"My Old Kentucky Home"

Well, actually, it's my sister's NEW Kentucky home! Once I left Brian at a hotel near the airport, I set my GPS for Dee Head Road in New Haven, Kentucky. After a short ride down I-65, I took to the small roads of rural Kentucky. Susan was consistent, and directed me via several roads with 4-digit numbers (those are the least important "highways"), around curves and through tiny villages until I reached New Haven, a little town southeast of Louisville. I was able to again follow Susan's verbal coaching right to a lovely old home, and there, standing in the driveway waving to me was the real live Sue! I had a quick cup of coffee with Sue and her friend Lynn (who has been at this retreat centre for several weeks writing and preparing for a lecture tour) and then Sue and I joined Susan for another ride through rural Kentucky. Even Susan got mixed up once or twice when we were blocked from going through a town because of a street fesitval. In any case, we enjoyed the scenery and the conversation as we drove along. The surroundings changed from the more open grassy fields with neat little rounded hills to (in my opinion) the more beautiful rugged terrain of south central Kentucky. The hills are rocky and edgy with more dense forests of dark green evergreens with numerous deciduous trees just starting to turn -- light yellow and a bit of orange.

It is so good to be here. Mary Ann's house is lovely and it smelled of apples and cinnamon. We unpacked the car and had a cup of tea before Dee and Amy arrived for supper and good fun. Later on, Tom (Dee's friend) joined us and it became such a good time of laughter and conversation. Mary Ann has had a bad cold, and Sue is just getting a cold, so I'm thinking I should stay away from those two! I thought I was bringing Cold FX, but it turns out I brought Cold FX Daily Defense instead. In any case Sue and Mary Ann are taking regular doses in hopes of avoiding any more sickness.

The rest of the family is coming for brunch and supper tomorrow. I will be so glad to see them all -- they are the reason I drove all those miles! I'll try to add some pictures tomorrow. I guess my camera has had it. Tom, who is a professional photographer, gave me some advice -- "pitch it and get a new one". No one fixes cameras any more apparently.

I wish we had Heather and Mike and the girls here too. Amy would love to see them again. By the way, Amy received a "distinguished" designation on the state grade wide tests and earned the highest score in the entire school! We are, of course, very proud of her.

Good night all.