Christmases Past

As most good Fab Grandma’s do, I have stories that I tell my children and grandchildren, over and over, at certain times of the year, ad nauseum…It is like a tradition to tell them even if no one wants to hear them again. So, with that in mind, here are a few of my Christmas memories, some good, some bad, but memories just the same.

The first Christmas I can remember was when I was about 5 years old. I had asked Santa for an electric train for my gift. Wouldn’t you know it—he did leave one at our house, but he mistakenly put “To Preston” (my younger brother) on the tag. How depressing is that? You ask for a train, a vehicle with power to let you escape into all the imaginary far away places a little girl could think of to travel, only to receive a stupid baby doll that hollers “Mama” at you, all the while peeing sweetly into her little panties. Now I suppose that in 1957 no respectable little girl would even ask for, much less actually receive, an electric train. No, we were relegated to practising to become little mothers, staying home spooning gruel into one end and wiping poop from the other, of our darling little babies, whilst our HUSBANDS, the MEN, traveled the work in their trucks, trains, and planes. I wish someone would invent the toddler doll that would wake up during the night with an asthmatic wheeze and rattle in their chest, crying “Mama” in agony while it throws up on the bed and squirts diarrhea out it’s little hiney. They could name it “Reality Check Carla” or something like that. Of course, there may not be much of a market for it, maybe young women whose husbands are pushing them to have a baby could get one for their spouse…Or, it could be part of that child care course taught to high school kids instead of using eggs.

Oh, I’m sorry, I was supposed to be telling a story here. Well, that little electric train was really cool. It puffed smoke out of its fake smokestack as it chugged around the track. We thought that was pretty amazing. And as for Betsy Wetsy was concerned, my older brother cut her head off to find out how she worked.

Several years later, when I was 9 and my sister was 18 months old, I asked for a jewelry box. In my little girl brain, I could see the little ballerina dancing around and around to the music from the music box. So, on Christmas Eve, all of us kids went to bed, too excited to sleep. After a while, we could actually hear Santa in the living room. He was playing with our toys, and from the sound of it, he seemed to be talking to Mama and Daddy. Suddenly, I could hear the music box playing—I think Santa must have enjoyed hearing it because he wound it up and let it play about 15 times. So, in the morning when we finally got out of bed and went into the living room, I saw to my horror that the jewelry box Santa brought was a satin covered, velvet lined pink box that was obviously meant for a much older girl. It had no music box, and no ballerina. The music I had been hearing was a wind up Fischer Price clock for my baby sister. I was too stunned to say anything. I tried really hard not to cry. I cannot think of a single other time in my life when I have been more disappointed.

The jewelry box I received that Christmas stayed in my possession until I was almost 50 years old. My older brother had taken a magic marker at some point and written “DUMB GIRL” inside the lid. I saw that every time I opened that box. Maybe that is why I don’t wear much jewelry.

So, fast-forward about 30 years. When my oldest daughter was 14, she could hardly wait for me to open her gift to me that year. For weeks before Christmas I had jiggled and wiggled it, shook it and held it, trying to figure out what was inside. It was not the shape or size of anything I had asked for. On that Christmas morning, Rebecca, Emily and Seth insisted that I open that gift first. Because of that, I think maybe I expected it to be a camera. Imagine my surprise, when the wrapping paper came off, to find a little jewelry box, with a ballerina and a music box! I cried like a baby! Those were uncontrollable sobs and a flood of tears. My children sat there, the looks on their faces telling me that they thought they had done something terribly wrong. How could they even begin to understand what that jewelry box meant to me? How could they know they had given me my childhood? That there was so much more than just a little jewelry box inside that gift? Yeah, a stupid as it sounds, that one moment is THE moment in my life that I cherish most. I still have that little music box, and the little ballerina presides over my most precious jewelry. All the rest of it goes into an empty baby wipes plastic box.

A year or so after I received the ballerina music box, my children surprised me again. This time, it was Emily’s gift. That year, my son and I went together on a Saturday morning to take the test for a GED. I had never finished high school and Seth had quit as soon as he turned 16. So, to get him to go take the test, I volunteered to go with him. We both passed with flying colors, and received our GED certificates in the mail. That year, Emily gave me a high school class ring for Christmas. It has the year I took the GED test, the name of the high school I attended when I was a teenager, my first name, and a tiger on the outside of it. There is an emerald green stone, because my birthstone is an emerald. My initials are engraved on the inside. I didn’t cry like I did when I received the jewelry box, but just knowing how proud my children must have been of me was a wonderful feeling. I keep that ring in my ballerina music box.

And so, here we are at Christmas time again. I hope you have enjoyed my stories, and may you all have a memorable Christmas this year.

Blah Blah Blah

The View from my Window.

