Missing Popdaddy

My last picture of Popdaddy. Carl and Kimberly were up for their last visit with him and Eric and Tara came over for a visit. The kids were drawing pictures for him and here Clark was showing him the picture he had drawn. It was really one of his last lucid times and even here he was extremely weak. (What looks like a bandage over his right ear is actually padding someone had put on his cannula to keep it from rubbing his ear--it was supposed to be behind his ear but had worked its way forward.)

It has been almost six weeks since Popdaddy graduated this life to his glorious homecoming in Heaven. I have finally gotten past the point of starting down the hallway to check on him, I don't want to rush out of church services to get home "because we need to take care of Dad" and I no longer think I have to turn down social invitations because I don't want to leave Dad or have to find care for him. But I still haven't gotten to the point that I am not reminded of him many times a day. On our way home from Big Meadows I felt sad because he wasn't there for me to tell about our camping trip and excursions. As we browsed in the gift shop I still looked at books and mugs that I thought he would like for a gift. And recently on the way home from Rocky Gap, I felt sad to not be able to tell him about kayaking on the beautiful lake. I am so glad that I did have the experiences last summer of being able to get away to Loft Mountain, one of his favorite camping spots, and did bring him a book about the Skyline Drive and chatted with him about out trip. Looking back, I am so glad that we took that trip although at the time I felt a little guilty leaving him and putting extra burdens on my family in our absence. Now I almost wish we had taken more trips to places he loved so that we could have shared the experiences with him.

I am so grateful for the time we had with him here in our home. I don't regret making that decision at all. At times it seemed hard and long but looking back it seems like just a blink--kind of like raising kids! Having him here made us grow closer to him and so losing him is harder in a way--we miss him more. But oh what wonderful memories we have to cherish!

Camping at Rocky Gap

I'm back! So many things to share so I decided to start with the past week and work backwards. We had a wonderful week at Rocky Gap State Park. We decided that this is our favorite place to camp--during the week. We understand it is pretty busy on the weekend. There is a beautiful lake and lots of wooded campsites. Even though there were several campsites occupied around us, we still felt sufficiently secluded. Our only blot in the trip was the family across from us the first two days. The mother was very loud, it seems like she couldn't talk in a normal conversational voice! Happily, they weren't at their campsite much during the day! We had wanted to get a campsite right on the lake but there were none available for the whole time we were there. Next time we know to reserve a spot ahead of time!
This was our first time using our kayaks in almost three years and the first time we had ever taken them with us camping. It was wonderful! We had a site across from the lake with a view of it when no one was camping in that site. We were able to leave our kayaks tied on a little bit of land and were relieved that we didn't have to carry them back and forth or load them on the car to put into the lake. We went out on the lake every day, sometimes several times. We put in and paddled to the camp store to pick up milk, across the lake to the day use area where there was a snack bar that had delicious ice cream in waffle cones (we tried a different flavor every day--my favorite was muddy sneakers!), to the beach to swim, dry off and then paddle some more, or just to explore around the lake. I was afraid I would drop my camera in the lake so didn't usually take it with me and missed an adorable shot of a mama duck with her three little goslings, their little legs paddling like crazy trying to keep up with mama who was trying to move them away from the danger (me!). Bill missed a good shot (he said) of me as he followed me along the shore and I passed under a hanging branch. So you just have to imagine those. The last day I did take my camera in a plastic bag and got this shot of Bill from my kayak.

We did a lot of relaxing, too. It was wonderful to just sit and read. I loved sitting in my folding chair in the quiet morning and read my Bible and pray. But I also took several other books with me. I am reading a book on Abigail Adams and also reading The Count of Monte Christo and loved sitting in the fresh air reading those or working in a book of puzzles (I have become addicted to Suduku!). Bill also enjoyed reading his Bible and having his dear Washington Times--although he had to read it for several days as we had no access to that paper. Every night he used a part that he had already read to start the evening fire. He will be really happy on Sunday to finally get a fresh copy (The Washington Times no longer prints a Saturday edition.)


I love cooking when we are camping. We usually only had a campfire in the evening and cooked our meal over it. Usually we ate a late big breakfast and then our big meal early so then in the evening we sometimes made grilled cheese sandwiches in our hobo pie makers in the fire (with no dish cleanup in the dark!) But the last morning Bill made a fire and I cooked pancakes and bacon over the fire, which is my favorite way of cooking when camping. I had my trusty dutch oven with us (always!) and the first night baked potatoes in it (with an extra one so I could slice and fry it for breakfast). Then another night we cooked our meal and then I let the fire burn to beautiful coals and used the dutch oven to make a peach cobbler. It made enough to feed eight--which shows that I still don't have the knack of camp cooking for two!

