Even More Celebrating

Tis the season for partying eh

 

Actually, on the 29th we gathered to celebrate the newest septuagenarian on the block and that is Jo-Anne.

 

We had a party in our new apartment and invited our new friends and neighbors to our place to congratulated Jo-Anne on this neat occasion. Here's the birthday girl with the spread of cakes and other snacks to feed our hungry guests. My beautiful lady hasn't aged a bit since we met and it's neat to have a lifelong friend and companion like her at my side.

 

We had a great time, good conversations, and sampled some different wines our friends brought. It was really great as no one had to drive home ... just take the elevator back to your respective floor.

And now to rest up for the final event of the year which is the New Years Celebration tonight ... which will be hosted by one of the couples here in the building. Nice not having to go out in the 19 degree weather which is predicted for tonight.

More Celebrating

 

After a few days back at our apartment in Flower Mound we headed to the kids' place in Richardson on Christmas morning to exchange gifts and say hi to Brooks' parents who had spent the night there before heading back to Alabama.

 

Here's the star of the event engrossed in another present. He had already been up earlier with his parents and had opened the Santa part of his gifts and then we arrived later for more exchanges. The beautiful tree and the miniature village on the server reminded us of earlier holiday times when Leighanne was this age and totally focused on each new item.

 



The young man is really into the "Snap Circuits" learning toys and within an hour of this picture had assembled the complex wiring and structure of this "Rover" and had it firing projectiles around the room with his remote control. Wow!

Then a lot of great food and talk with Judith and Larry Whittington. Brooks is in the kitchen ... not sure why ... and above the table is Leigh's new chandelier that was a Christmas present ... neat!

And finally a pic that Brooks took of their new creature, a Cornish Rex cat named Winston that looks here like he is pretending to be "The alien that ate Metropolis!"

Super, super time and the weather cooperated nicely for a really great holiday time with all the relatives to relax and enjoy some good time and conversation together.

Celebrating Wisdom and Experience

While that may sound strange, it's very appropriate this time to talk about Mom's 99th birthday and her 99th Christmas ... what a history!

 

Below are brother Richard and wife Kerry with the almost centenarian ... next year will be the big one or one hundred actually. We left Flower Mound on the 20th and motored in the car the 200 miles down to see Mom at the St Joseph Manor nursing home in Bryan. Taking the car and staying in a hotel is quite different for us when the RV was so much home for so long ... oooh motel beds and their linens ... miss the Flying Scotsman already.

 

Actually the Manor had their Christmas party on the 21st so we brought a few presents to Mom to be opened in the communal room of the home. After Santa got done with the public presentations we opted for a private room and treated Mom to some cake and ice cream and had her Christmas there.

 

Then we were back at the Manor on the 23rd for her 99th birthday. Sometimes when we visit she isn't spontaneous but this time she was funny, witty, and quite observant of what was going on and the presents we were giving her on this auspicious occasion.

For each card and gift Richard and I presented she had some neat comments and some really appropriate thanks to us for each gift. Notice the "99" on the cake which we soon demolished with her help as well as some ice cream. We just wish we were a bit closer to give Richard a hand and be with Mom more often at this point in her life.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Mom!!!

"ICE"

 

On the 18th we were treated by the apartment complex to the annual ice sculpture display at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine. While we had been to the Gaylord several years in a row to show grandson Ev Santa Clause and the other awesome Christmas decorations, we had not been to the ice sculpture part of the place.

 

Wow!

 



You enter a huge area divided into many rooms and passages all filled with different ice sculptures. The place is kept at a steady 9 degrees F so you didn't dally too long at each set of displays ... even with the blue Smurf outfits supplied by the event. Apparently the temperature is what is required for carving and to ensure it stays solid with all the human interaction nearby.

There were probably 20 different venues including this ice bar.

 

The frozen mice not even stirring.

 

And the old elf himself with his cool reindeer and some frozen toys.

 

 

Culminating with a manger scene and this beautiful angel.

 

The carving was done and this display has been here for about a month yet sadly within a week or so will literally be down the drain. We were really appreciative of the Overture folks who gave us the tickets and transportation to the place ... beautiful!

Creeping Cracks

 

As we rolled happily into Texas this fall we picked up a few new stone hits that eventually, with the change of temperature, really started to turn into some good runners across the windshield ... rats!

 

Once the Flying Scotsman was safely put to bed in its new storage facility we called the Good Sam insurance gurus and they set up a replacement team to get a new window installed where it sat.

 

Below is where the repair guys had just popped the top weather-stripping off .... and crickledecrack the whole thing started to look like a roadmap of cracks.

 



Here's a better view from the inside of the web of lines across the huge piece of glass.

 

Then as they took the old one out we had a really unobstructed view, eh.

 

As they parked the old one next to their truck I think one guy said, "That's one big window." I think it was about 250 pounds in the huge crate in the back of the truck.

And just about done. I had to help from the inside with the weather-strip as one guy poked and caulked all of the edges for a water tight seal.

$500 deductible and about an hour later we had a new window to watch the fascinating terrain roll by again ... although I'm not sure if I want to take the new glass out for a ride or not!