So Behind!!! May 8 2009
It is very unusual for me not to post in such a long time, but my life has been crazy I have so much to say and am sorry I have not written (those of you who read this blog all the time). I went to Memphis to visit my dear friend Margaret Valentine who co owned our number one and Best in Show and Best in Specialty Show Ch. Marshell Rattlebridge Renoir and Ch. Rattlebridge Adagio. We had a great time going to her gorgeous lake house in Arkansas on Greers’s Ferry which is a very large and very tranquil lake. I learned to jet ski there last summer and while Margaret did a sedate 40 miles an hour or whatever the nautical term is, once I got my balance I was up to over 60 which is about as fast as it will go. I was in heaven! I came home and told Al, who used to be Commodore of our local yacht club, that I wanted a jet ski that we could keep at Alum Creek reservoir, a short distance from our home. Needless to say I an still jet ski less.It was too early to get out the jet skis this time. I could not get my email to work the whole time I was away; Margaret’s computer was down and I could not get my blackberry to charge so I could not get my email by syncing it to my laptop. I ABHOR technology!
On the way back from Memphis, I stopped to see my youngest brother Master Sargeant John N. Johnson (retired). He has about twenty acres and a lovely home. His bride, Uni, and he were busy planting fruit trees and Uni was doing the vegetable gardens. Uni is the loveliest woman, inside and out, that I have ever met. She and John met while he was stationed in Korea and dated for several years both going back and forth to Korea and the States. Uni has to get her family organized before she could think about coming to the States permanently and they had to work through different cultures. Her adult sons, one a major in the Korean army, and daughters, whose father has not been in the picture for many years, have embraced John as their father with all the respect the Korean culture has for parents. He is thrilled they all call him Dad as he lost his own daughter several years ago at age 10. He is thrilled to have a beautiful little granddaughter. Back and forth to Korea and the States, the family sees each other as often as possible. Uni has asked me to go to Korea with her the next time she goes without John; she says we will go to China and possibly India!
I cannot be a world traveler this time of my life; I am needed at home. Al never complained when I was trotting around the world with dogs. So I do not complain now and am glad to be here if he needs me.
I am leaving the day after tomorrow, however, for Charleston, SC, where my very close friend Wendy Hilberts Goodman (Royal Companion Cavaliers) from the Netherlands is judging a Cavalier specialty. Since her husband, Ben, is not coming with her, I am going to stay with her and talk about old times. Wendy is no longer breeding or showing and I am breeding a bit but not currently showing. She was the top kennel in the Netherlands for many years producing lovely Cavaliers.