71st Birthday Bash!

 

Consolidated High School class of '71 celebrated their 71st birthdays and of course we were there.

Photo credits to event organizer, Judy Ondrasek Hare

What a fun group! While most grew up to be well-rounded, accomplished adults, some regressed to their teenage years upon retirement. (We won't mentioned names.) But all have a great sense of humor.

We couldn't be in College Station, without joining the 'book club' at Carney's

and spending some time with brother, Rex and wife, Anna.

Happy Hour at the Hilton Rooftop Lounge

Five years post kidney transplant, Rex is living an active, healthy life. They recently traded lawn mowing and home maintenance for more time in which to play golf and pickleball by buying a new, low maintenance efficient patio home. It is beautiful!

We leave College Station with a final toast,

and with this challenge.

Look what welcomed us home!

Spring has arrived in our hometown!

Photo credit to Nancy Duff

You know spring has arrived when the dogwoods, cherry trees, azaleas and red buds bloom; when folks are driving and bicycling the Dogwood Trail; when the sounds of sneezing and coughing are heard everywhere (it’s also called Spring Allergy Season;) when more than 35,000 quilters invade the city for the annual American Quilters Society quilt show and when persons over a certain age complain about aches and pains from gardening and home renovation projects (especially around our house.)

It just so happened this year a solar eclipse brought thousands more visitors to our beautiful little city.

Including our friends, Carol and Lee from South Carolina along with daughter, Sarah and friend, Andy. Joining us for a watch party were other former co-workers and friends.

Photo Credit Dylan Payne, The Paducah Sun

In addition to all the festivities, we had a delightful visit with our daughter-in-law (can we just say daughter?), Holly, from Florida.

And our friends, Nita and Peggy, from Frederick, Maryland, stopped for a couple of days.

Fortunately the new fence was installed a few days before our first guests arrived.

And the much in demand plaster craftsman began the plaster repair a few days after our last guests departed.

We didn’t let the chaos from the renovation keep us from catching up with a fellow Gold Star mom, Gail, from Florida over a simple dinner.

Could we possibly add one more activity in the Month of April? How about a road trip?

Yep, after being in storage for over a year, The Wanderer wandered down to Texas. More about that later.

For now, we wish everyone good health and a lovely spring.

 

A Weekend With the Nieces

We were delighted three nieces plus a friend chose to spend last weekend with us. As this is a rare occurrence, we set about to make it special.

Inquiring about their wine preferences they responded red, sweet and "we don't know". As family elders, we felt we should impart a bit if our sage wine knowledge by introducing them to our preferred wines.

After dinner we made our way to the craft studio and proceeded to carry out their request to decorate mugs and water bottles with their 'grandma' names.

ABN was quite pleased to share her 'happy place.'

As expected, there was much laughter, reminiscing and sharing grandchildren stories as we crafted while indulging in the family tradition of eating Snickerdoodle cookies.

Proud grandmas!

On Saturday, continuing our quest to make the weekend special, we headed out to explore the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail in Southern Illinois with Captain as the chauffeur (aka designated driver.)

We could hardly drive through Metropolis without stopping for a photo with Superman.

After tasting in three of the Alto Pass wineries, we returned to Kentucky and dinner.

The take-away from the weekend was we have different taste in wines, we should do this more often, a Tipsy Tuesday is in their future plans and snickerdoodles remain a constant at family gatherings ( a tribute to their Grandma Brooks.)