Trip To The Beach

We rarely get out of town any more but we did get to the beach at Florence, Oregon for a couple days last week-end.


We met my cousin Shirley and her friend Richard there.


Had a great time, some excellent sea-food and beautiful sunsets. Here are some pics of our adventure.

There are more pictures on Carol's FaceBook profile.

Love,

Happy New Year!

Whew... we made it through the holiday season and are on our way to a fine '09 !

For all of those we've kind of lost contact with over the last 12 - 18 months, don't give up on us. You have NOT been dropped from our address list (although I did lose my entire e-mail address book when I had to do a system restore on my desktop computer last week, but that's another story).

The last several months have held a lot of changes for us and we're still tryng to figure out how to deal with the transitions required in working our way through life. Max remains sweet and in good spirits in spite of his mobility limitations and the memory tricks his brain plays on him. It's not always easy to know what the right thing to do is at this stage in our lives, so we're just doing the best we can on a day-to-day basis.

On a happy note, we had a very nice Christmas with Lana and Jeremy. Lana flew up from California and Jeremy came in from Yakima. Lana made us an extravagant ham dinner on Christmas eve and we enjoyed the leftovers during a lazy Christmas day.

To check out our entire December photo album, please visit my collection of pictures on Facebook. In order to view these photos, you will need to create a FaceBook identity and this will let you follow me on a day-to-day basis without waiting for an e-mail or blog post. Anyway, click on any photo to enlarge and you can scroll through the entire album.

As we move into the new year, we want all of you to know that in spite of our lack of communication, we do think of you often and would love to hear from you!

As always, we wish you love, health and happiness!

Love,

2008 Golf Bags Christmas Party

Today was the annual "Golf Bags" Christmas party, which was so graciously hosted by Claudia Speer. I didn't get to play much golf this year but they were gracious enough to let me attend the party anyway. BUT, they said next year I have to play golf or I'm banned from any celebrations at Christmas time in 2009. So, now I have an ultimatum and I'll just have to make time to play because I don't want to miss this event next year!

Attendees were most of the regular Tuesday golfing group. Starting left to right...
Back row: Janet, Sharon, Marly, Linda, Elaine, Darlene
Middle row: Sherry, Carol, MaryLou, Rita, Sherry, Donna
Front row: Chips, Claudia, June, Rita


Everyone brought a salad or dessert and we had a lovely buffett. It was an awesome variety of scrumptious delights.

It was a very cold but beautiful sunny day and the views from Claudia's deck were fabulous.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Wenatchee Senior Center Christmas Tea

Las Friday my friend, June Dorner, invited me to attend the Senior Center Christmas tea with her. We had tea and coffee and all kinds of goodies.

And we had quite the guest list... Santa, Father Christmas (yes they are different), the local youth Nutcracker dancers and even the Grinch.

The Barn... Or Is That a Chalet?

On our way home from the beach yesterday, we stopped for a quick visit with Clair & Beverly in Corbett. Clair met us at the front door wanting to know if we wanted to go see his new barn. Didn't ask if we need a drink or to go potty... just wanted to show off his barn.


Well, that barn is one big honker! It's taller than two giraffes standing one on top of the other. I'm not sure actually how tall it is, but it's tall. If you take a look at the picture, the two doors are each 12 feet high, so that can give you some perspective of the size. The picture at the end of this paragraph is taken from the steps to the loft. I'm not even on the top step or I would have had to use the telephoto lens.


This barn (or is that a chalet with a garage underneath) has a loft, with French doors, for Beverly's art studio where she can paint and write and practice her violin.


Clair did make us a very nice turkey noodle soup for lunch and we visited for a couple hours before getting back on the road. We got home about 8:15 Sunday night.

Below are pictures of the original old tractor from when Clair and Beverly first got their berry farm going (many moons ago) AND the new tractor, both of which now have a comfy new home in the Chalet... I mean the barn.











Happy Holiday Season...

Love,

CarolWilliams@charter.net

A Drive to Depoe Bay

Friday morning we drove the 12 miles south to Depoe Bay thinking we would get a bowl of chowder at the Sea Hag, our favorite chowder restaurant. But, we arrived too early and had to eat breakfast instead which was fine because now we have an excuse to go back. The picture here is of Max, Gracie the Sea Hag and her hunk.

Then we came back to Lincoln City and hit a couple of gift shops where we got a surprise for Shelley's kids.

