A Trip To My Hometown

We haven't been "home" in about 18 months, so we were overdue to visit there. Last weekend, we loaded up the truck with computers, suitcase, and sandwiches, and hit the road for the 200 mile trip. 

Our first stop was at the mall, because Fabgrandpa needed a new winter jacket. He melted his old one in a commercial dryer when we were volunteering at Unicoi State Park back in 2007. He didn't need one last winter because we were in a pretty warm place, but, as we have discovered, Alabama is COLD! Oh, and let's just say that planning a quick trip to the mall two weeks before Christmas is BIG mistake.

After we got out of the mall, we drove over to Becky's hair salon to get prettied up. She is the best "hair-doer" I have ever known. We always get our hair done by her when we come to town. (Of course, she IS my daughter, and NO I am not biased in my opinion. he he he).  FabGrandpa went first.

 

Then it was my turn. Becky cut off about two inches, trimmed my bangs, and then styled my hair. I always feel like a pampered princess when I go there. 

Here we are, all dolled up, and FabGrandpa in his new mall jacket.

This is something I DON'T miss on a daily basis: lots of traffic. It was raining, too. And don't think that all this is from Christmas shopping--no, it is like this all the time in Douglasville. 

 

Remember last year when I lost that diamond?  When Becky came to visit us at the Grand Canyon, she took my rings home with her, and had them repaired, complete with a new diamond. The jeweler cleaned and shined them up, so that they look better than ever! She gave them to me when we were at the shop, and I cried like a baby. She is too good to me!

 

From the beauty shop, we drove over to visit my mother. That's her Christmas tree there, and if you look, on the shelves behind the tree is a huge collection of Santas.  We had a nice visit, then left to meet Becky and her true love for dinner.

 

That's the happy bride to be with her guy, Rafe. He is a very nice guy. We'll be proud to call him our son-in-law. The wedding won't be until February, 2011. That's still quite a ways off, but hey, I still haven't bought my mother of the bride dress. I'm still looking. 

 

We finally made to the motel, a Holiday Inn Express. The room was very nice for the money. It even had a big screen TV. But FabGrandpa spent most of his time in the room playing Left 4 Dead. He said there wasn't much on TV to watch, anyway.

 

The next morning, I got up and went back to my Mom's for breakfast. My sister came over, too, still in her pajamas. We spent a couple of hours talking girl talk while FabGrandpa slept in at the motel.  

After having breakfast with them, I went to Cracker Barrell to meet my daughter, Emily and niece, Nikki for another breakfast.  I had not ever met Nikki before, well, except for when she was a tiny baby. My sister "found" her on Myspace a couple of years ago. I have not been in town when she was since then, so we arranged to meet last weekend. It was nice to meet her. She is a gorgeous girl, and smart too, just like my daughters. She spent 6 years in the Air Force and is now in school to be a medical technician. I didn't get a picture, though, I was so busy talking I just forgot!

After the second breakfast (yeah, no wonder I am so fat! But, honestly, I only ate a little bit at both of them), Emily and I went fabric shopping. I spent a LOT of money, but I had specific projects in mind, and still didn't get everything I needed. Yes, yet another fabric trip is in the planning. 

Emily and I decided we did not want to do any other shopping after the fabric store, so we went to her house and just hung out. My grandson, Spencer, thanked me again for his quilt. He is so cute, don't you think?

I made this bag for Emily and gave it to her while I was at her house. She loved it!

 

 It is big enough for her teacher self to tote books and papers and pencils and stuff. I made a matching zippered pouch to go with, which of course I have no picture of.

 

There's Spencer again, trying to figure out how to take my picture.

 

And Emily's Christmas tree, in her living room with her new floors. I love it! She has redone the entire house since I was there the last time. I

 

We left Emily's house and met up with FabGrandpa and Becky at Longhorn Steakhouse, one of our favorite places to eat. I had a salad, no croutons, no dressing, a ribeye medium rare, and a baked sweet potato. No gluten anywhere, and it was delish! There's FabGrandpa with Emily.

 

 And me with Becky
 

And me with my dinner date, Spencer. Spencer's Dad was there too, but he does not want me to show his face, so I won't.  We had such a busy weekend, but it was fun, and we'll do it again, soon.

In The Company Of Friends and Relatives

This weekend the only thing I had planned to do was a dinner party for about 10 people. Yeah, I'm sorta crazy like that, who in their right mind would plan a dinner for 10 when they live in a travel trailer??? The menu included Mexican Seafood Soup, avocado slices, corn tortillas, and cantaloupe and honey dew melon. My friend, Kathie, brought home cooked mini bread loaves for those who eat wheat.

(ready to go outside to the picnic table)

I spent the day on Saturday doing nothing, and I do mean nothing. I laid on the sofa and read a book, one by Debbie Macomber, which is like junk food for the brain. Chatted with some friends on Facebook. Went out to sit by the campfire with my neighbors for a bit right before dark.