On Thursday we decided to drive into Cumberland. I have never been there before although we have driven over the city numerous times on trip further west. It was a nice day and we enjoyed especially visiting the museum about the C&O canal (pictured at right). But, of course, we picked the hottest day of our trip. It was fun to wander through unique shops. There was a book store which sold new and old books and although we resisted the urge to buy a lot of old books, it was fun to peruse them from the comfortable chairs scattered through the store. We spent a good deal of time in a store called Social Studies and talking with the interesting proprietors. I am not going to reveal what this store carried. I would like to give everyone a chance to guess what they think they sold. (I want to hear especially from Tara et al, since she likes to run contests as well.) When I have received enough guesses I will post pictures of some things I purchased there and tell the interesting stories we heard.

On our last day we kayaked in the morning and then Bill decided to do a little snorkeling where we had our kayaks moored. I sat on the shore and watched and relaxed snapping this picture as he emerged from the aquatic underbrush. We then sadly carried our kayaks back to camp to load on the car. We had a final sandwich at our picnic table before heading to the day use area. We had planned to take a short hike on a trail that was supposed to lead to a canyon view. However, it turned out to be a long walk from the parking area along the road to the trail head. It was a very hot day and after walking for about 15 minutes, consulted the map which showed us we weren't even halfway. However, we did see a sign to the Scales & Tales aviary and decided to take a look at it. But, although according to their literature, it should have been open, it was not. We were able to walk around the outside and look through the fence but were disappointed not to meet the naturalist and chat about how Scales & Tales was doing in the west. We decided to walk back to our car and visit the snack shop for one last ice cream before heading home. It turned out that our timing for that was about perfect as we were told that there had been a power shortage requiring them to move all the ice cream and that it had just been returned. While eating our ice cream, the park manager came in. He recognized Bill and joined us for a little chat. He was disappointed that we were leaving and that he hadn't been informed that we were there. He gave us his card and said to let him know the next time we were coming and he would arrange for free camping. He was surprised that we didn't have a pass and said he would like into getting us one. So that was a nice ending to our trip. We planned to stop in Hancock at an antique mall and followed the signs but never could find it. But that allowed us to arrive home early enough to pick up pizza and enjoy that with Ryan (Shawn had made other plans that didn't include mom and dad for some reason.) I am including one last picture that I took from the opposite shore from our campsite. You can see the day use beach. The camping beach is at the opposite end and isn't visible.

A wonderful week--now to get back into the real world mentality!

Popdaddy Update

Popdaddy is back to his "normal" self pretty much. It is amazing how he keeps bouncing back. He does spend more time in bed than before but is usually up for at least part of every day. This morning he came to the dining room for breakfast--which is very rare now. I really miss those days when we always sat and ate breakfast together at the table on my days off. Usually he eats his breakfast in bed or occasionally in the living room. But there is something special about sitting together at the table. I guess because we are closer together it is easier for him to talk and he always starts reminiscing. We had whole wheat pancakes (made with the last of my grain--time to visit the farm and get more!) and turkey bacon. We lingered over coffee and he chuckled and said he didn't know why things pop in his head but he was just thinking about...

And then he started talking about when he was working on a farm in Marriottsville, Ohio. The farmer's son-in-law was a teacher and he and his wife came and lived and worked on the farm in the summer. Apparently, he was one of those people who always corrects the English of others and Dad was remembering one night at dinner when someone at the table asked if the lights in the next room were lit. The teacher son-in-law replied, "The lights in the living room have been lighted." (Is that really correct?) Dad laughed and said he thinks he says a lot of things that are incorrect. I think he does pretty good with his one room schoolhouse 8th grade education. A lot better than some of our college educated young people today!

Then he started remembering my mom and how she always said what was on her mind, telling (again) the story of how they lived in Punxtawney, PA and the ladies commenting on Mom's southern accent and assuring her that when she had lived near them long enough she would sound like them. (Mom retorted that she hoped she didn't live there that long.) That led to him telling about how they rented a room in someone's house and had kitchen privileges and had to schedule their cooking and eating times around the owner's so they weren't in the kitchen at the same time. The lady of the house also operated the area telephone switchboard and Mom would sometimes fill in for her when the lady had to be out. One day when she was on duty, someone had a call for a vet. The connection wasn't very good so Mom had to be the go between and relayed instructions from the vet on delivering a calf. Of course, that reminded him of telephone party lines. Each home had a special ring but it rang in everyone's home. One day, Mom was ordering groceries on the phone and she could tell that others had picked up their phones to listen, so she said, "I'm just ordering groceries. You can hang up now."

