A Happy Holiday Weekend

Early Friday morning we packed the car and the two dogs, and headed south to Maryland to visit with all the grandchildren, and especially to meet the newest member who was sick and in the hospital during the last post. I am happy to report that she is doing great, and is such a tiny little cutie. I loved the times I was able to hold her while she slept soundly in my arms.

The newest, tiny addition.

She really is so sweet. And I had a wonderful time playing with her two older sisters who are 2 and 4 years old. We read and jumped on our bed and played in the bath and colored and pretended we were all kinds of people. They have such imaginations at this age. Here they are in our bed after they have tired of jumping on it:

Two little angel (sometimes) faces!

They are quite adorable also. And...I also got to spend lots of time with my wonderful grandson. He is at that super fun age of 4 and 1/2 months; plenty of smiles and giggles and these amazing squeals that melt your heart. And then he would fall asleep quietly in my arms too. That is the best.

This little guy has the best smile ever!

Then, after a great 3 days, we once again packed up the car, and headed back north to home. The drive both ways went very well and we had very little traffic tie-ups at all. But it was hard leaving, as always. Along the way I kept hearing little voices saying my name, or wanting me to do something, or crying softly. I love visiting with everyone down there, I love those first moments of seeing them and that settled in feeling that comes so quickly now, and even the sad period when we know we have to leave. I think of all my parents missed because they didn't visit us in our own house to have those experiences to share. And I think of the memories still ahead of us that we will share in the years to come. I know that after being down there I often think of what it would be like if we hadn't moved up to Vermont 7 years ago and how it would be if we were part of their everyday lives. But I also think and hope that we are creating some special memories that they will look back on someday and remember with joy and love. And, just maybe, that is what it is all about...

A Stay at Johns Hopkins Hospital

Isn't this just the saddest sight? My dear, sweet, 4 week old granddaughter, whom I haven't even held in my arms yet, hospitalized in the NICU at John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore. She was admitted Sunday afternoon because she has a respiratory infection, bronchitis, something called RSV. She would cough so hard she couldn't get her breath, and was actually turning blue. It has been a scary few days. She had oxygen, an IV, fluids going in and monitors on her. It was hard being so far away, not knowing if we should try to make it down there to be close. But she seemed to start getting better by the next morning, and even though she still was having bad spells off and on, things were going okay. Then this morning we got this picture:

All wires and tubes removed, and waiting patiently to be discharged. She is at home tonight, still rather tired, but I am sure her sisters are happy to have her back, and to have their mommy home again too. She stayed the two days in the hospital, of course. We are planning to go down to see everyone next week. It won't be a long trip, but we'll have 3 days to enjoy all 4 of the grandchildren. It should be a great time. 

Now I just need to finish interviewing, hire someone new, and train her in the next week so she is ready to fill in for me while I'm gone. The interviews are going well. Out of the 4 I have interviewed, I really like 2, to the point that I'm not sure which one will win out. I have 2 more interviews tomorrow, then I need to make my decision. Three of the four I have already met have already graduated from college, and don't have regular, full time jobs yet. One from Middlebury College with a degree in Anthropology, one from Norwich with a degree in Civil Engineering, and one from Mt. Holy Oak, with a degree in Sustainable Energy, or something like that. It's rather shocking that all three are willing to take a $9.00 job working 8-10 hours a week. It should be interesting.I hope I pick the best one!

Happy, Happy 2013!

Mighty Maple on New Year's Day

What a crisp, cold day January 1st was this year! But you just don't see skies much bluer that the photo above has. That night it got down to -3, the high on Wednesday was about 9, and the temperature when we got up Thursday was -13. Is it enough to say it was cold? Today it was into the 30's, and much more tolerable to be out and about. But let me go back up a bit to last year, and the wonderful Christmas Holiday...

It was fantastic to have two of my daughters, their husband and boyfriend and my beautiful, amazing grandson here for a week, and a bit more. My sister and her husband came up on Christmas Eve, and we had a great time Christmas morning opening all of our gifts, eating Pannetone for breakfast, then a huge ham for dinner. Everyone got really nice gifts, I got socks and oven mitts a cookbook, crock pot, pan, this new MacBook Air computer, and lots of other things. And I got to hold the little guy and help him open his presents. It was fun. 

