Mae...a good dog, a cup of tea and reminescing..

I was just reading thru my post of Oct 31st 08. It is titled "a cup of tea". I have been drinking tea everyday since 1980. That was the year we moved from North Carolina to the UK with the USAF. Before I go into that I must tell you that Mae did pass away in November 2008. Mae was a beautiful Dobie and the most well mannered dog of all. She lived a good life and was very loved by all. We miss her greatly. Pets are so important to us and always have been. We have collected them or rather they collected us as we have moved around.
Back to England...we first moved to USAFE Bentwaters/Woodbridge in 1980-1983. We lived in Ipswich to begin with in a house on Nacton Road. We purchased a springer spaniel puppy named Eyke in the village outside of the Base called Eyke. He was a handful! Very bonnie tho. We then moved to a beautiful town called Halesworth near Lowestoff on the North Sea. I loved Halesworth and the wonderful people I met and have treasured forever from there. Our neighbors..Gladys and Ernie were from London, in fact they had both survived the bombings there during the early days of the war. Sadly, Gladys lost her Mum and her little Daughter and her Husband all in one days time from the bombs. We had many talks about this and how sad it all was. Our daughter Annie was about 2 years old then and Gladys and Ernie took a shine to her. Almost everyday when they went to the market they would bring her Buttons chocolates and other goodies when they were in season. We had tons of cups of tea with them and went for many car rides together on the weekends. I kept in contact with them until they both passed away. We had many other good friends and a special friend named Mrs.Bennett. She also love little Annie and they all spoiled her so. We had a wonderful time one evening at Bungay at a medevial feast banquet. We also loved going on the Norfolk Broads and seeing the house boats. It was a wonderful time for us. We also spent many days at Framlingham Castle as well. We moved to the Base in Rendlesham Forrest and that was ok. I missed the villages so Annie and I spent many days in the villages surrounding and visiting our friends back in Halesworth. I also loved going to the Snape Maltings, especially in the summer time with the visiting artist in residence. We may have gone to Ipswich a few times in the three years but I did not like it there as I rather prefer the quiet village life. When our time was up we got transferred to upstate NY for 3 years (more on that later) and then back to the UK for another 3 years. This time we were sent to UpperHeyford from 1986-1989. We LOVED this area sooo much. We started out in Bicester and then moved to Brackley for almost 2 years. We had a second child with us on this tour and her name is Natalie and she was 2 1/2 when we moved to Brackley. I loved to walk down to the town each day and especially loved "market days". We spent alot of weekends in Stratford upon Avon and Oxford which is a wonderful town full of the different colleges and so, so much to do there. Natalie was in a play group and then little school as I liked to call it. We had many friends there and loved to go on Teddy Bear picnics and other trips with Natalie's school and Annie's school on the base at Croughton. We eventually moved on Base and lived at Croughton. We discovered Wales and spent many, many weekends at Betsy-Coed as we called it. This is not the proper spelling but I think it is something like Bet-ta-se-Se-Coid, or something close to that. We loved walking all the many paths and discovering a truely wonderful land there in Wales. We toured many Castlesand even had a weeks Holiday there on the coast in a caravan park. This was a magical time in our lives. I have been back to the OK once and that was from July 2001 until October 2001. I would have stayed longer but had to return stateside after 9-11 happened as my Hubby's contract at Mildenhall was cancelled due to the impending action. I would go back tomorrow given the chance. I love the British and Welsh people and the few Scots that we met. I treasure these memories, these bits and pieces of my life. The children, the friends, the travels all of it...none can compare. Dear God, Thank you for memories and for the wonderful people you have placed in my life for a season or two.

