Alone Again, Naturally (Old Song Title)

Hey, Y'all,
Well, it is Sunday morning and my children/great-grands left yesterday afternoon, and the sound of children's voices is heard no more here. Isn't it funny how the house can seem so much emptier than it did before family came to visit, after they depart?

We did have a wonderful time, though. Let me back up a little bit. Carol/Daryl, and Hannah/Austin went to the mountains on Friday morning and the children got to see a waterfall for the first time. They hiked up to Cascade Falls in the Great Smokies and thoroughly enjoyed it. They took food and drink with them and got back from there some time in the midafternoon. In the meantime, I left to go pick up Gramps so we could all go to supper in Knoxville. When I got to the Terrace Estates, where he is stayed for now, he was lying down and said he didn't feel like going, but that he would do what ever I wanted him to, I told him just to rest, and I would talk to him later.

I met Carol/Daryl and the Greats at the church and rode with them to Knoxville. We arrived at the Cracker Barrel just at 6 p.m. and put our names into the pot. We were told it would be about a 30 minute wait since there would be 9 of us to seat at a table. While we waited, Imazo and Mae, and Imazo's son, Jeff and his wife, Peggy, arrived and we sat outside in the rockers and chatted. Hannah and Austin found a checkerboard handy and sat there with Daryl to play checkers. It was all very pleasant. After we were seated in the restaurant, we had our supper and visited for quite a while (probably an hour and a half or so). Carol and Jeff are first cousins, and like many of us, don't get to see each other very often.

After saying our goodbyes, we motored on home, and had a pleasant hour or so before bedtime. Yesterday morning was spent leisurely, and Carol and the children helped me water my flowers and refill my hummingbird feeders. Austin and Carol scrubbed out the birdbath and filled it with water and Austin and Hannah helped me fill the bird feeder with birdseed. It was such a relaxed and fun time. Carol/Daryl had gotten packed up and ready to go. Then we decided to let the children look at the basement. What a momentous decision that was!

Carol went down with them to look at the basement and they found the floor was filled with water. It seems the drain plug in the basement floor had disintegrated and popped up, and all kinds of water (nasty stuff) had come up through the drain and covered quite a bit of the basement floor. Daryl helped Carol sweep up the water into the drain, but then had to leave to go to the local hardware to get a new drain plug. Carol continued on cleaning up the water, and using Clorox to clean the floor. She had finished when Daryl returned with the drain plug and he put it in the drain hole. That whole mess delayed them for a couple of hours, but they were happy to have been here to take care of it for me. Just think, if they had not gone to the basement, it might have been weeks before I would have found out and every time I flushed the toilet, or used the washer or dishwasher, there would have been more stuff in the basement floor. UGH! How God does provide help when we most need it!

Later, we had prayer before they left, we shared hugs and kisses and I waved them on their way, thankful for their visit and for so many things.

Jennifer Chang came to visit me last evening, and it will be the last time I see her in a long time. She is going back home to Taiwan to work for a year. She is a lovely young lady. Jen brought me a bag of chocolates "to tempt my appetite", and a get well card. She is such a loving, caring Christian 'granddaughter' and I will miss her. We have been friends for about twelve or thirteen years. We reminisced about the visit I made to Taiwan almost ten years ago and spent two weeks with her and her family.

I am hoping to go visit Gramps this afternoon for awhile. Right now, I need to go have some kind of breakfast. I have been sitting here drinking a cup of Constant Comment tea, and composing my blog. I hope each of you will have a blessed Sunday. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Love to each of you. Bye for now. Pictures later.