It is hard to believe that we have been here at Unicoi for a month now. When we left Virginia, I was looking forward to having some time to get some things done. I wanted to finish Becky’s quilt and start quilting Rebecca’s, but I have not had time to put even one stitch in either one of them. I wanted to go to Jim’s mothers and have her give me some more lessons on wire-wrap jewelry making. I wanted to be able to take some photos every day. So far, I haven’t accomplished any of that. I’m beginning to think that we need to go back to Virginia so we can rest a bit.

Let’s see, in the last month there was Thanksgiving, Jim’s Dad in the hospital, the trip to Douglasville to get haircuts and visit my Mom and our daughters, buying the new trailer, moving from the old one to the new one, going to Gainesville for eyeglasses, working our volunteer hours, and on and on. I hope the next month will be a little calmer. My plan now is to be able to have some time to sort through all the junk I “found” when we moved, and get rid of some of it. I was truly embarrassed at how much stuff I have accumulated in the six years we lived in that little trailer.

In other news, I heard from my granddaughter Sarah’s mother, my ex-daughter-in-law (EDIL). She gave birth to a new baby girl (with her new husband) in Tacoma, Washington. She says Sarah is tickled to have a baby sister. She is making all A’s in school (I’m not surprised at that) and has made some new friends since they moved up there. They are going to Tennessee for a few days to have the baby dedicated at their church there and to have Sarah baptized. I am glad that my EDIL is happy.

I also heard from my new daughter-in-law, Sarah. We call her Sarah England, because it is so confusing to have Sarah the granddaughter and Sarah the new daughter-in-law. Sarah England and Seth, my son, are coming to the states in January. Well, at least Seth and Michael are coming, and Sarah is in the process of getting her visa. She may have to stay in England a month or six until it comes through, but they are working on it and have a “B” plan, in case have to be apart for a few months. Seth will be stationed in Maryland at Andrews AFB, just a little hop from Urbanna. Jim and I are looking forward to spending some time with them this coming summer.

Oh, and Rebecca called to tell me she is going to move in with “Not My Boyfriend, Joe”. He has been her “friend” for several years, and has just bought a new condo. She is going to be his room-mate. She will be paying the same rent she pays now for her tiny walk-up apartment in Ghent, and will have a lot more room. She also said that he will buy the groceries and she will do the cooking for them. She is a pretty good cook, and she has been cooking for him for several years, but at least now he will be paying for the groceries.

Becky, our other daughter, has almost the same arrangement with her room-mate, Scott. He has been her friend since high school. When she bought her condo in Atlanta, he moved in with her as her roomie.

Emily told me that she moved Spencer from the Lutheran kindergarten she had in because the pastor there washed his mouth out with soap. Can you believe that? She said while Spencer was going there, he stayed in trouble all the time. The teachers and the principal of that school said he started fights with other children, pinched them, bit them, tried to take toys away from them, and said bad words. Then, when Emily was there as the “room Mom” for the Halloween party, she observed that Spencer was laying on the floor playing with a truck when another child came up and tried to take it away from him. When Spencer said, “No, I was playing with it first”, the teacher said, “Spencer, stop that!” Emily said it was like the teacher automatically assumed that Spencer was the bad child, even though she was sitting right there and saw the other child come and start the little dispute. Spencer has been at the new school for two weeks and has not been in trouble one time. The teachers there say they don’t see any of the problems Emily told them about at the other school. Hmmm...

I guess that is all the news I have for the moment. What’s up with “all y’all”? Feel free to post comments…

Ga 400, I-285, and I-85, OH MY!!!

Jim had an appointment with his endoctrinologist in Decatur yesterday. It is 75 miles from our camp host spot to the doctor's office, and the Dekalb Farmer's Market is just a couple miles from the doctor, so we took Gary and Faye with us and set out for our journey. Georgia 400 is a road that is very busy with traffic MOST of the time, but yesterday was a horrible mess. In addition to the normal traffic and construction going on , there was a SUV overturned on the southbound side, which backed up traffic for miles. It took us a half hour to go about 5 miles! OK, so we get through the jam on 400, and get on 285 eastbound, and find the traffic crawling there, too. There had been some kind of bad accident on I-85 north, and the state patrol had closed the ramp from I-285 east to I-85 north. Jim's appointment was for 1:30 p.m., and we left home at about 11:15 a.m., and we were still late getting there. Does anyone wonder why we like working in Urbanna, Virginia???

Dr. Singh was as pleasant as ever, and seemed happy to see us. He remembered that we were the couple who lives in an RV, and told us about his parents going in their motorhome to Tempe, Arizona to visit the Cubs training camp. He also told us about his children, who are 3 years old and 6 months old. He is just a very personable guy. He gave s a 20% discount on our office visit bill and the bloodwork, so that was a good thing. He also wrote Jim's prescription for 100 pills instead of 30 AND gave us some coupons from the manufacturer for $10 off a prescription of 100 pills. What a guy! Since he did not have the bloodwork results, he actually gave us 2 prescriptions and told us to wait until he calls us to tell us which one to get filled.

