It's beginning to look like our house in the woods

This is the latest view of our house.  It is beginning to look like the home in the woods that we have been planning all along.  Each day a little something is different, and at this point everything is noticeable.  Because we go up so often  we are getting very good at driving switchbacks.  The quickest road from our apartment to our house is called the W Road, and for good reason.  It's about a 3 mile climb up.  The road hugs the side of the mountain with some twists and turns, but it's that last 1/2 mile that  is quite interesting, particularly if you meet someone coming the other direction.  If you look at a Civil War era map you can notice that the road was a W even back then.   Once we get up on top the road flattens out because Signal Mountain is really more of a plateau than a peak.  We then have about a ten minute drive along the top, but driving up and down, no matter which road you take, is quite steep and twisty.

Last night we joined some friends at a bluegrass "concert" at the Mountain Opry.  It's on the mountain in a very old building which looks like it was a school back in the  40's.  Every Friday throughout the year, local bluegrass musicians gather just to play, and anyone can sit and watch, but this week was a little different. This was a fund raiser for scholarships to continue the Appalachian music tradition.  There were musicians of all ages there, but I was dumbfounded at the talent of some of the high school students.  There was an incredible 16 year old fiddler who played Orange Blossom Special, and  a young banjo player  starred in Salty Dog Blues (that was the song the Darlings played on Andy Griffith).   One young man was very accomplished on both the mandolin and the harmonica and another played a mountain dulcimer.  Of course, Rocky Top had some in the audience stomping in the aisles.  Banjo music does not mean Deliverance to me!

It's snowing here today, a nice soft quiet snow.  We are expecting a few inches to accumulate. SM gets about 5 inches of snow on average so this may be half of it now.   How I wish we were in our house sitting by the fire looking at the snow falling in the woods instead of in our apartment watching it fall in the parking lot. But, it's nice to know that we can enjoy it from indoors and we don't have to go out in the snow for anything other than an occasional doggy outing.

Congratulations to Elizabeth and Matt.
Best wishes to Pam and Bryan.
Welcome to the world Zoe Purkiss.

Enjoy with your audio turned on

This really brings out the true feeling of Christmas.  The vocalist is David Phelps.
Thanks, Karen, for passing this along.

Krista, what is Boomer doing in this YouTube video?

It's official

This morning we went with Becky to her 21 week ultrasound and we saw that our second grandchild is a boy.  How exciting!  The ultrasounds have become so much clearer since when they first came out 30 years ago.  We were able to see clearly all the little body parts - hands and fingers, feet and toes and, of course, the identifying boy parts. Unfortunately his head was turned in such a way that even when he moved around we weren't able to see his face. Our little grandson looked so comfortable, all cuddled up and warm, but we can't wait to greet him in March.

Really?

One of the reasons we liked the Chattanooga area is because it is SOUTH, about as south as you can get and still be in Tennessee.  And the elevation of the mountains is NOT SO HIGH.  That way we could avoid the heavier snowfall and colder temperatures in other areas we looked to retire.  So why, as we were laying out plans for our pantry shelves with our contractor, did it suddenly start to SLEET and SNOW?  In all fairness, everyone was astounded, telling us they had never seen snowfall this early in the season, but REALLY??

Our California trip

Cincinnati skyline from Dan's apartment

We just returned to Chattanooga after a wonderful trip to California, bookended by a few days in Beavercreek with Becky and family and   in Cincinnati with Dan.

  Even though we were in California for only ten days, we managed to fit in so much, and having Becky, Scott, and Julia visit at the same time allowed for California family fun.  I was sad that Dan wasn't able to join us on this trip, but hopefully another time it will work for the whole family to be together.


For those of you who want the short version, here are the main goals of this trip:
Celebrate Krista's birthday - we miss you, Krista
Visit dear friends - you all warmed my heart
Have my final appointment with Bob Havard - No more 6 month oncology checkups.  Can you see me jumping with joy???

For those of you who want the details of the trip, read on.

