Making Christmas cookies

This morning Amanda brought Samantha to our house, along with a Tupperware container filled with sugar cookie dough, a variety of sprinkles and colored sugars, HOMEMADE sheet of marshmellow to be cut into star shapes, rolling pin, baking sheet. They cut out the marshmellows (sort of...it was really hard to cut -- stretchy. Amanda had used a Martha Stewart recipe and it wasn't working right. She muttered under her breath: "I am so pissed off at that Martha Stewart right now!" heh heh. She'd had to hold her tongue the night before and all morning because Samantha is only 10.)

They rolled out dough and cut out shapes of Christmas trees, stars, swans, and ballerinas -- Samantha's favorite. Her Mom and Dad and little brother picked her up early afternoon for her basketball game but stayed a while and talked. Good day made up of a house full of people and the aroma of baking cookies.

The calm AFTER the storm

Thanksgiving with the Hay clan -- or many of them -- at the club house here at Autumn Trace went perfectly well. Great food (All the Hay women are excellent cooks following in their mother's footsteps.), well behaved children, good conversation, and lots of help cleaning up afterward. In fact, Jackie has already suggested we reserve the party room for next year's Thanksgiving already.

Today, Jerry and I have peaked too soon for our trip south. Right now we're in limbo, waiting, waiting, waiting...

The last hurrah before snowy weather

Here it is November 8th, the tempertaure earlier was 73 degrees so we took the opportunity to drive with the top down for one final time before next spring. There's something so exciting about having the cool breeze whip through your hair, making it look like you used an egg beater before going out!

Burial rituals

Shawn's father, Chuck, died this past week, Tuesday, November 3. Everything that Amanda, Shawn, and Rita (Shawn's mother) have gone through has forced me to do some soul-searching. In the past, I've balked at the idea of cremation but I'm now seriously reconsidering it as an alternative. One thing that has come out of this is that Jerry and I will make a detailed list of where legal documents and finances are located for Amanda and Rob as well as for each other. It's something we've been meaning to do ever since Cleda died in May.

Florida, October, 2009

Being on the beach in the fall is the BEST. There are no lines in stores, the traffic is minimal, and the beach is quiet and not crowded. Yet, the weather is still perfect and the water is still warm. I worked with and became friends with a group of women at the 2000 Census Bureau. On of them, Tinker, (Yes, that's her real name.) owns a condo in Panama City Beach, Florida. The plan was for most of the group to all go together and stay at her place. What happened, however, was that three in the group had other plans and couldn't go so it ended up with Tinker, Rita, and me.

I drove all day on Sunday, making frequent rest stops, and we arrived at the condo after dark. First thing the next morning, I pulled back the drapes, gasped, and took a step backwards!! It looked exactly like the condo was built right in the water. It wasn't until after I went out on the balcony and looked straight down did I see the beach itself; we were on the 20th floor. All three of us spent some time on the beach but that was all they wanted of beach time. Not me. I went down every day for a walk, wading, watching sea gulls, pelicans, and sand pipers -- didn't see any porpoises this time. There's something almost hypnotizing about the surf rolling in then pulling back out. I like to find a "solid" place in the sand and just stand still while the water sloshes over my feet then sucks the sand out from under my feet. Or, I like sitting in a short, sand chair and letting the waves splash up on my feet and legs. What a great stress reliever!

We ate good fish, fixed a few meals at the condo, and drove around a little -- but we spent most of our time just relaxing and playing games. The TV was turned on a total of about an hour's worth of time for the whole week. Rather than TV, we played Boggle, tried playing Dominoes, and had a marathon of Yahtzee. We were going to stay a bit longer but poor Tinker began to have inner ear problems so we thought it best to get her to her own home. After we'd packed up all our stuff and were ready to load it into the car, she started feeling better and actually wanted to stay another whole week. :-)

Surprise birthday gift

Jerry has always been able to ferret out surprises I plan for him...except this time! His birthday and the family reunion were on the same day this year so we decided to celebrate his 66th on Sunday instead. He knew Amanda, Shawn, John, and Tracy would be here for dinner. What he didn't know is that Rob drove all Saturday night to get here as THE surprise. Rob got here early while Jerry was still in the shower so I went back to the bedroom to encourage him to quickly finish getting dressed so he could get his birthday gift. When he rounded the corner at the end of the hallway and spotted Rob, he threw out his arms and exclaimed, "When did you?...How?....When?...." Jerry was speechless! Yep, JERRY was speechless, one of a very few times in his lifetime that he couldn't utter one complete sentence!! Rob and I had kept his visit a secret from the others and they, too, were taken by surprise.

