Astro Boy the Movie and so much more

The first photo is of a Northern Ireland folk singers here with the tourist board to encourage travel to Northern Ireland - their group is called STONEWALL, interesting enough they are named for Stonewall Jackson, Confederate General whose family came from Northern Ireland. The guys were friendly and very talented and I love their CD

Suzanne, Stephanie and me of course had a ball at the Alex Beaton Concert, part of the Scottish weekend.
Rachel was facinated with the birds of prey at the games, a regular feature of the games.


Cousin Carol, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Mary were our guests during the birthday party weekend and I can really say that a good time was had by all.


The weather is nice and crisp and so great because I love FALL!!!!!!

Noah and I went to the movies because we love the movies and we saw ASTRO BOY and I was pleasantly surprised that the story was so good. I recommend it highly.

Be sweet,

Sue

The morning after Nancy's birthday weekend!

Well, the party's over but the melody lingers on........ It was a blessing to have all the family members who could make it to the party. Hopefully everyone is safely back home or on their way after making Nancy's birthday a success. Like everyone else with a camera (and there were many), I have too many photos to post but I will just include a few here and I hope others will do the same.

Chef Dave gave us food to remember, including a wonderful breakfast brunch on Sunday. The decorations were lovely and Victoria and Michael produced a wonderful cake - TYBEE ISLAND LIGHT HOUSE to commemorate the occasion.

Maddy showed us her new steps and charmed the entire room full of family and friends.

On Sunday afternoon at Jim and Nancy's, Jimmy and I played WAR, a card game I haven't played in years! It was a laid back afternoon.

It was certainly our pleasure to have Cousin Carol, Aunt Mary and Uncle Ron at our house. We really had a very good time. It would be great to live closer so that we could share more fun together. What a great family I married into!

Be sweet and eat birthday cake!

Sue

Family photos

Victoria and I enjoyed our time spent in Columbus with our family.

Jeff and Rhonda at their Golf Warehouse. Aunt Violet, Frances, and me just after the funeral for Uncle Dewey and more and more

My sister's oldest son, Buddy and his wife Marry with Moi.

Lynne, Dolores and Victoria at the luncheon prepared by their church prior to the funeral.

So many memories were shared and good times remembered and some new memories made during this visit "home". It doesn't feel like "home" anymore because so much as changed in the physical environment but when the family is around it becomes that home of yesteryear where our family has lived for generations.

Be sweet - life is precious,

Sue

Weekend in Columbus - Remembering Uncle Dewey

This past weekend started the great September birthday celebrations. Aaron became 15 on Sunday, Rachel 12 on Monday and Jim ?? on Tuesday. Thanks to all for your cards and e-mails of congratulations on our 32 wedding anniversary. From Seale, Alabama, Victoria, my sister Dolores, and I phoned Rachel on Monday and sang Happy Birthday to her.

Victoria and I drove to Columbus, GA for the visitation and funeral of my Uncle Dewey who died at the age of 86 from the complications of leukemia. He was a very upbeat guy who kept everyone laughing with his jokes. We wanted more than anything to comfort Aunt Violet and my cousin Lynne. Their church family at the Methodist church really showered the family with love and lots of really, really good food. We were well fed during our stay. Being with my sister and brother-in-law and their children was a great treat for me and for Victoria. Victoria met several relatives for the first time. Of course, I made lots of photos but they are at home not here at work with me. All funerals are mini-family reunions and that serves a vital served to our souls.

I cherish my relatives and wish I could see them more often. They are an interesting bunch of folks.........

Be kind to your relatives,
Sue

Rainy Sunday Afternoon

Happy Sunday afternoon,
There is nothing so relaxing as a rainy Sunday.

Saturday was a good day, too. Rachel and Eve seemed to enjoy the afternoon drawing pictures and playing in the sprinkler. We ended the day at Brewsters Ice Cream Shop (along with a long line of other ice cream lovers in Lilburn).

