Giving Credit where Credit is Due

It's been a while since I've been here.  I've been spending lots of time with my youngest daughter, Suzanne and her husband Ray, and his mother Delores.  

Ever since Delores had her knee replacement surgery, Ray has taken on the cooking duties, and I have to admit that he is a great cook.  He experiments like my son Brian used to do with the taste of food and I have to compliment Ray for all the fine meals he has fixed for us.  He doesn't complain at all, he just gets right in the kitchen and begins his magic.  Delores has taught him well, although Ray adds his own touches and flavors to the food.  We all love Ray's cooking and I always look forward to eating meals there.  

When Delores cooks, and she has always prepared her meals from scratch, she always fixed a complete meal.  It was like Thanksgiving Dinner every time she cooked.  She didn't skimp a bit or cut any corners.  We had a full plate, complete with a main dish, two vegetables, bread and dessert.  Ray does the same thing.  There is no "instant or boxed meals" there, it's all homemade.

Ray sometimes experiments with desserts and cookies too. He finds recipes online and then tries them out.  I don't ever have to worry about Suzanne going hungry there. I feel like I'm eating healthy when I eat there, and in fact I have lost a couple of pounds eating right.  The one thing that I feel very guilty about, is that I never finish my drink, sometimes only taking a small sip out of a bottle of water and then leaving it sitting where I sat.  I always have good intentions of bringing it home with me, but I seen to always forget it there.  Next time I go back I'm drinking a small amount of iced tea from a glass so that I don't waste anything.  Suzanne always says that Ray makes the best iced tea anyway.  I know that I would finish it just as long as it is a small amount.

I only wish that Sharon lived close enough that I could hop in the car and be at her house in 5 minutes.  We could do so much together, all of us, but I know she loves being near her children just as much as I like being near mine.  

Brandon, Krystal and Ody don't live far, but I don't know exactly where they live or I'd go over there and visit and play with Ody once in a while.  I see Brandon on Facebook and am happy to see that he is close to Krystal's large family and that warms my heart, because I know just how much he misses his mom & dad.  I wish he still had them and it breaks my heart that he doesn't.  Megan & Zac are so lucky to still have their mom, even tho they recently lost their dad.  We should all feel blessed and thank God for the family that we still have.

I was checking out my new laptop, which isn't working very well, because I haven't gotten back to my grandson Zac to set it up for me.  I haven't tried to use it much since around Christmas.  Well anyway, I logged in and checked out Brian's memorial site and I got depressed. Losing Brian, Reva and Sandie just doesn't seem right to me.  They were all too young to leave so soon.  So instead of dwelling on something that I can't change, I decided to write not knowing what I would say, but as I wrote I made myself feel better talking about my family.

Things with Rick are very good too.  The happier that I am, the happier that he is too, and the nicer he is.  I'm seeing the truth for the first time.........It's me who has not been happy or satisfied and that projects my feelings at him, and not in a good way.  He has been so patient with me for ten years, or has tried his best to please me and I have been the one that has not accepted him completely until now.  I seem to have a 10 year trial period on everyone except for Jimmy.  Jimmy was so different and so nice.  He was one of a kind and that  sure didn't make things easier on Rick.

A couple of days ago Rick said that he wanted to buy me a ring for Valentine's Day.  He has always wanted to marry me and be closer to me, but I haven't let him.  I can't get married, but I can let him feel like my husband and I can tell him how much I love it when he brings me coffee in the mornings, fixes me breakfast and supper.  He washes all the dishes without complaining and he loves to make me laugh.  He does so many things for me that I don't give him credit for, and in the past all I have written about him are the times when we argue and yell at each other.  He's really a nice guy who loves me.  I always considered us as just good friends and I didn't ever understand how he expressed emotion until only recently.  Thinking back now, I can clearly see how he pursued me and how he got the mistaken notion that I cared about him in a special way.  I didn't know his courtship rituals then, and I didn't understand why he would sometimes call me and say the things he said on the phone.  I just thought he was weird and didn't give them another thought, but now I understand.  It took me 10 years, but as long as he is still here, it's not too late for me to give him all the credit he deserves.  

  

 

Things that happened this past month

It seems a lot went on these past few weeks.  First Megan and James Malear celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary by going on a trip somewhere.  Don't they look happy?    

 Megan and James are expecting a baby boy, if my memory serves me right, in a little over 100 days.  Everyone is so excited and we can hardly wait. 

Sharon and Scott also celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in Gulf Shores, Alabama with their cute little pup Bo.

Alabama is beautiful with Spanish moss hanging from the trees, beautiful ocean sunsets in the Gulf of Mexico, and with Bo trying to keep as faraway as he can from those hungry  alligators and giant turtles.   

Look at that hungry alligator in the water behind Bo. Bo's an innocent little doggy and doesn't know about the dangers about being too close to gators.  I'm sure that he's not really as close as the picture leads us to believe.

