Friday, June 29, 2012

Chippin' and Skippin'

Yesterday the landscapers came by to cut up our giant fallen mulberry tree. It was amazing to watch the chipper eat up logs that were 8 inches in diameter!

The large trunk was cut up into different size logs, and we made a little skipping (or walking) course for our future grandchildren. We've had a slow start on the grandchildren project, but by the time we get them, we plan to make sure grandma and grandpa's house is a fun place to visit!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

One Last Craft

Melissa and I had time for one last craft this morning. It was a new twist on the necklace pendant. It was even easier than yesterday's necklace.

You just need some scrabble tiles, some glue and some silicon tops. A stack of National Geographic magazines doesn't hurt, either! You just put the silicon top on a picture. The tops already have adhesive on the back of them. Then you glue them to a scrabble tile. Voilá! You're done!

Melissa found a few pictures to represent Africa, as well as China and Paris. They reminded her of her world-wide travels.

Tom and Tina stopped by for lunch before leaving for Philadelphia this afternoon. Coda wanted to go with them, but I made her stay with us. Tom said he liked out new house a lot, but he REALLY liked our dog! I thought they were only cat lovers, but it turns out they're just animal lovers in general!

We had a great visit, and appreciated them making such a great effort to stop by and see us. Next time it will be our turn to go to Tucson and see them!


Fun, Fudge, Farkle, and Food

Melissa and I painted dominoes yesterday morning. We were so engrossed in it that by the time Tom and Tina called to say they were too tired to go back to Baltimore we were relieved. This gave us more time to spend on our little masterpieces. It is really one addicting craft.

Her are Melissa's creations. I like the roadrunner. She did it in honor of her mother who feeds a family of roadruuners a meatball every day.

Tom and Tina came over in the afternoon and relaxed and read books on the deck.

Coda and I took Melissa for a walk on the fire road. Fortunately, we're still enjoying lovely weather here.

We came back and re-energized with a little fudge from the Fudgery in the Inner Harbor. We like to stop there to listen to the employees sing, but they also have terrific fudge.

Melissa and I played a little duet we were working on--"I'll Fly Away." She enjoyed Amanda's harp, but found it disconcerting that the colors of the F and C strings were not consistent! But she powered through it, and we did great!

While we waited for Ed to come home Melissa taught us how to play Farkle. Well, actually, I was the only one who had never played. I liked it a lot. There is nothing quite as satisfying as rolling dice, is there?

We finished up the evening by driving up to O'Lordan's in Westminster. They must have the world's best Irish Stew! And the biggest! The Arizona Bushes are leaving today, but we sure enjoyed their visit! It is wonderful to have family, and even more wonderful to have wonderful family!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Bushes in Washington

We did the tour of Washington, DC yesterday with the Arizona Bushes. Melissa and I look so refreshed and chipper sitting on this park bench. This was before the marathon began!

We started at the FDR monument, one of our very favorite! Tom pointed out that his wheel chair has 2 more wheels than Roosevelt's!



Tina and Melissa posed in front of the Jefferson Memorial. Tina wondered if there was a paved pathway around the tidal basin when she last visited 45 years ago!

It was interesting to find out where the wheel chair access was to each monument. It was also interesting to see so many healthy looking people crowding onto our elevators! You'd think 12 year old boys might have preferred walking up the front steps to the Lincoln Memorial!

We had a bite to eat before continuing on. Tina couldn't resist feeding the birds, too! Fortunately, no park rangers caught her in the act!

I caught this cool picture of Ed and Tom as we left the WWII monument. Ed looks like he's imitating the Washington Monument!

We visited the Natural History Museum as our only museum for the day. Tina and I waited by the elephant for Tom and Ed to come in through the handicapped door on the rear of the building.

As it turned out, there were lots of Bushes in the museum that day. Here's a Bush Pig!

And here's a Bush Baby. This one reminded me that one of our our Bush babies is applying for a job at the Smithsonian! We're hoping something comes of it! We'd love to have Brittany and John near us!

Usually Ed walks back to get the car, but I talked him into hiring a pedicab, and I went along for the ride. It was so relaxing riding along the streets of Washington with the wind in our face and some pretty impatient drivers at our back!

Tom and Tina took us out to dinner at Clyde's in Georgetown. It was a great recommendation from our very friendly and helpful dentist.

Not only was the food great, but it was very entertaining watching the waiters balance the food on their arms! We were happy the food arrived at our table without incident!

Ed had the lamb, which was so tasty there was nothing left for a doggy bag. We picked up poor Coda at 10:30 p.m. from Lenny's house! Then we went straight to bed. We must rest up for a new day of sightseeing!


Monday, June 25, 2012

Ft. McHenry and the Inner Harbor

We took the Bushes to Ft. McHenry today, where we revisited the War of 1812. It's becoming one of our favorite wars! USA Today says America 'shrugs' when it thinks about it, but not the Bushes. We are always learning new things about it and are fascinated with the impact such a small war had on the history of the nation!


We stopped at a nice picnic table on the grounds of Ft. McHenry for lunch.


