this sums up how I feel today......  this is a song called "America's Song"

I am behind in my blogging again... come to think about it I never even finished reporting on our trip to California..... that may never happen unless I find a time when I have nothing else to say..... those of you who know me, know that will be the day......

I have had a busy selling season...... I did shows this year in Scottsdale, Arizona, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth, Dallas and Kansas City,Missouri.... So I guess I have a good excuse  for not keeping up with my blogging....... I won't bore you with the details of the shows, I will go straight into the fun stuff......

Like our  Annual Picnic.....
We had a great turn out with loads of friends and family......

Some of our artist friends who weren't doing a show came.....






A few of our postcard friends who weren't out buying postcards showed up......


and other friends and family who could work us into their busy schedules came to enjoy the day.....
    

     


     


   

   

      

   

We had BBQ chicken and sausage from the Salt Lick  (perhaps the best BBQ in Texas or the World) and pot luck sides.....



Ken announced the start of the Annual Treasure Hunt......


And the kids went after their first clue.... they just had to figure out how to get it out of the bottle.....


Then they were off to the next clue.....



at the gate
    

they followed the rest of the clues and finally found the treasure.... Lea and Julie helped divide up the spoils......

   

There was a clue in their treasure to lead them to the Adult's treasure (under the potato salad) and Connie did the honors of opening it up.......


And the kids swam.......



and they swung on the old tire........



And they rocked and rolled ......
     

   


Needless to say, a good time was had by all........
Thanks for coming, everyone.......

Have I ever mentioned that our grandson, Nate is a baseball player for the Red Socks?

I think he looks like Robert Redford in "The Natural" ..... well, if Robert Redford was 6 years old....




Oh, here is another view of him without the hat.......





See what I mean? a six year old Robert Redford...... very handsome.....


I have been so busy getting ready for shows that I haven't been able to watch one of his games until Ken and I went this Wednesday....

 When we all got there, Jake took him out in the field to help him practice.....



Then Jake went off to his practice..... He is in the Red Socks, too but in another age bracket......


Nate was first up to bat.....












He is a good, strong hitter...... Nate made it to first base and then the next batter got him to second and he stole third.... and then he made the first score of the game..... He runs pretty fast, too....

During the next inning,  they had him covering third base.... He looked like he knew what he was doing and if someone would have just thrown him the ball, I think he would have put out every player who whizzed by him......









Well, I was impressed........

It is time to brag again..... this time it is about my wonderful step daughter, Lea.....




Well, at her school she is known as Jessica..... or Mrs. Turner......
Anyway, her new title is TEACHER of THE YEAR at her school....





And this means that she is eligible for Teacher of the Year in district and of course the state...
she is the kind of teacher any child would want..... Lea has more patience than a saint and she has a gentle but firm way of keeping kids in line.....

She is in charge of the Science Fair at her school and we have volunteered to help judge it for many years..... I have always loved watching her give all the judges instructions on how to jury.... She is so self assured.... I admire that in her....
She is amazingly organized and so creative in her thinking..... She has also been involved with robotics and we have gone to see her class take part in robotic demonstrations....

I am so excited for her to be chosen and Ken is busting his buttons .....
No one could be more deserving.....
So..... congrats to Jessica Lea Turner..... Teacher of the year.... and Mother Extraordinare....
and a Fabulous Person.....

I posted Barack Obama's video about change and only to be fair I must
post Jack Nicholson's video promoting Hillary.... He did it with Rob Reiner and I find it bold and clever..... and it made me smile.....

I think we are very lucky to have both Obama and Clinton running.... I will be happy to see either one as president and representing us to the rest of the world....
I have to decide on Tuesday which one I will vote for and that is difficult because I really do like them both....

I generally don't make my decisions because of which celebrities are supporting the candidates but I must admit that Jack Nicholson and Rob Reiner hold a little more punch than Scarlett Johansson and I hate to admit, Oprah Winfrey....(after all, she is ALWAYS telling us how to think).


Anyway..... here is something else to make you smile......

and here is another one.....

Please forgive me for posting this but when I saw it, I got tickled....
It is far from the other "Got Talent" videos that I put up since that was
a man who sang opera but if you need a chuckle..... watch this.....
Just for fun....

Yesterday, we went into Austin to watch Ned run the AT&T Austin Marathon.... We went to mile marker 21 to cheer him on as he ran by ....







