It’s Saturday night and I am in flight.... on the way back to Nevada, if only for a day. Then it is off to Vegas for the gift show with the girls. The last three weeks have been filled with family and fun. I had the absolute best intentions of blogging more during this time, but somehow when you have a four year old appear just as you are pouring your first cup of coffee of the day and say to you “Well good morning Nana, how are you today….I had a great sleep..did you?” with a giant smile and a hug to accompany it…...or a beautiful sunny day just made for long walks and tree climbing with the two grandsons......well..you get the picture...... blogging takes a back seat. 
Catching up ~
Robert’s mom, Sharon, lives in Brunswick which is just a short hour drive north from where the kids live in Jacksonville. When the kids where transferred from Maine to Florida it was a great bonus for us as we are now able to see our family much more also. The trip up to see her the first week I was in Florida was with a heavy heart as it was the first time I have been back to the house on the marsh since Bob’s Dad passed away in December. I knew that it was going to be hard, to see his things in the hallway and his hat on the stand by the door. His gardening tools waiting for him out back when I took the dog out for a walk, and his favorite chair empty. Sharon has been my second mom for 38 years, and because Robert and I married very young, she pretty much helped raise me up in a lot of ways. She gave me cooking lessons, encouraged me to use my writing skills and helped me plant my first rose bed in Florida. She is a strong woman - an artist, a published author, a beautifully trained vocalist....... and the women that took care of her dying husband for the last 18 months. I have never been to the house when “Big Bob” wasn’t puttering around fixing something or showing me a new gadget or antique he had acquired…and I miss him. He loved to talk business with me and was never short of words to tell me “just the straight facts." I miss him. A lot.
This trip we accomplished a few things she was needing help with. We got some rooms rearranged, some paperwork done and with the help of my friend Melissa, the pond cleaned out and pruned up. The house isn't the same, it never will be ~ but she is making a new life for herself and I hope that I can be back on the marsh with her again real soon. 