Teach a boy to fish…

And he learns more skills than just fishing!

I was sitting in the massage chair, reading and enjoying a glass of wine after a day of shopping (more on that later), when Will charged in, all excited,  telling me of a big catfish he had just caught…and that his daddy would be sending me a picture of it.  Future blogger.

I asked if he had kept it and they would have him for dinner.  He said that no, it was only one fish and they would need 4 catfish for dinner. 

Four in their family.  Math skills at work.

And if they were having someone else over, they would need 5 fish.  Good 5 y/o logic.

The boy is learning how to not only be social, but feed a crowd as well.

Big brother Alex is actually the one who LOVES fishing, but maybe little bro will now be more interested in joining him after this accomplishment.

And rule #1 is ALWAYS to have on their life jackets when on the dock.

Smart boys.  I think I have mentioned that I love living next door to them?

Life is good…well, except for a broken something on the mower that MM needs to weld.  It’s a normal day in Mayberry, y’all!

Twist and shout!

"I need help with my foot. My foot is stuck!"

Not what a Grammie wants to hear.

"How did that happen?" I ask, after ascertaining there was no emergency.

"Umm, I'm not sure."

"Well, figure it out."





He did.

"It was a good thing it wasn't your neck," I said.

"No, I don't wanna do that," he said.

Good. Lesson learned. Maybe.

Sweet boys (most of the time).



Thank heaven for a few peaceful moments watching "Tom and Jerry." Before the wrestling match began...again.

Life is never dull with wee boys, y'all!

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Hump day

I just downloaded 370 (more) photos from our cruise/London trip, so I will post a few, straight out of the camera.

We both liked these flowers/vines decorating the steps and wall in Oslo, quickly clicked through the bus window:

Sweet Kristiansand, Norway:

The extremely small village of Ulvik at the end of a lovely fjord:

One of the many cute pubs in London, as seen from the bus:

And now back to regularly scheduled paperwork.  The desk needs cleaning off, and my assistants are outside enjoying the sunshine.  Life is back to normal, whatever that is…well, as long as those needed tracks arrive today so that MM can get back to fixing and mowing. 

Have yourselves a ginger peachy day, y’all!

Makes me smile!

If the kids post photos on FB, well, I am free to steal, right? Right! I confess...I stole.

Faith has been clearing out closets and making room for our lucky son to move in, with the wedding date fast approaching. Well, Brian's rental is getting sold out from under him, so their packing has gotten kicked into a higher gear.

Which brings me to something they discovered in his basement...that makes me smile:



Faith looks great in Brian's old jacket. Now where is that class ring to match??? Sweet memories...and a mighty sweet couple.

So today is my turn to call bingo at the senior center, then get home in time for my tech guru to come fix our network hook up. Always something needing tweaking with technology, right? And mowers. The track broke yesterday, so MM had to order parts. Cha-Ching. Let the repairs begin!

Life is always interesting in Mayberry, y'all! Smile!!!





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Hello, Monday!

It is beautiful and sunny...what a great way to start the day.

First off after coffee is to put party stuff away:


And go back to the pavilion to retrieve my table and some chairs. No hurry; no worry; no deadline.

The gals all had a great time:



And so did the guys:



Funny how that works out, with guys in one spot and gals in another. Even the (boy) dog joined the guys!

The weather was perfect, as was the food and company.

Another very good BSP Beginning Day. Sistas are the best!

Life is good with food, family, and friends!

Blessed on a Monday. I am.

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Busy afternoon

My helpers are all resting:



Jason painted the other small table, bless his sweet heart. The kids have worked hard to get the pavilion and fire pit ready for my sorority party. Today is Beginning Day, which kicks off our new sorority year. About 25 are expected. With lots of good food. Yeah, baby!

Corn hole anyone? Will is setting it up now. Or playing with the bean bags. Or something. He just nailed his dad with a bag! Boys will be boys.

Life is good, especially with my sweet kiddos. Run, Will, run!!! Incoming...


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Sunny Saturday!

What a difference from yesterday:



Precious sunshine...love it.

Jason and his two helpers (y'all know how much help wee boys are!) have been out splitting fire wood for our bonfire tomorrow. He is getting the pavilion all ready for our sorority gathering there tomorrow afternoon. What a great guy he is! I think I'll keep him. And his helpers.

