Where's Gail?

I do so hope you've been wondering why the heck Gail has not posted all week--that means you've missed me!

Last Saturday afternoon when I made my last post I never expected that a week would pass before I was composing once again, but that's what's happened, as you well know if you're a regular reader. If you've missed me, I apologize for my absence. If you've enjoyed the break, that's okay as well.

So let's back up a week shall we?

• Saturday, a heartbreaking loss by Florida State in the final seconds. It might have been my fault because I didn't drink my morning tea in the lucky mug Bruce's mom gave me.
• Sunday, because there was no market, we took full advantage of the situation by going to the Concourse d'Elegance and having lunch on Park Avenue. Here's one of the neatest things we saw:

It's a 1934 Packard--the peacock ornament is an antennae! Very cool. And, who wouldn't be happy on a holiday in this aptly named beauty?

• Later on we went to a surprise birthday party for our dear sister-in-law Judy's 60th birthday party. For those of you who know Judy, it will amaze you to hear that she was absolutely speechless when everyone shouted surprise! Judy always has something to say!

Not only that, she has a very hearty laugh--again, if you know Judy, you can just hear it while looking at this photograph of Judy and her daughter Katie. I converted it to b&w because it's more forgiving if you've not taken the time to change the light setting on your camera!

• Even later on Sunday Jonathan called to chat. After our conversation I discussed the upcoming move with Bruce. Monday morning while he was getting ready for work he told me he had a plan to help our youngest son which required me to get busy. Which I did.

Because of my faulty memory I can't really remember the exact timing, but I'm thinking it must be about five years ago, our eldest son moved to Chicago to enter a PhD program at Northwestern. At the time he was living in Atlanta. How it all happened, I can't really remember, but I do know that his daddy helped him drive a UHaul to Chicago to start his new life. Well, that same daddy decided he would feel much better if we got involved in another long distance move by one of our boys. So....that's why I've been absent.

• I've been car shopping, and shopping, and shopping. I've learned a lot too. It's way too involved to go into, but here's the bottom line--we bought this beautiful Mini Cooper which will transfer to Jonathan's ownership once he gets a job in Austin:

After the black sport stripe is applied, this will be shipped via carrier to Chicago with an ETA of Thursday. This took me until Wednesday afternoon to accomplish. I test drove a Mazda, Ford Fiesta, Nissan Sentra, and Versa, and finally I went to MINI. I purposely didn't test drive the MINI because as you know I still miss mine terribly even after two years! Here's to hoping it won't be long before Jonathan finds a job. 

Secondly, we are flying to Chicago on Thanksgiving to drive the UHaul to Texas on Friday morning. Now, this is going to be quite a blow to our family--I will not be preparing Thanksgiving dinner as is our tradition. I can't help it. He's our baby--he needs us. So, Jonathan and Alissa will drive the MINI, we'll drive the truck, or more likely, Bruce will drive the truck. I'll do what I can, however, you know how I feel about bridges--I just can't do it, unless, of course, you want to see me have a panic attack! More about this to come.

BTW--FSU is playing once again as I type, and as I wrote in my last post, there's more pain than pleasure watching our team....

• Both Thursday and Friday I left the house before 7 in the morning to head to Darden for the annual craft fair. Arriving home at nearly 6 on Thursday I had some things to do around the house so no blog...insurance issues. Friday I got home a little earlier, but once again, my home demanded attention. And then, Bruce and I went on a date to the Ravenous Pig. Lots of food on the menu which required explanation, but we did have a much needed time to visit. He'd been gone for days!
•  I left the house early this morning to attend an all day continuing education seminar. Horrible. Boring. Even though I haven't worked in mammography for five years now, there wasn't anything new to learn, at least from this presenter. I thought I'd go crazy by the time 4:30 rolled around! I absolutely hate it when presenters read a power point with no interaction whatsoever with the students. I CAN READ, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Get creative will you? She even went over time! Did I mention she had a very, very strong accent as well? Well, she did.  I was not inspired to return to work, I'll say that much! I do, however, now have enough points to renew my national license.

In my absence today Bruce decided to take a day off before his marathon travel week. He'll be gone every single day next week, not to mention I have the DeLand Art Festival next weekend. Anyway, he went fishing with his little buddy Baxter this morning, which necessitated a re-tooling of his fishing rod holder. He made a new one with a cup holder for the front which allows Baxter to lie down in front of him:

Here he is in the back yard checking it out. While out back with him after returning from the seminar I noticed the sunset looked to be spectacular. Grabbing my camera I walked down the street to see what I could see. I won't show you the sunset because, that you've seen before, however, I will show you something you've probably not seen very often. As I stood in our little lot, a dog was barking like crazy on the other side of the fence. I turned to calm him down and saw this wonderful scene:

A boy's first ever bass, which after being photographed, would be returned to the lake. Pretty impressive, huh? Doesn't he look happy? When I returned home to show Bruce, he wondered if I was trying to make him feel bad for not catching anything this morning. You know better--I'd never want to make my honey feel bad. 

So, now you know what's been keeping me away from my blog. I promise next week I'll be more regular because even if you don't miss me, I miss you. xo