Rose came from Washington state to be with son John $pencer on his birthday. What a glorious reunion it was for him and Sadie! We enjoyed watching the dog run to each of us, so happy to have us all under one roof.
The first full day Rose was here, they set out to go hiking. They came home exhilarated. Hiking was great on a beautiful day, something they have done many times. What happened as they drove home was the very special part. $ noticed a helicopter in Maggie Valley. He had wanted to take Rose up in one for her birthday when he visited her in Washington. It cost $1,000 for an hour’s ride. They found the ride here was affordable.
It was marvelous to see the mountains from above.
Having this adventure together was fantastic.
I asked them to pose with their souvenir – several photos in a booklet. They said a complete set of photographs was being sent to them via email.
I loved sitting and talking with them, hearing about the corn maze they viewed from above, their thrill at being over the mountains, and the excitement of the older woman who was going up after them.
As we talked, they sent me the pictures above, and I put them on the Aura frame. Within a minute or so, Kate texted from New Jersey that she was looking at them on her phone, which is connected to our frame. If Lise had been awake in Denmark, she would have seen the same thing simultaneously. What an adventure this had been, and how easy it was to share it!
Mehrling Muse 
That sounds like an incredible birthday! and how fun the family got to share it. Happy Birthday, $ ❤
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Sounds like a perfect gift! I bet Sadie is very happy!
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Sadie is extremely satisfied to be with everyone.
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I love this post, Anne! Rose and John $ both look so spiffy in their headphones/microphones! Thanks for sharing it with the rest of us.
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Everyone was happy. What a day!
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What an adventure that must have been and how nice to get a photo book too. I’ve never heard of an Aura frame but that sounds pretty fantastic too. Sadie must be in Seventh Heaven at the moment.
Gigantic Hugs
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The Aura frame was new to me, recommended by a relative. The frame sits on a table or counter and comes on when there is light in the room. I invited children and grandchildren to join. They have an app on the phone so that they can upload photos to the cloud and be instantly shown on my frame. They are notified when anyone adds a picture. There are no limits for the number of photos. It is marvelous fun.
Photo-finish Hugs
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What a lovely adventure!
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What a wonderful adventure! Isn´t it great to be able to share photos with everyone around the globe. So happy for Sadie.
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You would know more than most about sharing photos around the world. Yes! It is great!
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They both have such genuine smiles on their faces, something you can’t get just because you say “smile for the camera.”
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Those smiles probably showed on the backs of their heads.
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I bet too.
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Thanks so much for sharing the adventure with all of us! Scott came up behind me and asked who the people on the screen were…and I went into this long story, it is amazing how much we can know about people we have never met in the flesh, so to speak!
I love to fly over land on a nice day. The photos are so good! The Aura frame sounds like a wonderful thing…I always enjoy photos on Facebook or elsewhere, pics of my grands and greatgrands in Minnesota and the others closer to me here in Ohio.
I can’t stop smiling! 🙂
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Thanks for enjoying the day with me. I’m still smiling, too.
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So was that John $ or John in the helicopter? I never flew in a helicopter, but I enjoyed the low flying aircraft hops in Mexico and around Arizona, etc. Flight from Houston to Tucson is so low that it was delightful seeing the mountains, below. I loved coming into Cleveland and flying right over downtown at night…
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Son John $ was the one in the helicopter. You had lots of low-flying experiences. The flights I was on were always high, but I enjoyed takeoffs and landings.
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I enjoy the Houston-Tucson flights. We can’t get a big jet flight direct from Cleveland, the alternative trip I flew into Phoenix and then drove down to Tucson…lovely drive, but I absolutely love flying over the mountains at low enough altitude that I could make out vehicles on the roads.
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I love your description of those flights. One of John’s high school friends lives in Tucson, and we stayed with him and his wife several days. Tucson is a great place to live, not that I’d trade it for the NC mountains.
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We were sent to Arizona, Ft. Huachuca, courtesy of the USArmy in 1959. We lived in a trailer park there, and my new neighbor turned out to be a native of the area…to this day she remains one of my oldest friends. When we go to Tucson now she has us visit every day…she’s my son’s godmother.
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You REALLY have ties to Tucson!
