Celebrating life!
Kevin took it upon himself to plan a birthday dinner for me at the Italian restaurant, Cafe Dodici....he invited Mom and Maynard to celebrate with us. What a sweetie he is!


So here we are in our private corner of the cafe, waiting for our dinner. Mom ordered spaghetti, Maynard and Kevin had the tortillini stuffed with meat (they loved it) and I enjoyed lemon chicken. The atmosphere was quiet and calming and the music was romantic. We had a lovely time enjoying our evening out on the town.



Then we headed back to their house for a couple games of Upwords.

Kevin takes his turn while Mom prepares for hers.....





As you can see, Mom is a pro at utilitzing the Scrabble dictionary. Check out the oil stains from its continuous use....that's years and years of use there, folks.




Stumped.





Back to grazing...or spell checking





Another spell checker





more grazing





Maynard waiting patiently for his turn. He must already have a word in mind to play as he looks pretty calm here.
We had a wonderful evening with Mom and Maynard. Thanks, Kevin for planning the whole thing for me. A wonderful gift!

Our new friends come for an aperitif (there should be accent marks, but my computer does not have them)....


As soon as the family entered our house, little 2 1/2 yr-old, Ines walked right over to the Wonder Horse as soon as she spotted it. She's rather a shy little girl, but Wonder Horse drew her out.





See what I mean? She was wild and loving this ride....that is, until she flipped forward off it. She cried a while and sat on the couch with her papa. Then she slid off the couch, went up to the horse and lightly slapped it on the face. (She was letting him know she was none too happy with him for bucking her off). Then she felt one of the springs, then the saddle, then she got back on and rode off.




Still riding, but little Apolline was more interested in the plate of food her papa had.




Ok...I have to share with you what Kevin said early this morning. He's been complaining for some time now that he needs to find another pillow. He brought it up again this morning and said, "This pillow is giving my ears a headache." Deb, is this possible? Guess we'd better find Kevin another pillow...and soon! Sometimes he just cracks me up!

EIGHT DAYS OF HOPE....
comes to town to help rebuild homes with flood damage.


Above is the founder of 8 DOH. Volunteers from all around the country, Canada, and our city came to help with 8DOH. Homeowners whose houses sustained major damage had to sign up ahead of time for this volunteer help. Many, many people are still not in their houses and many are feeling hopeless. 8DOH brought hope...all in Jesus' name.




Kevin worked in this house, helping to hang drywall along with Tom (left) from our church and Brian (right), this homeowner's brother.




Coming back in after taking out some drywall scrap to the pile along the street




L-R, Brian and Teresa (homeowner), Tammy and Ed (from our church)




lots of measuring to be done




Kevin did a lot of this




New-found friends at church, Tammy and Tom





When a job was completed, its paper was hung on the wall. Several jobs composed a cross, and there were several crosses on the walls in the room




Returning to church in the evening after putting in a full day. Where does the paperwork go?




Quite the organization!!!




Let's see...it's gotta be here somewhere




Finally. Now to get in the line for supper





At the end of the gathering after supper was done




Walking to the car after the end of the day. A homeowner (on the left) who received welcome help from 8DOH and her brother and sister. They were much encouraged. It has been a very long 5 months...and continues for many others yet.

Our French Connection...




Our new friends from France told us of a little French restaurant and patisserie right here in our town. So, Kevin took me there this morning for a breakfast date. The owner, she is French, no?




All the pastries in the cases looked just like many we saw while in Lyon visiting Trey and Kari. We were delighted. I enjoyed one of the croissant aux amandes(almond croissant) while Kevin enjoyed the pain au chocolat and a croissant aux amandes (Trey, Kari...correct French?)


There were so many delicious choices...

(one of these went home with me)





Kevin enjoyed one of these in the cafe





I'm definitely going to try this one some time




And on the way home we saw a garage sale sign and decide to have a gander...


We found a small table saw for Kevin. There goes my back-up idea for his Christmas gift this year. Oh well. $25 was a pretty good deal.





Kevin has been putting in a lot of volunteer hours building a cabinet for a new large screen TV that was donated by the school's PTO to display student art work, and other school items...it will be like an electronic bulletin board. One of the school custodians has also been putting in several volunteer hours on this project. Now it is just waiting for the head of maintenance to come install the electrical outlet so the TV can be plugged in.

putting on some finishing touches



The TV will set just to the left of Kevin. He also built in a cork bulletin board and painted it black. We are both so thankful that this project is done. He has worked very hard to get this done in time for the school's carnival tonight and he's ready for a break.

On the road again...it's too great of a day to stay indoors. We want to savor what's left of the beautiful fall days and get out as much as we can. So we headed for another county trail....








We absolutely love being outdoors...





Under the train tracks overhead





She's comin' 'round the bend




(Now I couldn't very well pass up this photo op, could I.)



Who says fish don't fly?

After stumbling along the flood-ravaged shore, strewn with debris, we're just walking along....





I spotted something up in the tree....




"I need water! Help! Helloooooo?"
Seriously, this is a huge carp that got washed up into the treetop and was wedged in the branches. But we can be sure he didn't drown.





Nearing the end of our adventure, I look down and am reminded of how that man came up with his invention of velcro.




Kevin came to my rescue




...and we're on our way home. Happy trails to you....