Merry Christmas to All!!

Hi Everyone! Rick and I leave Thursday for 8 fabulous days in the Dominican Republic! I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a rockin' New Year!
xoxo
Shannon

Feelin' Groovy

Hello everyone! Sorry to leave you hanging. I just talked with Charlie and that spurred me to update the web. Finally my doctor thinks I had kidney stones plus a virus which is what landed me in the hospital Thanksgiving Eve. I am feeling SO much better now. Thank you for all of your thoughts and well wishes!

Key Discoveries About Hospital Life:
* If you are your doctor's 8th sickest patient out of 8 patients, you might as well go home and start over.
* "A virus" is doctor speak for "I have no idea what is wrong with you."
* Sonograms on tv are as genuine as wrestling.
* When you are entering a CT machine, there is no way to avoid thinking of last week's episode of House where the woman went into v-fib the moment they started sliding her in there. Actually, pretty much everything seems like it's ripped from an episode of House.
* Drugs, when administered properly by trained medical professional, are magic.

Laura!

OMG! I'm really going to start coming here much more frequently now that I missed this news on Laura! I'm calling her right now, but I will be back with much more, including many pictures including our antics in GA, my antics in Las Vegas, Grand Canyon. I must call Laura before it gets too late. Well, here, anyway...see if this video works----

By George, I think it worked.

Just talked to Laura and glad to hear things have stabilized, but I have to admit I'm not too crazy about the one remaining kidney stone just lurking there with a smirk on it's face...so smug. Probably named Mordred or something.

Update: Laura Hospitalized

Just heard from Mom that Laura has been admitted to a hospital in Arlington, VA. No details yet. Will try to post as soon as I hear something more. Please post if you have news!

Another Update:
Good news! Laura was released from the hospital on Thursday.
I don't have the full story as everything I hear is 4th hand, but I hope she's well on her way to feeling great. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. I've been thinking of all of you.

Poor Laura!

Keeping all in the loop (as best I can):
It's my understanding that poor Laura has been twice to the ER in the last week or so. First they determined that she had kidney stones in both kidneys and sent her home to pass them - eek. Now I hear from my mom that Laura went back to the ER with a fever, chills and feeling nauseated. It appears she passed at least one of the stones. They seem to think the fever is unrelated to the stone(s) and that she may have the flu. Laura has spread herself pretty thin in taking care of her mother (who is still struggling with her own recovery), planning the Tybee reunion and maintaining her career. Please keep her in your positive thoughts and prayers.

If you have any new info. please keep us posted!

Cranberry Contribution from the Cocke Clan

Here's a recipe from Andy's family that quickly became one of my favorite Thanksgiving treats:

Pauline's Cranberry Conserve

1 package Cranberries raw
1 Orange including rind
1/4 cup Honey
3/4 cup Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Ginger
1 cup Golden raisins

In a food processor, first chop cranberries and orange. Add raisins and nuts then the rest of the ingredients. Store in a jar in the refrigerator.

Happy Birthday Dottie and Ewing Universe Site Updates

Happy Birthday Dottie! We hope it's wonderful!

Hello all! The weather in Washington has finally turned and I'm enjoying autumn. Andy and I are crazy about pumpkin flavored anything and I think we may even be reaching our limit with pumkin beer and the pumpkin tortellini I got at Whole Foods yesterday.

I have just updated the birthdays and anniversaries on the Ewing Universe Google calendar down there on the lower right hand side. If your special day is missing or incorrect, please let me know. Also, it's membership drive time here at Ewing Universe - who else should we invite?? Email me the email address for anyone you think would like to visit EwingUniverse.

What are you most looking forward to over the holidays?

French Fries and Fridays

Hello all! Happy Friday! I think I may actually have a genuine weekend ahead. An autumn weekend at that. Unfortunately the Hokies played yesterday. Fortunately they trounced GATech.

Last night we went to dinner with Dad & Dottie and Shannon & Rick and got a surprise visit from Nanny, Dottie's mom. It was great to see her. We went to Bistro 123 in Tysons Corner. It's a funny little French place. It is quite a nice little place that looks like it crash landed in the side of that large mall. Mall dining is not usually haute cuisine, but then again Bistro 123 is not really mall dining. We had some ultra rich French food, including a seafood flan for Andy and Armagnac ice cream for me. Mmmmmmmmm.

Happy Birthday Uncle Jerry

Everybody wish Uncle Jerry a very Happy Birthday!!

With Love

Happy birthday Laura!