We crammed as much as possible into the 2 1/2 days he was in Kentucky -- Jerry and he went clothes shopping; we had a couple of dinners here; the three of us went to a movie; Rob and John went to the Falls of the Ohio and wandered around; we talked and talked and talked. Like Jerry said, it's good to frequently talk to your child on the phone but nothing is quite as satisfying as seeing them in person.

Rob did a fun painting a few years ago. The subject is based on a brand of fireworks; it shows a monkey driving a little car so the name of the painting is Monkey Drive. Cassie wants to hang it in their bedroom in the condo they're buying so Rob packaged it up to take back with him. Since it's too large to fit into the bed of the truck, he, Jerry, and John struggled and fussed while lashing it down onto the bed cover. Of course, my job was to record the whole thing. :-)

Cornett reunion, 2009

Where did all that snow in our hair come from? Seeing only five of us in this photo seems wrong; I sure do miss Cleda. Also, this time I hated to part with the rest of them at the end of the day. Toots, Vanzell, Neal, Wendell, and Zuela.

Cornett reunion, 2009

Family reunions leave me with feelings of mixed emotions. I'm so happy to see whoever shows up but sad missing ones who can't be there -- for whatever reason. This year Vanessa and Brad hosted it at their home which is about 2 miles off the main road half way between Bardstown and Springfield.

Neighborhood porch tour

Bette in the horse drawn wagon that took us on the porch tour.

When Bette/Lance and Jerry/Zuela were first married, we lived right beside each other in Morehead. Bette and I were both short, had dark hair, and were small so many people thought (and have thought over the years) that we were sisters. It was so convincing that some old women who lived on the little street to our house got totally confused as to which one of us lived in which house. To add the to the confusion, Bette and Lance had lived in our house prior to Heidi's birth. Those women would "work" out in their yard (They would actually lean over the fence to watch.) so they could watch the comings and goings at our two houses. The four of us were good friends so on any given day, Lance might drop in to visit for a while, Jerry might run over to their house, Bette might bring Heidi over or I might go over there to play with Heidi. Since we realized our actions were being closely observed with FROWNING, DIAPPROVING eyes, we decided to play into their disapproval. So, we would do things like both of us leaving one house and going to the other. I'd leave my own house and go to Bette's, pretending it was mine. Jerry and Lance did similar things. You could almost imagine the nosy neighbors keeping a clip board nearby and making notes on the activities.

After my recent trip to Cincinnati, I posted this picture of Bette on Facebook. The mistaken identity is still happening. So, rubbing our hands together in conspiracy, we went back to our old trick; I posted her picture as my profile photo and fooled a number of people, INCLUDING MY OWN DAUGHTER! That was the funniest. Bette reminded me once when Rob and I were up there, we'd all gone to Jungle Jim's. Rob turned to ask me something but spoke to Bette instead!

When the two of us stand side by side, the differences are very obvious now. Bette has stayed petite and I have chubbed up!! Also, she has aged better than I have. Despite that, I still love her. *grin*

Weslea's shower

Weslea holding the blanket and hat that Donna crocheted for me to give to her. Donna's favorite finishing needle for her crocheted items is one that belonged to Nancy's mother, the new baby's great-grandmother.

visiting Amish village

Jerry waits outside an antique mall in Montgomery, Indiana.

baby shower and Cincinnati

October -- a busy, fun-filled month this year. Since we are so interested in the Amish culture, we took a trip over curving, winding roads past fields where hundreds of pumpkins were being harvested, corn stalks being cut down to Montgomery, Indiana. About a mile outside of town is an Amish village with large restaurant, bakery, antiques, gift shop. The buffet features many homemade products, the best being the bread. Jerry and I decided we could make a meal just on the wonderful bread and butter. The day was nippy but brilliantly sunny so the top went down on the car -- heated seats turned on, windows rolled up, but TOP DOWN!! From Montgomery we headed south to Jasper then took another turn toward French Lick, played for a while, then drove home late in the evening. Driving a convertible in the fall is bracing!!

Saturday was Weslea Hottman's baby shower at Don and Nancy's. Ordinarily, showers aren't my cup of tea but this one was actually fun! The shower games didn't dominate but were woven into other activities. For instance, while we were eating, each guest had a glass of "Prego-ritas" (virgin margaritas) into which an ice cube was placed. The ice cube had a tiny plastic baby frozen into it. The person whose cube melted first got a prize. Weslea was showered with so many gifts that the hallway was filled with them. I hope they have a large enough house or apartment to hold it all. :-) One present held very special meaning. When Don and Nancy's first son was born, Don's mother gave them the rocking chair he'd used when he was little. Then it was passed on to the next son. They had the seat recovered in a fabric that fits the new baby's nursery and presented it to Weslea at the shower. What a wonderful way to connect the various Hottman generations.

