Happy Thanksgiving... (July, 08)

Last Sabbath morning I noticed a U-Haul truck in the "fence neighbors'" driveway just before we left for church. It didn't seem like a very big truck so I didn't think that they could actually be moving... And then this weekend while I was out wandering around the yard, I noticed a FOR SALE sign in their front yard! Wooohoooo!!! This officially ends the infamous property line dispute of '07!

Here's a little recap:

• (1.) Destruction of Property!!!
• (2.) I Reclaim This Land In The Name Of...
• (3.) Let's Make A Deal
• (4.) The Downside of Neighbors
• (5.) Map of Destruction
• (6.) The Fence Saga Continues...
  

4th of July Celebrations

To celebrate Independence Day this year we invited Todd over for an afternoon backyard BBQ of veggie burgers, roasted corn on the cob, grilled yellow squash, and watermelon. We then took a walk around the neighborhood with our cups of frozen Italian Ice (or perhaps we should call it, "Freedom Ice"?)

Once it had gotten dark we set off the rest of last year's leftover fireworks and enjoyed watching all the other backyard neighborhood fireworks shows happening all around us. :)

We also started our latest home improvement project... Stay tuned for more info!

Trip to Seattle

Two weeks ago Er!c had to fly out to Seattle for a video shoot. The shoot went well for the most part with the small exception that one of our hot production lights set off a sprinkler, causing thousands of dollars of damage... Ooops! Thankfully Er!c had nothing to do with the poor placement of the hot light! :)

The weather was predictably overcast and rainy and comfortably cool. Much nicer than the muggy 90's back home in Tennessee...

Photos of Italy

I have finally posted photos from our recent trip to Italy. Listed below are the days of our vacation for your ease & convenience. You can also view all of the posts at once, however you'll have to read them bottom to top (or in reverse order). Enjoy!

• (1) Welcome to Rome!
• (2) Strolling Around Rome
• (3) Day at the Vatican
• (4) The Leaning Tower & The Great Wall
• (5) Anniversary in Lucca, Italy
• (6) Finally in Florence
• (7) Second Day in Florence
• (8) A Fabulous Day in Florence
• (9) Last Day in Florence
• (10) From Florence to Venice
• (11) Ahhh, Venice!
• (12) Driving to Rimini
• (13) San Marino to Assisi
• (14) Assisi to Rome
• (15) Goodbye Italy

...and here are Jane11's photos from the trip

Traveling Lite

In preparation for our upcoming trip which I mentioned in the previous post, we have planned out everything possible to avoid having to tote around excess bulk or weight. Both of us will be traveling with only one carry-on bag each which will make maneuvering the airports, buses & trains a whole lot easier! Not only does my bag have wheels & a telescoping handle, it also has backpack straps. .:)

Along with the one-carry-on-each rule we also decided to leave our laptops at home (excess bulk & weight not to mention expensive if they break or get stolen). But since we are both somewhat dependent on email and needed some method of saving all of our digital pictures I decided to get a relatively cheep EeePc computer.

I also got a few extra USB peripherals like a flash card reader, GPS antenna & external hard drive (since this EeePC only comes with 2GB of internal RAM). I'm still not 100% sure if I'll be able to find a GPS program or maps that will work where we're going...

Anyway, I hope that we'll be able to post daily accounts of our trip so check back regularly this next week just in case.

~E

Home Alone

Not much exciting to blog about this week...

Jane11 has been in the Czech Republic for one week already (for work) so I've been experiencing bachelor life again -- I much rather prefer having my wife around. .:)
One more week to go!

So far I have avoided starting any big home improvement projects while Jane11 is away this time around. However I did mow the lawn, clean out the garage and wash the cars today. We're waiting to start the next big project until we get back from our upcoming vacation. Stay tuned for daily blogs from our trip.

Yep. It Has Finally Sprung.

Today marks the official first day of Spring! Woohoo!

Last week we got a new terra cotta fire pit for our back deck and invited Todd over one warm & sunny evening for it's maiden burnage. We enjoyed roasted hot dogs with all the regular hot dog fixin's. However we had to substitute slices of bread for hot dog buns due to the spontaneous nature of the whole event.... :)

Birthday Num-nums!

Tonight we went downtown to Thai Smile to celebrate Jane11's birthday and had the Yellow Curry & the Rama Tofu with heart shaped mounds of white rice (oh, and Thai spring rolls too). Everything was very delicious, as it always is -- we've never once been disappointed.

If you've never tried Thai Smile it is well worth the visit (equally as tasty as our other favorite Thai restaurant).

On our way home we swung by and took pictures of a mis-spelled detour "sing" that a friend of ours had informed us about...

Sunny Sabbath Day

Today was absolutely gorgeous! It was sunny and warm, so after church & lunch we lazed around in the sun out on the deck with Todd and the kitties.

Then we took the bikes out and explored our area,
riding a total of 6+ miles.

Friday Night Concert

Tonight (Friday) we went to a 4-hour long praise and worship program that Er!c and a few other musicians were participating in.

The program (organized by Grace In Action) was supposed to start at 6:00 so we all arrived at 5:00 to set up and do a quick sound check before people started arriving. By 6:15 only a handful of people were filling seats, so we decided to go ahead and start the program anyway. The band played for about 15 minutes followed by several lengthy testimonials and another 45 minutes of music from the regular church band/worship group. Then came the offering and two sermons from the two visiting guest pastors...