Will report more fun later.
Love,
Carol & Max

Thanksgiving at the Beach

Since we didn't have any kids or other company coming for Thanksgiving, we decided on a whim a couple days ago to take a mini excursion to Lincoln City, Oregon. We were lucky enough to score an oceanfront studio condo and arrived here about 4:30 this afternoon. This is a picture looking north (up the beach) from our patio. The stairs to the beach is right in front of our room. Awesome!


Being a holiday, the choices for places to eat were skimpy but we ended up at an unpretentious place called Maxwell's. They had a full turkey dinner and they were very generous with their portions.

It was very good and we had plenty leftover to bring home for snacks. We also brought home the pumpkin pie that came with dinner.


Here's hoping everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!


Love,
Carol & Max

Happy Holiday Season

I am one of the people who hates the early retail attempts to sell Christmas stuff. I just hate it (and threaten boycott) when I see Christmas decorations come out in September (or even October for that matter).

Today is the first day I woke up and felt inclined to use a seasonal mug for my morning coffee. As the last Saturday before Thanksgiving (and the winter nip in the air) I can now be happy and accepting that the holiday season is upon us.

That being said, we don't really have any particular holiday plans. With Max Jr in Iraq (second tour of duty) and the other kids spread out, we don't have any guests coming that we know of yet. But, we're still open if someone decides they want to make the trek for a good old fashioned home cooked meal with turkey and all the trimmings.

I am busy, busy, busy and having fun, fun, fun with my new real estate company. Shelley and I are so blessed to be doing well when so many other agents have taken second jobs to supplement their income during tough times. We were lucky (or extremely wise) to expand heavily into Property Management as a steady source of income for us. The real estate crisis seems to have enhanced the demand for rentals as people just can't buy right now for various reasons. That has been good for us.

Well, Max is taking a nap and I'm off to an appointment so will sign of for now.

Happy Holidays...

Love,

Get Me To The Church On Time

Lana's been visiting for a few weeks and she came by this morning and took Max to church.

Max loves an excuse to dress up and is still the best looking guy in town (whether he is in a suit or not)!

When they got back home we took a little walk to the rose garden to take in the beauty of the last roses before the freezing temps kill them completely.



We've all been loving the fabulous Fall colors the last few weeks are are sad to see the leaves starting to wilt and Fall. Fall has always been my personal favorite time of year here. I love Spring for the burst of new life but I love the Fall even more for the fabulous variety of yellows, oranges and reds.


A Fall drive to Leavenworth and up the Tumwater Canyon is an annual tradition with Max and me. Our drive a couple weeks ago uncovered a home in Leavenworth with residents sharing their Halloween spirit with all passers by. I just stopped by the side of the road and took this pic out the car window. Click on the image to enlarge and enjoy!

Stay Warm!

Love,

Would love to hear from you!
CarolWilliams@charter.net

More Anniversary Pictures

A few days ago I posted a picture of my husband Max and me having dinner at Applebees on our 25th anniversary.

Last night we went out to dinner with our friends June & Roger Dorner (at left) who were celebrating their 54th anniversary. There were married in 1954!



We were pretty proud of ourselves at 25, but we have a loooong way to go to catch up with June and Roger!

Congratulations to them. They were prolific home builders in Wenatchee for many years but are enjoying retirement now. They are an amazing couple and we're proud to be good friends.

Life is good!

It's The Silver (And the Diamonds)

Today is our 25th wedding anniversary. A pretty nice milestone for us.

Here is our picture while at Applebee's for dinner tonight.

Willinger Real Estate Is Born

Whew... what a whirlwind I (Carol) have been in. Finally, the new business Shelley and I have been planning for many months has been born! After much ado and a mountain of legal forms Thursday, August 14th, was the official "birthday".

Our new company is Willinger Real Estate (a combination of our two last names (Williams and Granger). We are so excited about our new venture in spite of the fact it's going to be a lot of work. But, then, the real estate business is a lot of work any way you look at it. We will serve the entire Wenatchee real estate market working primarily with single family houses, multi-plexes (and other non-commercial investor properties) as well as doing Wenatchee property management... including HOA's.

We have one additional agent who has already joined us, Candy Armstrong. Candy has had her real estate license since 1979 (two years longer than me) but she has been focusing full time on her appraisal business for about 20 years. She will be a good addition to our group.

We don't want to become a BIG company but we're willing to take on a few, select, agents. I have no desire to get so mired in administration that I don't have time to do the fun stuff... spending time with our clients.

So, now you have some idea of why my blog entries have been so scarce. Now that the company is formed and launched I can take a deep breath and refocus. I will try to do better about keeping up.

