Relatively Speaking!

As promised I did go to coffee on Monday with the girls. They were finalizing plans for the class reunion picnic being held at Susie and Bob Miller's on Saturday. Susie invited me to park at their place and eventually did later on in the week. Sandy and Alegra are sitting, and Inez and Susie are standing. She has a Steelers shirt on, and was carrying a Steelers purse. Quite a fan: she has a bedroom devoted to memorabilia.

Whenever I visit, my niece Jaymie wants me to make enchiladas, so I used the last of my green chili and made two pans, one with red sauce and one with green. Jaymie made margaritas, and Celeste made Mexican wedding cookies for dessert. That girl really knows how to make use of her beautiful kitchen. Lily and Diane made salsa with fresh tomatoes from Diane's garden. The twins Dannie and Kaylie had Popsicles for an appetizer.

As promised, I tried to get pictures of everyone; however, I failed. For some reason, I didn't get a picture of the twins big sister Annabelle who is in second grade. Johnny's girlfriend Kerri had to work, and a picture of him playing Bejeweled just wasn't appropriate. This is Mark and Celeste.

Jaymie and David, my iphone guru.

Jess and Dan: proud parents of the twins and Annabelle.

Lily, Jaymie's daughter, and I went over to Buhl Park one day to take pictures. The park is a popular place for locals, actually it always has been, and is very well-maintained. This is a statue of the Buhls who had considerable influence on the city of Sharon and Shenango Valley. The Bulh mansion is still standing on State St. along with the building that was the library when I was a kid. There was also a Buhl Club for kids, kind of like the Boys and Girls Club today.

There was a butterfly in the impatiens that was begging to have his picture taken, so I couldn't help myself.

I took a lot of pictures at the park for one of my scrapbooking pages, but this is one of my assistant photographer with the lake behind her.

On Saturday the 20th, Diane and I attended the Gebrowski reunion in Export. We met our cousin Bill at Chapel Hill, the Dicken compound in Apollo. Michelle Bernat, the Dicken's personal assistant, secretary, and friend of the family met us there, because I wanted a picture of her and neglected to get one on Tuesday when we went to lunch. We also met cousin Nick's daughter and new granddaughter. The picture is taken in cousin Bernie's house. Since he past away in February, it's on the market. Diane had  never seen it, so we gave her a tour. Saturday would have been Bernie's 83rd birthday. How ironic to be there on that day! He was such a great guy.

When we got to Vince and Terri Gebrowski Marts farm, we were greeted warmly. It was such a great time, lots of food and drink, and games for those of all ages. The water balloon toss was a great hit. Vince took Diane and me on a tour of the farm and farm house, which they gutted and completely rebuilt. It's chock full of family antiques. We all took tons of pictures of each other with the promise to share them. Earlier in the year, I had contacted a cousin named Jim Taylor in Florida through Ancestory.com. He just happened to be in town for a class reunion and stopped by. We promised to keep in touch since we are the only actively pursuing the family tree.

Our time a Susie and Bob Miller's was great. The boys and I felt really welcome. We enjoyed meeting their boys who run the plumbing business since Bob is retired? I'm not so sure about that. However we were parked right in front of the office, and got to see the day to day stuff when we there and not out doing other stuff. When I got back on Saturday night, the reunion was just breaking up, and I got a chance to visit with a few people. Alegra and Susie took some pics. I hope they share. The front porch on their beautiful home is a reflection of Bob's profession: note the toilets and sink.

Don't all Steeler fans have trees that look like this??

Almost as much as she loves the Steelers, Susie loves her Vette.

I talked the genial couple into letting me take their picture before they helped me hook up my car on Sunday morning.

 Right now I'm at Conneaut, OH, with my son Mike and his girlfriend Toni. The weather is great, and I'm parked in the neighbor's yard close enough to Mike and Toni to have water, electric, and cable TV. What more could you ask for? Toni and I have been touring roadside markets for bargains and taking pictures of the lake and such. There's a walleye and wine festival that we might go to this afternoon.

Missing in Action

Well, I never intended to go this long without a post, but being around family is busy as one might expect. My sister's house is like a small hotel with kids and grandkids coming and going. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the older ones. I'll rectify that this next week.

Last weekend, John's brother Fred and his wife Jeanette came to help a demolition guy tear down an old house that was on some investment property that they recently bought. It's just up the road from Diane and John. Watching the action provided a great opportunity for pictures.

Here's nephew Danny doing some "hands on".

Uncle Fred seriously considering the trash in his hands.

The proud owners: Fred and wife Jeanette.

This is a cemetery adjacent to their property. Fred & Jeanette's would make a good place for a Halloween party.

That same day Diane and I went to the Smith-Freeman reunion at Buhl Farm Park. I'm going to have to get some pictures of the park. It's a half block from where I lived and it's beautiful and very well used by the locals. This is a picture of the Hofius'. Their family took over the Chevy car dealership from Charlie Freeman and Bill Snyder.

