Let the Fun Begin-Memphis

After my quick  blog entry yesterday from the Rochester airport (remember, my thumbs were cramping up) we had 2 easy flights to get to Memphis. In the Rochester airport we met up with Todd and Wendy J. Todd is another of Jim's cousins, this time from his Dad's side of the family. They were headed for the wedding and were on the same flights as we were. 

The sun was shining when we landed in Memphis and the temps were very pleasant. We picked up our rental car and were at our Downtown hotel in no time where Tucker and Mark were there to greet us! It is great to see them both.

Jim, Tucker and I took a walk down to the Mississippi River and did a quick tour of this area. Tucker arrived here yesterday and did quite an extensive walk of the area in the morning so he served as our tour guide.

I went with Mark to the airport to pick-up Terry and Kenn and then we went straight to the wedding rehearsal at the brand new home (mansion) of the parent's of the bride (Elizabeth). The house was just recently completed, including the laying of sod on the grounds. It is a wonderful site for an outdoor wedding. Here I got to see Jeannie and Britni as well as meet Elizabeth's family. The wedding party practiced their roles for the big day while Terry and I walked the grounds and did a quick tour of the house. 

The rehearsal dinner was back in the downtown area at a famous Beale Street BBQ and blues restaurant called Rum Boogie Cafe. Jeannie and Mark reserved the private rooms upstairs in the restaurant which allowed the festivities to be separate from the general public but also allowed us to hear and see the the live entertainment on the main floor. It was a perfect spot. We had a nice happy hour were we got to re-connect with family and friends we haven't see in a while. Then we enjoyed a great BBQ meal and finished the evening with toasts and good wishes for Michal and Elizabeth. 

By this time Grandma and Grandpa were pretty tired so to cap off their evening we put them in horse-drawn Cinderella carriage (complete with lights) and sent them back to the hotel. Some of us continued the party until midnight and then others didn't come in until 3 AM! Yes, a good time was had by all. 

Today has dawned clear and sunny and we are looking forward to more fun times. 

On another happy, good news note, Corey had a great race yesterday. He and his team were in Lehigh PA and he ran the way he knew he could run. So we are happy for him. We are sorry he is not here with us, but are certainly glad he did so well in PA. We have called him a couple of time to tell him how much fun we are having and that we miss him, but we may have to stop calling because I think it makes him feel bad!

Hope all is well.

Airport Trials and Tribulations

Phew, we made it through airport security and are now sitting at our gate waiting for our first flight to Detriot. Security is tough when you are in a wheelchair, are 91 years old, and haven't flown since 9-11. Grandpa had to get the security massage and donated the knife he had on his key ring. But we left plenty of time to do all this airport nonsense and now I have some serious knitting time.

Tucker made it to Memphis last night and hopefully had a chance to see some of the wedding family.

This will be a short entry because I am typing it on Jim's Blackberry and my thumbs are cramping up! More later.

Hope all is well.

Random Tuesday

Random thoughts for a Tuesday evening:

1. Jim got to Brussels without delay. Upon landing he immediately had to go to meetings. He reports that he got a quick run in before a 3 hour dinner. Hopefully he won't fall asleep in his entree!

2. I managed to get most of the lawn cut this afternoon, in spite of the grass being wet from an afternoon of rain.

3. My sweater project is progressing along nicely. I am 2/3 of the way down the first sleeve.

4. I've started to pack for our Memphis trip on Friday.

5. Jim's jury summons came in the mail today!

6. I am hoping (praying) that Cloris Leachman gets voted off Dancing With the Stars.

I am closing with 2 more photos from Jim's trip to see Tucker in Utah. The first photo is of Tucker's house in Bluff.


Oh, one more random thought:
7. A cell tower is being built in Bluff!  Tucker, Can you hear me now?!

The second photo is one more beautiful scene from their backpacking trip in Paria Canyon. 

Hope all is well.

Apples, Pumpkins, Alpacas

Today's activities were mostly outdoors, in spite of the sometimes damp weather. 

After a casual start to our day (Jim slept 'til 9 AM!), we were picking apples at Green Acres by 10 :30. Pick your own apples are the best-truly fresh-picked flavor, no bruises or blemishes and a great price (60 cents per pound).  We quickly filled our peck basket with ripe, red Macintosh apples and moved onto the pumpkin patch.
 We selected 2 medium-sized pumpkins from a field of hundreds. We made  stop into the store where we bought some apple cider and a white pumpkin. I bought a white pumpkin a few years ago, and like the looks of them so have tried to get one each year since. The rain took a break while we were doing our back-to-nature thing, but started misting shortly after we got back in the car. 

After lunch Pam B. and I went on a tour of 2 local alpaca farms.
We learned so much and enjoyed looking at the alpacas at the two places. At both farms, there was one cria, a baby alpaca. The alpacas looked like they were having a "bad hair" day because of the rain, but they were still cute! Here are some things we learned today:

1. Alpacas were imported from Peru from 1984-1994 to establish a US herd, but importation of these animals is no longer permitted. If you want an alpaca, you would buy it from a US farm. 

2. Alpacas come in 22 different colors or shades, from pure black to pure white with lots of shades of brown in between.

3. There is no lanolin in alpaca fiber like there is in sheep fiber.

4. Alpacas live on grains and hay (or grass).

5. The gestation period for a baby alpaca is 11.5 months.

We learned more, but you are probably bored by now. 

So, it was a good day. Plus the Bills won again and are now 4-0! Unbelievable!

I talked to my brother, Bob, last night, who called from the Chicago White Sox game. He was there with like 100 boys from his middle school boys chorus! Maybe the 100 included the parent chaperones too. I hope he had fun because if ever an occasion called for a beer it would be when one was surrounded by 100 middle school boys at a ball park, but because it was a school function, he was going to have to stick with warm Pepsi! Thanks for the call, Bob!

Jim is packed for Brussels-he leaves tomorrow afternoon. He has scoped out a place near his hotel where he can get his daily run.

Hope all is well.