The Shock and Awe of Silence

Hurrah!  This is not about Germany, and of course we are back in Virginia.

In spite of falling asleep at odd times for close to a week, I am semi alert and almost fully functioning.

Next:  A Family Visit

And having emerged from tracking in the footsteps of the ancients, I am  now enjoying the excitement of a visit from our son and three grandgirls.

They are volatile, young, fun, and sort of tornadic.

A Bear Stops By for a Look

To add to the excitement, a bear came for a visit too and my middle grandgirl, Kendall, fearlessly dashed out on the deck to get a picture!  The bear admired her beauty for a minute and then headed for the woods.

Celebrating Birthdays

Two of the three girls share close together birthdays, so we are celebrating those too.  Their birthday dinner request is always for Hungarian Paprikash, a kind of stewed chicken with “knuckles.”

When my brother and I were little we could not pronounce the word  Nokedli (little dumplings) so we called them Knuckles, and that stuck (the word, not the dumplings). And I still cannot pronounce Nokedli.

On a sad note:

Our old friend, Buddy died while we were in Germany and today was his Celebration of Life.  Buddy did not want us to mourn but to remember him with happiness.  We loved him so and had so many years of grand laughter and shared kindness.  The memories are many and we are grateful for that friendship and to continue it now with his daughter, Pam and the rest of his family.

Bill and Buddy

To the Drive-in Movie

This evening our son and grandgirls are headed for Hull’s Drive-In Movie Theatre.  Remember those?

Tonight’s weather prediction is for FROST!   I will stay home in a warm place for dozing and predict they will not make it through the first feature.

Virginia Safari Park

 

Safari Park

Tomorrow is dedicated to pumpkin carving and a traditional visit to Safari Park, where we have been going since the girls were little.  No visit is complete without high pitched screaming in the car when an emu or other big critter sticks its head through the window for a little more snacking!

The Shock and Awe of Silence

When everybody leaves our home and life returns to a normal routine, I may be accosted by the shock and awe of silence.  But for now, it feels like an extension of our vacation and a time to contemplate the joyful ties of family and friends.

 

 

 

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Hurry Back Please

Random Five Friday (even though it’s Sunday)

At the beginning of the week Bill and I set out to downsize a white elephant piece of furniture.  It held an old television in a bookcase-desk  that stood for 25 years collecting useless items and perhaps a small smattering of dust.  We spent half a day brutally trashing unidentified papers including cancelled checks from 1989 and removing old engineering text books for donations.

The effort left us both sneezing.  Do you think it could have been a bit more than a smattering of dust?  Anyway, the result was a mystifyingly satisfying bare wall awaiting a new t.v. (another surprise birthday gift for Bill)!

Wednesday turned out to be old home week when old friends wandered in from Arizona and Washington State.  They came as another surprise for Bill’s Birthday.  But there is already a post on that.

Around that same time, a neat little console was delivered to hold the new big t.v.  That left nowhere to display all the framed photographs that were on the original white elephant shelving.  Now I am searching for a weathered wood collage frame to accommodate the pictures and to hang on the wall over the new television. One thing does indeed lead to another, requiring hours of internet searching and in-store muddling around.

Thursday evening we went to Hull’s Drive-In.   Hull’s is one of the few remaining, verging-on-extinct operational theaters that were so immensely popular in the 1940’s and 50’s and where you watched a movie from your car.  It’s a fine relic of the past that is now community owned, funded and maintained and if you are anywhere near here during their operational season please plan a visit.  This particular night was “Robin Williams Tribute Night” featuring Hull’s Drive-InJumanji and Good Will Hunting and 30% of the box office proceeds were donated to our county’s Suicide Prevention Program.

After sharing meals and giggles, memories and experiences with teary eyed goodbyes, our friends left yesterday, Saturday, August 23^rd, and we have been sleeping off and on ever since.  Perhaps we are dreaming of the old days or maybe it’s just age reacting to emotional swings.  At any rate we are missing all that action and laughter.

And our wish is that you will hurry back old friends.  Hurry back.

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