Home and Heart

On Jan 21st we had “Cousin Reunion #1” in Winston-Salem, NC. You see Bruce Connor seated between Sandy (Peter’s wife) and Chris and below it Dick & Peter Connor together. We weren’t able to get a picture of Doug Connor and his wife Abby. We’ll be sure to include them next time we are together.

The next day we had a wonderful time in Salisbury, NC visiting Chris’s brother Terry and his wife Jeannie. The photos that follow give you a look at Jeannie’s talent for home decorating and entertaining and Terry’s skills in woodworking and building.

As you look at their home, the swing, the building behind it, the workshop, the stone work, and Terry’s new cabin – bear in mind he built everything you see. Much of the wood is from the trees he felled on their property and cut into lumber himself. His career was in historic home and barn restoration. An example of this is the colonial era barn pictured here with a red tractor.

Finally… note the photo of unusual sawhorses with holes. The holes in the sawhorses are for dowels and wedges to hold pieces of wood in place as he carves. The wooden jars and lids are examples of his carving. Terry is now specializing in “green wood” woodworking as was done in previous centuries when kiln dried wood was unavailable to farm craftsmen.

Terry and Jeannie Wilber live by these words…

It’s been a wild and wonderful (mostly) 6 weeks! The photo below highlights Chris’s membership in PEO (Philanthropic Educational Organization) – a 150+ year old group of women supporting women by providing college scholarships. PEO even has its own college for women – Cottey College in Missouri. It delights Chris to promote the organization by displaying her bag during travels.

Next on the agenda – reassurance. We are NOT in North Carolina as originally planned. The winter storm chased us up to DC. We are supposed to show up at the Department of State Authentications Office on Monday 1/26 to pick up apostilled copies of some documents. With the weather, we decided to come early so we wouldn’t miss that appointment. We were fortunate to find a cozy B&B in Georgetown for our sudden change in plans. Tonight we will be going to our new favorite restaurant in Georgetown – Apero/La Boheme for a four course themed dinner on the music of Queen. Stay tuned! (pun intended)

RECAP of our travels since 12/1/2025 (in chronological order)

• Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY
• Rensselaerville, NY
• Plymouth, MA
• Eastham, MA
• New York City, NY (Manhattan)
• New York City, NY (Queens)
• Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY
• Valletta, Malta
• Rockville, MD
• Washington, DC
• Ruxton, MD
• Richmond, VA
• Winston-Salem, NC
• Salisbury, NC
• Washington, DC (we left the car in Charlotte, NC and flew here)

Once we have our documents and the weather allows, we go back to Charlotte to pick up the car and head for Georgia!

Starting with the oldest grandson, Owen, who goes off to college next year…

Next oldest is Wes, who has two more years of high school.

Third and fourth oldest – Jake and Foster love middle school at Loyola Blakefield (where Wes & Owen go to high school)

And rounding out the crew, little brother Zeke who is almost 8.

Chris and daughter Caitlin enjoy looking at family heirlooms…

And Dad Alex comes home from work.

The next few shots are from Richmond. Zach and his partner Megan are expert hikers and mountain climbers. The bamboo stick shows woodburned marks you get for every thousand feet you succeed in ascending Mount Fuji. When you get to the top, you get the last one – see closeup. Both Megan and Zach have succeeded in summiting Mount Fuji!

Zach’s other passion is his car (Toyota GR Supra)- he doesn’t “race” per se, but has learned about how to make it a high performance racing machine that he can then drive at high speed on tracks designed for the purpose. Lots of safety gear involved.

We are looking forward to seeing Zach’s partner, Megan Connolley, in Japan when we are there in early March. In the meantime we met her parents, Raye and Jim, for brunch in Richmond.

We said goodbye to our friends Theresa and Mike in Malta

and Hello to friends Danielle and Paige (her dog) in Rockville, Maryland

For the next couple of days we are in Georgetown trying to “finish” paperwork for the Malta move and enjoying walks in the neighborhood. We’ll also take in some of the Smithsonian tomorrow.

Rock Creek Park

Charming house in Georgetown

Is it Spring already?!

After looking at 7 different places, the eighth place was a charm

2 bedrooms, one bath. No stairs. 100 yards from the ocean and an easy walk to dozens of stores and cafes.

There is no picture of the living room here because the current tenants stuff was piled there.

This is the view from the front door.

Our new landlord at the front door.

30 Triq Sir Luigi Camilleri, Sliema (suh-lee-ma)

We are on the ground level with our own entrance (a maisonette)

Guest bedroom

Master bedroom

After we posted earlier today, we went out for a drink at the Indigo Hotel rooftop…

Nice view!

First we admired the doorway…

On closer inspection – it is good to know that we can get this sort of help in Valletta!

This photo and the ones that follow take you from the street into our hotel…

Good night, Valletta!

Last night we settled into a small family boutique hotel in the heart of Valletta – Casa Asti.

It was a lovely evening for a stroll and dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Today was a quiet day – morning walks around Valletta and lunch with friends.

The garden is inside a 400 year old convent dedicated to the care of orphaned girls.

Tomorrow we meet with the real estate rental agent to start looking for our ideal apartment.

We’ll share photos of some of those places tomorrow…

This is a link to a short YouTube video about 11 Madison Park, the restaurant where we have celebrated our last three anniversaries. It is a really special place.

Since Christmas we’ve been in Mystic, Connecticut…

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..then on to Manhattan! We spent one afternoon at the Guggenheim.

That evening we had dinner at 11 Madison Park for our 17th Anniversary for the third year in a row. The staff was so welcoming. We enjoyed chatting with familiar staff who actually remembered us from last year. And then there is “THE FOOD”!

Then on to Queens, for quality time and lunch with son Sam and DIL Katherine at Agnanti – a lovely Greek restaurant in Astoria.

As for tomorrow – it is all business at the Queens County Clerk’s office and the NY Department of State to get documents apostilled for Malta.

As some of you know, Chris hasn’t had her phone for a few days (it got left on the Cape). She will be reunited with it AND we get to play with grandchildren in Cornwall on Hudson this weekend.

We made a change in our itinerary (for those of you keeping track). We will be off to Malta for a week starting January 4 to look at apartments and meet with the consultants helping us through the legal stuff. We just couldn’t see our way to renting a place online without looking at neighborhoods and finding a good fit.

We hope our next blog will include photos of our new digs come April.

Greetings from Eastham, Massachusetts – in the heart of Cape Cod!

We are enjoying time with Dick’s step mother Helen Jo Howard. The gingerbread town including the seacoast (blue frosting) is the pride of the Chatham Bars Inn, where we enjoyed a Christmas Eve feast last night.

There was a dusting of snow last night to make things even more festive!

Merry Christmas to all! God bless us every one.