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Yes indeed, both my boys were born there. We bought a house after Bill got out of the Army, but he wanted to move back to Ohio. Had we stayed I would not have the grandchildren and greatgrands that I have now due to different inlaws.
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There were blessings in both places. Super!
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I thought so. When I first started reading the post you did about the flight, my brain extrapolated the story and had you and John AND JohnQ and his sister all on the flight. In fact, my brain thought she was the pilot at first. (Yes, I do have a vivid imagination! 🙂
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Only son John and girlfriend Rose were in the helicopter with the pilot, though I like the way you peopled the craft.
The only way John’s sister Barbara fits in this story is that she is the mother of a helicopter pilot. Her son is a computer programming master — absolutely brilliant. He NEVER responds to the things I write, but he did contact me about this post. He said the helicopter is a Robinson, and that’s the kind he flies.
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I do tend to extrapolate 🙂 I don’t know why I thought Rose was John’s sister. I’ve never been in a helicopter…I’m afraid it would be very frightening for me. But maybe no, although I am afraid of heights it never bothered me to be in an airplane, even one of the little propeller crafts.
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Former neighbor Marla was a pilot of big aircraft, and she is still afraid of heights. She said she felt in control while flying, so that made it fine for her.
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My fear is when I look over a railing, or cliff, or whatever. Once Bob and I went to a museum in Richmond VA which had a railing around the second floor that overlooked the downstairs. (An old slave auction house.) I was OK going up, and we went in to view a brief movie. I fretted through the film because I knew I’d have to go back out on the balcony to get to the stairs…I had to leave the room. Well I hugged the glass show cases arranged on the balcony until I could reach the stairs. I was absolutely terrified…I can still feel it.
Still, anytime I am in a mall, college commons with an open staircase, etc., I have that panic feeling. Heck, my knees wobble on a step-stool in the kitchen! My heart is pounding just talking about it. :-]
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Thanks for writing about it so graphically. I felt that way once — at the top of a ski jump in Norway one summer. It was terrifying. I feel sorry for you having to live with this all the time.
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the thought of the top of a ski-jump … ever … terrifies me. I panic on a kitchen step-stool.
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I laughed because of the way you said it, but there is nothing amusing about being terrified of heights.
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I have never been a skiier, but my youngest daughter was quite into it when she was in high school.
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Skiing would terrify me, even on a bunny slope.
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what were you doing at the top of a ski slope? I just assumed from what you said that you were a Ski-er. When Carol was in high school her friend used to describe how Carol would “WOOSH” down the BIG slopes. 🙂 (That girl always spoke in caps. lol)
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We were tourists in Oslo. John’s uncle had been a ski jumper, although not at the Olympic level. We went to the top of the ski jump on a lovely summer day. That precipitous slope was deceptively grassy.
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Just thinking about it makes me queasy…I have always been terrified at any speed-related activity, rollercoasters or motorcycles…whatever.
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I used to like speed, but now I’m afraid of things coming at me that I can’t see.
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Did I mention that I had my Covid Booster shot last Monday, and at the same time I had my regular Flu shot. After a week I still have some side effects, very mild, but concerning.
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A double whammy! We got our flu shots a week ago with no side effects. We haven’t looked for the COVID booster shot yet. After reading your comment, I’m glad we waited.
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I am still feeling ill eight days later! This morning the cats were quite adamant about making me get out of bed. Finally Scott rapped on the door and informed me that it was 11:00. I think I said something sweet like “who cares?”
The thing is that I don’t know which was the cause of the side effects, or a combination. I am rarely ill, and try to refuse to stay sick longer than a day or so. Candace told me I was hyper, she wants me to go to the Doc and/or call Walgreen’s and report my reaction to the shots. I’ve been getting the Flu shots for many years and never had so much as a sore arm. I had no reaction whatsoever from the first two Covid19 shots.
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I’m sorry the shots knocked you for a loop. Maybe it was the combination. We thought about getting the booster shot today, but the line was long.
