Merry Christmas

Make a Smilebox greeting

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The looooong, HOT summer of '09 steams on, full ahead, with no end in sight. Still, we've had fun babysitting Sarah on a fairly regular basis, researching the Ramseys of Prince Edward Island with cousin Liz after a visit with Rudy, Bill, Amy and little Lauren in New England. We made the trip in June, silly us for not waiting until now when we could REALLY appreciate that cool, wet, east coast weather. Church and community keeps us hopping with lots of involvements. For a week in July, we wrangled a herd of in-coming seventh graders around the VBS setting... and had a lot of fun! I'm posting pictures to show that you should never be fooled with first appearances. Just when you think they're sweet and orderly... they turn on you! Should be a very interesting Sunday School season coming up.

Still Alive, Well...

Well... it has been too long since I last posted, but then I did proclaim to be an "infrequent" blogger, so there you have it!  Retirement is just TOO all consuming, and I do mean all consuming.  There is much to catch up on at this site, but for now I will just promo coming entries which will include: our mission trip to Costa Rica, community gardens, our granddaughter Sarah Elizabeth, camping with the kids, community club activities, our granddaughter Sarah, taking care of the Doll House, Earth Day involvement, Junior High garden, fun and games, our granddaughter Sarah, a visit from Ginny, day trips, and, yes... our granddaughter Sarah!

Meanwhile, I have changed the name of this blog to Marblogi: Relative to Me.  I think my friends and family will get it... it IS for them!  Only time to post one picture for now.  No surprise!  It is... my granddaughter Sarah!

Sweet dish!

Just for good measure, here is a picture of my darling grandgirl Sarah, peeking out from the cabinet she went in to explore at the condo where she, her parents, Marvel, G'pa and Wanza and I observed Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ahead of normal schedule.  The kids spent the actual day in Maryland.

G'pa and Sarah

G'pa always worries that Sarah doesn't want to sit with him, but actually, at 15 months, she just doesn't want to sit at all.  Recently, she went to a picture of him and G'ma Lou (Wanza) and kissed their image.  G'pa felt better when he heard this!

 The problem with the infrequent blogger such as me is that you either can't remember exactly how you did things the last time you were posting, or they've "updated" the site and you're left in the dark.  Unfortunately, I tend to think it's my short term memory.

 Well, anyway, since I last posted, retirement for two has been anything but boring.  Marvel has run from one project to another, gardening, re-doing our bedroom, painting the garage floor... and in between we managed a great Alaskan cruise with my sister Terry and her husband Richard.  I'll try to post some pictures of that, but somehow I'm not sticking with the original layout of my space, and I'm finding it difficult to figure out how to get back to that for a consistent look.  

 We also survived Christmas... enjoyed it, actually.  We hosted all of Marvel's family here, and although it was very cramped, we felt it was important to rally as many as possible, looking for solace and comfort in numbers now that DeLois and Leland are not physically with us.  Christmas Day was spent at my dad and stepmother's home, and then we had our "kids" Michelle, Chris and Sarah here for a couple of days.  Later, we spent two days in Austin babysitting our sweet Sarah while Chris and Michelle went back to work before flying up to Maryland to be with the Smiths.

 Since this is an "experimental" entry, please understand if the blog looks in disarray.  Next time I can't sleep, I'll figure out what I'm doing.