Size Does. . .Does Not Matter

Lue had a houseful of people at her house on Sunday. She has a large family and one of her grandchildren graduated from a near-by college, so there were a lot of family there to celebrate. Paul and I were happy to be invited. My Orange Kiss Me Cake tasted good. (Even though she had five desserts.) Lue recognized it as an old recipe.

I had to laugh when I looked at these pictures. No people faces, just Greta and people legs. That's all I took. How ridiculous is that?

You can see that size matters. Gracie would have been worried the whole time. Or not. She sometimes doesn't have much sense. We'd worry for her anyway. Okay, we'd all worry But that comes with the territory of being/having a large/small puppy. (Greta weighs 81+ lbs. vs. Gracie 4.5 lbs.) Plus Greta also had Brady, another same-sized six-yr. old same-breed dog, and Dillon, a mid-sized rescued-from-shelter dog/puppy visiting for the weekend.

Brady was calm, but Dillon was up and ready to play. The she and Greta made the house shake. I noticed they played the same way as Gracie and Martini, both tiny Papillons, played. So size doesn't matter. Or does. Depending on how you look at it. Can you imagine Gracie there with the two of them? It's not a pretty picture.

But - guess what - all Greta's obedience training is paying off! (and she's been to a lot of classes.) She's really calming down. Lue had her fingers crossed, that maybe it wasn't because she had the others to play with, that made her more subdued. Maybe she'd "turned a corner." I think she's becoming a beautiful dog - inside and out.









So - it looks like Greta is saying . . . what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Orange Kiss Me Cake

Memorial Day Weekend is here. . . . the Weather Gods are smiling at us. Paul has the flag up and he's mowed the lawn out front so we're all lookin' good for the neighborhood. We're due to be at Lue's for a mid-afternoon cookout. Her family is here. There'll be three large dogs, so Gracie will not come with us. She'll be more comfortable in her own surroundings.

I found, (I should say Paul found) my mother's cookbook upstairs.

In it, I found a recipe for Orange Kiss Me Cake. Sounded interesting.

I usually will make boxed brownies, but knowing Lue isn't fond of chocolate, I thought it would be fun to try this recipe. I don't remember mom ever making it, but the ingredients sounded good. Raisins, chopped nuts, orange juice. We took Gracie for an ice cream and then stopped at the store to get some ingredients that I didn't have. (orange juice, baking soda . . . .found that in my storage garage when we got back. . . .too late. . . .now I've got two. Perhaps one can go in the fridge for odor control.) It was 9:30 by the time we got home. Late, for me to begin cooking.

Lit the oven, started gathering the ingredients, put them together, seemed rather stiff for a cake mix, spread it in the greased pan, re-read the recipe . . . .

uh oh - forgot the 1/2 cup milk. Scraped it all out, added the milk, re-washed and re-greased the pan, baked it. Hope it turns out well. We'll see. I bake so often from scratch. Not. It will be memorable anyway. (for Memorial day???)

So what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

The Man Who Forgot How to Read

I look at the time, 11 AM, and think I sure wish it were an hour earlier. That's what happens when I sleep in, I guess: The rest of the day rushes by. The title of this posting will be explained below.

Meant to get to Curves yesterday, but the day went by. . . and by the afternoon, Paul said, Are we going to Charlie's game? It was at about the same time I was planning on exercising. Weighing the importance of the two, Charlie won. We've been waiting off and on all month to get to a game, but due to the weather and other obligations, this was the first time we were able to.

We brought our lawn chairs, which are so much more comfortable than bleachers. About a half hour into the game, it started to rain. Even though it didn't last long, we spent the time watching from under the overhang near the concession stands. It stopped. We came back to our chairs and watched the rest of the game. Charlie didn't play the first half, but he did play first base during the second half.

Do you remember about a week ago I posted about how annoyed I was at the prices of Kindle ebooks? I am so excited. I guess lot of people feel the same way I do.

I found a site called http://www.ereaderiq.com/pricewatch/ which lists ebooks from Amazon that people are interested in, but don't want to spend more than $9.99. Prices are all over the board - $.99 to $12.99. They keep a daily price watch and let you know when prices are lowered.

So - all you have to do is to follow the directions, and they'll let you know when Amazon starts discounting a ebook you'd want. Plus, they keep a growing list of ebooks people ask about: what the original price was, and the current sale price (which can change daily.)

