11:30. Tomorrow is all ours.

Thursday, July 26-Day 11

Bath house is really close. Blaine warned me that it was like yesterday's shower where you had to continually pull on a rope to keep the water running. It will save on water. This time you had to push a button. He said his was timed for 3-4 minutes, but it was 12 seconds before I had to press it again. It was frustrating.

We went to the Arts/Crafts Village. What a disappointment. It was similar to Dunellen, but it looked deserted with very few open. I did get my flower shots.

Scott's Meadow was part of the Arts & Crafts area in Sugar Loaf.

Every road seems to be related to 17, but like every other crummy road in IL, OH, and NY it was pot-holey and bone jarring. Our next mission was to scout out where we will catch the train to NYC in Harriman. No thanks to Lola, we found the station, the ticket machine, and the parking machine.

After lunch we had another 'learning' experience. We think the continually jarring had loosened the water hose connection to the little water heater. Bottom line, there was water dripping from the camper and found there was water all over the camper floor. The floor is very clean now but several items will need to dry out.

Our 3 mission was to go to the Woodbury Commons Outlet Mall. It's huge and has all the big name designer names. I didn't really want to walk the mall with my foot to stores I wouldn't buy from anyway. We both got new shoes and me some underwear.

This mall has bus service to NYC.

Back home and supper.

July 24-25/ Days 9 & 10

Tuesday, July 24-Day 9

We left our 'pig campground' and headed across Pennsylvania. Big hills, construction, and bumpy roads. At lunch at a Subway we found the Worlds most comfortable swing. Lola was a bad girl and led us a long way to the campground instead of the quicker way. We stayed somewhere in the Nittany Mountains. I had to use the Wifi at the hall but in the dark because it was movie night. I slept 'upstairs' for the first time. I wanted to be able to read (Harry Potter) and not disturb Blaine.

Wednesday, July 25-Day 10

Blaine went to take a shower this AM, but hadn't looked at the campground map and wandered all over and even had to ask someone where the showers were.
I guess this just wasn't his morning because when we dumped , it dumped some on the ground.

We filled our propane pig and the gentleman who filled it came into the camp store when Blaine was paying for it to tell him that there was a pair of pliers on the bumper then while we were just parked closing a vent he drove up and told Blaine that the sewer cap was dragging.

Tonight we're in Florida,NY We hope to make this our New York City base. We can take the train in. We have a spot and am looking to have a campfire with marshmallows. Wish you were here.