I will add s'mores makings to my list as a reward. The boys all love those. Not me though.

Who wants to join us tomorrow? Bring a side dish and come on over! The weather looks promising.

Have yourselves a ginger peachy, sunny Saturday. Life is good in Mayberry, y'all!


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Foggy Friday in Mayberry

And afternoon showers predicted. Bugger. We are growing mold and gills.

Good morning from the Domestic Goddess! Don, Carolyn, and the doggies just left after a wonderful visit. All the kids were over last night for dinner. It was the first time for D & C to meet our newest family members, Faith and Haley2. Everyone approved! Of course.

So the towels are in the washer; sheets are next. Mowing Man left for work, another mowing job over the line in North Carolina. The house is pretty quiet, especially after all the (good) noise from last night.

I think I shall go sit on the deck and savor the view, the croaks, and chirps for a short while before unloading/reloading the dishwasher. Did you notice the colorful leaves over on the right side of the photo? Yes, fall is around the corner, peaches. August is almost worn out. I need to sit and savor the moment...and cuddle with a kitty or two.

I love my life and my family. A lot.

A little fog is OK when love abounds. Come join me. Cheers!





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Still around!

 

Don and Carolyn (MM’s sis) have been here since Tuesday, so I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth!  We’ve been busy visiting, talking and eating. 

Rain most all yesterday…sun is peeking out today, so we are taking them to see some of the local sights today.  This is Mayberry, so that won’t take long!

Enjoy this view of old buildings in beautiful Bergen.

Have yourselves a ginger peachy day, y’all!  We sure will.  We love our family!!!

Equipment moving

MM is finished with the Macon mowing job, so it was time to pick up (some) equipment and bring it home after the family reunion in So. Georgia yesterday.

It was too wet to drive back to where the equipment trailer was parked, so MM used the mower to simply picked up the neck of the trailer and hauled it to Freddie (the truck):

Didn’t we look spiffy driving Freddie to the reunion!

He hooked up the trailer, put down the back ramps, and loaded the mower on top:

Next, he got the mower all chained down, the ramps put back up, scraped off mud from his shoes, and off we went.  It only took maybe 15-20 minutes from unlocking the gate to the property to locking it back up.  Easy peasy.  We had room for a spare car back there, too!

We had a pretty good crowd at the family gathering (photos, thanks to MM, are still in my camera).  Loads of good food and talk and hugs.  So glad we went; the most senior member is not in good health, so it is important to go to these fun gatherings.

It is another rainy day in Georgia today, but that won’t stop MM from getting all his “toys” put away.  It won’t hinder my laundry duties either.  Missy is helping me.  KC is absent…just like a guy!

How’s your Monday?  Need anything hauled?

Friday!

Friday? Did someone say it is Friday?

Yep, sure is, and the good news is that MM was able to work his magic and get us back online yesterday. Some wires needed wiggling, because rebooting the router sure didn't get us back up and running. Love my handy guy.

I don't know what is happening to hawt August nights, because it was 61 here this morning. Loving that! This never happens in August in the GA Alps, although some of our leaves are just showing some tinges of fall color. Bring it on. We will take the cool weather.

I seriously need to finish my grocery list and head to the store. But first...there is always a BUT FIRST...I have barely finished breakfast and I need to figure out what to fix for dinner before I can proceed. Bugger. Where is the room steward? Where is the lovely dining room?

Oh. It is behind me...and there are no waiters there either.

Welcome home!

Life is back to normal here in Mayberry, y'all! Have yourselves a ginger peachy Friday. What's for dinner?






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Sweet gals and lucky Scooter

Good morning from Amy's deck, and hello to my sweet girls on their first day of school last week.

Why am I here at Amy's deck, you ask? Our Internet is down, so I came over here to investigate whether it is a neighborhood problem or only a problem at our house. MM is now going outside to check wires..or something...at our house before calling our only phone service provider. Bugger.

It is sunny, a bit windy, and nicely cool as I sit here, pecking away. I apologized to the two mallards I scared when I walked over. They were probably enjoying breakfast in the pond until I interrupted them. After a month of being away, I have to get re-trained to check pond occupancy before going too close. My bad.

Amy had to go to a luncheon at the Racing Hall of Fame today. She got to take her fave side kick with her, my domino partner. He will want one of his own now...watch out, Santa!