(a huge pot of soup)

This morning, I got up, wrote down my recipe (it's on my hard drive but I didn't feel like messing with my printer). It is a wireless and sometimes it won't talk to my computer, so writing down the recipe was faster. After that, I gathered up all the indredients and put them on the counter, ready to go. Chopped jalapenos, celery, onions, garlic. Peeled carrots and potatoes. Everything was ready. I made a HUGE pot of soup.

(mmmm, smell that soup!)

In between the gathering and chopping, I went out to do laundry. Got everything washed, dried, folded and hung up, in less than two hours. When I got back to the trailer, the phone rang, and it was my cousin, Susan. I have never met her, but I have talked to her on the phone several times. She is coming to visit me tomorrow. I am very excited about that! Susan's mother, my mother's sister, died when Susan was 12 and she was sent to live with her paternal grandparents in Oklahoma. She never saw her mother's family again until the last year.


In December of 2007, I was invited to be a guest blogger on a blog that is no longer in existence. During the time that I was trying to figure out what to write, I went to my mother's 80th birthday party. So, I decided to write about my mother's life. I started out talking about my mother's parents, and mentioned her maiden name in the article.

That maiden name is not a common name, and my grandfather's last name was the only last name Susan knew to search for after so many years. She and her husband had googled and searched for that last name many times over the years, with no results at all. The weekend after I posted my blog post at that other site, they googled again, and were very surprised and excited to finally get a hit on that last name.


The article included some pictures of my mother when she was young, and in the picture I chose, she looked very much like her sister, Susan's mother. There was a link from that article back here to FabGrandma, which Susan clicked on and found enough information to find my mother's telephone number in Georgia. The rest is history. Susan and her husband travelled from Missouri to Georgia to meet my mother last summer.


So, now, after all these years, I will meet my cousin tomorrow here at the Grand Canyon. I am very much looking forward to getting to know her a little bit. She credits me with finding her family and is very happy that I wrote that article. I'm sure I will have some pictures to post tomorrow.

The party tonight was so much fun, hanging out with the folks I work with, laughing, talking, having a beer or two. We stayed outside at the picnic table until after sunset, just enjoying each other's company. Ahhhhh, isn't life Grand?

My New Project

Ok, it is not really new--I cut the original 3" inch strips and sewed them together in March of 2008. The next step was to cut them on a 45 degree angle, then sew them together again. I had a fear of the 45 degree angle, so I put the entire project under the bed and slept on it, literally, for over a year.

(This is the pattern I am using)

Today was the day I decided to tackle those cuts. My folding table is stored behind the back seat of the truck. My iron is in the linen closet. Scissors, rotary cutter, thread, magnetic pin bowl are in the wicker trunk in the living area. The sewing machine, folding chair, cutting mat and rulers are all kept under the bed. It took a while to gather everything together, but I finally got started. Then I couldn't figure out how to place the ruler on the fabric to accomplish the 45 degree cuts. Dang.


The guy who lives next door is a carpenter. I went over there and asked him about it, so he came over and helped me figure it out. Thanks, Dennis. Between the two of us we got it. He went home and I worked on it all afternoon. The picute above are all the strips I cut today. They are numbered because you have to sew them together in a certain order to get the pattern to come out right.



There are eight sections in all. I finished three of them today. This is going to be a really large quilt, queen sized at least. This one is for Becca and Ken. I have another set of strips all sewn together, with all the same fabrics except one (I didn't have enough of all the fabrics to make two quilts). The second one is for Seth and Sarah. I am going to send both of them to be quilted by the lady who quilted Becky's quilt for me. I think these are going to be gorgeous.

Becca and Ken Came To Visit

Last week our daughter, Becca, and her boyfriend, Ken came to visit. They arrived late on Saturday night. On Sunday after breakfast, we all drove up to Cape Royal, my favorite place here at the North Rim. The sun was shining down, and we were having a great time.



The view from Cape Royal is awesome, in my opinion one of the best viewpoints at the Grand Canyon. It is where I take anyone who comes to visit, also, it is were I send visitors to the park who ask me where they should go.


So, this was the first time we have met Becca's guy. He is very nice, very thoughtful, very intelligent, and it is obvious to me that she is in love with him, and that he is in love with her. I really like him. But, Fabgrandpa is one of those guys who seems to find fault with anyone who comes courting his daughters. His actions sort of reminded me of a gorilla beating his fists on his chest to claim his territory, and made an otherwise lovely visit a little tense. I wish he could just be happy that she has found someone who loves her and makes her happy. Why do men act like that? (to my family members who read this, please don't say anything to him, it will only make it worse. Just let me vent here, ok?)

Yes, FabGrandpa loves her, too.

Here I am with Ken. He is an avid photographer, and takes some really gorgeous shots. He has a really nice camera that I am jealous of.



There's Becca, waaayyyy over there near the edge on the right hand side of the cliff, between two bushes. If you click to enlarge the photo, you'll see she is waving to me.


We walked all the little trails at Cape Royal. I think we spent a couple of hours up there.



Before coming home, we hiked down to Cliff Springs. FabGrandpa and I hiked there last year, and I really wanted Becca and Ken to see it. There is a spring there, that drips out of the side of the cliffs. Indians used to get water there for their crops when they grew corn, squash, and beans up here years ago.

