The Story of My Life

Our two youngest children graduated high school this year! Both girls had all A's and were very successful in school. Both girls also showed amazing character and maturity as they plan for their future. We had never traveled to Europe, so we planned a graduation trip to London and Paris! We began researching a date and accommodations months ago! I would love to say that we picked the date to coincide with the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and the Anniversary of D-Day, but it was pure dumb luck! Below you will find the first week in London itinerary!   (I was a bit overwhelmed for the France planning, so we used an amazing travel service called Frenchside Travel .  I will do a separate post regarding the week and France and a review of our experience !) We did modify it some as we traveled, but mostly stuck to it! I planned the London end myself with help from many other bloggers out there who shared their experiences.  We stayed at a flat I booked through Airbnb in the South Kensing

Yes, we had a good camera,  Yes, nice people offered to take our pics all over Europe- which some we agreed and have great pictures! Everywhere we went, we took the "foursome" or more pleasantly known as the 4-person selfie.  Take a guess where we were for these adorable SELFIES!  Comment your guesses and the winner gets a London or Paris souvenir- because we have PLENTY!!!

Reviving the Blog as the nest becomes empty... I started this blog many years ago when my baby girl was in preschool. She is all grown up now and graduated high school a few weeks ago. It does not seem possible that time has gone by so fast. We have 2 high school seniors heading out of our nest for college in the fall, the last of 7 of our combined.We will be empty-nesters.  Wow! We have also been doing a good bit of traveling in the past years and I have always said I was going to start a travel blog because so much of the good information I get planning trips comes from some really helpful bloggers sharing their experiences. I have been saying this for years, however. Today starts the revival of the blog! Stay tuned to see what adventure I will choose to tell about first. I hope to review restaurants far and near, destinations and excursions.  I learned this morning that my tech skills are rusty so, I have spent the first morning reminding myself how to BLOG! I also hope to use this

  The 1% Matters I haven’t posted much at all concerning COVID.  Honestly, I don’t enjoy reading political opinions or debating topics on Facebook or any social media platform AT ALL, so I never engage.  I like to see happy, family pictures and that is all !  If you are looking for a fight or debate, look on someone else’s page. That is not what this is about.  This is food for thought for my friends.  I'm not asking your opinion nor do I want to elicit your comments or thoughts. I just want to put some facts and ideas out there for my friends, especially all of people that love to claim the 1% fatality rate argument or those that maintain this pandemic is over-exaggerated or that this disease somehow misrepresented: These are 2 stories I have first hand knowledge of That involve real life people right here in the Birmingham area: - One lady lost her son and her brother to death by COVID in one week. Both died suddenly and without warning at home.  - A son lost both his parents wit

“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, 
 when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, 
 when we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore. 
 Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life, 
having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity, 
and in our efforts to build a new earth, 
 we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim. 
 Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, 
where storms will show your mastery, 
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. 
We ask you to push back the horizon of our hopes, 
and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love. 
This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ. ” ―  Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral, (c. 1540 – 1595) was an English privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era

The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. As I helped my son this week as he memorized this, one of  my favorite poems, I had to giggle a little at his left brained, literal, 14 year old boy interpretation!      &quo