Sunday, December 30, 2007

The last few days

I have been taking a bit of a blogging break during the meat of the Christmas holiday festivities, so I apologize for the last of posts.

While visiting my family in Tifton, Lynda, the girls and I enjoyed several things that I will run through in rapid succession, thereby completely defeating the purpose of even writing about it in the first place. (Trust me that all of this deserves more thoughtful prose than I am putting forth.)
  1. I enjoyed helping Muleskinner work on his latest woodworking project/historical reclamation. He is repairing (basically rebuilding) an old mirror frame that is supposed to belong to our great grandmother. I did a lot of watching while he drilled, glued, clamped, talked. I enjoyed it immensely, reminding myself of the times when we were both younger and I watched him build model airplanes and rockets. He glued, cut, decaled, and I listened and watched.
  2. I hung out a bit with my other siblings and their children, but I especially enjoyed watching my kids play and talk with their cousins. I wish they got to interact with them more than once or twice a year, but it is what it is. They all got along well and I hope the family ties were strengthened somewhat.
  3. Sarah and Grace got to experience the joys of picking up and cracking pecans from Pappaw's yard. They found that they like the taste more than they thought they would . . . and my hopes that I might be able to start including pecans in the weekend pancakes increased.
  4. We enjoyed the antics of two dogs in and amongst the fifteen other family members.
  5. We ate many great meals fixed by Mom and by MA. Thanks for keeping our stomachs full!
  6. I played golf with Dad, MSqured, and EB, thereby justifying the hassle of finding a spot for the clubs in the back of the van. Surprisingly, I played pretty well considering I rarely play.
  7. Sarah and Grace got slightly more skilled on their bikes, thanks to 1) the bike-friendly street and church parking lot across from MA's home (our secondary base and the site of my family's nightly bunk-down) and 2) the bike-wise mechanical skill of EB. This also justified the hassle of finding room in the van for the transportation of bikes.
  8. On the last night, we all had a weenie roast in the back yard, complete with smores for desert and banjo and fiddle music courtesy of Muleskinner. Even though EB had a scooter mishap and injured his hand, it was (until then?) a nice night for all.
  9. Most of all, we enjoyed being together marvelling at the 70/80 degree temperatures, bright sunshine, and everything good about the family at holidays.

I am taking advantage of Dad's timely posting of pictures to give you a brief snapshot of many of the things and places that I've glanced over here. I'll add more thoughts of the last few days of travel and holiday fun in a later post.

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