DWTS

Bailee and I are off to Turning Stone for a night of steak, DWTS (Dancing with the Stars), room service and nobody bothering us!  Our last adventure to TS was a Beach Boys concert. This should be fun as it's in the event center and a bit bigger than her last show.  Traveling with her is the very best of all worlds.  She's smart enough to navigate, old enough for meaningful conversation, loves the same food I do and will snuggle with me and we read a book or watch TV....and she always says, "I love you" before we close our eyes.....and our mouths!

Time to Travel with Gram and Dance with the Stars!

January Organizing

It seems January is the time to sort, file, discard and ultimately spend hours looking at stuff and organizing..at least that's what every advertisement for every store wants you to believe.  They led me to water and I'm drinking!!  My filing cabinet is leaner...unfortunately it's because I moved things to other places and not just threw things away. I am aging and therefore cannot bring myself to throw away what was once just stuff but is now nostalgia.  Funny how perceptions change!

One file in particular was labeled Fillmore Recreation, Inc. Awesome black and white photos of the beginnings of what 10 men thought would be a successful project for our community. Maybe a bit ambitious but for the good of everyone...purchasing the Dairy Bowl and bowling alley, building a golf course and a ski area and looking forward to recreation that was nearby and affordable. These men invested not only their capital but their time and manpower.  I remember my Dad going up on Tollgate to pick rock nearly every single night after supper.  Most folks probably think he just sat behind his desk (the very desk that I'm sitting at right now) and made money.,,,,,,little did they know.
He wasn't alone! He'd be joined by Larry Fleckenstein, Bucky Smith and others who would work till dark in a effort to keep costs down. That was well over a half century ago and I remember it like yesterday...OK maybe not like yesterday .......    I barely remember what I did yesterday but you get my drift.  Some efforts failed and some succeeded.  The last of their endeavors is still hanging on.......... Fillmore Golf Course.  To all of us on the outside, it seems that it should be flourishing. It sits atop a hill and looks over the green Owasco Valley...just like our Alma mater proclaims. Many folks say it's a good course.  Owners have come and gone over the past 50+ years, some successful, some less than:-(  Our wedding reception was held there and we had a lovely day....42 years ago.

The community took an interest and for the most part, participated as best they could...yet everything seemed to peter out.  It takes so much more than just interest to sustain ventures.  So many times a rec center for kids has been tossed around for the village.  Most think it's a worthwhile project but it never gets off the ground.  Our schools are really are rec centers.  Most kids are involved in some kind of sport or musical activity and the ones who aren't, could care less about socializing with other kids in a productive way... that's just the way it is.

It's kind of sad. Our priorities have changed a bit and our pocket books may be a bit heavier but our obligations are as well.  Fifty plus years ago these folks pictured below were no different than we might be now.....OK, maybe they're dressed a bit better, despite the socks, but they just wanted to have a great community that offered as much as it could to its residents.  These were all really good people!!!! and guess what, we have really good people here right now.  Recently, a student at MCS had a horrific accident and nearly didn't make it. The outpouring from our community and all of those surrounding us has been extraordinary!  When push came to shove, we all pushed with our wallets, our prayers and our hearts.  We are really no different than those pictured below.

So, somewhere, someone has cut out the articles, printed the posts and saved the outpouring of care. They'll sit in a drawer, a folder or a box for 50+ years till one January day, our kids or theirs, will decide to clean and organize because that's what the commercials have instructed them it's time to do. Hopefully, they'll "waste" a day reminiscing and trying to put names to faces and think, "Wow, we didn't fall far from the tree."  In 2017, our little community was pretty awesome....just like it will still
be on that day!

 
My Dad is speaking and in the crowd sits Grandpa Hewitt and my Uncle Barney along with many others who left us a pretty great little community!

11 months...WOW

Well today Mr. Jett Hewitt Hatfield is at the last of the those highly anticipated monthly birthdays.  I'm a bit prejudice but he has gotten more handsome and more lovable every single month (or day.) He is just steps away from walking on his own.  Life will change once again when he's upright and off all-fours. His house looks like Toys-R-Us from Christmas and his birthday is only 4 weeks away.  Maybe he needs gift cards for the big # 1 or even liquor...I'm sure liquor would be appreciated!  He celebrated the big 1-1 by sleeping 13 consecutive hours last night.  This is like winning the Power Ball of Zzzzz's.  He has been the most erratic sleeper ever and the gift of deep sleep REMS would be a welcome gift to all.

Party prep is in full swing and the next four weeks will fly by. The Mickey Mouse Extravaganza will be produced on February 4th. That will be a super week-end with Bailee's play, The Sound of Music, Jett's celebration and the Super Bowl.... 2017 begins with my favorite things!!!!