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I happened to be checking my prescriptions when the Walgreen’s notice about the availability of the booster appeared, recommending that both shots could be done at the same time. I am all for keeping errands to a minimum, so I jumped at the chance to do just one visit. When I went for the shots there was just one person signed up ahead of me, so I didn’t have to wait. I appreciated that they had an appointment schedule. When I had the original Covid shots it was at the county health department’s c;linic held at the community college huge gymanisum. There were at least three hundred people ahead of me and the same in line heading out the entrance. It took three hours, but I always find things like that interesting…the old journalist hat pops up again. 🙂
I am feeling much better today, still have a slight headache. Still don’t feel like eating, or doing anything except play on the computer. 😦 My aches don’t seem as bad, though I try to keep my cane with me when I try to walk around.
It is possible that my reaction was to the regular Flu shot. Unfortunately, having them at the same time (different injections) and separate band-aids) 🙂 it is impossible to know for sure which was the culprit…or if it was a combination.
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Separate band-aids! I laughed. Even when you are not feeling well, you have a great sense of humor.
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The nurse who did my shots did the Flu one first, then we were chatting about the big clinic where I got my two Covid shots. When she said “that’s it,” I said “you’re done already? You’re good.” I hadn’t even felt the second shot. Then she said “yep, you have two band-aids, too.” Funny.
It’s been ten days since I had my vaccinations, and I’m just starting to feel decent again. The oddest effect I had, I think, was that I was hyper, excited, and sad…I cried more when my cat Sister got killed in the road last week than I have in years. I rarely cry. 🙂
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I’m so sorry Sister died. I’m like you, I rarely cry, but I bawled when our first cat had to be put to sleep. I was pregnant then, which explains a lot.
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We’ve had other cats die, but Sister was such a sweet cat, her only fault was that she insisted on walking the perimeter of our property, hunting for mice or moles or whatever…and she loved the squirrels that sometimes live in the trees by the road. When I saw her heading for the road I would yell at her to get back, and she would come running back. The other cats that died were very old, usually, and had to be taken to the vet.
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Poor Sister. I know you miss her a lot.
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Sister was always an outside cats, until she turned about ten years…then one winter when the door was open she came in and refused to leave. She was a very sweet cat. Her daughter Dottie looks much like her, and Dottie seems to have come to terms with her mom’s passing.
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Is Dottie an indoor cat?
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Yes, Dottie moved in, I don’t remember when exactly. I have wayyyy too many cats (five now.) Three of them could go outside and inside, Dottie, Toby, and Allie…but I’m apprehensive about it now. Pearl has never been outside, and Bob can’t because he has cerebellar dysplasia and could never run fast enough to escape a predator.
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You take really good care of your cat family.
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The annual shelter (ramshackle as it might be) that I build every winter is intended for cats that aren’t even “mine.” It’s open to whomever wants to use it. Possums are discouraged, but not excluded if they spend an especially cold night…and they don’t cause any trouble.
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If a possum does cause trouble, do you chase it out?
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My interaction with possums has been limited. There is a little one that comes around now and then and is not afraid of me, nor the cats.
the first one I ever saw was bumbling around like it was drunk; I have a photo of a mama possum with a baby on its back, just came out of the pouch. Once I encountered a nearly dead possum that was pretty scary, I had a police officer help me with it. My favorite pic of possums includes a raccoon that was visiting at the same time. I don”t bother them, and they don’t bother me.
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Live and let live. I just hope they all behave themselves for your sake.
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I never have had problems with possums…in fact I didn’t even recognize the first one. I have a big round flat plastic thing that was intended for chips and dip and raw veggie tray which I use as the outdoor food dish because several cats can eat from it at once.
…and once as I stood by the door (inside) an assortment of cats and I watched as the animal checked out the dish, tried to push it, then picked it up at the rim with its teeth, then proceeded to walk forward with the dish and push it off of the deck, down the steps, and headed toward the underneath of the deck…where the rolled up garden hose stopped it, ..and the possum was not able to manuever his prize any further. The cats looked at me, and I went out to retrieve the dish before it disappeared down the big hole under the deck. Of course my camera was no where near…it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime things. 🙂
It was funny, the possum looked like a person would look holding a dinner plate in their teeth and walking and trying to keep it level.
It doesn’t take a lot to entertain me. 🙂
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What a marvelous story! That was vivid enough to bring images to my mind.
