Time flys, especially when I'm not paying attention.

 I am well into 2013 - This will be the first full week of school since only God knows when. (Shows how stressed I have become getting ready for semester grades.)  The fiscal cliff seems to be at bay for another month or so. At least my income tax won't go up, just my deductions for social security from 4% to 6(point)something%... Oh well....[heavy sigh]

I have looked over that calendar from 2012 to see what good things stick out in my view:  this is one of them. I haven't looked for pictures of all the stuff that went on. I'm lucky to get this finished before bedtime.

 When we took our "traditional Walls family fall vacation" this year, we went to the HIGH country: Canaan Valley-Timberline and environs... And it was fun, even though I was afraid of the travel (snow possible and all) But somehow, we managed not to alienate each other and we had a good time. Even saying that, we did not plan a fall vacation for 2013. Maybe we can get together for Disney in the spring of 2014 or in the fall of 2014.  

 Amanda and Todd tied the knot in May. What a wonderful time we had celebrating with them in Arizona! Trisha and I have some "firsts" - 1st time she was away from Zoey; 1st time we were 'rooming together' (I use that term loosely); 1st airplane ride since 911; 1st destination wedding  - and it was HEAVENLY - good food, lots of family (Joey, Uncle Johnny and Pam, not to mention new family- Todd's Mom n Dad, Mary and Eric; and, of course, Aunt Barbara and Uncle Eddie!)

Uncle Timbuck died over the Memorial Day Weekend. Aunt Joy is still working and looks younger than ever. She has a new cat - a snowshoe Siamese called Jazzie. He's ADHA, but he's just a kitten.

In June, Leah, Jay, Cassie and I drove to Virginia to see Rob and Jenny (and Alana, the grandchild.) We saw Monticello and the winery. I got a speeding ticket on the way back in Virginia. Or rather a failure to heed a speed sign ticket. No matter, it was a ticket!!!

I worked on finishing up some financial things- starting in July, continuing into the late summer and fall. Maybe in January the process can finally end.

 

Cousin Susie had her heart operated on in late August or September and she spend quite a while in a Good Samaritan rehab in Florida. She's back home on Timber Lane now and she writes often (She told me she had Thanksgiving dinner with Gene and his wife.)

Delia turned 12 this year. She got some medical attention for her migraine headache-seems to run in the family.

Cousin Malissa and Darrin tied the knot in October, in Dorsey Park in Morgantown. She is now Mrs. Baker. Tracy and Delia were in the wedding, as well as Mindy, Naomi, Billie, Audry and Cassie. Leah and Mindy made the chocolate leaf favors and Leah saved me several ;-) Yummy.

I went to the Millers in Marietta for Thanksgiving. John made a fabulous turkey (in the oven, not in the 'shoot the turkey into the sky outside oil' tank) Trisha made her famous mashed potatoes (with some lumps, just so you know they were hand made fresh!)

 

The World did not End on December 21st.

I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Millers. Festivities never end there! Zoey had her 'Barbie Christmas' and at 4 and 1/2 this was THE time to have it... All smiles and sparkles from that little girl!! 

We had another Christmas last Sunday when the families could get together here. Delia spent the next two nights here and we celebrated New Years by staying up and watching the ball drop - exploding confetti grenades, sitting on balloons and popping them, making igloos outside - (she did, I didn't) and wearing paper hats!

We all seem to have good health. And our bucket lists seem to stretch out forever, despite the health problems we see in our nearby family... Aunt Norma has been in Cleveland Clinic since before Christmas, and was operated on a few days ago. We are awaiting her full recovery.

I found this prediction somewhere on the net earlier this fall. We do not seem to be following this map. Even though I wish we would (snow days and all that go along with them)...But change is in the air!!! Even so, here's to another year of living. [clink!]

happy New Year 2013

Delia's giant snowball-snow cone

It's the new year.

2013

WOW - so many things have changed in the past decade 2002 -2012. 
I hope this year is a year of living to the max.

 Strange, too, that the calendar turns to the new year in January - mid-winter. I like new beginnings to be green, fresh, warming slightly and moving into the peak of comfort. 

Not so in our world right now - it's cold, of course, and damp. Even Gibbs is wearing a tweedy wool jacket on  my new NCIS calendar for 2013, preparing for a long, cold dark winter...
 

But the end of the traditional year can be blah, colder, wet and dark (unless it's been a good year - then we will all be on vacation in a warm climate with lengthening days..)  So - to fight off the misty memories of past years... 

Delia and I spent this New Year's Eve Together. 
  
We got a late start on searching for appropriate New Year accessories. 
First to Kroger - no party hats there.  Then to CVS, where we found the hats and balloons. On to the next best  store, RiteAid, where the silly string, popping confetti and those little noisemakers with the roll-out paper on the ends. And don't forget the candles, lighters, and lanterns to be used for an outside purpose...

Delia built an igloo outside while we waited for the new year to appear on the east coast. We watched ROKU reruns of Monk and we ate chocolate by the tons in various forms - true confession time. 

Zoey in her flower girl dress for Bill and Sarah's wedding (last year at this time) does a retake like the Royal family when she wears it for the Christmas program this year 2012 at Marietta High School

Then we got pictures from our far away family via the photos that take pictures other people think we must see. (And mostly that's true. ;-)

And so, you see - there were celebrations on the farm this new year's eve and we bask in the glow of the ball being dropped in various cities around the world - soberly.  And so, we begin another year of living (dangerously).