A maidenhair fern growing out of the rocks at Cliff Springs.

This is one of my favorite photos from their visit. We were resting under the cliffs, waiting for the rain to go away. Becca was sitting there taking in the view.



This was the storm coming in . There was lightening and thunder going on, which I don't really like, but we were safe enough where we were sitting.


When we got back from our trip to Cape Royal and the Cliff Springs, Becca and Ken were going to take us all out to the lodge for dinner, but we couldn't get a reservation. We made dinner at home, and made a reservation for the next night. On Monday, it was my last day off, so I stayed home and rested. Becca and Ken went back up to Cape Royal and hiked out to Green Lake, which is a tiny lake about 100 yards off the road. It is gorgeous and not many people see it because they don't know it's there.


The lodge has massive exposed beams and huge chandiliers. There are huge windows on the canyon side so if you are lucky enough to get a table there you can have your dinner with a great view. We didn't get a window table, though. I had prime rib, which came with asparagus and a baked potato. It was excellent. Thanks Ken and Becca! I really appreciated that!

I had to work the rest of the time they were here, so they went hiking on several trails for the rest of the time they were here. They hiked out to Widforss Point, to Cape Final, and to Bright Angel Point a couple of times. I am glad they went out there and saw as much of the area as they could.

Ilex, their 12 year old dog, came with them. She relaxed in the trailer most of the day. She is a very good dog.

All too soon it was time for them to leave for home. I was working at the entrance station when they left. They stopped and walked over to say goodbye, and even though I had a line waiting to get in, I took the time to hug them both tight. The next guy I waited on commented about my eyes leaking as they drove away.

Vacation III: Uncle Jr., Mexico and The Pier

The first order of business on Wednesday was to drive through the streets of Imperial Beach, going past the places where FabGrandpa lived and played. This picture shows the entrance to the trailer park where he lived for several years with his parents and brothers. If you look closely, you may see The Wing sticking up there on the hill. The official name for it is the John J. Montgomery Memorial Park.

We went by Mar Vista High School, Emory Elementary School, the drive-in theater that has a flea market during the day. The water tank where there used to be a grove of eucalyptus trees, and past the place where he used to hide in a fig tree and eat until he was sticky all over. It was great to see him so happy that he could see this place again, and that so many of the places were still recognizable to him.


We also went by to visit Uncle Junior, as he is called by everyone in the family. He has lived here since 1979. His wife, Terry, died last year so he is living there alone now. He told us he is trying to get things in order so he can sell the house and move back to Georgia. He's looking pretty good for 82 years old. We had a nice visit with him, then left on our way to Mexico, less than 10 miles away.


We parked at a lot on the U.S. side of the border, and walked across the bridge to Tijuana. It was a pretty long walk compared to other places where I have crossed into Mexico. There were lots of people walking over that day. In the picture below are cars at the border stop going into Mexico:


After we crossed the bridge, and went through that revolving gate, we stopped to take my picture with this cow statue. Just because I thought it was pretty. There was also an information booth here where we were able to find directions to the places we wanted to go.


We didn't stay very long--we only wanted to go and get my prescription for metformin ($6.00 for 100 tablets, for my diabetes type II), some amoxicillian ($7.00 for 100 capsules, we like to keep some on hand) and a couple of Z-packs($6.00 each). I know when I get an ear infection that is the only thing that will knock it out. We also got a 5th of Herra Dura Reposado Tequila. It was $32 in Mexico, and unaffordable here. That 5th will last me 2 years.

Then we walked back over the bridge, showed our passport cards, and went home. Easy peasy, and no gunshots were heard. All the cars in the picture below are people entering the United States through Tijuana. There are armed border agents down there inspecting the cars and checking passports and other documents. It looked like a pretty long wait.


We got back to the inn just around lunch time. FabGrandpa was wanting to walk over to the pier, which was good news to me because he hadn't wanted to do anything until that day. So we walked over there, and went to the Tin Fish Restaurant at the end of the pier for lunch.


He had a fried fish and shrimp combo, I ordered grilled shrimp. I could eat shrimp every day, and I did while I was on vacation. It was really good, and the atmosphere on the pier was excellent.


Yep, here I am in my signature orange traveling shirt. It is not the same one I usually wear, I have three, but still, it IS orange.


These guys were out there surfing every day, from morning til sunset. Mostly they just sat on their surfboards waiting for 'the wave', but when they did get a good wave they rode it all the way in.


This picture shows just how close to Mexico we were. If you click on the picture to make it larger, you will see that the top arrow is pointing to the bullring in Tijuana, and bottom one is pointing to the end of Seacoast Boulevard in Imperial Beach.


After lunch we walked back over to the inn, and just relaxed on the deck for the afternoon. This sea bird just sat there posing for me.



More of the beautiful flowers. These were actually growing on the sand dune below the deck of the inn, and climbed over the railing.


Another one by the pool. I don't know the names of these but they are gorgeous.



And again, the sun sets on the Pacific Ocean, bringing us the end of another day.



The lights on the pier seen from the deck outside our room: