I Go On An Adventure

Chatham County Stonehenge

Or...I find Stonehenge then get totally lost. Me and Mikey went to Weaver Street (hippie co-op) for breakfast yesterday, then he went to the studio and I decided to take the dogs for a walk. I wanted to take advantage of the fact that this was going to be the only warm day for the next week. We started walking in the wooded area behind the house. I found this stone circle and took a picture. We went way back into the woods and I lost my sense of direction, which is not very good on the best of days. The dogs abandoned me and I marched onward until I came to a clearing. It looked like a powerline right of way but I didn't see any powerlines. There were a lot of "private property, no trespassing, no hunting signs" but no sign of civilization. I was actually hoping someone would come and arrest me. I did see 3 deer blinds and one pile of deer corn and pumpkins. Obviously the hunters are ignoring the signs.

Walking in the clearing was a lot easier than stumbling through the woods, so I followed the right of way figuring I would eventually come to a road or a house or something familiar. Besides, it would be easier to find my corpse in the open country, if things should get to that point. I walked for MILES. At least it felt like miles. I thought about this book I read "Grandma Gatewood's Walk" about a 66 year old woman who walked the entire Appalachian Trail alone in 1957. I also thought about a story I read about a woman fleeing the Nazi's during the war with her tiny children in the snow. Kind of made me feel like a wimp. Thank the Lord baby Jesus I had a phone with me (which is odd because I NEVER take it with me on walks)...but I was getting concerned nevertheless.

Eventually I saw some houses in a new development of McMansions. I cut across the field and found some dude blowing leaves off his driveway. I flagged him down, "This is weird, but can you tell me where I am?" He told me Big Woods Road was "that way." Go a mile and half and take a left at the circle. Well, that was one LONG mile and a half. Up and down hills and after what had to be 50 miles I found the circle. Naturally there were 2 left turns off the circle. I found a woman walking her dog and got more directions. When I got to a corner with some street signs I called Mal. He was at Tops getting a coke at the moment so he couldn't look up the streets. I told him I'd call him back when I got to another street. I walked another 150 miles and finally, finally, finally found Big Woods Road. Mal then came and rescued me. Good thing too because I was exhausted. First thing I did when I got home (after going to the bathroom) was to look up my trek on google maps. Quite the adventure. It makes for an interesting story to tell the grandkids someday. In the meantime I am prepared to be miserably sore for the next several days. Somebody bring me some Motrin!

Current Obsession

journals in use at the moment

I always have to have some sort of creative outlet. That's how I'm wired. I usually do art projects or crochet or some variety of craftsy things, but lately I haven't been feeling like "arting" so I've been doing more writing. I have been writing since I was a child. I remember writing and illustrating stories in elementary school. I have a lively internal, imaginative life--which makes up for my dull, plodding, external real life. I've keep diary type journals most of my life. Unfortunately I was so afraid of someone stumbling across my journals and discovering all my deep, dark secrets that I destroyed them. I became seriously interested in journaling again when Mom got sick and I needed to process my feelings. I have a bunch of journals from those terrible years stashed away. I haven't had the stomach to look at them. Maybe someday I'll write about Alzheimers, but it's still an open wound right now. A couple of years ago I discovered this huge, incredible journaling community online. I felt like what's his name discovering the lost continent of Atlantis. I felt vindicated and less of a freak. I jumped in with both feet. Right now I'm using a variety of notebooks because I can't settle on just one.

my Hobonichi,the holy grail

 At work I'm using disc bound planers. I have one Arc (from Staples) and a Tul (from Office Depot). They are handy because the pages are easily removable and I can move them around as needed. I have a Midori travelers notebook. The original and my first "real" notebook. I love it. It is made of high quality leather and is aging beautifully. I am using it just for art journaling at the moment because it didn't work too well as a planner for me. I have a Field Notes size travelers notebook for my Weight Watchers food tracking and general on the go notes. I love Field Notes. So cute. I actually have several Field Notes size covers to alternate as my mood changes. I'm using a plain dot grid A5 notebook for my written journal. The 2018 notebook is Essentials from Peter Pauper press. This is my 2nd one. I like the quality and the price is great. And lastly for 2018 I'll be using the Hobonichi Techo Cousin for all my planning and most of my journaling. Mal picked it up for me in Japan. I was lusting after if for several months before I decided to take the plunge. It's so awesome and Japanesey! The design is wonderful and the Tomoe River paper is amazing. It is super thin and yet holds up to fountain pen.
So, to make this journey complete, I joined a Meet-Up group in the area called Cafe Journaling. We get together a couple times a month to journal and talk and show off our latest paper and pen purchases. I've found my tribe!

