Tender, tearful, Tennessee State Line sighting.

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Yesterday and today I got a bit emotional. “What’s new?” I hear my family and best friends asking. In just over three weeks, we have traveled over three thousand miles and have lived out of suitcases, computer roller bags and a mobile fridge.

Our hotel rooms have looked like this.

Hotel room = Organized chaos?

We have had a fantastic time but it has been busy and even stressful with deadlines and 13 performances so far.

Niagara Falls was a wonderful break. We packed an awful lot into a few hours and had a nine hour plus journey afterwards to get us to our next “gig”.

TT’s plan worked. After this wonderful treat I would never dream of leaving his employ or even our marriage for another “Roadie” position. It certainly made up for the hectic, slightly crazy times when I just wanted to pack up and go back to sleepy Somerset and retire.

Like the time I mislaid the Brylcream just before the show or made his tea with Redbush/Rooibosh tea , just before he went on stage with it in the teapot. I  should have used Yorkshire tea bags.

Poor “C.S. Lewis” had to pretend to enjoy this African grown tea instead of that distributed by the U.K. Yorkshire tea company!

Back to Niagara . I haven’t even told you about the boat trip, right up to, and into the spray of the falls.

It was AMAZING!!!

Those of you who have done this “Maid of The Mist” trip, know that each passenger is issued with a big blue waterproof plastic Macintosh with hood to keep you dry. Well of course it doesn’t completely,  which adds to the fun, especially if like us, you were on the top deck right at the front.

Excuse me I should say the ” Bow” or “Poop” for my nautical readers. (If there are any) Actually I think I have one. My sailing son Daniel, who knows his “poop” from his “stern”!

Anyway it was fantastic ! Have I used that adjective before? I yelled and screamed my lungs out as we got closer into the falls and got soaked with the spray.

Everyone should do this before they die. Unfortunately I dropped my new camera while I was taking pictures of the Falls and broke it. Another emotional high and low all mixed up together.

Happily TT has ordered me another one from Amazon. He is working hard to keep me on an even keel, emotionally speaking . See I am keeping with the nautical theme!

Yesterday I was feeling a bit travel weary on the 8 hr drive from Virginia to Georgia. Then I had an attack of “the warm fuzzies”. Why? We were crossing the state line into Georgia, when I realized that our beloved Tennessee is the next state to here. I even saw a sign for the I40 and Knoxville!

I nearly made TT swerve off the road as I suddenly burst into a rousing chorus of “Good Ole Rocky Top. Rocky Top Tennessee. Click here and sing with me. Yeee Hii!!! Here are the lyrics.

“Good ‘ole  Rocky Top, Rocky Top Tennessee!! You’ll always be, Home sweet Home to me!!”

So… I’m feeling very comforted to know that we are so near our Nashville home and will soon be seeing our dear dear friends from there and even our house in Mt Juliet!  Deep joy!!

We arrived in our Augusta hotel a few hours ago. We are unpacked and my lovely jubbly husband is out visiting Panera to collect our supper. Veggie soup and “Orchard Harvest Chicken salad” for me. He will have their wonderful French Onion soup and a Panini.

Bon appetit and good night all,  from The Paynes in hot hot Georgia.

P.S. May have another outside swim before I go to bed. It’s still in the 90deg F/?30+C here.

Love hugs and prayers.

From Marilyn aka Roadie Grandma and David aka TT “The Talent”! xxx

Police escort Big Blue into Ellsworth Maine USA……..

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After 7.5hrs driving from New York state to Maine, we arrived at the coastal town of Ellsworth after dark just now.  TT saw a flashing blue light in his rear view mirror. What was he doing wrong?  Not speeding or drinking. Maybe they were sent to welcome visiting actors into town. This proved NOT to be the case. We turned into a car park/parking lot and were immediately surrounded by 2 police cars and a state trouper car complete with barking dog! All armed these fierce looking cops and a sheriff shone their torches into our windows. O no were they going to confiscate the tea bags to pay us Brits back for the Boston Harbour Tea party debarckle? No. The problem proved to be that someone had reported my dear hubby swerving a bit on the Interstate.  There was hardly any other traffic on the road and he had sometimes asked our  SatNav/GPS “George” about an alternate route by tapping his chest repeatly that might have caused the odd wobble of BB. The officers of the law,  obviously thought TT might be drunk and disorderly, hense the whole of Ellsworth law enforcement seemed surrounding us. They seemed a bit disapointed when all our documents were in order and they had nothing to charge us with. Actually I do them a dis-service, because they cheered up considerably when I got out of the car and explained that I was TT’s roadie, offered them a cough drop and asked to take their picture. I also asked for permission to go to the grocery store  and get some honey and lemons for my bad cough. I had to wait until they had completed running  a check on our vehicle via computer or something. THey asked TT why we were in their town and when he said he was doing a play in the Grand Theatre tomorrow, the big sheriff with THE  HAT said, “is that the one they have been advertising on the radio”. We assured him it was. They declined to have their picture taken but smiled nicely and promised to come and see TT in action.  Even the fierce looking canine had stopped barking and looked quite friendly as they drove off wagging his tail at us.

