Happy Birthday Trish -

Trish, my condolences - only you could put with Greg for so long and what a joy it is I'm sure. One thing for sure, with that house full of boys I'm sure you never have a moment to yourself. So my wish for you today is that you will have some quality time to yourself and that Greg will take you someplace special for your special day.

Have a great day and know that we all appreciate you and love you! Happy Birthday!

Happy Anniversary Rick & Michelle -

Ya, I don't have a single picture of Rick & Michelle! Sure wish I did, and to tell you the truth, I don't even have any good stories to tell on them! Now is that just pathetic or what?
Rick and Michelle, Mary & Chuck really enjoyed you two and loved it when you would come home and be with them. Thanks!

Happy Anniversary Kurt & Jean

Well, Kurt today you and Jean are celebrating your 17th wedding anniversary, can you believe it?
Hope you guys have a wonderful day!

Happy Anniversary Frank & Mary Ann -

Well, Frank and Mary Ann are celebrating their 49th Anniversary today - I can remember when they got married. I was at school in Wisconsin and Frank drove from Eagle to pick me up and then we drove to West Point. A heck of a long way for Frank to drive but I was in the wedding. I can still remember the dress I wore, it was gunmetal blue and absolutely the most gorgeous dress I had ever seen. I loved the cut and the color of the dress, they were so cool. Mary Ann comes from a large family as well and the wedding taking place in Grandma and Grandpa's home town the wedding was huge!
I hope they do something fun for their anniversary - like run the "ding wams" on the mighty Mississippi.

Happy Birthday Paula -

Well, today is Paula's birthday and I don't have a single picture of her or her family, I sure wish I did. Paula is so sweet and has two adorable boys, Mary Ann and Chuck thought she was perfect for Joey.
Paula hope you have very happy day - enjoy it!

I know - the last blog was pathetic . . .

Well, for some reason I have been thinking of Virgil a lot and how robust he always was - here is a picture of him when he was in the service. When Grandpa had his stroke, Virgil got called back and I can remember going to pick him up.
Back in the 50's Grandma had a new fang dangled washing machine that rotated back and forth, then you took a stick, pulled the clothes out and ran them through the wringer. My job was to be in the basement and run the clothes through the wringer. I was probably about 10 or so and I managed to run my hand through the wringer with the clothes. There I stood, screaming at the top of my lungs that my hand was stuck! Virgil came flying down the steps with a crow bar and popped the wringer open to free my hand. Nothing was damaged, except a cheap ring I got from the "cracker jack" box. It was some time later when I was using the same machine, that I noticed a lever on the side - pulled it and voila, it popped open the wringer. DUH!
(Incidentally, voila sounds phonetically like whala hence the improper spelling, often used by morons in an attempt to sound more intelligent than they actually are.)

No birthdays for a while so I'll fill in?

We go a couple of days without a birthday and I'm getting lonesome for you guys so I went for a walk today and took some pictures. The weather has finally cooled down and I have "Spring Fever" in the fall. I washed windows and cleaned the lanai and basically got ready for being outside again. So. . . I went for a walk and enjoyed all the fruit of the beautiful flowers we have blooming all year around here. I can remember growing some of these flowers up north and was exited when they grew up to about 3' or 4'. The picture below is an umbrella plant and I am standing on the third floor, they grow humongous here!
A split leaf philodendron -
A Bromiliad outside our complex -

A yellow something - not sure what it is, but it looks pretty!

And of course the ever present bougainvillea - Grandma loved flowers and always had plenty around the house and yard. And that love spilled over on Mary Ann, Dorene, Bernadette and the rest of the family. I love this time of year down here - but I do miss seeing everyone!