“Your’s truly”  is in love with Dr. Scholl’s massager–with heat!! Oh so comfortable with my “slanket”  and Dr. Scholl’s!!!

Cold, cloudy, windy morning!! Outdoors, standing water puddles from occasional rain. Old lady is tired, with aches and pains. Discouraged because pictures would not “up-load” from Canon camera and Picasa. Google retired Picasa several years ago but I’m a creature of habit and still use that software program. I hate this time of year because TV (et al) emphasis on Christmas and families, parties and presents. I’m eager for 2019. Right now (9:45 AM) I want to go back to bed (and cover my head). Clarification, I love Jesus but He gets lost in hustle and bustle. 

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No pictures of food preparation but decided I’d document “in my journal” my extremely unusual activities. Because I’m cold, I thought “home-cooked beans would taste good.”  From my pantry, a package of 15 Bean Soup. They’re soaking. A cabbage from much earlier grocery-shopping trip was chopped up and combined with coleslaw dressing.  ~~ It won’t be easy but I’m planning to ignore Ancestry.com until less pain in arm, shoulder and neck.

“Three thousand miles and counting” & “Forty years and counting.”

My recent Ancestry.com  research project had me revisiting locations from yesteryear. I was in British Columbia, Canada, in 1978 (en route to Alaska). More recently (nine years ago), many happy hours spent with “cousins” in Elkhart, Indiana, area. A delicious meal, and tour, at Amish Acres, in Nappanee, Indiana, Quilt gardens (flowers) tour and quaint shops in Wakarusa, Indiana. Flee Market in Shipshewana, Indiana, and Menno-Hof museum.

Check this blog message titled Greetings from Wakarusa. Also visit the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana. Read about a Spiritual Renewal. Frustration: “Where are my other pictures??”  It was that time frame when I purchased the Tab Teardrop trailer–in Shipshewana–September 2009. Here are Tab Teardrop Trailer Travels blog messages from December 2009.

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I loved to travel and see our beautiful United States of America. Many trips specifically dedicated to “climbing the family tree.” Common sense dictates that an old lady shouldn’t be traveling alone. Yes, others my age are traveling but I err on the side of caution.

“Three Quarters & Counting”  (Eighty-three years old.)

Wide awake at 3:00 AM; “up” before 4:00. There are so-o many thoughts spinning around in my brain, it is difficult to sleep!! Before I headed to the computer I formulated one or two blog messages. THIS message entirely new and previously not planned. I’ve mentioned recent research project and I can’t get it out of my brain!! “How can I provide the correct data to dozens of researchers? Should I contact each (on Ancestry) individually?” The answer: Prepare an “Open Letter to Frantz Family Researchers“ and attach to the several men with disputed information. That will reach new researchers but some folks may never revisit the person in their database. I suspect I’ll contact… one-by-one.

7:00 AM, 50 degrees outdoors. Mission(s) accomplished. ~~ Post published but the link (to “Open Letter…”) did not open. Oh well, of limited interest to my readers.

Currently, there are many statements about, and interviews with, Kathie Lee Gifford. Shortly after nine AM, on the third hour of NBC Today show, the hosts were talking with Kathie, and about her many quotes. On and on, then this comment: “If you don’t do something artistic, you die on the vine.”  I quickly wrote it down so I could put it in a blog message. “She’s talking about me!!”  That’s what I was thinking. That is why I write a blog (to be artistic), that’s why I take pictures (because I’m an amateur photographer), that’s why I made (and display) “bottle trees,” etc, etc., ad infinitum. More than once, in my blog messages I tell the reader: “I march to the tune of a different drummer.”  I love, love, love the challenge of the computer, and research on Ancestry.com. I hope, and pray, (like Kathie Lee) I will be involved in something “artistic” on the day I die.

I can’t claim “success”  but I put my heart, mind, and soul into even the smallest acts.

P.S. I don’t “watch” television, I “listen” while “doing”  computer and/or other tasks.

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Only two weeks until Christmas and I have not  decorated the Christmas Bottle Tree. I’ve waited for pleasant weather but  none to my liking. Note earlier picture of the entry area and check this blog message.

For the squirrels and the “squirrel twister.”