Dropping Off The Books

Saturday, George called. He had been plowing snow all night and wondered if we wanted to go to lunch at Libby's. Lunch at Libby's sounded great, so we called The Ziters with Sandy...alias the great Sandini. George, Jack and I met at Libby's Diner along with Jason, Michelle, Adam and Nick, and Sandy who just arrived Friday night from Maryland.(not Sandy,she didn't go to Maryland, just the Ziters) I had been planning a trip to Chelsea, Vermont for saturday to drop off the SGNA books to the incoming President, Linda. As it turns out, Linda lives a bit over 10 miles from George in Brookfield. My plan was to drop the books, then swing by George and Laurels for a visit. Now that we were meeting for lunch, I gave the books to George and he dropped them at the hospital where Linda works in Central Vermont. The security guard let him into the office and there he left the books. George called me from CVMC to let me know the task had been completed. Another chapter over. In 2 days I will officially be the past president of the Vermont Region #63 SGNA. It was a great year. Lots of travel. Met some very wonderful and dedicated nurses. It was an honor to be elected to that position, to serve the Vermont nurses, who are the best in my mind, was truly inspiring and again a very unique honor. I know Linda will do a great job as president. Conrad, our president elect will follow her. So the gavel...er rather ....books are passed. It has been a great year.

Welcome Home Ziters

Ok, so, I added these three pictures after I wrote the blog, hoping they would come in at the end....but Ohhhhh Noooooo, even when the cursor is at the end of the blog..nope, these have got to go first, but, what the heck as they say, they are great family pictures and they made it to the blog! Hooray for that!

The Ziter family spent much of their Christmas holiday in Maryland with the Ziter family there. They had a great time visitng with Alan,Winnie and the rest of the family. They got cultured in Washington DC, had great rides on the metro, and excellent weather for both trips to and from Maryland. Church there was awesome for them as well. Our God is so good.
Now that they are home, we had a dinner and gift exchange here. In a couple weeks, they will be off for another holiday celebration in Brookfield. What a fun time. Tonight we ate, laughed, Meghan showed us her missing tooth! Peter brought two yummy pies, but had to leave early because he is feeling a bit under the weather with a cough and a cold. Just as I got the grandkids settled into their games, and was ready to sit and relax, Peter was pretty wiped out and excused himself for the rest of the evening. It is good he is taking care of himself. We saved him some pie.

Elana sitting in the antique chair

The travelling Ziters


As you can tell, I still haven't perfected the pictures thing. But you can be sure I am working on it! Here a little there a little.

Big smiles from Stacy
Elana eating lasagna all by herself!

We all had a good time. We missed George and Laurel not being able to be with us. George's work schedule uncertain, and if he had to work tonight it would have been a lot of travelling and a lot of money for gas. I really missed them.
All in all we had a wonderful time. Ben worked on a slide presentation for tomorrow night's Watch Night Service at church. Talk about time crunch. So here it is, very late. I am filled to the brim with lasagna, salad, pie and good visiting. Oh, and did I tell you about the garlic bread? Well, after opening all the doors and windows and fanning the smoke detector we finally got the alarm to go off. Fortunately Jack had bought rolls for those who didn't like garlic bread, so there was plenty of bread to go around.
Happy New Year! May the grace and peace of God fill your hearts and minds and souls. And may you know for yourself this wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth we have been celebrating this past week. Just get alone in a quiet place, and ask Him..."Jesus, if you are real, please show yourself to me." He will, He wants you to know Him and He wants to be your most trusted and best friend. He wants to be your personal Savior. Love (aunt)grammie Bea - times

A Visit With Rhoby

Hello to everyone from Rhoby! "Tell everybody I am 90 years old and still kicking!" Rhoby is my mother's twin brother and this was my third visit with him since I learned that he had moved so close by! It has been such a pleasure visiting with him. I must admit his hearing difficulties can make communication a challenge, never-the-less it is great spending time with him. He is very happy to be back in Vermont and likes living at the Retirement community. He has difficulty walking, and uses a walker to get around. Stays pretty much in his apartment, reading books, doing crossword puzzles and watching TV. I brought him some left over roast beef, potato, green beans and pie from our Christmas dinner. He will eat it later since he had already eaten by the time I got there. He was very appreciative. We visited for quite a while today. He told me about how he and his wife Cele met, how he taught his son's wife, Ellie, how to drive. His eyes twinkled when he told me he was the Best Man in Glenn and Ellie's wedding. Rhoby likes Ellie alot and speaks very fondly of her. He talks of his grandchildren Jennifer and Stephanie with the pride of a grandfather. Well, it was time to watch some TV and he started surfing the channels. I was wondering how many channels he would go through before he found something he liked...but he knew exactly where he was going! JEOPARDY!! So he and I watched Jeopardy together, and had a good time. He said he likes Wheel of Fortune as well and usually retires around 9pm, unless a good program comes on TV. Glenn and Ellie visit Rhoby regularly, bring him all his groceries and food and he tells me that about once a month they all go out to dinner. He likes that! As a matter of fact, that is how he met his wife, going out to eat! Rhoby went to accounting school then got a job at the Vetrans Retirement Home in Bennington. He liked the job because the pay was good and his meals were provided. One day he walked into the cafeteria to have his meal and he heard someone say "Hello, Rhoby!" It was Cele. And from that moment on they were destined to be together. Two months after they were married Rhoby was shipped to the Phillipieans for WWII. He was in the army for 5 years and earned the rank of Master Sargent. I had, in an earlier visit, brought him a picture of him in his army uniform. Quite the dashing young man! We chuckled about that. Rhoby has been a widower for many years and seems to have adjusted well to single life. He speaks postively of his current situation, is content and he does seem to like my visits. He is happy to be 90! Said he would not mind living to 100 to get a letter from whom ever the President of the United States is at that time! Such a goal! "I like being 90!" "I am the oldest one to make it this far!"

