A great loss

As most people know, we were in North Carolina last week. My wonderful grandfather passed away Monday July 9th at 9:50pm at the age of 92. My heart and mind are still making sense of all of it but I wanted to tell you a little about him. My mom started and has continued a caringbridge site for him if you want to read more about what happened over the last few weeks.

Our little family of four made the decision to leave last Sunday to drive back to NC. I was fortunate to arrive Monday around lunch time and spend time with Pa that afternoon and evening. I'm so very thankful for that time with him and for happier memories of him over the years.

My grandparents, Honey and Pa, lived in Winston, my home town. No matter where in Winston my family moved they were no further away than a short 10-15 minute drive. We celebrated every holiday and birthday with them, had sleepovers until we were too old and 'cool,' and generally enjoyed having our grandparents so close.

It was my grandfather who, along with my uncles taught me how to play poker and the importance of football, but only my grandfather who taught me that homemade cornbread crumbled in a glass of milk is one of the simplest and best dinners ever.

Most importantly though, my grandfather had a way of seeing you for you and in his matter-of-fact way, supporting you. I will always remember the day he asked me if I would major in engineering at NC State. He saw my abilities and knew I could do it if I wanted to. When I told him my plans to major in psychology he was just as pleased because it was what I wanted.

As the years have passed, my grandfather's unfaltering love of his family remains one of the things - the feelings - that outshines all the others. He was a quiet man who despite this, made you always feel loved and respected. He epitomized unconditional love. For that and many other reasons, he will be so dearly missed.

KENNEDY, WINSTON-SALEM Warren Gamaliel Harding Kennedy June 24, 1920 – July 9, 2012. Warren G. Harding Kennedy, 92, passed away July 9, 2012 at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Mr. Kennedy was born in Tellico Plains, Tennessee to James Pinkney and Queen Esther Jenkins Kennedy on June 24, 1920. He received a football scholarship to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga before serving in the United States Navy. After serving his country, he moved to Houston, Texas where he graduated from the University of Houston. He served as Director of Finance at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and worked with the Old Hickory Council of the Boy Scouts of America where he was awarded the Long Rifle Award for outstanding leadership. He and his family moved to Winston Salem where he became the Associate Dean of Administration and Director of Finance at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University Medical Center. He remained at Bowman Gray until his retirement in 1986. He served as president of the Winston Salem Kiwanis Club, served on the Denmark Loan Fund at Wake Forest University, and was an avid tennis player. He was predeceased in death by his parents, seven brothers, five sisters, and daughter Helen Carole Kennedy. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Helen Harris Kennedy, his children Doris Hixson (Terry) of Florida, Mark Kennedy (Pam) of California, David Kennedy (Dell) of Pennsylvania, Anne Hodges (Warren) and Warren G. Harding Kennedy, both of Winston Salem; grandchildren Orinda Welton (Lyman) of Florida, Elaine Hixson of Arizona, Liana Corn (Stacey) of Germany, Elizabeth Shilling (Chip) of Texas; Eric Kennedy of California, Michael Kennedy (Corey) of Delaware, Charles Hodges of Winston Salem, and Katherine Kennedy of Pennsylvania; great-grandchildren Savannah Welton, Megan and Trevor Corn, and Amelia Kennedy, as well as a host of beloved nieces, nephews and cousins. Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Friday, July 13, at Centenary United Methodist Church, with Dr. Mark Ralls, Reverend Craig Ford, and Dr. Michael Brown officiating. A private committal service will be held at the Centenary United Methodist Church Columbarium.

Furry family update

Shadow was up for her visit to the new vet this past Friday. The purpose of the visit was to hear the new vet's opinion on her previously diagnosed heart murmur. Lets just say the appointment didn't go as anticipated. Her heart murmur diagnosis went from a 1 out of 6 (mildest form) to a 3 out of 6. The vet said she thought it could be an issue with her aorta which would most likely result in her living only a few more years. Yep, that news pretty much sucked. This was also the point in time during the visit where I cried. Did I mention I have a strong attachment to this dog? Anyways, I had to leave her at the vet for some testing and when I got back, the vet recommended I take her to Texas A&M's vet school. There she could receive a diagnosis and we could determine if there were any applicable treatments.

On Tuesday I loaded Shadow in the car and headed to A&M, about an hour drive. The small animal clinic was amazing. I cannot express to you how awesome the staff were - every single one of them. After the tests, I was prepared to ask lots of questions but the cardiologist said that based on the tests, Shadow was in almost perfect health. What? Although he diagnosed her heart murmur as a level 4, it was the result of two slight abnormalities that do not and will not affect her ever. YAY!  Of course, I was not at all expecting that but we are so relieved that our sweet Shadow is healthy. Now, hopefully we're working our way back to the regularly scheduled program around here! :)

The swing of things

It feels like we're finally getting back into the swing of things. Of course some adjustment is expected when coming back from a two week vacation only to go out of town the following weekend but things were a little out of whack well before our vacation. We've both been very busy with work but we're finally getting to a point where working late only occurs once (or twice) a week. Hopefully things will continue to slow down on that front.

Although still cute, the dogs have also been somewhat out of sorts as well. Shadow's heart murmur continues to be a source of concern for us. Usually we can count on Gracie to be her moody but loveable self, however, she has also had some issues recently. As a result, we switched vets last week and Gracie was the first up for a visit. She had crystals in her urine and we're hoping after some prescription food for the next four weeks, these will disappear. Worst case scenario is that she has kidney stones and needs surgery. So we're keeping our fingers crossed on that one. Shadow is up for a visit Friday and I'm hoping we get some helpful information about her heart murmur. 

Other than that, for the first time in a long while we had time to do some cooking this past weekend. The husband broke out the smoker and smoked ribs and a pork butt. I tried my hand at a homemade ice cream recipe that was an epic fail. The base of the ice cream was mascarpone which was a little weird so that could have been the reason we didn't like it, but who knows!. The chocolate sauce that went with it was quite tasty though so we got something out of the try!

 

 

And of course we've been enjoying lots of tomatoes from the garden!  We've had pest issues with some of our other plants and found a newcomer among the parsley plants - big ole vicious caterpillars. But aside from those, the garden stuff is going well. The season is about to end here for tomatoes and we'll be sad to see that happen but we'll start working on the fall/winter seeds soon!

Europe Part 1 - Vienna

I know most people don't have time to view (or are interested in viewing) a thousand pictures in a blog post (I'm one of those people too). And yet here I am faced with that very dilemma - we have a ton of pictures that I could put on the blog but I'm pretty sure that would bore most people to death. In somewhat of a compromise, I will highlight parts of our journey over a few posts. I promise not to put a thousand pictures but be forewarned that these posts will include a few more pictures than the usual mess! :)

We began our trip in Vienna, Austria. I studied abroad with the Wake Forest University counseling program there for two weeks in 2007 and have to say that I absolutely LOVE Vienna. The European city where my Eiscaffe (coffee with ice cream and whipped cream) obsession began is bound to find a permanent place in my heart.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Vienna, a mix of strolling around the city with a little touristy stuff thrown in. Plus, as I mentioned here, we celebrated our 2nd anniversary heuriger style! Here are just a few pictures from our visit.

We totally saw two other tourists rocking NC State gear in Vienna (and took secret photos of them)!