Posts Tagged ‘Betsy’

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Scenic Sunday #81: Snow!

January 31, 2010

The golf course behind our house, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. January 30, 2010.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

Since Friday afternoon we’ve had about 5 inches of snow, topped by up to an inch of ice, followed by more snow.  It’s the biggest storm we’ve had in several years and one member of the family is definitely happy about it.

The picture above was taken on the golf course fairway behind our house (we’re definitely going nowhere by car for a while!).  Even I will admit that there is a stark beauty to the leafless trees.

Betsy enjoying the snow in front of our house. January 30, 2010.

But the most scenic part of the day was the smile on my Beautiful Bride’s face as she ventured out to enjoy the snow.  That smile is bright enough to lighten the whole day.

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I’m grateful for the opportunity to enjoy all kinds of weather with my beautiful bride.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 13 Comments »

Betsy’s Getting Her Wish!

January 30, 2010

Our front yard in the early afternoon, Fairfield Glade. January 29, 2010.

I can’t begin to tell you how happy my Beautiful Bride is this morning.  She’s been waiting for almost four years for a day like this.

She actually started smiling Friday afternoon.  It began snowing late Friday morning and by early afternoon the street, driveway and yard were pretty much covered in white as you can see from the picture above.

The wall in front of our house in the late afternoon. January 29, 2010.

But much to Betsy’s delight, it just kept snowing.  By late afternoon we had a couple of inches on the ground.  Even our newly repaired wall looked good in the snow.

Still snowing after dark. January 29, 2010.

Best of all it just kept snowing.  This is what it looked like just before I began writing this post.  I don’t know how much snow we will finally have — it’s supposed to keep snowing until noon Saturday.  Some forecasts say we will have 7 to 9 inches by the time the storm ends.

I predict Betsy will be absolutely giddy today!

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I’m grateful for the beauty of newly fallen snow and the way it makes the world seem new and clean.

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Posted in Weather | 19 Comments »

Down Memory Lane: Beach Honeymoon

January 25, 2010

Scenes from our beach honeymoon. June, 2001.

When Betsy and I got married in June, 2001, I still owned a house in Little River, South Carolina.  I had lived in Little River when working in North Myrtle Beach, and I had not been able to sell it when I moved to Tennessee.

Since Betsy likes the beach, we decided to spend the week after our wedding in Little River.  I had discovered a couple of beaches across the state line in North Carolina that I was eager to share with Betsy.  We spent a couple of days at Sunset Beach, which turned out to be our favorite beach.

Little River was a little fishing village on the Intracoastal Waterway.  While fishing is still a big part of the local economy, there are other attractions for tourists as well.  Casino boats dock in Little River and take people out beyond the three mile limit so they can legally gamble.  We didn’t take a cruise on a casino boat, but we did take a cruise on a jet-powered boat, the Sea Screamer, out into the Atlantic and down the coast toward Myrtle Beach.

It’s definitely not beach weather in Tennessee now, but I feel warmer just looking over these photos again.  To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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I’m grateful for each and every moment with my Beautiful Bride.

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Posted in Travels | 15 Comments »

Christmas Odds and Ends

December 28, 2009

Betsy and George on Christmas Day.

First of all, I hope you all had a Christmas as wonderful as the one Betsy and I shared.  Every Christmas is special, but this one seemed to be extra wonderful.  I think part of the reason was that this was the first Christmas for a while on which we didn’t travel.  People came to us this year.

One of our Christmas traditions is to take a Christmas photo.  This year’s photo (above) was more informal than most have been.  Thanks to a roaring fire in the fireplace we wore T-shirts from Santa Claus, Indiana, given us by our good friends Judy and Charlie.

The mailman actually brought these on the day before Christmas, but we put the package under the Christmas tree unopened.  These beautiful mats came from Mary at Faith, Fabric and Photos.  They are absolutely beautiful and the rose patterns are perfect for us.

It’s another tradition at our house that Betsy comes up with a gift that is completely unexpected.  She did it again this year with this baseball cap.  The cap says ‘Don’t Forget My Senior Discount!  (I Know I Look Too Young For It)’  I’m sure there’s a message there, but I’m not sure exactly what it is!

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Posted in American Life | 10 Comments »

My Christmas Angel

December 24, 2009

No, Betsy didn’t pose for this angel figurine, but she easily could have.  She has short blond hair, big blue eyes and an angelic face.  During and after college Betsy sang in choirs and in theatrical productions.  When we first met, Betsy was the Associate Minister at my parent’s church in Hendersonville.  So for all of these reasons, and others that will be evident shortly,  I’ve considered this angel to be very representative of my angel.

It wasn’t very long after we began dating that I was convinced that I had found an angel.  Don’t get me wrong — I still feel that way — but the feeling was new and exciting back in 2001.  I realize I’m showing my age, but in my mind I had all the questions that were asked in the lyrics of the big-band era song “When Did You Leave Heaven?”.

But back to the figurine.  The first time I saw it I just knew that it just had to represent Betsy.  Betsy did have another side to her personality — a side that was shown by the twinkle in her eyes at times and an almost impish grin.  As I got to know her better — and as I met her sons and heard their stories — I realized that impishness was indeed a part of her character.