As soon as the shower ended, I hopped into the car for my journey north to Cincinnati. My old friend from Morehead, Bette Evanshine, was waiting for me at her home. As soon as I got there and changed shoes, we went to an area of the city that was having a porch tour. Hundreds of luminaries lined the sidewalks on both sides of the street, a band played, children ran around and played in the streets, food aromas wafted over our heads. We took a horse-drawn wagon tour of the neighborhood; a docent talked about the architectural features on the houses as we slowly made our way in the wagon. The evening was turning cold so, after leaving this event, we went back to Bette's neighborhood for a heartening Indian meal. The rest of the evening was spent in pajamas, talking, reminiscing. Before leaving the next day, we went to the new Nordstrom's near her and did a little shopping and eating at the bistro. Side note: Shopping is so much more fun when you have a girlfriend commenting, pointing out things, enjoying it with you.

Michelle and Matt's wedding

At the wedding:
Shawn and Amanda, Jerry and Zuela (Michelle's mother, Loy, is in the background just behind Shawn.)

Red River Gorge weekend photos

When we went walking on the trail at the end of the swinging bridge, our intent was to walk all around the lake. I was positive that I'd done that before and was ready to make the hike this time. We came up to these steps, huffed and puffed our way to the top to discover.....A PARKING LOT! So, we just retraced our steps.

Red River Gorge weekend photos

These pictures show Amanda studying some wildflowers, me beside a small stream that looked good enough to drink, Amanda on the swinging bridge trying to entice me out so she could rock me off my feet (!), and the trail beside the lake that we walked.

Red River Gorge weekend photos

We talked to Rob Saturday night. It was Jerry's turn so he went out onto the deck to talk to his "baby".

Red River Gorge weekend

Thank goodness Michelle and Matt's wedding was at Red River Gorge!! The wedding sent us east on a PERFECT weekend retreat. The two of us, Amanda, and Shawn shared a log cabin perched high up on the side of a mountain. It was so cozy that it would be tempting to hole up there for a whole season. Since we got to the cabin first, we sat on the screened-in porch to wait for Amanda and Shawn to arrive. We sat quietly so that the only sounds were soft rustling of leaves on branches brushing up against each other and occasionally the distant tweet or chirp of a bird. The only human produced sound was the soft picking of a banjo coming from the cabin up above ours.

Following the wedding rehearsal Friday evening, there was a cookout at the cabin the bridesmaids had rented. We drove on the main road, turned off that to a narrow paved road, left that for a graveled road full of ruts that finally led us to the top of a mountain that took us into a huge, open meadow with a few cabins built on each edge of the opening. At the cookout cabin, the front faced the meadow but the back sat close to the edge of a cliff. From there the whole valley spread out so you could see a teeny road before snaking its way around and around with Matchbox sized cars on it. As the evening began to darken, an enormous fire circle with crackling fire drew everybody close because there was a definite fall nip in the air. We ate, drank, met new people, reconnected with some old friends and neighbors and just generally had a wonderful evening. By the time we headed back to our own cabin, it was totally dark. I should amend that -- not totally because on the meadow road on our way out, I stopped the car, turned off the headlights, and we sat for a while just enjoying the scene with the full moon painting trees and buildings with silver.

Sleeping that night was restful. We cranked out windows to welcomed, cool night air and snuggled under a blanket for GOOD sleep.

Saturday morning, Jerry and Shawn stayed at the cabin to do Jerry and Shawn activities while Amanda and I drove to the area below Natural Bridge to walk around and explore for a while. We strolled around the small lake, watching the wedding decorations being put up, inviting ourselves to a family picnic (They actually said we were welcome to join them!), exploring a small graveyard that seemed to contain only children's graves, jiggling and swaying the swinging bridge trying to dislodge the other person, and hiking a section of a path alongside the lake.

What a special wedding this was! It was a combination of formal and casual, performed on "Hoedown Island" at the base of the mountain from Natural Bridge. The sun was brilliant but not too hot. As the couple exchanged vows, a woodpecker tapping a staccato rhythm on a tree, a breeze whispering past, a distant dog barking were the other sounds heard. After they were officially declared "husband and wife" and the guests applauded, a group of children on the other side of the lake could be seen clapping and cheering along as if they, too, were part of the wedding party.

