Sometimes, I have to remind myself of the blessings, especially, on a day like today. It's been a rainy, dreary Sunday in Shenandoah County. Billy Bob's cousin, Donna Showman, was buried today. I loved Donna, and will miss visiting with her. She was only 57, and had Lou Gehrigs Disease. We had another family reunion---this time, at the Toms Brook Methodist Church after she was laid to rest there beside her parents on the hillside in the small town's cemetery. As we were leaving we saw the two gravestones of BB's grandparents, Wade and Emma Wright. When springtime comes I will go back and look for more relatives. Not sure where my great, great uncle, Montague Grandstaff, is buried---not far from Donna, I think. He's the one I found a couple years ago that I didn't know existed. December has been cold here with very little snow. We are hoping for a White Christmas. We're thankful for so many blessings this year. BB got another new hip in January, and is doing well. I fell on the Edinburg Mountain in January filling up water jugs at the spring right before his hip surgery, and suffered for sometime. I guess it was a blessing that I didn't break my fool neck. Like my mom always said, "Things could always be worse!" Then came the BIG SNOW, and we fed the pretty snowbirds outside the family room window. I, also, fed the woodstove! Felt like I was running a rest home here, and that we were the two residents. We had plenty of pet therapy and activities. Home health made it in to take care of my hubby. Our sons broke paths with the snowblower and our daughter-in-law, Robin, helped shovel snow with the grandpup, Jazz, jumping around. BB's uncle, Ralph Shrum, passed away in Jan. We were able to go to the funeral at Dellinger's Funeral Home in Woodstock since it was before the hip surgery and the fall. That was the first family reunion of the year. The meal was held at the St Luke Brethren Church following the burial on a frigid cold day. As I look at this year's calendar I see that February wasn't very eventful except for the snow and for BB's physical therapy. March arrived and none too soon. We ventured as far as the Green Valley Book Fair at Mt Crawford the first day it opened. Then came spring on March 20th which was our 45th wedding anniversary. The garden was plowed, and we had a big yard sale in April. Meanwhile, BB was servicing everyone's lawn mowers and other equipment in his shop. Shenandoah County Heritage Day was held in April with a focus on Conicville this year. My good friend, Jane Dodson Perry, was in her glory with her family there. What a grand friend she is and Conicville native! May was a lovely month, and BB took me to Hagerstown to the City Park and the Washington County Museum of Art so we could just get away, and I could do a photo shoot. What a lovely time with the roses starting to bloom! The swans on the lake posed for me, and GOD's gift of nature was at its BEST. Visited with my West Virginia sister, niece and her family on the way home. June is my favorite month of the year with the roses in bloom and the perfect days. Billy Bob and his buddies had their Massanutten Antique Tractor and Gas Engine Club's show at the Shenandoah County Fairgrounds. Was a hot time in the old town of Woodstock, and I ventured out to the show only after church on Sunday. Our older son, John, age 44, got married for his first time on June 26th to the lovely Donna Shafer. They had a small but beautiful wedding at the Antioch Church of the Brethren. We are blessed with this new daugther-in-law. She is an educator in the Shenandoah County Schools, and teaches 8th grade English at North Fork Middle School near Mt Jackson. She has a pretty 20 year old daughter, Ashley, who is studying to be a cosmetologist. We finally got a grandchild, but she is full grown! We love her anyway! Donna was so excited to join the DAR, and fits in perfectly with her love of family and history. She and John bought a log home here in the county, and moved into it in October. July and August were HOT months with more tractor shows and the Shenandoah County Fair at the end of August. Family reunions were held in Fort Valley for both the Grandstaff and Clem families. The following week we were back to Fort Valley when my first cousin, Johnny Plaugher, was buried on a lonely hilltop overlooking the southern end of Fort Valley. We had a nice celebration of his life and reunion at the Fort Valley Fire Hall. Johnny was just about my age and very dear to me. The county fair ran into September, and then the Shrum family and half of Woodstock celebrated Labor Day at the river. Billy Bob's youngest brother and Chuck Hepner and their wives own the large riverfront property that once belonged to Woodstock's former mayor, Web Riley. School started after Labor Day. Our daughter-in-law, Robin, became the new assistant principal at WW Robinson Elementary here in Woodstock. It's like she has come back home there as she was their general music teacher sometime back. She spent two years as the assist