Somehow, that led to his memories traveling to Mexico and the living conditions there. They were told not to give anything to the children who came around because then all the kids would come swarming begging for a hand out, too. He told how they would crawl up on the back of the Airstream and beg Mom to give them her rings. "You know how your mother loved kids and she would just grab them and hug them. She was always saying to them, 'You speak English? You speak English?'"

It was a delightful morning and I just have to treasure the ones I have because tomorrow he could be down and bedridden again. He is getting more forgetful and we really have to make sure he is taking his medications at the correct times. He will insist he has taken something and actually hasn't--so we have to be diligent and observant about that. He does get very out of breath when he gets up and moves and we find that the nurse was right. If he takes a dose of morphine about 10-15 minutes before he gets up his breathing is much better. If he waits to take it after he gets out of breath, it takes much longer for him to recover.

But most days his spirits are up and he is so grateful for any care he gets. When we bring him breakfast in bed, he grins and says he is "living the life of Riley". We should all have such an outlook on life!

Weekend Trip

Bill's birthday falls on Tuesday this year so I decided to "kidnap" him on Saturday for a quick get-away as his birthday gift. Thanks to my family, this was possible. I didn't realize until just a few days before I was to pull this off that Ryan had his drill weekend and wouldn't be at home at all on Saturday and Sunday, which meant that I couldn't rely on him to be with Granddad. However, my family rallied and Peg and Jim came on Saturday afternoon and had lunch with Granddad and spent the afternoon visiting with him. Then Brent and Tiff brought their family in the evening and had dinner with him and spent the night to be here and take care of his needs. Then granddaughter, Cheryl, came at 9:00 a.m. and spent the morning and early afternoon visiting and eating lunch with him. They made it possible for us to relax, knowing that Dad was being well cared for and entertained. He was happy and tired by the time we returned in the early afternoon on Sunday.

Our fun began in Strausburg, Pennsylvania. I had purchased tickets for the dinner car of the Strausburg Rail. The weather was overcast and drizzily but mild temps and we enjoyed a 45 minute ride on the steam rail while eating lunch in the dining car and enjoying the countryside. I think I did it as much for me because it brought back memories of my childhood. My mom and I often took the train to visit her family in Virginia and I do remember eating in the dining car. I have always wanted to do that again--so now I have! It started raining hard just as the ride ended and, of course, our umbrella was in the car so we got pretty wet walking back to our car--wet jeans are so pleasant! For this reason we decided to go check into our motel room and get into dry clothes.

After getting into dry clothes we made a trip back out to King's on Route 30. This is a delightful store with Amish made furniture and accessories. But my favorite section is the section with wooden plaques in a variety of styles but all bearing Scripture verses or hymns. (This is the place where Blake purchased all the plaques for the Narthex at Open Bible.) We had been wanting to make a trip there for a couple of months to look for an anniversary gift for Brent and Tiff. I knew the Scripture verse I wanted but neither Bill or I had remembered seeing it when we had been there before. Bill asked if they did custom work when we first arrived and was told, no. We thought we would have to choose something else (not that there weren't many wonderful choices) and were disappointed. How delighted I was when I found--only in one style, but still the verse we were looking for--"Taste and see that the Lord is good." I knew this was a meaningful verse for them because Brent had shared how that verse had run through his head immediately after finding out that their 14 week old unborn baby had no heartbeat. And God, being God of every detail, even had it in just one color, red--which is the predominant color in Brent and Tiffany's living room (not that this is where you need to put it, Tiff.)

On the way to the store, the rain having ended, Bill commented that maybe we would see a rainbow. Just minutes after he said this we saw the most gorgeous one we ever had--and then we noticed another one next to it, much fainter but still a double rainbow. This picture doesn't quite capture its brightness. When we parked people were stopped and just staring and commenting on the beauty of it. What a treat!

We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon back at the Bird in Hand Inn swimming in their indoor pool and then relaxing in the jacuzzi. While in the hot tub we could see the wind picking up and could tell that the mild temperature of the afternoon was dipping sharply.

