Santa brought Jimmy an Amazon Kindle for Christmas

...and I have high hopes that it can quell the tsunami of books that floods our house.

BEFORE:

and AFTER

Yule conflagration

Burned biscuits are a common occurrence around here, but they usually get burned in the oven and not on top of the dining room table. On Christmas night, the bread basket got placed too close to a votive candle, and the napkin in it caught fire and was blazing away before we realized what had happened. Several water goblets doused the flames, hence the SOGGY burned biscuits.

Christmas 2009

Downsizing

A few weeks ago, dreading having to wrestle the usual nine-footer into the living room, I spied this miniature jewel on the sidewalk outside of Winn-Dixie. It gives the warmth and charm of its mammoth counterparts for a fraction of the time and effort. I love it.

Atlanta week

This was our week to go to Emory for Jimmy's regular sixty day tests, and as usual, we won't know the results for another week or so, but Jimmy is doing so well, we expect everything to be fine.

We asked Dr. Lonial if we would continue to have Jimmy tested every two months, and he said we would. When Jimmy relapses, we want to catch it as quickly as possible.

Dr. Lonial was excited about their recent successes in treating patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma with a new monoclonal antibody combined with lenalidomide. The response rate with this combination is quite high, with the ultimate goal of beating myeloma.

All this research and development is a strong international collaborative effort between Emory and their French myeloma colleagues, and the global trials are being led by Dr. Lonial's team at The Winship Cancer Institute at Emory.

After we left the hospital, Jimmy and Jamey spent the afternoon working on business, and we didn't get home until late. (We even managed to do a little shopping, so it was a short but very productive little trip.)

Presidential nod

VSU President Patrick Schloss presented Jimmy with the President's Medallion during the commencement ceremony last Saturday morning. We marched in the processional and the recessional and sat with the platform party.

Jimmy and President Schloss

John Hansen

Rosey and Patrick

Maggie Carroll (Shirlee and Bo's daughter) received a Master of Education degree from the Dewar College of Education with a grade point average of 3.9.

Valwood Christmas program

Grandson William, in pre-kindergarten, participated in his first Valwood Christmas program last night, and he was adorable.

Some of the members of Valwood's Class of 2023

Turn the page

Before we left Marsh Harbour Sunday, we listed Seagrape for sale, and it just about broke our hearts, but it's time.

Our neighbors Nancy and Rusty Angstadt

This is a painting I did about eight years ago of a little girl whose picture I took in Hopetown. Someone later told me her last name is Mackey, coincidentally my maiden name.

Just another day in paradise..

We've been in the Bahamas for maybe a week now; you lose all sense of time here. We found an Internet cafe where you can go online for 30 minutes for $5, but it's slow and the keys stick. Nothing much has changed since we were last in Marsh Harbour, almost three years ago, except us.

The power stays off as much as it stays on, telephone service is sporadic, as is the water pressure in the house, BUT...that's the Bahamas, mon,and it's still the most beautiful place in the world.

Ouch!

Our Jake's finger tangled with the legs of a ladder, and the ladder won. Four stitches at the ER patched him up, but it's a nasty cut.

The Greer family

Last Sunday we attended the funeral service for Billy Greer's mother in Tifton. Billy is married to Jimmy's first cousin Fann, and they have three sons. What a remarkable group! Jimmy has always described the Greer family as "Leave it to Beaver" perfect, and smart? Billy, Fann, and the two sons pictured below, William and David, all have PH D's. (Son Robert, who wasn't around when I took the photo, is a very talented musician.)

William Greer had kept one of James Dewar, Sr.'s bow ties, and he wore it Sunday to his grandmother's funeral.

Rock star

Jimmy jokes that he's always wanted to be a rock star or a Major League baseball player. Well, if he HAD become a rock star, he'd have needed to do it under another name. There was a famous Scottish rock band called JimmyDewar and the lead guy's name was ... Jimmy Dewar.

A craving for crawfish

Antoine's Taste of New Orleans restaurant is right next door to our gallery, Artists on Ashley, and today their crawfish proved irresistible to Karen Powell, Pam Scruggs and me.

Happy news

We got the report back from the tests at Emory: still complete remission!!! We are so thankful every day for all of our many blessings.

November moonrise

March, 1964

Allen Scott just sent me this wonderful old photo.

Cathy Tillman, Mac, Ellen, and William Mackey

Pre-Halloween

We went with the grandchildren to a pre-Halloween buffet for kids at the VCC Friday night.
Jimmy gives Batman, A/K/A Jake, a push on the swingset,

while Mademoiselle Butterfly, Caroline, looks a bit hot and uncomfortable.

Two Friends (three, counting the photographer)

Mary Young Manning (nee Smotherman) is the "glue" that has held the VHS class of 1967 together for over forty years now. She's maintained friendships, kept up with all of us and our disparate lives, and made sure that we reunite on a regular basis: she is our Command Central.

Today Ed and I took Mary Young to Two Friends restaurant to celebrate her birthday, and had it not started raining mid-afternoon, we'd probably still be there, talking and talking.

Barney Fife comes to Highlands

Highlands is like Mayberry: quiet, civilized, peaceful. Second-home owners make up a large segment of the population, many of them older and retired.

About the only thing you'll see in the weekly crime report is somebody's cat having to be rescued from a tree, so when the local police force recently purchased nine new police cars to supplement the five it already had, it seemed a bit excessive.

Do you remember the old Andy Griffith Show episode where Andy goes out of town, leaving Barney in charge? An overly zealous Barney goes nuts, arresting most of the town, including Aunt Bee, Opie, and the mayor.

That comes close to describing what's going on in Highlands: to justify all the law being enforced in our tiny crime-free burg, a few cowboys with badges are harassing this gentle citizenry until everyone's now afraid to have even a glass of wine at the already recession-stricken local restaurants.

Not content with that, they have taken to parking their shiny new vehicles around town, with dummies in the driver's seats. At least these inanimate fellows are exhibiting more good sense than their real-life counterparts.

Move over, Barney!

How would you like THIS for a job??

We've been in Atlanta for Jimmy's every-60-day tests at Emory, and we stayed at the Intercontinental this time: Priceline, $85. They were BUSY, and our bellman told us that they have been running at 80% occupancy, gratifying news in this economy.

We watched in fascination as a window-washer worked his way down the building across the street. We feel the same way about him as we did about the Tarzanesque tree-cutter in Highlands: glad somebody wants to do it.

Little pishermen, big pish

The Kerns boys hauled in a nice bass from one of the ponds at the Valdosta Country Club this afternoon.