A Certain Woman in Eastern Europe

While the world was watching the historic Inauguration of our 44th President, (I did, too) I was busy planning for a mini-escape/break - retreat to the Bershire Mountains. My sister Kathi and her husband Mike offered me their time share and off I went! Because I knew that Pastors Marlow D and Paul B were in Myanmar on a mission trip (I was supposed to go with them) I asked their wives and my dear friends Tonya and Sandy to join me. We were so glad to have some time together!! We laughed and cried and prayed and played and of course....... Shopping Therapy at the nearby Outlet Center! We found great buys at Bath and Body. and eating....... - One night we had seared salmon and this spinach, blueberry, walnut salad with lemon poppy dressing - thank you, Sandy We also enjoyed a meal at a very quaint Greek/Italian restaurant in Lee, MA and even got to see a movie - "Marley & me". I arrived back home feeling so refreshed. The Lord so blessed us and spoke to us and I am...

"Callery announces bid for Fulton County treasurer position" My brother Jim is Johnstown 4th Ward Supervisor, former Chairman of the Board of Supervisors and is now wanting to run for County Treasurer. Since he has announced his intentions he has already received a lot of backing. This position will be up for election in November. You can count on my vote, Jim!!

I am just listening once again to Dr. King's famous "I have a Dream" speech from 1963. (easily found on Yahoo news and on YouTube). It is amazing to hear it today, knowing that tomorrow we will watch the inauguration of America's first African American as President of the United States. We are certainly living in historic times. There has been a very beautiful song written for the inauguration called "America's Song". If you can get to http://www.oprah.com in the next 24 hours you can download it for free in a Mp3 format.

Doing a little happy dance and entering your US numbers in my new LG phone on the Verizon network. It is pretty no frills except it has a great GPS system which I look forward to using for an overnight outing next Tuesday. My number is 518-332-5607. My calls are free after 9pm and weekends to any network, free anytime to Verizon network and have an additional 450 minutes per month. Pretty happy about having a US cell phone! Talk to you soon.

I am really feeling better :-) and so is mom. Thanks to all who wrote, commented and called. Got to shovel for much needed exercise :-). Wanted you to see more of life here. So here is a photo of my bedroom with my beautiful bedspread (much nicer in person) that my brother in Singapore sent me, my sitting room, the painting I brought from "home" in Hungary and the snow banks. We got a few more inches today but at least it is only 30F unlike Alaska which is off the charts cold: -44 in Fairbanks on Sunday. and -54 near there. That makes 30 balmy! And it is now snowing again. Oh, my address here is 17 Cady Street, Johnstown , NY 12095 and the phone number is 518-762-9423. Please be praying that someone will stay with mom so I can go out on a regular basis to get exercise (or find a treadmill) and that we both continue sleeping - it makes such a HUGE difference. The Lord encouraged me with this scripture today: 1 Cor 16.13,14 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be str...

I did get home from the WW meeting before 8 and got mom settled by 9. So exhausted myself, I slept in the lounge chair until 12.30! As I passed mom, she wanted to talk and she didn't act the slightest bit tired. I went on to bed and was awoken at 1.30 so I spent the rest of the night downstairs and mom called me to get her up for the bathroom - every hour on the hour (Literally!) She had all sorts of tales to tell me and every hour the story became more and more elaborate. The interesting thing was that for the previous 3 or 4 days she had a hard time stringing a sentence together or talking loud enough to be heard or walking without assistance but here she was from 1.30 am - 9am speaking loudly and clearly and walking to the bathroom unassisted! But what crazy stories she was telling and how upset she got when I "suggested" she was having very vivid dreams and imaginations. We did manage to sleep for a couple hours in the morning and when revived, she told the very same ...

We are beginning to see that when mom gets overstimlulated ie LOTS of company like on Sunday we can expect sleepless nights and hard days to follow. BUT, we are just starting to realise this. So this Monday after only getting up 3 or 4 times in the night, I wasn't surprised that mom wanted to sleep alot. She got pretty cranky when I tried to keep her up so... she slept. We knew she was exhausted. I was looking forward to joining Weight Watchers on Monday evening but had to keep dying to it as one brother (who ALWAYS visited on Monday eves started an 11 week Pitch leauge) and another was busy and one was working and ..and..and. At the last minute I got a call "ok, I can stay with mom (BUT you better get home quick!)" and off I went BUT I never noticed the ice storm we had that day, then discovered I didn't have a scraper, aaaargh but why was I crying?? Then another brother "happens" to drive up and rescues me by cleaning off the car and off I go. Well, on ...

Our niece Kari surprised us all with this photo of mom for Christmas. It is her high school graduation photo and was in black and white. Kari had it enhanced with color for the roses. (and blush for cheeks and lips - she sure knows her grandma!). You can still see the young girl in mom.

Over Christmas mom was longing for a visit from her relatives in Whitehall, NY and my brother Jack called to ask them to stop in and today was the day! Here is mom's nephew (inlaw) Jim St Clair and his daughter Jackie and her husband Tom. Jack cooked a turkey for sandwiches and Jim brought beverages and David and Sue dessert. Kathi and I got the house and mom ready. As always these days - a team effort and what fun we had!

Jack and Deb Callery CALLERY TAKES COUNTY CHAIR Johnstown 3rd Ward Supervisor Jack Callery followed in the footsteps of his father and his brother Friday, when he was appointed chairman of the Fulton County Board of Supervisors. Appointments of the chairman are for one year..... He is known for asking many questions especially at budget time, and for being one of the more outspoken and vocal supervisors on a variety of issues that come up in the Supervisors Chamber. "Our meetings will be a lot shorter with me up here rather than out there," Callery quipped after being seated as chairman. Callery joked that he had made a promise to the family to trim down his waistline this year. But the supervisor said he would like to simultaneously help "trim down government" in 2009. Congratulations Jack!

Meet Sage Fury - she will be 1 in less than 2 weeks. She is a sweetie and almost ready to walk. You can do it, Sage! Here is her Australian cousin Jacob Nathan - he is 6.5 months old and weighs more than Sage. He is an armful and a cutie! Jacob is not too sure of these "Great Aunts" Sage loves to play in front of the mirror. When she sees the "baby" she says "Sage". She is not just a pretty face! Great Aunt Kathi and our little "Aussie" *Kamakazi because this is a typical Kathi trip - let's go to Baltimore while our nieces are together and we will see the babies. We will leave by 9am on Tues and drive 7 hrs and arrive home by 7pm (Wed) New Years eve. Come on Mary Jill - this will be a nice rest for you! Well, it was a change of pace but a rest?? It was great fun and I did get to drive through New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. :-). The best of course was to spend time with our nieces, Meghan (Jason) and Lauren (Brett) and meet the babie...