Kathy from Valrico, Florida, USA

Hi Kathy, Just dropping by to let you know that I've found your comment on my son's family picture. It brought a smile to my face, because that is one of my favorite pictures and for the same reason...the pose. The photographer is very smart suggesting poses that are bound to be grand moms everywhere favorites! Give my best to Rob and a big hug to Ebony. Have a great summer...hope the weather will be great.

Hi Kathy: Checking up on Ebony's health. Hope she is improving.
Nitro continues making himself at home. We found out he LOVES to go for car rides. As soon as he sees Jim with the seatbelt he comes and sits. He jumps in the car and onto the seat. He is turning out to be the perfect companion. I really believe Rocko sent him to take care of us.

Hi there Kathy
and thank you for your greetings. It's all too true that I haven't been indulging in the sudoku pages much this year, but I do think about you and the others quite often! 2007 has been full of my mum's move into a nursing home, a shift to a different campus for my job, a tribunal hearing on an unfortunate development over the road, a 16y.o. daughter moving too fast (for me!) into adulthood, and a mountain of other things, and the luxury of doodling at the computer before bedtime just hasn't been happening like it did. But I shall continue to visit from time to time, tho I confess to feeling a bit intimidated by all the avatars and fancy smilies that I have no idea how to create?! I hope 2007 is treating you and yours well Kathy. cheers~!

Thanks, Kathy, for the lovely welcome. What a gorgeous family you have! And your Ebony appears to be everything a dog should be--what a sweet and charming face and entrancing expression.

Hi Kathy; Have not been able to open my e-mail (it's a bit late) Hope Ebony is doing better. Perhaps her lack of enthusiasm is due to the discomfort of the skin problem.
Give her a great big hug from us.

I live in Kalispell. It's in the northwest corner of the state. I can look out my window and see Glacier Park. It's a beautiful place to raise a family.

I have relatives that live in Dillon, too. What a small world we live in! Lilacs are one of my favorite flowers as well.

I've only been to Florida once. We took our three girls to Disney World last February. It was amazing. Of course, a hurricane blew through when we were there. It didn't miss us by much! We promised our girls that we would do it again when they got a little older. Our youngest was five at the time and didn't get to go on all the rides. But, that didn't stop her from having fun.

Hi Kathy, and thanks for the visit! Glad you could at least have a browse--too bad about the enlargement issue. Flickr was giving me grief, and as you can see, I'm still avatar-less (don't even ask). All the resizing and such made me batty. One of these days, I'll become proficient and wonder what all the fuss was about, but right now, I'm still boggled. Give Ebony a big rub for me--hope your lovely doggie is doing well.

Me again (what an idiot I am). You asked about our anniversary. On August 7th, we'll celebrate our big 25th. (This after a whirlwind 8 1/2 year courtship ...) I'm a lucky lady. My husband's a real gem.

Hi Kathy - It is always good to hear from you. I was so excited when I thought I would finally get to meet you face to face. The day will come and I know it.

I have had a rough week. I fell on my right elbow and shoulder yesterday. It hurt! I was climbing onto my husbands motorcycle. We had gone for a nice ride before the heat of the day and stopped for icecream. When I was climbing back on, my foot slipped off the peg and down I went! My husband took me into the doctor and I have no broken bones. (Thank goodness) We are trying to get packed for Virginia. We are leaving early Saturday morning. I hurt the same shoulder last year climbing up onto a quad runner we bought for my husband's retirement party! I hate to admit it, but I think I am growing older.

My birthday is August 10. I had posted it last Fall, but it must be lost by the wayside! My oldest daughter, Angi, was born August 5, so we will celebrate birthdays tomorrow night. My DIL's birthday is August 11, but she and my son are on vacation this week. Usually we celebrate the three birthdays together, but it just didn't work out that way this year.

If our children don't need us here at home, we may stay 4 or 5 weeks in Virginia. We have a friend who is willing to rent a house to us reasonably. I don't know if I will have a chance to get on this web site. I hope to go to the local library and try!

I haven't talked to my mom and dad in almost a week. They were getting little showers everyday a week ago, but nothing big. My dad hadn't tried to hook up his well to water his lawn. He didn't feel they had had enough rain yet.

We could sure use some rain up here. Everyone's lawn is brown/tan/green. It is amazing how the weeds are so green! Rick watered our ornamental trees in the front yard today. They were looking stressed.

I hope all is well with you and your family, and Ebony too!

Dear Kathy - Thank you, so much, for your kindness! We hope to retire in Virginia in a few years. We bought property down there 17 years ago! We are off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Old Time Fiddlers Convention starts on Sunday. They have lots of activities going on in town during that week. We are looking forward to it. I got to get my fiddle arm healed! It is the arm that does the bow work! Any way, if we do move to Virginia, we will be one day closer to Florida! If you look at a Virginia map, our mailing address will be Fancy Gap. It is on I-77 just north of the North Carolina state line.

