What Big Feet You Have!

John told what happened when neighbor Logan (8) came over several days ago. He saw

040118 Shawns pic of Lily and Logan (2) — Logan

shoes on the floor and was amazed at the size.

Logan said, “Those shoes are so big. Whose are they?”

John replied, “Nathaniel’s.”

“What size are they?” he asked incredulously.

John said, “Size 14 or 15.”

Logan said a bit wistfully, “When my feet grow a little more, I’ll be size one.”

081718 Shoes of Logan and Nathaniel.JPG — Shoes of Nathaniel and Logan

Reconnecting with Logan

Our grandsons were happy to play with neighbor Logan (8), but the summer flashed by with little contact. Logan was busy, and our boys were working. Finally, the day Logan went to school to meet his third grade teacher, he came over to visit. After sitting with us while we ate, Logan discussed the merits of toy cars with John and grandson Nathaniel. We noticed he had grown and matured over the summer.

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Logan joined our twitchit family! I noticed bodies shifting and looked under the table. You have one guess to identify Logan’s feet.

081718 Logan joins the twitchits.JPG

Logan asked if I had an apple he could feed the horses. DW took his half easily, but Vixen repeatedly knocked the apple out of Logan’s hand. The camera made the catch. Can you see the apple in midair?

Logan rode with John to take Nathaniel to work and came back to play games with us. We couldn’t find the checkers, so the boy beat me playing Tic-tac-toe. David told me years ago that he knew how to win the game if he went first and played in the middle square. Logan learned that this afternoon. I insisted he go first all the time. After a few rounds, he explained the strategy which went right over my head. We played a few more games so that it would be set in his mind, no matter where I played. I never realized I would measure success by how often I lost.

Car’s Scars

Our Hyundai Sonata, otherwise known as Snot, has a habit of shedding door handles. The following is a list of losses and people who were left holding the hardware:

son John $pencer – driver’s side back door

Anne – front passenger door

grandson David – driver’s door

grandson Nathaniel – front passenger door, second round

The first replacement was covered by the warranty, and you can’t tell that it was repaired. The next three were visible scars, because they were black. We didn’t feel like paying an extra $50 each to have them painted to match the car. We told Snot to wear them proudly.

David used the car most weekdays to get to work, so John couldn’t take Snot to the dealer in Asheville for the repair. The person impacted most was Nathaniel. Whenever he and I went somewhere, he had to scramble to get in. Nathaniel, being resourceful, found the broken handle would work if he jiggled it into place. His routine was to open the back door, retrieve the handle from the seat, rattle/jiggle it in the front door, open the door, pull the handle off, sit down, and toss the broken piece to the back. I had to control my giggling at the scrabbling sound, not wanting to try Nathaniel’s patience. It was also amusing to watch him fold his tall self into the small car, something he did with alacrity. I felt like the driver of the clown car in the circus. I swear he could do that door-opening, scrunching routine in five seconds flat.

081618 N with car door handle.JPG

I would like to be known for my problem-solving ability, which is not going to happen. You see, after enjoying Nathaniel’s prowess for three days, I thought of the solution. All I needed to do was lower the window so that he could flip his long arm in and open the door from the inside. The laugh is on me, and it won’t be the last.

David’s End of Summer

The day before grandson David went back to college, we had a family excursion to the Biltmore estate. David and I particularly wanted to see the Chihuly exhibit. Dale Chihuly is an American artist who creates works of art with blown glass. Our first close view was at the entrance to the mansion, both outside and from the inside.

081318 Biltmore Chihuly exhibit (1).JPG

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The winter garden held the only indoor exhibit, for which John and David posed.

081318 Biltmore Chihuly exhibit (3)

081318 Biltmore Chihuly exhibit (6)

My favorites from the Italian garden show David and John near the lily pads, a boat filled with glass creations, and a long view of the largest piece in that area.

Nathaniel and David agreed to stand with a display just outside the conservatory.

081318 Biltmore Chihuly exhibit (22).JPG

My favorite framed shot was in the walled garden.

081318 Biltmore Chihuly exhibit (19).JPG

On the opposite side of the walled garden was the display I voted most colorful.

081318 Biltmore Chihuly exhibit (21).JPG

After our long walk through the mansion and around the grounds, we went for a late lunch at the Moose Cafe. The meals there always start with a huge biscuit for each person, to which you can add sorghum molasses or their special apple butter. It is messy, but oh! so good! We chose chicken with dumplings, fried mountain trout, pork chops, and fried pollock. The young men fell asleep on the ride home, while I was glassy-eyed. They didn’t wake up when John and I stopped at the local produce stand to buy a huge heirloom Cherokee tomato for ‘mater sandwiches for supper. We ended with a juicy local watermelon, one of David’s favorites. We could have used showers after that messy meal.

Twitching

John got up from the lunch table, leaving his shoes behind. When I saw grandsons David and Nathaniel smiling at each other from opposite ends of the table, moving only slightly, I knew there was twitching going on below. The camera caught them.

081118 Twitchit time on the porch.JPG

Homegrown Rainbow

This has been a summer of rain. It’s surprising to me that we didn’t see more rainbows. It wasn’t for lack of looking. Every time I noticed sun shining on rain, I’d peek out the window in hopes of seeing one. I’d almost stopped looking when I spotted this one. It wasn’t any old rainbow. It was one hill over from the pasture. Dim and homely? Yes, but it was almost in our backyard! The wicked wisteria on the pergola was reaching for it as I pulled the camera from my pocket. I won! I caught it, and the wisteria didn’t.

