EARLY CHRISTMAS AT OUR HOUSE

Eric and Becky bought a green shirt for George and he was so surprised, because the one he had, he just ripped at the pocket and even took my sewing machine to a repair shop so I could fix it. Not now George, you have a replacement.
Bill is also opening a gift from Eric and Becky. It is something a doctor uses for bad backs. Eric would have to explain it but Bill was pleased with it. They have doctors in the truck stops who use them to help the drivers. Bill is always putting his back out.
Becky is just starting to open. I think this one is a pair of jeans, can't remember.
this box is full of food items for Eric to take with him on his truck. I wrapped every item so he had to do a lot of unwrapping. He loved all of it though.
This is Sadie. She is really getting big, but she is a very good puppy. Very gentle.
Eric and Becky's dog not mine.

AN EARLY GIFT FOR ZOE

Aunt Kristy played Santa for me in Arizona. I asked her to get cowgirl boots for Zoe for Christmas. Zoe is spending the week with her. I said if they did anything she would need the boots to give them to her early.
I think she likes them. They look a lot like Haali's
I think I got the pictures out of order. Oh well
Mitchell helped her try them on, and I missed that picture. I can't win here. Any way, she looks great and I think Aunt Kristy did a very good job. Thank you.

HAPPY SINTERKLAUS DAY

My farm on Farmville has taken on the look of Christmas. I have many Dutch neighbors on my farm. Happy Sint Day to all of you.
December 5th is the day Sinterklaus gives gifts to the "children" (Okay Heidi, I know you are only 6). His helper is Piet and there are many of them running around Holland right now. Sint comes from Spain in a boat then gets on his white house to ride through Holland. Hope you were all good this year.
We were out shopping and along came a Piet band. Heidi got two Piets to stop to take a picture with me. They have little cookies in the bags and hand them out to the children wherever they go. They all look like they are having fun.

More of Holland

Heidi and me heading to downtown Amersfoort. This was last week, since then, we went to Germany.

This is an old walled city. Notice the cobblestones.

This building is made of containers from ships. They are apartments now. Want to find your bicycle. This is nothing, you should see them at the train station.


This is a closer view of the container apartments.

SINTERKLAUS AND PIET ARRIVED IN HOLLAND TODAY

Today, we went in to the city center and shopped for awhile and had lunch. These buildings became famous in an Anton Pieck painting.
I bought a little Sint gift for Heidi and she was checking it out on the down escalator. We had lunch in this store.
As we were getting ready to leave the city, we heard that Sint was coming. No, not by train, but by boat on the canal.
Piet comes on a few boats leading the one with Sint on it. Sint comes from Spain
and rides his white horse when he leaves the boat.
It is said if the children are bad, they will get the roe (like an old style broom) and put into a sack and taken to spain if you are really bad.
This Piet was hanging from the rigging on the way in. The Piets all run around give the children little ginger cookies called Peppernoten.

OFF TO VISIT HEIDI AND JOS

On Friday, I will be traveling to Holland via Washington DC on United Airlines. I hope the flight is as good as it sounds. My travel time is not bad at all. I arrive very early Sat. morning which will be right after midnight for me.
It says welcome in front of the new front door they added to their new house. You can visit Heidi's blog to see all the trials they have gone through. She posted on her Cranberry Cronicle.
You can click on it from my friends list.
This is the front of the house. They have a beautiful backyard area and Heidi has
a wall of windows and a door leading out to it from her quilt studio. The light will be great to work with.
Here is my little Grandkitty who is missing his (my) bed to relax on. It has already been moved to the other house. At least he still has Heidi and Jos's bed
to sleep on while they are off working, and boy have they ever been working. I look
forward to seeing the new home. My suitcase, and yes only one plus a carry on is zipped and ready. See you soon Heidi, Jos and Dagi.

WAITING PATIENTLY

Yep, Zoe is waiting, and that is Haali back there getting her horse ready to ride. Haali volunteers are the stable on post, and got permission for Zoe to ride the trail without her parent along.
Ready to go Haali and thank you. Zoe reallllllllllllly loves Haali and Mitchell.
Haali leads the way, and off we go.
On another trail ride, the Hale family is going out. Needless to say, Kristy is taking the pictures so can't see her. Your new boots look nice Haali. Bet you had fun with the Haunted Trail Ride yesterday too. Hope you took pictures.

FALL IN OHIO AND MORE

Zoe just got to spend the week at her Aunt Kristy's house. The pumpkins behind her are the ones they bought for each of the kids to carve. It looked like they had fun.
Ohio is putting on her beautiful show of color right now. I didn't take this one though. I love looking at the trees right now.
The Amish work their farms with horses, not tractors. This is the way they put the corn in the fields as they harvest it.
They have all different types of wagons they use in the farm chores. Sometimes they have four to six horses on one wagon. They are great to see. I love their quiet way of life. They work very hard and earn much respect.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM MY FARM

In Farmville, we just got to build a Haunted House. We are going to receive a basket or Pumpkin, to save candy in. The candy then lets us buy things. We get
Gnomes for different occasions on the farm, so I have them coming to the house for treats, or maybe not, whooooooooooooo knows.

