Adam-Ondi-Ahman

This afternoon Sally and I took an afternoon drive to Adam-Ondi-Ahman. There were some beautiful leaves, but it is clearly past the peak.

It was very peaceful, and there was a wonderful feeling there. I have included some pictures of the valley from the East Overlook.

First Bit of Christmas

The first Christmas tree is up in the Hearth Room. We re-arragned the furniture and the tree is up.

We are starting to get excited for the arrival of our grandchildren and their parents.

New Curio Cabinet Arrives

Yesterday, we finally received our last piece of major furniture, the new curio cabinet. It is gorgeous. We love it.

It will be filled with nativities for the Christmas season.

The Living Room

On Saturday, our living room chairs were finally delivered. We love them. The curio cabinet, however, was not assembled correctly again, and it was returned. We went back to Nebraska Furniture Mart to discuss the curio cabinet and to see if the one on display was available. It was available, and we looked it over to see if there were any damage. There was not. The curio cabinet will be delivered this week.

We have been looking for a living room rug for 4 months. We finally found one yesterday and brought it home with us to see how it looked. We moved the furniture and put down the pad and rug last night. It looks great.

With the chairs and the rug, the living room looks terrific. See the picture to the left. With the delivery of the curio cabinet, we should be done with our major furniture shopping.

I am sure that my spousal will continue to accessorize.

Wednesday In Downtown DC

Oliver, Kristin, Sally and I headed downtown this afternoon. We had lunch in the Natural History Museum and visited the new Mammal Exhibit. It was awesome.

On the way to the Sacher Gallery we took the picture below. We had a great day together.

Tuesday at Work

Retirement has brought lots of change and many new friends. One of the things about not working that I miss is my association with many of my DON CIO friends and co-workers. Yesterday I took the bus from the Herndon-Monroe Park and Ride to West Falls Church, took the Metro to Crystal City, and then took a bus to 23rd Street to visit the office of the DON CIO. The commute was similar to the one that I used to make every day. I normally walked from the Metro Station, but it was raining today. It was great to see many of my friends. One of my co-workers arranged for a luncheon at a restaurant in Crystal City. 11 people came, including the DON CIO. We had a marvelous time. Afterwards, I spent another couple of hours chatting with many of my friends and co-workers. It felt good to see my friends, but I did not miss the stress and politics of my former job/office.

I met Oliver, Kristin, and Sally at the Galleria Mall. We did some light shopping and had dinner at Coastal Flats. It is one of the Great American Restaurant chain, as is Sweetwater Tavern. We had a good meal and then vegged at home.

Mystery Picture

During our trip this afternoon, we took this picture. What is its significance to our family?

Monday in the VA Countryside

Oliver and Kristin took us for a ride into the VA Countryside this afternoon. Some of the leaves were turning. See the above picture. We went out Route 50 through Aldie, Middleburg and then up to Bluemont. We were on gravel roads a good deal of the time.

We stopped at the old Stake Farm. It is now owned by a private company. It is a U Pick Farm. There was also a store and a hayride. We then went to the Old Snickerville General Store. It is now the Bluemont General Store. It is in the same place. We stopped and bought some cookies. Of course, we stopped at Hill High Orchard for some pie. Then we came home via Wegmans and Sweetwater Tavern. Good day with Oliver and Kristin.

Sunday Night At Oliver and Kristin's

Sunday Night we had a family gathering at Oliver and Kristin's. The above picture shows the men playing with their toys and the women chatting. Amy is holding Sophie, Bryce and Lisa's 4 month old daughter.

We had apple pie, pumpkin pie, rice krispy treats, apple crisp, and a chocolate, and peanut butter toffee pie. None went hungry. A great time was had by all.

Saturday Night in Old Town

We took Kurt and Linda to Old Town on Saturday Night. They had never been there before. We enjoyed shopping at 10000 Villages, Gossypia, Christmas Attic I, and then off to dinner the Fish Market. Our meals were terrific. I had the boiled scallops. There were about 12 of them and they were huge. It was hard to finish them. Sally enjoyed a seafood salad. It was then off to "The Scoop" for pumpkin and lemon custard ice cream. We stopped at the Christmas Attic II and Restoration Hardware on the way back to the car. We came home tired.

On to DC

On Friday we took the train for New Rochelle, NY to Union Station. Bill printed out the Yahoo directions to the train station. They were wrong. 20 minutes later we found it with the help of a local. The train was full from New York City. We got great seats again and watched as we sped towards DC. There are a couople of really beautiful views of the Chesapeake Bay. I wish that I had taken some pictures. We arrived about 20 minutes late. Kurt was there to pick us up.

New York, New York Day 2

We had a really terrific second day in New York. The weather was gorgeous, with the sun shining, a blue sky and the temperatures in the high 60s/low 70s. We took a Grey Line tour of the Downtown. It lasted about 4 hours. One of the options on the tour is that you can get off at any of about 25 different spots. Buses came about every 15 minutes. Unfortunately, we did not have the time to get off.

We saw Times Square, Empire State Building, Macy’s, SOHO, Ground Zero, Brooklyn Bridge, United Nations, Waldorf Astoria, Rockfeller Center, and many other places. We did want to stop at Ground Zero and a number of other places, but we will save that for another trip. A picture of Ground Zero from the bus is above.


We had an excellent dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company at Times Square. We then went to see the Broadway Show, The Lion King. It was fantastic. The mind that thought the staging and costumes was absolutely incredible. We had a wonderful walk through Times Square on the way home. It is quite the place. We headed back to Bill and Jennifers. It was truly a wonderful day.

New York, New York Day 1

Our first day in New York City started out with a lot of walking from Grand Central Station to Times Square. After lunch we took a cab to the Augusts Wilson Theatre to see the Broadway Musical, Jersey Boys. It was absolutely phenomenal, terrific, outstanding, etc. It is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, four boys from New Jersey. See the Jersey Boys Link.

When we came out of the theatre, it was raining hard. We took the subway to Little Italy and had a wonderful Italian dinner. Then back to Bill and Jennifer's.

Tuesday on the Train to New York

Jared and Mary drove us to South Station in Boston. We bid all farewell and headed to the Big Apple. The train ride was uneventful. I was able to do a number of "good turns" helping people. We had great seats to view the ocean as we rode from Rhode Island to Connecticut. The weather was terrific, the sky was blue, and the sun shining. I wish that I had taken some pictures. We arrived at New Rochelle, and took the cab to Bill and Jennifer's.

Family Home Evening in Boston

At FHE this week, Grace taught the lesson on the Love of the Savior. For dessert we frosted "ghostie" cakes. Frosting was everywhere. Some even made it on the "ghostie cakes."

Hello from Boston

We went to Maine to eat Lobster and shop today. We ate at Warren's in Kittery, Maine. We started our meal with a crab and artichoke dip and then we shared a cup of delicious clam chowder. We then each enjoyed a 1 3/4 lb lobster. It was marvelous.

We also did some shopping at Eddie Bauer, Rockport, Hannah Anderson, Lenox, and some other outlet stores. We picked up a few things. I used the gift certificate from my children. Thank you, children. I got some pants, a jazzy shirt, and a couple of sweaters.

The leaves have started to change. They are still not at peak time, but some of the leaves had started to change colors. They were gorgous. There were many red, yellows and orange colored leaves.

Our hosts have been marvelous. We will miss them all.