Still smiling after all these years

We're still smiling after all these years.

How could they do it? Either set of our parents? Let a barely eighteen-year-old girl marry a nineteen-year-old boy not yet out of college and her barely started. What were they thinking?

I still wonder at them. But after 48 years, I'm glad they did it. So is Bob and so are our three kids and five grandkids! Especially the kids and grandkids!

Here's the sunny couple on a hot August morning in Amarillo, Texas. August 30, 1958. Glowing and innocent--no idea of the ups and downs, curves and dead ends the road of life had in store. They've made it this far and have great plans for continuing on the highway! (Remember after all--they grew up on Route 66--it cut right through Amarillo.)

Another adventure--Pied a Tally

I'm having another adventure. There's no picture to go with it, because I didn't think of doing it it until about one minute ago.

I'm not sitting in my quiet workroom in Bainbridge thinking small town musings. Instead, I'm in the Florida State U. library, pecking away on my new laptop and connected to the world wirelessly.

Bob has entered the homestretch working on his dissertation. He's teaching a class as well. Since he's now a Florida resident he needs to live here, right? He has an apartment near the campus, and is a city guy.

Many of our Bainbridge pals have lake or beach houses where they head for a retreat almost every weekend. I get enough of the quiet life during the week--so the plan is that many weekends I'll join Bob for city fun. The apartment is tiny and great. The important things: it's clean, we can walk to the FSU concert halls and the Civic Center, and Frank-the-dog is welcome!


We went to a great concert benefitting WFSU public radio last night and bought VIP tickets to opening night of Tallahassee Ballet next month. This morning we walked a couple of miles around the campus, then had coffee and the newspaper at the nearby All Saints Coffee House where Frank is welcome on the patio.

A great adventure in the making in our new place.

We call it our Pied a Tally.

Home for a spell

End of summer. Start of school. Time to stay home and . . . The first thing I always do, even before I bring in the suitcase, but after I hug the dog and cat, is take a garden tour. In our humid, sultry summer days thing change a lot in a week. Almost 200-year-old long leaf pines tower over our sandy soil dropping miriad organic tidbits. Mushrooms abound. So does Spanish moss.
A granddaddy toadstool and two tiny grandbaby ones greeted me on this tour, as did a blazing rose of sharon. I paid a dollar for this bush about 10 years ago. She was supposed to be white. One of the best dollars I've ever spent!

Home again, off again

We're home, but I'm rushing out the door on another adventure. Off for a 'girl's week' on Hilton Head with a old pals and a new one. I've been gone so much that I'm yearning to be home.

Houston as usual and always was great for us. We may live in the country, but underneath we have city hearts. Mostly we have grandparent hearts and nothing can be finer than a few days of fun with a handsome, funny, wonderful five-year old grandson.

Good to get away, good to get home

We’ve been on the road—the National Road that stretches from Cumberland, Maryland across Pennsylvania to Wheeling, West Virginia. This road opened the land west of the Alleghenies to early settlers. (I think some of my great, great, great forebears, the Nordykes made the trek to Indiana along this road.) I was especially moved by the Madonna of the Trails—a statute saluting pioneer women. (One of those greats was a grandmother.)

After we got a good dose of history, we headed down to West Virginia for crisp air, lovely scenery and much loved grandchildren.

Sometimes the best part of a good trip is getting back. Particularly with the garden putting on one of it’s best shows. The lily is a volunteer stretching toward the sky just outside my bedroom. The cleomes festoon the front (and almost recovered) flowerbed with sparkle and pizzazz.
We’re on the road again tomorrow to see the Houston tribe. I’m the excited owner of a new wi-fi laptop—if I can find a coffee shop, I can keep on posting!

See you from Houston.