Finally, after many hours of traveling (it seemed), we got to the farmer's market. They have a cafeteria there, where they cook the items that are for sale that day at the market. Has anyone ever eaten braised fennel? Or goat stew? Well, I passed on the goat stew, but we all tried a fab soup called Corn and Poblano Pepper Soup. Wow!, that stuff wa great! Oh, if you ever go there, keep in mind that they sell the food BY THE POUND, so make your selections carefully.

After we ate, I got the ingredients for bruschetta; Mexican Seafood Soup; and Basil Pesto. Jim got a bottle of Portugese wine, some beef pastrami from the deli, and some delish Red Raspberry Jam. Oh, and we got some blueberry muffins and some rye bread. I just love that store.

After we got all our shopping done, we drove down Ponce De Leon to Peachtree Street, sort of a littel driving tour of downtown Atlanta. We passed by Becky's condo at 923 Peachtree, and drove all the way down to Phipps Plaza. Got on I-85 north, and you guessed it, sat in traffic, again. We were so glad to get back home to the mountains. I hope we don't have to go down there again any time soon.

13.3!

It was only 13.3 degrees on Thursday night, the coldest I have known it to be in Georgia before Christmas. The wind was howling outside, but we were snug and warm in our new trailer. I could notice the difference right away, because whenever the wind would blow when we lived in our Starcraft, it was LOUD and there was usually a breeze or draft going through the trailer. In this one, though, I could barely hear the wind outside, and there was no draft inside.

Before I forget, I have to let everyone know how much help Gary and Faye were to us on the day we moved. After we signed all the paperwork and did the walk-through, they arrived ready to work. Faye and I were in the old trailer, handing stuff out the door to the guys until most of the things that were boxed up were moved. Then I went over to the new one and started putting things away. Faye stayed over in the old one and packed things up to be moved. You know, I thought I had gotten rid of a lot of stuff! But, the truth is, I still have too much. I have been throwing stuff away for three days now, and making a pile for selling on ebay too. I was truly embarrased at how much was packed away in that little starcraft! It only took half the day to get things signed and moved.


After we got back to Unicoi, I spent the rest of the day trying to find things. At about 6 pm, Gary knocked on the door with a pan of burritos. They were absolutely delish, so good that Jim said he was going to ask Gary to marry him!!

Ok, the top pic is a closeup of one of the window treatments in the kitchen. The next one is the bedroom, or at least part of it. That is me with the camera, and Big Jim in the mirror.



Next is the sofa in the living area, I hope you can see the window treatments and the cabinets over the sofa. Jayco calls this color scheme "Spring Willow", which sounds like it should be green, but is more brown and beige, very little green in it. The next pic is a closeup of the sofa fabric, so that you can see more of the colors. If you click on the pictures they will enlarge so you can see them better.

Yesterday we went down to Gainesville to
Target so we could get some throw rugs. The rugs I got are mostly orange, brown and beige, with a little bit of dark green in them. They all look pretty good in this new place.

We also went to Lenscrafters and got new glasses. Well, we ordered them, they will be in next week. I will post of pic of me in new glasses when I get them. It is still cold, with a forecast of high teens for tonight, and relative humidity of 15-20%! BRRRR. I want to go to Mexico!!!

Our New Home!

We found out this morning that our financing was approved for our new trailer. It is a 2007 Jayco Eagle 32FKS, which means that it is a 32 foot travel trailer with two slide out rooms. It has a bigger refrigerator than the one we have now, more storage areas, a king size bed, and a huge wardrobe closet!! We are very excited about this new purchase. The pictures above don't really show how pretty it is, but I wanted to show the colors of the interior. It has the flat, level slides, so we won't be bumping our heads on the slide ceiling now, hehehe.

The floor in the living area is congoleum that looks like slate tiles. I like it better than having carpet in the living room, because it is so hard to keep the dirt out of the carpet. There is a booth dinette also, so we have a place now to sit and eat dinner. I can't wait to get back up to Virginia and invite our friends over. Oh, and it has a gas barbecue grill that fits on the side of the trailer, so we can cook out. Yay!

After we get moved in later this week, I will put up some more pictures. Can you tell I am very excited about this?

Get a cup of coffe and a donut, this could take a while...

This past week has been really busy for us. It started with Thankgiving. I cooked
Thanksgiving Dinner for Jim's family. Well, most of it. I made Sunday Best Roaster chickens, dressing, gravy, butter peas, creamed corn and sweet potato casserole using Linda's recipe. It was all good, and the other family women brought things too. Let's just say it was "challenging" to pull this thing off.

