Happy Thanksgiving!

We were happy to have friend Sergey with us again at Thanksgiving this year. Sergey is a student at a local university and he is from Khasachstan. About 3-4 years ago he was an exchange student with my dear friend Rose at her home in Alaska. After he graduated high school, he came to university in RI. Since Sergey would be alone at Thanksgiving, Rose asked me if we would be able to have him at home with us. It all worked out well and he has spent the last two Thanksgivings with us! This is the last time, sadly, because he will graduate this year and may end up back home, here in the USA or Europe! Either way, best of luck Sergey!

I'm SO NOT a Blogger!

But I'll keep trying! Months have passes since I last updated my blog! How do people do this? The feedback from my first few have been positive and so I'll keep trying.

Halloween, Thanksgiving AND Christmas have come and gone. The New Year is rapidly approaching. 2009...I feel hopeful with Mr. Obama taking the reins on January 20th! Very exciting!

Casa Morales Potter is well. Isabella went trick or treating with friend Sofia and had lots of fun. Fortunately, it was a warm night for a New England October and we (Bella, Sofia, Sofia's mom, Patti, and I) walked around Shorby Hill and made our way to the fire station downtown. The fire department does this really cool thing where they cordon off a small area and pump in some type of foam from the firetruck for the kids! It's pretty awesome and silly - the kids run around waist-deep in the wet, soap-like foam screaming and chasing each other. When the foam runs low, the kids stand underneath the ladder which has a hose strung up along side it, and chant "more foam! more foam! more foam!" Finally the foam comes, along with lots of screaming from the kids, jumping and more chasing! Crazy! Bella and Sofia emerged from the foam, exhausted and soaking wet. I had many layers of coats, vests, sweaters, etc, and so was able to give them to the girls to keep them warm until we were able to get home.

Windy & Cool It is windy and cool today. I've got a fire going which keeps the house toasty-warm...a little too warm for me sometimes! I just finished reading a book by one of my favorite authors, Sandra Benitez. It was her memoir and what a wonderful story. It is titled bag lady, a Memoir. She is not a bag lady in the way we know bag ladies. She has a medical condition called ulcerative colitis. Sandra has written 4 novels, all of which I've read. I highly recommend her for relaxing, enjoyable reading. In her memoir, Sandra tells about her relationship with her parents. She is very close to them. Both her parents pass on during the telling of her story and it is the passing of her father that reminds me of mine. Dad's birthday is October 25. The second anniversary of his passing is November 11. I miss him very much and I long to hear his voice or one of his stories. He always had something going on that, in telling, had us both laughing. My father was a hard working man and devoted his life to his children. He was very generous, many times housing people who needed a place to stay, raised several of his grandchildren, gave money to those who needed it, and on and on. So while I am sad and miss him, I am happy and thankful I had a father who loved me as much as he did. He gave me everything I need and I am still discovering the many gifts he left to me.

Summer 2008 Activities

We had a wonderful summer and I'm always sad to see it end. Isabella and I spend as much time as we can at the beach. We're both water lovers and hang at the beach all day. High tide is my favorite time to swim...the water feels different somehow...cleaner, fresher. I am an avid beach comber and have collections of sea glass which I love. Bella is an excellent sea glass finder. She always finds me the best pieces!

These pix are of Bella and friend Sofia at the Dumplings (our swimming hole). I bought an inflatable boat for Bella and she enjoyed it all summer with various friends. We called it the HMS Potter!

Rub a dub dub...me, Bella and friend Isabelle aboard the little boat! What fun...the girls are great rowers! Here is a photo of Tom, Bella and Isabelle just finishing a sail on Andrew's Sail Fish.

Wow! New Blogging from Casa Potter!

Hello Everyone!

I was just reading the blog of some dear relatives and I thought...why don't I blog!?! So I'm going to give it a try. I thought it would be a fun way (besides e-mail) to keep in touch and let friends and family know what we've been up to and how we're doing.

Oh! OK...who are we? Tom, Karen and Isabella Morales Potter of Jamestown, RI.

This is a picture taken of us about 2 years ago. We still look pretty much the same! We were visiting Tom and Caryl in Montana and we had taken a trip to Glacier National Park.

So, hang in there with me and I'll try to get the hang of this blogging thing and post as often as I can.

Love and Peace, The Potters