Merry Christmas to All

Twas 2 weeks before Christmas and all over our yard
Dry leaves lay in high piles because the wind has blown hard
The rakes were still hanging in the shed with care
In hopes that Paul and Nancy would find them there

Most of the flower bulbs were nestled all snug under ground
But some, still waiting to be planted could be found
On our front porch, where the Christmas lights twinkled
Those pour little bulbs were starting to wrinkle

They were found in the box we unpacked from last year
Put away with 2008’s holiday cheer
In the dark of our basement for a years worth of days
They waited, even sprouting in courageous ways

Some bulbs were still waiting from a fall spending spree
When warmer days filled Paul with bright planting glee
But with cold, windy, rainy days soon coming on
The planting and raking must be overdrawn

The moon on the crest of our dried garden crops
Spotlighted the gutters now filled to the tops
With wet leaves and acorns packed tight by the rain
Cleaning them is going to be a great pain

Outside our home the fall projects are waiting
Put away for a season, while Christmas we’re creating
While inside the warm lights all sparkle and glow
And our kitchen is covered with sugar cookie dough

Our tree is all dressed up with radiant lights
Skirted with gifts all wrapped for our loved-ones delights
Our snowmen are partying all throughout the house
And just last week, we were treated to quite a snow douse

We’re anticipating with joy, our kids soon being here
For the holiday season, we’re all filled with cheer
Our hearts are brimming with good wishes to all
So have a very Merry Christmas from Nancy and Paul

Cruisin'

We're finally on board!  We hadn't planned a get-away this year and as the summer rolled on, working in the yard and in the office and around the house just got the better of us, so here we are in late October, on board the Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas, looking forward to 9 days of fun in the sun.  We started out Thursday morning, with a trip to the temple and then on to Baltimore, where we parked and walked right into the terminal (just like going to the mall).  Once on board, the world just went away.  The weather couldn't have been more beautiful, we could actually wear our bathing suits on board while still in Maryland!

We came across this gheko while walking the streets of San Juan.  He posed for the camera.  I think he was thinking, "if I don't move, they can't see me."

Paul climbed over a wall and down an embankment to get to this rock.  This area of the San Juan shoreline is littered with rock wall ruins, some even out into the water.  We walked along the waterfront road to a public beach (about 1.5 miles) across from the Marriott there.

Just off the ship in St. Thomas - we walked to the downtown area where we shopped the quaint stores hidden in the rocky alleyways.  You can see our ship docked in the background here, as Paul, once again braved the boulders (all the while juggling two frostys). 

Our view of St. Thomas from the ship.

On Samana, Dominican Republic.  No need for a beach umbrella - just park your chairs under any of the readily available palm trees.

We were forced to walk through these beautiful views to get to the beach on Samana.  The grass was as lush and thick as a down mattress and the palm trees were doing a graceful ballet to the rhythm of the island breeze.

Our last port - Labadee, Haiti, where we took the leap out of the dragon's mouth.  Actually, we road a zipline (called the dragon's breath) from the top of a 500 feet mountain on one corner of the island, across 2,600 feet of ocean to the beach on another corner of the island.

This area is called the dragon's breath because a pool of water nestled in the rock to Paul's right has an opening that runs to the shore.  As the waves crash, it creates a sound within this pool that sounds just like a dragon breathing - eeriee

The rock on Labadee must be volcanic in nature - it is very sharp on every edge.

This part of Labadee is leased by Royal Carribbean and was one of our favorate ports.  There are many beaches, the food was included and hammocks are plentiful; But, there is no place like home and we were anxious to get back and start the holidays.

If You Let Paul Go Outside

If you let Paul go outside, he will want to plant the pansies that have been sitting at the bottom of the side porch since you bought them at the garden center a week ago.

On the way to plant the pansies, he will try to remember where he put his trowel after the last time he planted something.

He will start to walk around the yard, looking for his trowel and then he will notice the many acorns that have fallen on the front yard, crunching under his feet.

The acorns will make him want to rake the front yard.

After raking, he’ll see that the grass under the leaves is actually very tall and decide to mow it.

When he is done mowing, he will think about the new grass seed that he planted two weeks ago, that hasn’t sprouted yet, so he will decide to water it.

The water will remind him that our river has been leaking for months and he will suddenly get an idea of where the leak might be.

Looking at the river, he will see that there are many leaves that have recently fallen that could also be making it leak, so he will start picking all the leaves from the river. Then he will remember that he thought the leak might be coming from the waterfall.

So, he will remove some of the rocks near the waterfall and sure enough, there he’ll find a leak.

After fixing the leak, he will carefully replace the rocks, hoping that the river will stop leaking now. The rocks will remind him that he can get free rocks at the dump. So, he will decide to take the trash to the dump and get some free rocks to landscape his flowerbeds.

He will load the car with trash and drive to the dump. He will dump the trash and drive to the free rock pile. While looking for the perfectly shaped rock, he will remember that since he is out, he should probably stop at the grocery store to pick up some cream to make alfredo sauce for the fettuccini that we are to bring to our son’s house for dinner tonight. He will quickly decide to not get any rocks because he doesn’t want to carry around rocks in the trunk while shopping for groceries.