Then, on Friday, we worked again for a half day. On Sunday, we went for a long drive around the mountains with Gary and Faye. They had never been to Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia, so we drove up there. We were all excited about being able to take the shuttle to the top and being able to see 4 or 5 states from up there, but, no, the place was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday so we did not get to do it. But, the drive was nice and had a nice long afternoon to visit with our friends.

On Monday, we went down to Gainesville to file an unemployment claim. They said we would hear something from them in 14 business days, but to go ahead and file for the week until we heard from them one way or the other.

We worked a half day again in the morning on Tueday, then we decided we needed to go to the grocery store. We did that and spent a ton of $$, but now we have everything we need to eat like pigs for at least three weeks, maybe four. On the way home from the grocery store, Jim's mother called to tell us that his Dad was admitted to the hospital. They were at the doctor's office and they sent him to the hospital in an ambulance. One of their friends took Nana to the hospital since she does not drive, so we headed down there to see what we could do for her and to wait with her until she was ready to go home. She decided to stay, so we went home.

On Wednesday morning, she called us and told us they had not found out what was wrong with Poppa yet, and would be doing more tests, so there was no need for us to come to the hospital, so we went ahead with our plans to go to Douglasville.

We went to Becky's shop to get haircuts, which we both desparately needed. After the haircuts, I went to my mother's and Jim and Becky went to the mall to hang out and go to a movie.

I had a very good visit with my Mom. She was nice and sweet and we had a nice conversation. She gave me a ham sandwich and one of Linda's mince meat cookie bars and didn't say anything about me being fat or anything. She gave me some home made pound cake with chocolate fudge frosting and some apple butter to take home with me. It was a very nice afternoon. Dick and Donna came by and I got to finally meet her. She is very nice and I am glad he has found someone to love and to
make him happy. He deserves that in his life. When I got ready to leave to go and meet Emily and Spencer, Mama hugged me tight. It felt good.

I met Emily and Spencer at a place called Monkey Joe's. It is an indoor playground-party place. It is full of things to jump on, slide on, run around on, crawl through, etc... for kids. Spencer was running at top speed, like short cute little bullet. He is very fast and seemed to never run out of energy. I felt a little bad for Emily, because every few minutes she had to run like a mad woman to catch Spencer jut before he snatched an ice cream or candy bar from the counter and ran away with it. I brought him two little turtles (toys) and a glow in the dark t-shirt from Unicoi State Park. He took an instant attachment to the turtles. He named them Ned and Ted.

From there, we went to Jim's favorite barbecue restaurant, Hudson's Hickory House, for dinner. There was me and Jim, Becky, Emily, Tommy, and Spencer. It was nice to sit down as a family together and eat dinner. (It was also nice to have my favorite bbq ribs! Yum!)

We left Douglasville about 6:30 pm and drove to Gainesville. We stopped at the hospital to pick Nana up and take her home. She announced that she was going to stay another night, and Poppa said if she did then he was going to sign himself out of the hospital. He said it very loudly and with a lot of expletive deleteds. She got
her feelings hurt, but I do understand that he did not want any company. He was still in pain, and they had filled him up with laxatives in preparation for a barium enema on Thursday, so he was not in the mood for company from anyone. We took her home and stayed with her a while, and finally got home around 11pm.

Thursday, we worked a half day again, then went to Nana's house and stayed with her until Mike got there to spend the night with her. He is taking her to a doctor appointment today, then down to the hopsital in Gainesville to visit Poppa for a few minutes, before he brings home. He is supposed to call us if he decided not to spend the night again so one of us can go over there.

So, that has been our week, very hectic and busy, some fun, some not,
but life is like that. I hope all of you are doing well, and having
some fun along the way. I am waiting to hear from you all.

They Don't Call Me The Fab Grandma For Nothing

I am a Fab Grandma because I make things for my grandchildren and for myself. I make quilts, aprons, jewelry,dolls, home made soap, and other things. Here is a picture of a necklace I made last night.

I started working in the Trading Post at Unicoi State Park a couple of days ago. It is a small camp store, not very busy compared to the store at Bethpage, but interesting. Between customers I can read all the books that are for sale there or listen to the radio. I was afraid I would have forgotten how to do things since last year, but it all came back to me pretty quickly. I only made one itsy bitsy mistake the first day, and it was fixable.


Last night it was 29 degrees. Today the high was about 40 and there were a few spits of snow, not enough to even SEE really, but still snow, in Georgia, in November. Last year when we were here it snowed four times. There was enough to make the ground white when we woke up in the morning, but it was always gone before lunch time. I hope we don’t get a lot if it this year. We bought some groceries and decided to leave them in the back of the truck because it was colder than the refrigerator.


