Here's To Life!

Our trip to South Carolina in April was wonderful. The weather was lovely and we were there for the peak blooms of azaleas. It was relaxing, we visited new sites, ate some great food and had a good time. Wonderful to be near the ocean. We traveled through Kentucky on our way and visited a Buffalo Trace Distillery. As the weather warmed as we went south, we could also see the trees budding out and flowering. A great sign of spring. Our first stop in South Carolina was Edisto Beach. It is almost like an island -surrounded by the ocean and the South Edisto River. We wandered on the beach and drove among trees laden with Spanish moss. We visited the Charleston Tea plantation and drove through nature preserves. We spent a day at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens where we saw lovely flowers, lots of wildlife, and experienced a bit of history. We spent a few days in Charleston where we made a trip to Fort Sumter, took a carriage ride, visited the Slave Mart Museum and had some great meals. Then...

Spring has sprung! And the time to travel has begun.  Retirement is great because we have time to do the things we want to do, including traveling as the weather warms up. Of course we are traveling safely, wearing masks and not making contact with too many people. This March we drove out to the Cape to visit my mother. I have been going to the Cape in March for a number of years, though I never made it last year. Paul was able to go with me this time. The weather was decent - at least no rain - so we tried to spend some time outdoors. When I go to the Cape I always want to "find the water" and eat fish and chips. This time we found the water at Dowses Beach, the National Seashore, Plymouth Harbor and the Sandwich boardwalk. We had fish and chips from Bobby Byrne's Restaurant and Seafood Sam's.  Finding the Water We had a nice visit - drove out to Provincetown one day, stopping to see the water in various places. We drove to Plymouth to visit the harbor, see Plymouth ...

What a winter it has been so far. We have had some extremely cold weather - though not as bad as some years - and now we have over a foot and a half of snow on the ground. We are so thankful for our neighbor who has a snowblower and does our sidewalks! Enjoy the  little bit of snow!

Never so happy as to see the end of a year. 2020 held a lot of promise in the beginning. There were many good things that we had planned. Many of them happened under completely different circumstances but happily the best of what was to be in 2020 was there. I so look forward to being able to spend more time with family this year, hoping without masks. I want to be able to celebrate happy things - Kristin and Scott's wedding celebration as they had originally planned, the engagement of my niece, Anna, to Jim. I want to be able to spend more time with my granddaughter, Xochitl, at the zoo or the park or anywhere we might be able to go. Now that we are both retired, we both want to be able to travel, to explore old and new places. We want to see the United States. We want to be able to visit with people who live far away from us. We want to be able to eat out - breakfast, lunch or dinner - when we feel like it.  Here's to the new year! Let's hope it is better than the last on...

The Christmas tree is decorated, and there are even presents under it.   A wreath hangs on the door. The nativity set is out. The holiday season is here even though it feels different. What a year this has been! We had a couple of big events planned for this year — events which still happened though not in the way we had originally thought.   Paul planned his retirement for this year — in July he celebrated 35 years being with Mayer Brown LLP and decided that he was ready for retirement at the end of that month. He was asked to stay on a few more months and so retired at the end of September. He started working from home in March when everything was shut down and never went back into his office. He hasn’t missed working though he missed seeing his colleagues in person before he retired. He has spent his time since continuing to work in the yard, work on his genealogy and writing up family histories. Gail’s mother celebrated her 90th birthday in July. A big birthday celebration...

  What a fall it has been! From Paul's retirement on September 30 to Kristin's wedding on October 10 and a trip to enjoy the fall colors and visit my mother, we have celebrated. This year we really had a chance to see the changing colors of fall. Since we are both not working, we were able to take the time to enjoy the end of the warmer weather and the leaves as they were changing color. Chicago, our backyard, western Massachusetts, Cape Cod and Pennsylvania - we spent the fall enjoying each day. Because of everything going on this year, we spent a lot more time outdoors. We made one of our favorite drives in western Massachusetts on Route 2, a route we have taken many times in the summer but this was our first fall drive. We looked at the seashore in many places on the Cape. We celebrated Kristin and Scott's wedding in our backyard. We enjoyed Halloween with John, Sasha and Xochitl. We have spent time at home just doing things around the house.  The weather has been unseas...

  Kristin and Scott got married in our backyard on October 10, 2020. Anna married them. Planning began last year for their wedding and they planned a celebration at Galleria Marchetti for 10/10/2020. Kristin planned well for that day - arranging the photography, a dj, flowers, and getting a dress. Changes had to be made after the pandemic scuttled her plans - along with the plans of a lot of other people gathering for various festivities in 2020. They decided they still wanted to get married this year and hold their celebration next year. So new plans got formed and our backyard was decided upon just a couple days before the 10th. Our family was there, along with Scott's parents, Kristin's bridesmaids and Anna and Jim. The weather cooperated and we had a lovely afternoon. Anna was a wonderful officiant for the ceremony and it was a special occasion. Wedding of Kristin and Scott