New Great Niece

Sue tells me she is a grandmother again. This time it's a girl, Sophie Joy Lathwood was born on Wednesday to Joseph and Sarah and joins her brother Joseph III. I hope they will send pictures so I can post here.

I've finished an order for Pfaltzgraff City Market teapots and canister lamps and am shipping them tomorrow to Miami.

I also delivered this teapot to Gaye at Chautauqua today as a thank you gift for putting my lamps her store this summer.

Happy Birthday, Zack!

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Balloons Over Chautauqua Ride

We did it! We went for a balloon ride over Chautauqua Lake for Keith's 50th birthday present. Karen is my witness. She came to see us off. I didn't really think about what day it was until now...September 11, 2008.

We arrived at the Lakewood park at 5:45p.m. and watched them fill the balloon with air using two big fans. Then John, the pilot, turned on the gas and it went upright. The crew had to hold it down while we climbed in. The basket was waist high and felt safe.
Keith brought his camera and took this picture of the lake using his fisheye lens. It was quiet and felt like we were floating, which in fact, we were. We were 1400 feet up. In case that doesn't sound like much, look at this...high enough for me!
This picture doesn't really show how big the balloon is inside; but you can see the beautiful colors and the flame (light in the middle left). I would guess it was 100 feet high but I'm probably wrong. As we were coming down on the other side of the lake in Maple Grove, we saw this perfect shadow of the balloon on the ground.
John looked for an open field with short grass to land in which brought us to the Pembridge's. (Tom had called me last year regarding piano lessons for someone in his family.) The crew of six met us there. The balloon bumped lightly a few times as we were landing. I think that was the scariest part.
But John is an experienced pilot of over 20 years and knew what he was doing. He said he went to pilot's school to learn how to fly. He got into the business because he thought having a balloon would be good advertisement for his Remax real estate business. People started asking for rides and that was that.

Before we could officially land, the crew had to get permission from Tom which he gladly gave. After the balloon was packed up, which took about 20 minutes, we had a champagne/grape juice toast. John told us the story of the first balloon ride and why they have the traditional toast when landing; something about Paris, France, animals, and aliens. Interesting.

The ride was about 40 minutes long and awesome. It is a memory we will never forget.

50th Anniversary Party!

We did it! There were about 70-80 people in attendance on Saturday afternoon. We arrived around noon to decorate with stars and set up the slide show. Sam did an awesome job of putting the show together (with Sandy's help) and then he kept the music going for the four hours. Great job, Sam!

We set up Janine's cake and it looked great (and tasted great too according to those who got a piece). Mom and Dad had fun cutting the first piece and serving each other.

Keith was very busy taking photos of everyone. You can see the slide show at the top right. He took about 300 and Katie took about 200. Soooo, there are a few to see.

It was great seeing people we hadn't seen in years like Mrs. Canterbury. I heard she is at least 90! Wow, what an honor that she would come to be with us. My cousin, Ted, and his wife, Kelly, came from Connecticut. That made Dad very happy. We are looking forward to getting to know them better.

All seven of us kids did a "remember when" talk. David's was the funniest remembrance with his making sounds (burps) into the tape player when he was supposed to be reading a psalm into it as part of his discipline for something he shouldn't have done. Josh's remembrance was the most touching as he talked about my parent's influence on his decisions. Several people other than family also spoke and told stories. It was an interesting and fun hour of storytelling. We also sang Mom's song, Sing Forth the Praise, as a family.

Mike is pretty good at hosting and "thinking on his feet"; must be why he is a preacher.

The grandkids sang "Catch a Falling Star" which was the song Mom and Dad sang to each other when they were dating.

The food was very good. We started with fruit and cheese appetizers followed by salad bar, roast beef, ham, potatoes and a vegetable.

I think Mom and Dad felt loved and honored. What a great way to do this. Why do people wait to honor others after they are dead?