Keep in mind that we went to this event straight from work and hadn't eaten supper yet.

After the sermons were over our band took the stage once again and did one more musical number with the same small handful of guests in the audience (the program participants actually outnumbered the audience members).

We rolled back into our driveway right at 10:00, tired and very hungry.

GA - TN Border Battle

You may have heard of Georgia's recent water woes during this year's big drought? Well, now Georgia lawmakers are challenging Tennessee to have their 200-year-old shared border moved to the north approximately 1 mile so that Georgia can have access to the Tennessee River and it's wealth of reliable water (which is very tantalizingly close)!

• Here's the first story I read from the Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)
• And also from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)

TIMELINE (1777 - 2008)

Update 2/23/08 - The Governors Meet
Update 2/26/08 - TN Draws Line on Border Dispute
Update 2/27/08 - TN Sends Goodwill Water to GA

It's Super Chooseday!

Be Smart. Vote.


If you haven't done it already, go out and vote today for your favorite presidential candidate (or ours). :)

We Voted!

Today was the last day of early voting for the presidential primaries so after work we went out and voted. The line was short and we were in and out within about 10 minutes. Woohooo!

If you haven't voted already, be sure and do so on February 5. Make your vote count!

After voting we paid way too much for tofu curry on rice at a Vietnamese restaurant that will not be getting our endorsement... The foot wasn't exactly "bad", just not quite good enough for the price, and the service wasn't too hot.

Happy MLK Jr. Day

"I've got a dream, that we're gonna work it out..."
Watch MLK Jr's "I have a dream" speech

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Last night we came home to find the Christmas Tree lying on the floor amongst a debris field of smashed ornaments... now I wonder how that could have happened?

So we decided it was finally time to take down the tree and put away those tempting decorations.

Bad kitties!

Pumulani

When we were both younger and lived in Malawi, we use to spend our holidays up at Pumulani cottage, which the church owned and rented out. We were both (Jane11 & Er!c) actually at Pumulani together at the same time at least once (possibly even several times) when we were little... I think we have some photos somewhere. . :)

So it was with both happy nostalgia and sadness that I saw pictures of the new Pumulani Luxury Beach Lodge.

Photo Gallery of Pumulani
www.Pumulani.com
NYTimes - 53 places to go in 2008
Pumulani construction photos

The above lodge is not in the same location as the old Pumulani house. This is one of the newer villas which is further down the hill, closer to the beach. At the bottom of the driveway is a huge baobab tree that all us kids use to climb and carve our names into.

One Christmas we (Er!c) were staying at Pumulani and went swimming & snorkeling out to "the rocks" (about 100 feet from shore) when we looked back toward the beach and saw a hippo coming up for air -- Hippos kill more people in Africa per year than any other African animal -- So we made a hasty retreat away from the beach to the nasty part of the shoreline just in time to see the hippo resurface out near the rocks.

If anyone else has any good Pumulani memories they'd like to share please post them in the "comments" area.

Happy 107th, Great-Grandma!

Last Friday (Nov. 30) was Er!c's great-grandma's 107th birthday, so on Sabbath afternoon we both decided to drive down to Jasper, Georgia and give her a surprise visit. We arrived late in the afternoon just after the church crowds had left, so had a nice uninterrupted visit with Great-Grandma & Grandpa (except for the above birthday well-wishing phone call).

Although she can no longer see, has a hard time hearing, and cannot walk without assistance, she is still mentally sharp as a tack!

We're not exactly sure how she ranks in the oldest-living-person-in-Gerogia category, but she's definitely up there! Here's what wikipedia has to say about the oldest living person.

Happy Birthday Great-Grandma!

Grandma's Memorial

On Sabbath we had Grandma's memorial service at the Collegedale church. Jane11's parents flew in from Kenya and other family members arrived from around the country in time for the weekend memorial.

Prior to the memorial service Jane11, Er!c, Mark & Todd worked together on a slideshow of photos from Grandma's life, which was shown on the big screen during the program.

After the memorial service the family met in the youth room to mingle with friends, which was followed by a supper (provided by the church).

It was good to see old friends and mingle with relatives again.

Remembering Grandma

Last night (Monday) Jane11's aunt called and informed us that Grandma had died shortly after 10:00 p.m.

Jane11's grandma had been suffering from pneumonia & Parkinson's, and after a recent fall at home she had been taken to the hospital and then admitted to a nearby nursing home.

Grandma was blessed to have many friends and family members who came to visit her each day while she was sick.

We're so glad that we were able to spend time visiting with her this past weekend.

Visiting The Grandparents

This past weekend Mark and Kristin drove up from Florida to visit Grandma. After church on Sabbath, we (Mark, Kristin, Todd, Jane11 & Er!c) drove to the nursing home where we spent some time with her. Although appearing very weak and tired (from the pneumonia), she did seem quite appreciative that we could all be there to see her.

After eating lunch we (Jane11 & Er!c) drove down to visit Er!c's grandparents in Georgia, who are also suffering with various health issues. Er!c's nearly 107 year-old great-grandmother was so happy to see us, she grabbed 'hold of our hands and talked our ears off for at least an hour! We spent a couple hours that evening visiting with them before heading over to Er!c's parents house, next-door. The next morning we stopped by again to see the old folks on our way back home.

It was good to see all of our grandparents this weekend. :)