Pre-Christmas happenings around the Valley (1)

 This is my 'project' to make sure the substitute garbage collector can tell I've paid for the service. The garbage is collected at 3 am every Tuesday. the yellow paint is a waste of time and paint. It cannot be seen at night. But, the reflectors are very nice, if there is a light to be reflected. Now, if I only had a mirror ball and a battery operated light... and some reflecting balloons....

More Pre-Christmas happenings (2)

 I didn't catch the laughter that ensued when these elves began to set up the Christmas village but I will show you the final result. Maybe I can put it into the blog heading?

PreChristmas happenings around the valley (3)

 
 Zoey's Hello Kitty Christmas Tree goes up right after Thanksgiving.

Et Cetera Timberline 2012

 Random shots of our family vacation. There are three more entries that follow this one. Keep scrolling ;-)
 

 view of screened in side porch

 view of the wall Zoey balanced on

 view of top front of the house

 Bar in the great room with view of the deck, grill, and the door to the screened in back porch.

 The foyer, stairs - up and down, deer antlers on the sconces.

 In the great room, couch against the outside wall of windows.

 In the great room in the leather chair beside the fireplace.

Our girls mug for the camera.

She's calm, cool and collected. That's Dad on the cabinet in the hall.

S'mores in the fireplace every evening.

We did laugh a lot!

There was a goose on the table.

Overlooking the great room - the upstairs lounge.

Don't forget the stag over the fireplace. I did not get a photo of the bear soap, sorry.

 

Our vacation Installment #3-Dolly Sods

Well, there's no time like the present to post our family photos.
So here goes.
         This was our last day at Timberline cabin #99 up on the hill beside the ski slope, almost to the top if the mountain, on the other side of the hill from Dolly Sods, or so said the map. We had found Trout Pond, the only natural lake in WV, earlier in the trip, but it is now inside a private compound and therefore unavailable to the general public.
        The door to our lodging has a stained class skier and a big white tree as its motif and the house is called White Tree.   
         The house has three levels. The main level has a kitchen, gas fireplace in the great room, a gas fireplace in the master bedroom suite. Each level has bedrooms and baths. The lower level also has a kitchen and a wood burning fireplace. There were bear and deer objects everywhere: a reminder that we are, in fact, in the woods with wild animals. We saw deer, raccoon and heard other things outside...

 Zoey, age four,  is the only one I could catch going in and out to pack the car. She was a willing subject ;-)

 She is walking on the decorative wall outside our lodging. It was about two stones high and she was balancing very well. The hillside is steep here to the lower level of the house. there is an access road, grass and gravel, at the back of the house. Someday there will be houses built near this one - right now, there is only one near neighbor and it's out of sight to her right.

 Lots of decorative walls hold back the hillside. She is standing with her back to the east where we think the edge of Dolly Sods may be traveling along that hill top ridge from her right to her left above our house.

This is the view as we drove out of our Timberline  residence, White Tree, October 22, 2012. The elevation is responsible for the leafless trees; we saw many trees with leaves at lower elevations that weekend. But, the place was beautiful every day we were there.


          WV Historical Marker:  On our way out we caught this sign - made in Marietta and full of information about the geology of the area. The sign is somewhere in Canaan Valley to the north of Timberline I think toward Davis. Davis has a Supermarket - maybe a Giant Eagle. Everything else is small town and rural looking until you get to Elkins...

         US Forest Service/WV DNR sign:  This next sign must have been on the other side of the mountain. I think the Blackwater River is in the Cheat, Mononghela River Basin and flows west. The Potomac, of course, flows east toward the Chesapeake Bay. This makes sense if you know that Dolly Sods is on the Allegheny Front which is the mountainous area that faces east toward Virginia and edges the Chesapeake basin.

 I needed this sign to prove we were going the right direction. I could not remember the scenery as we drove - (THIRTY YEARS IN THE PAST, COME ON...GIVE ME A BREAK) Later, I did discover we had driven into the Sods from an entirely different direction.

We drove through rural WV and finally got to the plateau past these signs. then we saw the rocks that make this place memorable.

 And its not just the rocks, its the trees, with the branches on one side -the wind blows constantly and powerfully here -- all the time.

 There are hiking trails, not well marked. One can get lost here for a short time. But one can walk for a long way without being out of sight of one's car. Daddy thought Zoey needed more protection from the cold wind. He likes the cold, but she didn't bring a coat.

 We all needed time out of the car.

We are not yet to the Roaring Plains, but the plateau effect is visible everywhere.

This is the Roaring Plains - see the edge of the glacier push? It's the row of stones.

these are the famous trees caught in the constant wind.

This is the view from the end of the glacier push. we are looking toward the south.

More rocks and trees (out of order, I think)

 Our trusty chariot, with the 4 wheel drive, at the end of the Sods. After 30 years the wind filled the cracks in the rocks with soil and vegetation. It doesn't look like I remember. I wish I had some pictures of the place in the 1970's... Here is the place my memory stick was filled up.

 

Trisha is up there in those rocks with Zoey. I could see her with her red scarf, but she kept moving out of the photo. And so it goes.

The road off the plateau is in the middle of this photo, too.  Next stop, Seneca Rocks, Yoakum's store, then on to Elkins and linner at CJ Maggie's. Then home.