After my blog, I need to write an article for our monthly UDC newsletter. This time I will focus on The Gallant J.E.B. Stuart. I was pleased and quite surprised to read an article about him in an issue of The Ulster-Scot a monthly publication for descends of "ulster-scots". Family history enthusiasts (as well as history lovers) really get into that short of thing.

Just a note about a couple of books I just read: Glenn Beck's COMMON SENSE and Ronald Kessler's In the President's Secret Service. Both worth your time and interest.

On PBS recently, I really enjoyed the lovely voices of "The Priests" in concert at Armagh Cathedral. Moya Brennan sang on the show as well and that was a treat because she was here in Atlanta at Celtic Christmas and I was thrilled to meet her.

Ralph and Virginia are good gardeners and they sent us home grown tomatoes - sooooo that's what I am going to eat right now - if the good Lord made anything better than tomato sandwiches - he is keeping it a secret. Bon apetit!

Be kind and share tomatoes,
Sue

I love this photo of Noah showing some of his skills.

Hello to all in Blogland - It looks as if blogging has given way to FACE BOOK but I don't do FACEBOOK.

Just learned that both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy will be in Atlanta Sept 4, 5, 6 (Shatner only on the 4th) at the Marriott Marquis for Dragoncon, along with Patrick Stewart and Kate Mulgrew. It will be a Star Trek feast, Whoo Hoo

The students are back at Emory this week, at least some of them, and the traffic is already bad and the shuttle situation just a perplexing at times. We Oh so Much want a Support Staff ONLY bus but I guess it just isn't practical.

This past weekend we attended a lovely backyard party for my friend Ann on her 70th birthday. The weather was picture perfect but I forgot my camera! We had hot dogs and ice cream with Fried Pies from the Varsity - yum! I love anything from the VARSITY!

Be kind and forgiving,
Sue

The Dog Days of Summer.........

Some random thoughts.....

We are excited because two of our very favorite shows will begin their new seasons episodes tonight on USA - Psych and Monk. This will be Monk's last season and I will really miss it's quirky stories and main character.

We had an in-service this morning in the clinic auditorium and someone stole our food. It is sad when you can't trust other people who work in the clinic.

Suzanne told me about a new movie, ADAM, so I looked up the trailer on-line. It is about a young man with Asperger's syndrome (one of the autism spectrum conditions).

Speaking of movies, I found a new movie review website sponsored by Focus on the Family that gives in depth review on movies, television shows and music so that you can make an informed decision before spending your hard earned money. pluggedinonline.com

Looking forward to spending the weekend with the munchkins. Don't think we have any movie plans. We saw G-Force last week and it was good fun for the under 10 group. It was in 3D and that added $$$ to the ticket price.

I have a new calling at church and it is taking me a while to get the hang of it. It involves lots of scheduling of people and that can get tricky. I fondly think of my last calling - The ward Librarian and it looks better every day. Jim always supports me in whatever calling I have and I am grateful for that.

Speaking of Jim, I am very proud of him. The Eagle Mentoring Award to so wonderful and he has been honored by two of his most recent scouts for whom he eagerly mentored. It is wonderful to see how happy the scouting life is for Jim.

Last Christmas one of the gifts I gave several people was my cousin Eddie Ensley's book. He has recently sent me rough drafts of the first two chapters of the book he is presently working on. From what I have read, I know it will be inspiring. He had a bit of a scare this week. His PET scan came back abnormal but fortunately a followup liver scan was clear - so the PET scan gave a false positive. It was very good that his doctor followed up with another test. It is always good to remember that in medicine it is always good to get a second opinion or test as the case may be.

My friend Carol was happy when her brother in law shipped her his Volvo to replace the car that was totaled in her "most" recent accident. Everyone has been teasing her that the reason Volvo's last so long is that most of their life is spent "in the shop being repaired." She was not amused. One thing for sure it is built solid so Carol will be more protected.

Be sweet and enjoy life,

Sue