Thanks and Praise

We are now safely back home in Maryland, missing you all. We are also missing the glorious weather we experienced in Georgia. It's a bit chilly here and we're expecting an even colder turn any day now.
The reunion went better than I ever hoped it would. I loved seeing those of you I've known all of my life, and meeting those of you who are new to me. What an incredible family we have!

Thank you to each and every one who were able to make it to the reunion. I hope that someday we'll have an even bigger reunion with more family members in attendance. Thank you all for helping to watch over Joseph, allowing me some rest. It helped immensely. Dad, thank you so much for coordinating the Tybee shuttle. I cannot imagine us trying to caravan all over Savannah in separate cars - the shuttle was a great idea. Thank you to William for settling Margaret's affairs and for lugging all of those boxes to Tybee. To all the cooks and cook's helpers, thank you for preparing the many superb meals we enjoyed and thanks to all of the grocery shoppers and cleanup helpers too. HUGE thanks to Laura for taking on the task of rounding us all up, getting us in line and accomplishing this reunion. Thank you for keeping our family history alive and for organizing it. You are an amazing woman! I love the DVD you presented and hope that you will send me a copy. We had such a long drive ahead, we left in a bit of a hurry.
I'm sorry that I missed saying my goodbyes to some of you. Gosh, I hope to be able to get to know you better in the future. We barely had a chance to talk. I will try to get my pictures online this week. You will be able to look at them via the album located on my blog. Well, I'm sure there's a lot more I should be saying, but you've all met Joe. Back to motherhood.

Start Your Engines

We leave for Tybee tomorrow. Have you checked out the weather forecast? It is off the hook! Sunny every day and 70's-80's.

Lee's back up on the net

Hi y'all,

Finally, I managed to find my info so I could log on to EwingUniverse, which is, like our family, way cool. Dottie and I are excited about the prospect of seeing you at Tybee. Thanks to Jerry for getting things started and to Laura for all her hard work in actually making it happen.

We're leaving Thursday morning, so we should be at Tybee sometime in mid to late afternoon.
Love to all,

Lee

Tomorrow

October 5. I went and got my journal from last year to check my memory, but I was right. I have Margaret's name written on the front of that journal to distinguish it from all the inferior journals. The day's been looming like a tidal wave I calmly ignore until I won't be able to any more. But I will be comforted knowing we're all still together in her memory and soon we really will be all together.

I don't think we can really ignore the somewhat bittersweet time right now. All of our hearts are with the Trotochauds and Pates right now and I know we all have our arms around Donna, too. Who knows what else is going on, but in another way it's kind of perfect timing since most of us will be there with our usual support, not to mention idiotic fun and merriment here and there. Okay mostly fun and merriment...and interesting history. Too bad Tara has to hold down the fort at home, but it sure is for a good reason.

Well, I haven't felt much like lighting candles lately, but tomorrow I'll be lighting several candles for ALL of you. The light of my life.

I'm ready!

Hello. Anthony, Kaiya and I are all ready to roll. Tara will not be coming this year- fortunately the daycare is booming and it wold be just too much to shut it down for the weekend. As far as the t-shirts- I have since changed jobs and am now working at a marina soo I won't be able to bring them :( Long story- I can fill every in about my crazy boss when I get there.

I did have a couple questions for everyone. When is everyone planning on arriving? I am planning to work a half day Thursday and then leave about 1pm. This should put us in Tybee about 9pm-10pm... probably stay until Sunday 10am...ish

Do we have a shedule ie. any days planned out or are we winging it? Let me know!

I'm thinking Tybee!

We are really looking forward to seeing everyone. (Well, except Andy, who may be too busy waiting on Laura, but I will certainly drink a beer to him!) :-)

BTW, I contacted the guy that runs the Tybee Shuttle and asked about renting his services in case we wanted to go somewhere en masse without a zillion cars. Sounds like a great guy. Say frinstance if we wanted to hire him for a 3-4 hr period to run us into Savannah, to the cemetary, then on a self-guided tour, maybe to Price Street, Aunt Nelly and Mamie's, Papa's office by Tomacheechee's rock, etc, etc and back to Tybee. Of course, should the guys wish to powder their noses, we can ask him to stop at a MacDonald's or such.

He said it's $100 hr but for 4 hrs he'd charge us for 3 hrs. I though this might be an easy and efficient way to visit as we ride. He said he can take 22-23 folks, if there are some kids. He is already booked in the evenings, and for Saturday afternoon, but Friday and Saturday morning, say 9am-1pm, are open now.

