7 great iPhotos Tennessee

Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008

We had a terrific Thanksgiving with our Maryland relatives. It was
fun to get together with them again. Needless to say the food was
delicious.

We went back to the center Thanksgiving night and since it was closed
until December 1, we left for CA Friday morning. It is always hard to
leave the NWCC "family".

We had a pleasant trip to Wytheville, VA with the sun all the way.

Then we came on SW to Nashville and are spending yesterday and today
here. It is not as cold as MD but not exactly hot either. We had
great traveling weather but had some rain last night and today. It
was sunny when we left church but now it is cloudy and rainy. Snow
showers are predicted tonight and tomorrow so we will wait and see.
We plan to drive as far as Little Rock tomorrow.

We have seen some beautiful homes near where we are and we are just a
mile from the Unity Church we attended this morning. It was an
inspiring service with great music and musical team. The church was
beautiful with the Christmas decorations and the grounds were lovely
too. We are in the southern part of Nashville, Brentwood. We drove
downtown after church and you can see by the pictures how pretty it is.

Hope this finds you enjoying life as we are. We do live in a
beautiful country and it is fun to see it.

Good to hear from so many of you. You others can write as we would
love to hear.

Until next time, stay healthy, happy and enjoy.

4 great iPhotos Odds and ends

Sunrise over the bay in Rockland, ME
DSC00364.JPG

November 21, 2008

Hi all,

I had a letter and photos all ready to be sent 3 weeks ago and my
computer decided to become stubborn and not send. I finally, with
the help of my very patient son and the phone, got it working and am
trying again.

As you can see from the first photo we crossed the bridge from NYC
into NJ which we had no intention of doing. Crossing the river yes,
but further north. This was because of our new GPS system and we
listened and came as we were told. Now we travel with the GPS on but
I have a map on my lap. Thank goodness it was Saturday morning and
not too late but there was still more traffic than we like to hassle.

We arrived here at New Windsor Conference Center (NWCC) later that
day and moved into our apartment. We are working with two other
couples who are a joy to work with. No one shuns the work and we
help each other out. It has been almost a month and it has gone so
fast. We have thoroughly enjoyed the time here. As we were driving
here the fall colors were still very vibrant and beautiful in many
places. They were especially colorful in MD. Now three weeks later
most of the the trees are bare so we have seen a real change. We have
also seen and felt it in the weather. It has gone from quite warm to
cold. It is a different cold that CA. One is it doesn't stay cold
all day at home and it is not such a biting cold. It has been a
pleasant and different adventure being here this time of the year.
We don't want to get in a rut. This morning we had our first snowfall
and it was beautiful. The snow did not stay long but it was nice.

We have two days off in the middle of the week and once we went to
Bethesda spent the night. We stayed at the Navy Lodge at the
National Naval Medical Center and everything we needed was within
walking distance; shopping, eating and coffee shop for reading the
newspaper and coffee in the morning. These were all at the
hospital. It was huge and obviously well equipped.

Wednesday we drove up to Lancaster, PA and spent the night. We got a
place through Priceline.com and it turned out to be a resort and
conference center. We thought that was rather humorous. But it was
a very nice place to stay. We got there in time to purchase tickets
at the nearby American Music Theater for their 3:00 PM performance
of their Christmas Show Wednesday. They had 14 male and female
singers and dancers and 8 members in the band. Among many things we
were entertained by Alvin and the Chipmunks and Elvis. The Hawaiian
man sounded exactly like Elvis and even when he wasn't impersonating
him, he sounded a lot like Elvis. The singers were fantastic. The
bass was outstanding and could he ever hit those low notes. The
pianist played a beautiful rendition of O Holy Night. They closed
with Let There Be Peace on Earth which was touching. It was a great,
well spent 2 hours. It really put us in the mood for Christmas and
the snow today helped

Last Saturday night we had a four hour power failure. It was about 4
PM so the cooks were preparing dinner. They quickly changed the menu
and a couple of hours later we had a "candle light" dinner which
everyone thought had a lot of atmosphere. Behind the scenes, the
staff went into action getting us small battery powered lanterns for
each room, reassuring our guests and informing them what we knew. At
first it was said that it would be 5-8 hours before we would have
energy. It was only four hours and we were all pleasantly surprised
and relieved. Some of our guests were on the 4th floor and they
carefully walked down the flights with no accidents. We had a lot
of compliments from them at how well it was handled. It was a first
for us to be here and have a power failure.

We will be spending Thanksgiving in Thurmont with my aunt and cousins
so we will at least be with family. We do miss being with our own
children but they will be together or with other family.

We plan to leave MD on Friday after Thanksgiving as the conference
center will close for four days and our time is up. We plan to take
a southwesterly route to get to I-40 which we hope we can take across
the mid west and west.

