Seafood Fantabulous Feast for Christmas

It was an honor to be invited to share Christmas Day with Norma Pennie's family in Ft. Lauderdale.

Our hosts, Angela and Jeff Lyman.  Angela is the sister of Nick, Norma's son-in-law.

 Angela and her bro, Nick (Norma's son-in-law).

 Caprese Tree

 The "girls" ready for the feast!

Jeff preparing the lobster tails for grilling.

Norma with her daughters, Noreen and Lisa

Now, the highlights of the menu!  

Tuna sushi (Much to my surprise, it was good!) I especially liked the mushrooms stuffed with crab and lobster, along with several other appetizers.

Mac and cheese with crab. 

Seafood gumbo with steamers, fish, and shrimp.

We ate out by the water - a lovely setting for a Florida Christmas!

 MaryMay and Norma, ready to partake of those luscious lobster tails! 

Good friends and a seafood fest -  a great way to celebrate Christmas.

Golf Cart Caroling

The article in our weekly newsletter talked about caroling and I thought it sounded like a novel idea.  My neighbors agreed to come with me.  We meant to take more photos but were busy enjoying all the lights in our community.  Plus, it was rather dark ........AND rather chilly - 55 degrees is a tad chilly  (for me) when in a "one-horse open sleigh" -- er, open golf cart!

Yes, we will go again next year!

Light in My Hallway

Every time I walked through my house in Florida, I was bothered by the dark area I passed through near my front door.  I decided to do something about it and, on a friend's recommendation, called All Sunshine Skylights to install a Solatube.

It's a strange feeling to see a man punching a hole into your roof!

 Then he started pulling out insulation (which he later put back).

  A clever way to catch debris while  he works from the top.

Up he goes with top piece of tube in hand.

Solatube all finished.

You can see by the picture on the truck what was done.  Much to my amazement, this was finished in less than an hour and a half!

  Plus, it meets all the hurricane codes and is guaranteed not to leak.

Ta Da, my favorite part is the before and after!!!

It took me a while not to feel like I should turn a light off.   Yay for Solatube!

Friends-Since-First-Grade Frolic

How many people can say they've kept up with friends that they knew in first grade?

Lois, Sarah, Bunny and I were friends since first grade.  Dee and Lana joined us in 8th grade. (A few other gals couldn't make it).

Front Row - Lois Brown Horne, Mary May Angelil, (missing Bunny Spangler Turner)
2nd Row - Dee Sellers, Sarah Swank Kastendick, Lana Turner Hartman

We had an all day "par-tay" starting with brunch, a walk, a tour of Sarah's gardens, and Sarah's hubby, John, cooked us hamburgers for an early dinner.   Thank you, Sarah and John, for hosting this great group.

I'm not always a big game player but we played a game called Catch Phrase and we laughed so hard!  (You know it was easy if I could play it!)   

Never discount the importance and value of Christmas cards, emails, and a few gatherings along the way to keep relationships alive. 

FL Neighbors Visit Me in VA

It's always a joy to share my Virginia home with friends from my winter home in Port St. Lucie, Florida.   

When I left Florida in the spring of 2013, I had empty houses on both sides.  When I returned in the fall, people had moved into these houses.  My first reaction was,  "Oh, no, I've lost my privacy!"  Things turned out quite differently!  Both couples are so nice, friendly, and have helped me in many ways.

The neighbors on one side are Jane and Gene Pinson.  They are from near Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, which is about 90 miles north of my home in Virginia.  What are the chances?  (So many of the folks in Savanna Club are from the Northeast.)  Jane is an RN and got me through a very rough medication adjustment patch this spring.  Jane and Gene came to visit me for the day. 

Maribeth, MaryMay, Phil May, Gene and Jane Pinson.

The neighbors on the other side are Tony and Denise Francavilla from New Jersey.  Denise loves to cook and often brings me her delectable dishes, spoiling me to pieces!  Their RV broke down in Staunton, which is about 40 miles from me so they came for lunch.

Last summer my friends stopped by on their way to and from Boston.  Dick and Jane take care of my house when I'm gone and Dick can fix most anything.

Dick, Jane, and Spot Roy

After friends visit, they understand why I call this my "real house" and my home in Florida my "cabin." Whether here or there, I do appreciate my friends!

Willis Reunion 2014

It is now 2019 and I'm just posting the Willis Reunion from 2014.  Better late than never???   I got very involved and between my photos and the sites I found, this has taken quite a while.  Anyway, enjoy!

The Willis Reunion (Mother's side of the family) takes place every two years in the Culpeper, Virginia area.  This summer it started out that there would be five of us from Grandmother Freeman's family going but, due to various reasons (excuses? LOL), I ended up going all by my little lonesome self.

Saturday evening was the traditional picnic, which was held at Fox Neck, the plantation where Great-grandmother Bessie Hiter Willis and Great-grandfather Eugene Harrison Willis raised their nine children.  Grandmother Bessie Willis Freeman was one of the children who grew up there.  

