Author: Susie

Today we will leave Boone and head on old mountain roads to catch Route 40 which will take us all the way into Texas. But first… Stops in Tennessee to have dinner with friends Al who moved to a quieter place than Miami, and several other western places with our goal a small area of Texas called the hill country. We will visit places like Luckenbach (Let’s go to Luckenbach Texas with Willie, Waylon and the boys) and Comfort Texas on our way to the submarine reunion in San Antonio. So darlings expect to hear about hills and jack rabbits. God bless you today, Sunday. Look up and Thank God!

Today the church celebrates the Archangels Michael the Protector, Gabriel the Messenger, and Raphael the Healer. Revelation tells us that the angels were jealous of Jesus and jealous of "the new man" so they fought for dominance and Michael led the charge to throw the rioting angels out of heaven. Headed up by Lucifer… the fallen angels live on earth and try their darndest to fool and ruin mankind. We all have an angel who watches over us… believe it!

In the mountains… the woolie worm signals when and how long winter will be. We saw the woolie worm crossing the road and he has two black stripes near his neck and his "end" or "bottom" is dark… Karla interprets: "Winter will begin early and end messy." Meanwhile I woke up as buckeyes hit the deck outside our bedroom… Buckeye nuts are big, hard, and loud! That’s the beginning of autumn, Mark says. The sky has been cloudy over Grandfather mountain, and we have had chilly rain and this morning it is "lotsa chilly" so we are in jeans. As the south east watches tropical storm Matthew… Chuck and I will head out west in a few days and see how the desert regions "do autumn".

We talk of taking the dog for a walk in the park. Only the dog Jessie who lives here gets to go as the others can’t be trusted in a park with other dogs and people walking around. We talk of barbeque and sitting outside in restaurants where dogs are welcomed. It’s quiet here, "on the mountain." I wish a quiet autumn celebration of orange, yellow, red, and brown for all…. Look for little birdies storing up seeds or flapping their wings to head south… look for squirrels working busily… with my scant knowledge of winter, I don’t know what other activities precede winter.. But I do see a lot of pumpkins! God bless you!

When Hillary walked out onto the stage for the first Presidential debate, I breathed a "WOW" because it was always a "rule" not to wear red in business as it is aggressive and "not businesslike". Well I am sure times have changed, and red is now a power color… And red was Hillary’s color as she took on The Donald who looked a little quieted, drank a lot of water, and breathed hard. Cut to the end of the debate when the families came up and The Donald, surrounded by his beautiful family, disappeared. It might be that NBC cameras just focused on Hillary and the producer didn’t order them to also show Trump… He disappeared and Hillary and Bill were on camera for over 4 minutes with voice over from enthusiastic NBC announcers. Close the curtain. Two to go.

66 degrees in Boone under cloudy skies and walking dogs takes up some of our time. Karla is watching 3 of Brad’s dogs and her beautiful Jessie a sweet golden retriever lives here permanently. Jessie loves to be petted, so i have plenty of duties… petting dogs and walking exuberantly. Last night we cooked a lovely fettucine with mushrooms, garlic, wine and zucchini….. dinner with 4 dogs underfoot! Karla asked if I had ever worked in "this cafe" before, and I replied, "yeah, you learn quick how to not drop things and not step on the dogs." We have been eating beautiful food, drinking wonderful wine on the back deck, and walking up and down hill crunching on autumn leaves! I’m painting pictures inspired by the view of grandfather mountain from the deck using autumn colors, and all is beautiful. I ask the family what we are grateful for this morning…. dinner last night! the smell of garlic that lingers this morning, dogs curled up on our feet, birds nibbling at bird seed in the feeder. Lunch perhaps at Bella’s today… God bless you.