Roots

Today has been a day of reflecting on my life. It seems that we are always moving and you know that just take the wind out of your sails. I feel that I am settled again and for now and who knows when we will move again. After it is all over and I can settle and think I start getting rid of things or rather I find them a new home. It feels good to move things on to someone else. It also feels good to put down roots again. Maybe we will stay here forever and for as long as my forever is. Thank you Dear God for roots again.

strep throat

Dear Jerry is not getting any better from his strep throat. He is home again today from school, this is the third day he has missed. His school is so crazy about missed days and he has a hard time keeping up as well. I can only hope whenever he goes back that he can catch up. I looked in his throat this a.m. as he got up feeling dizzy. It looks just awful and that growth/tissue thing is incredibly toooo big for his throat. He has a very small area to swallow and I am thinking this is why he is so tired in the mornings. I think he is not getting enough air into his lungs and that is making his brain wakeup. This seems to point to sleep apnea for sure. I am pretty sure we will be back at the Doc today or referred to someone that can help. He also has the white pockets of infection still all over that side. These days with all the super bugs out there I worry about MRSA as well. I really did not like the dizzy thing.
We had a great time yesterday with all the kids here. Maddie and Wyatt are growing so very fast and Wyatt is talking up a storm now. Maddie is as thoughtful and imiginative as ever. We had a great meal last night and a true winter fest. Tomorrow I will go to Silvercrest to see Mom then to a meeting at five thirty for planning for new activities for the residents. I hope other folks show up too. Peggy emailed and said there is a nasty bug virus going around with throwing up and diaharia there which last for 24-48 hrs. I just pray that Mom will not get it too. I am very happy to be settled again. I hope sometime soon to get our bedroom painted and get rid of that deep rose color. Rachel suggested a robins egg blue/green and I think we will go with that. We got more curtains put up and that improved my mood greatly. I wish I had a designer to come and pull it all together for me! Dear God, Thank you for our new home and thank you for giving the paint folks knowledge.

Yes...I am still alive!

Suprize, suprize, suprize I am back. Dear darling Daughter Annie....midst of motherhood told me to just start writing again about this day and happenings and not to try and catch up. So here I am but....I do have just a tiny bit of catching up to do..... We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house on Lido Circle. We had alot of friends come over to eat and to stop by later for deserts. It was a wonderful day and the children had a blast on the back porch. We had Mom over and she seemed to enjoy herself with all the hustle and bustle there. Then Christmas came and we love this season. Every year Ed my darling Hubby puts all of his things out for a wonderful display. This year he out did himself and the yard was just...magical. Maddie and Wyatt loved coming over to play with Papa's outside toy land. Maddie and I played the same game each evening where she was the little lost girl in the forest of lights. She has such an incredible imagination. It was a truely wonderful season filled with a few parties, a cookie exchange and Annie's 30th birthday party. We just love December! Yes...hold those nice and warm cozy thoughts.....Then on the 26th of December, yes the day after Christmas we started the move to 343 Oaklake lane, one street over from Lido. I am sure we are getting older but I tell you this move took like 2 weeks and we are just now getting over being so tired! Yes, the Nuffer's just love taking their furniture on a site seeing tour and short stays of the Bluewater area. NOT! Anyway we hope to be able to stay here for a while. This house is not in foreclosure and the owner is out of the country indefinately! Music to our ears..... On Jan 14th, 2009 of this year Ed and I celebrated our 31st anniversary. It was a wonderfully quiet day and a time to reflect and remember together some great times we have had. Rachel treated us to dinner at the Cracker Barrel with her thoughtful gift card...Thank you Rachel! I am volunteering every Thursday at our counseling center at the church. I work with a LMHC named Theresa, she calls me her secretary. I am doing her billing for her to the major Ins companies. It has been a real learning experience for me. I still continue to cope each day with the Fibromyalgia. Some days are good and some days are bad and some days are really, really bad. The cold weather we have been having altely has been pretty hard on me. I try not to complain and just walk really stiff legged most of the time. Everything is in God's plan so I try not to worry...too much. We are all in this together....good, bad or indifferent we are all going to get thru this time in our countries being together. I love you all and thanks for reading about this ole Momma's girl! Dear God, Thank you for the pain we have in our lives, because the pain helps us to really, really appreciate the good times and the pain free days!