BEGINNING NEW YEAR - 2016 !!

The New Year began with anticipation of a big important day for our grandson, January 16th. Hopefully the weather will hold until after that day before more severe winter sets in.

January 2 - we attended Gary's Class of '63 luncheon at BB Rooners. It was much better attended, with 21, than we had expected. We sat across from Rudy and Cecilia Hrovatic and spent much time sharing traveling good times and locations. They will soon be leaving for Ft. Pickens FL near Pensacola where we will be. It was a fun time.

January 3 - After church at First Friends we picked up Victor and drove to Niles to meet with Audrey's cousin and his wife at Applebee's.

Cousin, Larry, Gary, Victor, Audrey and Larry's wife Betty.

We had a good dinner and a great visit.  Hopefully we will get to go on farther north to their home in May or June while we are in Ohio again. Victor was their ring bearer 39 plus years ago and it is good for him to get to know them better.
When we got back home to Victor's, I got busy and printed out the invitations (one at a time) from the computer for our grandson's Eagle Ceremony that is coming soon.

January 4 - Gary had lunch at Bob Evans and a good visit with Pastor Pete of First Friends Church.

January 5 - Audrey attended the Home Saving & Loan Retirees Luncheon. We never know what the entertainment will be, so I was pleased that it was of interest to me. A retired main office employee, Howard Friend, gave a very interesting talk of his time serving the country during WWII until he was returned back to the states because of a severe leg injury. (Gary would really have enjoyed this also, but spouses were not invited.)

Howard Friend

Howdy, smiling in the center with his leg in traction.

After my luncheon, Gary went out to meet with the guys for First Tuesday on Tiffany Square in Boardman. First Tuesday is a group of men who at one time worked at E W Bliss in Salem. It is a great time for them to keep up with all of the news.

January 7 - Gary went to lunch with a friend, Dan.

January 8 - I went scrap booking at Michele's Scrapbooking Memories shop in the Alliance Carnation Mall. I hustled that day to get as much done as I could as I knew that I had to leave early. When leaving, I drove to Stage Coach Inn in North Georgetown for fish dinner with our son, Victor , Gary and Gary's friend, Rick.  It's always a good visit.

January 9 - Gary, Victor and I went to the Cleveland RV Show for a few hours of going through new RV's and looking a the newer products out for our life style. After we left there we stopped by a used gaming shop on Rocky River Rd for Victor to look around.

January 10 - After church at First Friends, we stopped by Gary's sister, Janet's, to visit a bit and stopped at Walmart. When Eugenia texted that they were home, we went there for a great visit and lunch of turkey/chicken soup.  We always look forward to those visits and the catching up.

January 11 - My day to have the car! To hear Gary tell it, you would think that I have the car all of the time. ( I just manage to pack all of my fun into two days so that I do not have to drive back and forth from Cornersburg to Salem so many times.) This day it was a haircut first, then a visit with a church and RVing friend, Diane. She has since had to quite traveling and is stuck pretty close to home now with 24/7 oxygen use. She seemed good this day and we spent time catching up. This was followed by Bible Study-prayer and praise at Cheryl's house. I will miss this group when we head south. I then again stopped by Janet's to visit and fill in time until my TOPS group meeting in the evening.
Victor has downloaded a program called Livingstrong.com on my i-phone so that I can keep track of my calories just like he is doing. Unfortunately, he has put on a few pounds from all of the eating and baking that I did while in his house for three and a half months and all of our dinners out. It will be interesting to see how we progress from now till May.  The program lets you figure manual calculations, search other lists, or scan barcodes on foods. I love the barcode method! I notice that Victor is doing his even before he eats.

January 13 - We stopped by Janet's again to visit and took her a flowering plant for her birthday.

January 14 - Began with a trip to Hobby Lobby to find an inexpensive album cover to put our grandson, Richie's, current 'work in progress' to be able to show it at his ceremony on Saturday. Later that day we met with Audrey's cousins and sister at O'Charley's in Niles for dinner. We really got cramped in a corner which was not conducive to a lot of visiting from one end of the table to the other. We really needed a round table. The next time we will know!!

Cousin's wives, Barb and Judy, my sister, Pearl and myself.

Victor next to my cousins, William and Tom.
They were close to my brother who passed away in 2013.
I have a great appreciation for that dedication from them.

We are quickly approaching the Eagle Ceremony which we are really looking forward to. We will share that in the next Blog. It is time to clean up and pack up here at Victor's. I would imagine that he is looking forward to having his home back in order as he knows it! It has been a good visit though!!

Take care and stay warm. We notice the colder weather approaching and the dampness along with it!!