MaryZ, your granddaughter lives near the neighborhood this morning's headline in our local paper is about.  It is also similar to your recent experience in the dead of night.

Eastport Residents Awakened By Gunfire is our headline.

Homes and vehicles were shot up at 4:11 a.m. Sunday morning. Apparently no one was injured and no one arrested.  Police are extremely concerned.  Three homes were damaged, as well as nine empty vehicles.

What next?  Very worrisome.  When young men have guns, they will find "fun" things to do with them.  Mischief after midnight.  Terrifying, really, when you think on it.

SHARON - Many thanks for your response.  Yes, I surely do recall when your Brian was stationed in the area where David will be headed in June and how tiring it was for you to travel there. It
reminded me of the flights I experienced when I taught in China many years ago.  I laugh at myself whenever I think of those experiences and recall that I felt like I would have to be carried off the plane!

Good heavens, Marilyn, you are the winner in miles walked. I would love to be able to walk a mile again.  Sorry, I missed the link when you put it in the first time.

MP, there is way too much violence and guns today. Scares me to death.  I'm just so glad we live in a quiet, generally safe senior community. However, that doesn't mean it is immune to such things.
The baby's nursery is cute.

Darlene, the sleep therapist I went to said:  no caffeine after noon, no electronics within an hour of bedtime, get up and go to bed at the same time,  write down your worries and/or plans for the next day, so that you won't have to revisit them at bedtime.  I think melatonin works well occasionally but not every night.  My therapist didn't even want me to take that.  John takes a benedryl tablet when he travels and can't sleep.  All said however, I still have some sleepless nights.

Molly, I just saw your post. If you felt like that then, just imagine what it would be like now!! 

Hi to Mary, Sue, Jane, Jeanne and to whomever else pops in.  Sharon

Good grief, can you believe this?  I just read in the paper that Hayley Mills is 70 today.  Makes me wonder why I am still taking up space on this blue marble swinging in orbit around our star.

HAYLEY MILLS!

I am not sleeping well for the last couple of nights. I spoke to my son Roger in California  on Monday, he is the one with cancer. The kidney cancer from a few years ago metastasized I don't remember if i told you all about that, Well anyway he has been on pill form chemo for over a years, The 10 tumors on his pancreas have made him type 2 diabetic about a year ago.  He was in the hospital last week over the weekend. He lost 30 lbs in 2 weeks. I don't think he has much time left and I can't stop thinking about him and praying for a miracle. He is 56 yrs old and one of the twins.

Prayers for your son and you Marlyin. Darlene

So sorry, Marilyn.  So sad.  Hoping for the best for your son and for you and the rest of his family.

MARILYN - I just read about your son and his health challenge and instantly began praying for him.  And you!  This type of challenge RE a loved one is intense and 24/7, but remember that your friends here are with you every step!

Marilyn, I'm so very sorry. Prayers going out for you both and cyber hugs for you.  Sharon

Marilyn, I'm so sorry to hear about Roger's cancer.  I am praying for good treatment and peace for him, his family, and you.

I'm off shortly to a light supper and meeting with my new athlete for the next year and maybe more depending on which year she is in.  She is a swimmer.

I'll post more later this evening.
Sue

Marilyn....we'll all certainly hold Roger and his family in the LIGHT here.


Beautiful day here. Ray and I did housework this morning...I dust, he vacuums, and then we went out to the Golf Course and I drove the cart and helped him spot the ball.  Then out for a pizza for lunch and then home to read and relax.  We're to finally get some needed rain tomorrow night.  The ol' joints sure know a change is coming.

Darlene...glad you're over in the Hill Country and not around Houston.  They have been inundated with rain again, I saw on the news.

All these earthquakes around the world are scary, too. 

jane

Marilyn:
My heart goes out to you and the family. Such a young age, too. Pray for a miracle-----anything is possible with God.
Thinking of you and yours! 
JOY

Marilyn, we'll all be holding you and Roger tight, with so much love.  {{{{{Marilyn and Roger}}}}}

Yes Jane. Most of flooding is around Houston..we got 3 inches today and more predicted..Darlene

The Cooper/Vanderbilt book arrived today, and I dropped everything else and started reading it.  I have to tell you, I am surprised at the sense of light and love that infuses it.  It is a precious book, a lovely book, an extremely well written book, and leaves a sense of a beautiful experience after finishing it.

Good Morning, Dear Buddies!

I have just broken my fast with a bowl of steelcut oatmeal with frozen blueberries and half & half.  My decaf has a little caramel creamer added.  Feeling great!

Greg will pick me up in a little while and take me over the bay to Chestertown.  He will return me late this afternoon.  It is a beautiful day out of doors.

A cold, rainy day here...much needed rain...and a chance to stay in and read!