  The house burned years ago but the farm is still in the family.

On Sunday, the reunion was held at the plantation called Presqu'lle.   I drove through some long country roads, over a scary bridge with no side rails, and through long fields but the place was magnificent.  It was worth a bit of dust on my car. 

Click here for a map from Culpeper to Presqu'lle.

It is about 15 miles out.

Presqu'Isle means "almost an island" in French. It can also be translated to "a peninsula."  This beautiful property sits in-between 

the Hazel and Rappahannock rivers.

 Here is an interesting 3 minute video about Presqu'lle:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icKGKiyRsxo  

 As you drive in, you pass the blacksmith shop which has the original forge.

The brickwork is original and rather fascinating.

 Here are links for 2 articles about Presqu'lle: 

http://www.presquisle.com/about/#top 

 https://piedmontvirginian.com/a-morning-at-presquisle/  

All of a sudden this lovely plantation home appeared.  It was built in 1812. 

The brickwork is a Flemish bond and the walls are 2 feet thick.   People traveled from miles around to see its construction.  The nails were forged at Monticello.  

The thick walls explain why it was comfortable inside, without an air conditioner being on.  The entry way is lovely and spacious.

The ceilings featured ornate ceiling medallions and chandeliers.

The grounds provided a charming setting for our reunion meeting and Carry-In meal.  The Willis family is known to be good cooks and it is proven every two years at our reunions.

Cousin Mark Ballard, who lives in Chicago, is one of our family history experts.  He is full of knowledge and I enjoy his postings on Facebook, too.  He's a ginger (redhead) like our Great-grandmother Bessie Hiter Willis and me!

This is one of my favorite photos
showing my cousins 
Jan Lu, Kat Stoneman, and Talia Moser

THEN

and NOW!

I spent my Saturday afternoon at The Museum of Culpeper History.  My cousin, Bill Freeman, donated the dress from my Great-Grandmother Bessie Hiter Willis.   It was  made in the 1860s.  I'm pleased that it properly preserved and stored to be sure it doesn't deteriorate.     

This dress was made for Bessie Hiter Willis.  Photo shows Mary May Angelil, great-grandaughter of Bessie Hiter Willis, and Pam Stewart, the director of the Culpeper Museum.  2014

You might like to review my 2012 Reunion posts:

• Willis Reunion - Sharing my Great-Grandmother's Jo...
• Willis Reunion 2012 - Unique Setting
• Willis Reunion 2012 - Exhausted and Exhilarated
• Willis Reunion 2012 - Ramping Up for the Reunion 

Norma's Abnormal Environment

My special friend, Norma Pennie, from Savanna Club in Florida (the 55+ community where I go in the winter)  came to Virginia to visit me.  She is a real city girl from Boston where they pahk the cah (park the car).  This was her first experience on a farm!


She was here a whole week and we did not take a single photo with both of us - for whatever reason!  I even had my camera and my phone with me.  Ah, what photo opportunities we missed!!  This pic was in 2012.


We went to a caverns, out to eat at the Bluestone Inn, toured various farms, toured Singers Glen, and just hung out with family.  In spite of being a city girl, she fit in wherever we went.  What an easy houseguest she is!

The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia is a little piece of Paradise with beautiful views in every direction.  

 Norma with neighbors, Lorena and Cheri, in front of their vegetable garden with a glimpse of Valley loveliness in the background.

Watching the milking and being close to her first cow with Lorena and Cheri.

Norma with horses.

Norma looking at 42,000 chickens.  There were 42,000 more in the house next door.

Maybe there were not many photos because we were caught up in living the moment!  I hope Norma will not find this to be such an abnormal environment when she visits again!

The Norwegians Come to Visit

My nephew, Levi, met a lovely gal named Jenny (pronounced "Yenny") during her one semester at the University of Mississippi, where he was in graduate school.  Jenny, her brother, Tommy, and his girlfriend, Britt Randi, came to Virginia to visit.  This was the first trip to the USA for Tommy and Britt.

Levi spent days planning so as to make the best of their two weeks here.  They went to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, Virginia Beach, Monticello, and wineries in Charlottesville.  Then they came back to the "farm" near Singers Glen, Virginia.

We took them out for a "typical American/Mexican" dinner at the Jalisco restaurant.  Tommy, Britt, MaryMay, Jenny, and Levi.

 Maribeth and Philip May (my sis-in-law and bro)

It was Levi's idea to have an "America Party" in their honor.We counted 26 people there, a real house-full since we had an unexpected rain storm annd had to move inside, including the garage, for a while.  Sorry, we were all so busy socializing that we forgot to take pictures.  Jenny and Britt had never heard of a Potluck and fully intend to start this custom back in Norway.

Britt and Tommy

Levi and Jenny on the deck of Phil and Maribeth's new log home.

Jenny and Levi as seen from the loft.

Levi and Jenny

It was a pleasure to share our life in the USA with Levi's friends!