Neighbor Logan begged to play with David, telling his dad it was the last day our grandson would be here. As it turned out, it was the last chance Logan had to be with him, because we were out the next two afternoons. The house was totally quiet for a few moments, then there were shrieks and a barrage of gunfire. These two cycles were repeated endlessly. Logan helped pick up the bullets before he went home, yet we were still finding them in odd places for days. You’d think all that hubbub would disturb us old geezers, but we loved it.
We spent half a day at the Biltmore mansion, always a pleasurable outing for us. David sees more movies than we do, and he particularly enjoyed seeing the costumes on display. Books that the staff knew George Vanderbilt had read were on display, along with costumes from recent movies of those novels. We had one photograph of David taken near the entrance.
Because we had trouble with the car at the last visit, David did not see the greenhouse and garden shop. He loved all the orchids and borrowed my camera to take a photo of the bluest one he could find. In the shop, I lingered beside each water fountain until the fellows pulled me away with the promise of lunch at the Moose Cafe.
Another day I stepped outside to look at the daffodils and was surprised at how warm it was. While I talked to plants that were about to bloom, David began cleaning oak leaves out of the pool.
I was happy that both Nathaniel and David had one lunch on the porch. As I’m writing this, snow is falling outside my window as a teaser. It isn’t likely to stick until the middle of the night.
The day David was leaving, I asked him to pose for one closeup of his face. I needed one of each grandson to use as a desktop until they come back.
Mehrling Muse 
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Thanks for reading it.
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There is always stuff going on at your house!
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I think we lead more exciting lives now that we are retired. There is more scope for getting into trouble and/or keeping busy. The last time I looked, we aren’t due to have any guests for a month or so.
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What a handsome young man! I know that he brings you immense joy. Snow, huh? We have some headed our way next week.
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Thank you, we do enjoy our grandsons. The snow stopped for a few hours and should begin again. Do you enjoy snow? I was torn this time, because John is driving back from taking David to college. Normally I’d be rooting for a blizzard.
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Praying for traveling grace…I love seeing it fall. It’s so peaceful. I’m from LA, so until I moved here, I had only seen snow once –at four years old.
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I grew up in west Tennessee, so I used to tell people I had a deprived childhood because of the lack of meaningful snow. You’ve got me beat. I love watching snow fall, too. Thank you for praying for John’s safe return.
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I used to teach in Middle TN and traveled to Dyersburg once for training…never had that tender TN Christmas that Natalie Grant sang about.
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I can remember at least one white Christmas in TN. Dyersburg was quite near my hometown. John made it home safely — thanks for your prayers.
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Wonderful! TN is a beautiful state. I truly enjoyed my time in the Volunteer State. ❤
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Sounds like a wonderful time! Loves the pictures of the Nerf gun fight!
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I tried to catch the Nerf war in action, but they were too quick for me. The last resort — asked them to pose. Bless their hearts, they are used to me and the toy camera lurking about.
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Those are good kids! When they will pose for the shot.
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You are so right, Faye! They are tolerant. They could label me a stalker, couldn’t they? I hope I’m a bit sensitive to their needs, since I wore out a son with an overactive camera reflex. Whenever he sees my camera now, he melts into the background or makes a quick exit.
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hahahaha. Love the diagnosis “overactive camera reflex.” I may have to use that when my kids see the camera. Mine have called me a stalker….I just cheerfully agree and it sucks the fun out of it lol.
Keep taking the photos. I love them.
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I am thinking of you scouting around like a detective getting photos of Logan and David, even better if they didn’t know you were around and then trying to look for the best ones to post and I am smiling. I think you are a detective, looking around for good moments to record. And we enjoy your records. I am glad Logan got some play time with David- I know he loves having time with David and Nathaniel. I wish he had siblings or playmates around for him to play when there is no David/Nathaniel during term time. Do children these days have no play time with children, after school these days or have our roads become too unsafe for them or have parents become too protective ?
I am glad Logan is not spoiled and is lucky to be brought up in the fresh mountain air.
Susie
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Oh the joys of Nerf guns. My grandsons have them, and also have nerf wars all the time. What fun!
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I don’t know when Nerf guns came in. I’m sure my children didn’t have them. When we retired, we moved to a larger house and took our grandchildren’s toys with us. They didn’t have space to store them, and they weren’t ready to get rid of them. How handy they have been to amuse neighbor Logan!
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What lovely pics, Anne! You definitely have a flair! I am so envious of your mild weather. Here we’re having a particularly frigid spell! No global warming here *this* week! lol
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Thank you, Ellie. I don’t know about flair, but keeping a camera in my pocket is a key component.
We had snow last night, inches of it! That was totally surprising, since we usually get nothing that has been hyped for a week. John was driving down from New Jersey, arriving home between two bits of the storm. The snow is all gone now, except for north-facing slopes. Hope you warm up soon.
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What a joy to have such merriment in the house!
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I hope the house will recover from all the joy and mirth. The first owners were nothing like us, according to the neighbors.
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Well, that’s awesome! You’re bringing life into the neighborhood!
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What a lovely post Anne!
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I’m very glad to see Logan getting some practice with David. It’s going to be very useful to have such a well-prepared young neighbor should you ever have to face either a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion.
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Logan would love that challenge.
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What a joy David must be!
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Both grandsons are as much of a joy to us as your granddaughters must be to y’all. David will be with us this summer, but we don’t know about Nathaniel yet. He might be able to get a much better job in NY than here.
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One Christmas we gave all six grandkids Marshmallow Shooters with a bag of Mini-Marshmallows. Craziness broke out along with peals of laughter. You could even blow marshmallows around a corner with them. We found ammo EVERYWHERE for two years after. It was so totally worth it… memories for a lifetime. Glad you have them too. 🙂
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You are a marvel! I’m not sure I would have done that. Bet it was fun, though.
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So special to see the warmth and loving connections you have with your grandsons. And your neighbor Logan must have been thrilled to have David to play with during his visit.
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There are no children Logan’s age in our neighborhood, so he was thrilled to have a temporary playmate.
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