Antiquing & Bowling

What a fun day! These kids are good antiquers.

More museum stories

On our way to the museum, we passed through beautiful Asheville, NC.
We had been there before, during a more moderate time of the year.

At that time, there was a flea market on a main street of town.

Everything was so pretty covered in snow.
We had never seen a McDonald's that looked like this.

Then we started through the mountains on our way to Knoxville, Tennessee.
We couldn't understand why the traffic in the right lane was just crawling along and no one was traveling in the left lane. So we pulled out into the left lane. We could certainly change again if there was an accident ahead. We found out that (1) the road was not plowed, (2) people in that area do not have good snow tires like we have and (3) they don't know how to drive in the stuff. A van pulled out and followed us all the way in the left lane. We found out later he was from Wisconsin! The roads were not good! And we had some whiteout conditions! It would have taken the crawlers forever to get through there. There is no place to stop and no where else to go. We were glad when we arrived at our destination north of Knoxville.

This was the schoolroom set from "Christy" at the museum.

This was Christy country.


One whole room was devoted to a man who has gone around the area for years letting people know that they must be saved.

This is a model of his home.

We enjoyed the unusual musical instruments!

toilet seat guitar

ironing board electric guitar

bedpan and gourd banjos

Museum of Appalachia

Back to our post Christmas trip...
After we left the kids, we took a little side trip to Tennessee. We had been told about the Museum of Appalachia and wanted to visit it. It was WONDERFUL and we hope to go back at a different time of the year. It was a COLD DAY, so we were able to experience just a little of what living in Tennessee would have been like in January.

Gerry & Connie

I am still working on posting all the photos from our trip after Christmas.
I can't believe that I have not put Gerry & Connie on display.
We had a meal at Sweet Tomatoes with them while Andy was with us.
I guess that has become our favorite place to meet since we have done it two times now!
We had a great time except for one big boy who was not feeling well.
Gerry & Connie live not too far from Sara, Dave and fam...
at least when you consider that we travel from eastern Canada!

I do have some pics on Gail's Grandkids now.
Contact me if you can't get in to that blog.

Christmas gifts made by Sara for us

Aren't these dish towels cute?
The one on the left has been washed. Can you believe how much it shrunk?
It is much more absorbent once it is washed.

Painted and decoupaged strawberry picture

Felt strawberry

I LOVE this felt pillow!
I am so excited that Sara is sewing!
We happily stitched away together while we watched a dvd.
As you can tell, Sara is on a felt kick.

SURPRISE!

So... I was sitting in the kitchen at Sara's
when I saw Dave drive up.
Then in walked a strange man wearing a hat and I thought,
"No body said anything about someone coming over...
ANDY!!!"
What a shock!
We had no idea!

This was Dave's idea.
Sara did get in on the plans, although Dave had not planned to tell her at first.

The kids did not know Uncle Andy was coming either.

We all had a great time!

Meeting with old friends

Some of our friends of long ago Minnesota days have moved to Sara and Dave's area.
We had the pleasure of meeting Diane Bookman, Jane & Tom Zempel, and Larry & Linda Pettegrew for dinner. We barely had time to eat! :)

Afterward we went to the Pettegrews' lovely home for delicious apple pie made by Diane.
We missed Doug who was in Israel. We did get to see him last January.

Before we started for home, we met Roger and Jo Peterson at a cozy lunch place.
It's a good thing we have a GPS,
or finding Roger's restaurant would have been impossible for us! :)

Once again we had a great time and hope we can DO IT AGAIN!

Norman Rockwell Exhibit at the Art Museum

Self portrait
They wouldn't let us photograph NR's famous self portrait,
so we did one of our own.

Interesting art

Norman Rockwell coloring book

Obviously this is NOT a NR painting.
The NR exhibit was wonderful!
In 1982 when we moved to NB, we stopped in Stockbridge, MA at the Norman Rockwell museum. I have never forgotten that. This time I missed the famous Stockbridge street scene.
I guess that didn't pertain in the south.

That after Christmas feeling!

Scenes from our Christmas

We had a great time with Sara, Dave and family...
and a BIG SURPRISE too!
Here are a few Christmas pics from down there
without the kids.
You'll have to visit my grandkids blog to see them.
If you are not an invited guest, you will need to contact me about that.
I will be posting pics on both blogs as I have time.
Right now I am trying to get caught up here,
have company, etc., etc.
So stop back later.

The kitchen tree
It was sooooooo cute!

Gingerbread house which Grampa bought and the kids made with their mom

I thought Dave's cap collection above the inside of their closet door was cute.

Lots of sports fans here!

Our tea party
Notice the healthy menu!

Our Journeys

We had intended to start out for Sara and Dave's on December 27, however with a storm on it's way, we decided to leave in the afternoon of December 26. We traveled to Bangor, Maine on dry roads but woke up Monday morning to blowing snow. Since the storm was headed up the coast towards us, we booked our motel for Monday night and headed for the mall. We decided to go back to the motel after lunch when the stores all closed! :)

Tuesday was a beautiful, sunny day in Maine...

but the roads were not good until close to Portland.

The Lord gave us dry roads and good travel the rest of the way.
There was lots of fun to come!