The Checker

Happy New Year! We bid goodbye to 2006 in somewhat of a blur. Our grandaughter Madison (9) was hospitalized in Chattanooga with pneumonia the week before Christmas and we went up to help with Mallory(5) and Max (1). Our quick trip up ended up being 9 days – but our best Christmas present ever was having Madison well enough to come home late Christmas Eve. She is still recovering at home under doctor’s orders not to return to school until further notice due to lots of sickness still in Chattanooga schools. We are just so grateful to the prayers and concerns of family and friends during this frightening and trying time – we have been greatly blessed indeed.

Today we woke up to our first snowfall of the season here in Highlands. Truly a serene and beautiful sight – with the snow continuing all day long. We are especially appreciative of the serenity it brings to our ever busy days – and are enjoying sitting in front of a roaring fire and watching the flakes gently falling on our “wildlife sanctuary” while dozens of our feathered (and furry) friends partake heartily of the winter food we have out for them.

Wishing you a new year of good health, friendship and family happiness!

With the “big day” just around the corner, we want to wish each of you a wonderful Thanksgiving – and hope that you will be enjoying it with family and friends as we will.

Our crew arrives on Tuesday, so it looks like lots of “help” with making the turkey and trimmings this year. Kate and Hoyt Hudson will be driving in tomorrow afternoon and the McLeans should be getting in soon after. All the girls have plans for shopping on Wednesday morning and since Kate and HH will be in Connecticut for Christmas with Kate’s family, we will even have a little bit of Christmas giving here before they leave on Friday. The big tree on the town square is already decorated and waiting for the annual Lighting Ceremony on Saturday night. Then, Madison, Mallory and Max will be planning some time on Santa’s lap to let him know just what is on their Christmas lists.

This Thanksgiving, we are most thankful to be having everyone here to be together and celebrate family in the truest sense of the word. May this truly be a time of sharing our blessings with one another!

What a fun October it has been – with a chance to see lots of family and friends! We are not deluding ourselves by thinking that they are all coming just to see us. It is “Leaf Season” and the mountains were ablaze this year in Mother Nature’s most vivid shades of color. After several seasons of “so-so” color, this year turned out to be one of the most beautiful ever, much to the delight of locals and visitors alike. We had company from Tuesday through Thursday and then from Friday through Sunday (or Monday) throughout the entire month. It really was great to see and visit with all! Then we started off November with a visit “back home” to Montgomery to attend an event honoring
WSFA and it was so nice to catch up with former office colleagues again. Looks like both WSFA and ASB are doing just fine without us – as expected! New ideas are good for everyone! Even my incorrigible staff in communications has managed to successfully win over the new communications director – and they are keeping him in line just like they did me!  Suffice to say, October was a perfect reminder of the fact that friends – the ones from times long past and those to whom we have just said a fond farewell – are simply one of the true blessings of our lives. It is so important to keep in touch – and we plan to definitely do that!

I just had to share one of the most magic moments of being in the mountains. This morning we awoke “in the clouds”. At 4000+ feet in elevation, we often find our view of Satulah Mountain is totally immersed in the clouds. This morning, however, the clouds were on top of us! It is really rather dream-like to be driving in to town and being able only to see about 30 feet in front of you. It caused everyone to take it a little slower and be aware of another of the myriad of faces of Mother Nature. For some reason, it just seemed quieter and more serene than usual, as well. When we visited one of the churches here this past Sunday, the pastor mentioned the blessing of living in this beautiful place. This morning seemed to me a perfect example of the awesome beauty of our new home town. Amen, indeed.

One of the pleasures of living in the mountains is the abundance of wildlife – primarily for us it is the feathered variety. We enjoy a multitude of birds who visit regularly year-round, with hummingbirds being a favorite summer visitor. However this summer, we have had another visitor – of the furry variety. Though we have not personally made the acquaintance of the Flat Mountain Bear, as he/she is affectionately known, we do have an autograph of sorts. Apparently unbeknown to us, at 3:15pm on a recent weekday, our bear friend decided to take our trash container off the side deck and investigate its contents about 100 yards away. When our next door neighbor called to tell us that she had actually seen the bear, we realized our container was missing. When we found it, the top contained both teeth and claw marks from our nosy visitor. Apparently we had nothing of interest. Our neighbor said she had found the bear on her back deck and he was HUGE. She started banging pots and pans and making lots of noise so the bear ambled off back into the nearby woods. Needless to say, we have lots of respect for our wildlife friends – and welcome sharing the woods with them. (However, we are now keeping our new trash container indoors – and our souvenir lid has a place of honor in our basement!) What fun – new adventures for us city folks, for sure.

