Yesterday was my Grandpa's 87th birthday. Can you believe it?! We went out to visit for a bit today, and make some more memories. I appreciate my family more and more as I get older, and I want to try and take advantage of spending time with them! Granpda always has a message for us each time we visit. He also always asks if we would like a "traveling prayer" before we leave. He is always thinking of our safety and happiness and trying to help us along.
We chatted with Grandpa about the music that he and Grandma used to listen to, and explained what "Canteen Music" was. We learned that when he was a kid, the grocery stores were stocked with groceries by a horse and wagon. And yes, they did have automobiles then! Even after he and Grandma were married milk, cottage cheese, and the like was delivered right to their door each week.
I find it amazing that times change the way they do. I asked about some of the games that he used to play when he was a kid. He mentioned marbles. But that they played "stealies." I may need to verify, but it sounds like the gist of it was that their shooters were able to get anyone else's 
marbles outside of the circle, you got to keep them. They also used cigar boxes to store the marbles, and put a hole in the middle of the lid. You'd hold your marble over the cigar box (which was on the ground) and try to drop your marble into the hole. If you made it, you got two marbles - for keeps - from inside the box. If you missed, then your marble went into the box, and the owner of the box just got a new addition. The second game that was mentioned was called "Mumble-peg" (I need to verify). You took your pocket knife and opened it to a V 
position. You would hold the knife in different positions, such as hanging from the tip of your nose, or "swinging" it on your chin. When you let the knife go, it had to "stick" into the ground and not just fall flat. If it stuck, you got to keep going with more and more elaborate releases until your knife didn't stick. Then it was the next kid's turn. I was sure that some kids had to be missing some toes, but Grandpa 
assured me that no one lost anything, and he doesn't even remember anyone even getting cut. Sounds like their games were pretty serious though!
My Aunt Lucille lives with Grandpa, and they help watch out for each other. I'm glad she's there. I enjoyed our discussion and look forward to more of them in the future!
So, on February 20th the Earth's shadow passed over the full moon, causing a total lunar eclipse! Ernest and I got a few pictures from our back porch (explanation for the tree branches you can see), right around 9:45 pm. You know how bright a full moon is in winter, especially when there is snow on the ground. Everything is luminous. It is amazing how the darkness changes and becomes more intense so quickly during an eclipse. Even cooler with a solar eclipse, but still pretty amazing with the focus on the moon.
I have a small telescope, that unfortuantely hasn't been set up since we moved into our house. This spring it is going to become an accessory to the dining room. Since it wasn't set up, Ernest sat on the floor near the back door (it was freezing outside!!!) and tried to hold the telescope in his hands to look at the moon. This actually wasn't such a bad idea, and we got some beautiful views briefly. I don't have a camera that will work with a telescope (or a telescope that will work with a camera, for that matter), so we tried to just hold the camera up to the lense and see if it would see what we see. We'll have to try this again later as clouds rolled in, and nothing could be seen through them. 
