Reminiscing.....

I got more comments about not blogging than I get when I blog. Nowt queer as folks.

Anyway here's something I'll throw at the wall to see what sticks.

We are looking forward to yet another trip back to UK this year. We have even bought plane tickets so as not to put ourselves through the hassle of 'standing by' waiting for a seat and feeling like pond scum whether accommodated or not.
Of course there will be self-recrimination if the seats are available and we coulda gone First Class as standbys for a fraction of the cost of our guaranteed Coach seats.

Oh well, back to the trip........we have done a couple of narrowboat trips before and we really like the quiet, the incredible views from the canals, and the coziness of having your own private cottage that floats as your hotel. Unfortunately the photos I have of those prior canal trips were taken before I had a digital camera and so until I get a scanner, I cannot post them.

Oh well, back to the trip........real reason for going to England is to celebrate my older brother Ken's 90th birthday. We will all congregate in a small Welsh town called Pant y Turnor ( close to Llangadog ) which is relatively close to Merthyr Tydfil---so now you know exactly where it is! heh? Uncle Ken has long been revered by my kids as was his late wife Auntie Olive whom Jennifer has written about in her blog.

Rummaging through my folders to see if I had any downloadable photos that would fit in with this post I found several shots that I thought would be good to post, because they are from two or three other trips over the past few years.

Starting with May 2004 I'll show you Bev on Las Ramblas in Barcelona and me at Cataluña Square. A fruit seller's stall at the market, again in Barcelona and then we will get to some shots of family and other stuff.




After the cruise we flew up to John Lennon airport in Liverpool and visited Runcorn.
Here's my brother Colin and his daughter Paula with her husband Richard and son Luke.






The following year I met Emily at London's Gatwick and here she is when I met her in the terminal....Doesn't she look lovely?





Keep this pic in mind because I will follow on from here on my next episode.

Camera Repair

There will be no posts this year.............until I get my camera back from Kodak in Connecticut.

It's a nice place to visit, but I.............

We went to visit Emily for a few days in NYC. We had a great time and Emily treated us very very well. We visited Wall St. The Battery, Ground Zero, and Central Park, and W.A.O. Schwartz,Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central, and we walked, walked, walked from 23rd and 8th to 3rd avenue and then downtown to Bleeker Street! Through Little Italy, Soho, and finally Tribeca. Then I took the train to our hotel and Em and Beverly went on back uptown to the Times Square/Theater District. Bev worked a blister on her foot she walked so much in her new boots. One small interesting note for dog lovers.......Patchie learned how to tinkle in a plant area about 2 feet square because of the scarcity of grass .....

Some small changes I noticed. Subway rides cost 25 cents when I lived in N.Y. versus the current two dollars. A pizza slice was 25 cents with a small coke back then and its $4 a slice now. A cheap bottle of vino was about $4 then -it's $25 now for Gallo. As Dylan said, "The times they are a-Changin'".

Here are some pictures and videos.

This is taken from ground zero, Emily lives in the building on the left on the 31st floor
Em and Mommy on subway, and Beverly in WAO Schwartz's

Beverly with the tree at Rockefeller Plaza

On the street
Ground Zero
With the bull near Wall St

Like Gene Kelly, just a-walkin' in the rain..




Now here's some video of what went on today.........

First is Bryant Park Pond where lots of people were skating.


Here Bev was explaining to Emily what we had done before we met her at work. We are in a soup joint and I asked Bev to repeat what she said to Em......





This is Ground Zero and you can hear the jack-hammer which is non-stop from 0600 to 1130 p.m. The place is still a haunting area and looks like a disaster area still after more than 6 years......

I want to wish you a Merry Christmas.....

En español se dicen " Feliz Navidad"

It's Saturday morning and the Walkers just popped in with a little chihuahua toy dog who sings. Evelyn is ga ga over it and reacted by talking and singing along. Of course, by the time I got my camera from upstairs, she had calmed down a little but it is still great to watch.



Later on Paige and Nana baked some cookies. Here's Paige cracking some pecans........

Strung out..........

After school today Nana, Paige and Graham strung popcorn and cranberries to make garlands for the Christmas tree. It was a neat project that kept them busy for quite a while. After lunch they did some more stringing and then went to Memorial Park where they got a little excercise. Steph said they were tired out later in the afternoon and just sat quietly reading before dinner.

My camera is not working properly. I dropped it at Anna's concert last week and now the flash doesn't work. But it still will record video so here's what was going on.

Anna's Ballet Showcase.

We passed up the big Arrow Construction company Christmas party in El Paso on Saturday night( they give the best party with unlimited lobster shrimp and wine etc and terrific gifts for everyone who attends ) so we could attend Anna's wonderful ballet performance at Hutto High School in Austin Texas. It was a cold windy day and our seats were too far from the stage to get any decent video but I got a few short ones anyway just so you can get the gist of it. We took some other shots of Colin and Anna too so they will fill out this post.












Sorry for the overload but, ain't my grandkids great?
Huh?

Ballet Anyone?.........

The twins had a ballet exhibition on Thursday and Nana took these videos. Also yesterday we had Evelyn for an hour and I took those videos. This morning, Friday, she had a nice talk to the baby she saw on the screen. I don't know if she knows its herself or not but she sure is captivated by the images.