Road Trip Day One

First stop Gettysburg before heading through the states of Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia

Birthday Weekend in Gettysburg

This and alittle of That

Spent my birthday in Gettysburg. It snowed. Again. Then. Again.



My granddaughter finally received her Christmas presents with her Valentine present.




Completed 3 out of 5 classes on Trauma Informed Practice at Bryn Mawr College.




Snow. Ice. Thunder. Lightning. Rain. Tornado Watch?




Ireland is less than 2months away. Made reservations for a 4th of July weekend in Gettysburg to take the grandpoles to experience re-enactments. Made reservations to spend a week in the mountains of TN in October.




New roof on the house.




Still need a new washer/dryer and a repair on the stove.




Thinking about filing taxes. Still thinking.




Decided to forgive my brother as my own gift to self for my birthday.



Stress Eating. Weight Gain. Workout. Weight Loss.


Someone I knew since a child. Severe Ongoing Depression. Suicide.


Life is Complex.

Hold On Let Go

I feel like if I let the tears go I will not be able to stop them. I have been keeping them back all night. On the way back from his house we stopped at a pub for dinner and two tears rolled down my face. Immediately, I held them back, took out my I-Phone and began playing a card game. I have learned to change my thoughts by games, books and music. I do a lot of each every day especially when the work-day has ended and the weekend is upon me.

I miss the black cat. I felt sad when we drove by the vet. I am going to take care of the other cat when he leaves.

Full moon tonight. I wonder if it is impacting my mood? I believe in nonsense like that. The moon was incredible as it rose into the night sky. Full. Bright. Abnormally large. A Halloween moon. I heard she is going to a Pumpkin Patch tomorrow. It will be a nice sunny 60's weather day. If I could, I would head up the mountains. I can't so I won't. I would really like a hot tub or massage for my neck. It is 8 days of headaches. I wonder when they will end. I have had headaches my entire life. When they start, they can go on and on for days and the pain scale can be extremely high.

As a club member, there is an appreciation weekend with special rates for the weekend of November 1st and 2nd. I am debating whether or not to take advantage of that. Truth be told, I do not need a special rated weekend to escape the chaos of life. I am pretty good about taking them and skipping up the mountains or west to Gettysburg. I like my downtime.

National Apple Harvest Festival

We drove out to the National Apple Harvest Festival this morning, parked, jumped on a bus, then arrived at the festival. There were hundreds of vendors nestled in the valley of beautiful hills. The leaves are changing into colors of red and orange. Bands played. There was a petting zoo and story time for kids which Nikolas totally loved. There was an Indian Dance. Apples. Apples and more apples. We ate Carmel apples, apple cake, apple turnovers, apple butter, apple cider and plan old apples. I am surprised we are not "apple out" yet. Wild Bills supplied their old fashion soda. We purchased two really nice metal mugs and filled them up with root beer from a barrel. We ate BBQ Pulled Pork which was tasty. We sat on bales of hay. We walked and walked and OH My God, walked on this Fall day that had summer weather.

Afterwards we drove 10 miles south to Gettysburg and this is where we are spending the night. The parks are closed down as a result of the government shut down. However, we have been out here so many times, it really does not matter if we hit the park. True to this genealogist's heart, our room overlooks a cemetery. An old Cemetery.

 Trying to get Nikolas to smile at the camera is nearly impossible as he is at the age where he rather make faces at it instead.