Other news from North Carolina

We are getting ready for a costume party tonight at school. Not sure what I will be. I thought that I could wear my one suit and go as a political candidate, but that may be too scary. Laura's back is healing better this time so she is in pretty good spirits. The weather suddenly has turned very fall like, not too cold but crisp and clear so the trees all look beautiful. The drought seems to have brought out the best of the colors. Don't know if any of them will be left when Meghan gets here but there may be some.

We have gotten rain for most of the week which has raised the level of the big lake nearby by about 2 feet. Everyone is grateful and would like to see some more.

We leave for Washington next Thursday and then the weekend after are looking forward to seeing Mother, Elizabeth and Meghan. We assume Maggie will be back from Vietnam by then. I will post some more stuff over on Not Mayberry but I have been so busy lately that I have neglected it lately. We hope everything is going well down in Tampa.

Maggie in Vietnam - this time Hue

We have been following the adventures of our friends the Quigleys in Vietnam. The US government is holding up their departure indefinitely so they can investigate the adoption. Apparently the weeks and months they had to check out little Mickey wasn't enough time. So they have to stay at least one more week in Hanoi. They decided to go down to Hue for the weekend and are loving the old imperial city. They are staying at a very nice hotel that was the French governor's residence. Because of the war damage a lot of the city has been rebuilt but Mary says some parts are still in ruins.

We called them last night to see how they are doing. The young lady who answered the phone for the hotel spoke English which was a little surprising because most of their foreign guests are French. Come to think of it, the Vietnamese may enjoy talking to the French in English since Mary told me the they still seem to resent the French more than they do the Americans.

Anyway, we had a great time talking to them. Maggie was very sweet on the phone. She says she likes her little brother and seems to assume without question that she is a great big sister. I asked her if Mickey liked her and she said "Of course he does."

She will have to stay in Hanoi for Halloween so we boxed up her costume and one for Mickey and another one Laura bought for another American forced to stay over and Fed Exed them to get there in time.

More pictures of me than Judy?

Yes, by my rough count there were 60 photos that had me in them, and 59 that had Judy in them. Yes, I know its hard to believe, but she got bored at the reunion brunch, and was holding Jenifer's camera, which was a little easier for her to function with. After a few comments from me (all very calmly put of course) she was doing real well with it. I think we will keep the camera for Judy to use, and let Jenifer get a newer one for her overseas trips.

Of course I now need to post some of the photos from the trip for everyone to see. Since my computer is now cleaned up by Marshall and my Internet service is now back up I have no excuses.

We are expecting you!

We will be all set for Mother and Elizabeth and Meghan. You can all stay at the Hampton Inn, it is about a block or so from our house, or Meghan can stay for one of her sleep-overs if she wishes. Or either Mother or Elizabeth can stay for a sleep-over if they feel the need to be on their own.

By then the Quigleys should be back in town so maybe we can get Maggie and Meghan together. There are lots of things for kids to do if the weather is nice. If not we can take them to the pool at the Y - or something.

Did Blaine and Judy get back on the Internet? Are they following Maggie's adventures in Vietnam? They seem to be having a great time but I expect Maggie to get homesick, oh, right about ... NOW. The pictures they have put up of the orphanage in Danang and their stay in Hanoi are very interesting. Apparently someone at the orphanage likes to give the kids names of well known Vietnamese, so young Tun Duong is named after a popular singer everyone knows of. Like naming him Michael Jackson or Brittany Spears I suppose.

Anyway - we are looking forward to the visit.

Trip to NC

Well, I have made the plane reservations for Mother, Meghan and myself to fly to Charlotte, NC. We will be leaving Thurs. Nov. 8 and returning Sun. Nov. 11. Meghan is hoping for snow, I on the other hand just had in mind a little cook weather and some colorful changes in the leaves. We will visit with Scott and Laura and stay the Hampton Inn in Wilkesboro (http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/hotels/index.jhtml;jsessionid=VDIWMRG04NOSICSGBIU222Q?ctyhocn=WKBNCHX).

I am looking forward to the trip and I hope Mother and Meghan will enjoy it. I also hope Meghan will be able to see Scott's and Laura's new "virtual grandchild" and meet Maggie.

Maggie's new brother

Maggie's mother has written a number of nice long posts on the Mickey Miggs blog - she has included some nice pictures of their new boy - now officially Michael Duong Ciaran Quigley.

Here is Maggie's take on the situation with her new brother:

The best parts about Mickey are:
I love him
He drinks quietly
He cries for his food
I get to hold him sometimes
We both like to play little piggies

Love, Maggie


Everyone, especially Mickey (I want to call him Miguelito) seems to be adjusting splendidly. Check out their blog, but in case you don't, here's Maggie and Mickey (Laura says he looks like a little Buddhist monk).

I know it's a little early but...

Doris called us today and got Mother, for Christmas, one of those small automatic can openers that you don't hold while it opens the can. So don't get her one.

Gwen, Francie's daughter from SF, took Mother & I to lunch at the Indonesia (sp) our favorite place. It was packed and only Mike to take care of everyone. Wonderful time. We told him, when he had a second to spare, about Scott's friends getting their little baby.

Elizabeth & Meghan went to Busch Gardens this afternoon. Meghan tells me she rode Montoo (sp) 5 times and Elizabeth rode it twice.

An Update from Vietnam

Our friend Maggie has arrived in Hanoi and except for being utterly exhausted she and her folks are doing just fine. They will travel down to Da Nang to find Micky. Here is part of what Mary says about arriving:

We have, at long last, made it to Vietnam. Our flight actually arrived in a few minutes early, so we had to wait a bit to be met at the airport. Maggie loved the ride into Hanoi from the airport -- we passed by rice paddies, water buffalo pulling carts down the main streets, and mopeds, mopeds and more mopeds. They easily outnumber cars 8:1, and most were carrying entire families! Even now, on the 13th floor of the hotel, I can hear nothing but horns honking as cars and mopeds try not to run into each other.

The hotel/apartment is great. We just took it easy today and even made our own dinner. Tomorrow we'll be much more adventurous. And now I've gotten online, but guess what? Blogspot has realized that I am using a Vietnamese IP address, so has "helpfully" translated all of its directions into Vietnamese. I figured we'd learn "please" and "thank you" first, and maybe "hello," but instead my first Vietnamese vocabulary is "Bài đăng Mới" which means "edit blog" I think, and "Xem Blog" which definitely means "view blog."

I suppose we should ask if Blaine or Judy are up on the latest Vietnamese terms for computer commands. Maggie will probably be speaking at least a few words of Vietnamese when she gets back. We will invite her down for a sleepover so she can tell us all about her trip. In the meantime you can check here for their adventures.

Update on Laura's wound

I thought everyone knew about this but then when Jackie asked I realized that I hadn't said anything about it. Two months ago Laura had a growth taken off her back, right in the center between her shoulder blades that turned out to be possibly cancerous. The dermatological surgeon went back in and removed more material just to make sure. Apparently she got whatever it was, but the little three inch incision did not heal. It just opened up to a nickel sized hole in the middle of her back.

So the surgeon reopened the cut, removed all the old scar tissue, and restitched the wound. This was all done as an outpatient, but this last procedure took over an hour. Now it is doing much better but Laura can not do anything strenuous (guess who gets to do all the heavy lifting, walking the dog, etc).

She is doing fine and while tired of it and tired out from it she is running around doing all her regular activities - except when she wants me to do it.

I am getting a little tired of it too.

And now she tells me to quit whining!