Then we drove over to the Inner Harbor for a quick look around. I took this family portrait of Tom, Tina and Melissa in front of the Chesapeake--the boat and the bay!

We always see something new at the Inner Harbor. This was a cool sailing vessel that we had never seen before. The dragon boats make a nice juxtaposition with the old-fashioned ship!

After dinner we walked (and rolled) down Oakland Road. It's hard to keep up with Tom in that wheel chair, but Ed and Coda were better at it than the ladies.

Tina and Melissa came down to the reservoir with me. The water level was so high! We've had plenty of rain this summer, which has been great! Fortunately, none of it fell on us today!


Sunday, June 24, 2012

Down at the Farm

Miss Carol gave Tom and Tina a tour of the farmhouse this afternoon. It's amazing to think we live next door to a house built in 1780! Fortunately, it was all wheel chair accessible, as the wing built in 2007 has a great entry ramp!

The dogs were in rare form today, playing so loudly I had to take Coda out a few times.The pugs decided they liked Ed and he even got a few licks from Katie!

We talked Miss Carol into joining us for dinner--country style pork ribs! They were finger licking good, if I do say so myself. By the time Tom and Tina left it was dark outside. I hope they get some rest tonight. We have a big day planned for them tomorrow!


A House full of Bushes

Ed's brother Tom, sister-in-law, Tina, and niece, Melissa arrived in Maryland yesterday afternoon. It was fun to show them around our new house. They couldn't have picked a better day to come. The weather was so nice we even had dinner on the deck! Melissa threw them a 140th birthday party a month ago--as they both turned 70 this year. Someone told Tina she only looked 50, so Tom must be 90! We think they both look great despite their age!

We're looking forward to showing them around Baltimore and DC in the next few days. Let's hope the weather continues to cooperate!

Friday, June 22, 2012

Going to the Dentist Can Be Fun!

Dr. Friedman is our new dentist, and he is very entertaining. He tells us stories and entertains us every time we go in! He loves history, and has told us a lot about Baltimore. Some of it was even true! This is an artsy picture of him, but it captures his essence, I think!

I had some old caps changed so they are porcelain instead of metal. They look much better. Then, he contoured my front teeth so they were a little rounded on the corners.All those years of chewing had made them straight all the way across! It was a little extra thing he decided to do while he had me in the chair. As much fun as we've had, I'll be happy happy not to go back for 6 months. The sound of the drill still sends chills up my spine!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Crafty Sisters

My sister Verlene told us how much fun she had painting dominoes, so Barbara and I had to try it out. She was right--it IS fun! We could have painted all day, but we ran out of dominoes! We used colored alcohol inks for the background and rubber stamps with black Stayzon ink for the designs.

Here are a few of our favorites. We glued loops on the top of some of them for necklace pendants. Others we thought we'd glue magnets on the back. Let us know which ones you like best! It's always nice to get a comment on the blog now and then!

Monday, June 18, 2012

If a Tree fell in the Copse Would Anyone Hear it?

Apparently, we wouldn't! This tree fell down last night in our little woods. It must have been 30 feet high! Ed thought he heard a little rumbling in the woods when he let the dog out before bed.

We woke up to find we now had a lot of extra greenery in the middle of our back yard. It also took out a couple of small trees on its way down! This is a tragedy of epic proportions--the loss of a great tree as well as a great deal of money to get it cleaned up!

Barbara Behooves

Barbara helped me feed the horses this morning, which meant she got to learn how to clean out a horse's hooves. She did a great job and the horses were very good. She didn't get slobbered on either, unlike Kent, who got a pretty good sliming yesterday when he gave Bali her apple!

Afterwards we went for a nice, long walk on a wet and drizzly morning. It was beautiful. Barbara enjoyed learning how to walk with Nordic walking poles. She took to it like a duck to water. She couldn't believe I took a 6 week course just to learn how to do that!

We finished off the day with a joint guitar lesson, a dinner of delicious Mexican Roasted Vegetable Lasagna and a movie, Beyond the Sea about the life of Bobby Darin. I admit I missed the death of Bobby Darin, but Barbara was kind enough to fill me in on it when I woke up.

Then, last but not least, there was a terrific firefly show in the back yard. It was like little Christmas lights in our copse. This is not an actual picture, but an incredibly accurate simulation! It was magic!


Sunday, June 17, 2012

Happy Father's Day!

We had a nice Father's Day. Ed got to talk to Brittany and Crystal, and he got a few presents, as well!

We were lucky to have TWO father's at our house to celebrate with, as Barbara and Kent are still here. They went to church with us this morning, even staying afterwards for a baptism!

After lunch we went down to feed the horses. Mr. Genes was a naughty horse and came in first and ate all of Coco's feed. We had to wait till he was done and then move him into his own stall before we brought the other horses in! Just when you think horses are predictable, something else happens!

We took a leisurely walk down Tally Ho court and then relaxed over brownies and ice cream. This is living! Barbara is curently reading a book on happiness. It says there are two kinds of happiness: the jumping up and down kind and the sitting on a bench eating a bowl of ice cream happiness. The latter is nothing to turn your nose up at--it felt pretty good!