Meg's Summer Guestbook Expands!

Guestbook Update: June-August '07

everyone gets their due, at least via this infamous blog! i'm continually blown away by the efforts so many of you have made to stop by, come visit, send cards, gifts & flowers- i look forward to the mail with such excitement. it was no wonder that the first "walking excursion" i've accomplished is getting the mail each day. sometimes with the cane, sometimes without (depending on how i'm feeling.) but when there is something in there addressed to me, well... it more than makes my day. (just a disclaimer- some of these guestbook entries weren't entered here in L-burg, but they deserve to make an appearance.)

6.28/29.07 holly & matthew shaw (arlington, virginia)

holly is the official ambassador of our frequent traveler program, and will now receive double points for future stays at the morgensen ranch. this time, she brought matthew along for the fun (lured mostly by the prospect of our ever popular dog.) best quote occurred when matthew exclaims "her teeth are really dirty!" at his first introduction to madisen. he kicked my @ss in mancala, which has apparently upgraded from plain ol' stones to intricately designed, multi-colored animals and introduced me to the world of captain underpants. i tell this to holly often, but he is so smart, considerate, cute, good-mannered- basically i want to clone and preserve him until i'm ready to have children!!

7.14-18.07 aunt mary (carmel, indiana)
i have to give her kudos for expertly managing one of the worst weeks i've had in 2007- and wanting to come back! she survived a visit to the ER, multiple trips to the doctor, just as many phone calls to the nurses, daily treks to CVS, my hysterics (let alone what mom was going through), dad being on drugs (he had his wisdom teeth out), and nothing touristy or cultural whatsoever. (although i'm sure she saw an amish buggy or two at some point!) at the end of her trip, dad arranged an evening road trip to state college, where they discovered photos of my grandfather and his '38/'39 baseball team on the wall in one of the gymnasiums on campus!

8.2- 5.07 patty & bryan ledford (chapel hill, north carolina)

this time we were the ones on the road trip- an 8 hour road trip each way. (by sunday, i didn't care if i ever road in a car again.) i honestly don't know how i ever put up with such a hectic pace and an insanely busy schedule. i'm 10x better than this time last summer and it still exhausted me! we stayed at the ever beautiful and iconic carolina inn, where our room was twice as big as my entire d.c. apartment. unfortunately, this huge suite was quite possibly a MILE away from the entrance to the hotel and the reception site. our handicapped accessible room also came with a wheelchair, which my bone tired exhaustion succumbed to using. luckily, we had the plan down pat- i'd hop in the chair, the lucky chauffeur would wheel me through the lushly carpeted hallways, and i'd hop right back out before turning the corner to the "outside world." (using a cane at my age gets enough stares- you can imagine what a wheelchair elicits.)

okay, on to the wedding activities. we had lunch with the bride on friday afternoon, kim & i set off to the rehearsal at the chapel of the cross friday evening, we hooked up with the rest of the bridal party for the rehearsal dinner at the weathervane, i had my makeup done with sandy & patty early saturday morning, the ceremony was at 10:30, and the reception immediately followed at the carolina inn's main ballroom. (i did have to sneak in a nap after cake but before dancing!) before heading out of town on sunday morning, the kendalls (ralph & carol from high point, ben & leanna from chapel hill) and patina joined us for breakfast in the carolina crossroads. oh- random inclusion!

8.4.07 john, sally, erin & michelle york

in the same priority level as the wedding was fitting in a visit with the yorks while we were in chapel hill. sally graciously invited us over for dinner, extending the invitation to mike, who was living in high point for the summer due to an engineering internship. our timing could not have been better- erin had just arrived home after a 13 hour drive from cleveland, where she was interning at an equine therapeutic center. i've been missing my "second family" ever since i graduated in '02 and left for d.c. in '03. one of the best parts? sally had made sure the ENTIRE meal, from appetizers to dessert, was gluten-free. and after picking at my gluten-filled food all weekend, i was starving!

week of 8.12.07 team arnold airmail!

i woke up from an afternoon nap last week to find a large archiving box in front of sofa from claudia @ arnold. i didn't think much of it, and to be honest, i wasn't going to open it right away. i assumed they found some old files of mine, or perhaps one of my desk drawers had not been cleaned out. curiosity got the better of me though, and i started to slice through the endless rolls of tape to pry open the lid. there was not a file to be found! instead, it was a giant care package, with members of my old team picking out a individualized presents. seriously, it was like christmas in a box! my eyes welled up with tears, and a huge smile had creeped over my face. after all this time, they still have not forgotten me. god, it means so much.

8.11-12.07 julie smith, david chamowitz & savannah (alexandria, virginia)

we exposed them to a little local culture- the 2nd annual corn festival in northumberland, where everyone stuffed their faces with roasted sweet corn, fish sandwiches, cotton candy and hot dogs. we outfitted our visitors with the standard bucknell attire, and even found a bandana for miss savannah to sport. dave couldn't get over the amish sightings, so dad was more than thrilled to take him on a "chasing down the amish" tour sunday morning. (no, we don't actually chase them down- mom/dad said it as a joke one day last summer, and the phrase kinda stuck.) i was so proud of myself for having Julie's present all wrapped up in advance of her 9.5 birthday, but i couldn't hold out and forced her to open it early! (she didn't protest.) even though i had warned julie about the screwed up liquor laws, they were still stuck buying an entire case of budweiser from a beer barn once they crossed the state line. this is actually working out in our favor, since it happens to at least 1 out of 4 visitors, so the fridge remains stocked until the next one arrives.

8.12.07 (evening) lindsay casteel, mclean, virginia

lindsay is tailing close behind holly, as this is her second stop on her return trips from bloomsburg to d.c. i took her through the contents of the care package, and she shared some work gossip. i'm not supposed to tell you this, but she ate apple pie and ice cream with me (her slice was the real homemade deal, mind was the scrumptious, whole foods bakery gluten-free one holly had included with the care package.) sorry for letting that slip linds! ;)