More Christmas Photos

Hello again from Northern Vermont - tis the day after Christmas and all through the house. Not a paper is stirring, just the computer mouse. Julie has tried and tried to fit 5 photos, in this blog for some fun, but 5 just won't go. So she gave up on trying, before starting crying and shrugged with a sigh , this techno stuff too high. She'll send what she can, enjoy them - hey, there's Sam. And in a few weeks, with some learning and tweeks, perhaps there will be photos galore. Enjoy with a laugh, smile, grin and a chuckle. So, good bye for now, Happy New Year to you with Blessings, Good Wishes & Many Kisses for one and for all.
Grace and Peace
Grammie Betimes.

Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas to all! It has been a wonderful day. Jack and I slept in... 7am is 2 hours later than our usual rolling out of bed time. It is still dark out when we leave for work in the morning at this time of year in Vermont. The first picture is one I took before sunrise this week, to get a glimpse of our lovely Christmas lights and decorated tree in the window. Jack and I enjoyed our early morning together today, coffee and Christmas devotions with Oswald Chambers, Charles Spurgeon, The Word and a time of prayer. Then, we opened our gifts here at home. Books to help us identify the birds that visit our feeders and a camping book will give us lots of fun reading and study. I have some very talented sisters who each made beautiful items to decorate our home. Jack, my Honey, got me a much needed and very welcomed new flannel nightgown, and, hooray, a new desk chair for when I am blogging, I am now in shear comfort!
A new coffee mug for the bus, flannel shirt and flannel lounge pants were Jack's gifts. Gee, flannel is IN in this household!
We headed to my brother Peter's in Burlington for a yummy breakfast of egg sausage bake, egg/ apple souffle with cinnamon walnut crunch topping and lime zest scones...and of course more coffee. I am on call, and as things turned out, got called in while driving to Burlington. Nothing too serious and the nurse on with me stayed to do the "clean up" after the procedure so I could join everyone for breakfast. Thank you Dawn, very much. It worked out well. I got to Clymer St. just as the egg sausage bake was coming out of the oven! George and Laurel joined us for the day. Ben and Stacy and their kids came, along with our good friend "the great Sandini" (Sandy). What a hoot! We had such a good time! Much fun and laughter. Once everyone arrived, we had a wonderful gifting extravaganza! The youngest shrilling and thrilling with their packages of toys and colored pencils, puppets and trains and socks and games. The older generation feeling the warmth and love of thoughtful gifts were well appreciated. Crystallized ginger, yum yum, from my brother will be savored for weeks to come! The kids (Ben, Stacy, George, Laurel, Sandy) went for a walk to the quarry - a tradition now - and afternoon movies on TV for the young ones(the videos are packed away since Peter had planned on selling the house way before now).
Roast beef and roast duck dinner with all the fixins, and pies galore was our late afternoon feast.
It was a special time. Family, friends memories and remembrances.
Sam stopped by and that was real special.
I hope this blog turns out OK, since I am a real novice and unfamiliar with how all these pictures are going to work. But I'll give it a try, hope you enjoy them. ...OK, so, I just checked out the pictures on the"edit" page, and only 4 of 9 came through. But they are good ones. I will do another blog with the others....H E L P Michelle!
Merry Merry Christmas- grace and peace
Aunt Bea....times

Nearly Christmas

Well would you just look at the dates! Yikes. Yikes yikes! (that is a double yikes). The entire month has nearly flown by and I haven't visited with you, my blog friends. So sorry. Right now it is very windy and raining outside.The rain drops are so big that they sound like heavy balls hitting the pavement, ground and building...OOOooooo...wierd. We have had 2 major snow storms already this month with snow falls totalling nearly 24 inches! It has been awesome. I have a real strong desire to get some new cross country ski equipment and just hit the trails...I had to think better of the idea, since something is amiss with my right foot...much pain much of the time. So, one of my son's has offered me his "gazelle" exercise thing to use...I can't wait to get it. I will work out regularly and if I can tolerate that - then I will get the skis. I need to regain control of my buldging waist hip and thigh circumferences...arms, chest, neck, face, fingers, and toes are in there as well. In the buldging category. It is just an all over thing, no discrimination with this body! WOW, the wind outside really howling. Amtrak just raced by. Did I tell you I live right next to the RR crossing. I like the trains, so does my husband. We get as much a kick out of watching them go by as our grandchildren do. OK, so it is nearly Christmas. All my wrapping is done. Food and necessary items have been delivered to their rightful places in preparation for the upcoming family gathering and celebrations. I am looking forward to Jack and I having a quiet Christmas morning together here at home. Just he and I sharing some gifts and a time of prayer and scripture. It is very special. Then off to my brother's home for breakfast, family arriving, gifts and a major feast! Thankfully that is the extent of the travelling this year.
God bless you all. I will try to have pictures to share.

Winter friends return

Our male cardinal returned today for a long visit. It is very cold, only 10 degrees above zero, and windy as well. This beautiful friend sat perched on that branch watching me through the window for the longest time. He would nonchalantly look over his shoulder at passing traffic, then look around a bit, then back at the window. We have his favorite suet and seed out for him to enjoy. He ate his fill and stayed and looked and even chirped at the other birds at the feeder. How peaceful it is watching the birds, enjoying their beauty and their freedom. Our bird feeders were heavily visited today by several different varieties. The cardinals, a blue jay, a black capped chickadee and another yet unidentified little brown visitor. Jack and I each have a bird book, try to find what each bird is, share the information provided and feel a special something when we are successful. It is neat. And we both really enjoy it. Gods creation, and much to be thankful for. Winter returned in full force today, and with it some special winter friends. Grace and Peace.