Happy Halloween!

In this day of political correctness, we're not allowed to recognize Halloween at school...just the fall season. I hope no one here minds my Halloween greeting.

Anyone have a favorite Halloween memory...maybe something funny or scary to share? What was your favorite costume? Did you ever play a trick on someone? Remember how much Granny loved to see all the trick-or-treaters in her neighborhood? Her area and the Water/Elm Street neighborhood are still the most popular stops in town. Did everyone always go to Dr. Cromwell's to get a new toothbrush?

Kell's Surgery

Surgery went fine. They confirmed that the other knee compartments are in good shape. The knee "setup" is tighter than her knee has been for about four years. She goes back to the doctor Tuesday and will probably go to school for a half a day on Wednesday.

Everyone enjoying the chili & the soft (you think) drinks .

The 2nd & final tailgate of the season...an IU victory!
Pay no attention to what is in the cup holder.
Party on Mom!!!

Last Fall Concert on the PHS Stage

Megan and Tutu after the concert

Kyanna, Megan, and Evan

The Harmony Singer girls in their new dresses

Last night marked the final fall concert to be performed on the PHS stage. By next October, the Harmony Singers will be dancing away on a new state-of-the-art (well, at least for Paoli) stage in the new auditorium. Hurrah! It is desperately needed...the sound and lighting systems are pitiful.

Anyway, the kids had fun performing some great dance numbers like Dancin' Fool and Turn the Beat Around. Light choral classics like He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother and Imagine were also on the program.

We're glad that Tutu was in town and able to come. Megan's next concert will be on
December 14th.

Provence and Paris

Sorry to inudate you with so many pictures but I took over 350 and Mort thinks he took as many also. We did so much in such a short period of time. We visited a perfume factory, wineries, churches, the french version of the grand canyon-Gorges du Verdon, and many small villages. We went to Monaco one evening for dinner and stopped by the casino. We went on hikes and climbed mountains. And we shopped. I would have preferred more free time but we signed up for all the optional excursions to see as much as we could. We were the newbies, everyone else had gone of tours before. They said these show you snippets of places and you can decide if it is someplace we would like to go back to for a longer period of time. We were present for the harvests. We watched grapes being brought in to make wine and lavender sold in the markets. There were fresh olives, apples, oranges, etc. We saw an olive tree that was 980 yrs old!
It was great that it was the end of tourist season so things were not very crowded.
The most surprising aspect to me was I did not realize we would be in the Alps. All the homes were made of stone and had working wooden shutters, which were used. I guess if you had been in a war, you would want to be as secure as possible.
I'll stop now, but if you are really interested, I can give you more details, etc. The tour guide had some very funny stories, too.

Provence

The market in Nice was nice. The front half was nothing but flowers. All kinds, some in arrangements. Me-I go for the food. There were tables filled with about anything imaginable. Being on the coast, there was lots of fresh fish, eel, squid, etc. Stands of honeys, pestos, tapanades, fruit, vegetable, and bread. This is a standard spice booth. I had not heard of half of them but they were in french of course.

I don't care for most of these vegetables but they looked really tempting.

Provence

More pictures of the market in Nice.


Rabbit, anyone?
A view of Nice from atop a castle ruin. The beach looks nice but it's not. It is rock, not sand.
My favorite town was Ste. Baum. It was built up the mountainside and had a stream with several waterfalls running through the center of the town. Some of the water was diverted into fountains.
I don't remember which village this is but it is typical. They were either built into the rock side of a mountain or on top-the better to defend.

Provence

This is a view from the cave where Mary Magdalene supposedly lived. She arrived in Marsailles via boat after fleeing Palestine and made her way here. Why she picked a cave half way up a mountain top, I'll never understand. Pilgrims would walk up the hill on their knees-I barely made it on my feet.

