Saturday's Snowy Scenes

Hiya! We had a good night's rest. Didn't get a very early start...as we slept several hours! We decided to go to Sainsbury's for brekky. It was sooooo CRAZY. English people are not at all used to this snow...(second nature to us Iowans & Minnesnowtans). The car park at the shop was a mess. There were sooo many people out...as they had pretty much not been out all week. sooo many people there so there were no trolleys (shopping cart) so that was a bit of wait to get one of those. So then ....the milk aisle was completely empty...except for the soy & goat's milk!!

When we were standing there, I saw an employee bring out a case of long life milk--I still don't get what that is.(OK, Paula just told me that's milk you don't have to refrigerate.) The manager I saw said to the other employee "It's 10 to 12. How long do ya think that will last?" They laughed. The manager said, "I give it til half past 12 to be gone." I didn't go back to check to see if he was correct. The queue for checking out at the till was long as well. I think they had almost all 30 some check-outs and there were at least 4 people in each line! Simply crazy!

Stan & Dad went to the school to shovel the footpath & car park so that it would be clear for church tomorrow. Paula & I stayed home & nattered away the afternoon. Stan made chili for supper...not as hot as his curry, but very good. Then I made a batch of chocie biscuits! Paula was happy just smelling them baking.

I went to the shop around the corner to get an onion for the chili, so I took a couple of pictures of the street & house coming home.

Day 3 ...sorta....maybe not hourwise

Arriving in London there was much cloud cover. They received 5 inches around the area. We were able to just get our train tickets, and within 2 minutes were on the tracks. Slight delay on the way, but the train got moving and Stan picked us up about noon. We talked for a bit, and then we took a short nap. Stan made a nice supper for us and now we are having a cup of TEA!!! and just sitting around talking.

Day 2

Day 2 We spent in Philadelphia. We caught a train to downtown and then walked a FEW blocks to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. We enjoyed our little history lesson.
Dad says what doesn't kill ya, only makes ya stronger. So he said with all that walking today, I was either trying to kill him or make him lots healthier.
It was a nice little jaunt on our 3 week journey.
We are now waiting at the Gate to depart Philly and go on a plane for 7.5 hours. Yippee!!! With all that walking Dad says he will sleep...no one else in the plane may sleep because he will be snoring so loud, but at least he will.
I may try to add photos to this post tomorrow. L8R, G8R, ~howie

Day 1. We went to Lynn& Shereen's and he drove us to the airport. We found out that our flight for the evening was canceled but we decided we rather go on to Philly than to stay another day in MSP. :-) We FINALLY left MSP @ 2:30. We got into Philly & made our way to our hotel. We went to have a little bite to eat and now I think we are ready for a good night's sleep.

Hope your day is going well. We are just enjoying the journey! :-)

Holiday Season

My family celebrated the Markham Christmas the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This was in the afternoon, AFTER the 80th Birthday lunch at Applebees for Grandma Jean. I think there was 17 of us in attendance.
On Christmas eve, Dad and I went to Donna & Larry's for potato soup with them and Jill and Scot & Tyler and Brooke. We played Phase 10 for HOURS, eh Brooke?
Christmas Day was pretty low key for Dad and I. I didn't get up too early, not that I could really sleep late. We didn't really do much. I had to work on Friday and then drove back down to Iowa. I also went back to FC for NY's Eve soup supper at church. We viewed the Video FLYWHEEL. Very good! This is the first movie by the church that did Facing the Giants and Fireproof. Then we all played games for the REST OF THE YEAR! ha ha ha !!!
Dad came to my place on Friday and Robert & Kasey & Katie stayed over night as well. Lynn, Shereen & the girls arrived about 9:30 Saturday morning.
The Girls were wide awake and raring to go and open presents. We had an enjoyable morning together. We went swimming in the heated pool (VERY nice since the outside temp was probably 0) after the girls had their naps.
I snuck away for a couple hours on Saturday afternoon for David & Kristi's commissioning service. This was very lovely. I am glad that my friends are departing for their mission field tomorrow!! I will miss them, but I will keep in touch with them through email and HOPEFULLY a visit in a couple years to Chile, South America.