Sunday, December 27 – Thursday, December 31
Sunday, December 27
Happy 6th Birthday to Alexander Dondis in Richardson, Texas!!!
Happy Anniversary to Leah and Ryan McQuitty in Liberal, Kansas!!!
After all the snow and ice that we had been in, it was a very pleasant return to East Texas where the weather is cool, but without the frozen roads!
After doing laundry, unpacking the Vibe, and getting Big V all livable again, it was over to Mineola for us to check in with TJ and Edith. Since we do not intend to travel anywhere Monday, I whipped up some chicken salad to take over to Edith’s for Ernie to fix for her lunch tomorrow.
With things as crazy as they’ve been lately, we are very behind on mailing out Christmas gifts to our other children and grandchildren so that has to be a priority soon! Maybe we can get that done by Tuesday. At least that is our goal for now.
Monday, December 28
For the first time in a l-o-n-g time, we just hung around Big V, straightening the place up and catching up on mail.
While Barbara worked inside during the afternoon, I tackled the job of clearing out briar vines from the trees along the north side of the gully. We have a number of beautiful trees (not legally a part of our property, but on a lot that can never be sold and that looks like it belongs to us) that are literally being choked out by many years’ worth of vines. Our hope is that the trees will begin to flourish and provide even more shade than in the past.
The day also included bread-baking as we worked to finish preparing Christmas packages for the kids and grandkids…a little late, but with lots of love. Barbara did the organizing and packing, and by the end of the evening, we had four packages ready to send out tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 29
With the threat of freezing rain and sleet hanging over us, I decided to get out early this morning and carve away as many briar vines as possible while I could. I know we talked much earlier in the year about the briars that we found when we first purchased the lot and how difficult it is to remove them. Basically what we have to do is cut each vine off as near to the ground as possible and then pull it away from the tree. Since there may be as many as twenty to thirty vines (some as long as 20-25 feet) growing through a tree, and they are all entangled with the branches and each other, it is a tedious (and often painful) task, with the sharp thorns snapping back and cutting through multiple layers of clothing to slice arms and legs.
T.J. invited us to come to lunch at her house today, so after we got cleaned up and delivered the Christmas packages to the post office in Quitman, we motored in to Mineola, picked Mother up, and drove over to T.J.’s house for a wonderful meal of cooked cabbage, roast pork, mashed potatoes and gravy, and fresh hot cornbread…yum-yum! Since Ernie and Billee don’t eat pork products, they were left to fend for themselves for their lunch.
After lunch and some visiting, we took Mother back to her house, went to the post office and the store, and then returned to Holiday Village just in time for the weather front to hit.
Barbara went inside to take a nap, but I decided to go outside while it was just sprinkling and cut out as many vines as I could before the really bad stuff hit. By five o’clock, there was a steady shower all around (I was under the trees, so I didn’t get too wet) and the sun was going down, so I called it quits and returned to Big V for the evening, where we had a light supper. Following our meal, Barbara started work on a big bowl of Puerto Rican potato salad and then we whiled the evening away working on the journal and playing computer games.
Wednesday, December 30
We were both up during the night, so we slept in until around 8:00 this morning, something very unusual for us. After a little light straightening in Big V (delaying a much-needed deep cleaning for another time), we gathered the potato salad and some bread and headed to Mineola for our Wednesday noon meal with the family.
Unfortunately, T.J. was feeling under the weather, so she wasn’t able to join us. Billee said that she was still full from a late breakfast and stayed in her room, but Mother, Ernie, Barbara, and I enjoyed a wonderful meal of chicken patty sandwiches, potato salad, carrots, and Red Velvet cake. It was good to see that Mother is regaining her appetite and enjoying her meals once again.
Usually, Mother heads for her room right after eating, but today she surprised us by walking straight from the table to one of the living room couches, where she sat down and the four of us talked, joked, laughed, and played with Spike and Bonita for about an hour before deciding it was time to move on to other things.
On the way out of town we stopped at a video store and rented some movies. After reading Flags of Our Fathers, I’ve become very interested in the WW II Battle of Iwo Jima. We not only found that movie, but also located Letters from Iwo Jima, a movie (directed by Clint Eastwood, as was Flags of Our Fathers) depicting the story of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers who were ordered to defend the island “to the death” in order to forestall the imminent invasion of Japan by American forces.
