Cossetted in W. Virginia in borrowed slippers and PJ’s

Haven’t been able to get online for a day or so. Will catch up with photos and stories later.

Arrived with the winter in Princeton W.Virgina at 6pm tonight to stay with dear dear friends, Gloria and John Coffey.

It was pouring with rain for  most of the 4hr journey here from Richmond VA so we couldn’t see the wonderful Appalachian mountain scenery. TT had to lend me his big outdoor jacket as I was cold and wet as the temp is about 40deg cooler that in Augusta  2 days ago. I even had to dig into my “winter suitcase” for a big wooly jumper to wrap myself in.

As we crossed in W. Virginia from Virginia, I tried to get TT to sing John Denver’s, “Take me home, country home, to the place I belong, West Virginia, mountain ?? , take me home, la la la”. Anyone know the missing lyrics? Haven’t enough battery left to Google it.

I couldn’t sing because I was slurping down my hot chilli that we had just bought at Wendys. It was very nice and warm and got rid of my “chillys” very effectively.

Am now off to bed in a pair of fleecy Christmas PJ;s belonging to Gloria. Both my pairs are in her washing machine and not nearly warm enough for the winter which has arrived on Summer’s heels, completely leaving Autumn no room at all.

TT and I are sleeping in her sewing room. She is a wonderful quilt maker so we are surrounded by her marvelous, “Works in Progress”. I’m even wearing a cozy fluffy pair of slippers of hers. She didn’t say I could borrow them, but I’m sure she won’t mind as she and John have told us to make use of anything we want in their home. Their cats, Princess and Oreo are making use of our cases, especially our mobile cool box, the soft top of which they are fighting over as a bed.

We are here until Monday. Tomorrow we are going with them to watch 42nd Street. Friday we are having  a bunch of people over from their church. Several of them came on our England holiday to Oxford a few years ago. They all feel like family. Saturday TT is doing a play at the church.

So happy to have a quieter month lined up and be with friends for the next month in WV and then dear old Nashville Tennessee.

Good night from Princeton West Virginia and Happy Birthday to Charlie our eldest grandson who is 6 today!

night y’all.

xx

Hey Man, look at me rocking out. I’m on the radio

TT and RG rockin' on the radio in New York state

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Good evening from the Holiday Inn Express, Webster, New York.

TT and I have just returned from Calvary Chapel Webster where the 5th performance of this tour is now under our belts. Another good performance and a great bunch of people.

We arrived in this area yesterday and did a Radio Interview for “WZXV, The Word”. Patrick, The Production Manager had interviewed TT by phone several times but wanted me to join him at the microphone in the studio. Oo my whatever next?

Anyway I wasn’t too nervous as it wasn’t live and I had my hot honey and lemon to sip and dear Patrick was so friendly and helpful. He put me entirely at ease. He even said I could cough and sneeze if I wanted to and it wouldn’t matter.

The radio station was on the campus of Finger Lakes Calvary Chapel which seems to have acres of land. There is a Bible college and school as well as the church and radio station on the complex. Loads of parking spaces and play grounds. O if only some of this parking and play ground space could be shared by our churches in the U.K. where space is a real problem!

After the interview I checked out the bookstore and sat in the café drinking coffee and using their free wifi.

We then followed Patrick back to his house for supper. 3 of their 5 children gave us a fantastic welcome calling out to us from the upstairs window.

Addie, age 3 introduced us to her two brothers, Elijah 10 and Ben 8. She explained later that her two big sisters were out.

Judy, Patrick’s wife is delightful and they cooked us the most amazing supper of Cornish hens with stuffing, double baked potatoes, green beans and salad. Bread pudding was the dessert and they made tea with PG tips in a tea pot served with digestive biscuits. They had gone to a lot of trouble to find out what an English couple abroad would like to eat. It was scrumptious.

We arrived at the hotel here in Webster after the lovely supper and will stay here until Monday morning. Deep joy. 6 nights in one hotel is wonderful and cuts down on the packing and unpacking.

We have got 6 shows in 5 days here. Most of them are in this area with 2 at Calvary chapel Rochester N.Y. on Sunday. The two churches have got together and arranged that we can stay in this same hotel for all this time.

Tomorrow we are going to Williamsport Pennsylvania. It is a 3.5hr run and some people we met today said it will be a lovely journey but we may loose our GPS connection in the mountains. Dear George, we will miss his voice, ROADIE TIP  Remember to check the route before hand and have the good old fashioned Rand McNaly US road map to hand.

We had a brilliant journey here from Massachusetts, driving on I 90 through New Hampshire and into New York. Lovely coastal route with little harbour towns, lots with English names. We turned round at one point when we saw an elderly lady setting out some things on a table to sell at the side of the road.

We were attracted by a pair of antlers. On closer inspection the only things she was selling were hand made wooden decoy ducks and these fabulous antlers. I asked how she came to have them. She said she had 6 sons and they were all hunters and she was trying to cull her antler collection. These were covered in soft fur and were from a caraboo that her son Michael had shot in Nova Scotia.

We bought them for $20 and may well fix them on to the front of BB. Don’t tell our son Jonathan, but we are going to try and get Santa to deliver them down the Old Mill chimney at Christmas. They will not fit in his stocking so and getting them down the chimney may prove difficult but I’m sure Rudolph and the other reindeers can come up with a solution as they are expert in antler maneuvering.

