Archive for the ‘New Jersey’ Category

Blessed Assurance Sept. 6,2013

Saturday, September 7th, 2013

We are back traveling the friendly skies, and for those of you who know me, know that I am a white knuckle flier. But it doesn’t keep me from going anywhere, it just makes me a nervous wreck. However I had the most amazing experience this time.

As the plane was backing away and headed for the tarmac in San Diego it started to rain. Mind you we are having a heat wave and it’s 6 a.m.! As we took off it was under the most beautiful rainbow. How many times does THAT happen?  

Well the flights to Newark and then Barcelona were beautiful and peaceful and I truthfully can say I enjoyed them. Praise a wonderful God who calmed my trembling heart.

Full Circle

Friday, November 23rd, 2012

We started this year of travel in April after all the cancer stuff was over; it was like a New Year’s celebration to head to Phoenix on our way to Colorado. One of the first photos I included in my blog was a saguaro cactus (they look like people to me), and here I am back in Arizona finishing up 2012’s travels.

It’s been totally awesome to think back at our time with Focus on Family, a European riverboat cruise, England friends and memories, family reunion on the Jersey shore. Disneyworld and Daytona, a retirement celebration, forever friends, DC Marathon, Hurricane Sandy, voting absentee on the road, a noreaster, humidity, wind, rain, snow, icicle-cold, and desert hot!

While at the family reunion at the shore, we fondly remembered cousin Sandy, who lost her cancer battle.I am so glad we had gotten closer over the last couple years. It seems like she might have had her hand in protecting her family’s beach house when her namesake hurricane came through and didn’t do any harm.

And while visiting Barnoldswick, England, we joined friends still mourning the death of my special friend Gail Usher. Some of her ashes are hidden in a crevice on the south side of the Grand Canyon because this was a special spot for her! We end our travels by way of this majestic natural wonder to be near and reflect on the gift of her friendship.

This journey, all of 2012, has shown us the glory of God in the sights, sounds, and tastes we have experienced, but most of all the people. It’s always good to come home, but if your heart is with God then it ALL feels like home.

Blessings

Einstein

Saturday, November 10th, 2012

Princeton in a fabulous town!

We loved walking the main street and the campus of Princeton, one of the  most beautiful I have ever seen. It was full of fall color, squirrels hiding nuts, young men and women hustling around, and a few drunk kids gearing up for the afternoon football game. Nothing but the best of college life!

This was the home for Albert Einstein, a professor here for the last couple decades of his life.  

This is not Einstein.

Jersey Chaos

Saturday, November 3rd, 2012

Hurricane Sandy hit this state pretty hard. Though the storm has moved on, a lot of neighborhoods still have no power (and it’s COLD here) and the gas stations have either no electricity to pump the gas, or no gas. The lines are humongous at the stations that are rumored to have petrol, and thousands stayed in their cars all night in hopes of a visit by the gasoline fairy.

Likewise, insurance companies and individuals have booked every hotel, B & B , vrbo in most of the state, leaving us stranded! We raced all over the state after rumors of a “room at the Inn” to no avail, and with an eye to our own gas gauge.

We travel cheaply so we can travel more and the rewards are time with friends and family and a chance to utilize military accommodations. But this time we had to resort to sleeping in our rental car in the parking lot of a Marriott here in Princeton, New Jersey. Thirt ynine degrees and cold toes, but we snuggled and slept and will always remember my b’day dinner with my honey, and deluxe abode we shared. Brrrrr

Pilgrimage

Saturday, November 3rd, 2012

I’m a California girl, but truth be told, I had my start in New Jersey. Little would I have ever guessed, that on my birthday, I would have the opportunity to stand in front of my first home, swing by the hospital of my birth, and reconnect with one of my cousins who hasn’t strayed far from home. Pretty cool.

My mom and dad and all their family came from these northeast jersey parts, but World War II and the Marine Corp gave them the bug to move to San Diego when I was a 4 year old. Up and left family and friends and moved to the land of opportunity. We lived in Bird Rock, and then the Muirlands of La Jolla so I haven’t strayed far.