Several people who came into the store today told me they saw a bear last night. I have not seen it yet, but I have seen signs of it. The bears around here are the small black bears, but they are still bears and I am afraid of them. I have read those stories in Reader’s Digest, so I ain’t crazy enough to think I could pet one. If I see it, I will be heading for the nearest building or get in my truck. And there is no way you could get me to camp in a tent here either. Even with it as cold as it is and bears roaming around, there are a lot of people camping in tents! They must be crazy!

Yeterday Was A Travel Day...

OK, so we live in a travel trailer that is 30 ft long. There are AT MOST two steps from the bed to the toilet. Every night when I get up to go use the toilet, my husband asks me “Where are you going”? HUH? One of these nights I am going to answer him “I am going to Las Margaritas, do you want me to bring you a bowl of soup?” just to see if he is awake.


The trip to Georgia was uneventful, and took less than two days. It was 574 miles from Bathpage to Unicoi. We went through Westpoint to I-64 west, to I-295 south, to I-95 south, to I-85 south, to Georgia 17 north. We stopped for fuel at the Sadler Truck Plaza in Emporia, where diesel was $2.319 if you paid with cash, but they consider a debit card to be the same as cash. The price of fuel in North Carolina was the highest at $2.499.


We stopped for the night in Concord, North Carolina at Fleetwood RV Resort. I don’t know why they get to call it a resort. It is behind an RV dealership, and right next to the Lowe’s Motor Speedway, a NASCAR racing facility. Our site had an excellent view of the speedway stadium, but no cable TV and no Wi-Fi. It was $25 per night for a pull through on gravel and pavement. Oh, and they were running laps til after 11pm at the raceway, so if you stay there expect noise. I could close my eyes and imagine it full of NASCAR fans. I am so glad I don’t work there. We woke up at 4:30 am and decided to “Just leave”. (that is for Lynn and Mary, hehehe)


We arrived at Unicoi State Park around 11:30 am yesterday to begin our winter Volunteer Camp Host job. Even though the host spaces are first come first served, we go the space we wanted. It is right next to a little creek, Our view out the window is of the forest, very nice. We ran into Gary and Faye at the lodge when we went up to check in with Shirley, the retail manager. They have been here about a week. Shirley was as usual happy to see us. We go tomorrow for an orientation session. We didn’t have to do an orientation last year because they did not have an onsite volunteer coordinator. The new person in is Ellen. We met her when she came by our trailer to introduce herself to us.


We can’t wait to go to Doodle’s, the coffee shop in Helen. They have free Wi-Fi, and good coffee, but the owners, Stan and Linda, are really nice and we got to know them pretty well last year. We are looking forward to seeing them again. We also like to go to Betty’s County Store. They may be a little expensive, but they have good meats and a nice produce department. They make home made breads, and have a good selection of snacks. Yum!

Eating our Way across America

Jim and I have often told people in fun that we are "Eating our way across America", but dang, I think we have outdone ourselves this week. Last Sunday night, we went out to dinner at Nick's, a local spaghetti and steak place. There were about 12 of us there--it was supposed to be a "goodbye dinner" because Gary and Faye and Russ and Liz were leaving for the season the next day.

So, the very next night, because none of the above people actually left, we did it again at Virginia Street Cafe. Since my daughter was visiting from Norfolk, she went with us both times. Now, this group of people is loud, and sometimes rowdy, but we have a good time. Gary and Faye and Russ and Liz finally left on Tuesday morning. Gary and Faye went to Unicoi State Park in Georgia, where Jim and I will be headed tomorrow. Russ and Liz went to Ft. Worth, Texas.

We let it rest for one night, then on Wednesday, 7 of us--me and Jim, Charlie and Lynn, and the other Russ and Mary went to Cocomo's in Deltaville. Cocomo's is THE BEST SEAFOOD PLACE in the Northern Neck of Virginia. We had to drive 22 miles to get there, but we have trekked over there at least once a month since we found out about the place. We also took Jay, the new manager guy, with us. We raised a glass in toast to our friendship (ok, so we only raised the glass to our mouths and drank, there was no actual toasting). We were loud, rowdy, and had a very good time, again. Said our goodbye's. Again. On the way home, I told Jim, "We have to eat at home from here on out because I want to have room in the freezer for a dozen crab cakes from Something Different to take home with me." And he said, "Yes Dear".

So, I am standing there washing the dishes (you ask how could I possibly have dishes to wash with all this eating out?) and getting ready to cook some chicken and rice for dinner on Sunday afternoon, when there is a loud knock on the door, and there stands Lynn, IN THE RAIN, asking us if we want to go out to Nick's tonight. OK, she twisted our arms, ever so slightly. And so, we were out to eat last night, AGAIN, saying goodbye, AGAIN. This time it was me and Jim, Lynn and Charlie, and Mary and Russ. I really love this bunch of people. We will be back up here in March, and I as I told Lynn, be ready to go out to Virginia Street Cafe the first Monday night after we get here. Maybe before that...