Ned felt like he could finish the race in 3 hours and 30 minutes so he ran with that group who were pacing themselves for that speed.... Below is a photo of the runner with the 3:30 marker on him....



I had crossed the street to get the ultimate shot of Ned running by and our cheerleading group encouraging him on but the pack of 3:30 pacers was large and I was swamped by the crowd..... this is the only photo I was able to get of him as he went by ...... You could tell that he was tired but he was still holding strong...



So then we all drove to about the 24 1/2 or 25 mile marker to cheer him some more....



Across the street from us, there was a band playing, encouraging the runners not to give up.... Ned told us later that there were bands all along the way, as well as bag pipers, marching bands and people with boom boxes, one playing the "Rocky" theme....


I wondered who had planned out the course because I turned around and saw a hill that they had to run before the finish line..... were the planners NUTS or just not thinking.....



The 3:30 pack had thinned out by the time they came by us and Ned wasn't with them but he wasn't that far behind.....


And he was really tired by then but he was STILL keeping a pace that amazed me.....


I wondered what he was thinking when he saw that last hill.....


Nate and Jake decided to run next to him for a little while but I think Ned had his eye on that last mile and a half....


And Ned made it in 3 hours and 32 minutes.....


They put a chip on one of their shoes so that they could time them during the race and as they come over the finish line....so get this.....
out of 5,134 finishers, Ned's overall place was 578....
out of 3,093 males to finish, his gender place was 501.....
and his division place was 88..
And his pace varied from 7:37/M to 7:49/M with his finish pace being 8:02/M. and his total pace at 8:06/M..... it all boggles the mind.....


Congratulations, Ned...... You are amazing... and hopefully, not too sore today.....

Change Cannot Happen UNLESS you VOTE...... whether it is for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton..... Just Vote.....






Lyrics:
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

In the morning on the way to Lea and Steve's house, we stopped off to see if Santa made it to Ben's house and brought him the Spiderman Bike he wanted....





And he did..... Ben rides like he was born on a bike....


Then at the Lea and Steve's, we gave the boys notebooks that Ken made for their photos and postcards.....






And then we gave them their own digital cameras so that they can make more photos to fill their new notebooks.....








They acted like they were born with cameras in their hands...


For some, it was a laid back sort of day.......




And for some, it was all about playing with the new toys.....




AND THEN ON TO MY PARENT'S HOUSE.....


Me and my nieces, Stacy and Kristin



Kathi and Stacy and Kristin



Robyn and Stacy and Kristin


For some, it was a laid back sort of day.....




And for some, it was all about listening in to other people's conversations....




and listening to some people's stories.....




After a fine dinner of ham, turducken, green beans, mashed potatoes better than mine, tossed salad and my fruit salad that was laced with gin, we opened our gifts......
Mom and Dad lit some candles.....










Bob passed out the gifts.....


We gave Dad a vintage Kodak camera and Mom an old book of Robert Burn's poetry and pjs.....



We did a lot on Christmas Day but mainly, I enjoyed being with family and feeling connected to them all..... You gotta love a holiday that brings us all together......

So we spent Christmas Eve at Ned and Roni's house with Ben and Ian and Roni's parent's Ron and Roylene.... They are PawPaw and Mimi to Ben and Ian (we are Pops and Nana) .....




the wonderful Mimi




Pops with Paw Paw.... 2 Ps in a Pod....

The Christmas tree was packed with goodies for the boys and it looked like Santa had already been there but Mimi reported that she saw on TV that Santa had only made it to China so far....



When Ben saw the stuff under the tree, he made a beeline to his new workbench and the tools.... and he tried them all out.....















Then Ben discovered his Spiderman tent....He loves everything Spiderman..


Among other things, we gave him a big blue bed spread for his big boy bed with rocket ships on it but I video taped him with it and I don't know how to load up videos to my blog yet ..... that is next year's project.....


Ben's favorite number is 5 so we did get him some books about 5.....
Here's Roni reading one to Ben....





Oh.... and of course this is little Ian's first Christmas so they woke him up so that he could
open his presents......


Ian chillin' on his bear chair named Poppy.....


But mainly, we just passed him around like he was our new Christmas toy.... which he is....














