New Year's Eve

Dick went in to the Visitor Center so that Kathee wouldn't have to be there alone this morning. He wore a lot of his new Christmas things and he looked very sharp. He always looks so good!

Hooray for the Sears repairman! He came in a timely fashion and fixed our dryer - it had a broken ignition thingy. It feels good to be back in the laundry business. Sort of.

Jana and I went shopping around 4:30p.m. First stop was Bass shoes in the Horizon Outlet Mall. When we entered the store, they said "we're closing in 15 minutes". But that was enough time for Jana to buy a pair of shoes and 14,000 socks! Thern we went to Best Buy and she got DVDs and a couple of games.

Our New Year's celebration was at 9 p.m. Appetizers and champagne - and then Dick went to bed. Jana and I watched the extended disk of The Lord of the Rings until about 11:45, and then we switched to live TV to watch the ball drop.

Happy New Year!

Bye Bye Boxes

Dick and I went recycling today. We had so many boxes that even flattened, they took up the whole back of the Explorer. We had other recycling also, so off we went, even though there was an unseasonal downpour going on. After dumping all of that, we went to Staples to get an ink thingy for our printer. Then we were off to Glen's to shop for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day (go blue). It was a totally miserable day, weatherwise.

Dick had scraped the snow off the asphalt apron to our access road, so we didn't have to deal with slush, etc.

After putting away the groceries, and trying to put the ink thingy in the printer, we discovered that we bought the wrong kind. So it was back out in the rain and back to Staples to get the right thing. Sometimes life is very complex.

Jana has renewed her interest in Everquest and she has played quite a bit today - she's so glad to have the vacation time.

Tom, Todd, and Steve are going to the Rose Bowl game together again this year. It will be the same as last year, only without Jana and Tim.

Off To Houghton Lake

Since we weren't able to see Sniders on Sunday, Dick, Jana and I decided this would be a good day to go visit. First we went and had brunch at Rico's since we had to go to Chum's Corners anyway. It was a good day for a drive - the roads were fine. We were only there for about an hour and a half - long enough to exchange presents and learn all the new gossi... um news from Belleville. We had a really good time - got home around 6:30.

Tsunami

We watched in horror the reports of the earthquake/tsunami which occurred Sunday in Asia - Sri Lanka, Sumatra and other parts of Indonesia, and India. Now they are saying that the death toll is 72,000 and may reach 100,000. It is unfathomable. We've seen videos taken by tourists from high rise hotels which show people just being swept away like leaves in the river.

Jana got an email from her friend Chris Stowers (Chris the Brit) in New Delhi on Sunday, before it all happened. These stricken areas are his old stomping grounds. She emailed him about it but hasn't heard back yet. She also called Americorps and made a contribution for relief. We saw appeals from Oxfam and Save the Children - we'll decide in a bit which to donate to - I'm sure the need will be long lasting.

Jana and I went to see Oceans 12 this afternoon - it was only OK. As Dylan would say, it should be rated C for Complicated. The Julia Roberts/Bruce Willis thing was entertaining, but I can't say it's going to be one of my faves overall. Most of the time I couldn't tell who was doing what to whom.

Our dryer is definitely broken, and the repairman is supposed to come Friday. I hope he doesn't decide to celebrate New Year's Eve early and call off his visit. After watching tsunami reports, I'm not going to whine about one broken appliance.

Return of the King & National Treasure

This morning Jana and I watched disk 2 of Return of the King. We made Dick watch 3 scenes: Eowyn's "I am no man"; Legolas defeating the Oliphant; and Aragorn's motivational speech to his troops - "This is not that day."

This afternoon we went to see National Treasure at the Horizon Cinema. I really enjoyed it - it was fun, action-packed, intellectual, and funny all at the same time. Jana liked Riley the wise-cracking sidekick the best. Nicolas Cage did a great job I thought.

The cable company called and said the internet connection was fixed and voila, it really was. So now we're back in business...as far as the computer goes - now I think the dryer is broken. It's always something.