That evening I had made reservations at the Greenfield Inn in Lancaster. This had been build in the 1700's as a farmhouse and now is a lovely and elegant restaurant. Sadly, I had neglected to request seating in their wine cellar which is cozy and intimate so we were seating in an upstairs room. But it was still a lovely atmosphere with delicious food. Our food did take a long time arriving (it was a busy night) but we enjoyed just relaxing and being together. When our food finally arrived the server put my plate in front of me and said, "Here are your crab cakes, maam. And your prime rib, sir." Crab cakes? Excuse me, what did you say this was? Yes, the server had made a mistake when entering my order on the computer and had hit the wrong button and instead of the chicken breasts in cheese and pesto sauce I was served crab cakes. She was very apologetic and whisked our dinners away. Happily, we didn't have to wait long until she brought the correct order--which was worth the wait.

The next day we had the delight of sleeping in until 8:30 a.m.! Because I had made 10:00 a.m. reservation at Willow Valley for their Sunday Brunch, we didn't have time to attend a local church service which is usually our habit when on vacation. So I told Bill that I expected him to preach to me! We enjoyed reading taking turns reading a Psalm each and then sharing what spoke to us in that reading. We then packed up and headed to Willow Valley. We picked a good time as the Atrium was nearly empty at that time (maybe people forgot to set their clocks ahead?) We enjoyed the ambiance and the food although it is so frustrating that there are so many choices and so little tummy space! We enjoyed the omelette bar and chocolate chip pancakes made to order and lots of other yummy foods. My favorite was the featured dessert--bananas foster. I caught the chef here making the flambe sauce that is poured over ice cream. I had never had it before and it was good--and fun to watch. They even had a chocolate fountain but I ran out of tummy space before I could indulge in that. There was a low counter with cupcakes and toppings where children could decorate their own cupcakes and peanut butter and jelly for them to make their own sandwiches so, of course, I thought of how much fun it would be to have some grandchildren along!

We arrived home to find Granddad relaxing the watching a home makeover show with Cheryl. It seems that we all had had a wonderful weekend!

Pictures from North Carolina Trip

Daniel, Samuel & Esther Mary

Daniel peering down from the second floor. He was the only one of the kids brave enough to venture out in these.

William had fun dressing up in this dragon costume and "performing" on the stage.

Alex didn't want to do anything but build, build, build.

Carl and Esther with "their" creation.

Daniel playing paramedic to "patient" Esther.

Nathan had fun "fishing" from the side of the boat.

Visit to North Carolina

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Since Monday was a holiday we decided to take the opportunity and drive down to spend a couple of days with Carl and Kimberly and their family. Friday was a half day of school so we were able to get on the road by 1:00 p.m. and headed south. It was nice just driving along with time to chat and just relax. We stopped to eat at a Ponderosa in Virginia at about 4:00 p.m and arrived at Carl's home just before 9:00 p.m. The kids rushed to the door to meet us (being grandparents is so good for the ego!) and we had a chaotic welcome. Even Samuel, who hadn't seen us since Thanksgiving when he was seven weeks old was happy to see us and greeted us with a big smile. Of course, we stayed up late visiting. Esther, as always, graciously gave up her bed for us and slept in a sleeping bag on the floor (I had to move her several times during the night because she kept scooting up close to the bed and I was afraid I would get up and step on her).

The next morning I heard a little voice outside the door saying, "NiNi, NiNi--you in dare?" Daniel at 2 1/2 has become quite vocal since November. Carl and Bill cooked us a big breakfast (actually they each cooked more than enough for a meal) Carl made scrambled eggs and toast and Dad-Dad made his special "Dad-Dad" pancakes (containing M&M's). The only M&M's Carl could find in the kitchen were shades of pink left over from Valentine's Day. Of course, this made Esther happy to have pink pancakes. We stuffed ourselves and then headed into Raleigh to "Marbles". This is a children's museum with lots of play areas.

The first floor is "Our Town". Esther's favorite area was the grocery store where she could take groceries from the shelves and put in a cart and wheel to the check out. NiNi and Esther took turns donning a Lowes apron and being the check-out person. Next to that area was a big kitchen with a refrigerator--the freezer section really got cold. There was also an area with an ambulance you could get in the back of and play doctor or patient, a boat you could get in and "fish " off the side, a dress up area where the kids could put on costumes and then go on a stage with a curtain that opened and closed and put on a performance and lots of other sections.

Upstairs there were areas with different building materials and the kids spent a lot of time there. Esther and I built a "house" out of cardboard bricks but it was quickly demolished when another visitor, a little girl, thought it looked like too much fun to kick. Later, Carl got in the act and, of course, you know what his creation would look like--built by a perfectionist engineer type. There were also areas where the kids could create artistic things and a room with musical instruments. That was Daniel's favorite area. I wish I had gotten a video of him making music and dancing to the rhythm.

