The Adventures of BJ and Tony Morris

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Christmas 2010

    Wow!  What a year!  Go get yourself a steaming cup of hot chocolate, sit down in your recliner & put your feet up.  This is going to be a long letter.   We have lots of news to tell!

Lucy, our precious Chihuahua , started the year off with hernia surgery. BJ tried to take the stitches out which resulted in an emergency trip to the vet. BJ’s ski trip in January with friends was cut short because there was just too much snow!  She came home and the snow followed her in February!  Snow in Georgia is so rare that it is a real treat. Lucy frolicked in the snow in her new leopard skin coat!

BJ and Lucy went on a girls’ weekend to her friend’s cabin   in North Georgia in February. Later in the month, we enrolled Lucy in Obedience School which she passed with flying colors!  Sadly, the school did not cover house-training. 

Sorrento , Italy was our destination in March.  We took a ferry to the Isle of Capri and toured the Blue Grotto.  We were fascinated by the sights of Pompeii , imagining what it must have been like when the volcano erupted.  We finished the trip in Rome .  Oh, and we also bought a condo in March. It was a foreclosure that we had tried to buy the year before when it was a short sale. It’s an adorable little place above one of the shops in Smyrna Market Village . The plan is to sell our house when the market recovers and move to the condo.

BJ’s company golf tournament took us to Panama City in April. Later in the month, BJ and her sister attended an Embroidery Conference in Marietta . BJ bought a new embroidery machine which she hopes to be able to use for profit in her retirement.  Retirement, you say?  Stay tuned...  Tony’s mom turned 90 in April too.  We are so thankful to have her living close by.

In May, we flew to Spain and took a driving trip along the same route we had biked the year before.  We had wanted to buy some pottery in the tiny town of Pals but could not carry it on our bicycles.  We loaded the car with colorful HEAVY bowls on this trip!  We made stops in L’Estartit, L’Escala, Cadaques and Girona before heading back to Barcelona to fly home.  Later in the month, BJ and some girlfriends rented a house on Fernandina Beach .  We finished the month by judging the first annual Brenau BBQ Championship in Gainesville , GA.

In June, Tony flew to Germany with some friends to watch World Cup Soccer.  No, the World Cup was not played in Germany , but Tony wanted to watch the game with the Germans who were predicted to win.  They found lots of soccer fans in Heidelberg .

In July, the Germans were still in contention for the World Cup, so we flew to Frankfurt again. Our German connections found us a great beer garden where we could watch the game (and the fans).  Walking back through the park to our friend’s apartment, BJ got hit by a bicyclist and messed up her rotator cuff.  A few steroid injections helped fix her up but she won’t be able to compete in the Olympics.  When we got home, we took the animals and drove to our friends’ place on St. George Island .  It was there that BJ made the decision to retire!   She decided to take the rest of her vacation in July and make her official retirement date August 2!  The timing was perfect for her to be able to help our friend who has Leukemia. Our friend who was at MD Anderson in Houston was in need of daily white blood cell donations. It took a lot of coordination to get enough donors so after a couple of day trips out there for both of us, BJ flew out to Houston and stayed for a week to shuttle donors from the airport to appointments.  Tony drove our car to Houston for BJ and the other donors to use and then later flew to Memphis to pick up another car and drove it out so the patient would have some wheels.  He drove our car home the next day.  It was a couple of long driving days for Tony. Thankfully our friend has had his marrow transplant and is recovering now.  While BJ was in Houston , she reconnected with a high school friend whose husband works at NASA so she got a private tour!

BJ went back to work on August 2 to pack her things and say goodbye to her friends.  After work, there was a nice party with over 100 friends in attendance!

If you thought we traveled a lot before BJ retired, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

BJ made one more white blood cell donation run to Houston and then the next week, we flew to London with friends who wanted to tour the British Soccer stadiums.  We saw Stamford Bridge , Craven Cottage and Emirates. We took in some of the touristy sights as well.  We particularly enjoyed the beautiful flowers in Regents Park !  Tony made two more trips to Houston for a white blood cell screening and donation when we got back.