In the books...2016

Well it was definitely one for the record books.  Weddings, births, confrontations, acquisitions, departures, politics, athletics, ups, downs, and all arounds..... but we made it.  Hopefully we've learned a few things to make this new year better.  Things change and shit happens and it's sometimes hard for an old person to embrace.  Just being an old person is hard to embrace.  My Medicare card arrived.. that was kind of a WTF moment in itself. I filled out a Shutterfly survey and when it came to the personal information, there were no more boxes to check after 65...hardly reassuring.  They've started calling me from the drug store to remind me that I have prescriptions due.. untrue.....the bottle is NOT empty! I buy my birthday cards monthly and this is the year we all begin turning 65....hard to find a card that isn't now written in LARGE print. Conversations are now turning to colonoscopies, (which, by the way, spell check changed to kaleidoscopes...well kinda,)  joint replacements, cataracts and shingles...(and nobody's fixing a roof :-)  Looking forward often goes only to the next week-end and then I have to check my calendar to see what the hell it was I was looking forward to:-(   (See, I ended a sentence with a preposition and I don't even give a shit!) I'm sitting in my lovely, country home surrounded by birds that shit all over my porch and garage and I feel badly that they can't come inside. Weird cat ladies have nothing on me!!

The next few weeks will bring some fun as Bailee, Papa and I are headed to see Dancing with the Stars..hey, it ain't the Grateful Dead but it's music and dancing... Jett will be celebrating his 1st birthday with a shindig at the Fairgrounds.  I hear that Mickey Mouse will be spinning some tunes..should be a goofy time!  Bailee  will be humming along in the Elementary's production of The Sound of Music.  Lee will be flying off into the wild blue yonder next month for his (and my) annual vacation.  I would love to be on the in-flight microphone and yell "PULL" as they take off... seems only fitting!

For as much as things change, they stay the same. As I pick up the first mail for 2017, I see we have 4 tax bills, 2 insurance bills and 7 offers for supplemental insurance.. and a rebate check for scotch tape for $1.00.  Oh, where shall I spend it?

I must admit I am still able to sit up and take nourishment.. that being whatever and whenever I choose.  I have a comfortable recliner, a large screen TV, a remote control, TIVO to record what I can't stay awake to watch and a heating pad. Life is good!

Christmas...Past

Well Christmas 2016 is now, Christmas past!  It was good...really good!  Everyone was happy, healthy and humorous... 3 things I yearn for in my daily life. It was our first Christmas with Jett and he was a doll.  He had a big Walter Christmas on Christmas eve, Christmas breakfast at Mima and PopPop's and finally here for presents and dinner, barely a whimper and maybe a few sleepy nods at the table!  Everyone enjoyed the thoughtful gifts that each had given and received and dinner came together, perfectly timed and delicious....if I do say so myself!!!
We were able to get some family pictures which are always on my list but not always easy to take.  All 9 of us were actually awake and still smiling at the same time.  Pictures to me are priceless and I can never have enough. As a FB meme said this morning, pictures seem unimportant until the people are gone and they're all you have left!!!!!

On that note...here are a few from Christmas 2016:

Christmas

Here we are just three days before Christmas.  Our Hatfield family Christmas was last Sunday and we had a great time.. We changed it up to breakfast this year...Bloody Marys and Bourbon enriched Egg Nog beat out coffee....shocker!  We had great fun playing a new game with oven mitts and dice......  everyone was happy to watch and play...  We went back to drawing names and that was a fun change too.... Of course, having everyone here was the best part.  We'll probably never have the whole gang together as they are scattered from NC to Ca to Fl but with the help of our phones and cameras, everyone gets to enjoy.  

With the joy of having Jett to celebrate with this season we were also missing Aunt Wendy and Aunt Nancy.  We also lost a cousin a few weeks ago so with all joy always comes some sorrow.  It reinforces our need to make contact, enjoy what we have and live each day to the fullest.

I am so looking forward to Christmas in 3 days.  Our family will be here to enjoy the grands (Jett, Bailee and Julz,) drink a few bloody marys, eat a huge, juicy piece of raw, red meat and smile when they love their gifts.  We always have chuckles when the manly knife comes out or Lee gets his annual dirty joke book. 

We also have our day of remembering on Christmas Eve when this year will bring the 10th anniversary of Dad leaving us for greener golf courses and unending scotch in the heavens. He would have so loved Bailee's wit and intelligence and Jett's huge smiles and love of everyone.  I'll bet he knows♥

Santa and the Grands

What a fun morning yesterday.  The Locke Fire Department had their monthly pancake breakfast shared with a visit from Santa, the Cat in the Hat and even the Grinch...(no, it wasn't Lee.)  It was Jett's first visit with Santa and it wasn't the year of tears...(there's always one.)  It was definitely the year of wonder.. "I wonder if that beard's real?, I wonder who the heck this is?, I wonder what's so special about this stranger, I wonder if I can eat that?......."  As always, Jett provided us with priceless pictures and the merriest moments.  Even Santa gave us a great expression.  Bailee, who is "on the edge" of believing (I think), was astounded to know that Santa knew Grandma had chickens??  That seemed more unrealistic than the fact she had asked for a unicorn!!!  "I think Santa's a stalker," she announced!

After a great breakfast, decorating some homemade cookies, a prize from the Cat in the Hat and visits with neighbors, everybody headed home to enjoy some football, some shooting, after all, if it's Sunday, it must be time to shoot, and some Sunday relaxation.

This week brings on the lunches, dinners, parties and family Christmas on Sunday.  Let the festivities begin !!!