We'd love to hear from you. Our direct e-mail is: CarolWilliams@charter.net or if you have an AOL e-mail address for us that works too!

Happy Summer!

Oh My Gosh!

I knew it had been a long time since I posted here but now I realize it's been over 2 months! Whew, it's not like we haven't had anything to write about... just no time I guess.

Our most recent foray was a mini-vacation to the Oregon coast. Click on that highlighted link to go to the photo album. When you get into the album click on the first photo to enlarge it, then you can scroll through the entire album one at a time.

My cousin Shirley and her friend Richard accompanied us and we all shared an ocean front condo at Florence. It was awesome. The feature photo here is of me and Shirley ready for our cherry pit spitting contest from the deck of the condo. We laughed so hard we nearly wet out pants! It is an understatement to say Shirley is very competitive. She pretended not to see my pits that went further than hers... but at least Richard was an honest soul. Finally, Shirley did admit that I won BUT only because I'm full of hot air.

Sadly this trip was instigated by and combined with a last visit my very ill Aunt Marian (who has since passed on). We were very glad to have had this last chance to visit with her and talk about the olden days. She was telling us about a time in the 1950's when there was a gathering at my Mom & Dad's house on Ash Street in Portland. Apparently my Mom made a rather memorable potato salad that included radishes. Marian says it was the first time she had ever tasted radishes in a potato salad. I wonder if they came out of my Dad's garden?

Will try to be better about posting in the future.... but can't make any promises. Life doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Will fill you in on more later.

Hugs...
Max & Carol

There's No Keeping Up Now

The race is on between me and the rose garden. I did some serious pruning in the roses this week-end, but the untrained eye would never know. the 96 gallon garbage can knows!

The rose bushes were to the point where you couldn't even get between the bushes and there was no way to get to the back row for harvesting OR pruning !

Anyway, in spite of the pruning, it's still prolific and we'll have a hard time keeping up with the crop. We have been cutting bouquets of roses all week-end and I probably pruned away ten times that many. Now that I have the bushes themselves somewhat under control, I can actually get around the garden to do some leaf clean-up from last year and weeding from this year. I am hoping to hire someone to do the actual weeding. I did enough of that this week-end to know that I prefer to use my brain over my brawn.

These rose bushes are getting old and we may have to seriously consider a new design for this space sometime in the next year or two. Might be fun to try a new look.

We did our part for reducing the nation's dependence on oil by staying home ALL week-end. The longest trip we took was to East Wenatchee for Chinese food for dinner tonight.



In addition to the roses, we are grpwomg a new crop of tomatoes planted on April 6th. This is our second crop in the Aero-Garden that Max got for Christmas. I just love watching these plants grow. We have two Red tomato plants and one Golden tomato plant. They are currently 9 inches tall, but I've done a lot of pruning to keep them compact and so they don't get gangly. According to the instructions, this establishes a stronger main stem to support the big crop.

On another subject, we have found a great day respite care center for Max to go to when I am out running about for business. It is at the Grace Lutheran church and they are open Monday - Thursday from 9:00 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. It's a good change atmosphere for Max... and a welcome relief for me not to worry about him when I am not home. He loves to work in the yard, but his balance is not good and he has taken a couple of tumbles. Fortunately, he hasn't hurt himself and we'd like to keep it that way. The church has two or three people on duty at all times and they visit and have lunch and play games... and nap whenever they want! Sounds like a schedule I would like! :-)

We're adjusting to life changes. I'm wearing many more hats but Max has been a gem about accepting his increasing limitations. As much as he hates not being able to work in the yard and do other jobs around the house, he does understand the risk involved. I feel very grateful for that. There is nothing worse than having to argue to protect the ones you love.

Well, that's the report from the Williams house. Would love to hear what's up in YOUR life.

Love,

The Good News and The Bad News

The good news is: J.R. and his girlfriend, Janice, (pronouced Ja-neece) came up this week-end and gave us the news they are getting married. We really like Janice and will be happy to have her in the family. The bad news is, it sounds like they will wait until J.R. gets back from Iraq... his second deployment. He will return in August of 2009, so not sure when the wedding will take place after that.


In the background of the pictures, of course, is one of JR's restoration projects. These pictures were taken just before they took Max out to the car storage to "visit" Max's two classic cars. They took the red convertible out for a spin up to Lake Chelan and back. Next month when J.R. comes back for his last visit before going to Iraq, he promised to take Max out in the blue Buick Riviera. Max will love that.













Also, they presented me with a really beautiful bouquet of delayed Mother's Day flowers. I like this Janice... she's having a very good influence on J.R.!!!