The next picture is also of Bo and I'm sure that both the turtle and that beach chair are just giant props in the sand.

Bo is a small little dog, but not this small compared to that chair.  If it wasn't for that chair I might believe the size of that sea turtle because they do get really large.

I'm going to add three more pictures that I thought looked really beautiful and that just make me want to visit this place.

I could sit and rest on this bike trail among the trees.  It just looks so relaxing and very peaceful.  

And then the next picture is of a very gorgeous sunset along the coastline.

The temps there were in the 70's too.  This place needs to be added to my Bucket list.  

Isn't this a beautiful sunset?

Look at Bo in his little basket.  

He's a traveling pup who's very adventurous and goes everywhere with Sharon and Scott.   

Every Day Is A Vacation Day

I lost my internet two days ago and it suddenly came back on a few moments ago.  I don't know what I did, but it's on and I'm very thankful for that.  So before I lose it again I'll just post some pictures.  I don't take as many pictures as I used to so lots of activities get missed.  The other day we went to eat at Sir Pizza in Lexington with Brian and Reva and today we ate at Golden Corral.  We always have this joke while riding, and it doesn't matter how many miles we ride and in which direction, but we always laugh and say, "All roads lead to Golden Corral."  The one thing we all love to do is eat and we never pass up an opportunity to do so.

Here Reva and I are relaxing on Suzanne's porch.
Not sure what day this was, but it was one day
this week.

After we left Suzanne's we rode to
Lexington to Sir Pizza for a Royal Feast and brought one
back to her.

Stopping to rest on our ride today at a little
country church called Climax 

Brian was our leader today and he took us on some of
the prettiest roads in Rockcastle and surrounding Counties.
They were curvy and shady but very cool to ride on
  on a hot day.  Can you see how tired I was?  My bike is a real
workout, but I loved every minute of riding on these roads.

Reva & Brian

Suzanne has some of the biggest ants I've seen
crawling on her porch.  This particular ant
(bottom right) came here all the way from
Arizona, and he was tired.

This picture also involves eating.
Reva and Brian are going to make fried apple pies
from Suzanne's apples.

Brian sees some better and bigger apples on the tree

Even Suzanne tries to shake some down for them.

.

The shaking didn't work, so everyone tried hitting
them.  Can you imagine that great big beautiful apple
being beaten by a stick.  I bet it didn't look so good
once it hit the ground, LOL.

Jimmy even tried his luck in beating the apples up :))

Brian takes his bag of apples and leaves

Jimmy is still at the tree wondering where everyone went.

It's back on the porch to tell a few more tall tales.

A little country church
in a place called Climax.

Reva was my passenger today
and she rides so well that I couldn't even tell
that she was even back there.

Some big black clouds rolled in and it started thundering
and then the rains came, so we went into a little
grocery store and waited the rain out.
Just us and our ice cream cones.
I don't know the name of the gas station, restaurant,
grocery store, but it was in Tyner, Ky.

It didn't take long for the roads to dry off
and we were on our way again, but something didn't
feel right about my bike.

My bike started acting funny, so I stopped and Brian
and Jimmy gave my bike a once over and decided that
my back tire was a low on air.  Once they aired up
my tire, my bike started behaving itself again.

We're all happy....
there is nothing wrong with my bike
so we can continue on with our ride.

 
All of us had a great day today.  The weather was perfect for a ride, even that little rain storm didn't bother us.  We know to duck into some place and wait the rain out and as warm as it was today, it didn't take long for the roads to dry off.  I love spending time with my family.  I tried to get Sharon and Ron to join us but Sharon had to work and Ron had other plans.  Maybe they can join us on another day.  I'd still like to take Brandon to Chilis for some Chili Cheese n Bacon Fries because they make the best ones there and I know he'd like them.  There are so many things I'd like to do and so many places I'd like to go.  For us, every day is a vacation day no matter what time of year it is.

Oh wow....look how many days it's been since I've been here.  It's a frosty cold morning here and Reva is still in the hospital.  Her regular doctor is returning to work today, so continuity in care is on its way with only one doctor taking care of Reva instead of a different doctor each day. We all wish Reva well and hope she's back on her feet soon.

Jimmy has been a bit under the weather himself, still complaining of that same pain in his left chest and doing more napping than usual.  I hope the doctors find out the direct cause of his problem soon and fix it.  That hasn't stopped him from still trying to do all the things that he's always done though, although on a slower playing field these days.

Tomorrow we are both looking forward to seeing Zac & Jen.  They are both busy young adults so it's always nice when Zac calls and invites us out to lunch.  As grandparents it's always nice to be included in their plans.  

My day is just beginning.  The sun is out and it looks like it's going to be another crisp cold sunny day full of surprises :))  Good Surprises.....