2015 Marstons Anserwing the Roll.

Season’s Greetings

A year has gone quickly since we last updated our personal blog “Retired Teachers at Recess.”  We have completed 18 years of retirement from teaching school!!

We left our winter park, Holiday Travel Resort, in Leesburg, FL last April 5, 2015.  We are now back here for another winter season beginning Dec. 4, 2015.

This year Charles has given up Volley Ball and being manager of the season.  This has come as a shock to many.

Our activities with FMCA, Family Motor Coaching Association, and the Frustrated Maestros continue.  This is “work” we love and friendships we enjoy. 
http://www.frustratedmaestros.blogspot.com/  or  Frustrated Maestros
Check out this blog.


In July we were in Madison, WI for the International FMCA Reunion.  The highlight of this rally was presenting a musical “Back to Your Senior Year in High School” for the convention.  The seven scenes began with the football season and Homecoming Court, a sock hop, the concert and graduation activities.  
Maestros were the actors in costumes of their choice.  
The musical was put together with narration by Charles.

Roxie was Frustrated Maestro Captain working closely with FMCA (Family Motor Coaching Association) months ahead to set up this Maestro International Rally.  Ninety-three Maestros were registered and of these 73 performed.

This video is the final scene 
of the Senior Year Show in Madison.
Click your back button to return to this blog. Click on the blue words.

God of the Ages, Curtain Call Military Escort

Returning to TN we visited Flower MacMillen in Trimble, MO.  Flower and Glenn were Maestros who played harmonicas.  Flower lost Glen last summer and so a stop with her was a must for us.  Flower visited us in Franklin on her trek to FL in the fall. 

October 2 we landed in Waynesboro, TN, 90 miles southeast at son Kevin and family’s home for a weekend.  Kevin is pastor of First United Methodist Church. October 2 we landed in Waynesboro, TN, 90 miles southeast at son Kevin and family’s home for a weekend.  Kevin is pastor of First United Methodist Church. 

Charles arranged “God of the Ages” for a brass choir composed of our grandson, Michael, the high school band director, a businessman and himself.  They played from the balcony.  During the service this group and Kevin accompanied the choir on “God Be With You Until We Meet Again.”

Needless to say one mother-grandmother was very proud as she did the video.  

Please click on the blue words. When done with video click your back button to return to this blog.

   God of The Ages   God Be With You Till We Meet Again

Our grandsons are growing at ages 21, 16 and 12.  Just yesterday, December 19, our 12 year John was born in Missouri while Kevin was in seminary.  Daughter-in-law PJ is a teacher of autistic preschoolers.  She drives an hour one way to work each day to Pulaski, TN. 

After a short weekend with our family we went to Asheville, NC for the GEAR rally in October and an enjoyable time with the Maestros.  We presented an evening of musical parodies

The week before this rally this Maestro chapter had Music Camp involving reading a variety of music, jamming with polkas, brass choirs, jazz and vocals.

Meanwhile we were active in Franklin, TN politics to get our at large alderman reelected.  Roxie has created an information blog, Ewingville News Blog, of the matters that affect our neighborhood.  We did get our alderman re-elected.  Check out this News Blog:
Ewingville News Blog

We have been allied with several neighborhoods over the efforts of Parks and Recreation to put a walking trail right behind our homes.  This has taken much communication and dedication to keeping neighbors informed.  The City board votes on this in January 2016 so we are in touch with folks 700 miles from home.  The Internet and our landline allow us to hear our hometown radio which gives us news of these efforts.

In March 2016 we will leave our park and travel to Perry, GA for another International FMCA Reunion.   Charles will direct the Maestros. Roxie is already at work as Rally Captain making arrangements with FMCA.  We will return to our park 
in Leesburg, FL for 3 weeks.

Next we will travel to Gaffney, SC and regular Freightliner Service.  We will stop 3 days in Modoc, SC (Augusta) 
to enjoy a COE spot on Modoc Lake.

 After service we will stop in East TN and visit Marston cousins. 

We will be in Lewisburg, WVA for a 2016 GEAR planning meeting for the fall rally the last weekend in April.  From there we fall south to our home in Franklin, TN for a few weeks.  

We will be in Goshen, IN in June and return home after that rally.  

