Happy Birthday - Krista

July 24th - Saturday - Krista's Birthday

My youngest daughter turns 40 years old today. She was one of my greatest joy as a mother, as I was able to stay home with her when she was born. The older two children were in school when she was born and that allowed Krista and I the whole day to ourselves. Each day brought a new adventure for us, as she was a bright, pretty and happy little girl that loved everyone she came in contact with. This all continued for the first two years of her life and at that time, her father filed for divorce and at that time our lives changed. I needed to find a place to live and employment that would support myself and three children.

Thankfully, all of us were very close and had learned to be very independent. Susie at that time was eight years old and she was the best baby sitter I could find. She truly loved Krista and knew what would make her happy, even Scott found he liked to play dollies with the girls and the girls found that they loved playing with Hot Wheels. We found a cute apartment within walking distance to school, work and the grocery. We were settling in and finding a new life.

It wasn't long after we were settled in our new home that Al came into our lives and Krista found a new Daddy and a bond was formed that never failed. Isn't it wonderful how God has a plan for all of us that is for the betterment of us.

Krista being the last child was quick to make friends by herself and wasn't afraid to tackle something new and different. She might wake up and have butterflies in her stomach knowing she was going to do something different, she didn't let it stop her, she continued with the plan and made the best of it. She went to many different camps, had swimming lessons, took ballet lessons, joined Brownies, went to day camp, along with church and Sunday School.

We moved to Pennsylvania when she was ten years old and there she found another special friend, and that was her Grandpa Goodwin. His birthday was the day after hers, Krista and her Grandpa celebrated their birthdays together each year. Note the pictures above. The picture of Krista and her Grandpa at the kitchen table was Daddy's 75th birthday and Krista was seven. We celebrated that birthday by all of the family going to the Woodshed for dinner, and what a good time we all had together.

Krista was the perfect teenager, never disobedient, was active in church and her youth group and even worked with other children in Child Evangelism summer camp. The only time I can remember Krista becoming upset with her father and me was after we moved to Pennsylvania, and it was time for the Christmas tree to be set up. I came up with the idea of getting a large live limb and attaching it to the ceiling and decorating it. Al thought that was a good idea also, so off we set to find the perfect evergreen limb. Krista came home from school and found the limb attached to our ceiling and was she ever upset???? She packed her little suitcase and out the door she went. It wasn't long until Aunt Joanne called and told us Krista was there and did we want her to give her dinner and then send her home. Kris returned home before dark and found the limb all decorated and decided she rather liked it and shared the news of her special limb with her friends at school.

Kris graduated from high school and was married, had some problems; however, Al and I did not give up on her, and felt that she would remember what she had been taught as a child and would return to the family as before. Our family stepped in and helped care for her new baby, Michelle as Krista got her life straightened out. God did return Krista to the family and when Al had his accident she stepped up to the job at hand and proved to us that she could and would be able to care for her then school age daughter.

Krista got an apartment by herself and proved to herself that she was a worthy person and could take care of herself and would also be responsible for her daughter, that she had just been given custody of.

She shared with Al and myself how much she appreciated our love and the fact that we did not give up on her and she proved that many times over as Al neared the end of his life here on earth. She took a leave of absence from her job and took care of Al during the day while I worked. She would come to the house anytime I called when I needed help with anything. Once again God was faithful to provide for all of us at the time of our need.

This past year she has come through her diagnosis of cancer, taken all of her radiation and chemo and is awaiting the doctor to give her "a return to work slip". She is ready to begin to live life to the fullest once again. She has retained her faith and have learned many of life's lessons the hard way. She is busy getting her daughter ready to set off to college in August.

She is a daughter that we can be proud of and know that she is next door and willing to do whatever she needs to do for Lou, Estee and myself whenever we ask for help. She has told Lou that after her Daddy died she prayed for God to give her Daddy back to her and He did the next best thing, He sent Lou to all of us.

Happy Birthday Kris, we love you.

Erie, PA - Visit with Aunt Marilyn

July 22nd Thursday - Foggy and 64 degrees at 7:00 A.M.

Lou and I were up early and ready to leave the house before 7:00 this morning. Our destination was Erie, PA to visit my one and only remaining aunt on my mother's side of the family and one of my very favorite people in the world. I had not seen her in 15 years, but she has been so faithful to me over the years, with cards, letters and phone calls. She probably is the lady that is responsible for me agreeing to marry Lou when he asked me. She was the first person I called and talked to, as her husband had died very unexpectedly and she married a childhood sweetheart and just recently lost him. She told me to follow my heart, that God had laid the path and it was up to me to follow that path and thank God, I listened to her. She immediately fell in love with Lou also and what a wonderful day we had chatting together.