Zoom, zoom, Scooter!

Have yourselves a ginger peachy Thursday. Life is good in Mayberry, y'all!

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Home, sweet home!

These pretty flowers were taken from one of our many bus trips. 

They are more interesting to see than the 3 mounds of laundry I have been doing.  I am making progress.

So, the flight home was a non-event, and we even arrived at the gate a tad early, breezed through customs, caught the bus over to the domestic side of the airport where we then took the small bus to the hotel where the truck was parked. 

We had maybe gone two whole blocks and got blue lighted.  Huh?  We surely hadn’t broken any laws in that short a distance.

Nope, we had a brake light out.  Bugger.  The nice man only gave us a warning.  MM picked up new taillight bulbs today.  He is a handy dandy fixer upper kind of guy.  And we are still speaking after all this togetherness time!

I loved having my wee boys come over and give me some good sugah before Alex went to school this morning.  Will wanted to stay the morning with me.  I was thrilled…and now they are both back over playing.  We are incredibly blessed to having them live next door to us…and the other grands and kids also nearby.  Love, love it!  I’ve missed my munchkins, and get to see the rest of them (hopefully) tonight.  Amy’s cooking!

Home is a precious place to be, especially surrounded by family and friends.

Blessed.  I am.

Homeward bound!

 

Thanks to tablemate Linda for sending this photo to me.  It may be the only one of the two of us together on the whole trip, except for a group photo in the camera, still to be downloaded. 

So, we got to Westminster Abbey early for Evensong (we thought)…just in time to see everyone exiting the Abbey.  Bugger.  Someone had the time wrong…and it wasn’t ME!

What to do now?  We got on a different bus and did some more visual sightseeing.  We knew we weren’t in a great part of town when all of a sudden, there were no more hanging planters.  We were at the end of the line anyway, so we got on a return bus back to Victoria Station, found a beer for a final farewell, then went back to the hotel and called it a day.  MM’s knees were hurting.

This morning, we head to Heathrow and catch our afternoon flight to Atlanta, homeward bound!

We love the sound of that.  We are ready.

Cheerio, London.

Hello, Mayberry.

Life is darn good, y’all!

Crowded London, final day

People everywhere! The line to enter Westminster Abbey was incredibly long.

We bought an all day travel ticket and headed to Westminster first. Forget about it! Hopefully we can attend evensong later.

Instead, we rode a couple of busses and looked around. MM's knees aren't wanting to so much walking.

We are now back near Victoria Station about to enjoy fish and chips for MM; veggie pie for me at the Prince of Wales Pub.



Life is good...but home tomorrow is even better!

Cheers, y'all!

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Sunday in London

It was recommended that we go to Spittlefield today for their Sunday market.

We ate a hearty breakfast at the hotel, then hiked over to the tube, figured out how to get there and took off, exiting at Liverpool station. The signs don't say "exit" here. They state "Way Out." That makes me smile. And the voice on the tube reminds us to "mind the gap" between the train and the platform. The Brits are very polite.

The market consisted of mostly (cheap) clothing, shoes, and junk jewelry. No crafts, musicians, or anything of interest, other than people and building watching. It didn't take us long to tour the vendors. Oh well.

We want to attend a service at Westminster Abbey, and will do that either tonight or tomorrow night. We are flexible.

MM wants to give his knees a rest before we take off again, so we are back at the hotel with our sandwiches for an indoor picnic. And a chance to check service times online.

Did I mention we are flexible? We are.

The weather is being kind to us. Sunshine and maybe up to 70 today. No rain!

Life is good.

Have yourselves a ginger peachy Sunday. We sure will. And we will mind our gap.

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Hello, and goodbye, Dover!

Thanks, Mr. Tugboat, but our captain doesn't need any help docking today.



Most every morning we have been awakened by noise immediately below our cabin. All kinds of hydraulic hissing. Guest services was most apologetic, and no, there was no garbage being compacted there. They had no idea why it was so noisy. Yes, it is a store room, but nothing should be moving around except on the first port day.

We played detective. After all, we were awake, and got to see the culprit--the pilot boat pulled up to that spot and offloaded the harbor pilot in every port. Every port!

GS sent us a letter telling us how sorry they were that we had been so inconvenienced and gave us an onboard small credit. We certainly weren't complaining nor looking for anything, other than an explanation to this noisy mystery.