Ned, Roni, Ben and Ian



Now, here is one of the many reason I love Roylene .... this has nothing to do with Christmas but I wanted to say that you just have to love someone who can eat an avocado like an apple... she even shared with me..... She is just the best....





and finally Ben wishes everyone a very Merry.... Candy Cane.....



and to all a good night.........

A couple of days ago, my Dad turned 79 .......My Mom, my sisters and our husbands and my nephew, Bob celebrated it yesterday.... We had a grand dinner of crab, asparagus risotto, salad and apple crisp..... It all was yummy.....

Most of my friends' fathers are gone so I feel quite fortunate that I still get to hug mine.....

When I was a little girl, I had this little inner tube floaty thing in the shape of a black swan...
At the lake, I watched everyone swimming without an inner tube and knew that I could swim without one, too..... so I got out of the tube and made a mad dash into the water..... I must have gone straight under because just as fast, my Dad was there to rescue me..... He has always been there to rescue me and I know that he is here for me now.....
well, maybe not pulling me out of the lake because I am much (much!!!) larger but any hot water that I might get myself into, that's for sure.

My sisters and I are lucky to have him as our hero....



my Dad opening gifts....


Politically, we don't quite see eye to eye..... but he taught me to have my own mind which is why I am who I am today......
He may regret that some what but I am forever thankful to him for that......

Happy Birthday, Dad...... I love you more than you know....



On the way home from their house, we stopped off in Johnson City to see the electric company's light extravaganza ...... It was breathtaking ...... only PEC could afford to put on such a display..... Interesting, especially at a time when their board president is under such scrutiny...... LOL....
but actually, these photos don't do it justice....
It is amazingly beautiful.... They had a couple of trees on a few of their other properties done in just red and just green that were spectacular but I wasn't able to capture them with my camera.....










Here's one that I took by playing with the camera setting.....

Okay, so this year was a lot of traveling for us... I just haven't been able to keep up with it all so I am going to go backwards a bit and hopefully, finish telling you about our trip to California.....

I am going to start with Chicago... in November....

In the midst of waiting for Roni to have our 4th grandchild, we had to go to Chicago for one of Ken's postcard shows.... Because it was so far away, we decided to make it a bit of a vacation and meet Joe and Alice, Ken's sister and her husband there and take in the sights for a couple of days after the show.....
Of course on the day we left for Chicago, we heard that Ian was born as we pulled into our friend, Brian's house in Branson, MO......

Here is Brian, as he was when he rode the high seas......

I will have to do a whole blog entry on Brian as that he is quite a character but I have ground to cover with all that we did in Chicago so I will have to let Brian rest, ....... for now......

So we went on to Chicago and did the postcard show .... set up on Thursday and the show was Friday and Saturday.....we were in the outskirts of Chicago for the show....
On Saturday, we moved into a hotel downtown across from Bloomingdales and met Joe and Alice who had flown in from Abilene....
We ate dinner at an Armenian restaurant.... Alice made the right choice there... I won't comment on how well the rest of us ordered.....

We walked everywhere..... On Sunday, we walked over to the Art Institute and it was very windy and COLD......


Along the way we examined the Tribune Tower..... they have embedded important stones from numerous places all over the world into the sides of their building ..... Joe, being the kind who believes that most any thing of any importance comes from Texas, started to search to see if they included the Lone Star State..... He was quite happy when he discovered the Alamo was remembered there..... Leaving us to wonder how that rock got past the Daughters of the Republic.......


Alice didn't care she was just COLD.....



Chicago has wonderful Public Art works.... They have this huge sculpture piece that looks like a metal huge bean.... You can walk under it and around it and catch your reflection in different ways.....










I love the Art Institute for several reasons..... one for the protesters outside of the building..


And the lovely painting of Mary Cassatt's inside of the building.....
Mary and Me.....



Then we walked over to the field museum and saw 100 of the world's most famous maps....
it was fascinating.... so were the headless sculptures that we walked by......

Here is Ken adapting to the situation....


We ate lunch in a place under the "L"





The next day we went to see Frank Lloyd Wright's studio and home....


The entrance to the studio.....


the studio is on the left side of the house.....


There was a park in the neighborhood that had a bust of Frank on display.....



Then we checked out Navy Pier.....


all my life, I wanted longer legs.....



here's a view of Chicago from the huge ferris wheel at the Pier.....




