NHL Allstar weekend

Outside the RBC Center Saturday afternoon, Mark and I were enjoying the celebratory activities as Raleigh hosted the Hockey AllStar game.  

We were there with several thousand of my closest friends who were welcoming the players to the arena and as can be seen from the photo below, many wore team "sweaters" most of course of the Hurricanes, but some from all over the US and Canada.

As you can see, Mark forgot to wear his jersey as these Philadelphia Flyers fans obviously did not.

once inside the introductions to the first days skill competitions were dramatic and a big show.  We were glad we had our ear plugs too.

The AllStar skill competitions were speed skating, hockey puck shooting accuracy, obstacle course skating and more.  They did not have a Jack and coke competition , or Mark and I would have done well.

Tomorrow is the All Star game, we will be there.

now times they are a fixin to change

Today, yes today, this day, January 17th, this boy filed for Social Security.  yes sirree.  You all best keep on paying those taxes, keep me in groceries and so I can pay the light bill.  Now that I am on a fixed income youall need to keep that in mind when we go out.  I will be the one drinking water and asking for the Senior special.

State retirement is filed, time is getting short, and people at work are starting to ignore me already.  And yes it is nice.  I will keep you posted.

Florence

On December 22, 2010, just before Christmas, my mother-in-law, Florence Hodges, died.  Florence, as I called her, lived 91 years and put up with me for over 40 of those years.  She attended the church below, where her funeral service  was held on Sunday - the day after Christmas - the Christmas it snowed in NC.

Prior to attending the "new church"  Florence and Buck (my father-in-law) attended the "old church", built in 1874, the sanctuary where Patt and I were married and where Laura was baptized.

The Hodges family grave site is behind the church and the cemetery has graves that go back to the early 1800s.

It was a very cold and snowy day.  The snow started late Christmas night and did not stop until mid morning on the 26th.

That Sunday morning, I went for a walk in the woods in the pasture behind Florence's house during the 11 o'clock hour when Florence would have typically been watching  a TV church service, though on this Sunday it would have probably been just the preacher speaking to an empty sanctuary for the TV audience as most churches were closed as the snow was still falling that morning.

The world was gray, cold and very very quiet.  The cows were in the barn lot eating hay.

Florence welcomed me every time I came into her home - and I knew she would.  She put up with my teasing her - and I did, I even gave her a bottle of Famous Grouse - probably the first bottle that was entirely hers in her life. She appreciated the joke, or at least acted like she did. And she allowed me to stow it in the cabinet - "where no one would see it"  and to partake of "her scotch".  We occasionally discussed politics, she was very well read, and she would send me news articles on politics and on Wake Forest and Appalachian sports. Florence was the most loyal reader of this blog that I knew of and I often wrote just for her.           I will miss Florence very much.

now we had a good time

A rather significant crowd of us relatives and those with some association to our family gathered to celebrate Christmas and as has become our tradition a very good time was had by all.  The crowd at times was dense.  Not dense like slow to understand - well perhaps that was applicable on occasion - but indeed filled a room.

As there was more than one introvert in the house - I found it interesting to find at different times one or two people sitting in our seldom used living room, enjoying some quiet.  But when the time came for some energy and laughs - well that was certainly in abundance.

The kids were amazing, watching them added a whole new dimension to the party, and they are certainly fun to have around.  They handled the somewhat boisterous moments just like they were used to it, - perhaps that is what their meal times are like.

Good grief - but we ate well -- the contributions from so many were oh so good, and the leftovers, well, lets just say, there is still some of that beef, and some of the vegetable dishes and deserts too.  I reckon someone- will have to make sure it is not wasted.  There may also be some beer and wine left over too.

The supply of presents of seemed endless and some of the gifts were priceless, as in really priceless.

The Asian cousins got to meet with some of the stateside and African cousins.

The youngest generation ate together or almost together, -  it appears that Caroline had an errand to run there for a brief moment - (double click this photo - it is a hoot)

and generation in the middle had a meal with the inflatables.  Now we boomers, we were upstairs, and glad to be so- toasting Patt on her arrangements.

and we have a birthday girl

The is what is called a giant cupcake and is apparently the thing to do among the younger set, and so Grandmama made one.  Julianna - preparing for the on-slaught of Happy Birthday singing and subsequent festivities takes a reflective look back on year number four.  Well, in another week it will be official, a fact she is well aware of, but is apparently willing to humor us with celebrating early.

The "women-of-the-house" have increased by one with the arrival of Jennifer or Aunt Jen, who is a source of much entertainment for the girls especially but also young Isaac.  Here posed with Birthday girl, who actually was quite excited and pleased to be feted for a day.

There were presents to be opened and posed with to humor GrandDaddy with new camera and flash (which he continues to try to figure out and the kids continue to tolerate).

as in even going so far as to pose.  Lydia has several expressions she uses when she poses, -- the is not the exasperated one.  I do not use that one in these blogs.  Isaac is just glad to be included and is not quite aware of what "strike a pose" means -- unless that is it.

As a real close to five year old, like in just a few more days, Julianna amazes her GrandDad ( not real hard for any of his grandchildren to do ) but you all humor me here.  Look at this.  We are copying words from a child's Bible to a piece of paper, a carefully undertaken task, oblivious to her surroundings.    I am guessing here but I think this girl, like her Mom was, is ideally suited for school.  

Thank you all for indulging me on this one.

