Nashville time

Oh oh, the weather again. We had planned to drive on Sunday (Jan.20) but decided it would be better to drive on Saturday. After all, there are some mountains in the middle.
The first part went quite well, the second part we had to drive in a deluge. Very very heavy rain. No fun.

We did our usual quick stops to stretch our legs.

And we arrived safely. 

On Sunday morning we went to the Episcopal Church close to our townhouse which we used to attend  when we actually lived in Nashville for a few months before Virginia. Some people actually recognized us. We must not have changed too much.

In the afternoon William arrived with his little red suitcase. He was spending the night because there was no school the next day = MLK !

In the evening we played different games. There is more than one way how to play with dominoes. We had a lot of fun.

 

James had searched the internet what to do with William the next day but so many places were closed because it was a Monday. It was way too cold to go to Cheekwood or other places outdoors.

But ... since it was not a school night William was allowed to stay up longer (which he so loves) and then slept in the next morning. He actually woke up, went to the bathroom, climbed between us and immediately fell asleep again - for quite a while.

Nothing like a leisurely day. We had a nice breakfast and then we went shopping. William needed new shoes. He was very cooperative and we found what he liked and fit. He also was very good trying on jeans. He is so slim that it was difficult to find something. Papa was with him in the changing booth and I kept running forth and back with possible choices. And yes, we found something in "slim" and "adjustable". He decided they looked good on him. Yeah! And we also found 3 long-sleeve t-shirts. 

And then it was lunchtime. William's choice was Olive Garden. Well, we like the soup and salad there too. He said not to be angry with him if he wants to eat too many of the breadsticks. He also mentioned that grandparents are there to spoil. We took the remains of his lunch home to his house for dinner (with one more breadstick). It's all good.

Tuesday

Papa picked William up from school at 3 pm. William knows how to take care of the "ladies". The hens like some treats.

Papa is also very good keeping William company with homework and his spelling words. And ... we played Monopoly. OMG, the boy is good. He ended up way richer than me. Papa was the banker.

Wednesday

Helen has to work in the morning and Papa picked William up from school again. Since Helen wanted to go to Taekwondo we took William with us for the night. After all, we don't see him that often. I found a General Tree Monopoly game. Everything is very tiny but we still had a lot of fun. This time William wanted to be the bank.

But it was a school night so we could not play too long.

The next morning he was like always good as gold. Popped out of bed and got ready for school. When Papa brought him there he stopped at Helen's house though. William gave his Mommy a "happy-birthday-kiss". 

Family tree: Wallace

Out of the blue we received an email. Another good use / blessing of writing my blog. Nancy and Mark in Alberta, Canada, had seen a blog of our visit to James' sister in Windsor in 2012. Nancy is working on Mark's family tree and determined that James was family. We were so happy and pleasantly surprised.

Looking at this chart I just found on the internet, Mark is a "second cousin" to James. How exciting is that?

This has prompted me of course to look again at some of the things we had found last summer when we visited the Cambridge University Library (blog HERE).

So, it took a while to put the photos from the Album into a document. But HERE it is what I have so far. I don't know what I could do to make it better. We still would love to know who Trixie is!!!

And HERE is more information about James' grandfather and grandfather's brothers we found on the internet.

Thanks, Nancy and Mark, for giving me a nudge of thinking about this again.

First two thirds of January

Did it again. Time run away. Lots is always going on.

I didn't take many photos so far but of course my flowers inside give me great pleasure, especially if it is gray and dingy outside.

Got to find joy wherever you can. The camellia in front of our house offers some here and there. 

Thursday January 3 the "Kaffeeklatsch Runde" came together in my house. I had sent invitations and 4 other German ladies could come for coffee and cake in the afternoon. James had some errands and went to the library. When he came back he went into the loft and later commented to me "oh wow, you all can talk", of course we only talk German.

Next day, Friday evening, we had asked the group of neighbors we sometimes go out with to a restaurant dinner, to stop in afterwards for desserts. That was nice social time too.