I poured through the titles that people were "watching." and started my own list of many I'd like to read. For example: One was a fairly new James Patterson's book "The Murder of King Tut." $7.99. I always read the free samples and reviews first before buying any ebook. I haven't for that one. Nor any of the others yet. I've just been too busy making up my list.

These titles intrigued me: "The Man Who Forgot How to Read," (being a former reading teacher - my curiosity was peaked at that one) and "The Meowmorphosis." (How's that for a title - a man turns into a cat.) I also signed up for a daily list of newly-released free ebooks.

So - you can see what I've been doing at this computer lately. It's now after noontime so I have to close. We're hungry.

What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Lots of little and big things

Last night I put the Sweet N Low in the fridge. Paul told me so this morning when I asked him if he'd seen it. Isn't that an early sign of something or other?

Monday mornings. . . I love. Paul apologized (what??? As if he should ever apologize for making a mess) for a large pile of papers below his computer chair. Seems he's cleaning out his desk and finding all sorts of interesting papers. I didn't realize our wedding reception/open house cost that much. Ah - but think of the memories! Hard to believe that anniversary #4 is coming up.

Gracie always plants herself on a spot between the two of us. I was amused that she was here in the computer room gnawing on a bone surrounded by her toys. I asked Paul if he'd brought the toys in. No. She'd done it.
She comes over to me, puts her front paws on my arm when I'm typing, to ask me to throw a toy. If I do, my computer chair is situated so that toys barely misses Paul's head. Luckily they're all soft and fluffy.

Yesterday I almost fell asleep in church. This isn't unusual. Our minister has very boring sermons.
But I really like her. Her Bible Studies are wonderful, and she has a great rapport with everyone. I just wish my mind wouldn't wander so.

Another gray day. We're certainly due for a spell of good weather. Not just have a good day here or there.

We've enjoyed Nancy, Dan, Vincent and Evie's Mother's Day flowers til today - when they reached the end of the road.

Congratulations to Dan for getting tenure at Northwestern University! That is quite an accomplishment. We're all so proud of him. Both of them have tenure, and life continues to look up for their family!

The pile is gone and the papershredder is full. Now, I look at my messy desk and feel guilty.
Perhaps it'll give me an incentive. Along the same line - we need a new paper shredder - it no longer turns off by itself and Paul says, and I agree, it's leaving a mess of shredded paper on the floor when it needs emptying.

We had a most unusual evening Saturday night.

Our newspaper had a small article about a group called The Elmira Keyboard Quintet. I probably wouldn't have noticed it, but one of the performers was, Onalee, the organist at the church I used to go to. How intriguing! Yes. They were putting on a performance at a church in Elmira. How would they do it? Did they each have a keyboard? Was the music written for five people? How could five people keep in time?

I persuaded Paul that we should go.

So. . . There was a keyboard, a piano, and an organ. The ensemble had two on the keyboard, two on the piano, and one on the organ. Then - it blew my mind - there is music written for three people on one piano! The sound that came out was very full and exciting!

I spoke to Onalee afterwards and asked her how it was written. She said that sometimes its written with two on top - side by side, and the third, down below. She said the third have a hard time keeping track - forgetting where to look when the pages are turned. The best have three staffs, written one under the other, so everyone can keep track of where everyone else is.

I'd go it again. Paul enjoyed it too.

So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

A Beautiful Saturday Morning at The Woods Edge

Looking out at the backyard this morning, I remember why we're here.

The sun is shining through the trees, the grass is splendidly (can't think of another word that would fit as well) green. The hanging baskets of purple wave-petunias are starting to grow over the edge. The shade-impatients are filling out in front. On the ground and in the baskets. The tree trunks are no longer the wet-black color from lots of rain. Good. It's all drying. Yes. The sun is out. A county near us, is looking into state aid because of flooding. Two schools were closed there yesterday.

Paul made up a calendar page of home games for the three grandchildren playing baseball/softball this year.

You should see our calendar. Practically every day is filled. Sometimes two or three times. We've planned to go to several games only to have them cancelled due to rain. We've been told that Charlie has only had two out of all scheduled so far. One time we even arrived at a softball field to find it deserted. Oops. The ground was too wet to play.

