Thanksgiving in N.C.

Here I am with Blake Michael Confer. He is big and is showing signs of teething. He wants to chew on everything and drools. This picture was taken where Keith works Baylee's Sports Bar. They have these gigantic TVs all around the room.

Another picture of where Keith works. Kaila included too. They were doing another TV taping when we were there. Unless they edit it out, Judy, Brandi, Brandi's mother will be on the new promo. Keith looks so professional and really loves his job.

This picture of Keith in his chef outfit was taken at their house on Thanksgiving Day. The sun was shining in and you can see on his chef coat the shadow. I know you can't read it on this pic, but on the coat is embroidered Executive Chef and underneath it has his name, Keith Confer.

Kaila loves when her "Grampy" reads to her. We had barely gotten into the house till she came with a whole pile of books. I even like to hear him! He makes it so interesting. Judy, Kerby, and I had motel rooms in Candler, which is Keith's address although they live out of town, on the side of a mountain. It is a very scenic area with the N.C. mountains all around.

Here is a picture of our dinner. See the orange hand on the table in front of me? Kaila had made place names with her hand drawn and cut out. She had printed our names on. Mine said Great Grandma. Brandi told me that Kaila said "That's a long name". Brandi's mother is on the picture. Her dad took the picture for me. They live in Atlanta, not nearly as far as we have to travel. It took us 9 hours, but we did need to stop to eat and for gas. Kaila came along back to Baltimore and will be staying with "Grampy" and "Grammy" until Wednesday. Nine hours is very long time for a four year old to be sitting in a car. We went through many games etc. Judy will take her back by plane to their home in Ashville on Wednesday. We had a big meal of course and everything was Sooo good.

Knitting etc.

I have had orders to make stockings for Christmas. The first ones I made were for grandchildren. Other people saw them and asked if I would make them for them. These were all orders for this year. I have now done 118 with one still needing to be finished for this year.

We have had snow this week. We actually had more than this. We had about a half inch, but it has melted. It was still snowing when I took this picture. It has been so cold. The temperature has struggled to be 20 degrees in the morning. It has also been windy.

We are having a Thanksgiving fellowship meal at church on Sunday. Anna Mary likes me to make cranberry relish. My grinder on the table has been in use 60 years and I still use it. The recipe calls for cranberries, oranges, and apples. You don't peel either the apples or oranges. It all gets ground up. This recipe doesn't call for pineapple, but I put some crushed pineapple in it too.

This is the finished product. We are also having turkey and ham and I'm sure lots of goodies.

I also baked a cherry crumb pie. I always would like to give Wendell some if I have any that doesn't get eaten at church. It seems all I ever bring home is an empty pie pan, but then mine are usually the only home made pies there.

Repairs & Banquet

My flusher in the bathroom (off my bedroom) broke, so this handy "repairman" agreed to fix it for me. He came over to see what he needed and went to Kuzan's in Shoey for the part. It cost under $5. For those who might not know my repairman is Erik.

When Phyllis was here in August the towel rack came apart in the guest bathroom. I didn't know how to fix it, so my "repairman" said it was simple. He needed a small screw driver (out of my sewing machine tools) and it is now up in place.

Amy talked about the Wexcon dinner for Foremen and wives. I am not a foreman, but Wendell always takes me along. This is a picture of Kevin Martin & wife. He is one of the foremen and he actually had two desserts! In the background are Paul Rittenour and wife. Paul schedules the work and goes out to check the various jobs. He is also in the office part time, getting prices for pipe etc.

This is a picture of how the tables were- in an U shape setting. On the left with his back to us is Wendell. John is next with his fiance, Andrea. John does the bidding, gets plans, works up the prices and someone takes the bids to whoever has the job available. Rita had been seated next to Wendell, but must have gone to the rest room when I took this pic.

This is Joanna. Amy is holding her. Her Daddy, Ricky is one of the foremen. She had to come because her "meal ticket" was there!

Belated Birthday celebration at Erik & Deb

Erik and Mindy, with "The Wheels on the Bus" The girls both like music and singing.

Aubree trying to peel an apple. She had a plastic knife from her "kitchen" which is behind Mindy. Her kitchen has a place to wash dishes and cupboard space for her dishes.

Here is Mindy's funny face. She wrinkled up her nose and was having a great time.

Here I am with both Mindy and Aubree. Aubree was being silly with her big smile.

This is Mindy with some of her stuffed animals.

Deb had a delicious meal. She had mashed potatoes, roast venison, corn, peas, carrots and apple sauce. She had her home made rolls, hot out of the oven. They were very good. This was my birthday cake, a pumpkin roll, with cream cheese. Delicious!

The girls wanted to help blow out the candles. Aubree could blow them out, but Mindy was a little short.

Here they are out. I had my cataract surgery the day before my birthday, and then Erik was track coach at his school, so his track coaching is over now and Deb said if was suitable, we would have the dinner now. She gave me left overs to bring home. She is a very good cook, and has taken some prizes at the Kempton Fair and the Kutztown Fair for her baking.

Be

Visit from a pumpkin & concert

Saturday morning I had a visit from a cute little pumpkin. Nathan and Krista brought Ethan to visit.

I love the privilege of holding my great grandkids. What a joy to hold them and interact with them. You see Ethan has some snacks in the holder. He even gave me one of his gold fish and later a pretzel.

I'm not sure Ethan is as thrilled at having his picture taken with me as I am being able to hold him. He is talking and just a real cutie. Nathan, Krista and Ethan left after a short visit. They had another set of great grandparents to visit and Ethan's grandparents (Sam and Julie) also Erik, Deb and girls.

At one o'clock, I picked up Betty Naftzinger, and Rita and we headed to the Kempton Community Center. We were in a gospel music program. Wendell had gone earlier to set up the P.A. system. The first on the program were the MacPhersons. They were originally from Wales. I had never met them, but they were very friendly and sang well.

Next on the program was the Ronald Zimmerman Family. They did a nice job. The boy is 8 or 9 and he sang and harmonized with his Dad. He also played guitar.

We were the next group. Rita took our picture- The Keystone Bluegrass Express. Each group had a little over a half hour. They had asked Wendell to Emcee the program. He had our sound system that they used. The next picture is also the Keystone Bluegrass Express. You see me on the left, then Wendell, Laura Rentschler, Betty Naftzinger, and Eric Zimmerman. I don't think Eric is related to the other Zimmermans.

The last group was "Garment of Praise" a Mennonite group, who sang acapella. They are very good. The group has two Petersheims and I forget the other two names. The reason I know the Petersheims- Daryl and his dad (Willy) both work for Wexcon. Daryl won first place with a song he had written. He won at the National Quartet Convention. After each group sang, they had food for everyone who attended. After we ate we all had about a half hour again. So, it was a very enjoyable day and inspirational.