Saturday evening we went to our Church for the Feast of Lights service which is always lead by our youth and very touching. Afterwards there is the burning of the greens. The church gets undecorated because it's the end of Christmas, the beginning of Epiphany. Members can bring their dry Christmas trees too. Oh my, it always amazes me how the dry greens "explode" in the fire. 

Even though Epiphany was Sunday I left the decorations up one more day because Monday was the lacemakers meeting in my house which we had to cancel in December. As always, I cooked a lunch for all and we had a good time. But all those "textile" things will be on my other blog. 

After this it took a couple of days to pack away Christmas things. Dear James was a tremendous help as always. I used to find it to be a chore but not for several years. Putting it up and taking it down makes me look at all those memories. Ornaments we had made or received from family and friends, all those nativities I have collected in different countries over the world etc etc etc. What is not to like.

Since the beginning of the new year I am trying very hard to do what I am supposed to do = 30 minutes on a stationary bike and at least 30 minutes of walking.

January 9 and the weeds are blooming. We had a spell of nice weather and walking in the community is very nice. James and I were enjoying it whenever possible. Quite often though the weather is such that I drive to our gym and do the walking there also on the treadmill.

 Oh yes, once in a while we drive "over the river" to see our 3 grandsons there.

Once when we babysat it was time to do the reading to Caleb before bedtime but he was so tired that he didn't quite hear the end.

Ugh, Sunday the 13 = another day with icy rain. We did make it to church though and a little shopping afterwards.

Since we were out we decided to stop also for lunch. This is the Rahmen place Helen doubted we would like when she visited us. Ha, we did like the Japanese food. It was very cold inside though due to the weather I am sure.

The ice crusted trees were beautiful though.

Snow in the night so James did some shoveling. He just likes the exercise I think.

Unfortunately, one of our windows didn't like it. Again we had some glass bust in the sunroom. Well, that's something else we were busy with starting right away in the new year: getting estimates for new windows and sliding glass door for the sunroom. OMG, we had several company representatives come on different days. It seemed that each took half a day from us. The cost difference was incredible. Anyway, we made our request to our HOA and we placed an order to one of the companies. It will take a while but we are looking forward to having it done.

And yes, getting ready to drive to Nashville. Helen's birthday is next.

Silvester

In Germany I only knew New Year's Eve as Silvester. And it was a big  celebration. Most families have fireworks. At midnight everybody goes outside, meets their neighbors and fires the fireworks.

1975 was a special Silvester celebration in Germany for us. James and I celebrated  our church wedding with our families. In Germany you always have to have a civil wedding (church/religious wedding is optional but would be in addition). We were legally married the day before Thanksgiving that year in City Hall Manhattan.

Anyway, we usually don't make a big deal out of these days since everyday is special to us. James surprised me though when he walked in with this beautiful bouquet. Yup, my James is a great guy.

We had not planned anything special or different than any other evening. But it was.  A few days earlier we had bought a cheese fondue. This day seemed the right day for it. We had not had it in soooooo long. Oh, was it good. 

James had to get the bread for it though. He remembered (from about 20 years ago) that one fondue package didn't seem enough but two were too much. So he also bought sashimi ... just in case. 

Perfect dinner!

Ha-ha, I just turned 70 and just now for the first time I learned why I always called this day Silvester. I googled and found this information on Wikipedia:

Saint Sylvester's Day, also known as Silvester (also spelled Sylvester, Szilveszter, or Sylwester) or the Feast of Saint Sylvester, is the day of the feast of Pope Sylvester I, a saint who served as Pope of the Western Church from 314 to 335 and is considered by tradition as overseeing both the First Council of Nicaea and Roman Emperor Constantine I's conversion to Christianity. Among the Western Christian Churches, the feast day is held on the anniversary of Saint Sylvester's death, 31 December, a date that, since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, has coincided with New Year's Eve. 

Happy New Year to you all. We hope this new year will bring you lots of blessings.