Home from Kiawah

Finally arrived home again after a week in Kiawah, a visit to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and some work (for Steve) in Baltimore. Today is nothing like the HOT weather we had in Kiawah last week. I have long pants on for the first time since last May. I think the official date of fall occurring last week was an accurate calling of the end of summer weather in Northwest Ohio.

Our trip to Kiawah was a celebration of friendship. Five couples comprised of "the guys", friends from grade school and high school and the wives. It was an amazing time. We have done the decade birthdays together since 1979 when the guys turned 30. Not everyone every time but everyone has a good time. Steve and I missed the first in 1979 but have been at all of them since. We fear the conversations that might take place when we aren't there so it becomes a necessity to be in attendance or risk being the topic of the week. We rented a large house and cooked in this year and the result will be a best seller cookbook to be published here in the next couple of weeks. Remember to get those recipes to me. It was the perfect way to handle a group of 10 for dinner and also we found the cocktail hours to be much cheaper. Knowing we didn't have to drive home after dinner wasn't all bad either.

Lots to do at home now but look for more Kiawah this week.

Thoughts and prayers out to Tom who ended the week off in Kiawah with a Monday morning appointment for a hip replacement. We understand the surgery was a success and now hope for a speedy rehab.

Alligator warning

We are on vacation in Kiawah SC this week and as they say you are never to old to learn something new. Steve and I were bike riding yesterday and as we rode past a pond we heard what sounded like a motorcycle starting. As we came nearer I expected to see a worker with a gasoline engine weed whacker. But neither of these expected pictures came into view. What the sound was surprised both Steve and I. It was a rather large alligator either attacking something or just growling. I never knew that alligators made such a loud unusual sound. We heard it again later sitting on the deck of the house we are renting. There are ponds throughout the island and many signs warning of gators. We are all being a little more conscience now but are glad to know about a potential audible warning there are gators in the immediate vicinity.

Blog or Facebook

Lately it seems I have not been posting to the blog as often as I had hoped. Part of the reason is that I have been using facebook. Many of my friends are members of facebook and it is a quick way to get bits of information. It isn't the diary of life that the blog has been but it is fun. There are also lots of applications to use (i. e. games to play) I have become a Farm Town farmer and a whiz at typing maniac. I promise the blog will not die and as the weather turns and the golf ends I am sure I will have more interesting information to post.

I have felt somewhat overwhelmed this summer with Mike moving out and then breaking up with Kristin, the kitchen project and the roof and house painting. The projects are progressing, Mike seems to be doing OK, and golf is winding down. Vacation next week is a real positive. It will be nice to get away and the time with friends will be priceless. Expect lots of pictures as I am anxious to spent time with the camera experimenting with different settings. With the crowd we are going to be with I am sure there are going to be many picture moments.

For today I continue to tick off the items to get done before vacation.

Monday Monday oops it is Tuesday

Hope everyone had a delightful Labor Day Weekend and is ready for the change of seasons. We golfed, golfed and golfed and enjoyed a near perfect weekend. The exception is that it rained on the 17th hole on Monday. We played with friends in Cleveland on Sunday and it is always nice to see how your game holds up on a different course. The Cleveland friends were classmates of Steve's from Ohio State so it seems this September may be a month to celebrate long standing friendships. We look forward to our vacation in Kiawah later this month with friends too. That trip will celebrate the 60th birthdays of friends, some of whose whose friendships date back to grade school.

We saw Mike this weekend and he continues to tinker in his duplex. He has been decorating and changing things to his own tastes. It was fun to have him around on Saturday while we had friends at the house. He enjoys being with our friends and it is nice that they include him. He liked having a holiday that he did not have to work and still received pay for. His great delight is not having to work the day after Thanksgiving. I did not realize it until he brought it up for like the 12th time but all of his previous jobs did not include the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday. A reminder to all of us not working in retail or low level factory jobs to enjoy our paid holidays.

September

Is summer over?? It certainly has seemed that way the last week. Cool temperatures in the daytime and almost cold at night. We have had to use the heater outside to eat on the deck this past weekend. Last night was too cool even for the heater. The grass is green and lush which is not a common sight for August in Ohio. Now the Farmers Almanac is predicting a COLD winter. Where is Al Gore in all of this. I think I may want to move to where the global warming is occurring. I always think of September as a great extension of summer. Warm weather with no bugs and cool nights for great sleeping with no air conditioning. If it continues like this we will be having to use the furnace to take the morning chill off of the house.

Mike continues to do OK. I have been calling him and stopping by on a much more frequent bases this past week and he is adjusting. He misses the company of another person in the house but otherwise is handling living alone. He becomes insurance eligible today. YEA!! The job is great and with time we will get him another girl and short term another roommate.

My postings have been less frequent because I have become addicted to a game on facebook called FarmTown. (thank you very much Amanda) I hope to reach the last level sometime this month and then I will be done with it. I now understand a little better how so much time can be spent on stupid games on the computer. And I thought just surfing was bad enough. If you check it out it is my suggestion that you do NOT start playing. It is fun but truly becomes an addiction for those of us with compulsive personalities.

Golf planned for the holiday weekend and then house painting to go with our new roof. Also getting ready for the 60th birthday bash with the gang in Kiawah. Hopefully the highlight of September!

Keep smiling!