He will leave the dump without getting any free rock and drive straight to the grocery store to buy the much-needed cream. While at the grocery store, he will notice all the cool Halloween stuff there. He will also have to walk every isle to see if there just might be something else that we might need. While looking at the vegetables, he will see some tomatoes. They will remind him of his own garden at home and how he might have some tomatoes that are ripe there that the deer haven’t destroyed yet. He will pay for the cream and other items and drive home.

Once home, he will walk to the garden and find one tomato that is just barely blushing with ripeness. He will pick it and add it to the basket of tomatoes in the kitchen that he has previously saved from the deer.

Seeing the rotting bananas in a basket next to the tomatoes will remind him of the kitchen compost that he’s been collecting and has been stewing in a covered bucket on the front porch. Since it is late fall, he will decide that it should be just about ready. So he will spread the smelly compost on his herb garden.

Spreading the compost will remind him of the leaf mulch that he made just a few days ago. It will make him sad because he used all of that mulch and now needs to make more. He will remember that there is some old mulch in the front yard that he can use. So he will take his bucket and shovel to the front yard and dig up the old mulch.

Digging the mulch will remind him that he has some new climbing roses that he purchased on Saturday that need to be planted. Since he hasn’t built the arbor that these roses will grow up around, he will dig two holes where he thinks the arbor might go and plant the roses in each hole. He will then protect them from the coming winter with a covering of mulch that he just dug up.

Planting the roses will remind him that he promised someone from church that they could have some starts from a rose bush from his garden. So, he will go to the greenhouse for the tenth time today and get some pots and some potting soil and then dig up seven little rose bushes that have sprouted next to the big rose bush. He will plant them in seven pots for the man from church.

This will remind him that the Julia Childs rose growing in another part of his garden is blooming. He will go over and smell its beautiful yellow petals.

Then, he will notice the impatiens growing next to the Julia Childs rose is full of seeds, ready to burst. He will pick off the seeds pods and pop them, throwing their seeds into the garden for next spring’s blooms. He will walk throughout the yard, doing this to the other thousand impatiens growing in our yard.

Walking through the yard from impatiens to impatiens, he will see squirrels racing around, gathering nuts for winter. This will remind him to move his newly transplanted snapdragons up onto the picnic table to keep the squirrels from burying their nuts in the tender soil of his seedlings.

Moving the snapdragons, he will notice that some are big enough to transplant into bigger pots. So, he will make yet another trip to the greenhouse for bigger pots and more potting soil so that he can perform the transplant. He will transplant five snapdragons into bigger homes so that they have more room to grow.

Transplanting the snapdragons, he will notice how dirty his hands and clothes have gotten just walking around our yard and he will think that he should shower and change before going to our son’s house for dinner.

Walking to the house to shower, he will see the pansies, still sitting at the bottom of the side porch, smiling up at him, waiting to be planted.

Brush Strokes

We really enjoyed being together as a family this weekend as we listened to the Lord's Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson and his Counselors and General Authoritys share the messages that we need in these latter days.  I found myself longing for the Ensign to come out so that I might read their words and ponder them even more deeply.  But, until then, I wanted to share an excerpt from Elder David A. Bednar's talk:

"Many ordinary, individual brush strokes work together to create a captivating and beautiful painting – each family prayer, each episode of family scripture study and each family home evening is a brush stoke on the canvas of our souls. No one event may appear to be very impressive or memorable. But just as the [individual] strokes of paint compliment each other and produce an impressive masterpiece, so our consistency in doing seemingly small things can lead to significant spiritual results."

I included this "touched up" picture of a small portion of our family with his quote because they are each raising young families unto the Lord.  It is not an easy task, but they are all doing an incredible job of being parents to our grandchildren. They make it fun and we love and enjoy each of them more than any words here could ever convey.  Elder Bednar's words speak truth to the importance of keeping our eye on the big picture - carrying in our hearts that eternal perspective of enduring well . . . to the end.

Happy Anniversary My Sweet Paul

It's been an amazing 5 years (or for those of you keeping up with our fantasy life - 31 years).  I've traveled more, loved more and laughed more in the last 5 years than at any other time in my life.  Our gift to each other this year is a Caribbean cruise, scheduled for late October.  But to celebrate the day, we started with a visit to the Washington DC Temple, a tradition we began several years ago.  We go to the temple often and it's always special, but being there on the anniversary of the day we were sealed together for eternity brought back many incredible memories.

We then drove north to Baltimore to check out the parking situation at the outer harbor (To prepare for our cruise).  We spent the rest of the day at the Inner Harbor, just a few miles away.  We discovered the fun and "charm" of the Inner Harbor a few years ago, when on a whim we decided to get away during a late winter day.  After spending the day there exploring, we had felt like we were returning from a much longer vacation.  It was so invigorating!