I will do my best to keep in touch! Thanks again for the Birthday wishes!

Oh yes, there is a town wide Flea Market in Hillsville on Labor Day week-end. We have never been there for that. We were hoping maybe we could hit it this year. Time will tell.

Hi Kathy,
Thank you for visiting my page. I have been looking at all the great photos of your family. It is so nice to be able to make so many friends and see all their photos. I will have to pick out a few of the ones from our holiday and put them on my page but a lot of other jobs to get done before that.
We have not been to Florida. It is a bit cooler here today but yesterday was a warm 22c winters day.

Hi Kathy - you posted on my page WAYYYYYYY back on 25th. So sorry I haven't responded - I don't seem to be getting the little message that used to flash up when someone visits your page any more. I only have 1 daughter and I have a Son. My SOn's name is Ashley (therein lies the confusion) and he's 9 and my daughter (Caitlin) is 7.

Kathy - It looks like everyone has gone away to wait for the new day's page to start, but I just wanted to let you know how happy I am to hear that Ebony is doing so well! I'm also glad to hear you had a chance to meet some other sudokuists. One of these days I will be driving down to visit friends in Sanibel and Ft. Myers Beach and would love to have a chance to meet you for lunch or whatever! (It just occurred to me that I should be posting this message to your page, so I'll do that via 'copy and paste'). Cheers! Jane

Kathy, thanks so much for stopping by my new page. I've been working on it, trying to figure out how to add pictures, etc.

We leave for Australia in two weeks. We are going on our own and plan to visit Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Cairns, Ayers Rock, Tasmania, and New Zealand (south island only). It will be a combination fly/drive trip. We've got a car booked to drive to the Blue Mountains, Tasmania, and New Zealand.

Do drop by once in a while. I'd love to chat!

Cheers.

G'day Kathy, Thanks so much for your acknowledgment about my Helen Keller quote. Her words have always meant a lot to me as both my children are deaf and so is my son-in-law, although unlike Helen, they are not blind. Nothing has stopped them though and they are all very clever, enterprising people. Cheers, Tree Sheila (Kate)

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for the birthday wishes. We had a great time with Judy and her husband. Unfortunately, we don't fish but they were ready for a break from fishing by the time we arrived. I posted a few photos from our visit. They will probably appear in a couple of months on 'easy'.

hello Kathy! it's been a hectic couple of weeks. it's hot, hot, hot here. the heat index has kept the temps in the 3-digits. i don't mind since i mostly stay in the AC, but hubby is having a hard time, since he's been out in the plant.

we've also started a new diet (nutri-systems) and it has taken a lot of shopping and planning to do it, but it seems to be working. it's not as easy as the TV commercials make it sound. 'just eat our food and lose weight' NOT. eat their food and add lots of fruit and veggies - just a lot of food to get down.

is everything under control now with Ebony? the picture looks like eeryone had a great time at the beach. so glad y'all got together.

thanks for stopping by!

ps the 'black' square is supposed to be blue, green and red plaid. it is our clan plaid

ps again - all my plants are in pots and travel with us. the tomato just doesn't do well. i haven't figured out how to grow them in hot weather.

I'm glad you...started to post this on my page but realized you'd probably never find it...visited my page. Actually, I'm a Moundbuilder. Bet you've never heard of that one. I've been to Lawrence once in my life and didn't leave anything behind. My oldest son graduated K-State with two degrees so I guess I'd have to be a secondary Cat Backer. I have thoroughly enjoyed the fun to be had here with all the interesting people that show up.

Chalkboard and I exchanged back and forth a few times. Her parents lived 10 or 15 miles North of here and her Grandmother lived on the North edge of town. I helped her remember a few landmarks and recall a few commonly known individuals. Small world, isn't it?

Thanks for the birthday wishes Kathy (and it's fine to call me Mel! the site wouldn't accept my name again so had to change it!) Had a brilliant day - feels great to be 21 again!

Great You Tube Kathy. You should post it on the clips page so it is available for a long time. And that is quite the clan in your beach photo, especially the bodyless head!

Welcome back Kathy! What an awesome video! Thank you so much.

Kathy, I enjoyed the video and wanted to suggest that you add it to he clips page, just as I did paintjam...it will be able to be seen by others for a long time...that's what I wanted to say, and reading above, I see that CG beat me to the punch. Oh well, What can I say,great minds and all of that...lol

Kathy the video was brilliant best Monkey ever!
I had a wonderful time in Spain and hopefully will be back there in a few weeks time for more rest and relaxation. Hope you enjoyed your time with the family, its a beautiful photograph. Lovely to see the family together xx

Thank you Kathy, my hubby and I enjoyed the monkey video immensely. In fact, hubby needed a tissue after it, he was laughing so hard!

