Saturday, August 15, 2015

Catching up with life!

I couldn't believe that it has been 3 months since I have been on here pestering all of you. So I decided to get everyone caught up on what is going on in my life.

During the spring and our drives to the gym in Hendersonville we past many wild animals. One of our favorite sites are the vultures. Unlike the western vultures we saw in Arizona these bad boys are all black. They remind me of grumpy old men. In this picture they are sitting on a wooden fence waiting their turn at the deer dinner in the ditch. It was raining and the wind was blowing so they were facing away from the ditch. 


Carl tried walking up the other side of the road to get a better picture, but as he got closer they took off for the trees one by one to wait until they could go back to their dinner.


We've also seen turkeys all over the place. I wanted to see the 'turkey dance' and one day on our way home from church we happened on one. We sat and watched while this gobbler danced his way across a yard. The hen was just a ways in front of him and every time she wasn't watching he would do a quick 3 step to get closer. 





One of the 'visits' we made this last spring was to Johnny and June Cash's grave site. Both of them have a bible verse quoted and their signatures. It was funny because Carl and I kept talking about finding different grave sites of 'famous' people and we were driving right by Johnny and June every day we went to the gym.

I'm not sure how many people know that I have a true appreciation of our American flag and everything that it represents. I have probably told this story before, but I am going to repeat it here tonight. On my very first trip across this country with my in-laws I saw my first large American flag in Oklahoma, OK. I was sitting at the table in Mom and Dad's motorhome looking out the front windows at the new to me scenery. In the distance (it is very flat in Oklahoma....) I saw something moving against the sky. At first it was just a dot that looked out of place against the blue sky so I just kept my eye on it as we traveled down the road. Then I noticed that it was blue, next it had a little red mixed in with the blue and finally I realized it was an American flag. I had never seen a flag as big as that one in my life. I have seen many large American flags since that day and I am still just as amazed so when we first moved to TN and I spotted these flags I knew I had to share them with you. I have taken many trips to the area to take several pictures of this trio, but I think these are the best. They are flying over 3 auto dealerships on Rt 31E in Hendersonville, TN. The first picture was taken from a Wal-Mart parking lot right next to the one of the dealerships. The second photo was taken several miles east of where the flags fly.

 



In August we traveled to New York to visit family and to go to the Voorheis' 75th family reunion. I took a picture of a picture of another family reunion many years before. Carl was just a kid in this picture. Not sure where he is, but Mom and Dad Voorheis are in the top row, right side.


This is one of my favorite pictures of Carl. I just happened to take it while we were at the reunion.



Here are a few of the clan standing around getting to know each other again.

A great picture of Carl with his oldest aunt, Ida Voorheis White.







Another great picture of Carl and his aunt Glenna Voorheis Berry.







It was interesting when we heard that Wayne, Florence, Orin and Chartina were making the trip from Utah to New York during the reunion time. Also, Elwin and his family made the trip from Conneticut so we got to spend time with a lot of family from all over the country on this trip.







Here is Kai, Elwin, Nikolai and Wayne enjoying the great weather and visiting with everybody.








The day after the big family reunion just the immediate family got together. We had good food, good conversation and a great time.




Here is Joyce, Carl and Wayne. I'm not sure what they were smiling about, but they were probably up to no good.....
I tried getting around to get pictures of everybody that was there. We had 2 tables surrounded with family.







Here is KiKi with the beautiful smile. She didn't want to talk with anybody until the camera came out. She sure is a cutie. Of course that is me in the middle with Meggin, KiKi's mom.
Carl and I stayed with my sister and brother-in-law, Lissa & Bruce most of the time we were there. On our first night in NY she had our brother and sister-in-law, Larry and Roxanne over for supper. There is only 4 of us 'kids' still living and we were hoping that we would all be together with this trip, but our oldest sister, Loretta couldn't make it. So this is the 'other 3' kids, Lissa, Larry and Sharon.


It was great getting together with both sides of our families to share special times and good laughs. The older we get the more special these times are.

Until next time, 
Happy Quilting, Sharon Permanent "Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2013