So I am back to my roots, and ever so glad to reconnect but even more glad to be in the land of sunshine!

Waiting for Sandy

Monday, October 29th, 2012

Waiting for a hurricane is like watching paint dry: it will happen but not soon enough. But in the mean time we wait and watch the news and learn more about tidal surges and barometric isobars. Yes it is raining and it is windy but it is the tides that are doing the damage.

I am with my cousins in DC, whose New Jersey coastal town home is under water. It has been in the family for several generations and was the site of this past summer’s Family Reunion. It holds many of my mothers’ paintings and other family records. BUT, if you live at 6 inches above sea level and the sea is now 9 feet above normal, then something is gonna wash away.  All of those outer banks and barrier islands are mainly sandbars protecting the mainland and could just crumble and wash away. This is the storm that happens every 75 years and reconfigures the terrain.

So we wait, and watch as long as we have power, and pray.

Reunion

Wednesday, August 8th, 2012

Two people begat five people begat ten people who begat many more in branches with surnames of Buie, Serfass, Fear, and Mackey. And some of those good folk made it to the Stone Harbor, New Jersey Shore to celebrate each other!

Eating, drinking, storytelling, beach time, games, ice cream, and tons of laughter.  Nothing fancy, but getting connected and catching up and promising not to be strangers.

Thank you for those who made it happen, those who traveled, and those who were our foundation and left us their legacy.  Missed those who couldn’t come but you were with us in spirit. There is a big hole in our hearts for those who have passed but family resemblances reminds us that they are still there in the smiles of the next generation.

I’m related to some pretty cool people and I’ve got the family tree to prove it (and a quest to look up early ancestors has me intrigued)!

Better On The Ground

Friday, June 29th, 2012

Fuel DumpSan Diego to Houston, Houston to Amsterdam. How did Newark get in there? Nothing like having the pilot come on over the intercom an hour out of Houston and tell us we have lost our navigation system and we have to land. Oh yeah, and dump fuel because we’re too heavy to land so soon!

This is our plane jettisoning a LOT of gas over Kentucky. Then we head to the coast and follow it up to Newark, New Jersey, where they think they can give us a new part or a new plane. We never flew higher then 13,000 feet or faster than 300mph. That is low and slow for a plane holding over 300 passengers. And we all got to stay in the plane while they gave us a new system.

Obviously we made it to Amsterdam and we had no further connections. We got train tickets to Venlo, ND and then a bus ride to our hotel and that’s all the stress I want for this whole trip!

A New Chapter

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Front Desk At Focus On The FamilyThe experience at Focus on the Family was PERFECT; just what the doctor ordered. It forced me to get my stamina back with the schedule we kept, we made some great new friends, and enriched old friendships. It was a wonderful April!

Now we look forward to a whole bunch of anticipation to our “Rivers of Europe” river boat cruise.  From Amsterdam to Vienna on a ship that holds 150! I am trying to learn about the area, mostly Germany — Castles, middle ages, war trials etc. It’s kind of my “Jubilee” and victory trip over the trials of 8 months of Chemo and Radiation.

From Vienna we head to Barnoldswick,  England to see friends and family and from there to a family reunion in New Jersey.

So hold on to your hats, here we go again.  God is so good, and it is sooooo awesome to have my health back and that dark chapter of cancer behind me. The prayers, cards, books, and meals were so much appreciated. They got me through.  Amazing!

Cross At Focus On The Family

Buie Cousins

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

What a joy to be in Stone Harbor, N.J. and be able to gather with 5 of the 10 Buie cousins. We have not seen some of each other since 1969 and before. We range in age (gulp) from 70 to 59 of those you see here, but our time together reflected much younger spirits! And with all of our visiting, it certainly reminded us of the 5 sibling Buie’s who were the true originals! (and our parents) Carolyn and Jeff Serfass, Debbie and Steve Morales, Kathy Bauer, Linda Kress, Don Serfass and Siddy Serfass on the end. Cousins are Jeff,Debbie,Kathy,Linda,and Don!

Buie Cousins