Birthday and Early Christmas

Laura was six years old on December 11 so the Miller family went to her home in North Carolina to celebrate her birthday and have an early Christmas. Yes, I made Barbie doll clothes again this year as a birthday gift.

A year brings many changes especially when you are only two. Sara had changed from a toddler into a little girl who loves to dress up and pretends to prepare food and tea for her aunts and grandmother.

Christmas is a time for good food, gifts, friends, and sharing family stories. I went to a wonderful Christmas Sorority meeting at the home of my friend, Maryann. You can see that we had a great time. Grandpa Terry is in the photo with granddaughters Laura, Sara, and Victoria.

It is also a time to remember the birthday of the Christ child. What fun to go to the Christian School and attend the Christmas program in which our granddaughter Laura sang about His birth.

May all of you have fun, fellowship, food, family and friends with you this holiday season.

It’s Beginning to look a Lot Like Christmas

Although we have very limited space in our RV, we decorate using most of the symbols of Christmas. We have a Christmas stocking, package, tree, lights, stars, angels, a live poinsettia, candles, a tiny crèche and even a music box. The empty box has a decorated lid so Terry can fill it on Christmas Eve.

Terry and I love to see Christmas decorations, parades, movies and programs with music. Here are two of the decorated golf carts that were in the parade in the park.

We went to Lake Havasu City last night for a lighted ship parade under the London Bridge.

We are leaving on Wednesday of next week, the 8th of December, to fly to North Carolina for the Miller Christmas. I will have some wonderful grandchild photos and memories when we return.

Animals and Nature Murals

At dusk and early dawn you need to watch for moose on the Highway east and north of Anchorage, Alaska. South of Des Moines, Iowa, you need to watch for deer. Driving north of Parker, Arizona on Hwy 62, beware of wild donkeys. The gray donkeys are especially hard to see as you travel around a curve. Unlike deer eyes that reflect back to you when you use your headlights, the donkey’s eyes do not reflect.

We took a trip in the early morning hours in search for a dentist and saw this beautiful rosy salmon color on the mountains at the entrance to Lake Havasu City.

All Terry wants for Christmas is his two front teeth. A couple of weeks ago he lost the front tooth which had been a permanent bridge. Since the tooth holding the bridge was in poor condition, he needed an expensive repair. Now we are waiting for the new tooth to arrive to replace the temporary one.

I was given permission to photograph the beautiful murals at the dentist office that were painted by a gentleman named Harlan. Although he died this year, Harlan left these wonderful murals of the area around Lake Havasu City for us to enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving

Yes, I know that Thanksgiving is over but how can I put photos on the blog about our Thanksgiving until I’ve taken them? Hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. We are especially thankful for our family, friends, food and good health.

Before our thanksgiving dinner, we put two tables together with twelve chairs at each table, placed white tablecloths on all the tables and decorated the table where we were eating with the church group. (See the pilgrims and pumpkin that Terry and I furnished.) There were 20 tables at the 1 PM seating and another 20 tables at the 4 PM seating with all the spaces occupied. Emerald Cove provided turkey, dressing and gravy and each of us brought another dish to serve twelve. Frank brought two of his famous pies.

Then it was time for clean up but that wasn’t difficult since Bev and I and the four men on the clean-up crew all helped.

No, we didn’t get up early on black Friday to shop. We were tired.

Nicodemus

Seventy-seven people had a wonderful church service at Emerald Cove yesterday with special guests, Don and Dorene Foster. Dorene introduced her husband as Nicodemus and read scripture about him. I felt like I was transported to Jerusalem five years after Jesus went to heaven. Nicodemus was no longer a secret Christian who visited Jesus by night but was now telling everyone that he had seen the body of Jesus and assisted Joseph in burying Him. Nicodemus was convinced that Jesus had risen. If you ever get a chance to see this dramatic presentation, you will be pleased that you did.

The cross that was used in the presentation was given to the church for future services.

After our special music and communion, everyone was invited to eat birthday cake that Linda and I bought to celebrate the birthdays of our husbands (Jerry and Terry) plus everyone else who had a birthday in November.

Birth and Death

In case you didn’t read the comment from Jerry and Suzy about Uncle Don, I’m quoting it now. “Uncle Don lived his heaven while on earth, now has another heaven to wander through and enjoy. You were undoubtedly as much a blessing in his life and he was in yours.” Thank you, Jerry and Suzy. What a beautiful way to express your thoughts!

