Back home again

I had a fabulous trip to Texas and Utah. I saw all four children and their families. I missed some grandcats and a granddog but otherwise saw the whole clan. MF had just had her fourth and I went to Texas to help out there. Then I went to Utah for the baptism of GL's second-born. The photo is of one of the dance moves of GL's fourth. What a doll! All ten grandchildren were unbelievably cute and charming.

I loved the weather in both places, ate Mexican food in Texas and hit up the Provo Bakery in Utah, played games, helped with art projects, and got to rent a very cool Fiat 500.

The only glitch to the trip was that there was rain in Philly when I arrived there from Denver on my way home. This may not mean anything to you, but the Philly airport is notorious for shutting down for weather. We got stuck there two days in December and I would have been stuck there for almost twenty-four hours if Michael hadn't decided to come pick me up. I guess he missed me! It's a two and a quarter hour drive one way. Instead of getting home at 6 we rolled in right before midnight.

I realized how much I love Texas on this trip. Yes, I love northeast PA. It is beautiful, lush, green and the possibility of seeing a gorgeous waterfall is never more than a few miles away. But I do love that open Texas sky, the cloudless days and the general look of the place. It drove right, smelled right and sounded right. Which means, of course, that that is our final destination once Michael finishes his career up here.

The other big news is that my book (Snarky and Sweet)  is coming out in print very soon. It's already available as a Kindle book. It will be on Nook soon and then the print versions will be available. I'm waiting for my box of books from the printer. It's been a fun thing to go through this process.

Sorry Texas, Pennsylvania wins.

Mystery PA location

Moi at Dairy Barn opening

Callas on the slate in our side yard

Waterfall at Ohiopyle

Random view on our way to Ohio

The callas Michael bought me to replace the Mother's Day ones I killed

So sorry, Texas. But big news flash. Pennsylvania wins hands-down on natural beauty. Here are a few photos from our recent trip and of the yard after we got home. There's really not much contest. 

When we first moved here we had no idea where we might retire, and we talked about how beautiful it was here and when the first summer came, we decided to enjoy every minute of it as it was so gloriously moderate in temperature and so very green.

Now we know that Texas will be our home when Michael retires, but we also talk wistfully about how nice it would be to keep this house so that we could come here for the summers. 

Not all of these photos are in PA, but enough of them are that I think you can see what I mean about wanting to be here forever.

The mystery location is that beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright home we visited. We're not allowed to post photos of it, but I think we can safely post this one as no one is going to recognize it.

The Dairy Barn photo is obviously in Ohio but all the rest I think are in PA. Not quite sure about the view as we crossed through Maryland and Kentucky to get to Ohio. 

We hope the weather will cooperate when our grandkids, daughter and son-in-law arrive on Tuesday. We've had some uncharacteristically scorching days. Michael has actually had to water a few times!

Sick going, sick coming home but very happy in the middle

I woke up the morning of the trip with a raging migraine and came home with a cold. Yep. Them's the breaks. But there was a lot of good stuff in between.

My daughter's children are delightful. And I got every grandmother's dream---lots of one on one time. The kids took turns spending the night with Grammie. It was totally awesome as Dash would say. They came back to the hotel with me and then we had a lovely breakfast together in the morning. Pretty cool. I really appreciated having them alone because you can really listen to what they're saying and because you can make sure that their needs are met and that they are happy.

The kids were so different. I asked them to be quiet in the hotel halls so that we didn't disturb other guests and they were excellent at that. But they all went down the halls differently. In the halls there were tall skinny windows in alcoves and the oldest girl, C, couldn't pass them by without looking through. The six-year-old S had to step on just one color in the wildly patterned carpet. He wasn't obsessive about it and had to change colors several times down the hall but it was a great game (one that Catherine played sometimes too-I was tempted myself) and one that he would give up if I got ahead of him. Four-year-old J would run in spurts and remember to let me catch up. Pretty funny. Two almost three-year-old J didn't spend the night but she came to the hotel often to swim. She went down the halls on tiptoe like a fairy princess. E, the eight-month-old, didn't get much floor time in the halls as he is just army crawling but he is probably the most unlike of all the children. For one thing, he's big. The rest are small for their age. He has huge hands and feet. And he's not really lovey dovey. My daughter's kids up to this point have been natural cuddlers. And he is so active. It's constant movement with this boy. It's like holding an orangutan. He's adorable but he can flat wear you out. And so good natured. He was always ready to return a smile even if he was really unhappy about something.

It was beyond wonderful to see my granddaughter in the baptism dress I had made for her oldest aunt. That dress baptized so many little girls, I lost count. And it still looks new. She looked like an angel in it.

Pix are coming but right now I'm going back to bed. I'm coughing my head off and need a rest.