Tacos and Trains

Last weekend the Shumbies came over for a Taco Feed and then we all played Mexican Train. I love playing Train and was missing it as it had been weeks and weeks since the last game. I almost never win in points but as I always say, "She who has the most fun, wins", so I always win no matter how good my points are. Actually, I think Kirby had the best "Score" but I really did win because I had so much fun. I love that silly game. Thank you Rick and Tanya for teaching it to us and totally addicting us.
In this picture - Brendan, Christie, Me but you can't see me because I am taking the picture, Casey, Michael and Kirby.





Here is my wonderful Kirby! Love that man!










And my beautiful daughter, Christie. (with Brendan in the background)














Here is Casey who is 16 now and a junior in high school. Don't you just love that light crown on his head?








And Michael who has been walking and working out regularly and looks terrific!



















I didn't get a picture of Brendan or me. Next time!

And of course, no posting is complete without a picture of the dogs. Socks on the left and Jake on the right. They are pooped after all the fun and games of running, tag, tug of war and doctor (where they operate on all the stuffed animals!)
Notice that I still don't have my new carpet!

In Memory of Barb

It has been almost three years now since I set out to find a loving home for my wonderful black dog, Holly. Through a friend who worked at the marina, Mary Lee, we met Barb and Tom. They were thinking of getting another dog as their "Patches" was getting on in years. We met just a couple of times and they fell in love with Holly. In mid May 2006, we took Holly to their home in Maryland to begin her new life and a couple of days later we sailed away without her. Because of the love of Barb and Tom, we were able to know that our girl was going to be OK.

Barb and I stayed in touch, talking often by phone and sharing emails and pictures. Not long after Holly went to live with them, they lost their little guy. Soon Little Patches came to share their home and their love. They all set out to adventure around the country together in their RV - from the Atlantic to the Pacific they traveled with their new family. Holly adapted so well to having a little brother to raise and in all her pictures it was so obvious that she was happy. And I was always so grateful to Barb and Tom for the love they gave her.

Barb and I always referred to Holly as "Our Girl". We shared the love of a wonderful and faithful friend.

Last September Barb was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. She fought the good fight and almost fooled the gods with her determination and wonderful attitude. Saturday morning, January 24th, Barb slipped from us. Those of us who knew her will always miss her upbeat attitude and her sense of humor. We will also miss her friendship. I was not fortunate enough to know Barb for very long but we shared "Our Girl" and I will always love her for that!

Heather's Whales

I have never seen such a collection of great whale pictures as the one's posted by Heather on her blog. They are in Bahia de Banderas on Mexico's west coast on their big catamaran and enjoyed a fantastic display from the whales and turtles. If you want to see more of her pictures go to: http://catamaranmeerkat.blogspot.com/ or follow the link on the right. Heather is always fantastic photographer but she has outdone herself this time.

Heather, I hope you don't mind me stealing one of your pictures. I am just so impressed that I want to share!

Brendan's Birthday

We had a great time celebrating Brendan's 18th birthday last night. We first gathered at the house to open his presents - lots of clothes and some other goodies. The dogs had fun helping him tear off the paper and rip open the boxes. Sox is the best at that.

Then we went to "On the Border" for Mexican food. Not like good Tex-Mex but I had a little bottle of Habanero sauce in my purse (just for the occasion - I don't ALWAYS have it!) and used that to give it a little heat. Somehow they found out that it was Breadan's birthday and he was surprised by the singing and the dessert.

After stuffing ourselves on all that Mexican food - chips, salsa, burritos, fajitas etc - we went home for birthday cake. Christie out did herself with a gorgeous Lemon Cake. (You can find the recipe on Lucy's Food Blog.)
Here is a video of our fun!

Happy 18th Birthday, Brendan!

My firstborn grandson turned 18 years old today. I don't know how 18 years could have gone by since I first held my daughter's newborn son.

Brendan is a senior at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and will be leaving us at the end of summer to go to college. He has been offered a scholarship to play soccer as the goalkeeper at Iona College in New York. Soccer is Brendan's life and he is very pleased to be able to play for Coach Barboto and on such a good team. And New York will be a real adventure for this southern boy. I am very very proud of him. Please join me in wishing him the best birthday ever! I love you, Brendan!