Laurie called to find out how to put coordinates in her GPSr because she forgot how. Luckily Dick got home from the Agency while we were still on the phone, because he's the GPS expert. We found out later that the Sharkie Crew found 2 geocaches in Port St. Lucie with the help of Uncle Tom. Dylan took a pop gun that shoots ping pong balls from the first one and a dollar bill from the other one.

We all went out to dinner at the Mongolian Barbecue - it was super-great as always!

We all worked on getting our new Epson printer hooked up and installed on my NEW LAPTOP. This printer can print letter size pages and also 4x6 pictures. Should be a great addition to our high tech arsenal (hehehe).

Day After Christmas

The Day After
We hade planned to go to Manistee this morning to see Kim, Mike, Adam, Jacob, Eric, Tammy, Bill and Jan. But when Jana got up she had a headache and wasn’t feeling at all well. So we called and cancelled, and Jana went back to bed. Dick and I were kind of at loose ends, but we managed to had a very relaxing morning reading our new books and I enjoyed also playing with MY NEW LAPTOP. We still have no internet connection, but I had fun looking at all of the features, including the World Book.
In the afternoon Jana and I watched Disc 1 of Return of the King - what a marvelous production. After that, Dick and I went to see Mother. We took her some good turkey leftovers. Dick did a little shoveling, and changed the furnace filter. I set up the new jar opener, and it looks nice on the counter top. I really think that after Mother has a chance to get used to it she’ll find it’s very helpful.
We drove around town a bit - it’s a pretty day - sunnier than yesterday.
We all watched a littlle football - Brian Griese was not doing that well.
Jana was still feeling ill. We all went to bed early.
I’m reading Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. It’s a really fascinating book. I’m enjoying it immensely. It’s the kind of book that you don’t want to finish.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day 2004

Santa came! Santa came! AND HE BROUGHT ME A LAPTOP! Oh yes, and he brought Dick a reciprocating saw, but he brought me a LAPTOP!

The most ironic thing is that last Wednesday, our cable modem went out, and although Charter has tried a couple of things to get it up and going again, nothing has worked. And so here I am with a new LAPTOP and no internet connection. The strongest definition of irony available...

So I’m getting acquainted with other features of my LAPTOP including World Book and Apple works. When I came into the living room, the laptop was sitting on the table, and Beaches was playing on the screen. Yes, oh yes, my new laptop has a DVD player too.

I had planned to have the turkey in the oven by 8 a.m., and I had to tear myself away from my NEW LAPTOP to go make the dressing and stuff the bird. The turkey went into the oven at 8:01.

Jim called around 9:30, and they were all finished with Christmas. I spoke with Austen, and she was totally thrilled with her new American Girl doll Nelly, and all of the accoutrements. She was on cloud 9.

Jana got up around 10 a.m., and Dick went to get Mother around 11.

We had a lot of fun opening presents as usual. Mother got “too much” as usual. I was especially happy with my new wallet and the high tech pedometer! But we all got many wonderful things - lots of great DVD sets and CDs. (Which I can play on my new laptop.)

Dick got a great CQ pullover windbreaker that is fantastic looking on him. He got quite a lot of clothes, included a Hammock Creek sweatshirt which he put right on. Everything seems to fit him just right.

Mother got books, and fruit, and powder and pens, and a Great Grandma sweatshirt. Jana gave her an electric jar opener, and I think it’s going to be a good thing for Mother to have.

Jana got lots of DVDs and CDs and books, and a swimsuit, and a bag, and CDs, and a picture to hang - but she seemed to like her Roomba the best!

I had planned for the dinner to be ready at 2 p.m., but the turkey bird was not quite done, so we stuck it back in the oven and had dinner around 2:45.

Laurie, Jana and I all got Nomination bracelets - we had so much fun with those. Mine has NJKS and hearts, and yellow roses, a cup of coffee, a snowman, and a stegosaurus (Steigersaurus). Jana’s has JLS@CQ, hearts, and kitties. Laurie’s has LJSG, a little boy, an airplane, hearts, and double hearts. They are so much fun to put together, and pretty to wear.