Remember: You can always click on any photo to enlarge.

We're Alive !

It's about time I stopped working long enough to make a post... at least to let everyone know we're still alive! I have never, ever, ever gone this long without posting to the blog. So, I'm going to make up for it with several subject in this "catch-up" post.

Here I am, sipping a birthday Sangria, with friends June Dorner and DiAnn Heath. The husbands were sitting on the other side of the table.

And, here is Max hanging out with an old car. Even though he can't do the actual restoration work anymore, he still loves to look. Instead of going to the BIG Apple Blossom Parade, we headed over to the Douglas County Park where the Classy Chassis cars were on display. Max still has two classic cars of his own, which he lovingly keeps safely stored. Whenever J.R. comes up to visit, they usually get them out of storage and take them for a carbon-burning spin.

The week-end before the BIG parade was the annual Youth Parade. My friend, and business partner, Shelley (waving in the pic) headed up the committee in charge of the John Newbery Elementary School float. I think it was the most fun and colorful entry of the year.

Yesterday, I took the time to stop by and visit my friend Amy Greenhalgh and her 8-month old baby, Shelby. I had not seen the baby since before we left for California so she has grown A LOT. I've got to get out more often!









Amy's Mom, Patti, was visiting from Las Vegas so it was fun seeing her again too.






Grandma Patti was enjoying spending time with the baby while Amy got to work in the yard. I can't believe Amy was doing this dirty job by herself while Troy was at work. I would have definitely been looking for some professional help! But, Amy used to be a Park Ranger, so I think she likes a good excuse to get dirty.

My Latest New Gadget

I've always loved gadgets and new technology... like being one of the first in Wenatchee with a Fax machine, and cell phone. That was when Fax's used thermal paper and cell phones were really two-way radio transmitters and receivers. Today I fed my lust for a new gadget.

This morning Max and I went for a random drive around the area, stopped at our favorite little donut shop then headed to the Roger Dunn Golf Store where I chose the newest SG5Golf Caddie. It's not much bigger than a cell phone and will be so cool. I wish everyone had one of these because it's a time saver on the golf course. No more looking for yardage markers on sprinkler heads, or wondering how far the hazards are. The only bad thing, of course, is it won't actually stop the golf ball from going into a hazard, it will only tell me where and how far away they are.

Now, I just have toarrange a game of golf to test it out.

Stay tuned...

Carol

Lunch With Lowell and Mary Jo

One of the highlights of our annual trip to Palm Springs is getting together for lunch with Max's cousin and his wife. Lowell's Dad and Max's Dad were brothers so Max and Lowell grew up together in Cardston.

Lowell & MaryJo live in Edmonton, Alberta and also have a home in Palm Desert, where they spend 6 months of the year. We try to get together for lunch at the Olive Garden once a week while we're here.

Today they had us over to their condo for lunch and dessert. The upper left picture is Lo & Jo cutting the Apple Pie and dishing up the ice cream. YUMMO!

And here is Max and Lowell sitting on the sofa discussing an article that was printed in the Cardston newspaper about Lowell recently. Lowell has been an avid athlete all of his life and was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame of Edmonton's Royal Glenora Club in Edmonton on his 80th birthday last September. He was quite the runner and basketball player as a youth... got into squash as an adult, but in later years seemed to focus on tennis which he became very good at, has won many trophies, and still plays regularly.

Remember: You can click on any of the pictures in this post or the entire blog to enlarge the image.

Beautiful Day On The Course

Our golfing friends, Carl & Mary Lou Lattimer, from Wenatchee are down here for 3 weeks. Last night we got together for dinner at the (Cathedral Canyon Country Club) clubhouse with Bud & Dorothy McIntire (who live here). Bud and Dorothy used to live in Wenatchee but moved down here several years ago and love it. They usually go back to Wenatchee for a few weeks in the summer (when it's soooo darn hot here) to visit family and friends.

Above, clockwise: Max, Bud, Willy, Dorothy, Mary Lou, Carl.

Today Carl & Mary Lou invited me to play golf with them. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Here is a picture of Carl, Max and Mary Lou while we were waiting for our turn on a par 3.

Max rode with me for the first nine then I ran him back to the condo for a nap while I finished the back nine with Carl and Mary Lou. My game didn't start out so great but I finished pretty strong. I shot a 49 on the front, 40 on the back, to break 90. Yay! I was particularly proud of the back nine 40 because it was the "Lake" nine, which (IMHO) is the most difficult on the course. There is not only LOTS of water but plenty of sand too.

