All Dressed Up With No Place to Go

Beautiful day. New Car. And no where to go.

I dream of days past when Rich and I, even if we weren't going camping, would get in the car on a weekend, with or without Lizzie and Jack, and ride and talk and laugh. Sometimes, it was just to go to the foot hills, find a place to let the pups swim or take a short hike. Many times, it was just up to Dahlonega where our son, John, just bought his new home (coincidence). Rich was always so much fun to be with. I miss his laughter, of course, but I miss my laughter with him, more.

I never thought about not being able to walk. If Rich were here, we'd be taking a ride, anyway, and laughing, too. Maybe stop and get an ice cream cone--his favorite thing to do. Not much fun without him.

When we were kids, there was a lady who lived next door to us who we called Aunt Alice. In my eyes, Aunt Alice was a very, very old lady. She was probably younger than I am, today. LOL I always remember her shaking her crooked finger and saying, "Young lady, the secret to never getting old is to keep moving." I think she was a very wise lady, and she did live well into my adulthood. I passed her advice on to my kids.

I wanted to post some pictures of Jonah just so I'd remember how grown up he has gotten so quickly. I think he just turned 8 months old. Susan was lucky to get him. He's got a wonderful personality and temperament. Between him and Bogey, I'm kept busy going between our houses. Susan lives a mile away so it's no big deal. It would have been difficult for her to own a dog with the hours she works and as active as she is, they have a great time on the weekends. The first picture has a funny story. She takes him to a park somewhere every weekend and he meets up with his brother and some other dogs. They got there early and he's looking as if to say, "Hey, where is everyone." He looks like a Meer Cat! Too funny. When he and his brother, Remy, saw each other for the first time since they were with their Mother (I'm guessing at about 6 months old), they seemed to recognize each other and have become fast friends. Susan and his owners have also become friends and will help each other out, as needed. They are a young couple and feel safe leaving Remy with her (and me) when they go away on a weekend.

The pictures with the black background are taken by Steven Moore (http://thebreedproject.com/). Susan and Remy's owners took Jonah and Remy. Sure wish I had some of Lizzie and Jack. I'll see if Michael is interested in getting some of
"The Bogster".

MeerKat Looking for his Friends at the Dog Park

Looks scary to me, but they have a blast together and never hurt each other. (Remy and Jonah)

My buddy, Bogey, is a couch potato (along with me) in this hot weather. He's a cool dog.

I think Michael gets him a new collar every time he has him. 

My First Visit to John and Lisa's New Home

John called the other day and wanted me to come up. I'm always up for a ride to the mountains so I got Susan to look in on Bogey for me. To my surprise when I came home, she had Bogey and Jonah over at her house getting along like two peas in a pod. I'm hoping that soon they can both stay over here so I can stay in one place. I felt for her. She was on call yesterday. She went in at 11 a.m. and a brain surgery and another emergency came in last night so she worked until 7 a.m. I couldn't reach her by phone so I went over at 5 a.m. to make sure Jonah was okay, put him out and fed him. I had gone over during the night to make sure he was okay with the thunder storms that were rolling through, and he was fine--sleeping like a baby. Bogey was fast asleep at my house--the big bangs don't bother him a bit.

John and Lisa's home is exactly an hour and 1 minute from mine, yet it is a world away in the foothills. I took pictures of every room in the house--just charming. I'll show only the outside, now. I called their last home "The Happy House" and I know this one is going to be just as happy.

We had hamburgers, hotdogs, and all the fixings and a surprise birthday cake! John's birthday and mine are close together. They think of everything. Kellie, their youngest daughter was there. She is the sweetest thing. I call her my animal girl because she's an animal lover like me. I think she opens the doors to let mosquitoes out because she wouldn't hurt another creature.

Bogey is lying next to me sound asleep. Jonah tired him out, I'm sure, but I'm so happy to see them getting along. I'll sign off with a few pictures I wanted to keep as a memory of driving up to the house for the first time.

The country road they live on

Beautiful views and lots of privacy. They said their neighbors are very nice.

They have already been enjoying their porch. This is one half. I could see myself enjoying it, as well. I always wanted a porch. If the bugs get back, they have a screened in porch. What a life!

I was thinking while at John and Lisa's house how I wish Rich was here to see it and to see how happy his kids and grandkids are. When I got home and unloaded my pictures I held my breath because either the camera or my computer has been acting flaky when downloading pictures, lately. To my surprise, this picture was in the middle of everything. It's a picture of Rich and me with the boys (many years ago). Susan wasn't among us yet. I'm putting it here just for my memory. It's not very clear, but I remember the day well. It was in my sister's and brother-in-law's first yard.

Amish Country with Sister, Judy

I'm a little late with this blog as I've been home for five days, but better late than never. The ride up to Pennsylvania was LONG, but the car was easier on my back than the truck was. Going up, I hit no traffic whatsoever; a few wrong turns, but nothing catastrophic. I was hoping to leave only a two or three hour drive for Sunday, but it wound up being about an hour longer because the GPS directed me onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The best part of the trip was seeing Judy. We are good travel companions because neither of us can walk, but we were on every road there is in the Amish country. It's so incredibly clean--makes me wonder what's wrong with the rest of the country. There's a glaring difference once you leave the area. We also took a ride up to Jim Thorpe.

Other than the scenery (I've got a few pictures), we gabbed and gabbed and laughed and laughed all day and into the night. Judy and maybe her husband, Frank, are coming down in August to see us. My kids are very excited, and can't wait to see them.

I could have sworn I got a picture of the whole tower.

I took this off the web so you could see it. We came across it by accident.

One thing I found in Kentucky horse country and in the Amish country is that there are not a lot of opportunities for good photos because the roads are narrow and there's no place to pull over. My pictures may be a little out of order--blogger is not letting me put them where I wanted, so--don't know what I'm doing wrong, and I'm sure it must be me.

Every where we went, it was clear that patriotism is important in Pennsylvania. It was Independence day, but still...so much effort is put forth. In the town of Litzit, early morning on the fourth people were putting chairs and blankets out along the streets where the parade was to be. It amazed us because, sadly, where we live--they would be gone way before the parade took place.

I couldn't find the name of this covered bridge and I was trying (knowing I was illegally parked) to get a picture of just the bridge, but this lady decided she wanted to be in the picture and walked right by me. I couldn't wait for her to go through.

We took a ride to Jim Thorpe and took the "scenic" train ride. Not so much. This is the only pretty place we saw and it's blocked by a fence. I had passed through Jim Thorpe many years ago with Rich and I thought I remembered it differently than it is. Of course, that was back in the days when we could walk so Judy and I just saw the very minimal sights to be seen.

One thing we noticed was that Monday is laundry day in the Amish country. Every farm we came across had a clothes line. It brought back memories for me as I had no dryer when my kids were little and remember hanging wash in the coldest and hottest of weather.

And the very old big and little houses along the narrow streets are so pretty.

 

The farms are so pristine and beautiful

I'm hoping to take some weekend trips; probably in the fall. I love meandering through the back roads. I really miss the truck when I come to the dirt roads that call me, but there's still a lot to see.