A group of monks took over in the early 5th century and turned the cave into a chapel. Since then it has been taken care of by several different orders. At the bottom of the hill is a hostel run by nuns for the pilgrims to stay in. Also the always present gift shop and restaurant.
(I would have much rather seen the cave as it was when Mary was here.)
I can't remember which little town this was but I liked the idea that they just carve everything out of the rock. Most of the rock is limestone.
This is an actual street in one of the villages. Often, someone had to back up to let another car pass. Buses and tourists had to park outside of most of the small towns.
One of the oldest and best preserved monuments is this Roman Aquaduct. I have seen it several times in pictures but never realized how huge it is.
It was built between 38-52 AD and has more than 50,000 tons of stone. To get an idea how large it is, notice the people walking on the lower walkway. You can barely see them.

Provence

This is the Papal Palace in Avignon. For 75 years, the pope(s) ruled from here instead of Rome.

This is an outer wall that marked the boundary of Avignon and the Pope's
town. They also had many, many farms and vineyards. We visited a winery
called Chateauneuf-du-Pape which was the Pope's personal winery beginning in the 1400's or 1500's.
This is Roussillon. It is more colorful than most villages due to the local ochre mines.
This is one of the ochre mines. The minerals range from yellow to red and are mined as a sand that can be used to paint and make pottery.
These are called Bories and are all over. The smaller ones (like this) were used by shepherds. There are also villages of them.

Provence

Just thought this was an interesting entrance.

This guy was a street musician in Nice. He was very good.
Russian Orthodox Church.
Tomb of Nicholas II located behind the church.
Another cute country village. They are always around a church.

Paris

The requisite pictures of the Eiffel Towel. It was lighted blue at night because France was leading the ECC at the time (each country heads it for 6 months at a time). On the hour, every hour, the tower would have thousands of flashing white lights go off for 5 minutes.

This was probably my favorite place and we didn't even get to go in. We arrived too late. It is called Les Invalides and houses a huge military museum. It was built to care for old soldiers and one wing is still a hospital. The shrubs are all trimmed to look like bullets. There is a huge moat in front of the cannons. Each of the upper windows resemble body armor. The buildings are built around a large open square. Behind is a chapel with a gold leaf dome that houses the remains of Napoleon.
Thinking of Dad, I had to go to Rodin's museum to see The Thinker.
We did many other things in Paris, such as a boat ride on the Seine, visiting Notre-Dame, the Louvre, shopping, and Mort went to Versailles.

The Birthday Girl

On the front porch at 313 E. Main St.

Swimming lesson at Bowen's pool

What a crew!

Celebrating Christmas with her favorite uncle

Hannah and Laura on the swing at the Sandy Hook house

Ok...I couldn't resist. I just knew I had some great shots of the birthday girl. In my quest to find some "little Laura" pics, I came across some fun photos of the cousins. I hope these bring a smile to your face just as they did mine.

I hope you've had a wonderful day, Laura!

Happy Birthday, Laura!

If I wasn't having so many problems trying to get a picture to load this morning, I would have had a picture of the birthday girl on line but, darn that technology (or perhaps the user?) But, have a happy birthday today !! Quarter century old! Wow-

Carrie & her 3 snowflakes @ last year's Illinois/IU game...looks like one of the snowflakes is somewhat bashful....& one...not so much...
Happy 39th.....

Happy Birthday to Carrie!!!

The baby of the family turns 39 today! Last year before the BIG 40!

Happy Birthday!!!! (sorry I didn't get a picture loaded but please see prior blog entry!)

Palin and the Fosters

Whatever you do, DO NOT ask Carrie or Tutu about the lines!
Greg and Mom waiting for the speech
The Foster girls excited about the Republican party!
Time to relax!
Sarah ! Sarah !! Sarah!!!

Powder Puff Football

Megan and senior friends

Don't they look tough?

Tonight was the annual Powder Puff football game between the high school classes. Senior girls were defeated by the juniors (who had been practicing diligently), but scored a victory over the freshman.

We were a little nervous about Megan playing, knowing that "touch" football can sometimes get a little rough, but she did just fine.

a fun day at the apple orchard

Michele and I took the kids to Beasley's Orchard on Saturday. It was a beautiful day and we had a fun time (even though we got lost in the corn maze!!)