The Best Crew Ever:
Faye and Gary
Liz and Russ

Charlie and Lynn

Mary and Russ
Me and Jim.See ya all in the spring!

Time to Go

I had to go down to the dock to get my crab trap out of the water for the last time on Tuesday afternoon. The view from the dock was wonderful, all reds and oranges from the leaves changing. I had to go back home to get my camera. This first photo, in case you have never seen one, is of my crab trap sitting on the dock. It is so sad to think there will be no more crabs until next year!

This next photo is taken over by the employee parking lot down by Robinson's
Creek. The dock you see there is on the other side of the creek. My friend Lynn and I drove around for about an hour in the golf cart taking pictures of the entire place.


I didn't expect it to be so busy here this time of year. We had two Halloween weekends, with tons of campers coming for the "Haunted Hayrides" on Saturday nights. On the last weekend before Halloween, there was a costume contest. All the kids and a lot of the adults were in cotume all day. One cute little boy about 5 years old had on a power ranger costume with padding in it to make him look like he had big muscles. And one pregnant woman was dressed as an oven, and her hubby had on a chef hat! How cute is that?

Last weekend the town of Urbanna had their 49th annual Oyster Festival. We had 705 arrivals in two days. We were hopping busy but it was not really that bad. All of the us who work here were really amazed at how smoothly it went for us. The festival lasts two days. They had about 90,000 people there for the event.

Rebecca came up to visit us on Sunday, and we went out to eat with our co-workers that night. There were about 12 of us in all, and we laughed all evening. Then, we did it again on Monday night before Rebecca went home. Two of the couples we worked with left on Tuesday morning. Gary and Faye went to Unicoi State Park in Georgia, and Liz and Russ went to Ft. Worth, Texas to work at Cowtown RV Park for the winter. Jim and I will be leaving this coming Tuesday to join Gary and Faye at Unicoi. We worked there last winter and loved it there. It is about 10 miles from Jim's parents house. I'll be there in time to cook Thanksgiving dinner for them. We'll be back here on the river next season, though. Working here has been really fun.

Autumn On The River

The leaves are turning to autumn colors beautifully here at the Rivah! These are down by the dock behind the campstore. Across Robinson's creek, they are gorgeous!
This is the view from the employee parking lot where I work. It is the first thing I see every morning right before I go to work. This is one of the reasons I love working here.

Seth and Sarah Got Married

My son, Seth and his girlfriend, Sarah, got married on Friday, October 20 in England. My grandson, Michael was there at the ceremony, too. They have been planning this for some time. They had several of their friends there with them. They want to have another wedding cermony next year on the beach so all of our family can be there to celebrate with them.

I have not met Sarah yet, but she does seem to be an intelligent, loving woman. She is a good match for Seth, and is very good to my grandson. Michael likes her a lot and told me he was excited to have her as his new mother. They will be coming to the states in January to live in Maryland near Andrews Air Force Base, where Seth will be stationed next.

We are so happy he is coming home, he has been gone to England for six years. Michael has grown up there. Although he has been in England since he was four years old, he does not have a British accent at all, but he does speak with some very British sounding phrases. One day when I was talking to him on the phone I told him I had a crab cake sandwich for breakfast. He asked me if that was something like fish and chips!

Ten Years

Ten years ago on October 13, 1996, my grandson Michael was born. He celebrated his birthday this year in England with his Dad and step-mom, and six of his friends. I have never spent a birthday with him, because he has always been far away, but I try to call and talk to him each year on the day of his birthday.

When I spoke to him, he asked me if I would send him a map of Maryland, because he is moving there in January and wants to see what it looks like. So, since I AM the Fab Grandma, I drove up to the Maryland Welcome Center today and picked up a map and a ton of brochures to send him. He will read about the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the beach at Ocean City, and the ponies at Assateague Island. I hope I can take him to see those ponies next summer. Since I do not have a recent picture of him, I have posted the "self-portrait" he did for me when he was six.

Spencer's mom, Emily, sent me this photo of him sliding at the fair. He always looks so full of energy When he started to school this year, he was getting in trouble a lot for kicking other students and taking away their toys. He has been doing a lot better lately. Emily says he only had one frowny face last week. He is learing Spanish in pre-K! Wow, they start foreign languages earlier and earlier now. I think we didn't have a foreign language class until 10th grade when I was in school.