The Inner Harbor has been renovated over the last 40 years and now includes an eclectic mix of charming historic buildings blended with shiny contemporary architecture and maritime exhibits, including the aquarium.  It is quaint, yet exciting and brimming with visitors, joggers, and employees of nearby businesses.  All are there to shop, eat, relax to the music in the air and the peaceful watefront.  We enjoyed having lunch in a restaurant overlooking the habor.  I felt like I was already on our cruise.

Here we are in the mouth of a giant shark - one of the exhibits in the aquarium.

If their "Tuesday Afternoons" commercial doesn't get you, then maybe seeing Nemo here might.  There were many colorful and interesting fish to see in each exhibit ranging from river to bay to ocean.  We enjoyed the sharks and look downs and even puffer fish as they swam circles around us.  Check out the aquarium at www. aqua.org

This is the entrance to the Australia Wild Extremes exhibit where waterfalls tumble down red rock, banana palms and eucalyptus grow from the crevices.  Lizards hide in grottoes and parrots and other birds - including the kookabura flit about.  We really enjoyed the variety of this and especially the rainforest exhibit.

I didn't take this picture, but wish I did.  This is the view as we strolled the perimeter of the harbor.  We didn't have time to go on one of the boat rides offered there.  You can rent either a traditional paddle boat or a dragon boat, like these.  We look forward to doing that on our next visit.

A Summer Summary

We know it's a little early, but with the days getting shorter and the air a little crisper, we just couldn't wait to decorate for Autumn. Paul crafted this little pumpkin guy out of left over lining.

He now holds court above all the rest of the pumpkins decorating our armoir.

Okay, so on to our Summer Summary. In early June we took a quickie vacation with Eric, Alex, Emma and Liam to Williamsburg, where we enjoyed a day riding thrilling rides at Busch Gardens and another day getting wet at Water Country USA. Emma got to ride all the big rides with Grandpaul, showing no fear.

The 4th of July we strolled a few miles west to horse country (Great Meadow) to enjoy mountain views, skydivers, helocopter parades, bands, food and festivities, culminating in fabulous fireworks. You can see that Liam and Grandpaul are mesmerized!

We added a new member to our family (garden family that is). Bucky protects our garden from the many fearless, ravenous and unbelievably rude deer that ate our azalias (every one) down to the ground last winter. Paul brought him to life to protect our first vegetable garden for the Va Johnsons. Notice his fabulous tassle hair. Thanks to Bucky we have harvested tomatoes, green beans, squash, broccoli, canteloup, jalepenos and bell peppers.

Another project that kept us from lazing around by the pool (ha) was our deck. We still have a little work to do as you will notice that the last step is a big one.

The end of July, Mike, Stephanie and Carter came for visit.

We enjoyed a day at the pool - Carter loved trying to grab the water geysers that shoot up in the kiddie pool - but they kept disappearing between his fingers.

Nana loved taking some time to relax with Carter so Mike and Steph could enjoy some fun on the water slides.

For Taylor (August 5) and Gavin's (September 8) birthdays this year, we made them treasure boxes, filled with lots of fun toys. They both requested sharks, which Paul enjoyed bringing to life on the front of each box.

For Paul's birthday (August 7), Nancy tried to keep with tradition and do something different. Paul had been eyeing garden statues, but a store-bought one just wouldn't do. So she designed this one and we shaped it out of wood and mesh and covered it with morter. The "Garden Dance" now surprises visitors as it is tucked away in the garden just outside our bedroom window.

Eric, Alex, Emma and Liam after a Sunday dinner visit.

Paul, louging in his favorite spot - the yard.

Oh, and this is another creation this summer - Paul took some left-over fabric and stitched a planting bag to hang from a tree. He filled it with dirt and put holes all over, filled with impatiens, it adds some bright color on the side of a tree in our front yard.

Finally - in anticipation of Christmas - Paul is working on this Santa that he made from Sculpy. Does he ever rest?

Memorial Day Hike to White Oak Canyon

Our Memorial Day was truly memorable when we went hiking in the Shenandoah Nat'l Forest's White Oak Canyon.

This is the innocent view of the river at the beginning of our 6-mile journey - so serene and relatively flat.

The trail got a little steeper and the rocks a little bigger. We were serenaded by the sound of rushing water as most of the trek was along the river - as can be heard in the video below.








Checking out the pools for future swimming places.

One of 6 waterfalls that took our breath away.

Paul thought this perch provided the best air-conditioning - the wind off of the water was amazingly cool and refreshing.

A little more than half-way to the upper falls - the trail got pretty rocky and steep. We hiked under a massive house-sized boulder - pretty scarry as you could see several large cracks that who knows when would come tumbling down - you know like those pieces of ice bergs you see on Discovery. Anyway, Paul didn't hide his exhaustion.

This is pretty much the top. We ate lunch on a rocky ledge overlooking the upper falls - a fall would have been about 90 feet straight down.

Enjoying the views on the rocky islands in the middle of the river. One false step and we could end up going over the upper falls.

Now we start the hike down - pretty steep huh?

On the way back down, we cooled our feet in the rushing water. Paul is pointing to a pool that he thought would make a nice jacuzzi.