Jane

Beautiful day here on the left coast at °63, the  weather is terrific, Keith Freckles and I went for a walk will the bread machine was working for the first hour. Our walk lasted about 20 minutes. I usually take Freckles for a walk  after I get the machine going as there is plenty of time for a walk before i take the dough out  and set it aside until. the oven heats up.

Things are moving right along with the wedding plans. My friend Leslie is handling just about all of the details.

Sounds like everyone has had a good day, one way or the other.  Mine was mixed.  I went to the spine dr. and he said that the only way to actually fix my spine was to fuse it and put in a rod and screws, etc. That surgery only has a 50/50 chance of helping, so he was not recommending it. He recommended meeting with the pain specialists to see if they thought the nerve ablation would work, so am waiting for them to call me with an appt. date.  He said the plastic discs that can sometimes be put in wouldn't work because I would need three and in the US they only will do 1 and even Germany won't do more than 2. It's a case of needing all 3 to make a difference. Also, he said mine are too greatly degenerated to be able to do it anyway.

Anyway, after that, I went to lunch at a Greek cafe and had a gyro & greek salad. That was good. From there, I went to the nursery to get flowers for my pots.  I will try to get at least half of them done tomorrow, maybe all if I'm lucky and not hurting too bad.

And now the landscapers have finally come around and done the first mowing, edging, & trimming of the season.  I was so glad to see that. The grass is trying to green up but the brown on top was making it look really bad.  Much better now.

Darlene, glad you are getting rain but not floods. We need rain badly now. We're -4" already.

Jane, I hope the joints aren't causing you too much trouble.  I also talked to my dr about getting stem cell injections in my knees. That is a possibility, but I'm currently focused on my back.

Hi to all.  Sharon

Sharon, I'm sorry you didn't get better news from the spine doctor.  But I hope the nerve ablation or something else will give you some relief.  The gyro and Greek salad sounds great.  I went to a Mexican restaurant yesterday and got ceviche.  I just love it and rarely have the chance to get some.  It was listed on the menu as an appetizer, but it was in a huge bowl, and I was able to eat only half of it.  I brought the rest home and had it for lunch today.  Yum

Marilyn, glad the plans are going well.  It sounds like you're going to have an "event", and I'm sure it will be lovely.

Molly, glad you got to spend some time with Chaps before he heads off for Korea.

Darlene, glad you're not getting the floods that Houston is.  I heard from a dear friend there, and they're still above water, fortunately.

I got my car back this morning, and it's nice to have the old gal back.  I enjoyed the 2015 model with it's back-up camera, etc.  But my Altima is more comfortable and "fits" me better.  Nothing else going on here today.

BTW, there was a good article in the Nashville paper about our Sculpture Fields.  Here's a link if you'd like to read it.  The large sculpture pictured at the top of the article is not at the park

http://nashvillearts.com/2016/03/man-of-steel/

Oh Sharon, I am so sorry you are going through this.  Is this what they want to do next?

http://www.spinedallas.com/radiofrequency-ablation-interventional-spine-pain-doctor-dallas-tx.html

Good evening, Buddies.  I did some laundry this morning and walked in my neighborhood.  I fixed and ate lunch, then went to the library to pick up new books.  So of course, I had to lie down to start reading one of the new ones.  I've found a very funny Australian author, Graeme Simsion.  Last week I read his The Rosie Project.  It was so funny I laughed aloud while reading it.  So when I went back to the library yesterday, I checked out his sequel, The Rosie Effect and it is equally funny.  I have read about half of it and laughed a lot.  Don Tillman is a brilliant, awkward genetics professor and he meets Rosie in the first book and marries her in the second.  Most of the laughs come from the way Don misunderstands "normal" people.  He takes most things said in his presence very literally--and it causes lots of goofs. 

About 4:00, I showered and dressed for our annual MOAA dinner where we presented awards to the outstanding ROTC members from Auburn U, Tuskegee U, Auburn H.S., Tuskegee H.S., and high schools from other nearby counties as well as a male military school.  Some of the outstanding grads were women, which is always nice.  All these kids will probably receive ROTC scholarships to colleges.  I had salmon and pecan pie for dinner which was excellent, but the salad and veggies, not so much.  I noticed that most of the kids ate quite a bit of everything!

It's bedtime for me, so I'll say goodnight, All Buddies, and whoever else is looking in.

Sue

Sounds a bit like Doc Martin on PBS.  Probably has Asperger's Syndrome.  Yes, when they take things literally, it can be terribly funny and makes you realize how very many idioms we use in our language on a daily basis.

Yesterday, Greg picked me up and took me to Chestertown, where I caught up from October through December with the books.  The ride through the blooming springtime there and back was lovely.  I will go again in a couple of weeks and try to get things up to date and close out our March 31st fiscal year.