081018 Backyard rainbow.JPG

Luminous Morning

The mist on the mountain was stunning as we walked to the floor of the valley. A chink in the clouds allowed the sun to shine on the mist without hitting anything else. The white mist seemed to glow from within. I waited to take a picture of it until we were away from the service station. By then the scene was not as dramatic, but I aimed the camera at it, anyway.

081018 Luminous clouds near Jonathan Creek.JPG

After we stood listening to Jonathan Creek gurgle, I told John I wanted to sit on the wall around the firehouse flagpole to see what was irritating my foot. I took the sneaker off, found nothing, and put it on again. Before I stood up, a car came toward us. The passenger window opened, and a wizened old man asked if we were okay. The driver, a younger woman, explained that they see us walking all the time and wondered if we needed help. I felt the light of human kindness shining all around us. They saw a possible need and responded to it. I still feel a warm glow every time I think of them. Have you had anyone offer you help recently?

24-hour Reunion

While we were texting, brother Bob and Beth realized that we were running out of time for them to see our grandsons David and Nathaniel. After a meeting in the morning, they drove from Winston Salem and had dinner with us. Using the props left from our “fine dining” experience, we ended with Nathaniel’s Brownies with ice cream on the side.

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For the foodies, we had cucumber with cream cheese, fresh dill, and lemon on crackers, shredded chicken with Mornay sauce over rice, peas, grape salad from neighbor Connie’s recipe, and the Brownies. I thought we had served this salad to them before. One of these times I’m going to take a photo of it, because it always disappears before the end of a meal. We knew we had not served it to them when Beth asked, “What is this that looks like eyeballs?”

The fellows worked on a jigsaw puzzle while waiting for the slide show of Beth and Bob’s recent trip to Europe. They had taken their oldest grandson to celebrate his graduation from high school.

080718 D N Bob work jigsaw.JPG

The next morning we enjoyed breakfast on the porch while it was still cool. I wanted a photo that included Beth without showing her face. She recently had surgery on her nose, which we were not featuring. For the record, she was wearing a band-aid that matched the bright blue of her top! Foodies, we ate summer oatmeal, bananas, and chocolate chip coffeecake.

080817 Breakfast on the porch Beth Bob David John.JPG

Nathaniel grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken-apple sausage, and Bavarian brats for lunch. I prepared slaw and served homemade lemon curd over bought pound cake. We also had time for a little music. Bob played the French horn for us. He has practiced daily since he began learning to play the instrument, and his diligence is showing results. I enjoyed accompanying him on the piano, because I sight-read the music and didn’t have to practice. With these few pictures and words, we will hold the memory of their special 24-hour visit.

Tongue Tangle

I pointed to a huge decorative item in the Asheville antique mall. My brain started the word chandelier and let the lips finish with the end of candelabra. What did grandson Nathaniel hear? He heard me say, “Look at that chandelabra!”

He asked, “Are you making fun of me and the way I make up words?”

At that, I realized what had come out of my mouth and giggled. Nathaniel knew he had caught me in a major word slip as he doubled over laughing. This is going to follow me to my grave, with major reminders along the way.

Note to self: when you are living it up, you may soon be living it down.

Simple Pleasures

Both grandsons had pleasant experiences the same day. Nathaniel went with us to Asheville on his day off. I had an appointment, so we dropped him off at an antique mall while I saw the doctor. We weren’t sure if there were enough things to occupy him for an hour, but I figured he’d strike up a conversation with someone if he found nothing of interest. My appointment did not take long. I texted Nathaniel to let him know we were on the way. The antique place was much larger than we thought, so we wandered around looking for him. He came toward us with a big smile on his face, and he was holding several records. If we had time, he had things he wanted to show Grandpa. I enjoyed watching the grandson/granddad interplay. John ended up buying a book on trains, several train magazines, and a record. Who knew he would be tempted in that place???

080618 N and JC at antique mall in Asheville.JPG

When David came home at the end of his shift, I sat chatting with him while he ate. My eyes snapped to attention when I saw movement in the pasture. The horses were back!! The owners took them somewhere else for several months. Those of us overlooking the pasture had missed them. I quickly texted neighbors Joyce and Shawn to let them know our hoofed friends were back in place. The male, DW, galloped around the whole pasture for sheer joy. Vixen, the female, quietly munched on grass. We saw both roll around on the ground. David was particularly pleased to see them. I cut up an apple for him to feed them. Earlier this year, the horses would stand at the fence for several minutes after we gave them a treat. We’d talk to them and pet them. Today was different. As soon as they realized we had no more apples, they walked away to continue grazing. I got the feeling that no grass is as good as the grass at home.

080618 David gives DW an apple.jpg

080618 David feeds Vixen.jpg

When he got back inside, David said, “My summer is complete. I’m so glad the horses came back before I left.”

I presume John’s pleasure was listening to his new/old record, which Nathaniel put on the turntable when we got home. I’ll bet he has already opened the book he bought, too.

My pleasure of the day was being told I would no longer need a checkup with the oncologist every six months. I’ll go once a year unless I notice any changes. My surgery was four years ago, and I thought I had to wait for the fifth year. The tether has been lengthened. As you can imagine, I am very happy with that.