" and - and we got to see the pwincess"

Last night, Laura and I took the girls to see the Little Theater's Christmas production of Cinderella, or Cindewella, dependent on whom of the two you are speaking with.  Lydia, un-beknownest to me was dressed as Snow White, a fact pointed out by some other 4 - 5 year old with nothing better to say.  Fortunately the little know-it-all was ignored.   The play was delightful, a musical comedy with laughs directed at both the older and younger set.  Both age groups were almost equally distributed throughout the audience.

After the show, a highlight was getting to visit with the actors and pose for pictures, something Snow White did with charm and style,   I have no idea of her conversation with the fairy godmother in the upper photo, but it was animated.  Now with the pwincess, she was most concerned with looking beautiful.  Which, of course, she did.

Julianna, looking every bit the princess, complete with new necklace was ever so princesscee .  Both girls had new necklaces.  (that Grandmama, she just can not help herself ).   There is no way to describe the interest she had in watching the play.  During Cinderella's song of woe as she toiled I was afraid tears would flow as Julianna's chin trembled.  When the wicked step-sisters suffered pratfalls, and they did, oh we laughed.

Now one seat down in Laura's lap a running narrative was going on between Lydia and the 6 -7 year old girl in front of her ( who on occasion did turn around and ask Lydia to stop talking ).  Oh my goodness, --when the clock struck 12:00 oh -- such worry, where's the pwincess?  where's the pwincess?  We had been enjoying the ball you see and the singing and dancing and princess having a good time with the prince -- all as the step-sisters had bad luck trying to gain attention of the prince.

and one last stroke of fortune, I had opportunity to meet with the prince's father, the King, and yes, as the King noted, " there is such a striking similarity between the two of them"  -- referring to the prince seen in the photos above with the princess.  As I said- there was some humor - and the King played quite the humorous role in this version of the story.  Besides that, I have met very few Kings.-- not as many as brother Charles, but more than my other brothers I think.

Ballet: and running commentary

Saturday, Patt, Laura and I took the girls to see The Nutcracker ballet performed at the theater at NCSU. We arrived early, took our seats and carefully reviewed the story line, or rather Patt and Laura reviewed the story line with their partners, -- me I tried to figure it out from the game program.  Julianna did not ask me many questions about the dances, scenes nor what stage of the story we were seeing.  Now, Patt could respond, " Yes, that is the Sugar plume ...  and "I think the Snow Queen is next", or "yes, that one is Clara"  Julianna asked me "GrandDaddy, are you sleeping ?"  "No" I replied, "just resting my eyes".

Now further down the row I could hear from time to time Lydia's running commentary.  "Oh no !"  she exclaimed loudly as the nutcracker is broken.  and throughout the ballet, she kept a constant dialogue going, sometimes with questions, others with observations - always in an urgent tone.  She was actively participating in attending the presentation of the Nutcracker.  Immediately upon raising the house lights for intermission, Lydia asked, "can we watch it again?".

product placement -- "fruit-in-a-can"

See that subtle product placement as child pauses in front of Christmas tree with casually displayed can of product formerly known as fruit cocktail and hereafter known in these parts as fruit-in-a-can.

When Patt received a phone call from North Dakota some weeks back from Julianna asking if we had fruit-in-a-can, Patt thought a moment and answered in the affirmative, not knowing for sure whether or not we did but with full confidence that by the time our guests desiring fruit-in-a-can arrived we would have ample supply.  They did and we do.

Though my skill at keeping the subject focused and attentive to being photographed has not improved (Stephen please note), the subject did indeed stay in one place (Stephen please note) and I believe I got two pretty good photos.   Anyway back to  one of our new favorite deserts.

We like this clever idea by the Dole fruit canning company of putting fruit in a can and then being aptly named by our granddaughter.  This  has been a hit for us and with this catchy name it will certainly  remain in use in our family for a while.  By they way, judging from the photo above, Julianna does not appear to have the Vanna whats-her-name  capacity to make a big deal out of turning letters on that TV show Price Guessing or something.

Patt has been wanting me to do this for sooo long

This old fire place insert has been in our basement fireplace for umpteen years and I finally got it set up in the back yard as an outdoor fire pit.  I can not tell you how many times Patt has been on my case about getting this done.  Well now it is -- and we tested it out today.

The grandkids got chairs, Matt and I collected some wood from the yard and wood lot behind the house.  Our trees never seem to finish dropping limbs of all sizes.  Stephen especially liked helping me pick them up when he was younger.  

As you can see from this picture and as the temperature did not get much above freezing, the fire was indeed welcome and as Julianna said made her feel all toasty.  We had a good evening together after raking leaves, ( that would have been Julianna and me) and then fixing the outdoor fire place.  Julianna said "we should do this every day."   Patt will be so happy.

Yes Virginia, there is a Matt

Today, I showed a friend at work my blog with lots of pictures of our grandchildren - she had asked and I was more than ready to share some pictures.  Well, upon viewing the blog photos, my friend, after appropriate oohing and aahing asked if Matt came South too.  "Of course" I said. "Well good", she said, and case was closed.  However, me being not as dumb as lots of people think (I may be close, but not quite that dumb), I looked at the blog with a fresh view, and low and behold, Matt was not in any of the photos.  Laura appears in a few, but mostly there are lots and lots of pictures of grandchildren and grandchildren with grandparents. So if you will please take note as evidenced by the photo above, Matt is indeed here and we even let him eat with us.

and at least one of his daughters appears to like him a lot, and his son does seem to want to be with him.

His oldest daughter will explain stuff to him in earnest - oh so earnest - detail. with such great concern.

My wife will pose for a photo with him and our daughter.

Between Matt and Laura, my Grandson already knows body part names (proper names and in Latin and Greek too).

So yes, Virginia, Matt exists and we are so glad he does.