Post Holiday Lunch

I won a gift certificate to Gonza Taco in Durham, so I talked the coworkers into going out to lunch yesterday. Gonza has amazing Mexican food. I got chicken enchiladas with mole sauce. Excellent. We also took a quick side trip over to Molly's new condo. She moved into a brand new building just around the corner from Gonza. I'm jealous. She is walking distance from all kinds of cool restaurants and the Durham farmer's market. I would LOVE to live in a urban setting like that, however, I don't know what I would do with the dogs and cats. Living in a high-rise in downtown Durham would be difficult for Early. He needs room to roam. Actually, he is from Durham. He was rescued off the street as a puppy. He probably would hate to return--too many bad memories. He loves the country. But I digress...my coworkers are the best. What an amazing bunch of gals! I know how blessed I am to be working in a great environment, doing work I enjoy (most of the time) with people I love and admire.

Back to Work

My home away from home. This is the space where I spend most of my time. We moved out of the old glass building in Chapel Hill a year or so ago into this high tech modern thing in Durham. I loved that old glass monstrosity. It was terribly energy inefficient, but it was also an architectural oddity--I'm told it is the only true rhomboid building in existence. However I don't miss having pieces of plaster fall on my desk every time it rained. The new building is very nice and I'm lucky to have my own personal cubical. A lot of people have to share hotel cubes.

Our building is located on the Blue Cross Blue Shield campus. There are 9 buildings here, I think. Not sure of the exact number. Anyhow, there is a parking deck across the street, however I always get to work early enough to park in front the building. The cafeteria and gym are also across the street. We even have our own employee health center in the main building within walking distance. I have to drive a little further--by about 10 minutes. In light traffic I can get here in about 35 minutes. All in all, not a bad commute, although traffic gets worse every year. There is a LOT of construction going on. Where are all these people coming from? And where are they going to work?

I've included a selfie--me in my little cube, pretending to work.

Christmas 2017

The pictures speak for themselves. There's nothing more to say. My grandboys are awesome!

The boys-doing their own thing

Marcus on drums

James with his pack-pack

Bert has finals this week and needed a little help with the boys so she could study yesterday. I went over there after church and hung out with the little guys for a few hours. We had a wonderful time. Marcus pulled all the pots and pans from his kitchen set and arranged them into a drum set. He then proceeded to play them with a pair of metal chopsticks. He really does have a knack for playing drums. He's very coordinated and has a sense of rhythm. James was busy loading up his backpack, which he calls his "pack pack" with a variety of tools and books. I guess he is planning on a long hike in the near future. Next week I hope to go visit my other set of boys. I am one lucky grandma--let me tell you. 4 beautiful, smart, healthy and happy boys. My heart is full. My cup runneth over. I am richly and abundantly blessed.

Gingerbread House

My friend and Visiting Teacher, Pargie, made this beautiful gingerbread house for me. She is so kind, generous and good-hearted. I'm just totally overwhelmed. My brother sent me a Harry & David fruitcake. So much for Weight Watcher's this month. I'll be lucky if I don't gain 20 pounds this week alone. 

Mal does Tokyo

Mal has been in Japan for the past couple weeks visiting some family and doing that tourist thing. He took a bunch of Japanese language and history classes in college, so it seems appropriate to get him over there to see the real thing while it was still possible to do so. He's been having a blast. He stopped over in Vancouver on the way there and visited with his old high school friend. He'll be stopping there again on his way back. He should be home either this weekend or early next week. He's bringing me back a Hobonichi Techo. I'm so excited.

Poor pitiful Marcus

Marcus with hand-foot-mouth disease 

Marcus has a coxsackievirus infection. It causes this terrible rash in and around his mouth and on his arms and legs. Also on his bottom unfortunately. He's a trouper...but I know he is miserable. The virus is super contagious among kids, so the daycare is probably headed for major outbreak. I expect James will also get it any day now. My kids had it when they were toddlers, when we were living in Germantown, MD. The entire neighborhood came down with it. It's fairly benign...like a chicken pox virus...it will run it's course. Not much you can do about it but wait it out. In the meantime though you have one sad little baby. I feel so bad for him. And his parents! 