It was a good week. I did have to squeeze in some hours at the store, but was able to leave early most days, and had them visit me there on the day after Christmas. Everyone went to breakfast at our favorite restaurant on Sunday, and we went bowling one day then out for Chinese buffet. Otherwise, we ate and played and ate and bathed 9the baby) and just did lots of sitting around by the fire. And two days after Christmas we had a major snowstorm that dropped about 18 inches on our doorstop (which didn't stop me from having to go to work that day!) But the days passed quickly, and before we knew it, the first two were on their way (excluding my sister and brother-in-law who left Christmas night.) And then, after one more day's delay because of a few more inches of snow, the last three (4, if you count their big dog too) were on their way, and the house is once again rather quiet. All of the decorations are still up, but I will probably take them down on Sunday when I'm off, but that anticipation and preparation feeling is gone, and we have settled into the calm of the winter season here.  It's a funny time of year this far north. The days are still very short, especially if its cloudy. It can be freezing cold, or mild, sunny, or dreary, and you get the feeling that one day is just like the next. But I rather like it. Everything seems to slow down to a near dead crawl, and there's a snuggled in, challenge kind of feeling as we watch what the weather has coming, and we prepare for whatever we can control. Before we know it, we'll be tapping the trees next month for sap, and the days will start warming up with the sweet smell of sugar season. But for now, here is a great picture from Christmas morning:

He looks like he's in a castle, but its actually our fireplace behind him!

So much going on...

I said I would take a picture of Mighty Maple after it snowed:

Mighty Maple December 3, 2012

 

 

Ummm, yup, that would be two weeks ago today! And, nope, that snow did not last. It did however make for a pretty terrible commute that morning. I rallied along for about 25 of my 35 mile drive at near normal pace of 60-63 miles per hour. No problem, no sliding or skidding, no cars in ditches or near collisions. Until I hit the last 10 miles outside of Burlington, at which point I slowed to a painful 8-10 miles per hour. And, yes, at that rate, it did indeed take me AN HOUR to finish getting to work that morning! It was an hour and 45 minute drive, for what appeared to me to be no more than people on the road who shouldn't have been there. It was crazy. No accidents or anything that I could see, and as I exited the interstate, everything from my exit on seemed to resume normal speed. And, seriously, it wasn't more than 2 inches of snow. Which was gone in about 36 hours. The dogs loved it, and ate as much as possible before it melted. We haven't had much more snow at all until yesterday. There was light snow for most of the day while I worked, and it looked so nice out on Church Street, but by the time I headed home at 6:30, it was already turning to rain. And I had rain for most of my drive in today (with no problems, and in a normal 50 minute time frame.) But there still is a covering of white in most places for now, with forecasts of snow several times in the next week, but no talk of much accumulation. I am hoping the snow is mild on Friday and Saturday when my daughters are driving up from Maryland and Texas. And then again on Christmas Day so my sister and her husband make it in from New Hampshire. But we would still love to have a nice blanket of snow on the ground for the holidays. Hopefully.

 

And before I sign off tonight, here is a beautiful photo of the newest member of our wonderful family:

 

 

Born on December 6th, 2012

 

Isn't she just so precious? I absolutely love this picture of her, and can't wait to see her next month!

 

And here she is with her sisters:



 

Aren't they the cutest little girls?

 





Funny thing-I had dinner last week with a cousin from Minnesota I probably hadn't seen since my grandpa died 38 years ago! I have lots and lots of first cousins on my dad's side, and only have a few distant memories of him. But he was in Vermont for business, and we had dinner in Burlington on Wednesday night, then he came over to the house Thursday night to eat, and we really had an enjoyable time. It was nice to re-connect and hear about that part of the family who we don't keep in touch with very much. Made me think of some special memories and times spent growing up in the mid-west.

 

And now, the count down to Christmas Day. And yes, I am pretty much ready. A few more things to pick up, some cleaning and bed-making to do tomorrow, groceries to buy on Thursday, 3 more days working and then it'll be here. Work has been going great. A week ago Saturday I stopped at the store on my way in and bought lunch meat, cheese, rolls, chips, pickles and pasta and potato salad for a Deli Lunch for us since there would be 3 working that day. The girls were thrilled, we had a good time with the customers, everything went well, and just as I was leaving, one of them looked at me and said, "That was fun today!" This from someone who swore she didn't want to be here for another holiday season because of how insane it got. And this past Saturday the company paid for lunch for us, so we ordered pizza and things went well again. Next week we plan to do a pot-luck with the three of us and hopefully the 4th girl will stop in. It has just been going soooo well. It will be a little sad when its all over, but then it will be nearly time for Santa to arrive! And here's my little grandson all bundled up and ready for his journey north:

I Can't Wait to Hold Him Again!









Happy Thanksgiving!

So, today is Thanksgiving...

Here is a photo of what I had for lunch, and what I'll have again for dinner in a short while:

 

 

 

It may not look like it, but its Meatball Soup. Hey, at least the meatballs are turkey! Let me tell you the story:

 