Now we call ahead. Luckily -We did that this morning (11:00). We planned to go to Corning for an 11:30 game. Paul called his son's cell phone. It seems our grandson had two games today. They overlapped. (He belongs to more than one league.) The first one had begun and he was pitching. He would arrive in the middle of the second, but not pitch. This second one was the one we had planned on going to. The first game had already started. Oops again. Thinking more about it - perhaps the first was a make-up game?

Gracie is growing up.

She was outside in the backyard with Paul this morning, and I heard him call to her. It seems Chloey, the next-door jack-russel terrior, was tied up in the backyard. Gracie was happily trotting over to see her, but she turned around and came back to Paul. As you all know, he's usually pretty easy going. This time he used his . . . you-better-listen-to-me-voice. It made a difference. She listened. I wonder if it worked with his kids. I bet it did. Even I was aware of the difference.

So - today is supposedly the End of the World.

Should I tell everyone that I love them? Well, I do love you all. So - I did tell you. That's a huge relief. I'm joking of course. But - Let's see what happens tomorrow. . . or not. Anyway - we should always make every day count. No matter what. Right? Right.

So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

A $$$ Bone to Pick with Amazon

Paul gave me a Kindle for Christmas two years ago. At that time the most expensive ebook was $9.99.

Now, if you want to get a recently published ebook Best Seller - you have to pay $12.99, $14.99 and even $19.99 (for a 1,000 pager). Very few are $9.99.

Sometimes these ebooks cost more than paperback editions of the same books! By a couple of dollars. Now - Why would I buy a book that isn't real. . . that I can't share with other people? (Which is one of my favorite things to do.)

I try to think of other reasons why people would pay that much, and I have a hard time coming up with reasons. I do know the $$$ discourage some people.

Okay. Granted - they have free books - such as old classics. They also have free really really great and inexpensive books from indie (independent) writers. And I've found some wonderful writers. But - These writers aren't publicized much and you have to search online for them on the Amazon.com site, or find them by word of mouth. Thank you, Nance.

So, when I read reviews or hear about a book I'd like, such as Times Bestsellers, the ebook invariably costs $$$ more than I'd like to spend.

It's very frustrating. Amazon says the publishers set the price.

I don't know if the publishers are trying to set ebooks up for failure, or what they're doing. I can imagine them saying: "You like this book? You want it? You'll pay through the nose for it? It's yours. But - Don't worry. It won't take up any space on your crowded bookshelf. And those big clumsy books? They'll weigh next to nothing on your Kindle. And don't forget - as an added bonus - you'll still have your ebook forever."

So I still use my Kindle - but differently - I'm still reading ebooks on my Kindle.

For example: I researched the book "Songs of a teenage Nomad." Have any of you heard of it? I hadn't, but searching on Kindle ebook lists, I found it. It had good reviews (5 stars). I enjoyed the sample sent to me, so I bought it. I paid about $7.00 for it. And I like it.

So - what am I trying to say? Kindle has changed. I've changed. I think Kindle's changed because of popularity. The publishers are getting in on the $$$ bandwagon. Amazon seems to say their hands are tied. I know I've changed my reading habits. So - I'd say. . .A little of us both have changed. I don't like it much. Them and Me.

And life goes on.

So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Edelbrau

Here's some happy memories for my generation of relatives.

Our street is planning a garage sale in July. Paul located this sign, pictured below, and wanted to include it. Oops. I don't think so. We're trying to find out more about this sign other than its family history. He's searching the internet.

Let's get one thing straight before I go any further - we, youngsters never drank alcohol at home. We enjoyed our soda.

As I said, it brings back happy memories of childhood and young adulthood. And we were very popular - we always brought free soda for grade- school class parties. We always had a case of (glass) soda bottles in the garage at home. Sometimes we'd forget about them in the cold winter and they'd freeze, explode and cause a big mess.
(NO - Soda was not called "Pop." And as I write, it's only coincidence that this word, pop, comes up here - LOL)

Why were we able to bring soda for school parties? And. . .Why did we have the bar sign?

Our grandfather owned a soda factory in Brooklyn for many, many years. My father and uncle worked there. Grandpa would go around and collect money owed him from customers. I have a feeling that the sign was given to grandpa, either in place of money, as a good will gift, or a momento. Grandpa had many friends.