In addition to the two movies, I also found a copy of Iwo Jima, 50 Years of Memories, a PBS documentary featuring Marine Corps and Navy archival footage of the month long battle for the tiny 8-mile square island that took the lives of 21,000 Japanese soldiers and over 6,000 American military personnel.
Tonight, we decided that we weren’t up to a full-length movie, but did watch the documentary to help us understand more of what happened during that hellish battle.
Thursday, December 31
Good Morning World…It’s New Year’s Eve…the last day of 2009!
It was another routine day for the Littles. Since the sun doesn’t come up very early around here and it was so foggy we could barely see across the road, we didn’t have a whole lot of desire to get out and around this morning.
I tackled the vines around a few more trees while Barbara got some things ready to take to Mother’s house, and we finally got away from here around 11:30, stopping at Walmart in Mineola to buy supplies for tomorrow’s lunch before going to the post office, Mother’s house, and then T.J.’s house before returning to the lake and Big V.
A short afternoon nap was in order after all that exertion and then we settled in for a quiet New Year’s Eve…not a whole lot of excitement for those of us who are hanging around Holiday Village this week. Well, we did have a brief moment of excitement as two deer came running across the lot…the first time that we’ve seen deer on our property…and we didn’t even have the camera at hand!
Today’s entry was prepared just after I made my annual New Year’s Eve call to our friends, Max and Marion, in Santa Fe, and Barbara made her annual call to our friends Gary and Joyce in Houston…it’s one of the few traditions we have maintained.
Once the calls were made, we decided to forego any TV celebrations and just go on to bed around 9:30 or so. We even fell asleep, but found ourselves waking up around 11:00, so we went ahead and got up to listen to the fire crackers that were being set off all around the park (and the resultant dog-barking, also all around the park).
After welcoming 2010, we finally fell asleep again around 1:00 a.m., the latest we’ve stayed up for New Year’s Eve in a long time.
“The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!” ~Edward Payson Powell
Worn out by the troubles of 2009, but happy to see another new year at Lake Fork, Texas,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
ADDENDUM
The following was written as the foreword to Journal 7. The journals are printed, bound, and given to our children and grandchildren as histories of our life and travels during the first years of our retirement. We share it here as our final thoughts on the past year.
December 31, 2009
As we sit here on the last night of 2009, pondering our experiences of the past year… our perceived brutality of the past four months, as well as the high points (of which there have been far more than low points), we are struck with wonderment at how God has embellished and enriched our lives through contacts with old friends and how He has sent us angels to help us on our journey through the tough times…what a mighty and loving God we serve!
With each 6-month segment of our retirement (and this is the seventh), we have had the pleasure of mountaintop experiences (sometimes literally) with friends, new and old, and family.
Traveling across this great country of ours, whether by car, motorcycle, or motorhome, has been an exhilarating experience. We’ve met new friends, worshipped in new churches, seen new sights, and learned new skills. And, along the way we’ve renewed old relationships and discovered the strength of bonds that were created in past experiences.
Our retirement journey (as life itself is a journey) continues to amaze us as we rack up both experiences and miles. The journal chronicles the experiences, but we wait until the end of each segment to figure out the miles it took to have all those experiences.
Since July 1 of this year we have logged a total of 19,180 miles on our personal vehicles; 13,211 on the Vibe, 2,628 on the Voyager (motorcycle), and 3,341 on the Voyage (motorhome). In addition, Barbara had approximately 2,000 miles on an emergency flight from Baltimore to Lubbock.
For the year, we drove/rode 33,264 miles; 24,397 in the Vibe, 3,073 on the Voyager, and 5,794 in the Voyage. Now, we just need to figure a way to run up that kind of mileage going to places we haven’t been before; like the Pacific Northwest and all the New England states…the dream is still alive.
As we stand on the cusp of a new calendar year, we offer up our profound thanks for the prayers and good works of family and friends (who we consider to be extended family) who have supported us during the hard times and celebrated with us during the good times. We treasure your love and friendship far more than mere words can tell.
Wishing each of you a wonderful and prosperous 2010 from Our LITTLE Lot at Lake Fork, Texas,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