He is the web publisher for most of the Tybee sites and knows a lot about what's going on, too. I also asked him if the Hot Rod show that weekend would be a huge deal for traffic and parking, restaurants, etc. and he said it would not, nothing like the Pirate's thing the weekend before we are there, or Tybee Birthday, the weekend after.

I posted a lot of this as a "comment" but decided to stick it here too.
(Hey Rupert! I'll bring some fishing stuff too!)

T Minus 24 Days to Tybee

It's just 24 days to our Tybee Excursion and I hope everyone is gearing up. I sent out an email to everyone today and hope you'll post your suggestions for Tybee fun here. Looking forward to seeing everyone and being waited on hand and foot - oh, I mean, did I say that out loud?


But really, two creams, two sugars in that coffee with the chocolate glazed chocolate cake doughnut if you please. Extra parm on the cheese pizza and a sparkling fresh genuine Coke will do. Oh, and can I have another pillow?

Thanks Grandpa

Seriously people, can I just say this?

Thank you Grandpa for being an obsessive typist who didn't write all your letters longhand! Because you loved your typewriter your letters are not only scanable, but also legible! So I can know all the gory details of vaguely raunchy Army humor with Howard and see all the times you insisted Dora could come up and live with the Ewings should it ever suit her.

Now if only I could go back in time to persuade you not to type double-sided letters.

Uhoh... Shannon's Birthday!!!

Shannon,

I hope you & Rick had a wonderful anniversary/birthday celebration last weekend. I'm sorry I didn't post a happy message to you earlier. What did you two do to celebrate? I'm thinking of you and I love you bunches!

Pink Flamingos in Your Future

I am seeing a giant pink flamingo in your future. The houses are booked for Tybee October 11-14. We'll be staying in Pink Flamingo and Coral Reef.

http://www.oceanfrontcottage.com/pinkflamingo.htm

http://www.oceanfrontcottage.com/18thlane.htm

Pilgrims' Progress

Progress is being made here, I promise. I've narrowed down the house options to ones that might potentially house 26 humans for three days. I will be sharing those with an elite focus group tomorrow and seeing if we can get these houses reserved!

In the meantime I also won a couple more nice contracts for work, went back to Orlando for one night for more Army stuff, groomed the dog, listened to the husband tell me about getting stung by a bee about 237 times, and spent the weekend with culinary adventures.

Friday I spent the morning at Dean & Deluca and Whole Foods where I found my lunch - sweet potato gnocchi that I dressed with a homemade gruyere cheese sauce. On the way to the river we stopped at the farm stand where I got fabulous cucumbers which are currently evolving into pickles in my fridge. I made candied walnuts and learned that Granny used to make good candies. Saturday night was the great grilling experiment and I made grilled chicken, steak and corn with a non-gross dijon potato salad.

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy birthday Jennifer

Happy Birthday to you!

Everyone at my house is wishing you a relaxing, peaceful birthday. Have fun! We love you.

Julia, Tara, Anthony and Kaiya

REMINDER

I still need t-shirt sizes for Rupert, Uncle Lee, Aunt Dottie, Shannon and Rick.

Please tell me ASAP if anyone planning on attending that is NOT on this list...

Charlie
David
Judy
William
Michael
Jennifer
Matt
Joe
Jerry
Suzanne
Jean
Rupert*
Lee*
Dottie*
Shannon*
Rick*
Laura
Andy
Julia
Tara
Anthony
Kaiya

Also, if there are any special requests that you have in regards to the t's please let me know. I have heard so far that white is not desirable and that certain men will only where pocket tees...

Ewing Expedition

Hello everyone! If this is your first visit to Ewing Universe, take a spin around and take it all in! We are going to Tybee Island, Georgia for a family reunion October 11 - 14. The gang's all coming and we're hoping you are too!

We're in the process of finding two houses or other accommodations close to each other that can handle our rowdy brood. If you have any special preferences or needs - now is the time to email laura AT milaroad DOT com to tell me.

Today's Ewing Expedition Quest for Knowledge Question is:
What one thing do you hope to be able to do while at Tybee?

You can post your response here or let me know offline.

Reminder: Send Julia your teeshirt sizes. You should have an email about that.

Hey Hey Hey!

Hello People-

Nothing too much new or interesting here... Anthony is wrapping up his Kindergarten year and is looking forward to summer camp; he is starting a full day program right after school's out. It includes academics all day, breakfast, lunch and snack, swimming every afternoon and field trips on Fridays- I was really hoping they let Mom's come too :( At any rate, he will be busy during the summer and not playing video games. 500 points for me!