Today, son Rob, my eldest, comes to take me to lunch.  Tomorrow he heads off on another trip in some far flung place.  Robby generally takes "adventure" trips.  You know, climbing a mountain or exploring the Amazon;  that sort of thing.  Me, I am just trying to figure out what sort of lunch menu adventure I want!  Possibly the Blackwall Hitch, as I haven't been there yet.

I should bring you up to date on Our Bella, who is 13 now.  She has learned to be a coxswain, and took part in a regatta in Easton over the weekend.  Her skull came in second, beating out even one all male team!  I am told it was very exciting.  Bella's crew were all much older than she, but she walked beside them and called out the numbers as they lifted and carried their skull to the water.  Then she steered the boat to an almost victory, while calling out the cadence.  Wow!

She has also been admitted to Garrison Forest School in Owings Mills for next fall.  She will be a boarder in this all girls academy.

Kathryn called again last night to say she will enter the hospital on Thursday night by appointment (if nothing happens before then) and be induced.  That probably means her baby girl will have an April 22nd birthday.

And Emily will finish at Virginia Tech on the 6th of May and stay with us here for a week before heading back to Missouri.  I think I have already told you that, but I forget these things these days, so please forgive!

It is always exciting to read about Bella's achievements. I bet you are all proud of her. Does she still keeps a diary? She seemed to have your talent for descriptive writing.

MP, yes, that article is one I had printed out to ask questions about. It is exactly what he suggests.

Glad the baby is finally going to arrive. Wow, Bella is something else!  What a girl!

My cleaning girl is here today and in a few minutes, I am going out to start planting. Don't know how much I will get done though.

Sue, the books sound like fun.

Have a good day everyone.  Sharon

Sharon..as I posted to you on F'book, a friend went to Mayo in Rochester, the "Mecca" for serious health issues in this part of the country, and he said her back would require steel rods and whatever, be a year recovery at best, and no assurance it would work.  He would not recommend, and sent her to Pain Management.

MaryPage...good to get little girl moving.  The docs induced my great niece when things got too crowded in there for the twins, but they then came naturally and she didn't need the c-section though they were prepared for that.    Hurrah for Bella!
Marilyn....planning seems to be on track for you.

Sue...you really do a lot for the women athletes and military in your area. 

Maryz....nice article.

Hi, So P Bubble!

It's to be another rainy afternoon here, which we need, and I'm hoping to be playing bridge.  The joints are still a bit unhappy, but that's always true with these weather fronts coming through.  Our lawn man was here Monday afternoon and blew out the leaves, edged and mowed for the first time.  Things are really "greening" up and buds on everything, which also has us all sneezing and coughing!  Ahhhh...spring! 

Jane

MaryPage, glad to hear about Bella and rowing (sculling).  You may remember, John was an avid rower - not competitive, though.  It's great exercise.  Two of my swimming buddies have granddaughters who are getting college scholarships for their academics AND their rowing - one at Alabama and one at Boston College.  Glad they're going to do something about getting that girl to show up.  She's obviously going to have a mind of her own - not that that would be unusual in your family.  LOL

Another lovely day here again - prior to the rain coming in tomorrow.  After all these years, my joints are finally beginning to tell me about weather changes.  My "worse" knee is giving me enough trouble that I'm going to ask my rheumatologist to inject it before this upcoming trip.  Today was just a swimming day - nothing else.  I'll just enjoy it.

Hugs to all the Buddies!

MaryPage, you're right, the hero had Asperger's.  He is a genius of sorts and knows lots of irrelevant information and is annoying as well as very interesting and loyal to his friends.  I enjoyed both these books although they were different from much fiction I see at the library.  And Bella never ceases to amaze!  Good for her.

Mary, I remember how often John rowed and officiated at rowing events on the river.  I didn't realize Alabama had a rowing team--and female at that!  I guess if you're getting rain tomorrow, we may also.  It's OK with me as I'm playing bridge with lunch out first.  We're playing at "Chicken Salad Chick", a locally owned restaurant.  The owner started out very small, but has opened several stores/restaurants and the chicken salad is great--as well as soups.

Jane, sorry about the rain and the aches and pains it brings.  Did you get to play bridge today?  If so, I hope the cards went your way.

Sharon, I know you mentioned it before, but what are you planting and I'm assuming it's in your lovely large containers out front?  I hope your cleaning lady did a great job for you.  You are fortunate to have her.  Anything new with Ms. Frances?

Hi Bubble, it's nice to see you here today, too.  Come back soon.

Bedtime is coming near, so will sign off for this evening.  I'd sure like to hear from GinnyAnn, Diane, Molly, and others who haven't been posting.

Sue

Sue, I hope you get some rain and good cards tomorrow.  We have a Chicken Salad Chick here, too - it may be a regional chain.  I've never been there, though. 

Sleep well, Buddies!