We wish you all a very Happy healthy Thanksgiving and enjoy
yourselves. Write when you can. It is great to hear from you.

Love and Blessings,

Mom, Dad.
Grandmother and Granddaddy
Ric and Jan(ice)

6 great iPhotos Happy Holloween

Happy Halloween
DSC00341.JPG

5 great iPhotos Maine

October 30, 2008

Hi all,
We are in Rockland, ME right on the Penobscot Bay which is part of
the Atlantic Ocean. The first photo shows our view from our
balcony. We have had a wonderful week and Maine, by the water, is my
very favorite place of all that we have visited this past month as
far as sight seeing. We have really had a good time.

We have taken short trips daily except one day when it was very rainy
and windy. It was a good time to just stay in and enjoy our fireplace.

Sunday we attended a a church here and met a couple and started
talking. I said we were headed for Maryland and a volunteer job at a
conference center. He said that it wouldn't be New Windsor
Conference Center would it? I just about fell over. New Windsor is a
very small town and there must be other conf. centers in Maryland,
Anyway, he and his wife have volunteered there in the past. He
worked grounds and maintenance and his wife was a hostess. Talk
about a small world. They are getting ready to leave in a week for a
3 month volunteer stint at the Heifer International Farm out of
Little Rock, AK. We have been there so we had many things in common
about which to converse.

The colors here are spectacular and I will send some more pictures
tomorrow, They just couldn't be prettier,

Gas was $2.65 a week ago when we drove into Rockland. Now it is
$2.47. Wow, that is getting better. I hear that it is finally below
$3.00 a gal. in CA. About time.

Last Saturday a cafe just in front of where we are staying was
selling lobster rolls for cost. We decided that since we really had
never had one it was a good chance. It is a little place so we stood
in line for quite a while but it was worth it. They were good and
only $8.95 ea. Usually they are 12.95 to 16.95. They are a little
like chicken salad on a roll but better. Not as good as just
lobster. I have had lobster most days and the price has ranged from
$10.95 to 12.95. Each a pound to a pound and a half. There are signs
on the street to eat lobster-support the lobster fishermen. So I
sure did my share.

Today we enjoyed a film at the Visitor's Center just around the
corner from us. The film was The Puffin Project and it was about
the Atlantic Puffins which nest here. They were almost extinct and
now they are growing. It started in 1979 and has continued since. It
was excellent. They are such cute birds. We did see them when we
went to Alaska.

It has been COLD here. I need to get back to CA where it is warmer.
It was in the low 40's today with a breeze so it felt colder. I
think we are not prepared for the cold as we should be.

The pictures tell more than I can. So just enjoy them.

Take care and do write.

Love and hugs to all.

DSC00341.JPG

8 great iPhotos New Hampshire

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Hi all,
As you can tell, we had a great and very colorful week in NH. We
took several day trips and the highlight of 3 of them were to go to
Brookline where we visited my good and longtime friend (from 7th
grade) Ernie and her family.
We also went to church (in Nashua) with the family on Sunday and had
Mexican food after church. Yes, Mexican food in NH. It is not like
west coast or SW Mexican food but was nevertheless, good. We had a
delightful time visiting and catching up over the past year. Such fun.
We had beautiful, cool weather most of the week. One day of rain and
several mornings we woke up to frozen ice on the car. We were at a
ski resort but thankfully no snow so far.
One day we drove north to Lincoln in the heart of the White
Mountains. We drove east to Conway on the Kancamungus Hwy. which is
spectacular during peak leaf season which was about a week earlier.
But as we neared Conway it was colorful and pretty again. We found
our favorite restauraunt, The Lobster Trap, and I had my lobster
dinner for $12.95 and Ric the Captain's plate for same. It is hard
to believe lobster so good at such a good price.
We went from there on to Meridith and Lake Winnepeesaukee (not sure
of spelling) where some of the pictures are below that we took. It
was a neat day and a long drive but we sure had a good time.
We left Mt. Sunapee yesterday and drove here to Rockland, ME on the
southern coast. It is so beautiful. I will send more pictures and
write more about it later.
Here is to your health and enjoyment of life. Keep in touch.
Love to all,
Mom, Dad etc. etc.

6 great iPhotos Vermont

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2008

Hi,
These photos were taken in and around Killington, VT. The animals
are made with hay bales and are very artistic. We had a great and
beautiful time there. We went sight seeing each day but a different
direction,
We are in New Hampshire now and I will write later about our time there.
Our best to you all,

7 great iPhotos Oct. 11, 2008

New York Countryside
DSC00263.JPG

7 great iPhotos

This is fishing in Ocean City. Taken near our condo.
DSC00241.JPG