winter's ebb

Hi everyone! I love late winter when springs renewal is just around the corner. New beginnings. Hopefully, my new beginning will occur this month. I'm looking forward to it. Yikes, Eckhart Tolle is watching me.....oh well , it will be new and exciting when it happpens. I haven't posted for a while. I have been reading some. Took a break from my "revolutionary war" quest to read the Stieg Larson triology. The first and third book were good, had to trudge thru the second. Got to really pull for Liz Salander thru the series. Went back to my RW quest and read a book on Lafayette..a great story..a love story..when chivalry still mattered. Onto "George Washington", by Ron Chernow. Followed by "James Madison" by Gary Wills. Next came "Tempest at Dawn" by James Best. This was an unusal read. The author took the notes James Madison took at the original Constitutional Convention and wrote a story around them. Interesting read. One of the main characters besides Madison himself was Roger Sherman. He was the mayor to Hartfort Connecticutt in 1783. Most of the story line is around him. He happens to be the driving force behind the Connecticutt Compromise, giving the smaller states equal representation by establishing the Senate. Each state whether large or small gets two senator's. The cast of characters included all of the constitutional convention members. It is amazing how the issue of slavery was one of the top issues of the day and of course this issue would not be settled until 1865 in Lincoln's day. Actually, thinking about it, it wasn't truely settled until the 1960's when civil rights legislation was passed. This is one of the reason, the main reason, I have been reading this history. I needed an answer as to why our founding fathers did not include the slavery issue into the Constitution. The Declaration of Independance" does say "all men are created equal"..".endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights". The Constitution preamble includes; "establish justice" and "secure the blessing of liberty". What I have come away with is that when the founding father's were born, each were born into families that had slaves. George Washington...who truly was the "real" man of the his time, owned about a hundred slaves. He knew that institution was certainly going to die..in due time. All of his RW aids, Hamilton, Lafayette, and Lauren's all distasted slavery. I'm not condoning the founding fathers slave ownership, yet I understand why. The union of the states certainly would not have been possible if the slavery issue were on the table. Southern states would not have participated. At this exact time the states were truly vulnerable to foreign interests. We did not have a Navy, not one warship. ( George Washington did have 5 ships built by a Pennsylvania quaker during his presidency; these ships would be crucial during the war of 1812. One still exists today the US Constitution.) The British Navy of over a 100 war ships controlled the seas. The Spanish and French had to allie to match this war power. We could not have fended off the French, Spanish, British, Russian..and more. I continued reading with "The Chronicles of the American Revoultion." by Joseph Wreen. Aha. This book gives a much broader picture of the events of this time. The RW was but a small part of a world war where foreign interests could have cared less about "liberty" in America. They were all interested in sugar, cotton, spices and other goods. Political strategy of foreign players was first to secure their interests and not what was particularly good for the colonies. Yes, the French came to our aid yet the French government sent military officers to coerce the colonies interests...an inside coup of sorts. GW didn't let it happen. Continuing my reading I took on another book called "The Big Burn". Its about the fire of 1910 the burned from Spokane across the Idaho panhandle, all the way to Missoula ,Montana. It chronicles the beginning of the National Parks system and of the first forest rangers. Of course key players are Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and John Muir. It tracks the lives of several people thru the Big Burn. I enjoyed it. Back to the RW time period. Melanie and I agreed to read the Federalist Papers together. I've already started. Will have to reread a bunch...its difficult to read. Wow! I originally logged on to share some pictures , so now I will. Craig.

New Orleans

Here are a few more pictures from my trip. The previous ones are me in Jackson square, the crypts at the cemetery, the famous Oak Alley plantation and some pictures from our river cruise. Here are some pictures from the parade we watched and some more from the river cruise!

Erin

Catching up

I haven't posted in quite a while, mainly because I forgot my password. I finally got up the motivation to reset it so I could get back up to speed!

Aunt Jenny, I also read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a few months ago. I mostly read non- fiction science books, so this was right up my alley. A friend bought it for me this Christmas because it was the top rated science book of the year. I thought it was a really great read.

Tuesday, I was flying back from a trip to New Orleans and realized I forgot to bring a book so I went into the book stand and picked out the only book that wasn't a political book; it was called The Girl Who Fell From The Sky. I finished it on our second leg of the flight. The story is about a girl who is half Danish and half African American and came to live with her Grandmother in Portland after her family died. Their family fell off the roof of their apartment building in Chicago (hence the title) and it isn't until the end that you find out how. The book chronicles her struggles to fit in as a person of mixed race in a new town. I enjoyed it.

I also thought I would post some pictures from my most recent vacation. I went to New Orleans for five days with a group of friends. New Orleans was an amazing city! The food, the atmosphere and the history were all so great. I had a lot of fun but I am glad to be back because walking all day and having fun all night was exhausting.

Erin

cribbage ending

Hello. Cribbage tournament completed last Friday. It was good. Larry asked me to come over and play some cribbage. Bill was suppose to show up and play also. We were waiting on Bill C. to show up so we decided to play a game. Larry started out by getting a 20+ lead on me. He held the lead until the last corner. I caught up briefly. Played a couple of hands until the ending went as follows. It was my deal , Larry was in the stink hole and I was 8 holes behind or 9 pegs to win. I started to concede the game and decided to deal, all the while Larry is telling me " you might cut a jack you never know". Larry cuts and I turn over a ...jack. Only 7 pegs to win. Larry leads a 3 and I play a 3 for two points...only 5 pegs to win...Larry plays a 6 for a count of 12 and I play a 6 for a count of 18 and two more points...only 3 pegs to win...Now the count is now is 18. Larry plays a deuce for 20 and I play a deuce for 22 and two more points. We are now both in the stink hole. The count is now 22. I have a 5 and Larry is leading. So if he a 5 or higher in his hand ..he will get the go..for 1 and win. He doesn't...he plays an ace for 23 count..I play the 5 for 28 ...last card....a GO and the win. Yeeha! I had to share..this doesn't happen very often. Thanks craig. Go Greenbay!