811 miles from home, on top of a little mountain in Boone, North Carolina, I am awakened by the laughter of my friend Karla and husband Chuck. They are sharing stories or perhaps memories of a 45 year old friendship. We take walks with 4 dogs (2 at a time) Karla is dog sitting for son Brad’s 3 dogs. Autumn leaves are falling already and it’s cool (in the 60s on the porch so we have a little fire at night on the porch). Thankful for always having a dog to pet… English muffins and the little crannies that grab the butter. Karla mused this morning that she is grateful that we live in a more enlightened time than the 1940s and 1950s… Grateful that people who are different, gay, other, are not arrested and given medicine to make them normal. We just watched a movie called The Imagination Game… A story about the man (Turing) who saw through the maze of millions of code possibilities and broke the German Enigma code with a new machine… British authorities tried to destroy the machine and fire Turing and his team just because the British authorities could not understand what the intellectual team was doing…. Turing brain stormed the code key and was able to guide the Allies with German information. It’s well worth watching and a little hard to grasp as it shifts from Turing in school as a young boy, Turing working the code, and Turing after the war is over. Stick with it and be grateful we aren’t so ignorant…. or are we? If we are then try to be tolerant and pray a lot for those who aren’t. Also on the same subject of the German code called Enigma and the machines that decode it is a movie starring Matthew McConaughey made in 2000. He captains an American submarine that captures the German decoder onboard a German submarine. Yesterday we went into Boone and ate at wonderful restaurant with the sun on our table (weather is delightful and sunny but not hot). We said goodbye to Sara, Mark’s beautiful daughter who spent a night with us… Today we go back out to a favorite restaurant called Bella where we can take "the dog" (but not 4 dogs…). Having a lovely early autumn. Hope the same for you! Some of us will be watching the debate tonight. Try not to let it worry you too much. God bless us. Thank God.

We are on the road again. Started today by driving from Miami to Savannah (I 95 all the way… easy peasy) and Chuck and I actually got a swim in. I like us to jump and move around a lot after sitting in the car for 6 hours 21 minutes with 2 stops for gas. I make sandwiches. Today was egg salad. YUM! we pretty much focused on driving as wanting to get to Boone tomorrow and have a week with friends Mark and Karla before beginning the big trek west! This year we skipped the National convention of submariners from all over the nation and all submarines as our Italian friends wanted to come visit Miami at the same time as the National Convention and go on a cruise and well….. if you know Susie like I know Susie…. Oh Oh Oh cruise!!! oh what a treat! But we are going to the reunion of the guys on Chuck and Rick Hartman’s boat The Quillback. and 2 other boats. So there will be fewer guys but the venue is river walk San Antonio! We are in a hotel on the river walk and I am sure we will do a lot of walking along the river. Been there. Done that. This year after the reunion we will head west to the Grand Canyon. I reserved a room for 2 nights on the south rim. I will write about the trip along Interstate route 40 which in many places is set on top of or right beside Route 66. Will also go to Alamogordo, New Mexico to visit friends Joe and Colleen who also have a house in Big Pine Key but they moved as Colleen got a great job offer on the other side of the world (New Mexico). She promises to show us White Sands and other desert delights. Will stop in Flagstaff to visit my grand niece Erika and her 3 little girls, also on heading home will probably go up to Santa Fe and take the Santa Fe trail and route 66/I40 back home. All this in 5 weeks as I like to be "home for Hallowe’en." I like to feed the little ghosties and goblins who come along our street in Miami. So… as Chuck and I begin our "Grand" Adventure we wish you a happy, safe autumn. Look up, count the clouds, birds, roses…. whatever, all made by God. And Thank God! God bless you!

Oh my dear. I am sure I have complained about Mother Nature before! With "colds" its a gamble whether it’s bacterial or viral…. the bacterial is probably responsible for pneumonia so we hack and cough our way into history like Hillary Clinton. Bacterial is hard to shake, and we need the help of modern medicine… and a lot of fluids and bed rest. bah! The second type of cold, viral, is just a wait and wait kind of cold. and hence the "let nature take its course" dictate. I think I have both. Through a miracle I was holding a place in church that our priest told me to hold. "Stand here and hold this marker," he said on September 11. "The children will sit here." "cough, cough, OK I said. Up walks our family doctor to hold the other end of the rope and unashamedly I said, "I was going to see you on Monday!" He evaluated me there in the aisle and said he would call in a prescription… Is that a God incidence? Thank you Jesus. So I’m fighting with a modern day drug called Z Pac. Let’s see if I can beat this "summer cold." Actually I got it by living too well! We entertained two families from Italy and England and 4 children and swimming and fun and then a big cruise with millions of children and boom! the germs I normally fight off or don’t encounter… got me. So… to all of us weaklings (oh? is that only me?) I say, get plenty of rest and drink a lot of fluids!

We are finally ready (or so the Mazda dealer says so) to plan our trip to San Antonio… the Mazda is supposed to be ready with new junkyard gas tank (can’t find a new one for Mazda built in 2009)… on Friday. Hope Mazda is ready and you will hear from me "from the road." I’ve got a few quirky places, things and events planned for Chuck who only gets… "turn right up there" or "turn left over there" directions and then, we have to turn around or search a little for the right place! Lots of blessings and happiness to you! From the lake house in Miami I wish you health! God bless you.