Carnival rocks! They always try to make things right. Maybe they will push for a bit more insulation under that room during remodeling.

So today will be a long day. Our tour ends in London around 5:30. I will take lots if photos.

Have yourselves a ginger peachy day.

Cheerios from Dover!


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Friday at sea

 

Last day on the ship; last day for Microsoft classes.  Patti has been a great Techspert, and we have learned a lot.  We have each read many books, enjoyed lots of good musical entertainment, and the company of lots of nice people.

This morning brought rain, but now the sun is shining and the seas are still calm as we cruise toward Dover.

After dinner tonight we will pack our bags and be ready to get off the ship in time to catch our bus to London, by way of Leeds Castle and Canterbury Cathedral.  We have gotten good suggestions from our many Brit tablemates of things to see and places to visit during the next few days.  We may have to stay another week!  Just kidding.  It’s been a great trip, but we are both ready to be home, and ready to tackle the mountain of mail that will be waiting for us.

We will miss our room stewards, and the wait staff.  They have spoiled us very nicely, and will get good recommendations on the guest survey sheets.  That is very important to do, since that is one of the ways that the staff gets promotions.

Life is good, y’all!

Ulvik, Norway

 

If this is Thursday, it must be Ulvik…and our final port of call.

The rain held off until after we returned to the ship by tender.  This picturesque village is but a dot on the map at the end of one of the many fjords.  Cute, but hardly a top ten destination.

We were treated to a delightful piano recital at this quaint, old church with a very old adjacent cemetery:

Goodbye, Norway!  This is a beautiful country.  We are glad we visited, but we are ready to move on.  Three weeks on a ship is a long time. 

Tonight is formal night, which means that tomorrow is a sea day, then Dover on Saturday.  The adventure continues.

Cheers, y’all!

Wednesday in Stavanger

Quite a beautiful day for our bus ride here in Stavanger. The port is busy today with 4 cruise ships docked here.

This cathedral is Gothic and quite beautiful, with two different styles in the same building. Romanesque is on the other side. It was too dark to get a photo of the other door.

There are cobblestone streets around parts of the city center...lots of beautiful old buildings and many lovely sights to see.

WYWH!


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Tuesday in Kristiansand, Norway

 

We arrived early this morning under overcast skies, weather more typical of this area.

Our luncheon table mates had already been outside and ridden the local tram, so at their recommendation, that is what we did.

Kristiansand is widely known as the “Floral Town of Norway, ” boasting of 20,000 flowers around the city during the summer months.  They were indeed beautiful.  This renaissance town has been home to one of the world’s largest fleets of sailing ships since its founding in 1641.  There are many tiny rock islands in the harbor, so we enjoyed watching the traffic from the office after we got back to the ship. 

We set sail again at 6p, during our dinner time, which is always interesting to watch.  Next stop is Stavanger, where we plan to tour from the HO HO bus.  The sun is now shining, so I hope good weather follows us.

A tip of the coffee mugs to sister Nan, who celebrates her birthday today.  I know she missed having me call and sing the birthday song to her this morning, following in the tradition of our Mother.  So here is the next best thing:

♪♪ Happy Birthday to you, ♪♪
♪♪ Happy Birthday to you, ♪♪
♪♪ Happy Birthday, Dear Nan ♪♪
♪♪ Happy Birthday to you. ♪♪

This version probably sounds more in tune!  See you soon, Sister Dear.

Cheers, y’all!

Monday in Oslo

Rode the bus around this morning, went back to the ship for lunch, and are now back on the bus.

We plan to get off at a pier and take a water taxi next, something we didn't do the previous time we were here.

Oslo is on a latitude with Anchorag, AK. Who knew?

The weather is fantastic. We are in port till 6p.

WYWH!

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Sunday at sea

Water everywhere...so here is a lovely park in Bergen instead of a view of our calm sea:



As third week cruisers, we and the other cruisers were treated to a special luncheon given by the captain. He greeted everyone as we entered the Pinnacle Restaurant, along with the Hotel Director. The officers no longer shake hands with everyone, as a health measure, which certainly makes sense and is appreciated by us. We all want to avoid nasty germs. And the luncheon was quite good.

