RT was driving toward Hohenwald, TN this past Saturday morning to get lumber to do some repairs at the log cabin.  He was cruising along a country road, and to his right was a sheer rock wall that rose straight up for about 25 feet with a ditch between the road and the wall.  As he drove along, out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a large shape plummeting down the cliff.  His immediate thought was that a boulder had broken loose from the rock ledge at the top.  As he swerved to the left to avoid being hit,  he caught a better look and realized that it wasn’t a boulder.  A large black angus cow was falling down the wall.  In his rear view mirror he saw the cow land in the ditch, lie there dazed for a couple seconds, and then get up and walk off. Now THAT is not something you see every day!

Ha!  Just look at this graphic I found!  It’s perfect!

I know all the grandparents out there will understand my fascination and obsession with my two grandgirls.  They are truly the lights of my life.  Our daughter and son-in-law wanted to visit friends in Memphis this weekend, and so we volunteered to babysit the girls.  I think they enjoy being with us because we so totally get into playing with them.  When we play school, RT and I take our turns being the students or the principal or the teacher – depending on what roles the girls want us to play.  We can play for hours.  So this weekend I was Principal Grandma Carol, and RT was Teacher PawPaw, and the girls were the students. 

It was fun and enjoyable – especially when the students and the teacher planned a special music and dance performance for Principal Grandma Carol.  The performance was held on the front porch.  We have two rather prissy little grandgirls who love to pirouette and dance, and they insisted that Teacher PawPaw do the same dances with them for the performance.  Words can’t express how much I wish I had a videotape of that performance.  Just pause for a moment to get the full effect of that visual.  60-year old very macho Paw-Paw dancing across the front porch.  The phrase “twinkle-toes” comes to mind.  I could have used that wished-for video as blackmail against PawPaw to get anything in the world I could possibly want.  

I have to admit, though, that I would have done the same thing if my role had been Teacher Grandma Carol.  The things we do for those grandgirls!

Yesterday was so much fun.  Well, all week for that matter.  It is my spring break, and I am in Georgia visiting my mother.  Four of my six siblings live in the same town as my mother.  So last night, there were five out of seven of us who were here for dinner together – along with my mother.  I made sweet and sour chicken, broccoli with cheese sauce, brown rice and rolls – and for dessert we had my famous apple pie.  Unfortunately I didn’t make enough food – and my nephew and his family got here late – saw the food was almost gone – and so they visited for a few minutes and then left to go elsewhere to eat – despite our protests that we could have more food ready for them in just a few minutes.  Sigh!  Usually we have so much food left over.  So I felt bad that they had to go somewhere else to get a meal.  They got here after everyone else had already eaten and gone back for seconds.  If they’d been here on time, they would have had plenty of food.

Anyway – back to the family visit.  I brought the two grandgirls to Georgia with me.  I love being with them, and it gives their mommy and daddy a few days together without childcare concerns.  They have been so good.  When their cousin, AG, was here last night, they loved having a little bit older girl (AG is in 4th grade) here to play with them.  I hope AG can come over again today.  This is her spring break, too.

In one of my mother’s guest bedrooms, she has two twin beds and one double bed.  That’s perfect for us.  The girls love having their own beds – and then I get the double bed – and they love having me sleep in the room with them.

And I loved sitting around with my mother and four siblings and talking.  It is nice being with my mother and visiting in between visits from the other family members.

RT flew down yesterday afternoon to join us since he had a business meeting today just an hour away.  The girls went with me to the airport, and we heard his plane first, then we saw it and watched it land.  They were literally jumping up and down in excitement as they waved at him – and after he was safely landed, he waved back at them.  Later, they sat in the cockpit and let him take their picture.  I’ll try to post one of the photos later.

When I mentioned that I would sleep with PawPaw in another bedroom last night, they both insisted they wanted me to sleep in that double bed in their room.  So that’s what I ended up doing – which was fine, really.  RT slept in the other room, and I slept in the girls’ room.

It is so nice visiting family and catching up on each other’s lives.

We don’t get a lot of snow here in middle Tennessee.  Last night and this morning we got the biggest snow in five years.  That means we got between four and six inches of snow.  Looking at our yard, I would say that in our yard we got around 3 inches.  Here are some photos – taken from my front and back porches – of our yard.

This first photo is of RT feeding the birds in our back yard.  In the foreground is our stack of firewood – covered with snow.

Taken from our front porch.  I like the look of the snow on the wrought iron rails on the front steps.

