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.)

It finally happened!

 

After two previous tries (canceled due to COVID and hip dislocation) the third time was the charm. We made it to Wilmington, NC and had a splendid visit with our granddaughter, Alison.

She gave us a tour of the lab and office area at her work place on the University of North Carolina Wilmington campus. We now have a better understanding of the work she does; think rescue/recovery of stranded marine mammals, doing necropsies of carcasses to determine cause of death, keeping data, instructing students and outreach programs for the community.

 

She is having a grand time discovering the Wilmington she didn’t experience while an undergraduate largely due to COCID and two hurricane evacuations. Taking us to a couple of her favorite bars and coffee shops she showed us a little glimpse of her life as a young adult. 

Knowing we like bluegrass music, she found a venue and enjoyed a new experience herself. (Can you believe she had never heard Rocky Top?) Now she has an interest in learning to play the banjo.

It is such a wonderful feeling to know grandchildren are healthy, happy and passionate about their careers.

It is fortunate our route to Wilmington takes us through one of our favorite cities, Asheville, N.C. We stopped in at two of our “must visit” breweries, 

and also the lovely home of our dear friends, Kathy and Jesse in the beautiful North Carolina mountains.

They send their love and greeting back to their friends in Paducah.

Greeting us on our return home is an abundance of blooms. 

With the warmer than normal temperatures, the garden is waking up and ABN is ready to get her hands dirty.

 

It's a wrap!

All that is left are the memories (and a new craft studio.) 

We closed out the year with memories of friends and family.

ABN with sister, Mary

Tipsy Tuesday

Traditional Janne Christmas
Not!
Christmas at Biltmore

Destination Family Christmas in Ashville, N.C.
New tradition? Perhaps.

Along with the good times, 2023 brought us disappointment when COVID made it necessary to abort a visit with our granddaughter in North Carolina as well as with our good friends in the mountains.

We also had challenges with renovating and installing a dry basement system in our nearly 100 year-old house. (ABN is loving the new crafts pace, so it was worth the dust, work and inconvenience!)

Speaking of inconvenience, ABN was partially incapacitated following her 2nd shoulder replacement in September. The surgery and rehab went extremely well and she returned to her normal activities within a couple of months.

Fortunately ABN was near the end of her rehab when Captain dislocated his 27-year old artificial hip. Once again, we had to cancel a trip to North Carolina. The worn out parts were replaced and damaged muscle and tendon repaired in November. He is doing quite well but rehab is preventing our winter RV travel.

Captain ended the year trying to pass a kidney stone. (Hopefully that is the finale in our saga of woes.)

 As the writer of Ecclesiastes puts it,

 ”When times are good, you should be cheerful; when times are bad, think about what it means. God makes them both to keep us from knowing what will happen next.“ Ecclesiastes 7:14 CEV

 As we say good-by to 2024, we leave you with our mantra, expect the unexpected.

 A special thanks to our friends who chauffeured, mowed, finished and winterized the sprinkler system and remained on stand-by to help during Captain’s rehab.