I have not heard from Sarah or her mother lately, but her mom is pregnant and having some difficulties, so it may be a while before I get any new pics. So, here is an old one:

Weather or Not

We had a another very busy weekend here at the campgound. It was the annual Down on the Rivah Rally,which included a dinner on Friday night, followed by a concert with a country music band; breakfast on Saturday; an all-you-can-eat steamed crab feast on Saturday night; and breakfast on Sunday morning. There was also an RV show in the park for the weekend, with several dealerships from the area displaying new travel trailers, 5^th wheels, and park model trailers for sale. And there were supposed to be river cruises on the company boat.

However, there was that bit of weather know in this area as a "nor-easter", that
dumped several inches of rain and brought 30 mile per hour winds on Friday. The front stalled in Virginia and dumped even more rain on us on Saturday. So, with about 220 rv's scheduled to arrive Thursday and Friday, and water standing in a lot of campsites, it made for a lot of work just to get the people parked when they arrived. We only had about 20 "no-shows", which was pretty good, considering...

Most of the rain was about 30 miles west of us along the route of I-64 from Norfolk to Richmond. They were getting about 4" of rain PER HOUR! Because it was to the west of us, we only got about 4" of rain in two days, but the flooding in other areas caused a lot of our campers to have trouble getting here with roads flooded or washed out, and they had to make detours. The rain and high wind along with the October full moon caused a really high tide for this time of year and our dock
where the boats come in was under water for about two days!!!

We all had to work long hours. I opened the office on Thurs, Fri and Sat at 7:45 am, and worked there until 5 pm. On Friday night, I went over to the Group Rally Center next door and worked on the serving line until 7pm. On Saturday, I worked until 2pm in the office, then went to the GRC and worked on the serving line from 5:45 til 9:oo pm. It was fun though, and even though I was tired, I had a good time doing it. After we finished serving the crab feast on Saturday night, the manager gave each of us a flat of crabs, which is about 18
or so steamed crabs. My friend Lynn gave hers to me because she doesn't eat them. I took them home and cracked off the shells, and put the legs and and meaty little crab bodies in the fridge. It makes them take up less space in the fridge if the shells are taken off. So now I just have to eat them all!!! :) I just LOVE steamed crabs!!!

The boat rides up the Rappahanock River had to be cancelled on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, Jim and a couple other guys were hard at work pulling the floating dock by hand out to the boat (with people on it) so they could board the boat for the cruises That was the only way they could get people on the boat. I have posted a pic so you can maybe see what I am talking about. It was like he was pulling a ferry from the boat ramp out to the boat. Anyway, he was having a good time doing it, bare feet and all.

The Univited Guest

At the place where we are working this year, there are ten other couples and a few single work campers. We get together often at someone's campsite for a campfire or cookout after work.

One night a few weeks ago, we were celebrating the fact that we had made it through Labor Day Weekend and survived. (It doesn't take much for us to have a reason to celebrate!) We each took a covered dish, something to drink (wink!) and brought our own meat to put on the grill. Someone put on some music and some people were dancing. It was just a very good party--until a skunk wandered up to the campfire. What a hoot! I have never seen some of those folks move so fast!

The Dock

The main reason we came to Virginia to work this season is that my daughter the artist lives in Norfolk. She moved up here about eight years ago to go to graduate school and never left. She is pretty much a Virginian now, and probably won't leave there. She has visited us where ever we have been, but we decided to make it easy on her to come to see us. The place where we are living and working is only about 85 miles from her home. Here she is on a recent day trip to Kilmarnock in an antique store, hamming it up with a fake cake.

Like I said a few posts ago, she was an art teacher at a private school for children with learning disabilities for several years, but has decided to pursue her dream and work on marketing her own artwork. She entered her first juried art show and won Best of Show! We were very proud of that.


The second reason (well, it came in pretty close to being the first reason but I couldn't very well say to my daughter that eating crabs was more important than being close to her!!) we came to Virginia is the abundance of blue crabs, free for the taking, out of the river. All you have to do is put some chicken necks in your crab trap and go back the next morning and there they are. Steam them with some Old Bay seasoning, and you have the best dinner (or lunch or breakfast) you could ever want. And if for some reason you forgot to put the chicken necks in your trap, someone is always bringing you some already steamed. How could anyone NOT want to be near a place where they could have steamed crabs anytime they wanted them?


Finally, here is the real reason we came here:
Jim loves to fish.
Here he is "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay", fishing his heart out.
This campground is on Robinson's Creek, which goes into the Rapphannock River, which goes into the Chesapeake Bay. There are six or seven docks to fish from on the creek, canoes for rent for getting even closer to the fish, and a large freshwater lake on the property. He goes fishing on his lunch hour almost every day. Fishing is what keeps him happy. Oh, and I love fishing too!

