In Review 2

15°f, -9°C, overcast. Snow in late afternoon and will continue into tonight and tomorrow.

As I looked back through photos for my last post, I smiled to see what things we had gotten up to.  There were some fun times in the past year! Here's a look at some favorites.

In January, we traveled to our oldest son's home in Eastern West Virginia to finally meet with our youngest great-grandchild,  J, who lives with his momma Kate and daddy Jake in Winchester,  VA. What a sweet, sweet little boy!

We didn't go anywhere special in February, but we had fun here at home, building a snowman for the first time in many years.

Sunshine and palm trees! We went to see youngest son in Miami, and stopped overnight in Tybee Island, Georgia. A much-needed break.

Oldest son (56) and his son (28) and daughter (26) competed once again in the Great Greenbrier River Race, and we were there to cheer them on. The race is a triathlon of run, kayak, and bike, and the kayaks create such a great image as they wait for the runners to arrive and take off downriver.

We visited Larry's twin sister for their birtbday in May. She doesn't live that far away, but they seldom get together as Mary never wants to drive here, and Larry gets aggravated about that. The road does go both ways after all 😉

June brought the West Virginia Writers Conference, and a good time with all my writer friends

In July we took a little day trip I had been wanted to do for several years: Coshocton,  Ohio, to ride a horse-drawn canal boat.

Then came August, still terribly hot and unbelievably dry. We didn't go much of anywhere--watering, sweating, and canning were the order of the day. We did go to our friend Mark's farm to pick tomatoes early one morning. That was about the extent of August's excitement! It was just. too. hot.

By September I was working hard to have everything ready for the coming knee surgery, but after an appointment we treated ourselves to lunch at the splendid Blennerhassett Hotel, which had been on my bucket list. It was delightful, cool enough to eat out on the patio and enjoy the pretty gardens.

October brought us the best gift of the year, I think---a visit from our "newest" granddaughter, Ashley, who found us and our son Derek, her biological father who had no idea of her existence until she messaged him on Ancestry.com.  What lovely surprises life gives us!

Then it was November, and apple butter time! Here is most of the crew, gathered for dinner at a favorite local restaurant. 

And finally December. We got out more than we had all year, I think,  but my favorite had to be going to Holly Jolly Brawley in Charleston for the lights and the trees. 

In looking back through the year, I find that we were together with our family quite often. Especially sweet were the long visits with many of our grandchildren as they traveled from close by and from all over the states to come home. And of course, nothing equals time with our dear sons, all men in their 50s, except our youngest who is nearing 40. 

We spent time with friends too, although perhaps we should do more of that this year. None of us are getting any younger, after all! So I am making a mental note here: make more time for visiting. 

So nothing really exciting. No vacations or overseas trips, no big concerts or events. Just a simple year full of the complexities of everyday life.