Madison is always changing clothes and loves to dress up, mostly in her own clothing, but a few days ago I had left one of my shirts laying beside my computer. As you can see, Madison decided to wear it for a while and I have to say that even though it is rather large on her, she still looks cute as can be. You never know what that little red-head is going to be doing, but it will always be interesting for sure.
Rick and I were in our kitchen this morning and I was getting ready to leave for work when we heard a loud noise and soon realized that a bird had hit the glass on our door going outside onto our back patio. There sat one bird and just a few inches from it was another lying on its back. I just knew it had been injured so badly that it would be singing with the birds in heaven. It appeared that the other one was watching over it and was not about to move, even as I approached the door. I walked away and told Rick that when the one flew away that he would have to move the deceased one.
Well……I walked back into another room and a few minutes later checked to see if the bird had left and found both sitting facing each other, but still neither of them moved as I approached the door. I left the area again and then approached the door and the one took one look toward me as I snapped the first picture and then flew off into an apple tree. The injured bird was still sitting alone when I went outside to go to work and Rick came back inside and took a picture of the injured bird and he said it sat there for a few minutes later and then joined its friend in the apple tree.
I’m certainly happy that this little fellow survived its head-on collision with our door and wish it a very long and happy life in our back yard. I don’t know what breed of birds they are, but they certainly appeared to be caring about each other (Rick said may be young doves).
As a 15 year old Olivia’s dress style is not exactly what I would like, but she is a teenager and as such she will probably have several styles thru the next few years. Some of those I will love and some I will not be so fond of, but I will love Olivia, no matter what. She recently graduated from middle school and received some money as gifts and never would she think of saving some of it…it just might burn a hole in her pocket. She ran a little short of having enough to pay for these hot pink boots, so her mom and I helped her. They are not my favorite, but I’m sure she could have found something I would hate more. As long as Olivia likes them I suppose that is all that matters. Love ya Olivia !!!
I do believe that Madison got some of that “Cook” talent (and some from her Dad also) as she is shown playing her keyboard and singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. She loves singing and we love hearing her and hope that she continues to love it as she matures. She has 3 favorite songs which are “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “Jesus Loves Me” and “The B-I-B-L-E” and she can’t stop at singing one of them at a time, but has to sing them all before stopping and they are sung in that order. Keep up the singing Madison…love ya.
It seems only yesterday that I was holding Olivia in my arms as a newborn and being so happy and proud to have her as my very first granddaughter. Now she is maturing into a very special young lady and I’m still just as proud of her (believe me that will never change). Tonight she went from being a middle school student and this fall will enter the high school stage of life. She graduated from EB Stanley Middle School and will begin her high school years attending Abingdon High School.
The first picture shows Olivia receiving her certificate of graduation and the second picture shows her leaving the ceremony and her friend Alexis is following behind. They are not sisters or even related, but they do have the same last name which is Hall. Congratulations girls…Papaw Rick and I love you Olivia and are so proud of you!!!
Rick’s Mom (aka Nanny) absolutely loves her bird feeders and she has to make sure that her squirrel friend gets his share also. On our visit last week I grabbed the camera and got these neat shots. Probably no need to explain, but I will anyway…first picture, Mr Squirrel is saying something like “Dear Lord, please help me hang on”…second picture “Dear Lord, I’ve made it this far, please just a little further”…and third picture, “Thank you Lord, this certainly is some good eating”.
Anyone who visits this site already knows that my daughter Amy loves to skydive and does so almost every weekend and any other days she can fit it into her busy schedule. You also saw that this past weekend I visited her and Gene and we made the usual trip to the DZ (drop zone). Gene jumps for fun, but he is also making his living by working there…packing ‘chutes’, making tandem jumps and doing repairs, among other tasks.
Amy jumps for fun, but she is also a member of a very special team “Carolina Kaboom”…they competed in the US Nationals last year and will do so again in September 2010. The first picture shows the team photographer Tommy and Amy along with her team companion Paul as they get ready to board the plane for one of many practice jumps.
The second picture shows some of the work involved after the landing, which is to pack their ‘chutes’ to get ready to climb back on the plane and jump again. I am very proud of Amy and her team members and wish safety in jumping and looking forward to September when they come home with smiles for winning (yes…you can and will win).
I had several days off from work, so I decided to make a trip to visit Amy and Gene in Rock Hill, SC and as expected they did their usual skydiving for the week. With camera in hand I just had to snap away and came away with several great shots.
Amy had let me know ahead of time that Gene would be making his 5000th jump while I was there and I just had to get some good memories of that moment. Amy got several of Gene’s ‘jumping’ friends together and they did a big ‘fun’ jump on his special trip thru the clouds and down to earth.
Gene works really hard at the DZ (drop zone) and hardly ever gets to jump ‘just for fun’ and Amy made sure that this special jump would not be work, but a lot of fun. He is either packing ‘chutes’ or making tandem jumps (he is attached to an inexperienced jumper), or sometimes repairing equipment. Gene was really surprised when it was announced to all folks there and when he landed he and all his friends came down with smiles all around.
Because the jumpers landed scattered in all directions, there was no way to get pictures of them all when landing, but I did get the first picture showing Gene coming ‘down to earth’ and then the second picture is Gene, Amy and their friend Paul.
Congratulations Gene on 5000 and counting safe jumps and I wish you many many more. I’m really proud of you.
This is Olivia’s final year to attend EB Stanley Middle School and one of my favorite events is the Chorus Concerts. They had a fantastic performance at Christmas and last night we got to enjoy their final performance “Destination Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Each and every member of the Chorus should be very proud. I am very happy to say that Olivia got some of that great ‘Cook” talent and I hope that she continues to participate in the Chorus as she attends ‘high school’. Great show Olivia and I love you!!!
Appalachian Trail Days has begun in Damascus, Va and each year they have a Miss Trails Days pageant for girls from birth up to age 18. This year Madison decided that she wanted to participate and so her Mommy purchased her a beautiful blue dress (to match her eyes) and she practiced waving and smiling and blowing kisses for weeks. When she got on stage however, her shyness kicked in, but it didn’t keep her from placing 1st runner-up in her age group.
As a proud GranGran I took several pictures but because of the lighting and the camera zoom didn’t work very well, so I got the best pictures afterwards. The first was on stage and the second was taken outside and I have to say she is so adoreable. I’m proud of any and everything Madison and Olivia do in life. Love ya sweety!!!
