2025 Christmas "Letter"

 Alan and I hope that you have a wonderful holiday, full of joy and health.  We will be in Huntsville with the Gamble clan for Christmas, as we have done since Alan's dad died.  We look forward to spending time with the extended Gamble/Spear relatives.  Even though we will be gone at Christmas, we still get in the spirit of the season by decorating here at home.

This will probably be the last year for our 9' Christmas tree.  When we got it out last week, some of the lights wouldn't work.  Plus, climbing on a ladder to put the decorations on the top is now scary business.  We both decided that it was no longer safe at our ages, so next year, we will get a smaller tree. So we have a sort of Charlie Brown tree this year, but that is fine.  It has many ornaments of sentimental value on it:  Each place we go in our travels, we pick up an ornament.  Others have given us beautiful/fun things that we cherish and love bringing out to enjoy each year.

From our trip to Acadia National Park

We have many beautiful bird ornaments.

We have our stockings on the fireplace.  Alan's is extra special because it is the one his mother made when he was a little boy.  It is probably over 70 years old. 

We did put the cute trailer decoration (nephew) Brian and Amy gave us on the fence and garland around the top of the fence.

On the island, I put up the lovely candelabra from Ethiopia that we got from (brother) Loren and Edith many, many years ago. I put greenery from the yard around it.

The German cart we got from Charlotte and Harry when they were stationed in Germany now has a great poinsettia that was a gift from a friend.

We leave our decorations up until Epiphany in the Lutheran tradition of my family, so we will continue to enjoy them after Christmas.

On to other events of this year:

We continue to love traveling in our new-for-us van.  We didn't go far, but we did do several fun trips.  The biggest was the trip to PA to visit my sister, which I told about in an earlier blog.

In February, we went back to Hunting Island State Park, SC.  It is a favorite place near Beaufort, a lovely, historic city that we enjoy exploring.

We got our favorite site.

The beach is beautiful, very close to the campground.

The "Boneyard" of dead trees is really interesting.

In early April, we spent a chilly, rainy week at Roan Mountain State Park.

The effects of hurricane Helene were still evident.
The road to the upper campground washed out.

We did have a nice site next to the river.

In June, we went to Walnut Hills Campground in Staunton, VA.  We toured Staunton, went to see a comedian Alan likes at a comedy club, and revisited nearby Ft. Defiance, where Gamble ancestors immigrated to from Londonderry, Ireland in 1736.  They were Scots-Irish Presbyterians.

Alan enjoyed reading outside next to the lake at night.

The graveyard of the Old Stone Church held Gamble
ancestors from the 1700's to about the Civil War.

In October, we went to New River State Park, NC for a lazy, but fun few days.

We love how easy it is to come and go, and especially to back up. 
 No trouble leaving the site to prowl around and look at things.

We took a couple of nice hikes next to the river.

Fall colors seen from our campsite

I spent a lot of time this year working on various committees and projects for the Shady Oaks Garden Club. I was chair of a committee that rewrote their by-laws, which was an almost year-long project.  I was delighted to receive the Iris Award for service to the club.

This was Flower Show year.  Every member was required to enter both horticulture and a design for the show.  My native hay-scented fern won blue in the fern category, and my design got second in the petite linear design category.  (I'll admit, one of the other members helped me a lot on the design, but I did do it.)

Speaking of flowers, the yard was lovely this year.  I am very grateful for Privilege, my wonderful yard guy.  He is a graduate student from Zimbabwe, who does yard work to support his family back in Africa.  I wouldn't be able to continue to garden on this steep lot without his help.

Weeping cherry tree and tulips

Candytuft

New Guinea impatiens flourished in front of house.

Many daffodils

Crocus

Speaking of the yard, we had a couple of bear visitations.  One night, I woke up in the middle of the night to a huge ruckus at the garbage cans.  I looked out the window and saw a bear heading up the hill next to the house with a bag of garbage in its paw.  Alan ran out and scared it off by banging on a pan.  After that, we kept our garbage cans in the garage.  It did come back to neighbors' houses though.  Here are prints it left on their driveway:

We also saw some bears on the Blue Ridge Parkway when we were in Black Mountain, NC for Thanksgiving with nephew Paul, wife Marta, daughter Ellie, and friend Phil from DC. We saw a young bear afraid to cross the road.  Its mother patiently waited for it on the opposite ridge until it got the courage to cross.  These pictures taken by Paul with his telephoto lens.  We stayed well away from them.

Junior was really scared.  Made a sad, mewing cry for its mother.

Mom waited up on the ridge so she could be seen.

I don't have pictures, but we have had several most enjoyable visits with Paul and Marta this year.  They live in Columbia, SC, where we stopped for a few days with our van on our way back from Hunting Island. For many years now, we have gotten a cabin with them for a long weekend each fall.  This year, we were at Weaverville, NC.  We have celebrated Thanksgiving with them at various places starting when Emma was a baby, 25 years ago. Paul has agreed to be the executor of our estate when both of us are gone.  Thank you, Paul!!

At Cabin Creekwood when Emma was a baby

I can't talk about the year without mentioning how saddened and disturbed we are about the Trump administration and its illegal, inhumane, and unethical activities.  We participated in two No Kings rallies, and have attended a training on non-violent resistance.  There is a very active Indivisible group that we have been working with.

