Yoo hoo golddust ~ Welcome to the other side LOL. I'm Nora from mid New York State. I've been married for 20 years and we have a 26 yo DS. DH and I got together when Eli was a little over 4 years old and we married when he was six. There is definitely truth in nurture vs. nature because they are like two peas in a pod ;o) We live on 7 idyllic acres in a small hamlet in southern Dutchess County with our pug, Tootie, and kitties Bitsy and Bundles. DS and his GF live in a cottage on our property, which is a blessing. We love to renovate anything that isn't nailed down and it seems that we're in a constant state of flux (no pun intended considering your metier). We also love to garden, which we do with fervor, though not always with as much success as we'd like. The earth tells us what it needs and most of the time we pay attention. But when we don't we learn early on that we should have listened to Mother Nature. Welcome!!

Wow....what an amazing list of people.... too many of them no longer with us or active here. It is nice to remember some of their names and their struggles that we shared. Thanks for the memories.

Janis, I just bought a new phone yesterday - a Boost Mobile moto g from Motorola (with a resident "android"). My previous phone was a freebie second hand LG model and worked pretty well for what it was, but the ring tone was so weak that I didn't hear it most of the time - so what was the point? This phone has great reviews and we got Best Buy to match the Amazon price, saving about $14. Last night I put my contacts in by way of my Google account on my iPad Air which saved my sanity 'cause I have trouble with those little bitty key pads on phones these days. And....now I can hear this phone much better! However, I won't be sending a lot of text messages just yet. I have data turned off until I want it/need it but I have free navi which I could have used yesterday when I got lost out in the county trying to get to a funeral at a small country church. Thankfully, I called my DS#1 who was able to search directions and get me back on track. He also helped me research and get the new phone, then spent some time putting me through its paces. What would we do w/o the younger generation to help us with these modern gadgets? LOL! Teresa

Thanks for the mentions of Staunton: we thoroughly enjoyed the Frontier Culture museum and the Blackfriar's theater. " 12th Night" was marvelous (and, serendipity, included a former classmate of DS's from theater school). Staunton is delightful, grabbed a quick visit to Woodrow Wilson's museum, bumped into a branch office of the outfit another DS is traveling with right now, very artsy and fun. Worth a day visit! Enjoyed the Skyline Drive, took a stroll, too. Humpback? Wow, am I out of shape! Enjoyed it, but DH really had to keep setting goals for me to make it up there. Nice walk, though. DH "collects" Civil War battlefields, so we got a few of those in; some nothing more than a stone marker. I'm more into "living history". The New Town site (for the VMI cadets who fought) is adding a "what about the women, children, and enslaved people) exhibit that I will likely find interesting. We also visited Monticello, amazing place. So innovative. Need to visit again for the "upstairs, behind the scenes" tour. People in VA are so nice! Every one of them :)