This is a picture of Ted Atkinson and Mary Alice Smith, probably the only other people that I really knew there.

Later in the afternoon, we relaxed around the pool. I did. Grandma had her hands full with Kaylie and Danny.

Marshall and Tux didn't want to miss anything.

On Monday I had coffee with three girlfriends from high school, but didn't get any pics. They meet every Monday, so I'm going back again this coming Monday. On Tuesday, I had lunch with my friend Sandy at the Avalon (the same posh place where we had our 50th three years ago) at Buhl Park. Again, I neglected the picture-taking routine, so be doubly sure that I will be having coffee on Monday with the girls.

Thursday of this week, we visited Mark and Celeste's new house in Farmdale, OH. Her mother Sharon was visiting from eastern PA. This is Mark's den which Celeste refers to as "the man cave."

Celeste has a beautiful kitchen that any homemaking would die for. This is a picture of some peach-pecan muffins she made, and one of her and her mom.

After we left here, we had lunch with our Schultz cousins at the Stone Arch in Greenville. When we get together we laugh so much it makes my stomach hurt. We took turns taking pics of each other. This is Diane and Leah.

And this is Carol and I.

On Thursday of this week, I got my new iphone. I had to have Jayme's boyfriend David come over and show me how to work it. I'm using training wheels right now, because there's quite a learning curve. Bottom line: I love it!

Yesterday was my granddaughter Skyler's 19th birthday. Where does the time go? Happy birthday sweetheart!

Charleston

Here I am stuck in the rain here in Charleston. The weather should clear and I'll be out of here tomorrow. I've had to take Tux to the vet during our visit here, because he chewed the fur off his tail. The doctor gave him a shot to relieve the itching and I've doubled up on his benedryl. Both dogs were tested for heart worm due to the threat here in the South, and I'm now dosing them once a month as a precaution. The vet gave me the name of a good restaurant that's just around the corner from the rv park. Gilligan's has hush puppies to die for! Also told me how to get to the plantations and where Walmart is. Very necessary info.

On Thursday I went to Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. This involved a lot of walking in the heat and fighting off persistant bugs.

I couldn't resist the butterfly and the geico. He was about to change colors, so I had to act fast.

On Friday, I went to Fort Sumter by boat and took pictures of the USS Yorktown. The suspension bridge out to Mt. Pleasant is the longest in the world. It's  new, so I guess they're proud. It's beautiful to look at and the cables, if that's what you call them, are hugh.

These are the flags out at Fort Sumter. The one with the blue background is the South Carolina state flag. I really liked the design and got some t-shirts with it on them.

On Sunday, I took a carriage ride through historic Charleston. The houses were beautiful. I didn't get a picture of the house where Notebook was filmed. I thought I'd come back after I ate lunch, but couldn't find it. These people had probably just gotten out of church. People in the South believe in dressing even when the temperature is sweltering.

The Episcopal priest and his wife almost looked like movie actors to me.

This is where I had shrimp and grits for lunch. When I went back to the parking lot to get my car, I realized I only had $2 and they only took cash. After walking four blocks to a grocery store and realizing I didn't have a pin number to get cash back, and calling the credit card company to find out what I should do: they told me. Don't be so stupid woman! I went back to Bubba's and bought an iced tea to go and they gave me back the tip in cash so I could get my car. Way too much adventure! We'll see what kind of trouble I can get into in Williamsburg.



Savannah

When I checked in at the Savannah Oaks Resort, they gave me a lot of brochures for sightseeing. I signed up for the trolley tour for the next day. This is my site under the nice shady tree.

I didn't get to take a lot of pictures on the trolley, because it was so hot, the trees were in the way, and I was getting motion sick. Yuck! This is a marker for Juliet Low's house, the founder of the Girl Scouts.

The tour people recommended that you ride the whole circuit just to see where you want to stop. There were 15 stops and I made it to 12 which was the river front. I ate lunch at the Shrimp Factory. Excellent! Then I walked around to all the vendors and got a picture of a really interesting war memorial "A World Apart."

River Boat

For the next two days it rained, and I thought we were going to float away. Did a lot of reading during that time. The Savannah-Ogeechee Canal was adjacent to the rv park, so one afternoon, I took a self-guided tour down a scary path for a half mile. The scenery was beautiful. So  naturally I took pictures.

On Sunday my newest best friends Donna and Joe Delaney from Illinois moved out to Tybee Island and the River's End RV Park where they planned to stay for a week. They invited me for hamburgers, so after I toured the island I bought some wine and headed to their spot. The island is very touristy and fun. This is a picture of a surfer, but he had to be frustrated, because there wasn't much wave action.

Well, I don't know what I was thinking, but I didn't get a picture of Donna and Joe and there really cool banner. We have a date to meet in AZ in January.