Everybody in the family got U of M Rose Bowl 2005 T-shirts. Dylan’s says Water Boy, Hydration Coordinator. Fun.
After dinner we talked to Florida - everybody there was having a great time- Dylan got 3 great new playstation games, and the RoboSapiens, and many board games. He was a happy boy. Tom was busy being a good Uncle, and Laurie and Chip seemed very mellow. I was a little disappointed because I guess the interactive globe thing was not an immediate success, but I’m sure its day will come.

Took Mom home around 3:45, and got her all settled in. Dick and I took a drive around town - 2 lady walkers were out and about, and that was about it.

The rest of the day passed in kind of a blur - we all went to bed early.

I HAVE A LAPTOP!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Jana Comes Today - Christmas Eve Day

Jana Comes Today-Christmas Eve Day

We still have no internet connection. We really rely on it to have a normal day now. It feels weird not to be able to log on.

Time to start Christmas dinner prep - cooked the giblets and made salad this morning. Dick chopped onions and giblets for the stuffing. He also had a lot of snow-blowing to do. Thank goodness that Tom McLenithan is here with his big tractor blower to clear out our access road. Clearing our driveway is a big enough job! McLenithan will be here all winter this year, with the exception of 2 weeks in February. Last year, Dick had to do everything all by himself.

Charter Communication called and said that other people on River Road had no internet etiher, and that they would send a man out and call us back in a couple of hours to see if we had a connection. They never called back, and we don’t have a connection.

We couldn’t track Jana’s flight, so we went to the airport not quite knowing what to expect. There had been weather delays all over the country. We got to the new terminal around 7:30. Her flight had originally been scheduled to arrive at around 7:45 p.m., and she finally arrived at around 9.

And then it was oyster stew time. Oyster stew is our traditional Christmas Eve supper. It’s the only time all year that Dick has a prayer of getting oysters for supper.

Jana spent the rest of the evening opening the boxes she had shipped and wrapping the contents for Christmas morning.

Santa Claus comes tonight.
Happy Christmas Eve.

We Have Bags!

Dick suggested going to the airtport first thing this morning to see if we could get our bags. The American desk was vacant, and other employees said that the American folks were all out working on the departure of a flight and would be right back. We sat and sat and sat and saw nobody. The first employee who walked past didn't know anything about baggage. But the second was a man who actually seemed to have an idea about how to help us. He didn't have the right key or something, so he had to go get a United person to come and open the door for him. And our bags were in there! Whoopee!

We celebrated by going out to breakfast at Sue's J&S, and then we went home and did laundry.

Pixie Dust

After consulting with our private travel agent Laurie in Florida, we determined that we would most likely not get on any Eagle flight to Traverse City today. The morning flight was oversold by one, and the evening flight was full.

Our fallback position is always to go in and out of Grand Rapids if all else fails. In fact at the beginning of the trip, Dick thought we should just drive down to GR and fly out of there in the first place. He called Budget Rent-a-Car from the Hotel and arranged for a car one-way from GR to TC.

Anyway, there were 2 early morning flights to Grand Rapids - we thought we would try for the 9 a.m. flight because the theory was that by then the roads would be better driving home. Totally by chance, when we arrived at O'Hare this morning, we checked the departure monitor, and noticed that the early flight to GR had been delayed and was going to leave in about a half hour. The gate was just around the corner from the monitor, so we said what the heck, we might as well go check it out - if we can get on it it'll be gravy. We went up to the desk at gate H3A and the agent gave us boarding passes! Boarding passes! As Tom once said, getting a boarding pass is Nirvana for stand-by passengers. We can count on one hand the number of times that has happened to us. After a slight gate change to H2, we were actually on our way to Grand Rapids and out of O'Hare. No offense, Illinois.

I called Laurie to tell her that we got boarding passes, and she said, "Oh thank God you did that!" Evidently she had been checking the loads on the 2 flights to GR and on the nine o'clock one that we had planned to take, there were 10 open seats, and a family of 6 who were D1 non-rev passengers had just checked in. So that would have been at least 6 people ahead of us, and who knows how many more. So we really got on the right flight. It's because we're such Savvy Travelers, you know (snort). Laurie has always said that we have pixie dust. We've always said that she is the Voice of Doom.