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I love the story about the possum with the good dish… I wasn’t sure I could describe it in its charm, carrying that dish so nicely. 🙂
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Your description was perfect.
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great…just thinking about that image brings smiles to my face. (It doesn’t take much to entertain me. 🙂
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The reason I called her Sister is that for a long time before she moved in to the house I called her that because she was the sister (surprise) of a big boy named Mawkin. Mawkin being the name of the Scottish witch “The Mither of the Mawkins.” (That is little grey critters, including kittens.) (I forget who was the author of the poem by the same name, info buried somewhere in my archives. )
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Very interesting.
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I have a million cat stories. I like cats, and I do think they communicate in some ways.
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I like cats, too.
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I think I still pictured JohnQ as he looked when he was a baby in England, climbing on something in your photos.
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He was a cute little whirlwind.
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🙂
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When I was in Mexico, state of Chiapas, flights south of Mexico City were all on low-flying propeller aircraft. Some were little commute jets. I loved those flights!
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Ooh! I never did anything like that. You had an adventurous life.
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Yes, I am very grateful for that. I liked to travel alone, and it was fine with Bob…when I went to Chiapas to study I stayed two weeks, then he met me in Mexico City; he said he was not interested in “reality tours.”
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It’s great that you liked traveling alone.
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I liked traveling alone because I could do whatever I wanted to without having to share with someone else. Also, I could choose who, if anyone in a group, I wanted to “hang out” with. Notable exceptions were Bob, and my late BFF Dorothy, who died last year. We each did our own thing, without feeling obligated to cooperate. 🙂
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You had two perfect traveling companions! That must be a rarity.
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We pretty much did what Bob wanted to do, with some input from me. Dorothy, on the other hand, did not require my all-time participation when we traveled. I am a notorious stick-in-the-mud, and usually prefer to relax on vacation. I don’t like crowds, parties, gatherings or most pastimes.
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Like you, I don’t need lots of people and excitement at once. I take more in when things are quiet and peaceful.
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My children, especially my eldest, absolutely loves gatherings for any occasion. She loves big family dinners, the kind we don’t have any more because of Covid. I just tried to do a quick count …too limited math skills. Anyway, I would rather visit 1/1, the more counted to more complicated, what with kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids, friends-of-grandkids… and throw in at least two or three “extras.” Oh, and also my late sister-in-law.
All that cacophony just meant that I couldn’t hear much of anything. 🙂 yikes
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We often had 30 for our family gatherings at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We used the church fellowship hall, because we had outgrown any of our homes. I had good hearing back then. These days, I’m lucky to hear people sitting next to me.
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Any crowded gathering is not my idea of fun. It’s impossible to actually take part in any interaction, it just sort of echoes around me. Even when I could hear decently.
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I prefer smaller groups, too, but we managed to chat with almost everyone. It helped that the children often played in the long, wide hall.
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I did enjoy the table-hopping at gatherings of community events, we west to a lot of occasional activities.
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Those photos of the helicopter ride were excellent, too. I like photos that illustrate stories and geography like those did.
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I use whatever photos come my way.
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I had to Google Aura frame to find out what it is – you are high tech … first the robot vacuum cleaner, then the doorbell and video with it, now this. What a wonderful visit to John $ – made his day and Sadie’s too. How exciting to go up in the helicopter for a tour overhead. We have a guy on Grosse Ile, an island about 12 miles from me, who gives helicopter rides and they go over the Downriver area. They are popular and fly low and people are always buzzing about it in the Facebook City forum.
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Rose and $ are still enjoying the memory of their helicopter ride.
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Yes, with all the windows you’d get a great view!
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It is so much fun to watch a dog reunited with their person. Their excitement is pure joy. A helicopter ride is so cool! Happy birthday to $.
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Sadie loved every minute of Rose’s visit.
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What an awesome experience! Going on a helicopter ride is on my list too
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I hope you get to go up in a helicopter. Rose and $’s ride was very short, but they were thrilled with every minute.
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Yup I don’t think it has to be long to be amazing to see what the world looks like from up there. I’ve done a float plane a few times and love it too
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A float plane would be a lot more quiet!!!
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Oh it’s pretty loud too, but maybe slightly less so than a helicopter
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