It won't be long now.

My two beautiful daughters-in-law will soon be delivering two precious new grandbabies into our family.

Continuing the saga of my dear cousin Winnie, Parts 13 & 14 of 16 (to catch up on Parts 1-12, type "Winnie" in the upper left search box and click "search") from an interview series posted on my old website 4 years ago...what an amazing story and I'm so glad I have the opportunity to preserve and share it!

After 5 years in the US Army, Winnie was ready to get out...and determined to go back home to Yugoslavia to see the family he hadn't seen for 12 years.  Christmas 1965 was a Christmas Winnie will never forget!

Continuing the saga of my dear cousin Winnie, Parts 11 & 12 of 16 (to catch up on Parts 1-10, type "Winnie" in the upper left search box and click "search") from an interview series posted on my old website 4 years ago...what an amazing story and I'm so glad I have the opportunity to preserve and share it!

After his Army basic training, Winnie found himself being sent overseas to Europe.  Through no fault of his own, he ends up in the wrong country!  In Part 11, Winnie tells of those early days in the Army.

While in the Army, Winnie became friends with a young man from New Castle, Indiana.  Winnie tells of his first weekend visit to Indiana (and Kentucky!) in Part 12.

Our 5-year-old grandson Karter made his team basketball debut last Saturday.

Isn't he so stinkin' cute in his uniform and new RED shoes?! 

And how appropriate...he's #1!  Of course he is!!!

Continuing the saga of my dear cousin Winnie, Part 10 of 16 (to catch up on Parts 1-9, type "Winnie" in the upper left search box and click "search") from an interview series posted on my old website 4 years ago...what an amazing story and I'm so glad I have the opportunity to preserve and share it!

After weeks of hassles and jumping through government hoops, Winnie had finally been granted his Green Card, at long last making him a legal immigrant. 

But it didn't take long before Winnie was being scrutinized by the FBI and called by Uncle Sam to enlist in the US Army to serve his new country.

Continuing the saga of my dear cousin Winnie, Part 9 of 16 (to catch up on Parts 1-8, type "Winnie" in the upper left search box and click "search") from an interview series posted on my old website 4 years ago...what an amazing story and I'm so glad I have the opportunity to preserve and share it!

Now that Winnie was beginnning to establish himself in his new home country, he wanted to make it legal.  But as it turned out, doing that was not as easy as he had hoped.

Before the grandboys headed back to kindergarten and preschool today, Dana and Kristoffer spent some fun times with them a couple of days last week.

And Papaw and I had our own fun at the cabin with the twin grandgirls.

We've all survived and are on the other side of the monster Winter Storm Ion. Bad as it was, Ion was mild in comparison to the REAL winter storm of my lifetime, the Blizzard of '78.  I wrote this piece 5 years ago while Kyler was at IU and the university had closed for a big snowstorm, reminiscing about my own memories of that unforgettable winter when I was at IU 36 years ago...

IU campus photo by Kyler Gray

originally posted January 30, 2009

The big snowstorm we had this week that dumped 10-12" of new snow in central Indiana prompted Indiana University to close for the day!  Kyler took a walk around campus and shot these photos (he's a good photographer, don't you think?) and it brought back to mind my own winter memories of IU.  It is very rare that IU would close down for an entire day...in fact, the last time it happened, I was there!

Winnie is a very special guy to my family...married to Dad's cousin and always one of my favorite people!  This interview series was done 4 years ago and posted in January 2010, so if you're a long-time reader and it looks familiar, it is!  I'm trying to get my old blog shut down and everything I want to save switched over to this new one, and this is definitely something I want to save.  I hope you'll enjoy the next several days as Winnie shares his fascinating story with all of us...I never get tired of hearing it myself.

While Winnie was beginning to make his own way in America, he had no inkling what his family back in Yugoslavia was going through.

Sinking of the SS Andrea Doria, Life Magazine photo via google.com

Unbeknownst to Winnie, on her next voyage to America on July 25, 1956, the Andrea Doria sunk off the east coast of the United States.  While most aboard were rescued and survived, many others perished.  Receiving no news of Winnie's rescue and having no idea that he had jumped ship, Winnie was assumed to be "missing at sea" and his Yugoslavia family mourned his presumed death.

Winnie is a very special guy to my family...married to Dad's cousin and always one of my favorite people!  This interview series was done 4 years ago and posted in January 2010, so if you're a long-time reader and it looks familiar, it is!  I'm trying to get my old blog shut down and everything I want to save switched over to this new one, and this is definitely something I want to save.  I hope you'll enjoy the next several days as Winnie shares his fascinating story with all of us...I never get tired of hearing it myself.

Winnie had realized his childhood dream!  He was in America and ready to begin building a future for himself in his new country.

It was April 19, 1956, Winnie having just turned 18 that past February.

With the help of a kind-hearted bartender, Winnie was able to telephone his uncle, who was living on Long Island.  Uncle Nicholas and his family took Winnie under their wings as he was starting out his new life in America.