Merry Christmas from Jim & Judy

We had a great Christmas this year. Family is the most important thing during the holidays and Jim and I are blessed with a great family. Dawn came down on the 22nd for Kim's birthday and then went out to lunch on the 23rd with some of her old high school friends. But the best was the grandchildren. I read an old Egyptian proverb that says, "The only thing more precious than our children are the children of our children." I can relate to that.

This is a picture of the whole gang. From left to right is David, Dawn, Sean, Crystal, Sara, Caleb, Kim, and Donald. What a good looking group!

It seems a lot of the day revolved around food, and there was plenty of it. Here are Kim, Crystal, and Sara with the Monkey Bread. David, Dawn's husband, makes the Monkey Bread every year and it is always a hit.

Here are Caleb, Sara, and Sean. The picture may not be perfect but getting three young children, on Christmas Eve, to sit still for a picture is not as easy as it sounds.

This is Jim and I with our girls. I love this picture.

Sara and Grandpa...youngest and oldest (don't tell Jimmy I said that)

Here is a picture with Jimmy's mother, Rose. Pictured are 2 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

Merry Christmas from Jim and I and a very Happy New Year to all.

Christmas in Ocala

I just wanted to show you some pictures from the Christmas decorations in the "city square" in Ocala. Yes, Ocala has an actual city square and it is beautiful this year. They had a line to talk to Santa and a young girl singing Christmas songs and talking to all the children in line. The girl must have been a professional singer because she sure did have a great voice. The city of Ocala also had a "tractor ride" to take everybody around downtown for free. The Christmas Tree was really beautiful this year. It changed colors every couple minutes. Ocala is a nice little city.

The trees wrapped in green lights with red lights at the top are all the plam trees planted around the square. They are higher than a three story building. Notice that there is no snow on any of the trees. Oh yes, that is because it is 75 degrees! I love christmas in Florida.

Visit with Dawn and family

Jim and I spent a few days with Dawn and her family. David, who works for IBM, went to Australia on business. That is a 22 hour flight! Dawn began decorating her home for Christmas and we helped.

Sean worked hard trimming the tree...

...and he did a great job! It was the "most beautiful Christmas tree" he ever saw.

(and me too)

Sara's job was to look cute...

...and she did that very well.

Asheville, NC

Jim and I spent a couple days in Asheville, NC this week. We drove up Sunday and came home on Wednesday. The leaves were in peak season around Asheville.

Sunday afternoon we drove over to Biltmore Village, had lunch and walked around to see the shops. We were disappointed that the Hot Shot Cafe closed about a year ago. Jimmy's dad used to work at the Hot Shot Cafe and we always ate there when visiting Asheville. The road that runs directly behind the Biltmore Village is London Road and it intersects with Wyatt Street. Yes, the Wyatt family has a street named after them in Biltmore. Jimmy's grandfather, father and uncles all lived on that street. In fact the house that Jimmy was raised in is still there.


We also drove downtown Asheville which was so busy on a Sunday afternoon that we were surprised. Downtown Asheville is full of restaurants, boutiques, and art galleries. We even found one shop that sold all three of my favorite food groups; chocolate, nuts, and caramel. You could find almost anything downtown except a parking place.

View from the hotel room.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Biltmore East which was a great place because it was easy to get to anywhere we wanted to go. The view from the room was great and the room was very nice.

We took a tour on Monday morning which was very interesting. Asheville has a great history. Then we got on the Blue Ridge Parkway and drove to a Gem Mine. We spent the afternoon "mining gems". It was fun and we got some nice rocks. We had one of the emeralds cut and I guess I will see how that turns out.

View from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Tunnel on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a beautiful drive but the average speed is 35 to 40 miles per hour, so don't take this road if you are in a hurry.

Tuesday morning we went to Chimney Rock. We had not been to the top before so we went to the top this trip. Some pictures below.

View from Chimney Rock. Beautiful!!

Believe it or not, this is a mural done in the ladies room at Chimney Rock. It was beautiful!

No reason for this picture but to show you my HH (Handsome Husband)

Notice the "death grip" I have on the tree. I am not as "comfortable" as I appear.

During the tour the guide told us about the 12 Bones Smokehouse BBQ. It seems the 12 Bones Smokehouse has been named Best BBQ in Asheville for the last seven years and has been featured on Good Morning America and the Cooking Channel. Of course we had to try it. As you can see from the picture the building is nothing to brag about but we were assured the BBQ was worth it. You have to stand in line to order (no waitress), then get your own drink, find your own table and they will bring your food to you. Everything is served in "tin plates" . Well......the BBQ was OK but, for my money, Sconyers has them beat hands down.

We enjoyed Asheville and the fall leaves. I have to say that we take a third party along on all out trips these days and that is our Garmin. The Garmin takes us anywhere we want to go with no problem. We love it and don't leave home without it.

Caught a Bass

Jim and I found a lake where you can fish from a pier and actually catch fish. We went Monday and Tuesday mornings. On Monday Jim caught one bass and on Tuesday I caught three (3) bass. This lake is a "catch and release" for bass so we had to throw them back into the lake after we took their picture. I will show you the pictures of the bass we caught but remember all bass look alike when hanging from a hook so you will just have to take my word for it that they are different fish.

Fish number 1.

Number 2

Number 3. Not real big but still kind of cute!

Daytona Beach

Today we drove to Daytona Beach, about an hour and 15 minutes away from Ocala. It was a beautiful day.

This is Jimmy doing Physical Therapy...Florida style.

Isn't is nice to be retired!!

Westobou Festival, Augusta, Georgia

Yesterday Jim and I were walking downtown Augusta on the opening day of the Westobou Festival. The Westobou Festival sort of took over the old “Arts in the Hearts” of Augusta that happens every year. Don’t worry, “Arts in the Hearts” is still going this weekend, always fun and has good food. We had dinner in a small restaurant called “Casa Blanca” which is located in the old Whites building. The upper floors are now luxury condos. They serve lunch but starting at 5:00pm they become a “Tapas” restaurant. After dinner we walked down to the “Zimmerman” art gallery.


HISTORY LESSON: The Augusta area used to be inhabited by an Indian tribe called the “Westo Indians”. There name for the near-by river (now called the Savannah) was the “Westobou”…thus the name of the festival.

We spoke to Ms Zimmerman the day before and she told us that she would be hosting a “Whiskey Painter” so we went by to see him. I don’t know his name but he came down from North Carolina.

HISTORY LESSON: There are only 150 “Whiskey Painters” and Ms Zimmerman is actually one of them. Google “Whiskey Painters of America”. It is very interesting. All the paintings are water colors using some “alcohol based” liquid instead of water.