Today I felt much better cough wise. Thank you all for your prayers and the folks at Ellsworth Calvary Chapel prayed especially for me after the service. We stayed with Pat, in her log home for two days. She is a retired physician as well as a wonderful gardener who has a great knowledge of “green pharmacy” using herbs and plants to provide healthy nutrients. Anyway she gave me some homeopathic bits and bobs.

These helped I’m sure, as well as spending Monday with her. I did our laundry and we hung out washing together, wandered around her garden feeding the chickens and picking green leaves for our tea and supper. She also too me to a great homesteading little supply shop where she bought some feed for the chickens and I bought some Gardeners Hand cream at 50% off.

The hotel has a fitness centre, indoor swimming pool and hot spa. I used all three today. Didn’t stay long in the spa as it was too hot.
Outside our hotel window is a lovely pond and walking trail. I thought it was Lake Ontario. That is quite near but about 7 miles away. We are very far north here. The weather is lovely, about 60F. Sunny today with just the occasional tree changing colour.

I’m off to bed now. TT is still asking me what’s to eat. He is always hungry after a performance. The Pastor and his wife took us out for supper earlier at Panera Bread. I love this place. David had French onion soup but saved his sandwich until now. He is still asking for “something nice”. I have just given him strawberry yoghurt that we squirreled away from our complimentary breakfast this morning. Maybe a final cup of tea is what he needs.

Talking about tea, I made a terrible faux pas this evening. Instead of using his fav. Tea brought from England to make the tea he has on stage,  I used my red bush S. African Tea bags. What a Roadie ruinous moment. I discovered the mistake just before he went on stage. TT was NOT a happy man. I offered to make another pot quickly, but the star of the show said it was too late and he would just have to drink this. After one sip tonight, I noticed he never really took another swig only pretended too. ROADIE TIP. Check T bags are Yorkshire Decaff in the Props box before leaving hotel.

I have some wonderful photos to put on the blog, but at the moment have lost the power to add posts so am having to get son Jonathan to do this and give me the password. I am not a roadie/blogger of the 21st  century. However, today,  my sister Maggie and I Skyped each other with video for the first time ever from one side of the Atlantic Ocean to the other. She is 70 today and I am only a few years behind, so that not bad for a couple of OAP’s with a free English bus pass. Happy birthday Maggie dear. You are the BEST sister any body could have. I love you.
Night all.

The Big Blue Sort Out. Bikes and Soup kitchen day.

TT and I, aided by Adrian, our fellow house guest at the Stone’s Lake home took everything out of the van and sorted it.  Mrs Stone gave me free reign in her laundry room so Big Blue 2, a.k.a. Ikea dirty laundry  bag is empty and we have clean clothes. The weather was sunny and breezy and we even had to put on our long trousers after lunch as a storm blew up over the lake. There were a few boats going by and even a two man canoe, who seemed to be fighting hard against the wind and white capped waves.

The day started out with Diana, Adrian’s wife and I sitting on the boat dock, drinking coffee, admiring the scenery and having a nourishing conversation. How wonderful to meet new people and because of all of us being in God’s family immediately feeling like brothers and sisters. We had a lovely chat about our children, God’s goodness and our not so goodness, but how great is His grace and how as we get older our faith and trust in Him grows as He proves Himself faithful. Then organic muffins with butter and marmite on toast for me. The other 5 folks in the house turned up their noses to marmite.

Larry, owner of the lovely lake home and Rutledge Hill Press, spent the day doing radio interviews about a new book he is working on. One of the interviewers spent a lot of time asking his opinion of the crazy Pastor guy in Florida who is threatening to burn a copy of the Koran at the weekend. At supper Larry sugested that a much better idea  would be better for Christians to find a Moslem buddy. The Christian read the Koran and the Moslem The bible and then have a chat about it. Larry then went  for a run while I tried to stop coughing and rested on the bed reading, listening to the lake sounds, and then my Ipod. TT worked on bookings and “Tour Stuff” .  We are having requests for bookings that we are having to turn down as we are schedule is full. Nice problem.

Our Canadian friends went for a bike ride and then they and Lois served lunch at a soup kitchen with the church here.

I’m on day 2 of some strong antibiotics to clear up my cough. TT kindly drove into town to try and get the cough mixture that the doc had prescribed. I had been drinking gallons of honey and lemon but that didn’t seem to help so we decided to go the narcotic $22:00 a bottle route. I miss my British, National Health free prescription service!

Unfortunately the pharmacy had to order the cough stuff… So I will get it tomorrow. However at 6:00pm when I got up to start cooking the corn that Louis had shucked earlier, I felt much better.

Lovely supper again. Inside tonight as it was breezy and chilly outside. Freshly picked sweet corn, salad, stir fry, good conversation, grand children photo sharing and much laughter.

Off to bed now. SO thankful for this lovely restful interlude to re charge our batteries before out next show on Saturday.

Plans for tomorrow? Adrian and Diana are heading back over the border to Canada, but are going to come to Chicago to see TT in action.  David and Larry both have radio interviews!! We hope to do a trip around Lake George on an old steam boat. The Mohican. One of the captains of this boat visited here today his name. Bill Gates. He was the captain today but not tomorrow unfortunately.

Diana was saying that this morning she was thinking about hob knobbing with an actor and a book publisher who are being interviewed by the media everyday and then is told that another guest is coming, Bill Gates…. Not the master of the internet but ships captain. Hey ho me hearties. Shiver me timber and hoist the main’sle!

I’m getting silly which is a sing of excessive tiredness so “Good night all and felicitations from from upstate New York. USA.

TT sends his love and reports that his knees are improving.  Thanks for your prayers.