The single show last night was an introduction of all the various new singers and dancers, along with the regular musicians onboard. There is quite a variety offered for our listening pleasure.

MM nor I found anything on the daily schedule today that was of particular interest, so we are spending the afternoon reading. MM is also plugged into his iPod, and asked me to thank Haley and family again for this very useful gift. So there...thanks! I am actually enjoying the quiet hum of the engines. Sea days are good.

Tomorrow we are in Oslo and plan on riding the HO HO bus and exploring that wonderful city...again. Hopefully it will be a sunny day and we can take lots of photos.

Have yourselves a ginger peachy day, y'all!

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Dover Castle and harbour

 

What a perfect day here in Dover! This is our view off the Lido Deck a few minutes ago, beautiful, but just a tad windy outside.

We got off the ship this morning with our transit card for ease in returning.  Took a taxi to the city center rather than the castle as intended—since the taxi driver said we were too early to get into the castle by a whole hour.  We walked about town where I spied a bunch of buses and suggested we go check them out.  We might as well ride around and sightsee for an hour or so.

The bus driver suggested a family pass, good for 24 hours, although we didn’t need that, but it also meant that we could hop on any bus.  Deal!  And that is also where we went—to Deal, England—to kill time until Dover Castle opened.  It was a lovely, winding ride through some quaint villages, complete with a castle in Deal that we decided we really wouldn’t have time to explore if we wanted to truly see Dover and its castle.  We stayed on the bus as it headed back south, and got off at Dover Castle.

This castle covers a LOT of ground, and has been continuously garrisoned for over 9 centuries (can you say OLD), and was built by Henry II.  Needless to say, it has a long and interesting history.  During WWII, Dover was attacked from the air and sea.  Deep under the castle and safe from aerial bombardment, the Napoleonic tunnels developed a new role as naval and hospital headquarters.  The lines (queues) were too long for us to wait and visit them, but we did purchase a book on the castle to enjoy on our own.  You could spend all day at just this castle.  We never made it to the other places I wanted to visit.

We caught the bus back to town, visited the local “dollar store” for sodas, and next door at the market for a bottle of wine, then caught a different bus back to the pier.  We had to walk about a mile back to the ship after being dropped off at the bus stop, but that was no big deal.  We got our exercise today.  And a local older gentleman took charge of us to make sure we got off at the proper stop for the pier.  Love it.

After dropping off our stuff in the room, we headed to the dining room and were put at a table with mom/dad from Florida, and thirty-something daughter  from Rhode Island.  They, of course, wanted to know about the ship, where we have been, etc.  Dick asked what table assignment they have…and we started laughing.  They are our new tablemates starting tonight!  What a coincidence.  We couldn’t have planned that any better.

So tomorrow will be a sea day as we head to Oslo.  Hopefully the weather will continue to be favorable. 

Having fun.  WYWH!

Trondheim, Norway…and Friday at sea

 

OK, I figured out that our visit to Trondheim on Tuesday was the missing blog that is still floating out in cyberspace somewhere unknown.

Once again, we took the HO HO bus right off the pier and toured the city, stopping at the beautiful, old Nidaros Cathedral, enjoying the stalls of local goodies and crafts next to it, and walking through the old and new parts of the city center.

The city was filled with lots of visitors and busy traffic.  The bus took us up high over the city so we could look around and see lots of varied architecture.  This is a beautiful city.

The current Ryndam singers and dancers will be leaving the ship tomorrow in Dover, replaced by a fresh, new group.  We have thoroughly enjoyed their talented performances, and know that the next group will have large shoes to fill.

Fortunately, our favorite guitarist Gary will continue on with us next week, as will Patti, the MS Windows Techspert.  We have learned a lot from her about computers and cameras, not just Win8.

We plan to get off the ship in Dover tomorrow and look around, since we have only passed through there before.  There is a castle there that I want to see.

Have a great Friday.  We sure are!

Blog press test

Downloaded update. Testing.


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Bergen greetings!

Hello from the HO HO bus in overcast Bergen. With free wifi...how cool!




I assume my iPad needs some updating. I tried to post a blog from there as a test and it did not work. Bugger. Oh well.

Happy birthday today to our dear son Brian. Wish we were there to celebrate with y'all. Sending much love to you and all the kiddos. WYWH!!!

This is a beautiful city. Worth visiting.

Life is good...everywhere!

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