After a hectic week in Montgomery with Hoyt finishing up duties at WSFA, we made a quick one-day trip up to Connecticut to be with Kate’s family. Her amazing mother, Deb, had passed away on Monday after a courageous battle with cancer for several years. It was inspiring to be with the Seymour family – what a wonderful inspiration they all are to us. We flew back in to the Atlanta airport on Saturday to await the arrival of our Japanese guests – Yoshiko’s husband and her parents coming in from San Francisco and Yoshiko and girls returning from Oklahoma City. How foolish to expect things would go smoothly! Here are just few highlights:

- Missed flight in San Francisco; re-routed through Denver; luggage did not arrive with flight in Atlanta which got in at midnight. Plane from OKC also late, but I took three Japanese girls back to Highlands to put them to bed by midnight; Hoyt and rest of group got to Highlands at 3am.

- Temperatures in Highlands for the week set new records – high’s in upper 80’s. We have no air conditioning. Fortunately, nights are still cool and some sleeping possible. Claire and children join Hoyt Hudson and Kate, who have flown in from Connecticut to see Yoshiko. Hoyt and I go to local B&B because our sleeping accommodations for 12 people won’t work for 14 folks.

- Still no luggage delivery. After five calls to United Airlines  – and five different stories – luggage gets sent to Asheville and driven down to Highlands. Delivery time: 2:30am. At least our guests now have a change of clothes. I am also now known as Mad Mountain Mom and all Atlanta employees of United Airlines quake at the sound of my name.

- On Tuesday, Hoyt drives one vehicle and I drive another to get Japanese contingency back to Atlanta airport to fly west; on Wednesday, Hoyt and I take Kate and HH to Asheville airport to fly back to Connecticut. Claire and children stay for remainder of week. We call to inquire about air conditioning installation.

In spite of unexpected challenges, it appears that everyone had a wonderful time being together. We are already planning a reunion in Hawaii (when Max gets a little older!) – and I guess by then we won’t have to worry about taking any luggage aboard a flight. We will just plan to buy everything upon arrival. Should make the lines shorter, anyway. Sayonara!

Our first contingent of guests from Japan have departed for their next stops – Yoshiko and her three girls are now in Chattanooga getting acquainted first-hand with their American sisters and brother. Her three other traveling companions are in Atlanta tonight ready to return to Japan on an early flight in the morning. After a midnight arrival here in the mountains last Saturday night, everyone got up bright and early to discover Highlands- including waterfalls, feeding the ducks, canoeing, Sweetreats for ice cream and The Toy Store, of course! The highlight of their second day with us was the complete failure of our community water system – read “no water”. That’s right – 9 of us with no water for drinking, bathing, etc. Yoshiko said, ”Wow, Mom – this is just like Little House on the Prairie!”(her favorite TV show when she lived with us in Arkansas 20 years ago!). Everyone was a really good sport through it all – thank goodness for bottled water and a nearby hotel where we rented a room to use for everyone to shower. The good news is that our new waterline was installed today at a new well and we now have water. That will be welcome news when Yoshiko and her family, including her husband and parents, return here on August 5. Stay tuned – the adventure continues. . . .

This Friday is our “official” last day in Montgomery – our moving sale begins and it is Hoyt’s final day at WSFA. Then we head for the mountains to prepare for the Japanese invasion. Our Japanese exchange student from many years ago is coming for three weeks – along with her entourage of 3 daughters, a friend and her daughter and another friend who will stay next week; then her husband and her parents will follow in another week. What fun!

After they all leave on August 8, I will let you know if there really is such a thing as “retirement”. I am beginning to have my doubts!

We head out this weekend for our final “delivery” of Montgomery items to their new home in Highlands. The SUV is packed to the roof, but we got it all in somehow!

The McLeans came through on their way back from the beach last weekend and we loaded a rental truck with the furniture that they are taking from here – as well as what Hoyt and Kate chose. With John’s great packing skills, everything went in perfectly and in spite of a great deal of rain on the way to Chattanooga, all was unloaded upon arrival.  

In addition to moving in this weekend, we also get to enjoy the company of Kate, Hoyt and Lindsay, Kate’s friend from Connecticut. We look forward to giving Lindsay the official tour, which includes waterfalls, Sweetreats, and the auction on Saturday night, the favorite gathering place of all Highlands visitors!

We will spend next week in Montgomery. The big “Moving Sale” of most of our household goods here will be July 21-22, then we head for Atlanta to pick up our Japanese daughter, Yoshiko and her family for a week in the mountains. We close on our house sale on July 26 and though Hoyt’s official last day at WSFA will be July, we’ll make one more trip back to Montgomery on July 31 to help with the transition. It has been quite the moving adventure!.

It is a good thing that it is cool in the mountains – we are doing lots of lifting, toting, cleaning and rearranging! It is a little more of a challenge that we thought to combine two homes into just one. We will be making just one more trip from Montgomery to Highlands with another full SUV load – so we’d better be able to get it all in!

We have now set up our “home office” – just picture us side-by-side on our lap top computers at the desk! Cozy, yes? We are in the process of getting our Lindal business set up as well. Our goal is to get it really up and running in August – when our first advertising hits the stands of the area magazines. July will be filled with moving in the last of our things and playing host to our Japanese AFS daughter and her family until Aug. 8.

Somehow, the word “retirement” doesn’t seem to be fitting our situation. I will work on coming up with a better word for our new lifestyle!