HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2009 is rapidly approaching!

In just a few days 2009 will be here.

-It is the year that Mike & I will turn 60.
-It is the year that Kevin & Shannon will turn 30 (oh my).
-It is the year that Charlie will hold his first full-time job instead of juggling an assortment of commitments & obligations.
-Only time will tell what other interesting & exciting events the year will hold.

Here's to you & yours in the year ahead; with hopes & prayers that you will be blessed beyond your wildest dreams.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Getting Ready for Christmas Brunch...

We all were so hungry and focused on the food no one remembered to take a picture with the food on the table. Trust me it was amazing. Below Mike & Kevin are preparing the breakfast casserole.

Wishing a very Merry Christmas to everyone

time for a new post

It has been 2 weeks; so I guess I should post something new. The past week has been a bit crazy. Mom had some lab work done & a follow up dr. appt. a week ago (Monday). As a result of that appointment more labs & a CT scan were ordered. The dr's office called Tuesday afternoon (after the CT scan) to say they wanted her in again on Wednesday morning -- only to send her across the street to the hospital where she has been ever since. Initially it was supposed to be a 24 to 48 hour stay; but things get bogged down & the world of medicine moves rather slowly here. In addition to the CT scan & blood work (at least 2x); She has had a urinalysis; a transfusion; an ultrasound of the carotid arteries; oxygen; and finally, today, a biopsy. That leaves just a stress test to be done, as far as we know; it is scheduled for tomorrow. We should have biopsy results by Wednesday and with that the recommendations for treatment.

We are so glad that she is here with us and isn't going through this while living alone in Gresham. It is also a blessing that I do not have a job (strange as that sounds) and am available to do what is required for her sake at this point.

I'm happy that I had already gotten our Christmas decorating done before all this started; but not the cards. I may still get to them...but then again, I may not.

DECEMBER!

I'm taking a break from putting away fall & getting out Christmas decorations. It is all coming at me too fast and it will be good to "relive" the past weekend before moving on to all that is coming up.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Dinner for three on Thursday (with lots & lots of leftovers);

An afternoon of jam & jelly making on Friday.

Shannon & Mom taking a break; with blackberry & strawberry jam done; apricot in containers cooling and apple butter in the bowl ready to put in containers.

On Saturday Kevin, Shannon, Mike & I went to Healdsburg & Santa Rosa for wine & beer tasting. Kevin is in the beer division at Safeway now- so one stop for wine & two for beer.

Our last stop was at Russian River Brewery for dinner and a beer sampler; we had 13 of these tiny glasses.

And since Charlie couldn't join us because he was working on Saturday, we stopped by the Charles Schultz Museum just for the photo op.

(We love you Charlie & missed having you with us.)

It's November ! ? !

Time is going by just too fast! It is already November and feels like is should be just the beginning of September.

Mom & I are doing the Beth Moore Bible Study on the book of Daniel and is it ever timely. We are both enjoying it and learning (or re-learning) a lot. We are in the 8th week and 8th chaper of Daniel. There hasn't been a single lesson where we, as a group, have felt that this material isn't relevent to today's world. There is so much history and prophecy and yet it speaks to what is going on around us in the present. A very good study indeed.

It is almost Thanksgiving! One of my all time favorite hymns for this time of year is "Thanks to God for my Redeemer"; written in 1891 and translated to English 40 years later.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!

Rome - cartoonized!

Rome - Vatican & St Peter's

Rome (part 2)

Rome is amazing and there is so much to see. Some of the obvious; the Colliseum and the Panteon are in these photos and lots more as well. The first one is where we had dinner the first night in Rome (my birthday).

ITALY! (part 2) - Rome (part 1)

We stayed in Rome 5 days and didn't have nearly enough time to see even the highlights. It was wonderful and I would love to go back (for about 6 months). The first photo is in the tiny apartment we rented. The bedrooms were lofts over the living room and dining room.

My favorite thing of all in Italy was the streets and everything about them.

the alleys
street markets & shops

the balconys (you can see one on each side of this street; one is open the other is enclosed)

Another thing that caught our attention was the small cars

and small gas stations; this one is on the sidewalk.

I still have so many pictures to share-- there will be at least a couple more postings about Italy.

ITALY! (part 1)

One year ago toady we were in Rome; we had already been to Sorento, Amalfi & Naples. I will post pictures in two groups...or more, as there are so many I want to share.

Our first stop was two nights in Sorrento; it rained but was beautiful all the same.

From Sorrento we took a day trip to Amalfi; we took a local (public) bus going down and ferry coming back. It was breathtaking!

We also spent 3 nights in Sant Antimo (just north of Naples). From there we visited Naples & Herculaneum before heading on to Rome. We also made friends at a small pizzaria near our B&B.