I love Palm trees! I'm not sure why, but I find myself fascinated by them. No matter where I am, I find myself gawking around looking at Palm trees. Whether they are tall or short, they seem so graceful. The first picture above is three TALL palms behind the pool near our condo. Orange, lemon and grapefruit trees line the pathway to the pool.

The second set of palms was taken on the golf course today. What you can't see is the BIG lake on the left and the BIG sandtrap on the right.

The Afternoon Office

Here is a picture of my "office" this afternoon... by the pool/spa, just steps away from the patio of our condo in the Cathedral Canyon Country Club.

Looking up, here is a view of the palms from this spot, hovering over the spa area.

Life Is Good!

Max & Carol Williams On The Patio

Shirley took a picture of Max and me yesterday morning while relaxing on the patio with coffee (and hot chocolate for Max).

In the background you can see the tennis courts which are right next to the clubhouse. We have a very convenient location near the clubhouse and we have a golf cart with our condo so we can tootle around the neighborhood when we don't have anything else to do.

Shirley made me reach back and pull an old 4-H Style Show pose while goofing off under the orange and grapefruit trees this morning. I'm not really super model material any more, but... Oh Well!

More Fun in Palm Springs

Cousin Shirley St. Clair and her friend Richard have been here since Wednesday but had to fly back home (to the cold Northwest) today. They live in Eugene, so the weather isn't quite as bad as in Wenatchee (and the Cascade mountains of Washington) but it will still be a shock going back after the wonderful 80 degree weather they've been enjoying here. Here we all are out in front of Babe's (a very popular BBQ restaurant) after dinner last night.

Here is Max posing out in front of the pool and spa just a few steps down from our condo.

We had some good times while Shirley & Richard were here. Friday afternoon we went to the Palm Springs Follies, which is a fabulous 3 hour musical and dance show featuring ALL senior citizens. The youngest cast member was 56. The oldest 78. They do 9 shows per week! They don't allow photographs to be taken in the theatre, so no pictures to post.

Random Acts of Fun

It's hard to believe we've already been here one week. Time truly does fly when you're having fun!

I was able to play my first game of golf on Tuesday... the first in 6 months (since I broke my arm in early August of last year. I was invited to join a small group of ladies at the Cathedral Canyon Country Club (where we are staying). In this picture is the 120 yard par 3 hole #9 of the Lake course. Notice the snow capped San Jacinto Mountains in the background? This is a very challenging course, with lots of water and sand traps, making ball placement crititical. In spite of a less than stellar score, I can't use the broken arm, shoulders or last years back surgery as an excuse. I actually felt pretty good. I was also able to play again today with my friend, Dorothy McIntire,during their regular the Ladies Club day. My score improved by 6 strokes and the weather continues to be fabulous. Life is Good!

Anticipating the arrival of cousin Shirley St.Clair and her friend Richard, Max and I took the car down to the local car wash and gave it a good bath and hand wax. It deserved a nice pampering after all it went through (snow, sleet and rain) getting out of the Northwest and down to Palm Springs.



Yesterday, cousin Shirley St.Clair and her friend Richard arrived for a few days of fun in the sun. The temperature here was about 70 degrees yesterday and Richard said that was twice the temperature of when they left Eugene, Oregon that morning! Today was about 72 and supposed to be about 77 tomorrow. Yea! Tonight we all went down to "The River" and had dinner at a California Bistro called Pieros Acqua Pazza. That was fun.

Tomorrow we plan to see the Matinee performance of the annual Palm Springs Follies, which is always a fabulous show of song and dance, featuring ALL senior citizens.

Ginger (Rogers) and Me

Today Max, Connie and I went to see a stage play called "Ginger and Me". It was a musical about the life of Ginger Rogers, from her Mother's perspective. Her mother was really the driving force behind her rise and success.

Did you know Ginger Rogers was married 5 times? Even Howard Hughes proposed to her but she could see his philandering ways before it was too late. 3 of her husbands turned into alcoholics. I guess it's tough being married to a movie star.

Tomorrow Connie and I plan to go to the Street Fair at the College of the Desert. It's held every Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. - 2 p.m. It's always one of my favorite things to do when down here. It's still a bit cold in the mornings for Max and said he'll probably opt to stay home. It will be warming up as the month goes by and we will have several more opportunities to go before heading home.

Settling In

Today was a nice, leisurely, day. I did some grocery shopping to stock up the empty food shelves and refrigerator... and we're settling in.

