No Place Like Home

Our holidays this year were quiet. Bob’s resting from his last round of targeted chemotherapy (only one more round) and on Christmas Eve he developed bronchial pneumonia. Yet it looks like we’ll ring in the New Year on the mend. 

Our kids make us happy with continual messaging and calls. Greg and Michelle, who live overseas, spent Christmas in Vienna and share pictures of markets and buffets. Chris just started a new job with few days off but has friends to share celebrations. We’ll see him soon. We loved his picture of Hank on the couch with another golden lab at the sitters home.

Winter weather came early but managed to warm enough for Bob and I to take a few walks in the woods. We look forward to spring when the wildflowers bloom.

After 10 years of post retirement volunteering, I have officially retired. In those years I taught classes for life long learners, conducted food demonstrations at our summer farmers market and taught statewide whole grains classes. I developed and tested recipes for the Food and Nutrition magazine and even wrote an article for them (complete with footnotes). I was a Stone Soup Blogger (that was fun) and styled many a platter with recipe posted on my personal food blog. Bob and I shared picnic adventures in the parks of West Virginia and surrounding states. In the pre COVID days companies sent me cookbooks to review when I got to try many recipes ,then share the cookbook with a friend. 

Most days I enjoy my walks in the truck lot at the bottom of our hill. There is a little spruce bush where I turn around that I decorated with a few Christmas bulbs. While most of the neighbors are retired, we can count on them for smiles and messages, snow removal and treats. 

There is a small group of dietitian friends that lunch together about once a month and we were able to do that in December.

I so enjoyed a few classic Christmas movies- National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Miracle on 37th Street, parts of Home Alone 1 and 2 and the Sound of Music. (Unsure if it qualifies, but it is wonderful) I played Christmas songs on the piano daily. My favorite memories are with Bob, sitting in the basement near the kerosene heater with the light up manger scene and flashing retro lights around the train layout.

We are blessed.