Well Thursday was a busy day that ended with some delicious eatin' at the Tracy cabin. The weather was perfect once again but did get rather warm down off the mountain as our "mountain mom" Helen and I travelled down to Elkin to the rehab facility to check on her sister. I did get in a mid afternoon hike to the top of the mountain alone as Nancy was busy in the kitchen.
I started the day much the usual with a before 6'ish roll out to my usual morning and daily routines that start with the cup of hot green tea laced with turmeric and fresh ginger while I post this ramble then spend some time with my Creator in thanksgiving and lifting up several by name. All seem well and even Helen's sister who fell a couple weeks ago and had surgery on her fractured hip and has been in the rehab for over a week is doing better than I expected. She wants to come home which we think is a bad idea so the rehab put her through some steps to make sure she could function some what on her own. She had to get in and out of Helen's car on her own as well as walk up some steps to prove she would be able to do this without any help. Well to our surprise she did all of these enough so she can be released on Monday from the rehab facility. She will have a few more days of the staff working with her but she is determined to go home which is a good thing she think for her, but not so good for Helen if she has a set back or fails to follow the steps outlined by the staff. She is rather stubborn and thinks she can do this all on her own at her pace, oh well we will see.
We got back around 11'ish and then I washed, vacuumed and cleaned up the truck for the next couple of hours as we leave this morning(Fri.) for the Winchester area. We will be gone until Tuesday visiting family at the Gravel Springs Picnic on Saturday which is an all day event with dinner on the grounds, lots of music and dancing and then at the Cousin Reunion the next day in Mountain Falls next to the Mountain View Methodist Church. It should be a fun weekend as we get to see Paw Paw who is doing exceptionally well due to his age and prior health issues as well as sisters Josie, Pat and Dee. We will stay with Dee and Mike in their beautiful Woodstock home in the Shenandoah Valley.
I got in a good hike to the top of the mountain as Nancy was busy in the kitchen baking and preparing goodies to take to the reunion as well as to share with family. She had a cheesecake in the oven as well as oatmeal raisin cookies which are a favorite of mine. We were scheduled for a 4 o'clock get together with the Tracy's so we headed out and was but a few minutes late. The temps were great as we sat out on their deck and had some fruit of vine while playing a game of Eucher. The gals were winning big at one time but we guys made a last ditch effort and won 10-9. Kathryn had a beautiful supper of salmon, pasta and broccoli which all were prepared fabulously, she is a fantastic cook and we love her homemade hollandaise sauce she made for the meal as well as her tartar sauce.
We headed home before dark and saw deer in several fields and then just chilled for the evening before hitting the shower around 10 for me. Nancy followed but I was out before she ever finished her shower. I maybe away from this keyboard for a couple days but will try to update over the weekend. Keep us in your thoughts for safe uneventful travel as we use a portion of I-81 which is used by all the trucks in the nation it seems. The first portion of the trip we will use back roads but due to the area inundated with yard sale weekend we will have to travel the interstate for about half of the trip, oh well, LATER
