Lisa and Rachel's Visit...

 Yesterday we had a memorable visit with our daughter, Lisa White, her daughter Rachel Walmer, and her daughter, Ellie. Yes, that makes us great grandparents! Rachel and baby daughter arrived from North Carolina around 2:00 pm and Lisa arrived  from Wilmington , DE around 2:30. They had a shower to attend attend in the area around 11:00 and chose to stay with us overnight.

The first part of our visit was to meet once again our young great granddaughter and be amazed at how much she had grown since our last visit when she was still a neonate in proper parlance. Now she will be 9 months old on June the 30th. She stands a little wobbly and falls frequently. We have a carpeted floor so no injuries and up and at further attempts to stand. Ellie is incredibly curious about everything and has to be watched carefully.

Later in the afternoon, Jeff and Cathy, our daughter and son-in-law, Jeff  came over to visit and join in the fun and games with Ellie. After they left, Lisa and I drove out to a barbecue place and a grocery to buy the makings of supper. When we returned Lisa and Rachel assembled a tasty supper and we continued conversations.

After supper we moved to the living room where Rachel and I had interesting back and forth about AI, it's uses and potential good/evil for mankind. Rachel, our granddaughter, has a doctorate in a medical field and has some experience with AI. I just have a huge curiosity about many things and find AI a fascinating new way to  learn. We all turned in for the night around 10:30.

This morning we continued our visit over breakfast until around 10 am when they began the process to go to the next event, the wedding shower.

Mary

 My sister passed this existence at 5 am this morning. A sad day for us. We were able to have a good visit with her this past week while she was able to participate. For that I'm most grateful!

Visiting sister Mary March 8.

 My sister Mary K. Inge lives about an hour and a half west of us in the town of Crozet just before Afton mountain with her husband, Malcolm Inge. She is my baby sister. Our family had 4 boys and then our sister. Still living are our baby brother, Michael and I.

The first of last week Michael called me and informed us that her cancer had returned with a vengeance  and she would probably not be with us long. Our family ( our two daughters and I)  went into high mode to devise how we could visit her. Lisa. our eldest lives in Delaware and Cathy who isn't retired collaborated to plan a Saturday visit which we did at the end of that week.

We drove in two cars and were there by 11:30. Even though on palliative medicine, Mary was able to enjoy our visit with her. Our visit stretched out to 2 hours and all of us stayed away mostly from topics related to her condition. Malcolm joined in the conversation and attended to keeping her comfortable. What a great husband he is! It was a visit we will cherish the rest of our lives.

Q

Preparing For Another Snow!

Another 2 day snow event is barreling down on us. This is Monday and it will be on the ground Wednesday and Thursday, followed by some deep freeze temperatures.Today is Feb.18,2025. It's cloudy outside but snow chances have dwindled a little for us, It's almost lunchtime and Lib and I are just two old 80's year olds passing time, and time to our demise ticks closer. Happy Day??? Ripe old age is often spent in reflection upon the life we've lived as we no longer have responsibilities and lack the strength and energy to do much more. 

Today is Feb.19,2025 . We were expecting some attention from Liberty Mutual about the limb that hit our house roof earlier in the week,but received calls saying because of the impending snow storm that was not likely. Got up this morning and it was snowing lightly at 7 am. It's 10 am and I'm checking out temporarily.

Today is February 20 at around noon. It snowed of and on all last night and finally stopped just recently. The outside temperature is near freezing and the melt has slowly begun. 

Continuation ...l

 Just about time I was ready to meet the day, I heard  LOUD crash like a nearby lightning strike, not accompanied by thunder. I pulled on my clothes and hobbled outside....yep! A large branch had fallen off a nearby tree and maybe hit the roof and slid down beside the house. About half an hour later our current went off and stayed that way for about 6 hours until about  3:15 pm. WiFi died with it because we have no towers in Brandermill, or so the explanation went, so no phone service.

Tomorrow we'll spend some of the day dealing with our home insurance! That will be a challenge. I hope the inspection will reveal a minimum of damage needing repair.....will continue this tomorrow! 

Visit From Woodstock Friend

 Yesterday I received a phone call from Judy Schiller Landry. She is a violinist friend/ acquaintance from my 3 years at Woodstock School in the foothills of the Himalaya mountains near Mussoorie, India. If you read my blog you understand that both of us are of very ripe age. When she was about 17 and I was about 14 my father requested that she further my instruction in violin which turned out for several months when our family rather suddenly returned to America because my father's deteriorating health.

We met each other again at a Woodstock School reunion just about it was over and then several times again to play in a trio or other grouping  at a function of the reunion. She has a daughter near Richmond ,Va. and we have kept in touch annually by Christmas letters. She lives in Tennessee, and was in town to an orchestra performance and wanted to visit and that's how it all came together. It was a fine visit and we traced out our lives and compared anecdotes from our ancient times at Woodstock to the present as time permitted. Her daughter and my wife interpolated their life experiences also.

Today, a mild winter snow event passed through. We had about 2.5 inches until noon or so. I had some honey do tasks to complete but wanted to complete this entry to my blog for posterity. Life is interesting and mine I thank God for the memories of interesting people I have met along my journey.

More Snow...'

 Pardon me but the boy in me is relishing the winter scenery since this is the first real winter experienced in several years. Facebook is full of neighbors' and family pics. These are for my own enjoyment.The top four are from our kitchen window early in the morning looking west and the bottom one is from our living room looking east. Tempature around 30 degrees F.