Hello, Kasandra!

This is a special blog post for Kasandra. I would like to introduce her to all my family and friends. She is a girl from Bradford who has been my friend for a couple of years now. She is mentored by Mrs. Chris Palsgrove every week at school, and I am their prayer partner. Kasandra keeps a journal in which we write messages to each other every week about things that interest us. Since I am away from home this week, we are staying in touch via my blog, which Mrs. Palsgrove will print out for her.

Dear Kasandra,
How are things in Bradford this week? I am in Woodbridge, Virginia, which is about 26 miles south of Washington D.C. My son Andrew had to travel to California on business, so I am helping my daughter-in-law Amie take care of my grandchildren while Andrew is gone. I'll tell you more about that in a little bit, but first I'd like to show you some pictures I took when I flew out here on February 13.
This first picture was taken out the window of my airplane. These are the tops of the clouds. Down below the clouds the weather was gray and dreary, but up above the clouds it is always sunny. I try to remember that on cold winter days when I am feeling a little blue.

My first picture showed what it was like to fly above the clouds. The next one shows what it looks like when you are flying in the clouds. All you can see is white cotton fluff everywhere you look.

I had to change planes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As we were landing there, I took this picture of a large ship on the Delaware River. I saw many large ocean-going naval ships and cargo ships docked along the river.

I flew from Philadelphia to Baltimore, Maryland, because it is cheaper to fly into Baltimore than into Washington D.C. From the airport I took a shuttle bus to the Amtrak train station, where I bought a ticket to Union Station in D.C. The train trip there took around 45 minutes. After arriving I went underground to the subway, which is called the "Metro" in Washington. Here is a picture of a train platform:

I went as far south as I could on the subway, which got me within about 15 miles of my son's home. He and my grandson, Grant, picked me up at the station.

I soon found out it was a good thing I came out to help, because all the kids had some sort of tummy virus. Each day last week someone had to stay home with me because he wasn't feeling well enough to go to daycare. This is Grant, who is 4 years old, looking out the window into the woods to see if he could see any squirrels or deer or birds.

When Jordan, who is two, was home sick, we took our picture together. She is really a funny little girl. She is two.

My daughter-in-law's tummy hadn't felt too well all week, either. So on Friday she decided to take a day off. She is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force, and she works at the Pentagon. That is our nation's military headquarters in Washington. It is very stressful work, so she enjoyed her day off. It was warm, and the kids were feeling better, so we went outside to rake leaves.

The next picture is of the littlest grandchild here. Her name is Keara, and she was born on July 2, 2010. She is Oma's (that's me) sweetie pie.

Last night it sleeted and snowed here. Right now the sun is shining and the streets have melted off. I sure will be glad when spring comes!

I will be coming home Thursday evening. I will be glad to see my husband Dennis after 11 days of wishing he could be here to play with the grandchildren, too. I think I will even be glad to see the dog, Sydney.

I hope you have a good week. Stay warm!

Your friend,

Teresa

Ice Ice, Baby!

Well, this winter just goes on, and on, and on, and on...............The first picture is of the top of the rail on the kitchen steps. That is about a half an inch of ice, from the first wave we had on Tuesday. Opa went mushing off to work, and said that he's gone in worse.

But then came Tuesday afternoon. He sent everyone home from the office an hour early, because the storm was cranking up for phase II. Another brief round of freezing rain was followed by several hours of sleet, which came down as what you might call "micro-hail" - little tiny ice balls about the size of the head of one of my small sewing pins. That lasted until after midnight, when there was a temperature rise above freezing. This melted just enough of the little ice balls that they all melded together into one glassy, all-encompassing ice sheet. This morning when I let Sydney out at 8 am, she slid down the steps, could barely get enough footing to do her business, and then she almost couldn't get back up the steps. A little later Opa went out to try to clean off the steps:

That is 3 inches of solid ice that Opa is chopping through with his adz. After clearing off the steps he gave up, because he didn't figure he could hack through the whole driveway and barnyard.

He did chip a little path out by the stump for Sydney. That dog doesn't know how lucky she is.

This last picture is for the wimpy mail delivery people in Atlanta. This is the view out our bedroom window this morning. 5 inches of snow on the ground from last week, 1-3 inches of ice from the last 24 hours, 4o mph winds, more snow - and OUR mail still went today. Ha! Our carriers eat little girly men like you for breakfast!

Other than the weather, there isn't much going on here. Grandma 'Carty is about the same as usual. We went down to Jim and Anna's last Saturday, and got to see Eryn take some of her first solo steps.

I had someone come to check out our bathroom and give me an estimate on having some work done. It would include new wall board, a custom shower (no tub), ceiling vent fan and light plus wall switch, electical outlet, medicine cabinet and lighting, new flooring, and painting the cabinets. The custom shower is because our space is a little smaller than standard. I'll be interested to see his numbers. I'm praying that the postal service won't close my post office before I save enough paychecks to pay for this.

We are in negotiations to see if Jordan can come to stay with us the first week of March. I am really excited about that. Then we'll try to see if Grant can come in April or May.

Everyone keep warm and take care. Spring has to come sometime, right?