Conversation Club Chatter

Hello you awe-ell (said with a lovely Savannah drawl – my favorite accent of all that we heard on the trip)

I am back, still shaking the Spanish Moss out of my brain I think. Fantastic trip – lots of adventures, good weather and food, lovely people and scenery. I have been back and forth at the computer uploading pictures to Walmart, am giving their developing a whirl this time. Digital cameras make a person take more pictures than law allows. If I have my order filled by CC on Thursday I will bring some.

Kate - a boy! So among us, that will make 2 grandsons and 2 granddaughters!

Maureen, Chimney Rock is a North Carolina State Park. Could be that it once was privately owned though.

Kate,
I forgot to ask you and your Mom if you enjoyed Eric Carle, when I saw you, last night. I was disappointed! He seemed like a very nice man but disorganized and confused. He wasn’t dynamic like Tomie de Paola and Judy Blume. There still was a great crowd and a big line of people waiting to have him sign a book. Marilyn Collins has a grandson (Ryne who just turned one) that she wanted to get a book signed. Tomorrow Elliott and I are going to PPA to hear the original Phantom of the Opera sing. Elliott isn’t thrilled but neither is the other husband who is going with us. Monday night Elliott and I are going to the Conrad Hilton for a Riley Volunteer dinner. It’s Matt’s birthday, Thursday. I’m not sure if we are going out that night, to celebrate, or waiting for the weekend. It depends on his game schedule. I’m off Thursday. Jen is coming, to visit him, I think it’s May first. I hope to see all of you Thursday.

Biltmore - check
Chimney Rock State Park, NC - check (Maureen we hiked ourselves crazy - it’s one of the filming locations for The Last of the Mohican’s - look at the trails on the park website)
Charleston - check
Savannah - check

Tomorrow we head out for Chattanooga - Chickamauga Battlefield and Lookout Mountain. Friday on to Corinth, MS and Shiloh battlefield. Saturday Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry. Sunday home to Indianapolis.

Every place we have been has been wonderful and we have learned and experienced so much!! See you all soon!

so last week Raquel called everyone to reschedule except Barb (because she had said she couldn’t come)…so at 9:00 guess who knocked on her door. We aren’t meeting this week because several of us will not be able to come. Can you believe it is almost May?

I was jolted out of a sound sleep around 5:30 am today by the now famous 5.2 earth quake. The bed shook like a train was passing through the bedroom, the knick knacks on the shelves clicked and clacked and to top it off, I could hear the water in the toilet sloshing around for more than a few seconds after the bed stopped shaking!! Then, around 11:15 am when we had the 4.3 aftershock, I had just sat down to check email and it shook the computer screen, the desk and the chair I was sitting on. Steve was driving to work at the time of the first one, and didn’t feel a thing!

I have to say, the Pope has the coolest red leather lace-up shoes that I have ever seen!! I wonder if he gets them at the shoestore or if they are custom made. I have listened to several of his talks - I think he is a very wise man, and I admire his courage in addressing the priest scandals. On the news tonight they showed a group of teenagers ready to take a bus trip to hear the pope speak and one of them was a former preschool student of mine! Maureen, do you know anyone making the pilgrimage?

Such an impact as you drive up. I love the slope up to the walkway. All the beds look so gteat.

I took most of this evening to unload all the grass and flowers I was gifted with. I used my dolly to wheel the grasses back to where I will plant them.
Thanks.

This is such an awesome time of the year. The garden always promises to be the best ever. I hope the rain on Friday holds off so I can get some holes dug.

First let me acknowledge Maureen’s landscaping. It sounds exciting, Maureen, but I just can’t get really into thinking about landscaping in 40 degree weather. Good luck with it. Carol, it souynds like TR was a great outing with the girls. You really are BLESSED!! I can’t wait to see Josh this coming weekend, when I go home for Passover! Now for the exciting library news. We had some excitement, yesterday! We didn’t have Obama or Hilliary! We had congressman ANDRE CARSON stop by for an hour or so. We set up a table in the lobby. He sat there, to greet the patrons. Then he came in the library and walked around greeting people. Even though I’m not a real fan of his it was exciting to have him. You just never know who or what will happen in the LIBRARY!! I work today, my third day of a 7 in a row work week, and then I’m off Friday through april 24th. The 19th is when Passover starts.

The landscaping is almost finished just in time for winter… oops, I meant spring! They suggested making one more small bed where some extra spirea can be planted in the front. Then we will see about a bed at the end of the driveway to block the shed. They still need to put sod down and decide on the front garden line and plant one more plant in the front.

And what Sue really wants to know … there is more grass left, don’t know about the spirea yet but there may be 1 or 2 and I don’t know about some bulbs and misc plants.

For once we really timed a project right! The weather was great and we will be able to enjoy the flowers as they bloom.

It’s Spring Break for Delaney and Ella, so Steve and I are taking them to Turkey Run tomorrow. We have a room in the lodge there for two nights and they are soooo excited. Since I have last been there, they have remodeled the lodge and guest rooms and added a huge indoor pool and game room. Naturally we are hoping for some good weather for hiking and maybe a horseback ride, but it will be fun no matter what.

I wonder if Raquel will have CC this Thursday night…

I didn’t get to enjoy much of the weather, yesterday. I watched a DVD of No Country For Old Men and have NO IDEA how that won for best MOVIE!! It was so violent and confusing story!THen I went to see Twelve Angry Men, with Richard Thomas and Kevin Dobson. I went with four other ladies. We all enjoyed it but had one complanit! Why did the have to yell during the whole play?! We thought it would have been better if the jurors started out calm and the tension and tempers built slowly. It was still good acting! Today I have a Pacer game but I’m waiting for Elliott to come back from an errand so we can take Holly for a walk. I’ve really enjoyed my vacation but I haven’t gotten a lot done. Tomorrow I will clean before my parents get here. I enjoyed the two movies I saw, Leatherheads and 21. Elliott and I went, with Kitzi, to see Leatherheads and bumped into another couple, John and Nancy Woody. Sue, Nancy always asks about you! She has 8 grandchildren!! Mike (who is in his 40s) has four girls from three marriages and Laura has four children! We sat with them, at the movie, and went to dinner at Teds. Kitzi couldn’t go to dinner with us.

We saw the sun for 3 straight days and the heat felt so good. The flights were full but even so we had no problem getting on.
After landing in Phoenix we took a 3 hour hike in a city park … South Mountain Park. The trail was rather vague at time so I was a little concerned if we were actually on one or not and we didn’t have enough water to just wander the desert. We then headed to Tucson.

Tuesday morning we went to Chiricahua National Monument… awesome rock formations. It was Apache Indian country, Geronimo’’s territory. After a 3 hour hike we went to Tombstone. We didn’t pay the 7.50 to see the reenactment of the shoot out at the OK Corral which historically really wasn’t at the corral but in the street behind it but the courthouse tour was interesting.

We ended Tuesday at the San Xavier Mission Church that was just in the news… a new angel was uncovered on the wall as part of a restoration being done.

And now … we are home till Friday.

Next year I am definitely going to take days without pay in February or early March to take another trip out there. I am not going this long again without warm weather and sunshine!

Sue … the princess spirea the landscapers may use in another part of the yard but the 3 evergreen bushes in front of the garage will be tossed. They never really did well but who knows in another location may. If you want those I’ll let you know when they dig them up.