I thought the bushes looked pretty with the snow piled on top of them.

RT has been writing poetry again. This one is about his mother and dedicated to his mother, Lillian.  I think it’s beautiful.

Sunflower Mountain

In the early morning sun
hands worn thin by time
and soft by the love
of giving and doing
for others

Pour sunflower seeds high
from a rusty coffee can
onto a weathered plank
atop a worn old cedar post
all dressed in clematis
planted years ago by those
same loving hands.

In moments one small
seed at a time is
given a brief flight
from feeder to limb

Some are stored in
crevices and cracks
while others are cracked
open and fuel the next
flight.

One by one the
sunflower mountain is
made low
As a reminder
that those who neither
sow nor reap
are cared for by those
who share
the love of heart
by the gifts of their
hands

Copyright 2008, RTJ

I told RT that he’s going to be like Grandma Moses and wait until his later years to give his artistic and creative side full rein.  Here is this morning’s poem – inspired by watching the birds on the bird feeders outside out family room windows:

RT wrote this poem this morning as a “gift” to bring a smile to my face.  I think it is beautiful.  What do you think?

Seeking Unity

A lonely flighted goose
wings across the
lighted moon

with grace and
mystery.

Flying high
above the wintry, barren
fields

He moves so
gallantly –

Moves to join
a forming vee
to build again
a
family.

~Copyright 2008, RTJ~

RT has very definite opinions about the Congressional probe into steroid use in baseball.  I quote:

“This country is going to hell in a handbasket, and our dumbass Congress is sitting up there talking to a baseball player about steroids.  They should be spending their time fixing the economy.  People are hurting today paying over $3.00 a gallon for gasoline, having their homes foreclosed, and Congress is spending its time on that crap.” 

What business is it of Congress anyway?  Isn’t there a governing body in baseball that should be handling this stuff?

So I went to bed last night at 5:30 p.m., slept until 1:30 a.m.  I sat up and surfed the internet for an hour, and then RT woke up around 2:30.  We watched TV for awhile, and then went back to bed around 3:30 a.m. and slept till 7:30 a.m.  Let’s see, that TWELVE hours of sleep for me since yesterday afternoon.  I believe I might have made a record for myself – at least in the past few years.  I’ve read that you can’t “make up” sleep.  However, I feel very rested, and that’s a good thing.  So maybe I made up some sleep despite what the experts say.

Right now I’m watching “A Movie and a Makeover” on TV which is excruciating.  There’s a mediocre movie which is made even more mediocre by extremely long breaks for a long series of commercials along with this very boring and tight-lipped chick who is talking to another very boring goth-y looking chick about a makeover that’s being done to a couple of folks.  It is simply another series of blatant commercials couched in the ruse of giving advice about romance.  I guess the TV station is trying to get their money’s worth out of the movie with all the nonsense.  The movie is called “Serendipity” and it is semi-interesting.  However, I’m sitting here watching it anyway – and during the interminable commercial/makeover breaks, I get some different little jobs done around the house.  Important things like

Back in 1989, RT and I celebrated our 20th anniversary, and we decided to celebrate the occasion by spending a week in Hawaii.  Since RT had traveled so much with his job, he had saved enough frequent flier points to completely pay for our round-trip plane fare.  We left the kids with family, and we were on our way to Honolulu. 

I had dreamed of going to Hawaii every since I had read James Michener’s book Hawaii when I was younger.  Seeing the places I had read about was almost magical to me.  There are so many things to do in Honolulu and so many things to see.  The first thing that struck me was the abundance of flowers.  Everything was in bloom and looking beautiful.  Then there were the rainbows.  Rainbows were plentiful – especially in the afternoons after a quick refreshing rain shower.

We hiked up Diamond Head to see the incredible views.  What a wonderful place to be!  We swam in the crystal clear water, snorkeled offshore, shopped at the International Market, visited Pearl Harbor and toured the Arizona Memorial.  We learned about Hawaiian culture by visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center.  RT’s father lived in Hawaii as a child, and we were able to see some of the areas that he had told RT about. 

Someday we intend to go back to Hawaii.  It is an unbelievably beautiful place.  You can call Trusted Tours & Attractions to plan a wide variety of individual, romantic, or family vacation ideas.  They have tours that will take you to the Big Island to explore Volcanoes National Park and the Thurston Lava Tube.    I think I could spend a month or more in Honolulu without seeing all the wonderful sights and attractions.