We left the museum at about 4:00 p.m. because Carl and Kimberly had a banquet to attend that evening. We got to spend the evening with the kids--getting them all bathed and ready for bed was fun (really!) I was a little nervous about having Samuel as Kimberly would be an hour away. He woke up about an hour before they got home but was happy as long as Bill or I were holding him and talking to him. He just smiled away!

Church on Sunday morning. We always enjoy their church services, although we missed their pastor who was home sick. But we enjoyed hearing his father, who is now the pastor emeritus, preach. The music there is always wonderful. We came home and enjoyed a corned beef dinner which had been cooking in the Crock-Pot and gave Alex, William and Carl their birthday gifts. We gave Alex and William big puzzles and William spent the evening putting his together. He sat and put a 200 piece puzzle together in about an hour without stopping. Carl and Kimberly had choir practice so we stayed home with the kids while they went there, returning after evening church service.

We decided to leave that night since we wouldn't have much more time to spend with them anyway. We left about 7:30 and drove to Ashland, which is just north of Richmond, VA and spent the night in a nice Quality Inn. We arrived at about 11:00 so we pretty much just fell into bed but it was nice waking up the next morning and being able to relax and have a leisurely breakfast before heading home. It was such a beautiful day that we stopped at the Inner Harbor and had lunch at a Spanish restaurant, La Tosca. It started raining as we walked back to our car and we were soaked by the time we got there but it was still fun. We got home in time to spend the evening with Popdaddy and have dinner with him.

I will post more pictures of our trip on another post as it is not letting me post anymore here.

Catching Up

After almost three months of not being able to post--I am back online. Suffice it to say that we had a very eventful end of the year. Our third granddaughter, Saige Danielle was born the day after Christmas and was the highlight of the month and made for a very interesting Christmas!

There is just too much to try to catch up everything so I am just going to jump right in with what is happening now and reviewing recent grandchildren visits.

Shawn completed his studies at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, has received his diploma, taken his board exams and is now a registered nurse. He begins his his new job at U. of Md Shock Trauma on February 25 with orientation.

Ryan's Basic Training in the Army National Guard has been postponed because of some foot problems that he needed to get taken care of. He goes back in a couple of weeks for the army to check him out and give him a new date for Basic. So we get to have Ryan around for at least a little longer. We are happy about that because we rely on him so much both at school and at home. He is always willing to pitch in where we need him, especially in helping with Popdaddy.

Popdaddy is definitely getting weaker, spending more time in bed but he is still in good spirits and we love having him here. Because of his decline in strength, I have decreased my work hours so that he is not home alone for any length of time. I am enjoying being home more although it was stressful at first as I was trying to get accomplished the same amount of work in the office in eight hours less a week. It helped a lot when I figured out what things I could do from home and actually it has been a blessing as I am able to concentrate more fully on projects at home while Sherry is able to graciously greet people in the office and on the phone. And I am able to make phone calls from home and more able to concentrate on the person I am talking to than when I was in the office. God is so good--He takes even what we see as bad and makes something good of it! I just love Him!

I had the joy of having Mason, Clark and Reid spend the day on a recent Wednesday. The weather had been icy and although Bill had gone in to school, later decided to not to open school that day and so he was home for part of the day with us. We did all kinds of fun things. Here the boys are putting together puzzles, one of their favorite activities at NiNi's house. They also enjoyed just playing on the floor of the dining room with Playmobile and our train set. Reid and I even baked chocolate chip cookies together (I promise I didn't let him lick the bowl, Tara!). But they didn't get to eat any until Eric and Tara came because Mason was concerned that his dad didn't want them eating too many sweets! Later in the day, a ceiling light was broken when a ball went a little wild and I although I carefully swept up the glass and even mopped the room to get up all the little pieces, Mason got a sliver in his knee as he was playing on the floor. Happily, Uncle Shawn was home and was able to get the piece out and was going to apply a band-aid but decided to have a little fun. Dad-Dad got into the act and this is what greet Eric and Tara when they arrived.

Of course, they all thought it was funny. To add to the drama, Bill had Clark and Reid kneel on the floor with their hands on their heads as Eric and Tara walked in. I think Tara was more concerned about that then about Mason. Mason had too big a grin on his face to make anyone concerned about his injuries! Eric and Tara brought KFC for dinner and Mason was able to make it to the dining room (without the use of the walker!)

Keep watching this site. I will have another update tomorrow on our recent trip to see Carl and Kimberly.