The drive home was pleasant and quick. The roads were just wet, and traffic was light. We were in TC before 2 p.m. We stopped by the airport to return the rental car and to see about our luggage. The American desk was closed and there was nobody around to ask about our suitcases. So we picked up our mail, and headed home.

We went back up to the airport in the late afternoon, thinking that someone would be at the desk because flights were expected - but our timing must have been off because again there was nobody there. So we thought if we just wasted an hour or so we would try it again. We drove around town looking at Christmas lights, went out to dinner at La Senorita, and then figured it was time for the desk to be open. Back to the airport, but no luck. So we went to Walgreen's, and diddled around for a while longer and went back to the airport. Bottom line is that our bags are still at the airport, and there's no one there to get them for us. We'll do it tomorrow.

It's nice to be home - and now it's all downhill to Christmas. Jana will be here Christmas Eve.

First Class

This is the day that Dylan and I finished the gingerbread house - and what a spectacular gingerbread house it is, too! Dylan especially liked adding the gumdrops, skittles, and sprinkles - and he did a great job. He's going to save it til Wednesday, so Chip and Tom can see it - and then they can eat it up.
We left the house around 10:30, and headed to see Santa at the Palm Beach Gardens Mall. The Santa set-up there was absolutely gorgeous - very festive and decorative. They even had a couple of snow machines to blow "snow" over the shoppers. It was some kind of small bits of foam which melted on contact. Dylan's picture with Santa turned out really well, and he had quite a chat with Santa, but he wouldn't tell us what they talked about.
Then on to West Palm Beach to the airport to catch the flight home. Security isn't as bad as it's been made out to be - we just walked right through every time. You do have to remove your shoes and jackets, but that's certainly no big deal.
We waited for them to call our names after everyone had boarded, and when they did, we got boarding passes for first class! Sometimes I really love stand-by. The flight attendant's name was Katashina and she was from Poland. She was very difficult to understand, but friendly and attentive. A couple with a seventeen month old baby daughter sat across the aisle - she gave her parents a tough time the whole way. They never got a chance to relax. But they did drink a lot of wine! Katashina kept refilling those glasses.
The plan was to land at O'Hare, and get on the American Eagle flight to Traverse City. But it seems that due to windy and cold conditions, the flight was weight restricted. They blocked off 10 seats so they could add more fuel. Sometimes I really hate stand-by. Fortunately, I have a husband who plans ahead, and we had a reservation at the Ramada Plaza Hotel at O'Hare in case we couldn't make it home today.
I was boo-zausted when we got to the Hotel, and once we got to the room I really didn't want to go back out again for dinner. So we called room service and stayed put. The Ramada Plaza has been "completely renovated" and it's very attractive and spacious. The furnishings are all new - it was a nice place to be stranded.

Big Slice vs. Mancino's

Laurie picked up some kind of a bug and was quite ill overnight Friday night.
Everybody else is fine. Dick and I slept well, and Dylan is still 7 this morning! I helped him do another homework page - I think he has 2 more to do before Monday.
When Laurie perked up a little, we went geo-caching while Chip stayed home to watch the Steelers.
Driving to the cache site we were looking for storm damage - and you can see some if you look really hard. Trees have been blown over, and there are piles of branches around. but it's not overwhelmingly noticeable. We could also see roof damage. Most of the house have the red tile roofs, and it's easy to see where tiles are missing, or where tiles have been replaced. Some of the big box stores still have parts of their signs missing. You can see storm evidence if you know where to look.
Dick and Dylan found 2 caches, one by Abacoa. We got home in time to watch the Steelers win, and to order pizza from Big Slice Pizza. It was a taste test between Big Slice and Mancino's. It was really good pizza, but both Dick and I like the Mancino's crust better.
We spent a very quiet rest-of-of-the-day - everybody took a nap except Dylan and Chip.
We watched Dylan play his new Sly Cooper game on PlayStation2.