A few minutes later we were in our lovely comfy hotel room at The Ramada Ellsworth. The welcome here was grand. Troy cheerfully carried our stuff up the stairs to our room. We are on the 1st floor sans elevator/lift. There to greet us on the desk was a lovely bag with “MAINE” written on the front. Inside was fruit drink and other edibles, a welcome gift from the church here.

I HAVE A NEW CAMERA AND AM VERY EXCITED. SOON SOON I WILL POST PICS.

Night night from the Ramada Inn and not the jail house Ellsworth Maine USA.

blesssings. xx

Brill day in The Adirondacks!

At 8:00am this morning I was sat ON the lake on Larry and Lois’s boat dock, enjoying the peace and quiet and amazing view.  Had a lovely time of morning devotions with my bible, note book and a cup of coffee. The only other human I saw for a long time was a lone skuller?oarsman if that’s the right word. Just as I was about to climb back up to the house for more coffee and some brekkie I saw a canoe for two in the distance. I thought I would be nosey and watch it go by and as it got closer I realized it was our fellow house guests,  fearless Diana and Adrian.  After going for a cycle ride yesterday they had got up early to have a canoe on the lake before heading back to Canada.  We walked up to the house together and had breakfast.  Adrian returned to the boat dock to collect his keys and wallet from the boat house then appeared shouting excitedly, “loons, loons. Tell Lois the loons are back”. I thought he said “balloons” and asked, “what type? Hot air ones?” He laughed and graciously explained that he had said “loons, as in water bird, not BALloons!” Lois had wanted to see them so she appeared with camera at the ready. By the time we had all scrambled back down to the dock they had gone past so we high tailed it up to the neighbours where Lois captured a display of loonism by the little family who had lingered near her.

So as you see a good start to the day. Busy morning sorting out tour things. Had 3 more request for bookings today. I think we fitted in 2 out of 3 but diary is filling up nicely. Larry and David had radio interviews again.  Larry gave us a copy of his new book that is about to come out and about which he is being interviewed on the Radio.   “The Story of The Bible”. It is a gorgeous hard backed coffee table type book with of gorgeous illustrations. He spent some time in the British Library doing research there.

This afternoon we did the Lake George steam boat trip. WONDERFUL! It was cloudy and not too warm by NY standards and TT and I were the only ones on the open deck for a lot of the time. You could tell we were hardy British seafarers and are used to less than 70F temps on the Gosport and Isle of Wight ferries.  IT WAS GREAT. We took some video and lots of pics. unfortunately I have left my cable for loading pictures from my camera to computer on Ocean Beach I think so can’t post any from that camera yet. TT took a lot with his upmarket camera so I will post these soon.

Went out to Lake George village tonight for supper at the Alibaba Restaurant. Gorgeous. Middle Eastern Mediterranean Turkish type food. Lovley.

There was also a classic car rally on in St George and hundreds of old US cars around. Finished off with an ice cream from Ben and Jerrys.

Home to bed now. Feel much better cough wise today. Have now got the prescribed narcotic cough mixture from the pharmacy just in case, but haven’t taken it yet.

Tomorrow we leave for Ellsworth Maine. Adrian and Dianna should be back in Windsor Canada. Larry flies back to Nashville to get the mail and Lois is going to Portland Oregon for a nurses reunion of her Phillidelphia Hospital nursing school class.

Thank you God for this wonderful 2 days of R and R. What a joy to renew old aquantances and make new ones. Larry and Lois were saying that they first remember meeting TT when he picked them up from London airport in the 1980s and drove them around.

Cast your bread upon the waters and it will take you back to the south west shore of Lake George and Katskill Bay!

Night night all. Just opened the shutters to hear the crickets and be ready for the chattering chipmunks in the morning.

We’re about to go on a steam boat trip!!

1:30pm Home of The Stones, Lake George NY.
TT and I plus warm jumpers and windproof jackets are about to drive 20 mins in BB to board a steam boat. I’m a bit excited, especially after reading the blurb from the website of The Lake George Steam Boat Company.

Cough seems to be better today. 3 cheers for honey and lemon treatment. TT and I both slept better. I moved into the bedroom next door………. Here follows a copy of the Steam Boat “blurb” that has me looking forward to our trip. Camera? check. Warm jacket? check. Cough sweets? check. TT …… must go and find him. Byeeeeee

	Cruising the southern half of Lake George, the Mohican MORNING PARADISE BAY CRUISE offers views of lovely lakeshore scenery, the picturesque islands of the Narrows, the magnificent Adirondack Mountains and romantic Paradise Bay, accompanied by entertaining captain narration. The Mohican AFTERNOON ISLAND EXPLORATION CRUISE offers a leisurely trip around the many beautiful islands of the Narrows.  See the natural beauty of Lake George by water and see why it has been named the Queen of American Lakes.