Home Improvement Project No. 476

Just in case anyone has been wondering what Kirby has been doing in his spare time in his retirement I offer up these pictures.


We had a nice piece of granite left over from the kitchen so he made me a nice little table for the living room. We couldn't find legs that we liked at Lowe's so he made them himself using his new handy-dandy man toy - his Band Saw. I love it and am wanting a coffee table now. But you have to wonder about the weight of a granite coffee table. This small one is heavy enough!



And you have to remember the night I came home from work and found a 6 inch hold in my freshly painted kitchen wall. We had been talking about the empty space behind the fireplace so he checked it out and sure enough there was space for these two nice cabinets. The new extra space is wonderful. You can never have too many cabinets in a kitchen. We were really fortunate that the cabinets at Lowe's are almost exactly what we had. He had to paint them to get them to match and the finished product looks wonderful!

Too Cold

I know that there are many places in the country that are colder than it is here but we still have a reason to complain. We did not buy cold weather when we chose to settle in South Carolina. The average low for this time of year is 36 degrees. That is bad enough. This morning when we got up it was 24 degrees on the back porch. NOAA weather says that it is 21 but I will take the 24. It is 62 inside the house. The little digital sits in the window sill so it reads colder. We can't seem to get the inside any warmer than that. We use little heaters in the bathroom

But Jake loves it. He went out this morning and was gone the longest time and when he came back he was all full of energy! I had to get out my moon-walker slippers from boating days. They are big down-filled booties that are just the warmest footwear in the world.

I hope all of our friends are surviving this cold spell. I worry about you folks in Canada and Michigan and New York. Stay warm! And no, Heather, I don't worry about you guys down in Mexico - we don't even like you very much today!

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

Last year when Devani was visiting from Northern California we visited Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. Since that time I have wanted to get Kirby there to enjoy it. I really wanted to go when it was all green but we never made it. We went yesterday and it was wonderful. Probably not as wonderful as it would have been with all the vegetation green and vibrant but winter is fun too. There were some flowers blooming and the Spanish Moss is always there - draping so beautifully over the branches of the oak trees.

We toured the gardens first and then the swamp. The house was closed for maintenance but we don't have a lot of interest in that anyway. The big heartbreaker was that we could have brought Jake with us - Dogs Allowed on Leash. I didn't do my research properly and he would have loved it so much. I will always check from now on!

The Camellias were still in bloom but almost gone. We caught a few of them. And there was other color here and there. I loved the Ashley River views. I imagined the boats coming up the river to pick up a load of rice - the most important crop for most South Carolina plantations until the civil war.

After the gardens (which we didn't finish - need to go back to do the maze at least!) we went to the swamp - my favorite. Last year when I was there the waters were all solid green algae - so gorgeous! This year there was algae here and there. I think the fact that we are having a warmer winter must have something to do with it. Whatever the reason - I liked it better last year but thoroughly enjoyed this trip also. We saw an alligator sunning himself on an alligator sunramp while surrounded by large turtles. We saw Osprey in their nests with their young and plenty of heron.

Our trip to the plantation was courtesy of the Shumbies who gifted us at Christmas with a pass to most major attractions in the Charleston area. It is a "Be a Tourist in Your Own Town" pass. We will visit all that we can during the month of January. As soon as I can I will get my pictures uploaded to our Picasa website.

Kirby's Garage Ale

Don't ever let Kirby tell you that he is bored at home with his retirement! If he needs a break from his Honey Do's, he just hangs out in the garage and whips up a batch of home brewed ale. It looks like a mess but it really does work and his ale really is fantastic! The garage brewing takes him a whole day - 8 hours of work. Now it is resting in the back bedroom where it will stay for 2 to 3 weeks before he bottles it and then it will wait another 2 to 3 weeks. The end result is worth the wait. And - he tells me that it saves him money. I don't know if I believe him but it really doesn't matter.

I have added some more pictures of Kirby's garage to our Picasa website - and there are a couple of the dogs playing, too!

The Olden Days

Did you ever wonder what Kirby looked like without his beard?? Or what I looked like so young and innocent? Well, here we are! I keep these in a 2 picture frame and pretend that we knew each other when these were taken. That would have been fun but probably we wouldn't even have liked each other very much. We have both changed a lot! But the pictures are fun aren't they!