July will find us in Amana, IA and the Seven Amana Colonies 

for the Midwest rally.  

Two weeks later we will be in West Springfield, MA for another International FMCA Reunion.

Our pet family keeps purpose in our lives.  We still have our fawn greyhounds Daisy and Heidi.  Daisy is accident prone and managed to break her toe in half running in our own back yard as Charles watched in September.  Toe was amputated at the joint.  She has recently bottomed out while we visited son Kevin and family in Waynesboro, TN.  This put 3 of her four feet in bandages for 2+ weeks, antibiotics and lots of dealing with torrential rains while we were to keep the bandages dry!!  

Daisy and Heidi continue their therapy dog work willingly taking us with them.  We visit schools, nursing homes, assisted and alz units and other places.  We are registered with Advanced Therapy Dogs of Cheyenne, WY and can make visits anywhere in the country.

PeeDee our 10 year old Canadian born cat travels with us.  
He is more than a feline. He is a total statement!

Our at home kitty, Lulu, really belongs to our neighbor Ben.

After our flood in 2010 when Ben brought his 4 cats back home when his house was ready Lulu could not get along with her “siblings.”  We gladly took her in and Ben cares for her while we are gone.  She has a kitty window which is open as Ben chooses.  She has constant heat or AC, a light on, radio, two potties, comfy beds and her daily food.  She and Charles have a real relationship.  We miss her a lot when we are away but are very happy she has a warm or cool space to call her home.  We just say we live with Lulu when anyone ask if our house has an occupant. Lulu does not do rain, wind, cold, hot, noise!

Not much grass grows under our feet! 

We enjoy hearing from each of you.

Best wishes for a happy holiday season and a fulfilling 2016.

Please write to us at MarsCreate@aol.com.

Fall Recap!

Greetings from the senior Marstons!

  

We trust your activities have been good. 

As usual our activities are full 

of hustle and bustle.  

We hope this has been 

on the productive side of life!

We left our TN home on Nov. 25, 2014 bound for a visit with son Kevin 

and our family in Waynesboro, TN. 

Kevin is a United Methodist Minister 

and our daughter/law is a teacher.

We had a good visit and departed on Dec. 1.

             

Our immediate destination was to a trusted independent repair in Guntersville, AL  We had some small issues with our furnace.

Next we headed south making one night stops in Gadsden, AL, Thomasville, GA and Chieftan, FL.  The last stop is just 80 miles from our park in Leesburg but it drops us into our very poorly lit park to get much set up 

done on  sand.

In Gadsden, AL we stayed in a city run large park, Noccalulu Falls.  The park is named 

for a distraught Indian maiden 

who jumped to her death 

at the falls 

rather than marry into the Creek Tribe.

We are into our park, Holiday Travel Resort of Leesburg, FL on Dec. 4 until April 4, 2015. Volley Ball, compu ter and band activities will fill some of our time.   Click and look.

HTR Volley Ball 

HTR Computer

Strike Up the Band

We continue to make preparations for 

Frustrated Maestro events in Sarasota, FL,

 Goshen, IN and Madison, WI through

July 2015.



Frustrated Maestro Blog
or http://www.frustratedmaestros
.blogspot.com/

In September we traveled to Marion, NC for GEAR’s Music Camp at Tom Johnson RV.  We caravaned to the Western North Carolina Fairgrounds for a FMCA area rally.  As usual these weeks are filled with rehearsals and performances on an intense 

and rewarding schedule.  

We arrived home on Oct. 7.  The fall at home included prescheduled medical appointments, music arranging and ends with massive leaf removal from our tree laden yard.  

Meanwhile we begin to inventory our packing needs to be off again for 4.5 months.

Lulu, our neighbor’s cat, continues to live with us.  She has a kitty window, lights, radio, plenty of food and our neighbor is sure she is in each evening with her kitty window closed.  Lulu does not do rain, wind, cold, hot, noise!

She spends her time in one of her comfy beds.  Lulu and Charles find lots of bonding time.  

Her demands!

As we roll toward our winter home our two greyhounds snooze in their open crates 

on our bed.  

PeeDee, 9 year old cat travels with us as usual. 

2014 Summer Travels

We arrived home to Franklin, TN on April 27, 2014 from our winter away.  Please see the blog below this posting for our winter time activities.