The Great American Eclipse

What can I say other than AWESOME!

I spent Saturday night at John and Penny's home in Hope Mills. Penny made me a dairy-free birthday cake which was completely delicious. Oh, BTW, did not count any weight watchers points this weekend...Sunday we headed to Myrtle Beach, SC and spent the night at the SeaCrest Hotel. Very nice room, beach front. The weather was perfect. Monday morning we did a thorough weather check. Taumi had a friend of his at NOAA run a cloud cover forecast program. Traveling with a NASA scientist definitely has its perks. Clouds/rain predicted on the coast, so we headed inland. Ended up in Santee. The sky miraculously cleared during the eclipse. It was an amazing sight. Definitely worth the trip. Getting home was a bit of a pain. Traffic was horrendous. Thank the good Lord and baby Jesus for GPS. We were zigzagging all through the backwoods of SC until we got to Lumberton. This was definitely the best birthday celebration I ever had.

Happy Birthday to me...again

My birthday was officially a week ago. I took the whole week off from work to celebrate. Then this weekend, I joined my brother at his friend's home in Hope Mills in preparation to head down to SC for the eclipse. John and Penny surprised me with a birthday cake (dairy free) and Taumi made a photo album of pictures of mom and dad. It was beyond sweet. What a great guy. I spent the night in John and Penny's brand new camping trailer, which BTW is much nicer than my house. I also got to hear a lot of stories about my brother's wild days in high school and college. Quite a revelation.

Smile, everybody!

Me with the Boston Boys

Sweet baby Marcus and James

More Family Pix

Mal, JA, Lila with David, Jon and Me

JA eating something

JT thinks something is funny

the Accidental Gardener

BCBSNC gardeners

I love that I work for a company that actively encourages community service. Several of us from the Medical Policy/Medical Review departments went to the Geer Street Learning Garden in Durham on April 20 to help out with the spring plantings. The garden is located on a vacant lot near downtown. The food grown there is given to the local food pantry. It's a transition neighborhood with lots of great stuff going on. The Back Pack Buddies have a space across the street as well as TROSA. Both of them are awesome programs. We prepared 2 beds for planting and mulched another bed. It was hard work-I am not accustomed to physical labor-but it was very rewarding. The weather was cool and cloudy in the morning...perfect for me. I don't do well with hot and sunny. The full-time ladies at the garden were incredible. It is so encouraging to learn that there are a lot of good people out there doing good work. My opinion of humanity has improved.

Portrait of Sophie

The father of one of Mike's guitar students is artist Bill Kolb. He was waiting for his son's lesson the other day and did a quick sketch of Sophie.

Getting a New Roof

the house with the old roof stripped off

Finally had to bite the bullet and pony up for a new roof (excuse the mixed metaphors there). We've had a leak for quite some time now in the far NE corner and because we totally suck at home ownership we let it go until we had considerable water damage. Shame on us. But, in our defense, it WAS an old roof and would have needed replacing at some point in the near future. These guys work fast. It's a good thing, too, because my dogs are wigged out. All the strange people walking on the roof and banging and throwing things makes them very nervous.

Japanese cousins

Fumie's daughter Maika (right) and Tomoya's daughter Yuzuki (left).

Keiko's neice, Fumie is expecing their 2nd child in Sept. Keiko said she has had a rough pregnancy this time--can't eat a thing. Her daughter, Maika is 30 months old now.Tomoya's daughter, Yuzuki, is 27 months old. 

Grandson Number 4

David Edward, born March 12

Obachan, Mom and Me

Mom, her mother and my teenage self

I thought I had posted this old photo, but apparently I was mistaken. I want to add it now for historical purposes. Photo was taken in 1973 I think, the summer Mom took me and Taumi to Japan to visit her family. It was the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. I got this awesome Toni Tennile haircut while I was there. Very fashion forward at the time. I went back to Japan once more on my way back from Okinawa in 1977 or 78. I was pregnant with Jon at the time. Japan is an incredibly amazing place. I would love to go back someday.

Daddy's Home!

the Boston Boys

One fine looking crew! Marcus is now 11 months old, James is 2 1/2 and I can't remember how old Calvin is...probably late 20s. Everyone is just so thrilled that daddy is home full time now. Hannah has started school again. She is at Methodist University in Fayetteville studying Healthcare Policy or Administration or something along that line. Anyhow, so far so good. I am thankful everyday to be blessed with wonderful children, grandchildren and in-laws.