We traveled up route 86, allowing our GPS in the car guide us. We stoppeed in Salamanca for breakfast near the Seneca-Allegheny Casino and we noted a sign stating they had Senecas for sale and Lou and I didn't know what they were talking about, but soon found out they were a brand of cigarettes and they were $23.30 per carton compared to a brand name at $46.00. Both of agreed we were glad that we didn't smoke.

We passed by a beautiful resort lake names Chartauqua Lake near Bemus Point. Reminded me of Eagles Mere, beautiful home with this beautiful crystal clear lake. Neither of us had traveled this route and enjoyed the drive; however, it would not be a way to travel after dark and we decided quickly, we would return home another way.

We arrived at Aunt Marilyn's house about 11:00 am and I was ever so glad to see her, for a lady of nearly 90 years of age, she is one remarkable lady. She gets up and down as easily as I do and steady on her feet and she can tell more family history that I could be reading the family tree. She also is a world traveler, so she and Lou had much to chat about and chat we did until about 2:30, when we decided we would drive the mile over to Presque Isle. Lou drove and Aunt Marilyn was the navigator. So many things were new since Lou and I had been there. I was impressed by the number of house-boats that were on the lake, and of course, Lou delights in any type of sail boat. We got out and walked to the lighthouse; however, the trees obscured our view and picture taking. We witnessed the damage done by the recent tornado to the Isle, sad to see the damage where one would not expect tornado damage.

After our sightseeing, we drove to one of Aunt Marilyn's favorite restaurants and had a late lunch of a delightful crusted Pecan chicken salad and lava cake and ice cream for desert. After lunch we went back to the house, that is exactly the way I remember their home. How this lady has kept it in such wonderful repair and it was spotless inside and out. Like I said, she is a remarkable lady. We viewed her recent pictures of her cruise to Alaska, and beautiful they were. She and Lou had much to discuss about their respective trips to Alaska.

All too soon, it was time to be back on the road, so after thank yous, hugs and kisses we were back on the road for home; however, this time we took Peach Street (route 19) out of the city and on to route 6. We did take route 59 so we could stop at Kinzua Dam for a bit. It brought tears to my eyes to stop there again, as the last time I was there I was with my Daddy and he so loved watching the progress of the dam and finally the completion of the spillway and dam.

After one other stop at McDonald's for coffee and a sweet roll in Port Allegheny, we arrived home before 10:00 this evening, with a sense of satisfaction and wonderful memories of a special day.

Special note to family: Aunt Marilyn sends her love to all of you, she asked about each of you and we shared your pictures with her. You can see I have added pictures of the house and the part of the large living room where you kids always liked to sit. The only thing missing in the yard is the huge Weeping Willow, it is gone, but in its place is a beautiful maple.

I think this concludes our travelling for a few days, must get caught up on yard work and laundry.

Tyrone, PA Preston and Susie's Deck

July 19th Monday - Tyrone, PA Hot and Humid

Lou and I were up early this morning and left for Preston and Susie’s by 7:30. We stopped in Wellsboro at Subway and tried one of their special order breakfast menu. We found their breakfast sandwich to be tasty; however, their coffee was not as good as McDonalds.

We traveled down Route 287 and found the drive very relaxing and enjoyable. Lou and I are both fascinated by the mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania and never fail to appreciate their beauty and solitude. I am always amazed at the many, many shades of green that we can see in our mountains in the summer. We were also to see that the farmers here also need rain for their crops. We noted that the huge fields of corn were rolled up, God’s way of helping the important grain to soak up any dew drops that might be available to the parched leaves.

We arrived at Preston’s house about 9;45 and found Preston already hard at work. We said hello to Susie and I changed into work clothes and we all went to work. We were impressed by what Preston already had done. The framing work was complete and by complete, I mean Complete!! He had stained all of the framing to preserve the pressure treated lumber, plus he had used something new to me, a special sealant tape that goes under all of the metal hardware to prevent caustic damage and then also applied to the top of all of the joices to make a moisture barrier.

Pres. Had designed his deck on the computer using two different colors of decking. It was to have two pieces of a redwood brown for an outside border and a beautiful mountain ash gray center as the primary color. This you can see from the pictures. We worked until noon and then enjoyed a wonderful lunch that Susie had prepared for us. We topped the lovely luncheon off with a desert of fresh blueberries and raspberries with a topping of whipped cream.

Susie had to leave before we had finished our lunch to conduct a walking tour of the city of Tyrone, so after lunch I cleaned up the dining room table and put things away as best I could in her immaculately kept kitchen. I then returned to the working crew. We all worked diligently the rest of the afternoon, having a really good time doing what needed to be done. We made a couple of goofs, but it was all dealt with in fun and we redid what we needed to fix and went on. Finally, about 6:15 we found what Preston said we had been looking for and that was the last screw to be put in. We had accomplished one tier of his three tier deck.