A WONDERFUL TRIP

Bill, Eric, Becky and I went to Arizona to visit my Grandchildren at Ft. Huachuca Army Post. We had a great week and Kristy, who is a photographer, took our family pictures with a mountain background. Four generations.
This is the OK Corral in Tombstone. I love that town. They still have the wooden sidewalks. I never get tired of it.
This is one of the tombstones in the Boothill Cemetary. There is a ton of history here and also at the Army Museum on Post.
More of Tombstone. You can get rides on the stage. They don't let cars on this road now, so this must have been taken awhile ago. We ate lunch at Big Nose Kates. Eric used to go there with Fawn, so it was memory time for him.
Thanks to Kristy and Mitch for a fun week. That is what memories are made of.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOS

I am a couple days early with these birthday wishes, but since Heidi and Jos go to the cottage on weekends, I wanted to wish him an early Happy Birthday. He never
wants his picture on the computer, and since he won't play (or let Heidi play) Farmville with us, he just has to show off the real cows he found.
Have a wonderful birthday on Saturday. If you played Farmville, you could have several cow barns and store many cows. "Won't you be our neighbor"?

MEET MY SQUAW

Okay, here she is, complete. Now, I have to decide just what I want to do with it.
In the book, she is on the top of a basket. I think I am going to see if I can find a round frame. I am excited she is finished.

SEWING, READING AND STITCHING

My Indian Squaw is coming along now. I am doing the border around her. If I spent more time stitching it would be finished.
This is one reason I am not stitching, I am addicted to reading. This is the latest book I bought, but I just finished two others and I am half way through one now.
I am also now back to sewing. I have this project to do, then I will be finished. This is a shirt forrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.............
Yep, Zoe. Her birthday was this month, and I sent a card telling her we would have an Ohio birthday party for her when we get there. Her Uncle Bill, Uncle Eric,
Aunt Becky and I will be flying to Arizona the beginning of September. She turned eight and I can't wait to hug her. I finished one skirt and a pair of capri pants.
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FUN IN KENTUCKY

The highlight of my visit to Kentucky, was a trip to the Rosemary Clooney house in
Maysville. I called Eric while I was inside and said "Guess where I am"? When I told him, he said "hey, without me?"
I bought him a top hits CD. My son loves the old artist that he grew up listening to.
My kids all knew the words and music to the old songs, and still do. They usually know who they are listening to without the announcer telling them.
These dresses were in the museum. You could buy this DVD, but it was $20. I think I could buy it anyplace cheaper. I could have the CD too, but it helps the upkeep on the house.
The Stephen Foster show was very good, but I have never been so hot and sweaty.
It was almost 100 degrees and it started at 8:30PM. The costumes were very pretty.
The Days Inn we stayed at left much to be desired, and I wrote to them to tell them. The pool was green, and the hot tub was empty and all black. I know Days
Inn is not the top of the line, but the standards are better than this one in Bardstown. At least, the rooms were clean. The owner lived in the unit next to ours and they had a full size stove in the room. They left the door open a lot and you could see right into the not very clean room. Not exactly what you would expect in the center of a Motel unit. Our friends booked it right through the Motel, so you
could not cancel without paying $25 per room. This also is not the Days Inn policy. Hope they check it out now.

GOING TO KENTUCKY

We are going for a three day trip to Kentucky to see a production of Stephen Foster Music. It is performed outside if the weather permits. It should be a fun
time with our friends and George's brother is going also.

Stephen Collins Foster Natives of Kentucky as well as visitors to the Bluegrass State share a common twinge of pride when they hear those first notes signaling the playing of "My Old Kentucky Home." Stephen Collins Foster wrote the song that has become Kentucky's anthem more than 100 years ago, capturing the spirit of hospitality that is the trademark of the South. Born July 4, 1826 in Pittsburgh, Foster wrote more than 200 songs, from spirited minstrel show numbers to beautiful ballads. The ninth child of William Barcley and Eliza Tomlinson Foster, he began writing songs at an early age. He attended Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pa., briefly, but left because of home sickness. Because the career of a songwriter was not all together acceptable in Foster's day, his parents encouraged him to enter business. Foster worked as a bookkeeper for his brother, Dunning, in Cincinnati for a time, and possibly gained inspiration at the Cincinnati waterfront. "Oh Susanna," which became the theme song of the Forty-Niners bound for the California gold fields, was published in 1848. Foster returned to Pittsburgh in 1850, and embarked on a prolific, but stormy, career as a songwriter. A cousin of the Rowan family of Bardstown, it is said that Foster was inspired to write "My Old Kentucky Home" when visiting Federal Hill, the Rowan plantation, in 1852. Although he lived most of his life in Pittsburgh, Foster wrote lovingly and knowingly about the South. It is documented that Foster visited New Orleans in 1852. He is the only songwriter to have two of his works chosen as state songs. In addition to "My Old Kentucky Home," Foster's "Old Folks At Home" is the state song of Florida. Incidentally, he wrote the song about life on the Suwannee River without ever having seen that river. The years from 1850 to 1855 marked the most successful period in Foster's life. During this time, he produced some of his most famous works and enjoyed worldwide recognition. Foster is buried in the Allegheny Cemetery at Pittsburgh, where his grave is frequently visited by lovers of his songs. There is also a Stephen Foster Memorial at the University of Pittsburgh. The Stephen Foster Story 52nd Season P.O. Box 546, Bardstown, KY 40004,(502) 348-5971 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (502) 348-5971 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or 1-800-626-1563 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-800-626-1563 end_of_the_skype_highlighting. Go back in time to the 1850's with The Stephen Foster Story. Nestled in My Old Kentucky Home State Park, where music fills the air and lights shimmer from the trees, you will enjoy songs like Oh! Susanna, Camptown Races, Beautiful Dreamer, and My Old Kentucky Home. The Stephen Foster Story will delight the whole family with spectacular period costumes, lively choreography, and more than 50 heartwarming melodies of Stephen Collins Foster, America's first great composer. Come and experience an evening under a blanket of starlight in our new State-of-the-Art amphitheatre with The Stephen Foster Story! www.stephenfoster.com . . . . . . . .

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