We ate some great hot dogs..... this was a fun spot called Hot Diggity Dog....




It was so good that I can still here Joe barking....... Oh, God..... and Alice looked the other way....


We also went to see Wicked.....


I couldn't believe it..... The sets and costumes were gorgeous and so was the theater, it's self.....
The Oriental Theatre lobby......


Of course, no photos were allowed inside of the actual theater......

It was an amazing trip..... Thanks, Joe and Alice for coming all the way to the Windy City to join us......

Thanksgiving was a long but enjoyable day.....
Ken had made 4 pumpkin pies... three to deliver and one to keep...
I made two kinds of potatoes..... mashed and sweet ...

Our first stop was to Ned and Roni's ..... we watched Ben do push ups in his underwear....
we watched Ian sleep and we watched Roni and her mother make things with eggs.... mainly deviled eggs... yum.....
One pie down....

Then we went to get our friend Ned Coleman so that we could all go visit a our friend,Ron in the hospital... Here we delivered fancy teas and coffee cake.... and postcards.... he is one of our postcard friends.....

On to Lea and Steve's house to collect a bunch of hugs from Jake and Nathan... and to drop off the second pie.....

Finally, we were on our way to my sister's house in Temple.....
This was the destination of the third pie.....
The main event at Robyn's house was her new granddaughter Paisley.... she has changed a lot from the last time I saw her..... she is growing fast.....


my Mom and Paisley


my Dad and Paisley


Everything was very low key and relaxing....

my nieces and nephew.... Kristin, Brad and Mary.....


my sister, Kathi


my brother, Dave


Ken


I love this photo of my Mom......


Of course there was the meal preparing.....

Linda directing... Robyn watching, Nannie fixing and Linda Page wondering.....

and meat cutting.....

Brian and Brad play dueling cleavers.....

And cleaning....

Here is Linda demonstrating the importance of always looking fashionable in any situation...

But like I said, the center of attention fell on Paisley, even though all she did was sleep...

Paisley with her grandma, my sister, Robyn....

Well, we waited and waited and then finally HAD to leave on our trip to Chicago for the postcard show...It was November 6th.... Ten hours later, as we pulled into our friend Brian's driveway in Branson for our first stop, we got the news.....
Ned called from the hospital and told us that Ian Lockwood Wilson had just been born.... Roni nearly had him in the car on the way to the hospital but he came 10 minutes after they arrived...he weighed 6 pounds and 15 ounces....

And he is gorgeous.... Ned sent us photos via my cell phone so we got our first look at him
that night and then Lea sent us photos via email and Brian printed them out for us....


So with out further adieu...... may I introduce to you.....

Ian Lockwood Wilson....




well, here is a closer look.....




Now, they told Ben that his new baby was going to bring him a present and asked him what he wanted.... he quickly told them he wanted a weed eater, I guess to go with his leaf blower..... So low and behold, Ian brought his older brother that weed eater he wanted.....
I hope Ben won't be warped, thinking that his mother delivered both Ian and a weed eater....
Only time will tell..... He already thought that she was carrying around a cake in her stomach.....




What ever he ends up remembering, he has already accepted his little brother into the family.....







right down to Ian's tiny undies that he had to try on.....



Not sure what Max thinks about the newcomer though......





But we all welcome him into the family.....




Pops and Ian



Jake and Ian


Nathan and Ian



Aunt Lea and Ian


Grandma Vicky and Ian


Mimi and PawPaw and Ian



and me..... Nana and Ian




How could we have ever wished for a girl ??? ...... I can't imagine......

Sorry that it has been awhile since I have posted anything to my blog but
so much has happened that I haven't had the time to journal at all.....
Now before I get back to more photos of the vacation, let me catch you up
on a few things.....
First of all on September 20th, while I was on my way to set up at the Plaza Art Fair in Kansas City, Missouri, our niece Ana delivered a beautiful baby girl..... Adelynn Grace Aleman..... Ken had to go do a postcard show in Dallas that day but luckily, Adelynn came in the morning so he could be there at the hospital when she arrived.... I only got to hear about it on the cell phone....
AND then the very next day, our niece, Mary delivered another beautiful baby girl....
Paisley Grace Knieriem..... Two Graces in two days.... How Amazing is that....