Kaiya will be hanging around here but hopefully going on lots of Wednesday trips and play dates with friends. I have enrolled her in gymnastics and she really loves it- she's already doing summersaults on the balance beam- go Kaiya! She is growing up fast and finally calming down a bit. Her very favorite things are still digging in the dirt, going worm hunting and climbing trees. Oh and changin clothes 5-6 times a day at the VERY least...

Tara and I are doing good and staying out of trouble :) Tara's oldest son is graduating HS this year and moving to Louisiana with his grandparents, he'll be working on the tugboats and making more money then us- I guess that's good for him. We will all miss him VERY much but we're glad he is going to be self sufficient. Work is going good for me- I love being in constant contact with the soldiers overseas and doing my part of keeping them happy! Lots of travel coming up- Ft. Knox in two weeks, Chicago in July, Louisiana in August, and then Tybee and ST. Louis in October- Whew!

Anyway, we are looking forward to Tybee and seeing everybody...it should be really nice to catch up and hang out with everyone!

I would like to do some family t-shirts of the reunion so please send me your (and spouse, kid etc...who will be attending) t-shirt size... I'll send out an email too.

Take Care and I love you!

Tybee Ho!

Well, well, look at that, it appears this family may do a thing! I just caught up on the planning this week but it sounds like Tybee could be some family fun. What has the NoVa Ewing branch been up to? Well, I went to Orlando and saw Jerry & Suzanne while teaching the Army some marketing schtuff. We're heading to Baltimore this weekend for races at Pimlico celebrating the birthdays of my uncles on the other side o' the family. I have to go back to Orlando in two weeks for one night to do yet more Army stuff - but all that means that my work has definitely picked up - one might even say business is booming. And now we've added a trip to Portland to see my sister Lydia get married and the trip to Tybee and I'm starting to feel like a serious globetrotter.

Last weekend (was it really only 4 days ago?!?!?) we went to the Irvington Farmer's Market and a big annual yard sale in Kilmarnock. We'll miss the river this weekend, but the races will be fun. Those kitties above are Buzz and Maddie. Buzz has been working the late shift on Cat Security around our house. A grey tabby wandered up to our door in the middle of the night and Buzz went ballistic. This is Front Blog News because Buzz's veins are usually filled with Prozac, he is Mr. Tranquility.

It's June and I am wondering....

How's everyone doing?
Have all of your pets come through the pet food crisis okay? Our cat Ophelia is okay.
Where are the youtube videos of Charlie and Max?
Who's heard recently from Charlie, David or the Pates?
What's the latest with Lee&Dottie, Laura&Andy and Shannon&Rick?
Is the family reunion really happening in October at Tybee? (That's what Dad told me recently.)
I have to go to a wedding on October 20th.
Is everyone contacting everyone but me?
Does anyone look at this blog or Romascoworld?

I hope someone will get back to me. I miss everyone!

Prodigal Birthday Boy/Man Returns

Well, I finally made it back here for a visit after losing my way for a while. So much going on. Jerry sure has a cool new toy (for Anthony, of course), his motorhome. Pix would be appropriate here, Jerry. And Lee & Dottie have their house all set up and beautiful. David's fine and looking forward to changing his situation when he finds the right circumstances. He just got the second raise he didn't even ask for in the meantime.
So far all our animals seem safe from the food recall. I've been feeding Max pretty much what I eat with some exceptions. He is becoming more adorable daily and I just learned how to send little movie emails, so you may be seeing some of Max or Max and me. Or me singing some hideous song. I may inflict them on youtube. What can they do, sue me?
A couple of days ago, I was asked by a new friend how many brothers and sisters I have. I didn't realize I have to get used to answering that question differently now and it hurts so much to put Margaret's life in the past tense. But each time I answer it now, I'll take the opportunity to tell people how great she was instead of being so sad.
Right now I'm excited about two things: New York is finally supposed to warm up starting this Friday. And my friend Jack says he finally finished the music I need for my show so I should get the cd in the mail any time now.
I can't end this correspondence today without mentioning how heartbroken we all are about Va. Tech. Our only response can be for us all to cherish each other all the more. And I do.

Pandora's Box

The UPS man just arrived with three boxes for me from cousin William in Atlanta. They contain more family history which I am cataloging and archiving after my Auntie M passed away. The boxes came to my office (I figured that was safest considering who knows what would happen if they hung out at our house in the hood). Since they're downstairs and I am working (except for this little old blog entry) I am absolutely chomping to do down there and dive into them. I wonder what's in there?

It's Charlie's Birthday!

Whoa! Could it be? Charlie's fifty-three?

