Another Goodbye

Hello Friends.  I've been really irregular about posting so far this year, and I apologize.  I try to visit you and leave comments when I can, but this has been a year of change.  We are transitioning to Hal's retirement, and a lot of the time, we have trouble remembering what day of the week and what month it is.     

Southport Harbor at sunset     

Our Life Lately

I just cannot believe that it's almost the end of April 2022.  Once again, I have fallen behind in my posting here.  If there are still any of you who look forward to reading House at Forest Manor, I do apologize for being so lax.  Part of the problem is that I've had a hard time deciding what to write about.       We're still having a beautiful spring here, so much so that allergies have hit hard -- for everyone.  I've had a persistent sore throat and so have re-discovered the pleasures of hot tea in the morning (in place of my normal coffee).  Hot tea with honey and lemon are so soothing to the throat, and I'm currently favoring Twinings' Lady Grey tea.  Such a civilized custom is the taking of tea -- wouldn't you agree?   

      

The Latest News

Hi everyone!  Once again I've been away for a bit.  Oh, I haven't actually been anywhere -- I've mostly been right here, but I realized I needed a little break from social media.  It gets to be a downer after awhile; I'm sure you understand what I mean.  But I've missed you all, because reading my favorite blogs is almost always a cheering prospect.     

      

Thanksgiving 2020

May you have a good Thanksgiving day tomorrow, my friends.  I hope you all have a delicious  meal and wonderful fellowship.       There will be six people gathered at my mom's house tomorrow.  My sister and I helped my mom with some of the cooking today and enjoyed a good chinwag, as well.  😄  I can't wait to have my mom's delicious dressing tomorrow; it has been my favorite part of the meal for as long as I can remember.  What is your favorite dish on Thanksgiving, and by the way, do you call it stuffing or dressing?  We've always called it dressing at our house, so I don't know if that's just a regional thing or what.  Anywho, I'm also looking forward to eating some of those coconut cream and chocolate chess pies we made today.        

   

Watching "Dunkirk," Reading Ken Follett, and Spending Time With Family

Happy Columbus Day everyone.  Before I get to the rest of my post, I want to say that I've really had a challenging time lately with blogging, and especially visiting other blogs.  At first I thought it was Blogger, but now Mr. Forest Manor and I have determined the problem is with my browser, Google Chrome.  Certain blogs would open and load immediately for me, and others refused to load.  I was not able to visit my friend Betsy at Estelle's, and I wanted to leave some comments for her.  I also tried to visit Michele at Finch Rest and Martha at Lines From Linderhof.  I've now switched to using Microsoft Edge as my browser, and that is working well (for now).  Is anyone else out there having these kinds of problems?     

   

A Wedding Anniversary

Today is my 33rd wedding anniversary!  I'm so glad we said, "I Do."  💏  🎉       

   

Father's Day 2019

I realize that Father's Day was last Sunday, but I'm just now getting a chance to share this post.        

    

Celebrating Thanksgiving

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day.  I just love Thanksgiving -- everyone in our family does.  This was our first Thanksgiving without my father, and there was definitely an empty spot there for us.  In fact, we have two family members gone from us this holiday season, my father and Hal's paternal grandmother.  His granny died back in January of this year, which is so far back that it almost feels like last year.  She died just about six weeks short of her 101st birthday.  I will be forever grateful that I had these two very special people in my life for so many years.    

Gratitude

My sincere thanks to all of you who left such kind comments on the passing of my father.  Your thoughts are truly appreciated, and I look forward to visiting each of you very soon.  I will be staying with my mom tonight and Wednesday night; my sister stayed with her all of last week.  We're trying to help mom to gradually transition to being there alone.  She's not afraid to stay there by herself, but she does dread being alone all the time.  She's very fortunate in that she has truly wonderful neighbors, church family, and us.   I titled this post "Gratitude" and that may seem strange upon losing a father.  However, his passing could have been so much worse, and much more frightening for him and my mom, had they not gone to the hospital when they did.  My dad essentially died from kidney failure; being on dialysis for the past five years was so hard on his body.  When he went to the hospital two weeks ago, he had an infection and an obstruction.  The infection was responding to antibiotics, but the obstruction could only be fixed by surgery, and my dad was absolutely not a candidate for surgery at that point.  His body was weak, he'd lost so much weight, and his immune system was compromised.  The surgeon talked to us in detail about this on Saturday afternoon.  There were so many "what ifs" and risks, my mom was agonizing over making a decision.  Fortunately, God took that decision out of her hands.  My dad just slipped into a deep sleep sometime Saturday, and didn't wake again.   