So the next week, I beat a path to see them both.... I would like for you to meet...
First... Adelynn Grace...






Adelynn with her mother, Ana....



Adelynn with her great Aunt Alice.....



Adelynn with her great Uncle Ken.....



Adelynn's sister and brother, Ava and Cameron in her pink room....



Adelynn with her Mom and Uncle Ken....


Ana and Jay have made some beautiful children.... It will be fun to watch little Adelynn
running to catch up with the twins... Congratulations of the wonderful addition.....



And NEXT, I would love for you to meet....
Paisley Grace.....









Paisley and her great Aunt Debbie (me)......



Paisley with her Grandma (my sister, Robyn) and her Grandpa (Brian)



Paisley and her parents... Mary and Brad



Paisley with her great grandmother (my Mom) and her Aunt (Kristin)



And finally Paisley with her Godmother Kristin.... who is my Godchild... My Godchild is
a Godmother.... can you imagine that..... I love this photo because I remember when I
looked at Kristin that way.... and I still do....



Now we are waiting for the arrival of our fourth grandchild.... we don't know the sex of this one so we will see who it will be hopefully in the next couple of days..... We are on high alert.... I will introduce you to that one soon......
Are we lucky or what?.......

Bob and I have been friends for a long time so he made this commercial for me as a trade for art work..... it may take a little bit to load up but use your patience...
it will be worth the wait.....

Before I add more to my report of our vacation, I thought I would put up a few photos that Jake and Nate took with my camera.....



Jake took these photos at the Empire mine.....












Nathan took this one of us....


Jake liked this truck....


and this cool stuff.....


I am not sure which one took this one of the blacksmith since they both were interested......


Nathan took this of me in the mine museum... I guess,he thought I was an interesting old relic....


And he loved these rocks.....


And he took this photo of us looking at some birds that we thought were eagles but they were osprey ........


And when Nathan got bored with the birds, he thought this berry was note worthy......

Sorry, to be away so long but I have been on vacation..... Yes, an honest to goodness, non working vacation.....
We went to Northern California with two of our grandsons and their parents and had a blast.... After we got back, we were turned around and took off to Missouri for two postcard shows....
But we are back now so I will tell you about our travels in two parts....well, maybe more since I may tend to get wordy and I took a slew of photos.... So I may need to break this up.....

First.... California.....

It all feels like a nice, cool dream now but the reality of it was just amazing....

We flew from Austin to Houston to Sacramento....
As you can see, the boys were thrilled to fly and get their wings......





In Sacramento, we rented a mini van and went off to explore whatever was in between Sacramento and our destination....... www.ourcabinontheriver.com ..... we had a day and a half to get there, so off we went.....

We went for a hike along a river and found tadpoles the size of alligators.... well, really they were about the size of the kid's hands....



And we went over a bridge that was so high that they had a telephone for anyone who found it too inviting and might want to jump.......



Our next adventure had us at the Sutter gold mine, panning for gold and semiprecious stones.......


and then we actually went down in the mine in an open vehicle with mining helmets ...


oh, lordy..

and this was during the time of the mining disasters in Utah so all I can say is that it was a bit creepy and brought the realities of that world too close for comfort..... Of course Jake and Nate were engrossed ......




my favorite photo is this one of Nathan as we came out of the mine and he got to sit in a special seat up front with our miner guide ...... He was over the moon.....


After the mine we went to Grass Valley and Nevada City and took a gander at my Mom and Dad's old house..... It was still gorgeous but not quite as well kept up as when they had it.....


The next day we went to another gold mine..... the Empire Mine..... this time it didn't include a ride to the underbelly of the earth, thank God..... but we had fun checking the place out.....
this is of the guys trying to push a huge drilled sample of rock.....






Then we made our way the ocean so we could drive up the coast to the Northern corner of California ...... the boys flipped over seeing the Pacific for the first time...





and Lea and Steve enjoyed it too, I think ! ...



and Ken......



Minutes away from the ocean, we got our first real look at the hugeness of the redwood forest......



we stood IN trees.....






we drove THROUGH a tree.....



we stood ON trees.....



and we saw a cabin made out of ONE whole log....



And we did ALL of this before we even got to where we were going to stay for the week.....
And boy, when I saw the cabin, I didn't want to ever leave it.....




But we left it everyday and oh, what we saw..... but that will be next....