March Madness Monday Mayhem

Hello all! How did St. Patrick's Day treat you? I made some potato-leek soup which was mildly festive. I also watched "The Irish in America" on PBS on Saturday afternoon. Andy had a Guiness and Lexi's just Irish all the time.

Last week I submitted a big proposal to the Navy and got to take Thursday and Friday at the river. It rained and was cold, but I actually liked the last gasp of winter. Then Sunday was gloriously sunny and we had a nice pretty drive back to the city.

I think I am knitting an afghan, though I'm a little phobic of committing to such a big rectangle.

Never Fear, Cook with Beer

Back, by popular demand! I am keeping all these recipes in software called Big Oven. It can then be published in a cookbook or exported to "all y'all". LOADS of Granny's recipes come from magazines and the back of packaging so I've saved quite a bit of time by Googling the recipe name or key ingredients and finding the same recipe already typed up all purty on the web. There's a "French-Canadian Beef Tart" that she had several recipes for that I still need to input.

Bavarian Beef

Recipe By: Helen Burns Ewing
Serving Size: 0
Cuisine: American
Main Ingredient:
Categories: Ewing, Main Dish

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb. stew beef
3 cups sliced onion rings
1 1/2 cups water
2 beef bullion cubes
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. garlic powder ; (?)
1 1/2 tsp. parsley
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. thyme
12 oz. can of beer
1/2 tbsp. corn starch
1/2 tbsp. water

Instructions
Brown beef in Dutch oven. Remove meat from pan. Add onions. Cook until limp. Remove onions. Add remaining ingredients. Add beef and onions back in. Pour in beer, thicken if necessary.

Granny's Savannah Red Rice

I have been archiving Granny's recipes. Here's one to share, good for this chilly Sunday!

Granny's Savannah Red Rice

Recipe By: Helen Burns Ewing
Serving Size: 4
Cuisine: American-South
Main Ingredient:
Categories: Side Dish

Ingredients
1 can whole tomatoes
1 cup white rice
1/2 medium onion ; chopped
4 -6 bacon strips
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
Dash ; of garlic powder

Instructions
1. Fry the bacon. If you use 6 strips, remove two or three teaspoons of drippings.
2. Remove the bacon, add the onion to the drippings and cook until the onions are soft, about 2-3minutes.
3. Crush tomatoes well, by hand if you like.
4. Crumble the bacon.
5. Add the crumbled bacon, garlic powder, salt, and onion to the cooking onions.
6. Bring to boil, then simmer for five minutes.
7. Add rice, bring back to boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes or until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Let stand five minutes.

When is your birthday?

When is your birthday?
Sadly, I'm not sure of the exact date you were born and it's time for me to find out!
Are you wondering: is she talking about MY birthday???
Yes, I'm talking about YOUR birthday! (Okay, I'll admit I know when a lot of your birthdays are, but a nice little confirmation wouldn't hurt anyone.)
Please list your birthday and the birthdays of those in your household. For that matter, list slacker parent's birthdays, siblings and the pizza delivery guy!
Maybe if we get them all on a Google calendar you will get a cheerful birthday shoutout from everyone-(or at least one or two peeps)!
My household:
June 21st- Jennifer
July 2nd- Matt
August 26th- Joe
unknown- Ophelia

Happy Birthday Julia!

Hope your day is wonderful!

Amusing Ewing Children, Part 99

I am transcribing a letter written by Laura Smith when Grandpa was very young and his father was still alive (but in poor health and the children were staying with Laura and Lee).

Thursday Charles asked the blessing and this is what he said, "Mr. thank you for this food and I like it and it's good - for Christ's sake, Amen."

Grandpa always did have a way with words, didn't he?

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your Christmas and New Year were good. We had a nice long break at the river and are now back at work.

I have been scanning and entering data into the Family Tree software and am probably most excited about the organization. Mmmmmm organization. Andy will tell you that I am all about sorting stuff into binders and the labels, ahhhh the labels. I even ordered some spiffy photo storage stuff to organize the negatives and slides that I'll also get around to storing. Right now I'm looking for good software for digital scrapbooking to share this stuff with y'all.

I think everyone heard that we finally sold our extra house! That was a Christmas present that came just in time. We went to closing on December 21st and had cash in hand the very next day. We are rejoicing at having only two mortgages instead of four.

Also in December, I got roped into writing a Congressional Report which took just about every waking minute of the month. Thankfully, yesterday our client took the report up to the Secretary's office so we should be at the finish line.

I am yearning to adopt another dog, but Andy thinks that is crazy talk. We'll see.