For the past few years we have been invited over to our neighbors home for Thanksgiving. We have had some great memories of being over there. Lots of people, tons of food, laughing and drinking, and singing and telling stories. We always had a super time being included in such a welcoming way. Two years ago, my sister and her husband were able to come up here from New Hampshire for Thanksgiving, and they too were invited to join the neighbor celebration, and once again we all truly enjoyed ourselves. And they were planning on making the trip to be here again this year, but there was some confusion about what was going on with Thanksgiving dinner at the neighbors. That was cleared up last week, when we learned that they would not be hosting dinner this year. His dad is pretty sick, and probably won't make it too much longer, so she was not cooking dinner at all, they would be making the rounds at other family's homes to be together during this rather difficult time for them. No problem, we can make adjustments. I debated about cooking, but it takes all day to make a good meal, 20 minutes to eat, another hour to clean up, and then its over. And it would just be the 4 of us, and I just wasn't sure that's how I wanted to spend my day off, plus I will be working tomorrow and Saturday, as usual. So we decided to head over to Jay Peak, and partake of what sounded like a marvelous buffet of food. And we extended the invitation to my sister and her husband, and also to another neighbor, who are Canadian, and had their Thanksgiving back in October, and they accepted also. So the six of us were looking forward to a great time feasting and laughing and being together. Fast forward to this past Monday, when my wonderful husband (of 35 years) wakes up with a pretty awful sore throat. No big deal, sore throats don't always mean a cold is on its way. He managed thru that day okay. Now its Tuesday, he has the chills, body aches, exhaustion, stuffy nose and congestion. Whoops, guess its more like the Killer Cold virus hit him. He's downing medicine as fast as he can, drowning himself in liquids, sleeping and resting, but by yesterday morning its obvious, he will not recover in time to enjoy the mighty meal, let alone consume much of anything solid at all.  And we certainly don't want anyone else to get what he has. So we cancel all of our plans; the dinner reservations, the visit from my sister, and the get-together with the neighbor. And while I have been feeling rather sorry for myself for not really having a bit of anything close to a Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful that I am not feeling crappy like my husband has been for 3 days. I did make some pumpkin bread and Christmas cookies this morning, listened to the Macy's Day Parade on TV, took the dogs out for their walks, and chatted on the phone with my daughter and sister, but basically it has just been like a normal day off from work. This will be known as the Thanksgiving that wasn't. And tomorrow I'll head out to work a little bit earlier than normal and see if I can get the store opened abut an hour earlier than normal, and sit back and experience Black Friday on Church Street. I hope it goes well! The weather should be good for being down there. Today was beautifully sunny and in the mid 50's. Crazy! It was so nice out, and tomorrow should be the same. But I see some snowflakes in the forecast for Saturday and a few days next week, so maybe it is good that I got my snow tires put on Monday. I am ready for just a little bit of the white stuff-just not too much yet! It will come eventually, I know it. I hope everyone has made a Thanksgiving memory today. Here is a photo of my little grandson on his very first Thanksgiving today.

 

He is so cute, and getting so big. Maybe one of these years we can be together for Thanksgiving! 



Post Halloween

Yesterday was Halloween, and here are what my grandchildren looked like:

 

 

 

Aren't they just the cutest ever? Last year we were there with them for Halloween, and had fun going Trick-or-treating. This year I had to just enjoy the photos of them. It will have to do. I think back to when my daughters were little and we would take them out on Halloween. I remember making their costumes lots of years. Living on base, often times out of the country, made it difficult to find things for them to be. Sometimes we took them to the base to get their candy if we were living off-base. One year the weather in England was terrible, and we didn't want to drive to the base, so we went into the village, and they each got to fill a bag of candy from a store there. The following two years we all took part in turning a very old priory building on the base into a haunted house, then watching as groups of people came thru it. I think they had a good time doing that. Now, they have the fun task of making holidays special for their children. I know they're doing a great job.

 

Hurricane Sandy came thru the east coast this week. We were spared up here, barely any rain, some wind. But New York City, and the coast of New Jersey and Maryland were destroyed. Plus the western side of the Appalachian mountains were buried under up to 3 feet of snow. It was crazy, billions of dollars in damage, 80 some deaths, and still today, 3 days after the storm, over 4 million people still without power. It will be a long road to recovery. I hope we have a normal winter up here!

The Last Lingering Leaves

On my way to work this morning I snapped what will probably be my last photo of our maple tree:

Mighty Maple October 21, 2012

 

 

As you can see, he is pretty much bare now. Just a few leaves remain on the very bottom branches. They will probably be gone in the next few days, and there will not be any difference in the photos until the first snowfall coats the branches in white. If I remember, I will take a picture that day and post it. It is always a beautiful site when that happens for the first time. It is even pretty when it happens for the fifteenth time, especially if it is a big, wet snow that clings to each and every branch. I cannot believe that next week will see the first days of November creep their way onto the calendar.

 

Before we venture into a new month, I received this wonderful picture of my adorable grandson yesterday:

 



Oh my gosh, he is smiling! Isn't he just the cutest? I miss him, he looks like he is growing up way too fast. Okay, okay, he is just a few days over 6 weeks old, but still... I had such a great time with him and his mommy and daddy for those 10 days. At that point I had been with him for nearly a quarter of his life, and I saw lots of changes in that short time. What fun. It's hard sometimes being so far away, but I know they will do well. I can hardly wait to see him again at Christmas.