Here is (from left to right) Max, Connie, and Bill (on the floor watching a Laker game).

Connie and Bill are staying with us for a couple days, then they have a timeshare they will move into until Wednesday when they will go back home to Sun City West (Phoenix).

Tomorrow we are booked to go see a Broadway play "Ginger and Me"... about Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Will write about that tomorrow or the next day.

Stay tuned...

Carol Loves Maggie (and the Ford Five-Hundred)

The last 4 days have been a challenge, but it's all good now.

As many of you know, Max & I head south every February to get out of the cold and enjoy some warmer climates (in Palm Springs). This year has been so cold and snowy at home, I put Max on a plane to Phoenix January 21st so he could get out of the cold and enjoy some time with his sister, Connie (and her husband Bill), in Sun City West.... while I stayed home and finished up some business.

Our Palm Springs condo was reserved for February 1st, so the plan was for me to leave Tuesday (Jan 29th) and drive down to Palm Springs (yes, by myself) and Connie and Bill would bring Max over from Phoenix. Generally this is a long, laborious driving experience. I don't mind driving but Max butt gets tired when just sitting in the car ALL day for three days. Well, truth be known, my butt gets tired too however it's a bit easier for me.

Anyway, Any of you watching the weather channel lately knows the Pacific Northwest has been blasted with snow and challenging driving conditions, so I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what the best plan of action would be for my "escape".

The distance from Wenatchee to Palm Springs is about 1400 miles and takes about 3 driving days. I had originally planned to leave on Tuesday to give myself one extra day to get to Palm Springs (because of unknown driving conditions).

Turns out I was very fortunate with my travel timing. Due to ANOTHER snow storm predicted to hit the Cascade Mountain range on Monday night, I decided to leave Monday afternoon instead of Tuesday morning. This turned out to be an extremely wise decision. I got over Snoqualmie Pass (which was already a bit nasty) without any problems. I understand it's been a mess ever since.

Having gotten a nice head start, I was able to get over the Siskiyous Tuesday just before dark, which was great. I actually arrived at the base of the Siskiyous just after they lifted a chains required period and, although it was a bit slow, no problems. That is one long stretch from Medford, Oregon (where the mountain ascent begins) to Redding, California (where it flattens out and clear sailing begins).

I was pooped when I arrived in Redding Tuesday night, but booked myself into a nice hotel, had a nice dinner and a glass of wine... and got a great night's sleep. I felt really good for the rest of the trip. I arrived in Palm Springs about 11:30 this morning, so had some time to get the condo a bit organized before Max and his sister arrived about 3:00. The weather is beautiful, which makes the effort to get here worthwhile.

I found a drive-through car wash in Redding but Friday or Saturday would like to get it cleaned in and out! It deserves some pampering after taking such good care of me on the way down. It was a trooper through treacherous weather and California freeway traffic. I do love that car... a 2006 Ford Five-Hundred, a very underrated car on the market. The new model has been renamed the Ford Taurus, but it's the same car as mine.

Once I got out of the mountains, it was time to shift my mind set from treacherous road conditions to treacherous (southern California) "driver" conditions. Traffic is so heavy and goes so fast down here, ones mind can NOT relax for even one moment. AND, due to serious budget issues, California roads are not in good condition. They have attempted to patch them but it wasn't done particularly well and there are still plenty of holes to watch for and avoid. Through all of this maze of traffic and freeways, my GPS navigator system (Maggie Magellan) was an important, and much loved, ally.

Anyway, now we're both in Palm Spring together and the fun can begin!

Max's Garden Update: 1-23-2008

Here is a picture taken of Max's Aero-Garden, taken January 23, 2008. This is two days short of a month after planting! I have actually snipped the Italian and Purple Basil several times to let the other plants catch up.

This garden is sooooo cool and so much fun to watch on a daily basis. Very low maintenance, just needing water and two nutrient tablets every couple of weeks. Good entertainment for a long cold winter.

Update on Max's Winter Garden

Here is a picture of Max's garden, taken this morning, just 10 days after planting on Christmas Day. It's doing rather well, don't you think? Only the parsley still has it's dome on. The plant is peeking out but we'll let it grow another day or two before removing the dome. We've both been enjoying the watching the progress of all the plants.

J.R. came up for an overnight stay on New Years Eve. He and Max were both in bed way before midnight so I had to welcome in 2008 by myself. It's not the first time and I'm sure won't be the last. :-)



Here is Max later on New Years Day enjoying an Applebee's "Triple Chocolate Meltdown". Max loves going to Applebees. He pretends its for the food, but I know it's really because he knows he will get a Triple Chocolate Meldown for dessert, which is a miniature warmed chocolate bundt type cake with hot chocolate sauce drizzled over it and down the middle AND served with vanilla ice cream. YUMMO !