Birthday and Cribbage

Hi again. It's been awhile. A lot had happened since I last blogged. A new surgery, still with ongoing challenges. I continue to read about the revolutionary war. I have finished "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow, "Sacred Fire" about George Washington.., "George Washington a Life, by Ron Chernow, "Lafayette",by Unger. Three of these book are over 800 pages and take a while to finish. The Chernow books seem to be the best to me. I broke down and purchased James Madison in hardback, because I cant get it on my kindle. Will tackle Madison, Monroe , Adams and Jefferson in the future. I so admire George Washington after reading about him. Incredible guy. Truly, his destiny tied to the inception of this great country. Although, I wonder what he would say if could see what is going on today in government. Yikes. Got to see Melanie, missing Steve who has commitments while he is working on his doctorate. We met in Seattle after my Dr's. appt. Four days in Seattle and 3 days in the Tricities. Moving on. My notoriously nasty divorce in ongoing. I have alot to say about that...yet ..Moving on. My birthday cribbage party was a success , again. Much more participation this year. Seventeen players showed with all striving for Tebay bragging rites. Lori,Sam L., Sam S, Tyler, Lynda Hart, Sean, Rick, Cal, Bill C., Dennis H., Jeff, Kerri, Jennifer, Erin H.T.,Dottie, Larry and Craig. We were missing Anthony our 18th. We were also missing the Hockadays who were committed to a ski trip that weekend. Also Megan , who just started a new job. We began with a whole counter full of food to eat. We chose to eat early because Calin was stuck at the Federal building in Richland..which means he had to get thru the Hanford traffic. It fit well with the nights events. Team play began with a drawing of partners. Larry and Sam did not draw as partners this year..thank goodness. After five rounds of play Kerri and I, the birthday dude, prevailed as the doubles champions. Of course Larry was in the opposing team. Kerri, had a excepitonal night with the cards . She was the Larry neutralizer. Had him talking to himself by the end. It was fun. The singles event was a single elimination also. The concentration in the room was evident. The games slowed abit because each player was trying to make the correct moves for the moment. It was fun to watch, yes I watched after being eliminated by Dennis Hart..he was on fire..kicking butt..until he ran into brother Sam. finis.. The championship game came down to Sam S. Tebay and Calin, with Calin prevailing. Sam dropped significantly behind at the beginning and caught up with Cal as they turned the last corner. Cal had a terrific hand and crib to distance himself and finished...first. I don't half to tell you, it didn't take long for him to claim bragging rites..oh about two seconds..and I'm number one was displayed. Good for him. In all, there was alot of positive feedback. Hope to improve next year. I'm attaching some pictures of the crib party champions, and other pics. Craig. p.s. bloggers post your 5 best pictures of 2010 and tell us why they are special. I will later. Thanks.

Happy New Year. From Sister, Daughter, Mother, Aunt and Wife--Jennifer

Maybe this will be the year that everyone in the Tebay family contributes to the Tebay Family blog at least once? Even if it's just a wedding photo (hint to Chanda).

As usual, I'm a little frightened by the seemingly instant passage of one whole year. Last year at this time, we had just finished dealing with end-of-life preparations for Rick's mom, Annette, after we were told by an over-zealous and incompetent caregiver that Annette was on her deathbed. That was a quick lesson in taking control of the decision-making process in Annette's care, and it was a good test run for the real thing (end-of-life issues for Annette).

Then we went to Cuba.

In between our trip to Cuba and today is a blur, which I find disturbing. I'm going to be 60 friggin' years old this year. This is the year to work on slowing down our pace of life and enhancing the good moments. So, maybe next year at this time I will have less blur.

One suggestion for our family blog: instead of attempting to have a traditional-style book club where books are read and then discussed, maybe it would be more realistic if everyone just shared what books they have read and recommend. So, we'd end up with a "2011 Best Books" list.

On that note, I am currently reading, The Wilderness Warrior by David Brinkley, which is about Theodore Roosevelt's passion for the outdoors and hunting, and his impact on conserving land for national parks and wilderness areas in the U.S. This is not a fast read, however, because it is HUGE and it's going to take me months to finish since I only read a few pages at a time. I do like it a lot though.

I'm also reading, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skoots, which I think a lot of you would enjoy. It's about a woman who died in 1951 from cervical cancer, "but before she died, a surgeon took samples of her tumor and put them in a petri dish. Scientists had been trying to keep human cells alive in culture for decades, but they all eventually died. Henrietta's were different: they reproduced an entire generation every twenty-four hours, and they never stopped." There are probably billions of Henrietta's cells in labs around the world today. That description alone may not motivate you to want to read the book, but it is a very readable book. Her life story is fascinating.

I'm also reading Keith Richards' autobiography, Life. Parts of it are very interesting, mostly his passion for music, but a lot of the book, as you would expect of the life of a famous rock star, is about the drivel of fame: drugs, sex and beautiful people.

Lisa is home for a couple weeks, and she purchased 4 books yesterday at Borders that she has been wanting to read, so I'll see if I can get her to list those on the blog.

I know Craig is planning a cribbage-tournament birthday for himself on January 28th, and I'm hoping Rick and I can make it. Karen is thinking of organizing a Tebay first-of-the-year get-together, so that weekend might work out for that too?

So, hope to see everyone soon! I wish everyone much love and health in the new year!

--Jennifer