Chat: Hope you are enjoying your summer!

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone, I'm back from a delightful five day vacation with my wife, her

parents, and

our daughter. We went to Gatlinburg, TN. and stayed in a resort club my

in-laws have a membership with. It was within walking distance of the

downtown shopping area. Quiet wooded area out back for picnics with a

roaring stream rushing downhill. Our balcony overlooked the stream and the

wooded mountainside.

On the way back home we were rear-ended in a chain-reaction accident. My

wife and daughter and I are suffering from whip-lash injuries this morning.

Like I really needed any help to have more pain than usual. I had lots of

stuff planned to do today, but it looks like I'll be in the recliner with a

hot pad or ice pack.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the end of August. My nine-year old goes

to school on Monday. The rest of my kids and grandkids have all moved out

and left for college or graduate school. Ahh, the peace, the quiet! Now I

just have to return all the furniture to the right rooms. Got a friend

coming over to help this week. See, I've learned from you guys, I don't try

to do it by myself anymore.

I'll be spending the Fall writing as much as possible on a couple of

literary projects: a children's book I am writing with my youngest daughter

and having a friend illustrate, and the beginning of a novel about women

from my family who lived in the wilds of west Tennessee before TVA

(Tennessee Valley Authority, flood control & electricity). In January I'm

thinking about finishing my doctorate in education...thinking, not yet

totally decided.

For those of you who garden, I've got a wildflower & butterfly garden (about

1/3 of our half acre yard) to weed and get ready for Fall. Thinking about

hiring a high school student to do some roto-tilling, mowing, etc. I just

can't do those things any longer. If I try, I end up in tears of pain and

frustration. Even my seventy-two year old father-in-law complained that I

walked too slow. Better slow than in pain! I kept telling him and my wife,

" Stop and smell the roses! "

Have a great day,

Ray in Virginia

[Guest guest]

Hi Ray;

what's with all the positive thinking ? You really are a sick, sick man ! You

probably smile on Mondays too. I hate people like you !

All kidding aside, thanks for relating your stay to us (to me at any rate).

Usually, reminiscing about good things in the past leaves me feeling a little

down. In this case, I remembered the times my wife and I use to " disappear " into

the Rockies on week-ends, stopping when we wanted, where we wanted. We'd leave

town immediately after work, with a French baguette, a salami and a 6 pack of

Coke and no plans other than to be back for work Monday at 8. Everything else

was open, glorious freedom ! Picnics by waterfalls, running into bears, rams and

moose, breathing the cool fresh air (we lived in Vancouver then and the air was

starting to get really polluted), etc. It felt good to bring those memories up

to the surface. Thank you.

Good to have you back.

Mike

> Chat: Hope you are enjoying your summer!

>

>

>

>

> Hi everyone, I'm back from a delightful five day vacation with my wife, her

> parents, and

> our daughter. We went to Gatlinburg, TN. and stayed in a resort club my

> in-laws have a membership with. It was within walking distance of the

> downtown shopping area. Quiet wooded area out back for picnics with a

> roaring stream rushing downhill. Our balcony overlooked the stream and the

> wooded mountainside.

>

> On the way back home we were rear-ended in a chain-reaction accident. My

> wife and daughter and I are suffering from whip-lash injuries this morning.

> Like I really needed any help to have more pain than usual. I had lots of

> stuff planned to do today, but it looks like I'll be in the recliner with a

> hot pad or ice pack.

>

> I hope that everyone is enjoying the end of August. My nine-year old goes

> to school on Monday. The rest of my kids and grandkids have all moved out

> and left for college or graduate school. Ahh, the peace, the quiet! Now I

> just have to return all the furniture to the right rooms. Got a friend

> coming over to help this week. See, I've learned from you guys, I don't try

> to do it by myself anymore.

>

> I'll be spending the Fall writing as much as possible on a couple of

> literary projects: a children's book I am writing with my youngest daughter

> and having a friend illustrate, and the beginning of a novel about women

> from my family who lived in the wilds of west Tennessee before TVA

> (Tennessee Valley Authority, flood control & electricity). In January I'm

> thinking about finishing my doctorate in education...thinking, not yet

> totally decided.

>

> For those of you who garden, I've got a wildflower & butterfly garden (about

> 1/3 of our half acre yard) to weed and get ready for Fall. Thinking about

> hiring a high school student to do some roto-tilling, mowing, etc. I just

> can't do those things any longer. If I try, I end up in tears of pain and

> frustration. Even my seventy-two year old father-in-law complained that I

> walked too slow. Better slow than in pain! I kept telling him and my wife,

> " Stop and smell the roses! "

>

> Have a great day,

> Ray in Virginia

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>