Happy New Year. May Health and Happiness be with you all year long.

Remember: You can click on any image to enlarge it.

Christmas Day 2007

Clair and Beverly came up from Corbett to spend a few days with us this Christmas. I wish I had taken some pictures of Clair in the kitchen making a fabulous clam chowder for Christmas Eve dinner.

The clams were compliments of my cousin, Steve Klock. Story is we ended up losing a can of clams (store was out of fresh) between the store and home so when I was talking to Steve's Mom, Kathy, I asked her to see if Steve had any clams on hand. Kathy showed up on our door step with a 51 oz can of clams. We were NOT short of clams in the chowder. Yummo.

Here are some photos from Christmas day.



Clair and Beverly after Christmas dinner.

Beverly helped Max unwrap his garden (see previous post) and Clair helped him put it together.

Happy Holidays!

P.S.: We would love to hear from you!
CarolWilliams@charter.net

Max's New Garden

With the weather so cold outside, Max hasn't been able to get out and wander in the yard. BUT, Santa did bring him a surprise so he can grow a crop right in our kitchen any time of year! Max was quite intriqued with that big box and was anxious to see what was inside. Here he is unwrapping the surprise garden. Did you know you could buy a garden in a box?

Right now we have a very interesting array of herbs growing including, Italian Basis, Cilantro, Min, Dill, Parsley, Chives, and Purple Basil. It was planted on Christmas Day and as soon as yesterday the Italian Basil was popping it's little head up. It will be fun to watch the progress and how quickly the "crop" matures.



Besides a huge variety of herbs, we can grow tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, various salad greens, AND flowers. You buy the little pods and "plant" them and they grow right in front of your eyes. Pretty darn cool!

Check back as time goes by and we'll let you know how the garden is doing.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas From Max & Carol

We've been remiss in getting Christmas cards out, so we hope this can serve as a way for us to send everyone our very Best Wishes for the Holidays and happiness in the New Year.

Here is a summary of our year 2007. Please click on each month's link to be taken to all pictures and commentary from that month:

January: After a fall on the snow and ice, Carol had successful back surgery to repair a crushed vertebrae. We were on our way to California about 10 days later. This driving trip to California was one of the most eventful we've ever had.

February: Spent the entire month in Palm Springs in a rented condo. Our patio looked out over a lake and fairway and it was fun watching the golfers go by in our spare time. Carol worked ALOT during the month, but it was a nice diversion to be away from the cold of Wenatchee.

March: Not a terribly eventful month, but arrived back home from California and back into the groove of "real life".

April: Besides celebrating Carol's 55th birthday, a trip to Memphis for some training with Shelley was the most exciting thing to happen this month. After two days of meetings, we managed to sneak away for a tour of Graceland.

May: Apple Blossom in Wenatchee, a new patio set for Mother's day and a nice trip to Wapato Point compliments of our friends Wayne and Susan Gerald.

June: Too much work kept Carol off the golf course most of the year, but she snuck in a rare came occasionally. Max didn't golf at all this year.

July: A 4th of July week-end four generation gathering when we met Max Jr, Jeremiah and his kids at the local park where they were camping for the week-end.

August: We celebrated Max's 77th birthday and spent an afternoon at the Waterville rodeo. Carol broke her left arm in a silly fall when she tripped over the lawn mower. That put an end to her run at another Club Championship. After much ado, very negligent treatment from my regular doctor... and a miracle meeting with a local chiropractor, Dr. Wayne Latimer, the arm seems to be doing well now. Seems odd that a chriopractor could be my hero, but he was able to guide me to full use of my arm again.

September: We celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary with a rare visit from cousin, Shirley St. Clair from Eugene, Oregon. We also enjoyed a quick trip to Montana to meet up with Max's sister, Connie, and her husband who had been RVing for several months.

October: We enjoyed one of the longest, most fabulous fall foliage seasons ever in Wenatchee. I revisited my sewing roots by helping Shelley make her Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz) dress as her Halloween costume. Shelley did ALL of the sewing but we cut it out together and I sewed on a couple buttons and helped with the finishing touches... and took their picture as they left for the party.