Kathy, I'm happy that you put the video onto the clips page,now lots of folks can enjoy it. I knew you would be able to get it done!...Go girl...lol!

Hi Kathy...thanks for your visit...yes, I live in Hobart, Tasmania...the photos were taken from my front garden on the Eastern Shore looking across the River Derwent towards Mount Wellington. I know Scott St. Glebe, where you stayed. For the last two days, the mountain has been snow covered and is a very pretty sight, although the weather here is cold and the view is best enjoyed through the window! But...Spring is on the way and with any luck I'll get back to fishing (my favourite pastime) in 3-4 weeks. Nice to hear from you again.

Thank you Cathy for the very kind birthday wishes and cake!! I am so far having a great day. My husband bought me an ipod and my sister-in-law has paid for a course in photoshop for me. I have just got back into taking photos and all my family think I should be doing something with it.... not sure what but it is nice that they like what I do. Chat to you again soon.

Hello Kathy - So I share my birthday with Eden? How special! Thank you for the birthday wishes. My oldest daughter is on the 5th and my DIL is on the 11th. Busy month. We had a great trip down here. The traffic was very light. I think the gas prices have kept people home this year. We went down to North Carolina this past Thursday and it was 103 (F). It was very hot. I don't know if the thermometer in my van ever read that high! It is so beautiful here! We are renting a house from a friend and it is very nice.

Kathy:
What a nice note from a neighbor. So you have grandchildren (we must be close in age) - have you lived in Valrico long? I grew up in Brandon (elementary, jr/hi school too). Maybe we know each other?

Kathy I was in a place called Calahonda which is just outside Marbella. I have an apartment on top of a hill with the most beautiful views, the mountains, the sea and Gibraltar. Its lovely to go there and just relax off for the whole time. Hopefully I go back there in September for a long weekend x

Hi Kathy:
Love the pic of the puppy, btw. We have a Lab and I wouldn't know what to do without her (although the first 3 years were hell), her name is Karma (and yes, it was bad Karma for a time there).

I moved to Brandon when I was six and, if you can imagine, when there was only 1 traffic light (Kings and 60) - I saw a lot of changes - it became so congested that I moved to Carrollwood while in college (USF) - which unfortunately was equally congested.

I have one son, 17 (I was a late bloomer) who's in his junior year out at Wharton (New Tpa). He's great and I wonder when the other shoe's gonna drop. He's not infatuated with girls (Yet) and learned early on the value of working hard in school (3.92 GPA).

I work for UCH (Univ Comm Hsp) as the bsn mgr of the Foundation. It's an easy commute and typically the work doesn't drive me crazy.

What area of Brandon do you live?
-Jayne

Oh my Kathy,Ebony is turning out to be a wonderful pet,and yes I do think she has outgrown her bed! I will leave a treat here for her and give her a well done pat for me on her graduation from puppy class

Hello Kathy - long time, no visit. I was just having a quick look through some of your latest photos, you do have some lovely ones of your grandchildren and what a very nice looking family you have.
Also saw the ones of Sue, Celia and Karen, so now I know what they look like when they comment.

Kathy, just looked at your family photos--you have a beautiful family and you must be very proud of all of them. Ebony has the prettiest little face. How did you ever get all the sand off her?
Hope all is going well with you and yours. We just got back from a golf 'weekend' at Myrtle Beach (Thurs-Mon)-- weather was hot, but great; traffic was awful. We go back again next month, I think the weekend after Labor Day, for hubby to play golf again--I go for a change in scenery. Next trip is just the two of us; this time we took #1 son and my 'sister' who is here visiting went with us,so I had someone to go and do with or someone to just talk to during the day while hubby is playing. Maybe we can connect on one of these trips one day.

Hi, Kathy!

Sorry to be so tardy in answering your note. I've been extremely busy trying to get our fall schedules organized. The league is taking in a lot of new members, so it's a challenge finding teams for them all.

I think it would be wonderful if you and Rob stopped over at St. Simons on your way to Fripp in October. I will definitely set up some tennis for that Saturday morning, and we would love to have you over for dinner on Friday night. Do you like seafood? We should have lots of crabs by then - and plenty of shrimp.

You're lucky you're not coming to our round robin this Saturday. It's supposed to be in the upper 90s! It hit 100 today. Hopefully, we'll get some cooler weather soon.....certainly by October!

Cheers!
Jane

Thank you so much for stopping by to wish Scott a happy birthday. He got a real kick out of so many world wide well-wishers!
Nah, I didn't bake him a cake I'm afraid, its so much better if some wonderful local baker does it for me. About the best I can do is make a mean pavlova.
I just thought I'd pop in to let you know that the photo of us in medieval costume was only taken a couple of years ago and he still looks the same, actually, he has lost some weight since then. Gone is the long hair, for good this time. The older he got, the greyer it got!!!