In Memory of a Wonderful Friend

Several days ago,  I never dreamed that I would be writing this post today, especially on a happy occasion such as America's Birthday week... But---I lost another good friend on Sunday night --and have been very very sad this week.

I have known REIDA RANKIN since childhood  (we even went to Kindergarten together), and she has always been a very special friend.  And for those of you who have followed my blog for years,  you may even feel as if you knew Reida.  She's part of my Getaway Girl group ----four childhood friends who have been getting together every year since we all turned 50 in 1992.  There are 15 posts about these four friends on my blog (listed on my sidebar).  If you want to see any or all of these posts,  click HERE.

All four of us  (Reida,  me,  Susan Hollifield Daugherty, and Nita Holding Wilson) were born during the summer of 1942.... After high school,  we all went our separate ways for many years... Once we turned 50,  we decided it was time to start getting together once a year for 4-5 days of fun and fellowship.  We did that for many years...

THEN--one of us,  Susan,  found out that she had breast cancer... She fought it --but the cancer ultimately won.  Susan died in June of 2011.   Our little group went from 4 to 3.... And the sad thing is that the three of us never got together again after Susan's death.  Reida has been fighting Multiple Sclerosis for years ---and had gradually been having more problems recently.  However,  I had no idea that she was THIS sick.  She has pulled out of it so many times --so I thought she would live forever...  When I got the call Monday afternoon from her sister,  I was SHOCKED...  Now our little group is down to TWO....

BUT--the good news is that I have many many happy memories to share...  Reida is the only one of us who never got married... In fact,  her Daddy lived with her for many years --and he was well over 100 when he died...

Reida was the type of friend I could talk to about ANYTHING --and know that it wouldn't be repeated.   She and I had many fabulous conversations about LIFE through the years... She LOVED George and was so happy when I married him.  She loved my sons --and always asked about them when we would talk.  What a wonderful friend.  I will miss her FOREVER....

I'll close with 3 photos of the Getaway Girls!!!!!   As I've said many times,  there  are friends and then there are REAL FRIENDS.  Childhood friends are the BEST of all...  Reida and Susan are sitting up there on the "pink cloud" watching down and shaking their fingers at Nita and me.....

Kindergarten (1947)  Susan and Nita --at the back on left next to the window;  Reida is sitting at the table on the right end;  Betsy is at the table on the far side on right --with white bow in my hair!!!

Taken in 1993 by my son:First row:  Reida, Betsy, Nita;  Standing behind Betsy is Susan.

Taken about 1997: first row:  Betsy and Reida;  2nd row:  Nita and Susan

God Bless You,  Reida Rankin... Rest in peace, my friend.

Pray for George and me on Friday as we drive to Kingsport, TN for Reida's celebration of life service.

NOW---switch over to my Photo Blog for a great July 4th photo.  Click HERE.

Hugs,

Emoticons

Celebrating our Anniversary

Celebrating 12 Glorious Years together (6/23/13)

Hope all of you have had a great couple of weeks since I have been gone.  George and I celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary on June 23, 2013... We took a short trip north of where we live to Kentucky to do some hiking,  see some waterfalls --and just have a good time!

We visited the Cumberland Gap area to do some hiking and photography.  We stayed a couple of days at one of our favorite state parks,  Pine Mountain State Park.  While there we did ALOT of hiking and exploring that beautiful area.  Then we spent two nights in Corbin --and visited Cumberland Falls State Park and did a hike at Yahoo Falls which is near Whitley City.

We had a great time --but the highlight for me was seeing the Super Moon and the Moonbow (rainbow at night) at Cumberland Falls.  And of course,  we enjoyed a fabulous buffet dinner at the Cumberland Falls Lodge Restaurant on our anniversary.

Today I will share some pictures from our anniversary dinner --plus a few more of the highlights of this trip.  Above,  you will see a photo of us taken on our anniversary outside of the lodge at Cumberland Falls... Be sure to click on all photos for enlargements.  Hope you enjoy some of our MANY photos from this trip!

This is a photo of the lodge at Cumberland Falls State Park.

Here is a view from our table in the restaurant (taken through a double glass window).

Here is a photo of George at the table getting ready to eat!!!!!  Their Sunday buffets are fabulous (with lots of choices of salad items, meats, veggies, breads, desserts, etc.). 

And here I am getting ready to chow-down... Oink Oink!!!!!!! ha  (By the way,  my roast beef was terrific!)...  Don't you love our Mt. Rushmore shirts?

My Anniversary Gift from George

George gave me another one of his great photos on canvas (I now have 3 of them) for our anniversary.  This one was one of our favorite photos (which he took)  from Pikes Peak last September--showing the snow-covered mountain peaks  and the clouds in the distance.   Pretty,  isn't it? I love it!!!



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HERE ARE SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR TIME AT CUMBERLAND FALLS STATE PARK:

Gorgeous Cumberland Falls  (showing off lots of water on 6/21/13)--68 feet high and 125 feet wide (known as the Niagara of the South)

Beautiful rainbow at Cumberland Falls--which we saw the morning of 6/22/13

That glorious full moon (Super Moon) --taken on 6/23/13 right after midnight at an overlook near the state park

Moonbow (Rainbow at night) at Cumberland Falls, KY-taken on 6/22/13 at 11:30 p.m.

We had tried a few years ago to see the Moonbow --but the weather didn't cooperate that year.  This year,  it was perfect.  However,  since it was a Saturday night (6/22/13) in Summer --and since there was a Super Moon,  about 500 million (it seemed) of our best friends joined us at the falls to see the Moonbow.  We did not have a good vantage point due to the people --and were lucky to see the moonbow at all.  However, we found out  that the human eye cannot detect the colors of the rainbow at night.  It looks all white/silver.  But--a good camera CAN..... George set the tripod up (which kept getting kicked by people nearby) --and set it for a two minute exposure.... Even though he is not satisfied with the picture,  I think he did well, under the circumstances.  SO--we left very pleased that we had seen it AT ALL.  The waterfall is out of our view (to the left) --but the spray/mist from the waterfall is what causes the rainbow... We WILL go back sometime --during the off-season, during the week (when there's a full moon), and will go about 2 a.m. Yawn!!!!!!!  SO---next time,  we may get something that looks more like the rainbow photo above (which was taken during the daytime at a good vantage point).....

All in all,  we loved seeing the Moonbow --since we had never seen it before --so there are no complaints from either of us!!!!!!   Can you see what a great anniversary we had?

Us on the Blue Ridge Parkway (6/27/13)

I'll close with a photo of us taken on our 2nd trip during those two weeks.  We took a trip to North Carolina to see George's son and family... AND--on the way there,  we just HAD to check out Craggy Gardens and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The reason I'm enclosing this photo is to show you our new Moonbow t-shirts which we got at Cumberland Falls State Park before leaving that day.  Aren't they pretty ---along with the mountain views behind us in this photo????

Hope you had a great couple of weeks...  I'll begin checking your blogs as soon as I have some free time... IF there are any specific posts you want me to see from these past 2 weeks,  please let me know so that I won't miss them.  Thanks!!!!

Happy July 4th to ALL and God Bless America.  Be sure to check out my Photo Blog  (click HERE)  on Wednesday for a beautiful patriotic photo.  

Hugs to ALL,

Emoticons