BJ decided she needed to make some money now that she is retired, so she started listing items on Craig’s List.  She sold a few things from the basement and while she was on a roll, she sold 2 of our vehicles.  She really didn’t expect them to sell so quickly, but we needed to downsize the fleet anyway.  The motor home still hasn’t sold though. Want to buy it?

We took another trip to St. George Island with our friends in September.  Lola (the cat) is quite the conversation piece when we take her to the beach on a leash.  She doesn’t do too well on car trips though. She gets traveler’s diarrhea before we get out of the neighborhood.  BJ went to the Delta Ladies’ Golf Tournament in Palm Springs .  She commented that she felt much more relaxed about the flight home, knowing that she didn’t have to go to work the next day.

Later in September we took a quick trip to Houston to have a pre-transplant lunch with our sick friend.  The following weekend we rented a cabin in Dahlonega with BJ’s North Georgia College buds for their 30th reunion.  We had to take the motor home because the cabin didn’t allow pets.  Over a hundred classmates attended the reunion!  The following week, BJ and Lucy went to Sardis Elementary School where BJ’s sister teaches.  The first graders loved Lucy!

Tony’s 40th Woodward Academy High School reunion was in October.  Only 8 people from his class attended.

We had wanted to go to Munich for Oktoberfest but had too many things going on so we settled for Oktoberfest in Helen , Georgia . It was really quite fun!

We packed our bags for a flight to Fort Walton Beach for a friend’s birthday but at the last minute decided to drive down.  Lucy still has not gotten to try her luck at flying.

Tony decided we needed to replenish the fleet so he found a few vehicles he was interested in.  One of them was in New Orleans so we flew down for the day to test drive it.  We didn’t buy it, but we had a nice lunch in the French Quarter at Coop’s.  We also did a day trip to Houston to look at another vehicle.  We finally ended up buying a Honda Odyssey right here in Atlanta !

BJ visited Burt’s Pumpkin Farm and Amicalola Falls with friends.  Lucy trotted her little legs all the way up to the top of the falls but they wouldn’t let her go on the hayride at Burt’s.

The annual Thanksgiving trip was to Madrid and Toledo this year. We had a large group with 4 adults and 6 “children” ranging in age from 15 to 23.

We were able to fit in one last trip of the year to Navarre Beach .  Six of us rented a house and hooked up with our four friends who live there.  It was a bit cold for anything more than looking at the beautiful view, playing cards and enjoying each other’s company.

Lola has become quite the hunter.  She has brought us 10 birds and 2 mice this year. Most of them were dead or nearly dead when she presented them to us.  Even birdie or mousie CPR would not bring them back.

Back in the heat of the summer when the air conditioner failed, BJ went out with the repairman to look at the unit.  She happened to glance up and see that the stucco on one end of the house had cracked and buckled.  We are finally getting around to having that fixed in December along with new hardwood floors to replace the soiled carpet.  Did we mention that Lucy has not gotten the hang of house-training yet?  She’s a slow learner.

We had to move out of the house this week so the hardwoods could be installed.  We didn’t want little paw prints in the polyurethane.  We’re “camping” in the condo until everything is done.  Lucy had a close call while we were here.  BJ was walking her in the common area when Lucy saw some ducks. Lucy took off, yanking the leash out of BJ’s hand.  BJ chased after her screaming for cars to stop as Lucy crossed 3 streets. BJ fell a couple of times in the grass and on the concrete. A teenager in one of the cars took pity and got out to help with the chase. Lucy ran down to the frozen duck pond and skated across until the ice ran out near the fountain. Then she turned and ran into the arms the teenager who was helping with the chase.  Thankfully everyone was alright with the exception of a few bruises and scrapes.  We feel awfully lucky to still have Lucy, little stinker that she is!  

Hope you and your family have had a blessed 2010!   Read more about our adventures at www.bjandtony.com!

 

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