Happy Birthday Dylan

Chip was originally scheduled to get home from work this morning, but he had an equipment delay in Dallas so he got home a little later than we planned.
Dylan was allowed to stay home from school and play with Grandma and Grandpa which was great.
Dylan and Grandma did some homework, and played a PlayStation game. Dylan and Grandpa played catch in the backyard, and then went tromping around in the Preserve searching for who knows what.
Laurie, on the other hand, went in to school to help Mrs. Pittman with the holiday centers from 11:30 to 1:30. When she got home, we went over to the Treasure Coast Mall to see "Lemony Snickett, a Series of Unfortunate Events". It was a very enjoyable movie, and the theater wasn't very crowded. All in all it was a very nice experience.
After the movie we went to Duffy's, where Chip met us for dinner. I had a great Asian Chicken salad with sesame dressing. Yum.
Back at home we opened birthday presents and had cake and ice cream. What a nice birthday for Dylan Patrick Gillespie, age 7.

Fly Away to Palm City

The first sign of a good travel day was that while we couldn't sit together on American Eagle, at least we each sat on the side with one seat, so we didn't have to sit with anyone. When the Eagle landed at O'Hare, we only had 45 minutes to make it to the next flight to Palm Beach. The second sign of a good travel day was that we made it with time to spare, which is no small feat! I had been worried about walking through the airport, but I needn't have worried. I think I stopped for 2 short rests in all. The best thing of all was that we sat in row 31, three seats in a row, and no one came to sit in the other seat, so we had the whole row to ourselves.
We got to Laurie's house around 2 p.m. and Laurie went to pick up Dylan. We were his big birthday surprise! And he was really surprised to see us. He had a golf lesson at 3:30, so we all went over to the Hammock Creek Golf Club and watched him swing at the ball for an hour. At the end of the lesson, they had a little contest, and Dylan won $3.00!
We went out to dinner at Flannigan's. Good burger - very friendly service - Laurie ran into Dana, who remembered us from the flight down here last spring. Dana was our flight attendant. It was fun talking to her and her daughter, Morgan. Dylan and I worked on his homework - it was work left over from staying home sick earlier in the week.
Driving back home at night was so beautiful! The Hammock Creek neighborhood is very highly decorated for Christmas! I don't think I've ever seen so many beautiful houses so nicely decorated
December 16th was my Dad's birthday, and tomorrow is Dylan's birthday. I remember before he was born, Laurie said that if he was born on Dad's birthday, she would name him Dylan Thurman Gillespie in honor of Tharel Thurman Kanitz. I think Dylan lucked out!

Tying up Loose Ends

Today we finalized getting ready to go to Florida. You know, stopping the mail, stopping the newspaper, etc.
We mailed our financial changes to Vanguard after stopping at the bank for signature confirmation.
We got books for Mother, and picked up some stamps for her. She seems in good spirits. Jim and Emilie are on call in Saginaw in case anything should happen.
Packing and unpacking are always the worst parts of a trip. Today was packing. I have lists of my lists.
Yesterday we bought all the items for our Christmas dinner so we don't have to rush around when we get back from Florida.

Jim's Visit

We went in to see Jim around 3 p.m. He brought lots of goodies from Saginaw for Mother, and two beautiful packages for us. We had a nice time visiting and hearing all the latest news from the Kanitz side of the family. He did lots of things for Mother - cleaned out the coffee pot, cleaned the top of the refrigerator, etc. etc. It's always great to have Jim stay at Mom's for a while!

NMG Christmas Bash

The Northern Michigan Geocaching Christmas Bash was today in Gaylord at B.C.'s Pizza. There were around 30 people there in spite of horrible traveling conditions. On the way over on M-72, Dick and I actually turned around at one point and headed back home. But the sky cleared a little, and the snow lightened, and so we turned around again and headed for Gaylord.

On the big hill just west of Kalkaska there was a terrible accident. We saw two vehicles which had been heavily damaged, more vehicles off on the side of the road, people running around the damaged cars. There was one police car there when we went past. As we went on toward Kalkaska, we saw 3 more police cars, 2 ambulances, and 2 fire department trucks heading for the accident. It was a little unnerving, but Dick remained unswerving. (Pun intended.)

