Old Folks Home

 December 24th and 25th, 2024         We appreciated being part of the Parker Christmas traditions. Some pictures below: Decorating the tree. Decorating a second tree with Kara's special ornaments. A "what am I?" game. An "Oh Hell" game. Lots to eat! Sam & Kara Christmas morning glee: Pot holder made by Fran.  The fully lit advent candle ring. Watching candles burn. Last candle standing.          The day after Christmas, Scott and I got our Christmas present for each other. We thought we were going to get a Honda Accord, but the new ones aren't anything like the one I remembered from years ago. We decided on a Honda CRV - bigger than the one we had and with all the safety driving features we were looking for. A lot like a miniature version of the  Odyssey we used to have. 

 Saturday, December 14, 2024         We explored the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield with Sam, Walt and Stevie. We did one of the hikes and explored the Bloody Angle section. Still much more to see. You can tell from this picture that it was pretty cold. Walt is holding corn cobs that still had some corn that he found on our walk through a dormant cornfield.                   We had fun at the RV before and after the battlefield excursion. Kids explored the park on bikes. We also walked all around. Hot chocolate in the morning. Then a hotdog lunch.  Several games of Hearts in the afternoon. Scott successfully "shot the moon" twice.               We made our first visit to Alexandria on Sunday, December 15th. We had a great afternoon and evening with the Parkers. Wonderful dinner!  Annie went also and behaved well enough to be welcomed back. A big co...

 Fredericksburg, VA / D.C. KOA         We arrived in Fredericksburg on Saturday, Dec 7th, after a brief stop in Wytheville, VA, where our RV held up in the 11 degree weather. We are here for two reasons. The most important is to be near Sam and Kara and the grandkids. The other reason is that we have decided not to travel in the RV on a regular basis anymore. It's just gotten too hard.           Maudie was our first visitor. She came on Sunday and helped us get set up. Not only did she wash the windows before we put up the magna shades, she washed the whole RV with the window washer brush. Inside we cleaned out drawers and washed floors. You name it, she did it for us. She also worked hard to vaccum up all the yellow lady bugs that came inside while we were at Natchez Trace. We took a little time in the afternoon to play Oh Hell and let Maudie rest before driving back to Alexandria. The drive took her a little less than an hour...

 11/21/2024 to 12/5/2024         We had a great Thanksgiving with the Coburns and with my sister Kate, who came in from Oakland, CA. The first picture is of John, Katie, Parker, Ryan, and Chad. The second one includes Kate, Scott and me at Cafe Blue. The third one is John enjoying his raw oyster appetizer.      Katie was the master chef for Thanksgiving dinner, although Chad, Kate, and I also helped. We had a spatchcocked turkey, which was delicious, along with all the other traditional Thanksgiving sides. Here is a picture of our pies. And one of Parker sampling the Challah.           We left our RV at the Cumberland Mountain State Park in Crossville TN while we flew out of Knoxville for the Thanksgiving trip. Annie stayed at the Dog Walk Spa and Resort in Crossville.           Our RVing at this park was remarkable because of the unseasonable cold weather. We knew it would be below ...