Physically, we are in fairly good shape, all things considered.  I am scheduled for right knee replacement February 18.  I've found a well-regarded surgeon in Knoxville who does the robotic surgery, which is much less invasive, with a shorter recovery time.  If all goes well, I will probably get the left one done soon after that.  I really want to be able to walk and hike without pain again, if possible.

We continue to love living in Johnson City.  We have movie nights and game nights with friends, attend concerts and recitals at ETSU, go see jazz on a regular basis, and love spending time with our wide circle of friends and acquaintances.  Life is good.

Alan and I celebrated our 33rd anniversary this year with a dinner at a lovely restaurant and vineyard.  What an incredible journey this has been with my sweet, wonderful husband.

Anniversary flowers Alan gave me

May 2025 Trip in Van +

 We decided to take a longer trip in the van, mostly to go to PA to see my sister Rosemary when her son Pete and wife Karen from Chicago were there.  (Her daughter Jeanne and husband Kris live nearby.)

First stop:  We are members of Harvest Hosts, which allows you to boondock free at businesses, as long as you patronize them. (Boondocking means that you don't have any electric or water hookups, just use your self-contained vehicle.  Basically, you are just parked in the parking lot of a business.)  We like to stay at vineyards, so this time we spent the first night at Barren Ridge Vineyard, near Fischersville, Va.  We enjoyed a beautiful view of the vineyards, the Shenandoah Mountains, and had a great flight of wines on their outdoor patio.

Our lovely view of the sunset over mountains

First destination:  Skyline Drive:  

We spent three nights at Big Meadows Campground in Shenandoah National Park.  We did several nice hikes, enjoying how easy it is to come and go with the van whenever we wanted.  Backing is a breeze, compared to the truck and trailer.

One of the trails we took was the "Limberlost Trail."  I wanted to do it because my mother's favorite book when she was growing up was Girl of the Limberlost.  She said it inspired her to get an education and strike out on her own away from her farm home in Kansas.  I've not read it, so I don't know what it was about.

Jack-in-the pulpit on trail

Enjoyed Mary's Rock Tunnel

Mary's Rock Tunnel was built in 1932 by workers of the CCC. The two-lane tunnel is 670 ft. long and only 12' 8" high. Our van is a little over 10 feet tall, so we had no problems going through.

View from van

Skyline Drive is much like the Blue Ridge Parkway in our area.  There are many beautiful overlooks that you can stop at to enjoy the views. 

Second Destination:  Belleville, PA: 

My sister lives in a great retirement community called Valley View in Amish country.  We learned a lot about the local history and Amish culture at the Kishacoquillas Valley Historical Society.  (Don't ask me to pronounce it.  They just call it the "Kish Valley.")  We found out that there are numerous sects of Amish, all distriguished by the color of their buggy tops: black, yellow, white, or no top.  Driving was quite an adventure, because the buggies were on the main roads, which were very narrow, so you had to wait and maneuver around them all the time.  One evening, we had to pass six carriages as we wended our way up the mountain back to the campground. Luckily, Rosemary let us borrow her car the whole time we were there, so we weren't driving the van on narrow, curvy roads.

                                                    

We were at Greenwood Furnace State Park,
which was at the top of the ridge over the valley. 
The farms and farm houses in the valley were beautiful.

Rosemary and I in front of her duplex.

Mother's Day brunch at Hungry Run Winery was fantastic.
Kris' mother Ruth Ann joined us.

Rosemary

One day we drove up to State College to tour the Penn State botanical gardens.  They are really wonderful.  This is just a sampling of the lovely things in the gardens.

The gardens were filled with beautiful container plantings.

This was in a great children's area.

Alan was happy to read in a lovely covered pavilion
while I toured the gardens.

Third Destination:  Williamsport, MD

Antietam: 

We love to tour historic sites, so we spent two days going through the Antietam Battlefield, site of the deadiest one-day battle in American history:  23,000 casualties.  The National Park Service has an excellent visitor center, with movie, and a good 21-site narrated auto tour of the battlefield. The NPS has great phone ap on all the parks and monuments.  Check it out.  Here is the Wikipedia entry on Antietam for those who want more details than what I have below: Wiki on Antietam

Dunker Church, focal point of a number of Union atttacks

One major battle was in a cornfield.  The stalks were so tall that the soldiers couldn't see anyone else, except those in front of them.  At the end of the battle, all the stalks were cut to the ground by the fire.

Another battle was over possession of this sunken road.  By the end of the fighting, it was piled high with bodies of soldiers from both sides.

Burnside's Bridge over Antietam Creek
(It would be a river where I come from.)

A small band of Confederate soldiers prevented the Union soldiers from crossing this for almost three hours.  Even though they were eventually driven back, their delaying action allowed time for Confederate reinforcements to arrive.

Even though it was basically a draw,
it is considered a Union victory because the Confederates
were forced to retreat back to Virginia. 
After this victory, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

C & O Canal: 

Williamsport was a major port on the C & O Canal, which borders the Potomac River.  The park service has a good interpretation center there, as well, with a movie filmed while the canal was still in operation.

This is an original warehouse building,
with loading dock in center.

Part of the canal

One of the most interesting things was that the canal
had aquaducts to bridge over creeks coming across the canal.
We weren't sure how they got the barges
across the aquaducts, since there wasn't space for the mules. 
Kayakers enjoy them now.

We had planned to come back through eastern West Virginia, but decided against it.  There was major flooding everywhere in the area, so it didn't seem wise to be driving in the mountains under those conditions. We arrived back home about a week ago.