The Bash was really a good time. It was fun to talk to other geo-cachers, and to meet old friends and lots of new ones. The pizza was great, and there was a nice salad bar. Everyone got gifts, exchanged signature items, took pictures, bought raffle tickets, and we all got souvenir mugs etched with the date of the party and the geo-caching logo. It reminded me of the type of favor you might get at a fraternity party.

The ride home was uneventful, though treacherous at times. We passed through rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain and I don't know what all. It took us about an hour and a half to get home, so the roads were better - because this morning it took us 2 and a half hours to get to Gaylord, counting turn around time.

Jim has arrived safely at Mother's from Saginaw, and we'll see him tomorrow.

This is Dick's version of our day:

We enjoyed much of the day, all except the driving. The National Weather Service in Grayling broadcast a Winter Storm Warning for the northwest lower peninsula ending with the following statement, "A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS." We waited until 10 AM to leave the house figuring that that would give the plows and traffic a chance to clear the roads. It took us an hour to travel 25 miles. We were in the blizzard that I said would foil our trip. When we saw that we were last in a line of 15 cars slipping and sliding along at 20 MPH we decided the GeoGods did not want us to attend event caches. We missed the last one because to damage to our cache mobile. Deciding we didn't want to mess up our new Forester, we turned back. As we headed for home with our tails between our legs, in less than 5 miles, the snow turned to rain and the roads were just wet and slushy and a plow was heading east. We discussed the situation and Geocaching won out over good sense. Turning around once more we pushed on past wrecks, 4 police cars, 2 ambulances, a rescue vehicle and a fire truck. It took us just under 3 hours to get to Gaylord and we both agree it was worth it. The food was good, the presents are neat and the mugs are fabulous. The companionship was the best of all. It was fun meeting folks from across the state and we are looking forward to seeing them and more at the Convergence in January. The drive home was a piece of cake. We saw nothing unusual. Of course one of us (the driver) had their eyes squeezed shut and the other was focused on the center of the lane we were in. Since the road was a two track in each direction, it was just like driving through the woods at 55. Once home, Nancy pried my hands from the wheel, led me into the house, put a drink in my hand and pointed me toward the computer. Thanks eb-ii and all the rest for a great day.

Outside Lights

Dick put up the outside lights today - it looks really nice. Christmas is such a pretty time of the year. The day was dark and gloomy but the lights make a big difference.

I made bean soup, sorted out pills, and put together the new ornament keeper.

We went to visit Mother - balanced the checkbook and answered some questions she had about Social Security, etc. She seems worried about everything when really it's hard for me to see what she has to worry about. But I tried to validate her feelings, and I think she felt better when we left. Jim is coming tomorrow to stay for a couple of days - his Christmas visit is always enjoyable.

Came home to nice, hot bean soup with lots of ham.

Up Goes the Tree

This morning we set up our first ever faux tree (pre-lighted). It went up fairly easily, it looks fine, and I'm sure it will be less of a mess than a real tree.

Then we went to Meijer to get ornament hooks, shelving, a can of soup, and a couple of other things. We ended up spending a pocketful of cash for all kinds of items, including three absolutely precious toys for Toys for Tots. I also found a great plastic box for storing ornaments. It was really a fun expedition.

Back home to decorate the tree. It took about 2 hours in all to get it just right. I also sorted out a lot of old, old things and threw them out. The boxes that some of those things were packed in were 30 years old. The tree looks good.

Shipping to Florida

Dick worked at the Agency this morning. Nothing too spectacular happened.

At home it was time to finish wrapping gifts for Florida, and time to begin writing Christmas cards.
I only got up to "K" in the Christmas cards.

I did get all of the Florida things finished, and when Dick got home he taped the boxes and we got them ready to mail. We also had to turn in some loan papers at Wares Brothers for the new car. So Dick loaded in all of the boxes, and off we went to town. Turning in the papers was easy. Standing in line at the Post Office was not quite so easy, but even though the line was very long, it did seem to move quickly, and everyone was in good spirits. We got everything shipped off to Florida, and I bought Christmas stamps, and now I feel like everything is downhill from here on until Christmas.

