First Week of December

Where in the world is Jeff Berthiaume? 

Jeff is at this posting, in Georgetown,  Barbados       The weather in Barbados

Jeff will be working at the The U.S. Embassy

Kathryn will be joining Jeff in the sun during this trip for several days. I'm sure while Jeff is working, either the pool at the hotel or the beach will be calling Kathryn.

This trip kind of makes up for the last one to Iraq. After this trip Jeff will be pretty much home through the holidays.

 The airport in Barbados.

Mary Agnes Update

November saw Mary Agnes (Ree) take on a Plank Challenge Planking Exercize

She initially started this with her daughters Kathryn and Sarah. At the end of the month Mary Agnes was the only one left. She was a real Trooper throughout the month. She started the month at 20 seconds per day for several days and ended the month at  240 seconds. Towards the end there was some quivering and shaking going on, but she persevered right to the end. We were all quite proud of her accomplishment. I must add, she still made her 3 x a week trip to the gym for her Total Body workout, Spinning and Weight Training. She is quite the active senior citizen.

Mary Agnes as usual has been quilting. She's made quilts for two weddings, one for two Doctors in Temple, TX and one for a County Sheriff and 911 Dispatcher. Her third most recent was for her best friend Linda Lataille who died March 12, 2013. Mary Agnes was with Linda a lot during the last few months of life. Linda was a seamstress and several weeks prior to her death asked Mary Agnes to make a quilt for her. Linda had purchased all the materials and due to her illness had never gotten around to making the quilt. Mary Agnes asked Linda many times who was she to give the quilt to? Linda died before she could ever say who was to get the quilt.

After Linda's death her husband Bob brought the quilt material and other sewing supplies down to us. The material was a Christmas pattern and Mary Agnes began the process of putting the quilt together. Once the quilt was finished she decided what would happen with the quilt. Since she had been left "Holding the Needle" so to speak she made the following decision.

The quilt would be given to all the Lataille family, and by Mary Agnes' decree, become a family Holiday Season Quilt for that family member hosting Christmas each year. On her way from NC to CT, Deanna Lataille, Lindas daughter,  was given the wrapped up quilt to take back to CT. The quilt was opened with the entire family present and renewed joyous memories of Linda in each persons eyes and Heart.

Lee Update

Back during the summer my Afib returned with a vengeance. After numerous tests, a Cryoablation was scheduled and I underwent the procedure in mid-September. At this point I have had no Afib for the past two months. The procedure did cause a bit of Lung and Esophagus irritation from the extreme cold, but I am now just about back to normal. But then again, what is normal to me.

For the past month I've been house sitting for a couple who I've worked for the past five years. They have a second home in Sedona, AZ .  They usually go out there twice a year and leave the care of their home and two cats to me. Buffy and Jane are the two cats. From this job I get to earn a few dollars for my toys, usually electronic. It's a great piece of property with 13 acres on the Wicomico river.

My summer job, purely a volunteer position, is as the Chairman of the Pool Committee for The Wicomico Yacht Club (WYC) This task keeps me busy from May through September. Me and three other members are Certified Pool Operators, licensed by the county Health Department to maintain the safety and water quality of  the pool. The pool is open Tuesdays through Sundays and must be checked for safety and water quality three times a day. We have a dozen or so other volunteers who help out with the inspections. Only the CPO can make changes to the water quality should a test not be within normal limits. This task keeps me quite busy through the summer months.

This past weekend The WYC had its annual Christmas Boat Parade. 

Click for more pictures. The parade of boats leaves the WYC on Wicomico Creek and travels up the Wicomico River for the two hour trip to the Port of Salisbury and a meeting with Santa Clause. Each year the membership of the yacht club collect toys for Santa to distribute to needy children.

The Pets, Maggie & Simon

Maggie, our Standard Poodle and Simon our yellow rescue cat are both fine. Will add some pictures in a later blog.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving saw us feed 24 for dinner, Turkey, Ham and all the fixings. This year saw our daughter Sarah working with her mother to help in the baking. Special emphasis this year was in learning the passed down recipe for Mary Haganey-Romspert's Shoo-fly pie recipe.

So

I've had nothing but problems with my Wordpress site, so here I am back to Google's Blogger.

Still a work in progress, be patient please. I'm OLD!