Adjusting to the mountain view

MOUNTAIN CITY, Tenn. -- The air is clean, the stars are visible, the traffic is light, and for the most part, the people are pretty friendly. We are loving our new house, and hopefully, I'll be able to post some photos as soon as we get the house set up and are willing to let people see it.

Heather is meeting with the midwives today and I'm continuing to unpack the enormous amount of stuff we own. Liam is loving the big yard and the weird twists and turns of the house ... and right now he's running around in his underwear and a Robin Hood hat.

A New Home is Found

It seems that tomorrow morning, we'll be putting an end to our vagabond wandering as we just found a house in Tennessee. 

Its  a great house on an acre of land for rent in Mountain City, TN. There's room for a garden, plenty of room in and out of the house and hardwood floors.

An answer to the missing photos

In an answer from the Blogspot helpdesk, the reason my recent photos are not available, is I have reached the limits of my photo storage, so, I'll have to make a decision on whether I will delete some of my older posts, or start paying a premium for storage space. Considering that I am going to have another website coming online soon, we'll see whether its advantageous for us to simply post photos on another space, or simply create a new blog.

We are Here

BALTIMORE, Md --- Since our last post, we have journeyed from Baltimore, to Pottstown, Pa., to visit with Heather's brother Jeff, and sister-in-law Ashley, and our nephews Carter and Caleb. From there we traveled yesterday down the Eastern Shore of Maryland to the Bagley house, where Liam had his first sleep over with Ian, and finally today we came over the Bay Bridge back to Baltimore where we'll be for about 3 days with Danielle and Karen.

Tomorrow will determine where we will be in another week. I've got to go to our storage unit, which is several hours away, to see if I can find the documents we need to get across the border into Canada. If I find them, we head North. If we don't, we head South. Either way, I guess that will be worth blogging tomorrow.

Breaking Down

I have entered a new phase of life ... I have submitted to establishing a Facebook account, realizing instantly that I must be the last person on Earth to have a Facebook since I have a flood of emails of people wanting to be my friend.

The questions remaining from this new endeavor are:

1. Is it a status symbol to have an exhorbantly high number of friends?

2. Are these true friends I can call on if I am in need?

3. Am I expected to be on Facebook at all times?

Also, as a bit of news, we are currently in Pennsylvania and are on our way to Canada for a certain someone's birthday celebration but don't mention it since it's a secret.

Also, I am several days past my 38th birthday and am happy to report a serious lack of heavily frosted cakes being shoved at me. If anyone is horribly scarred by not buying me a present, I'm in the market for a sturdy pimp cane which could support my limping body.

Janesse and Steve
Heather with the man in tails
The luscious hostess

After dinner in 1896

Conversations by candlelight
Mia and Heather chat it up
the girls
Reflections of the parlor

A Victorian New Year's Eve

The gambler's ballet -- Shaun was in the chips with the boys
Shaun and Mia in victorian dress and tails for their anniversary
Amazing what we can do to a borrowed dress and a second hand jacket
I'm drooling

Christmas day at the Bannan's

Giving a piggy back ride to Tristan
Clothes from Mormor for Liam's new doll
Liam gets a doll for Christmas, named Tristan
From whence shall come many a meal in our new home in NC.

Christmas pictures from our walk in the woods

Liam and I were taking a walk in the woods Christmas morning ... until he figured out we were NOT going to Dale's house, who lives at the end of a wooded lane. Still, I was able to get a couple of nice pictures of him, and he even decided to take one of me.
Liam's new tweed walking hat. 

Mindy ... the evil one

WARNING: parrots bite. Enough said.

Pictured is Stacy's Mindy who we are bird sitting while she cruises through the Caribbean.

Pre-Christmas

Heather shows a bit of knitting to Grandma Haller.
A Christmas present from Granddaddy and Granny Trish ... a new bike!

Post Holidays

Christmas was great with Heather's family and as we have bounced from Baltimore in the days before Christmas, to Dale's house on our way to Christmas eve services at Redeemer, though we never made it, since Dale and I were having such a great visit.

Since then, we have been holed up at Stacy's flat in Alexandria taking care of Mindy the parrot and practicing being domesticated.

It also occurred to us that we were suppose to be at a formal Victorian New Years Eve dinner at the home of Janesse and Steve in Baltimore last night, so a trip to the thrift store for some accessories for my kilt and to a costumer friends house for a dress for Heather and we were all set. Today, we've just relaxed with our friends on the Eastern Shore as the boys have got in some good play time.

From here, we are days away from heading to PA for a few days to visit Heather's brother, then we have to determine if we are heading to Canada or if we are going to have to head on down to NC to set up house, but for the mean time, here are a few picks from the past few weeks.