Campground Worker

One of the reasons we live the way we do is so that we can go where ever we want to be and get to stay there for more than a week or two. We have been to several states in the six years we have been work campers. We spent two and a half years in south Texas, a winter season in Florida, and a couple of summers in the mountains of north Georgia. Last summer we worked at Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, Georgia. I worked in the retail operations office, answering the telephones and monitoring the radios. My husband, Jim, was a maintenance worker in the campground. On weekends when we expected a lot of children to be camping there, one of his duties was to put out these "Slow Children" signs on the roads. I love this photo of him with his buddies.

One More Hibiscus

I don't know what I will do with my time when the flowers wither for the season. Maybe the trees will turn to a beautiful hue here, and give me something else to photograph. In the meantime, this hibiscus continues to enchant me every time I pass by. This particular blossom is larger than a dinner plate. The front is gorgeous, but I tend to look at flowers from a different angle. Every line of it is so graceful, so elegant. And look at those little green spikes on the stem! Ok, next time I will show you the dock here at the campground.

Pilates

The other day I was at work in the camp store, and in between customers I was stretching behind the counter. My co-workers asked me what I was doing, and so I was telling them how my legs hurt from standing all day if I didn't do some stretches. As I was talking about this and how I wished that I could find an exercice DVD that would be VERY low impact, a customer at the counter told me I should try one called Pilates for 50+ She said she does Pilates herself and that she had seen the one for older folks and had been thinking about getting it for her mother.

So, I went online and found it on Amazon.com. I ordered it today, so I will post again later and let you know how it works for me.

What Did I Wish For?

While I was out riding around the campground looking for a pink rose I had seen earlier in the week, I found this lovely flower instead. It was supporting itself in the rosebush. If I had not been looking for the rose, I would have missed this little treasure.

The existence of this little flower reminds me of the lifestyle my husband and I have made for ourselves. We have chosen to support ourselves by working in the campgrounds we want to visit, having been drawn there by the beauty of the surrounding area. We get a chance to stay longer, as if putting down roots if just for a little while, and explore an area more closely than if we were only able to stay for a week or two.

While we are there, we have the time to search for the everyday, the places where the locals eat, the sights they go to see, and the things they do for fun. And if what we find while we are looking is not exactly what we were looking for, the we change what we are looking for. You never know what treasure you may find just because you look for something else.

My Daughter the Artist

My daughter, Becca, was an art teacher at a private school for children with learning disabilities until this past spring, but has now decided to pursue her dreams and spend more time working on her own artwork.

She is the artist who produced the painting you see here. While I will let you form your own opinion of her work, I think she is pretty good. (yeah, I know, I am her mother)

She has this painting up for auction on ebay to benefit NOMHRF. 75% of the proceeds from the auction will go to the charity. If you like the painting or even if you like jazz and blues music, please bid on this auction, or send the link to your friends and acquaintances.

To see more of Becca's work, click here to go to her blog.

When I went to the creek to check my crab pot this afternoon, I took my camera along for the ride. This pink hibiscus was blooming at one of the permanent campsites. I love the way these flowers look from the back, so elegant and graceful.

Flowers are my my favorite photography subject, but I also take a lot of pictures of clouds and bugs. When I came home for lunch today, there was a praying mantis on my front door. I took a few shots of it, but none of them were good enough to put in my "keepers" file. Maybe he will pose for me again tomorrow.

Spencer in Georgia

Spencer is my second grandson. He is four years old and just started pre-school this year. Here he is on vacation in Daytona, Florida last February.

Sarah at the beauty shop

When Sarah came to visit last Christmas, we went to Aunt Becky's beauty salon and got a fabulous new hair-do. Sarah loved all the attention she got at the shop.

Michael in California

This is one of my favorite photos of Michael. We all met at Imperial Beach, California in the summer of 2004. Michael was fishing off the pier with his dad and they caught this lobster. We cooked it for dinner that night.

Hello from Fab Grandma

Wow, I am finally here, getting this blog started. I have been putting it off for far too long. Starting a blog has been on my list of things to do forever!

Where to start? First, let me introduce myself to you. I am Karen, the Fab Grandma. My three grandchildren all live very far away from me.

Michael, who it the oldest grandson at almost 10 years old, lives in England with his Dad, my son, Seth. Seth has been in the Air Force for more than 12 year now. Michael was born in San Antonio, Texas. He lived in Guam for about 2 years, then moved to England when he was 3 years old.

His sister, Sarah,who is 7, was born in Guam and lives in Washington State with her mother. We saw her last Christmas when she came to Georgia to spend the week with her other grandmother.

Spencer belongs to my youngest daughter, Emily. He is 4 years old and lives in Georgia.

It is because of my grandchildren that I learned to make quilts. I wanted to make something for them that no one else could. The first quilt I made was for Sarah, before she was born. Since then, I have made quite a few. I love each one of them and feel like they are a part of ME.