Fam Damily

Fam Damily

Destination - Family Reunion

We have been keeping our eye out for a Family Reunion to crash for the past 11 months and figured we’d stumble on at least one, but alas, nope. So when we agreed to come up to Hendersonville, NC today, not only was it to visit my sister and her husband, but it was to have a mini family reunion, as my brother was visiting them too.

While three of us are are not much of a family, we are pretty much all of it. Donna and I never had kids, my sister and her husband have only raised some cats, while baby brother never even bothered with the marriage part at all. As for the reunion qualifier, this is just the third time we have all been in the same zip code in the past eight years. Plus, before that it was even less frequent…

Started down, went up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 120

Motoring Challenge Points 1, Approx Miles Driven 160
Totals So Far: 158 points & 8805 miles

Planting The Sandy Tree

Sandy Tree

This afternoon the Morrison family planted a tree in honor of their sister Sandy who passed away from ALS last November. Donna, her brother Steve and brother Scott (along with Scott’s wife and 3 kids, plus me) picked out an apple tree from a local nursery yesterday. Oldest brother Jim flew in this morning so all the surviving Morrison siblings were in attendance at the ceremony.

We picked out a hybrid tree grafted from 5 different apple trees to ensure self pollination. Washington State is famous for its apples, so we are hoping that in a couple more years the tree will start producing fruit.

52,0000 Snowflakes

Somewhere just south of Spartanburg, with Donna at the wheel, the Purple Whale swam past the 52,000 mile mark.

We are up in Hendersonville today at the SMH to have turkey dinner with my sister, her husband and my brother Paul who is down from Connecticut. As we drove the last couple miles up to the house and for a while after arrival it was snowing lightly, well not really snowing, not even flurrying, more like about 52,000 randomly spaced snowflakes drifting down over the space of an hour.

Like we did a couple of years ago, we had a pot luck Thanksgiving meal at the Clubhouse of Diane & Allen’s gated community. There are about 100 folks eating in one big ol’ room, in the middle of which are 8 folding tables arranged in a cross that are piled high with food. This arrangement segments the room into four quadrants of three or four tables each. For the first pass at the food we are instructed to only select from our L-shaped serving area and to go in a predetermined direction. To eliminate any long lines the social director calls out table numbers one at a time for each quadrant.

Some people, move way too slow, fill their plates from the wrong direction and/or reach across over to the other tables, but it mostly works OK. It sure is a darn sight better than letting everyone loose at the same time and to go wherever they think the best looking food items are.

On The Beach In Puerto Rico

Beach Scene

Donna and her family lived on Puerto Rico for a couple years in the late 60’s because her dad was a sea plane pilot fly­ing a Grumman Goose for Antilles Air Boats. The family would often take advantage of the nearby beaches. Here is a photo showing Donna, her sister Sandy, family friend Frank and big brother Steve playing in the sand. What’s that in front of them, did they build a sand castle? No, wait a minute, that’s little brother Scott’s head, they’ve buried the poor kid alive.

I know they dug him up before the tide came in or crab plucked his eye balls out because we visited him and his family in Washington state back in July of this year.

Volens in Aeternum

Desdemona, or as she is more commonly called, Desi, is the 10 year old dog that belongs to Sandy and Paul. Like all dogs, Desi can understand lots of common English words, like food, treat, vet, ride, bath, etc. She can also spell a few, including W-A-L-K. Desi is loyal and protective of the household and will bark mightily at those approaching, but once introduced to you and you give her a dog treat, you are instantly promoted to friend of pack.

Desi’s primary function is hanging around any person who is passing through the kitchen, in the kitchen, or sitting around the kitchen table eating while watching hopefully for any bit of food either offered or dropped. And while Desi is not of a breed officially recognized by the American Kennel Club, her official family motto is Volens in Aeternum which roughly translates to Eternally Watching.