Mellow Today...
I know it's been a long time since I've written in this blog, but I vow to do better. There has been a lot going on these past two months or so, but then again there are days when I wonder about posting because nothing "significant" is happening. Oh well...this is for me anyway, so what do I care?
Like the rest of America, I am deeply saddened by the events which occurred yesterday in Newtown, CT. I cannot imagine how the parents of those twenty children must feel, or the families of those six teachers and staff members, or even the brother and father of the disturbed young man. Another American tragedy. How many more?
Something told the wild geese
It was time to go
Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered 'snow'
I guess I'll work backwards in time to try to catch up on the events in my life since the last blog entry. I am currently listening to Gordon Lightfoot (Gord's Gold), which is one of my all-time favorite albums, especially in the fall and winter, or when I'm in the mountains. I am still in my pajamas and slippers and it's almost four o'clock in the afternoon. I have not aspired to "accomplish" anything today (save doing a couple of loads of laundry and running the dishwasher). My only goal for the day is to read some more in my Margaret Maron novel (she's good if you haven't read her and like mysteries, especially the Deborah Knott character series), but I keep getting distracted by Pandora, CNN and even the newest Blue Ridge magazine. Have I mentioned lately how much I have LOVED these past six months of retirement?
Carol and I got the house decorated for Christmas on December 1st, I think, which is without a doubt the all time record for me to get decorations up. Since I didn't have to struggle with balancing time among two jobs, grading papers, final exams, AND Christmas shopping. I have never been a major fan of Christmas because of the stress, but this year I'm really enjoying the festive decorations. We even put lights on our outside mini Christmas tree. The funniest part is that Carol (always inventive) used inverted tomato cages to make trees, and they look great! Here are a couple of pictures of our living room. We have more decorations in the den but I didn't make 
any pictures of those for some reason.
We've tried to get into the spirit of the season by attending some of the local Christmas events here in the Waynesville area. One of them was a Christmas madrigal dinner at the nearby college, Western Carolina State University. It was a nice event, and we enjoyed meeting some of the music professors. Carol in particular felt right at home, and it made her miss the LSU SOM productions. Western does a good job with their music program, even on a much much smaller scale than LSU. We also attended their annual music program, which featured their voice students, their bands (what is the right term if they don't have strings?), their jazz band (which the BRHS jazz band puts to shame!!), some of their faculty brass and voice professors, and a local children's choir. It was much less high-brow than the LSU annual concert (more accessible to non-music majors such as myself), but definitely enjoyable. We hope to make this an annual event. Last Saturday we attended a Christmas concert at Lake Junaluska (did I spell it right?), which is the big Methodist assembly here. We met our neighbors Mike and Sue there and enjoyed the production, again featuring a quality children's choir as well as the Lake Junaluska singers, who are college students hired to sing at their church services in the summer and for special concerts. A very, very talented group of young people. We will probably make this an annual event too. So...Donna has been in the Christmas spirit more than I can remember in years and years. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!!
On November 30, I closed on my house in Baton Rouge, so I am not to only half a mortgage payment. Yay!!! I am glad to have that behind me. Here's a picture of me celebrating with a great bottle of champagne (from Sujata, a wonderful former student and current friend who had given it to me for my retirement). Thanks, Suj!!
Ok...Thanksgiving was wonderful this year!! I had my brother Sam and his wife Dot who live in Natchitoches and their family, which includes my nephew Greg, his lovely wife Ashley and their great daughters, Olivia and Jane Ashley. Also my niece Laurie and her husband John, and their two sons, Jack and Sam came over from Nashville. Last but not least was my niece Katie, who "belongs" to my brother Glenn in Austin but who is currently a student at SCAD in Savannah. Carol had spent a lot of time preparing some food in advance, and we all pitched in to help prepare the meals. I think (hope) everyone had plenty of time for sleeping, reading, relaxing, and (most importantly) visiting. I was recovering from a cold and Carol subsequently caught it, but as the saying goes, "a good time was had by all."
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| Jack, Laurie, John and Sam |
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| Katie |
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| Greg |
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| Sam |
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| Jane Ashley, Ashley, Greg and Olivia |
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| Jane Ashley and Carol |
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| Sam and Dot with the girls |
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| Carol and I with the girls |
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| Katie taking her turn on the trumpet |
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| the whole bunch of us!! |
Someday I'm going to learn how to correctly position these pictures, or to do a slideshow, but for now I'm tired of trying. Sorry, follks!!
The first week in November found us in Baton Rouge, attending the LSU-Alabama game with Tiger Band. That was fun, as was visiting with KOGS and other friends, seeing the NEW BRMHS for the first time, and visiting with Greg's family. Our thanks to Jo Paula and Bob for their wonderful hospitality. They better be careful dropping phrases such as, "You're always welcome!" The day after we came home, my dear friend Ann St. Clair, whom I've been friends with since 7th grade, came to visit for a few days. We thoroughly enjoyed mostly just visiting, playing mahjongg, and enjoying food and adult beverages. Next time you come, Annie, maybe Kirk can make it. Annie was generous and gave us a housewarming gift of a stone sign with our address on it, which we can't wait to get installed as soon as it's ready. Pictures will follow.
For my birthday this year we went to Cataloochie, which has to be one of my favorite places up here. We camped in the campground and it was glorious. There are no hook ups, so we had to learn to dry camp, which means essentially saving our battery power. We had a propane heater, lots of water (plus bathrooms in the campground helped), and pretty mild temperatures for October 22-24. We enjoyed it so much that we hope to make it an annual birthday gift to me.
We have had an unusually warm December (and November for that matter) with temps frequently in the upper 50s during the day and with only a few hard freezes. We've worked outside a good bit (Carol more than me) picking up the downed trees from when we had some of the thicket cut, clearing out brush, burning and burning and clearing some more. We hope to continue this property beautification project into the winter and early spring with planting flowers and shrubs on the steepest part of the slope and also adding some pink dogwoods along the drive. Always something...but it's great fun!! I've also tried my hand at winterizing Dora (my travel trailer) and I sure hope it works since I don't want frozen pipes!! I'm about ready for some snow, but it doesn't look like there is any coming anytime soon!! These are picture of the house from a couple of years ago though. Doesn't that look like a wonderland??
I guess that about wraps it up. I'm tired from fooling (unsuccessfully) with these photos, but I wanted to include them.
I hope you guys who waded through all of this entry enjoyed at least some of it. Such are The Further Adventures of Donna Parker...for now.