November: JR brought his grandson Calvin up and Jeff came over for Thanksgiving. It was a small, but grateful group who enjoyed my traditional Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings.
December: Chronic should problems have flared up and Carol is awaiting the prognosis and whether shoulder surger will be required BEFORE our annual trip to California. It will be a sad event if that does happen because it will mean NO golf during our escape to the sun. Too much work (which is a good thing) has kept Carol from getting any Christmas cards out to family and friends!


December: The cold weather has us staying inside as much as possible... and looking forward to getting away to some warmer climates next month.

We are most grateful for all our wonderful friends and family and send everyone our very best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Love,

The Traditional Recipe: Fudge

I posted this story for the last two years, so in setting a tradition, I'm posting again this Christmas Season. It's such a good (and funny) story, I wanted to bring it forward and post again. Enjoy!

We received this box of fudge from Amy & Troy two Christmases ago. This is the story of Amy's efforts to get the fudge just the way her Grandma used to make it. The note enclosed with the gift box of fudge read:

"Dear Carol and Max,
Here is some FUDGE I made from the heart. I was thinking about my Grandma and some of her Christmas cooking. I remember her making holiday cookies, popcorn balls, and fudge. A few years back I helped her make fudge for the family.

So…..in my infinite wisdom, I thought it would be a good idea to make fudge and put it in small tins as a part of gift baskets for both sides of the family and close friends. It was a well thought out plan with good intentions.

So here is the FUDGE STORY: (I am now convinced that FUDGE is a very bad word)I dug through many boxes to hunt down Grandma’s recipe book. Found the fudge recipe and scurried down to the store and bought all the ingredients. Everything was going as planned until the actual fudge making process began.

The instructions said to boil until it forms a soft ball and folds. So I kept boiling and boiling until the crap started to crystallize! I took it off the burner and as it started to cool it turned into one massive concrete ball! I ended up with this rock hard blob that adhered itself to the bottom of the pot. It was stuck in there so bad I literally had to throw the pot away. Somehow I missed the “soft” ball stage!

Round Two: I dug up an older pot to cook with just in case round one was repeated. This time I cooked the liquid until it started to fold and then I took it off the heat and stirred it for awhile until I realized it was getting very hard in a hurry. This batch did make it to the cooling pyrex but after it was completely cool it was hard enough to break every tooth in my mouth. I think we could use this batch as additional blocks for the retaining wall.

Round Three: I felt I was getting closer to making edible fudge. All I had to do is pour myself another drink and cook the liquid for a shorter amount of time. That should do it right? Mmmm…..well, I stuck to my plan of more drinking and less boiling. I took the liquid fudge substance off the fire much earlier this time. As it cooled I stirred, and stirred, and stirred. I was so confident that this batch was going to be perfect I added a bunch of expensive walnuts to it. I poured the warm fudge into the pyrex and waited for it to cool. As it cooled it was supposed to harden. I waited, and waited, and waited. It did harden some but not to the classic fudge consistency that I had expected. The fudge looks more like a soft brownie but it is edible and does taste good. I cut it up and individually wrapped the pieces just like Grandma used to do (which was an ordeal in itself that I will not go into).

Round Four: After a semi-successful batch, I got the urge to make one final attempt at the perfect fudge. I scraped the bottom of the butter barrel and used every last teaspoon of sugar in the house. This was it, there were no more ingredients to do another batch after this. It had to be done right. I thought about this “soft ball” thing and realized what that means. You drop some boiling liquid onto a plate and when it cools it should form a soft ball. That is the point when you take the fudge off the burner and start beating it until it “folds”. Brilliant! So, I boiled the liquid for awhile and then started making splatters onto a plate. They were not making soft balls, but they sure did taste good. I think my theory was correct with the soft ball idea, but I kept eating all the drippings before they became totally cool enough to make a ball, oops. At this point I was totally “FUDGED up” and just wanted to eat a piece of my creation and be done with the project. I got nervous that the substance would crystallize again so I took the last batch off the burner and started to beat it. I had used all the walnuts in the previous batch so this round would be nut free. I poured the last of the fudge into the cooling pyrex for the final attempt. This might have been it? Well, as close to “good” as it is going to get. It is still a bit soft but at least you won’t break any teeth!

Final Conclusion: I now know why Grandma always had drinks while making fudge. I learned that making fudge is no easy project but love my family and friends enough to attempt making gifts that are truly from the heart.

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

The Greenhalghs "

P.S.: Amy, are you out there? Are you still perfecting the recipe... or are you too busy preparing for baby Shelby Lee's first Christmas? Here are Amy and Troy fitting baby Shelby to her first motorcycle. Click on the image to enlarge and you'll see a full head of black hair!