Kentucky products -- locally bottled wines, Ky. brewed beers, catfish, roasted buffalo -- took center stage at the reception buffet. A talented bluegrass band, Kentucky Fried Pickin'" played for us. (Clever title) Tommy, an old friend of Amanda's and Rob's, and his girlfriend and I wanted to get back down the mountain from the reception to the parking lot and do all that before it was totally dark. We almost didn't make it because the path was not only hard to see but rough walking. Some of it was paved but much was just large flat rocks and uneven gravel. I made it safely with Tommy's help. Thanks, Tommy.

Sunday morning we set the alarm and did all the last minute packing, straigtening, and checking out to leave for home. Jerry and I stopped in Midway for lunch at an interesting little cafe called Quirk. Midway is a gem of a small, central Kentucky town. Running right through the middle of town is a railroad track with shops, art galleries, and restaurants lining both sides.

The whole weekend left me with a pleasant, lingering satisfaction.

lunch with Amanda

Zoom into the parking lot...
hug, hug...
rush inside...
quickly make decision about lunch (We almost always get the same thing so I don't know why we even ponder over the menu. We get Pad Thai noodles with tofu and a wedge of lime, hot tea, and steamed dumplings.)...
slurp,... chomp,... talk, ...sip, ...chew-chew-chew, ...talk, ...pour hot tea..., talk about Rob ( :-] ), ...gulp, ...talk about plans for weekend in cabin at Red River Gorge, ...laugh, ...hug, hug, ...rush back out so Amanda can get back to work on time.

All around satisfying lunch at Thai Smile.

Amish trip

The bright, cardinal red barn, white house and windmill set against the lushness of rolling farmland makes this Amish farm look picturesque and welcoming. Also, note the thin tire marks in the lane showing it is traveled more often by horse and buggy than by cars. We visited the family who lives there to take books and school supplies for the new Amish school that was started this year. We also took some small cakes for the family, cakes given to Jerry by one of his Taiwanese students. The parents were as eager to eat one as the three young children; they were fascinated by the way the cakes were packaged individually into tiny boxes.

Unfortunately, the mother, while helping the father plane some lumber a couple of weeks ago, had an accident with the planer and cut off the two middle fingers on her right hand. She stoically commented she was just glad to still have the index and little fingers plus the thumb! Luckily, the day it happened, there was a woman at the house whose large poodles they've been keeping. She was able to take them to a hand specialist in Louisville. I shudder to think what would have happened if she hadn't been there. Her main concern with us is that she hadn't finished a quilt top she is quilting for us. Some of the other Amish women came to their farm to help but they just didn't have time to get it done. Wilma had even tried doing some quilting after the accident but said it hurt too much. That makes me sad.

When we unloaded the books and supplies, they started pulling things out to look at them saying they might take a couple of things -- pack of paper, maybe some markers -- for themselves. John spotted an accordion binder and asked what it was. Jerry took the cellophane off and opened it up; John was very interested in how it would be used. He also commented on a box of varied colored file folders, suggesting that each color could be used for different classes.

We were looking at all the materials in their basement so Jerry and I had a chance to look around a bit and noticed a separate room lined with hundreds of jars of canned goods, everything from peaches and peas to green beans and tomatoes. John explained that was their food supply for the rest of the year until they harvested again next summer and fall. He got into a cooler, the kind you'd take on a picnic, to pull out a head of cabbage/celery they grew in order to "pay" us since we certainly didn't want any money. He commented they still had ice from last winter. They wait until the pond freezes to about 4 inches thick, hack it out into large slabs, then store the blocks in an ice house lined with straw; it was protected that way well enough to last throughout the whole summer! The whole time we were looking at the canned goods and talking, a couple of peacocks were strolling around right by the basement window, looking in at us. :-) Maybe they were as interested in us as I was in them.

After leaving their farm, we spent the night at French Lick then, the next day, drove from there to Jasper, a small town originally settled by Germans. The road between French Lick and Jasper is, as Jerry puts it, "like a fairy tale". It winds up, down, and around rolling hills where corn stalks were being cut down and bundled into fodder stocks. The day was picture perfect; even the clouds looked like they'd been laid onto the canvas of the cerulean sky with a palette knife. Our reason for the trip was the Schnitzelbank Restaurant in Jasper where we ate wiener schnitzel, goulash, saurkraut, red cabbage and drank double bock beer! Yum.

