Good day to All!

It just works out that I seem to have a lot of travel plans in the next few months. First was my trip to India to accompany my daughter and grand daughter back to their home; this week I am leaving for Hawaii on a five day National Banking Convention trip with theKennebec Savings Bank management team, then in April, I have plans to visit Kay Rand, Chief of Staff for Senator Angus King, in Washington, DC.

Hello from the Corner Booth!

 

Norman has had a running theme lately, which has included his trips here and there, so in keeping with that theme, (and since readers may know) I just returned from a trip myself. My trip was not nearly as exotic as a trip to India or as hot and steamy as a trip to Hawaii but it is the trip I choose to make whenever I have time for a trip.

 

In January, I took a trip to Ohio to visit my daughter, Stacy, son-in-law Jesse and my three grandsons, Caleb, Joshua and Nathan Westfall. Stacy went to school in Ohio after graduating from Erskine Academy in 1993 and got married to Jesse Westfall in 1997 after graduating college. The Westfall's have lived in Ohio ever since. They purchased their first home in 2000, and for the last 14 years, when I visited them, we did some sort of project or projects around their home.

 

This year's visit involved a completely different project, which was packing. After growing their business, their name in the horse training industry and setting a different focus on what they wanted to do, the Westfall's listed their house, which sold. With the move out date set for Valentine's Day, I planned my trip to visit them with the impending move in mind.

 

The move was bittersweet because there were so many memories made within those walls and it has been hard for me to imagine NOT being in that house ever again.

 

Our two weeks together, however, were filled with many activities aside from packing. We went to several basketball games, one of them in Indianapolis at Pacer Stadium. My oldest grandson played on the court in the afternoon and we all watched a professional game that night. We drove to Pennsylvania one day and visited Miracle Mountain Ranch, a summer camp the kids have gone to for three years and will return to this summer.

 

We performed multiple science experiments, from freezing bubbles outside, reading about "super cooled" liquid and the snow roll phenomenon, which we saw around Ohio. We went to a movie at a unique and fun theater called Fork and Screens, where you can order a full meal and eat it while watching the movie. We visited with friends and family whom I have no way of knowing when I will see them again.

 

 

Texas riding arena                                                            Therapeutic hug!

 

                           

    Ohio home sold! Now what??                                         Creative packing using clothing!  

 

             

 Ice bubbles!                                                              Snow rolls!     

 

 

Fork and Screen Theater                                          Dinner and a movie!  

 

 

Pacers Stadium                                                          Sherri & Stacy enjoying the basketball game  

 

   

Rolly in the airport with Sherri on the way to Maine              Rolly and Sherri's grandson Joshua 

 

 

   

Many people have asked me, "Where is your daughter moving to?" The answer to that question is rather involved. Simply put, Stacy and her family are going to be nomadic for a while and see where they want to live.

 

Their first stop was Bowie, Texas with their nine horses in tow. They have friends with a ranch and a new apartment that was ready and waiting for them. The ranch is 280 acres and the distance from the house to the barn is two miles! The boys are doing their "physical education class" by biking from barn to house and back. Texas is huge and loaded with many things to see, so their plan is to stay there for two months and then see where the road leads them. I am, of course, hoping the road leads to Maine for at least part of the summer and/or fall.

 

I know the boys are already looking forward to coming to Maine. In part, to visit me but also because when I returned from Ohio, I took their cat that was born and raised on the farm in Ohio. Rolly (so named because she rolls around like a dog and likes her belly rubbed!) was in need of a stable, non-nomadic environment. After a bit of advice from people who had traveled with cats on airplanes, Rolly had a ticket to Maine and has settled in from being a barn cat to a house cat with no problems at all.

 

Eventually, Stacy and her husband Jesse hope to find a spot to call home in Wyoming, Colorado or Montana but before settling down, they want to see the country with their sons. I have assured them all that it doesn't matter where they go, or how far away it is, when it is time for me to take a vacation, I will fly wherever they are to see them. The boys said, "You will really come to Texas?" I told them if they went to the moon, I would be there!

 

I am not sure where I will travel to next, but I know there will be loads of memories to make and who I will see at the end of the journey.  

 

Have a great week and stay warm, Sherri   

 

p.s.- To read more about the Westfall's family business or their travel adventures, check out the link below to their website 

http://www.westfallhorsemanship.com