Airlie Gardens

Last weekend while at the coast, we visited Airlie Gardens in Wilmington on Easter Sunday afternoon.  My in-laws had been before, but we didn't even know this place existed.  It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.  

Frogmore Stew

Hi friends!  This year's weather has been one for the record books.  I say this because yesterday it was mostly sunny and very pleasant all day.  Our bedroom felt stuffy last night, so I opened the window a small amount to get the fresh air, and may I say I'm loving these replacement windows, as they're so easy to open and close whenever I want to.  Anyway, we were rather rudely awakened about 5:45 this morning by hail pounding on the outside of the windows.  Such a racket, and this was followed by heavy rain and intense winds for a half hour or more.  I'm just thankful that no tall trees came down on our house.   I mentioned in my previous post that we spent Easter weekend at the coast, and it was much colder there than usual for early April.  We still had fun, though.    

 

Easter at the Beach

Happy April!  Are things in bloom where you live?  It seems that everything has burst into bloom here.  Our Redbud tree is covered with blooms, and so is our Dogwood.   We spent the Easter holiday at the beach this year; it was the first time we've ever done that.    

Reminiscing and the Winter Olympics

Are you watching the Winter Olympics? We watched for a while last night.  The ice skating competitions are, and always have been, my very favorite.  I can remember when I was a child "ice skating" around our house in my sock feet, looking ever so graceful and balletic. ⛸️  😎  Go ahead and laugh, but you know you did the same thing.  😜  

Some Favorite Christmas Ornaments

Hello again!  I've been trying to get the house all decorated so I can share here on the blog, but it takes awhile.  I should have some pictures to show in a few days.  In the meantime, these are some pics we took last year during the holiday.

I Love Thanksgiving

Hello everyone!  Once again I haven't posted in over two weeks; I sure hope I can do better than this in 2018.

Those of you who live in the U.S., are you looking forward to Thanksgiving?  I sure am.  I feel like I have so much to be thankful for, and I look forward to spending time with our family and sharing good food and fellowship.

Hello September

September and October are my favorite months of the year.  Of the two, I would probably say September is my very favorite.  You know fall is just right around the corner -- the days have started to draw in, the skies are clear and blue,  

Happy Labor Day

Just a short post to wish you all a Happy Labor Day.  I hope all of you out there are able to enjoy a nice, three-day weekend.

A Family Wedding

My niece, Anna, and her fiancee, Justin, tied the knot on Saturday, August 5th.  My mom's good friend and neighbor, Susie, took care of the decorations for the private ceremony and the reception that followed.  I thought everything looked so pretty!

Updates and A Wedding

Hi friends!  Are you ready for summer to wind down and move into autumn?  Do you have school-age children, or perhaps college students, heading back to school?  I still can't believe our son is grown; we celebrated his 27th birthday last Sunday!  How time flies, and how I wish I could make it slow down sometimes.

A Bridal Shower

Hello -- how was your weekend?  Mine was great and very busy.  I had the pleasure of helping with a bridal shower for my niece, Anna -- my sister's only child.  We both just have one each, even though we wanted more.  They're almost exactly a year apart in age, so we've all been very close.

My mom and I were the hostesses of the shower because my niece doesn't have any bridesmaids.  She's having a private church ceremony with just the parents of the bride and groom attending.  Then they're having a reception afterward, which the rest of the family and friends are invited to.  I was the photographer yesterday, as well as helping serve the food.  My mom and I worked most of Friday afternoon preparing finger sandwiches, some spreads, and fruit dip.  The cupcakes and cake squares, along with a few other small things, were all purchased.