Happy New Year 2009

I guess I'm about the last one to wish everyone a Happy New Year, since we're well into the new day and new year now.

To answer the question I posed in my last posting, I vicariously celebrated New Year's Eve with a trip to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and a lovely ride to Bavaria to a town at the base of the Alps! How totally awesome - for those who really did it, and for my 'armchair traveling' from back home.

Christmas dinner here was so much fun, even if half our crew was not able to be here with us. The rest of us didn't miss a trick in having a bountifully delicious meal and lots of fun exchanging gifts afterwards. The gifts-that-keep-on-giving are always nice to receive, and we managed to reap quite a few this year ! Gift cards are welcome and will be used, believe me! The toaster works beautifully - so much better than the old one, which has been discarded.

The Slide Scanner is providing hours of 'entertainment' for me so far... all those years of slides that were heretofore just stored are now coming to life as real pictures that can be shared, printed and saved! Thanks to Jonathan who got the program set up for me and taught me how to use it! The Oklahoma years in slides are bringing back So many memories!

The painters have been working valiantly on the exterior of the house now that the rains have subsided somewhat. The crew has scraped the old old paint off every single board, and are in the priming and painting process now - in spite of cold weather. I did not expect them to come to work today, since New Years Day is a "holiday", after all. I do not miss the sounds created by the scraping and hammering on the outside, that reverberate so loud inside !

Now , thanks to the Internet, I'm watching the plane's progress coming from Charles DeGaulle to Newark as our family travelers return from a storybook vacation trip. The friends won't return from their own fabulous trip until later this weekend. There'll be a jillion questions for both groups to answer and share when they get back and get settled in again at home.

So once again, Happy New Year to everyone. I join others in hoping for peace, love and health in this new year.