5 ducklings have made me their second Mum… their own Mum might be one I used to feed when she was part of the 21 duckling group who were watched over by 3 ladies (I called them the mama and the aunties…). I go out to hang laundry or even to sit in the chair nearest the door and there they are … looking at me! They open their little beaks in silence because these muskovy ducks that have bred here at the lake can’t quack (good thing as there are a lot of them). Beaks open they squeak at me if I am hanging laundry or ignoring them….. Squeak! I look down and there they are! "OK…. just a minute" as if they could understand me! and I go get bread or crackers! Rejoice in the beauties of the kingdom of God.

The lake is quiet and beautiful today and we sit in the "Florida Room" and try to think of someplace fun to take English friends… Miami Beach has been in the Miami Herald headlines as pools of Zika mosquitoes are found and new rounds of mosquito spraying is in effect. We can go get sprayed with deet… or we can go to Coconut Grove and eat at Monties and look at the ocean. Or float around on the pontoon boat… so many options for fun. Me? I’m still sick with the cold and I sound like maybe I should go to bed… or to the emergency room. I should research pneumonia symptoms, but I can breathe just fine… So I’ll say: God bless you! Have a blessed September 11 weekend and pray for victims and survivors alike. Rejoice, for God is with us.

We need to take our daily "temperature" and say "Thank you angel, or thank you Lord" for today I am "above ground and feeling better!" Yes! Thank God for the miracles of chicken soup and throat losenges from England. At Boots in England, we buy a wonder losenge called Strepsils that are loaded up with something that seems to put coughs to bed, and well, I feel better today. So time in front of the TV, reading quietly, and Strepsils, led me to say: "I’m better!" Now a day of quiet to top it all off and I’ll be "ready" again! Today in the church we celebrate the birth of Mary who with her "yes" to God became the Mother of God, and in turn, became our Mother from the Cross when Jesus said to John, "This is your Mother." Take her hand and let her guide you to the faith.

Well dears, get up! Get going. Pick up the piles and straighten things up a little. For today is the day to give thanks for gifts! Hope this is early autumn for many and that the rains and bad weather stop! God bless you.

Well dear friends, a giant head cold has put me in the easy chair in front of the TV while Chuck and our English friends travelled to Orlando to visit with Renee, without me. I am sure that I "think" I’m the Everready bunny, but NOT! So someone sneezed and I got it. I don’t remember being around anyone with colds; Hillary is coughing her way through the campaign, but that is exhaustion!!!! Maybe we need to take some time off and be quiet!

This morning I wrote a prayer to my friend Karla who is battling breast cancer, and I pray for friend Mary who is battling cancer. I fully realize that God isn’t going to eliminate pain and suffering because mankind did that to ourselves with bad behavior… at this point, I imagine God wants us to add and love children and expand our lives, and he wants us to be the doers who, individually, add peace, healing and love. He wants us to put out our hands and touch others and pray. Many people know and understand the healing power of hands… and many people know the saint proclaimed by the church yesterday… Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta who took "at least warm milk" to the suffering, has been awarded the title of Saint. She knew pain and suffering won’t be eradicated, but she worked hard to do her part and smile and touch. But I asked anyway… Dear Lord let today be the last day for injustice and bring us peace. Let today be the last day for human pain and suffering on the great scale we are experiencing. But Lord only you know what we humans can take and only you know what we need. Your will be done Lord. At least I can ask for the total remission of the cancer that struck Karla and Mary. Let today be the first day of daily gratitude for the gifts you give us. Today let us begin to say thank you Lord for blessings. Let today be the first day. Let today be the day I offer my hand in love and joy. Thank you Lord. God bless you.

How can each summer seem hotter than the last? Is it as we age, each year seems to heat up? Should we consider whether we want to avoid heat for eternity? Just a thought on a Sunday afternoon.

The end of summer means more morning traffic, school zones slow us up, football games can be fantasized over by arm chair quarterbacks, a breeze at 6pm seems "cool" and makes us say…"Ah! Autumn is near." Our Italian friends arrived home in Mestre near Venice and we are taking our English friends out for barbeque. Tomorrow we head "north" but alas not for cool weather, but to play in Orlando with long time friend Renee. God bless everyone on the road tomorrow, Labor Day. God bless America.