principal at a Harrisonburg city school to get more experience before coming back to this super large school. She is music director at the Manor Memorial Methodist Church in New Market, also. October came, and Billy Bob and I both helped with Family Fun Day for Christ at the Shenandoah County Fairgrounds. He ran around in his golf cart all day transporting folks and things. I was the official photographer. The leaves turned pretty, and I ventured out on more photo shoots. The most memorable October day was when my friend, Jan Wilkins, and I went to Fort Valley to visit our friend, Peggy Heishman, for lunch. We are all Facebook friends, and joined another, Fran Crisman, there along with Peggy's mother. The leaves were beautiful, and the views from Peggy's house are spectacular with Kennedy's Peak and the rest of the Massanutten range in her backyard. Jan, Peggy and I took a nostalgic journey through the Fort on back roads to the north. Went past my homeplace and on to Elizabeth Furnace. Jan's father was a forest ranger at the furnace when I was a child, and was friends with my dad. They were in the CCC at Camp Roosevelt in the 1930's. The leaves hung on the trees and were beautiful thoughout November, especially, the Bradford Pear trees on South Main Street of Woodstock. I went to the meeting of the Shenandoah County Historical Society on November 9, and listened to the presentation by Richard Kleese on Shenandoah County on the Eve of the Civil War. Richard is one of my old boyfriends and a classmate from Strasburg High School , Class of 1963. He is an author, CPA, and was lead singer with the bluegrass group, Five of a Kind. My daughter-in-law, Donna, took me as a guest of the DAR to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley one Sat in November. The most fun that day was touring the gardens of Glen Burnie. We spent the whole day there, and had lunch in the museum's tea room. The scones are to die for! We need to go back before the art exhibit of the Hudson River School of Painters ends in January. We didn't get to see everything there. Also, there are some paintings at the Hagerstown Museum by some of the same painters, and I need to go back there. So much beauty with historic significance here in the valley and the surrounding area. December is here, and Christmas approaches quickly. Billy Bob and I don't get in much of a hurry. He goes to McDonalds most every morning with lots of his buddies for breakfast. I like to hang out with the dogs here at home. I'm trying to get back into painting and attending an "Art That Heals" class with SC Parks & Rec on Tuesdays with my friend, Jane. On Wed mornings I go to the Bible Study at the Antioch Church of the Brethren. Now, we'll finish up on the book of Revelation next Wednesday. It has taken us six years. Folks who study Revelation are promised a blessing. Now, that is something to anticipate. We will go to the Wood Grill in Harrisonburg to celebrate after the class, and are planning to go to the book fair again. Pastor George Bowers, the teacher of the Bible Study, has authored a book of poetry. It is Valley Verses. I would highly recommend it. I bought three copies. One for myself and one for each of my sons. George is a very special friend. He grew up in the Valley Pike Church with our boys. Speaking of my sons: They are the joys of my life along with their wives and Billy Bob, and I'm so thankful to have them nearby. They were on a big hunting trip out in Iowa over the last week or so, and got home early Friday am. Barry lives next door with his lovely wife, Robin. He is a Lieuenant in the Shenandoah County Sheriff's Dept, and has been going to school this year to become an instructor. He's the bass fisherman and BIG pumpkin grower. John works for the town of Woodstock at the new state of the art WWTP. He teaches gun and hunting safety classes, and stays busy with serveral conservation organizations. I think he's the president of the local National Wild Turkey Federation. I just can't keep up with these guys. Yesterday, I went to the Narrow Passage Inn, and bought the new Fort Valley book. My friend, Jeanette Ritenour, did an awesome job with it. Jim and Meg Trott were good about helping with it, also. It's a BIG book, and I look forward to reading it all this winter. So, there you have it, some of the highlights of this year. Really, it is what came to my mind as I sat here this pm. It's been a sad weekend. Oh, I forgot to mention that I lost another friend, too. She is JoAnne Halterman of Fort Valley. We painted together in the Burner Institute of Art back in the 1970's. She lived at my father's Grandstaff homeplace in the Fort. Her father, Joe Selby, was in the institute, also. He was a wonderful woodcarver. JoAnne will be buried tomorrow in the Fort. I am praying that all my friends here have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year. GOD's Blessings to YOU and yours. Your friend, Nancy Grandstaff Shrum, an old mountain girl with nostalgic memories, especially, of Fort Valley