I think we'll work on putting up our new fake Christmas tree next weekend. I'm looking forward to it. It's all pre-lighted and everything. Another first.

We are planning a trip to Florida weekend after next - just a short visit - Thursday to Sunday maybe. Jana will be coming home Christmas Eve and staying until New Year's. I'm looking forward to a very mellow holiday.

I'm starting week 7 of my exercise program, and although it's moving along very slowly, I am making progress. Not great progress - just Nancy-type progress. Thank you Eric.

Here's Sharon!

As soon as I was up and dressed, I went to Glen's and did grocery shopping for the next few days. Dick was outside stacking firewood. When I got home, I put everything away and began preparing veggies for beef stew in the crockpot. I was almost finished when Dick came in the back door and said Look who I found!

And it was Sharon! We were really excited to see her. This was their annual cookie baking weekend - Barb, Sharon, Melissa and Shelly all got together and baked all day Saturday. Sharon said her car was loaded with cookies! We had about a 3 hour visit, and it was great to catch up on all the news from Lansing. I'm so glad she stopped in.

We went in to return the rental car and to have a visit with Mother and take out her trash. Mother seems very well, and very alert these days. We had a good visit. She's reading a good book and likes to talk about it. I think she's amazing.

Cookies!

Every Christmas the Trinity Lutheran Church has this terrific cookie sale. Usually we hit all of the cookies sales in town and really stock up for the holidays. But this year we're trying to cut back on the calories a little bit, so we only went to the Trinity sale, and only bought cookies for Mother. Well...Dick did pick out some yummies, and I got a sample of cookies baked with Splenda, but basically we went to get cookies for Mother. It was a dreary, dismal, rainy, cold day outside, but inside it was very bright and festive and full of beautiful cookies.

We delivered the cookies to Mother, and I think she was really thrilled to get them. I said now you will have something to offer visitors - and Mother said she would probably eat them all herself!

We went Christmas shopping in downtown TC - it was a little rainy and windy, but we had really good luck. We went to the Cherry Stop, a couple of T shirt stores, DeYoung's and Horizon Books. Traverse City really has a nice downtown these days. I haven't shopped at the mall yet this year - I've really done most of my shopping on the internet.

We have a new car

In the morning Dick worked at the Visitor Center - there were less than a dozen visitors! But luckily he took along a good book, and he also helped Kathee put up her winter display.

I was at home wrapping presents and anxiously waiting for Dick to get home so we could go pick up our new car!

The Credit Union cooperated fully, as usual. They have changed their name from Wayne Out County Teachers Credit Union to Michigan Education Credit Union. So it's not WOCTCU anymore - it's MECU. I'd say that's an improvement. We picked up the 2002 Subaru at Wares Brothers, and our salesman Jeff put on the plates from Dad's car and sent us on our way. Actually, Dick took the Subaru home, and I went to do some errands.

Thirlby Clinic has finally received some flu vaccine, and Dr. Burke had me on his magic list, so I went right over to the clinic and got my flu shot. Dick can't get one there because he is not a patient of the clinic. We'll have to keep checking with the Health Department. Dr. Burke will be spending Christmas in New York with his parents. He and his family are driving to Detroit and then flying to New York. That sounds like quite a production. He's really looking forward to it.

The next business was to take Mother's SS check to the bank. She seems fine.

Mary Barker called and wanted to go out to lunch, but there was really too much other stuff going on. The Barkers are leaving for the winter next week. Not sure yet what McLenithans are doing this year.

Holiday Party

Hooray Hooray! It's the Visitor Center Christmas Party for Volunteers Day! We always look forward to this splendid holiday event. It was at Reflections at the Waterfront, with a spectacular view of East Bay. The food was excellent as always - all kinds of hors d'oeuvres , live entertainment, great ambience, and good company. I mostly enjoyed the meatballs and the veggies - Dick mostly enjoyed the shrimp. We sat with Chuck and Carol - always good conversation there - I enjoyed everything very much. Dick got a chance to speak to the Deans, and we all got a hug from Kathee.