Bardstown Lunch Bunch, September 25, 2009, #2

Group photo:
Emma
Yvonne
Gloria
Nancy
Lee
Zuela
Darlene

Bardstown Lunch Bunch, September 25, 2009

Old friends -- they're the best. We were at Lee Evans' home for a delicious lunch, lots of wine, good conversation. Lee, Nancy, Darlene, Yvonne, Emma, Gloria, and I caught up with each others' lives.

Nicholasville and High Bridge #3

Donna and I decided these trees look like they're doing something naughty. :-) They are in the little park at High Bridge. There is a metal porch-type swing hanging from another tree just beyond these two. We sat in that and swung, talked for a while. Neal had wandered off on his own; Toots was "taking care of bidness".

Nicholasville and High Bridge #2

Nicholasville and High Bridge

Donna, Toots, and Neal at the High Bridge lookout. When I accidentally looked down through the grid, I actually got dizzy!

Actor's Theatre

Hooray!! The theatre season has started. And it started with a bang. Lookingglass Alice showed Alice progressing from being a pawn on a chessboard to becoming a queen at the end. Along the way she met interestingly done Lewis Carroll characters. Following dozens of shoes plummeting from the ceiling, the caterpillar appeared, representing the toddler stage of life. "He" was portrayed by three guys doing everything in synchronization: flaying arms, leap-frogging, stepping in rhythm. Tweedledee and Tweedledum acted like preadolescents with Alice, refusing to shake her hand. The Mad Hatter had his "adult" tea party but only after he and his other guests snatched folding chairs out of the air as they fly up from below stage and THROUGH a large basket. As an "adult", Alice was crowned queen and met Humpty Dumpty. He was sitting on a very tall ladder and when he tried to maneuver his way down to shake hands with Alice, the ladder tipped over and he fell backwards through a trap door. The audience gasped at that because it happened so suddenly and finally.

Acrobatics was an integral part of the play. Trapeze feats such walking on stilts, hopping around on springy shoes that looked like feet from a Star Wars character, tumbling, somersaulting, standing on others' heads or shoulders, riding a trick bicycle and unicycle were included.

My favorite character was the Red Queen. "She" (played by a guy) was hilarious. After Alice drank the shrinking potion, the Red Queen -- who was about12-15 feet tall, drifted on stage. You could see the top of her body staying stationary but obviously female feet wearing bright red, glittery shoes kept poking out from underneath the hem of the dress. Later in the play while she was floating in an umbrella on water (created by guys billowing long, wide sheets of turquoise fabric so it looked like waves), the real person was actually clad in black pants from the waist down. The umbrella was secured around his waist and his teeny legs and feet wearing the shiny red shoes stuck out in front of him on the umbrella.

I'm having a hard time describing this play because so much of it involved the circus acts, they physicality of the actors. It was an excellent play.

Anybody out there?

Does anybody read these or am I just sending x's and o's out into cyber space?

crazed patrons

A fairly new restaurant in New Albany, Jackson's Seafood, got a good review in Saturday's paper. The day was picture perfect so we put the top down on the car and headed across the river (against Jerry's better judgment -- He knew the place would be crowded after reading the review). The place was PACKED but we gave our order quickly and found an empty table. It was only then we started looking around and realized there were more tables without food than those with it. So, we waited, and waited, and waited. We could almost feel the impatient rumblings rolling through the place when finally a couple of old women spoke up: "I know good and well it doesn't take an hour to fry a piece of fish!" One of them got her money back, warned "I'll never come back in here again", and stormed out. We-e-e-el, she left her sweater hanging on the back of the chair. A few minutes later she sort of sneaked back in to get it. One of the young men who worked there handed it to her and remarked, "I knew you'd be back, one way or another." That eased the tension and about half the restaurant howled with laughter. One woman even jumped up and started helping the staff clean off tables.

The poor guys who own the place were "caught with their pants down" and had to turn away customers and close for a couple of hours to regroup. They even returned everybody's money who had ordered but not received food. We will go back when things settle down because it was delicious.

Florida photos #4

I promise this is my last photo from our trip. I'm singling it out because it's one of my favorites.

Florida photos #3

The top photo was taken on the ferry ride across Mobile Bay. As you can see, the day was perfect. It shows the ramp that drops down for vehicles to get on and off the ferry.

Jerry standing by the ramp.

Susan, Paul, and Zuela looking for sea creatures from the ferry.

Geckos were EVERYWHERE. I took this shot by the swimming pool but there were many around Cindy's house. They look so much cuter to me now after being exposed to all those insurance commercials. :-)

Florida photos #2

Jerry gets to swim for the first time in about 4+ years! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!