I also lost Uncle Jake during the last month. He was also a Christian and I’m sure that he is in heaven. The photo was taken at Aunt Margie’s 75th birthday party. Uncle Jake is wearing a plaid shirt and standing by his wife, Aunt Margie. My parents are sitting in the foreground.

A great memory of Uncle Jake is when Terry and I did some sight seeing with him and Margie in AZ. Jake delighted in telling everyone we met that it was his 21st birthday and laughed at the startled expressions on people’s faces. He was right. Since his birthday was on February 29, he had only had 21occurances of his birthday even though he was 84 years old.

My niece, Megan and her husband had a baby girl named Ellie on Oct. 19. My nephew, Ben and his wife had a baby boy named Joseph on November 18. Isn’t it wonderful the way life balances out? I look forward to meeting the new babies when we go to Iowa next spring or summer.

Food and Exercise

Life, where we are camped, seems to center around eating. Last week I went to the Red Hat Luncheon, Blue Water Café for prime rib for Veteran’s Day, the Early Bird Café for brunch, and the Golden Corral for a buffet. Tonight we are going to eat at Lake Havasu Springs to celebrate Terry, Jerry, Bill and Bev’s birthdays. Sunday I will bring a large cake to serve as refreshments after the church service. Our closest neighbor, Frank, made an apple pie with the apples from my son’s yard and gave me the first piece.

Terry only wanted a cupcake for his birthday. There is no way to put 70 candles on it so I only used seven candles. All he wants for his birthday and Christmas is his two front teeth. He lost his front tooth bridge and needed much work done on an adjacent tooth. He has a temporary tooth on it now.

You may have heard that traveling is broadening. To combat this, Terry takes hikes into the area around the river. I walked 3,000 steps with my women friends this AM. I also go to water aerobics on Monday and Fridays.

Uncle Don Hoven

Some things are hard to write about so I’m just going to quote myself from the last pages of my first RV book, “RV Chuckles and Chuckholes- The Confessions of Happy Campers.” My opening paragraph on page 93 reads, “The first member of our family to fulltime – was Uncle Don. He was also the most romantic person in my young life. I don’t mean the man/woman hearts and flowers meaning of the word but in the heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious or idealized sense of the word.”

Uncle Don usually wore his black Stetson hat. His silhouette reminded me of the Marlboro man except that he smoked a pipe instead of a cigarette. I wish that I had the photo in my RV but it is stored in Iowa. I found this photo that was taken when Terry and I and mom and dad visited him several years ago. Uncle Don is in the left side of the photo with the purple sweatshirt on.

We last visited Uncle Don in May of this year. As my father put it, “You don’t have to go to Lake View anymore.” Sadly, Uncle Don died of pneumonia in Oct. I miss him.

Winter Quarters

Some RVer’s think that the four letter word “work” is a dirty word. Others retire early and work to maintain their lifestyle. We have helped our kids and “worked” on occasion. This winter we are “staff” or “church staff” as the other staff refers to us. We have really been working.

Our project this week is to remove wax on the clubhouse vinyl tile floor, reapply it and then buff it. The tables and chairs were pressure washed in addition to being scrubbed. The men all traded jobs and worked hard for five days on the approximately 62 by 56 foot building. Us ladies got to scrub the perimeter of the floor with a foam wax remover, water, a putty knife and then rinse. Other work will be to arrange tables and chairs for the various activities in the clubhouse. Bill is the pastor. Opal is the linguist and will lead the Bible study. Bev is the music director. Terry will also prepare the master copy of the church bulletin (or program) on the computer. I’m sure that they will also use us to do other things but we are the new kids on the block. The other three couples have worked for the church activities for 1 to 8 years. Yes, we are the youngest too. I’m the youngest person and Terry is the youngest man.

Emerald Cove Campground has over 800 sites on a mile of sandy shoreline on the Colorado River and is located on the CA side of the CA/AZ border. Since the nearest towns are Parker and Lake Havasu in AZ, we are on AZ or Mountain Time. We have a site that overlooks the mountains and rocky desert floor. See the photo that I took from our window. Live palm trees shade the two heated pools and two hot tubs. The hot tub felt very, very good after using muscles that aren’t used to such vigorous activity.

W also have a new appreciation for the “work” that is done in campgrounds. Thanks Mike and Jo Ann for the work you did last year. We hope that you are happy in your new assignment in Texas.