This is the view from our backyard that welcomes us home. 

There are always all of the first at home things to do which includes unstacking and unpacking our flood proofed house.  Again…refer to the blog below when we prepared for floods!  No floods this year!

We left on May 7, 2014 for a trip to our factory in Red Bay, AL.  There are no longer appointments made so we were there a week before we could leave with our list complete.

On the return from Red Bay, AL…we were anxious to see where our son was moving for his next Methodist minister position in Waynesboro, TN.  This is just off the Natchez Trace Parkway, a route we often take.  Unfortunately after we turned a town too soon we rounded a corner in Collingwood a little short and dropped the right back tire into a culvert.  After grinding our teeth and gunning our escape we learned we had cracked the right passenger windshield.  Said windshield will be replaced at the end of our next trip to Asheville, NC.

Our Methodist Minister son was moved this year from Decherd (TN) United Methodist Church, 5 years, east to 

Waynesboro, TN First United Methodist.

Our part in their move was to keep his two dogs and two cats for a week.  We then loaded Noah’s ark, two by two…and drove the grandpets to their new home.  Grandsons were most eager to see them.  We also had our two greyhounds and one cat with us.

We enjoyed Rich and Freda Kale and marvelous cat Rascal parked in our driveway in their motor home while we had our grandpets in the house.  While a brief visit we took in some of the Civil War sites in our Franklin, TN home town.

July 7, 2014 we departed our Franklin, TN home for a trip to Essex Junction, VT (Burlington, VT) for a Frustrated Maestro Rally. We spent 4 nights with friends, Rea and Joy Edenfield, at Shelburne Campground in Shelburne, VT.  One evening we drove to Lake Champlain for a nice float under that wonderfully full moon.  We floated just before dusk and were safely back home by dark.

Charles directed the Frustrated Maestros for this NEAR event…North Eastern Area Rally. This event was July 14-21, 2014.

From Essex Junction, VT we headed to Freeport, ME to LL Bean. Our campground was a short 5 miles to the paradise of shopping for folks who love the outdoors. 

But…our main goal was to purchase and have installed a Hulluvator.  This amazing contraption hoists the kayak onto the roof of the Honda with very little effort by Charles.  We have waited many years for this luxury.

We started our trek southwest stopping in Watkins Glen, NY on one of the Finger Lakes…Seneca. 

This is our third stop at Clute Park, on the lake, and we had wonderful floats.  A Maine Coon cat was returning to its boat after a walk on land.  His brother was in the boat.

From NY we spent one night in PA and landed at Gary Freeman COE near Sutton, WV.  Unknown until we got there we had many short and curvy roads before the drop to the campground.  Here we found a lot of campers all surviving with very little cell coverage.  Need we say more!?!

The float was beautiful on a calm inlet.

Next we had a contrast with two nights at the Horse Park in Lexington, KY.  What a wonderful place where the Horse Meca of the world is.  We enjoyed and biking to these events of the weekend.

Our final stop was at a COE (Corp of Engineers) at Jamestown, KY…Cumberland Point.  The park was pretty, very difficult because of steep drop offs to the water and small. 

Our site was between two trees around a sharp corner.  While backing Charles into our site I was watching the front right mirror while standing in poison ivy..and suddenly realized, just in time, we were backing into a tree!! 

Our walking was limited and the bikes never came off the car.  We did drive the boat down the long ramp to the water for one float.  A first for us was leaving two days early…………………..to home!

We have been home since August 7 and will leave on September 9 for North Carolina.  This area Maestros sponsors a Music Camp to be this year in Marion, NC at Tom Johnson RV, Sept 16-20, 2014.  From here the group will caravan about 40 miles into Asheville, NC for the GEAR rally Sept. 21-28, 2014. Maestros will perform one of the evening entertainments.  Charles will be directing both of these.

We will be back in Franklin, TN and our home by the middle of Oct.  This depends on the length of time we have to spend in Red Bay, AL to have our windshield replaced.  In between, Oct. 3-5, 2014…we will drive the 78 miles to our son’s and help him celebrate the big 50 year birthday.  Oh me…how did that occur so fast?

Our Daughter/Law celebrates on Oct. 6.

It is always good to hear from you via our E mail address.