Lost and Found - sometimes!!

If it wasn't that I'm always misplacing things - and have been for most of my life - I might think that I was losing my memory.

The most recent casualty is my camera!! I took a picture on the bus as we were leaving New York on Saturday. I thought I put it right back into the backpack I was using. (Just prior to that I spent about 10 minutes rifling through said backpack looking for my phone - which turned out to be on the floor of the bus - not sure how it got there either!!)

Didn't even notice I didn't have it until yesterday morning. Went through all my bags - nada. Texted Hannah and Robbie to see if it was in their house/car/trunk - all to no avail.

I'm not too upset about having to get a new camera. And all the photos on it -except the ones from this most recent trip - are on my computer - but I just hate to lose things!! (And hopefully Hannah will share her photos with me - she takes better photos anyway!!)

When my kids were little, I would stay up late looking for all the pieces to their puzzles and games. I kept track of all the Fisher-Price people and accessories. I matched up doll shoes and socks. I would look until I found things.

In my later years, I have given most of that up - unless it's vital, I just don't have the energy - or maybe it's the will - to keep looking. When I was here in August, I brought along my Weight Watcher's Guide to Restaurants and Fast Food. Couldn't find it when I packed up to leave - and it's never turned up here. Thought maybe I hadn't brought it. But it hasn't turned up at home either.

Do you think in the next life there will be a giant lost and found where we can at least satisfy our curiousity??

"I've got plenty to be thankful for . . ."

As der Bingle once sang, I do indeed have "plenty to be thankful for."

The above is not even a current photo anymore - we are missing Lars and Jonah. And I am especially thankful today that even though future photos will not include Jonah, he is always and forever a part of our lives.

I was thinking that this photo represents the nuclear Terrill crew - it was soon after this that Bonny and Bruce were engaged - well, it was a few months, but the makeup of our family started changing. All the changes have been good changes - every new family member to join us made us all that much better and happier. In fact, it's hard to imagine us without Bruce, and Dawn, and David, and Matt, and Robbie, and Ara, and Ella, and Henry, and Esme, and Eve, and Annika, and Porter, and Calvin, and Harry, and Theo, and Agnes, and Ida, and Isla, and Sully, and Lars, and sweet baby Jonah.

We are not through growing.

Thank goodness for that!

"Off we go, into the wild blue yonder . . . '

Dad and I are off on another junket. This is a very old photo - well, maybe not old, since that would imply that Bonny, the baby in the photo, is old now!!

But it's not current, if you follow my drift. (I'm going to quit now - I could turn into a punster if I kept going in this vein!!)

We are excited to see the Eastern Contingent!! And hope that lots of work gets done on our house while we're gone!!

You would think that after all the trips we've taken, I would know how to pack.

It's an ordeal everytime. And this time is no exception!!

(Back then it was easier to pack, since we owned so much less!!)

It's worth the hassle though!

Memories

Funny how memories re-surface at the oddest times - and in the oddest places!! Now that we are taking up the floor in the kitchen and the back porch, the original floor is once more open to our view!!

I look at it now and find myself feeling more kindly towards it than I ever did in real life! I hated that floor! It was probably made of asbestos. It was very porous and drank up the wax - it never had a shine. And I could never tell if I'd dropped something on it!

On the plus side, however, you could never tell if the floor was dirty, since spots were part of the design!

What's been going on around here!!

For starters, I had a much-enjoyed dinner reunion with Dalene, Sandee, and Michele. I love my "school friends," but when they retire, I don't get to see them as much!!

Every year Marcie does a mock trial - then the students read "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe. The kids seem to get into it - and maybe even learn something!!

Marcie is quite the artist I am learning!! (I am doing an 8th grade Language Arts collaboration model with Marcie this year.)

On Halloween, Marcie dresses up as Edgar Allen Poe and then reads "The Raven" to her classes. She is really good at looking like Poe!! Then "Poevember" begins!!

Dalene and Michele brought me a lovely bouquet, in honor of Jonah, so Dad and I took it to the cemetery today. It really looks lovely there - in fact, it's a lovely place to go and visit. Turns out Charlie Graham's grave is close by, as is Hubert Luszeck's.

Since it's Veteran's Day, there were lots of folks there - flags and flowers too.

Lots to remember!!

"Dia de los Muertos"

I decided to drive over to the cemetery and visit Jonah's grave. Bryan L. had sent some lovely roses, so Dawn put them on the grave. When I drove into Live Oak, there was a long line of cars - I thought maybe I was behind a funeral cortege.

Instead I was in the thick of a gathering of folks ready to celebrate "Dia de los Muertos" or Day of the Dead. It's a Mexican holiday I think, and I'm not clear on all the parameters to the celebrating, but there were groups of people sitting in lawn chairs around gravesites. There were lots of flowers and balloons. It was quite festive. And everyone seemed happy, rather than sad.

I was glad that Jonah had such a lovely bouquet of colorful roses for his little spot.

And that his spot is such a lovely place.