  Our first few days were with Krista in Concord.  She and Mike are in a new house and are enjoying the extra space that a three bedroom house affords compared to living in a one bedroom apartment. Thanks to Mike for spending much of the night babysitting the smoker so we could have such a wonderful barbecue where, in addition to the great food, we enjoyed getting together with family members, both close and extended..  Lyrica, we  missed you.
Tilden Park was great with the young kids. This is the same park where we saw the mountain lion last time I visited Krista, but this time we headed to a different location in the park.  We enjoyed the train, as well as the merry-go-round, but I think the highlight of the day was the attack of the mad turkey, right on LeAnne's head.  If only someone had captured a quick picture!

 Elizabeth and Matt joined the family in Santa Cruz.  We were all eager to introduce Julia to the beach so she could experience the ocean.  She wasn't impressed!  The Roaring Camp RR through the Redwood trees and feeding the pigeons with Matt were much bigger hits with her.

We spent the rest of the time in Visalia.  Jim and Penny Purkiss were kind enough to play host and hostess.  Thanks to you both for welcoming us so warmly and opening your home to us.You did such a good job of helping us fit everything we wanted into our week.And thanks for sharing Aries and Ryder.

With Linda working we had to schedule visits around school, meetings, and such, but I'm glad we got our shopping time in.  It felt like we picked up right where we left off seven months ago. I love the pink Rangers shirt and have worn it so much I've had to wash it twice already.

Lunch with Sandi and Mary at Watsons was very relaxing.  I love it back in their garden and the sun and friendship were equally warm.

We have already had our Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Dennis and LeAnne hosted Thanksgiving a month early so we could all join in the festivities.  Yummy turkey with all the trimmings and the closeness of friends and family in one October evening!

Every woman our age should have a Book Club.  It is so much more than the name designation.  Scrabble may be Scrabble, but Book Club will always be Book Club.

I loved going to our old house for tea.  I was a little afraid of how I would feel about someone else living at our old address, but it was very pleasant.  My memories are still with  me and I'm glad the house has become a home for another loving family.

Laura Court-ers will always be important to me. You were a part of so many of our life experiences and each of you is special to us in your own way.  There is a warm place where I keep the memories I made/make on Laura Court.

Dwight and Cathy, what a great evening of good food and playing catch-up. Of all the experiences golf has provided, letting us become friends is the best one of all.

Halloween found us in Beavercreek again.  Julia enjoyed trick or treating with her Uncle Dan.










We came home to find that quite a bit of work had been done on the house.  The dry wall is up so we have inside walls and the outside is coming along as well.  It still looks like a January move-in. Working with a great builder makes this whole process very fun, but I am looking forward to having a real home.

Just a few pictures to share

Things are doing well in SE Tennessee.  Today we joined a few friends on a two hour river trip.  Normally this small boat goes through the gorge of the Tennessee River, but today was a Civil War cruise which took us upriver instead.  On board was a Civil War expert from the National Park Service who guided us through the decisive battle at Chattanooga.  Living history is always more interesting, and from the river it was easy to picture the layout of the siege.These two pictures are of the city of Chattanooga from the river.

After the cruise we had lunch near the river and were able to watch the many teams who were participating in a crew event.  There were teams from all across the east, including Harvard, Princeton, Auburn, etc. and several blocks along the river were closed to traffic for the event.  It was a beautiful day to be on the river, both for us and for the athletes as well, I'm sure.

Here are a few pictures of our house.  It is all under roof and the plumbers, electricians, and HVAC people have been busy all week.  The siding and the wood for the tongue/groove sections of the ceiling are stacked in the garage, and the bathtub is in place.  Scott helped Gary wire the house for audio and Internet last weekend so the house is ready for drywall as well.  Thank you, Scott

the front of the house

the back of the house

the fireplace framed in

Julia got her pictures taken at daycare/school a few weeks ago so I thought I would share.  Those of you who knew Becky as a 2 1/2 year old will recognize a lot of her in Julia, but we see Scott as well..  

We are VERY tired of apartment living and I miss my stuff in storage!  Otherwise the world is good.

Judy