The three of us cleaned up the best we could and went to Stephanie’s newly purchased three story Victorian home and was I ever impressed with this purchase. The stained glass windows were breathtaking and the beautiful hard wood floors. It would be a dream come true for me. She gave us the grand tour from attic to the finished basement.

After the tour of Stephanie’s home we went to one of Preston’s favorite restaurant for dinner. I enjoyed a meal of liver and onions and Lou had a steak salad and we ended our meal by splitting a wonderful piece of Reese’s Peanut Butter pie. After hugs and kisses all around we said our goodbyes and we traveled route 220 back towards Wellsboro and a shower and a freshly made bed.

It was a day of hard work, but very enjoyable for Lou and I, it is always good to spend time with family and be able to do something to help them, as we have been recipients of Preston’s labors many times over.

This will continue to be a busy week and will try and keep everyone posted on our travels.

Lunch w/ Preston and Susie

July 16th - Friday Hot and Humid

Another week is about gone, and it has been another week of intense heat and humidity. As you recall we went to Little Pine Creek to meet Susie and Preston for lunch. All of them had eaten at this restaurant previously and had good memories from the establishment. It is decorated in the rustic cabin style with all of the mounted animals to go along with it. We were the only couple in the dining room and obviously had a waitress that was very new to her position. We ordered salads with different topping; however, Susie ordered a cheeseburger. The food was "alright", nothing to "write home about". One the other side, it was great to have a chance to visit with Preston and Susie. Seems like the time we have to spend together goes very quickly, but we tried to remember everything we wanted to share with each other.

Their daughter, Stephanie has just purchased a wonderful three story Victorian home in Tyrone, and they brought along pictures of the exterior and the interior so we could see what this home looked like. Talk about impressive. I think Lou counted six bedrooms, with several beautiful porches, can't wait to see it in person.

Preston is building a multi-level deck on the rear of his house, and he brought pictures to share with us on his progress. Very impressive for this young man that is a retired art and ceramic teacher. He did all of his plans on the computer that is far above my imagination, but nevertheless very impressive. He is ready to put the decking down, hence the reason for the trip to Williamsport. He purchased a special "artificial wood" for his decking and needed to pick it up in Williamsport. He drove his van to pick up the decking and would need to cut it in shorter lengths to transport it back home. He brought along his chopsaw and was able to plug in at the business and even had a couple of guys helping him along with his dad. Susie and I thought we would sit in an air-conditioned area and wait, but didn't find a spot, so I drove towards the city of Williamsport and still didn't find a spot, so we drove back to the lumberyard as the guys were about finished. Once loaded, Pres and Susie were off to Tyrone, with a promise from Lou he would come down and help Pres put some of the decking down when he was ready. This was wonderful, as Lou had just mentioned he wished he could have been able to help Preston with his deck, so the opportunity presented itself.

Lou and I enjoyed our leisurely drive back home, listening to the February Light book by Heather Trexler Remoff. This was the book about Eagles Mere that I wrote about before. Now Lou understands my fascination with the small tourist town.

Wednesday found us back with the blueberries and we picked almost 13 quarts. We were able to package the majority of them for the freezer, although, I had to save out four cups to make the blueberry dessert that my Susie told me about. This is becoming one of Lou's favorite desserts.

Wednesday night was square dancing and we had a wonderful crowd out. We had three plus squares dancing and once again learned a couple of new things. I am finding more fun in this each week.

Lou and I are so enjoying the view from our kitchen window. This morning, we had eight turkeys playing near the creek with two huge gobblers. While we were watching them, we noted two foxes sitting up on the flat. They were enjoying the scenery also. Lou got me the binoculars to watch them with and being fascinated with foxes as I am, I just simply sat at the table and watched them. Then all of a sudden they both disappeared. They scooted right into a wood chuck hole. Lou was watching them at the same time and both of us were amazed as how quickly they disappeared. We also have young cardinals that are coming to the feeders along wit the young Rose Colored Grosbeaks. it is hard to get our work done for all of the wonderful things happening outside. Yesterday we watch one of my brother's baby calves get his new legs under him. His mommy stayed close by all day long, and kept watching us to see if we were going to render harm.

Tonight is square dancing here and I was able to get all of the grass cut yesterday while Lou was at the dentist and running errands, and now I must get my house cleaned up a bit and finish up dinner. Have a pork roast in the crock pot and I made date pudding for our snack after square dancing and will serve vanilla ice cream with it.

Next week promised to be a very busy week. Lou and I each have dental appointments, going to Preston's one day and driving to Erie to visit my aunt and Lou wants to get up to Horseheads to visit with his son-in-law that just got home from surgery. Sunday I have a part in the worship service, so all in all will be a busy week.