What does all this have to do with the angel figurine?  Take a look at the back of this angelic figurine.

That’s a sling shot sticking out of her pocket.

That’s my angel!!!

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Betsy and I will be taking a long weekend from blogging to have time to celebrate Christmas with family and friends.  We’ll be back Monday, but in the meantime we want to wish you and your family a very merry and blessed Christmas.

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Posted in Betsy | 15 Comments »

My Beautiful Multi-Tasking Bride

December 19, 2009

Betsy 'relaxing' at home. December 18, 2009.

We had planned on going on going to Hendersonville today, but when we got up there was ice on the driveway and road in front of the house.  Since the weather was expected to get worse, we called Mom and Dad to see if they could get by until Sunday or Monday when the weather was expected to be better.  They said they were well-prepared for any emergencies and that we shouldn’t try to come when the weather was bad.

The only time I went out all day was to get the mail — it was a nice change of pace from our usual routine and I must admit it was very nice.

Late in the afternoon I came upon my beautiful bride seated on her throne (recliner) in the living room, wrapped up in a quilt, enjoying the Christmas tree, watching television, visiting blogs on her laptop and texting on her telephone.  Oh, yes, you can’t see it, but she was also enjoying the fire in the fireplace.

Who says senior citizens can’t do more than one thing at a time?

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Posted in Betsy | 14 Comments »

A Perfect Way to Spend a Wintry Evening

December 17, 2009

Our living room at Christmas time. December 12, 2009.

When I lived in western North Carolina we had a wood-burning stove to supplement the heat in the house.  I was teaching at the time, so I spent much of the summer cutting and splitting wood to use in the stove.  (I was MUCH younger then and had MUCH more energy!).

Years passed and I met my beautiful bride.  When it came time for us to find our dream house, Betsy essentially had one requirement — it had to have a wood-burning fireplace.

So now, many years later, I have to be concerned with firewood.  We now get firewood cut to length, but some of the pieces still need to be split.  So I often spend a chilly day splitting wood; at least that helps keep me warm while I’m working outside.

And I have to admit that there are few things as pleasant as sipping tea in front of a fire on a cold evening.

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Posted in American Life | 15 Comments »

The Benefits of Waterfalling

December 7, 2009

George and Betsy at Wilderness Falls, Unaka Mountain, Tennessee. November 27, 2009.

As most of you know, Betsy and I collect waterfalls.  We enjoy researching waterfalls in an area and then visiting as many as we can.  That’s what we did over the Thanksgiving weekend.

A waterfall doesn’t have to be big to be enjoyable.  We often get to a waterfall by driving or hiking through some of the prettiest scenery you could imagine.  Since we photograph our waterfalls I have a tripod in the car and a small tripod in my backpack.

We found this pretty little waterfall on Unaka Mountain along the Tennessee/North Carolina border, and of course we had to get our picture.

Pretty waterfalls, beautiful scenery, and fresh air.  Yes, there are many benefits to finding a new waterfall!

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Posted in Waterfalls | 12 Comments »

Scenic Sunday # 73: Double Happiness

December 6, 2009

Snow and pine needles, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. December 5, 2009.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

This may not appear to be much to you, but it is very beautiful and scenic to my beautiful bride, who just loves snow.  We woke up Saturday morning to an inch or two of the white stuff and Betsy was over-joyed.  Unfortunately (for her) the snow probably won’t be around for long, but she is ever-hopeful that more will soon come.

Jen's calendar and the almanac.

The mailman brought a second happy event for the day.  Jen, who blogs on unglazed, had a giveway a week of so ago and I was fortunate enough to win.  The gift is a 2010 calendar of photos Jen has taken.  To say that each photo is beautiful is really an understatement.  Jen takes wonderful pictures of the birds in her area and I encourage you to visit her site if you haven’t done so.  Jen also included a copy of the Farmer’s Almanac.  Jen knows how much Betsy likes snow and wants her to know when the snow will arrive!

Thanks again, Jen.

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Posted in Scenic Sunday | 18 Comments »

Betsy’s Newest Toy

December 5, 2009

Betsy sending a text message on her new phone. December 4, 2009.

For quite sometime, Betsy has felt that she would have more contact with her sons and grandchildren if she could send and receive text messages.  She had said several times that she didn’t know how her two Texas granddaughters could use the tiny keyboards on their phones, but she did know that they were constantly texting their friends.

Well, a couple of weeks ago we qualified for a new phone from our wireless carrier.  Betsy wanted one that would allow her to send and receive text messages, so that’s what we got.

I’ll admit that I was sceptical about how much texting Betsy would do, but she has definitely gotten the hang of it.  I couldn’t begin to count the number of text messages she has sent and received in the past two weeks.  She was definitely right about having more contact with her sons.  During last Monday night’s football game the text messages flew from our house to Chattanooga to Texas to Nevada and back every time New Orleans scored.  I’m very impressed with my tech-savvy bride!

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Posted in Betsy | 7 Comments »

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