My father was a very good carpenter. In the 1940's dad made our unfinished basement into a family room, and built a bar with barstools and lights. I remember this being on a back shelf behind the bar. I remember it being there with some other signs... and the room crowded with lots of people, relatives and friends, on special occasions such as New Year's Eve, birthdays, Christmas night, Thanksgiving, or just a Friday/Saturday Night Get Together.

I know that the sign is quite old. It's older than me. And I'm older than dirt. (but that's another story). I want to know its origins. Is it originally from Germany? We called it the bubble sign because there's water, or alcohol, sealed in the formed letters, and little lights behind it cause the liquid to warm up and bubble. Like it's boiling. We can't leave it on for long because it gets quite hot. I can remember dad saying - don't touch it or you'll burn yourself. And - It's not quite the thing to have in a dining room, but it made my heart feel good to see it. I don't think anyone would complain about that.

Yesterday was a dark cloudy Sunday.

So - how're things goin' in your neck o' the woods?

And then the rains came...

My last posting, I complained about the weather. Cousin Alice and Jil each wrote about Florida rains. I'll not complain again. (well. . . maybe just once in a while.)

Alice wrote that she had the strange coincidence of just beginning to read my post as the rains came.

Jil liked to have the windowwall, in the lanai, and windows throughout the house, opened to the fresh air. He said it reminded him of weather in the Philippines.

So - He awaited for this storm to occur. He was actually looking forward to watching it. When it came, he wrote about an explosion of water (my words) and torrents of water coming into the lanaii. A series of mishaps to occur. He raced to close the windowwall, secure the house, and locate battery operated lighting when the power went out. You can read his blog for the details, but I'm curious.

I'll just ask him this - is the towel rod in the bathroom fixable after you slipped on the tile floor? I, Myself, Me and Mother Nature says - " Don't fool with Florida Weather!"

Planting vs. Good Weather for Ducks

Yesterday, when I intended to post, the site said blogger was down for maintenance. Uh Oh. I waited several hours. Okay. A little knowledge is dangerous. I kinda have a little bit of knowledge about computers, and blogger being down, made me skitterish. Don't know why - I just was.

Today starts the rains again. The forecast is: six days of rain - off and on. It's not raining yet, but it is cloudy. Two sunny days ago, Paul and I took Gracie up "the hill" to Valerie's Gardens and got some plants. Valerie lives out in the country on a beautiful spot. Lots of flowers put around, either in pots or planted in the ground, mature trees, wind chimes, hanging baskets, trellises. I think it's the prettiest garden center that I know in this area. I told Paul I was sorry I didn't bring my camera. It's worth it just to walk around, listen to the chimes, and think about how to implement some ideas she has for plantings. We bought some flowers.

We also stopped at Lowe's Garden Center on the way back home. Now I want you to know, Paul takes Gracie to Lowe's a lot. That's both here and in Fla. He keeps a towel in the car for that purpose. We put Gracie in a cart and off we went. Lots of people came up to her and said how cute she was. Even an employee, "Mary," came up and said - " There's my little papillon. Look - she remembers me!" We didn't spoil it for Mary - because Gracie turns herself inside out for everyone. As Paul said - She's a "peoples' dog." If we're in part of the store by ourselves, and someone walks by, Gracie assumes she's the reason, and she greets him/her very warmly. If they stop to pet her, well. . . we have to tell them, she has trouble controlling her licker. Which she does. She's an equal opportunity licker.

Got an e-card from Cousin Carol. Thanks, Cuz. You are special.

It was still sunny yesterday. . . a good planting day. But Paul got a phonecall from one of his sons. He needed electric help with his son's team's Little League Score Board. So Paul grabbed his tool box, left, and spent the morning, plus part of the afternoon helping fix it. Today, he worked most of this morning and got the flowers planted. Have I mentioned, he's a good man? It's not raining yet. It's cloudy.

Good Heavens - it's almost lunchtime. We had a late breakfast though - so we don't need to think about food. But - I've got other things to do.

What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Good weather!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. (Thanks, Mr. Rogers!) It's one of those clear, sunny days we all love, up here at the woods edge.

I almost feel guilty for complaining about our awful early spring storms a couple of posts back. The weather reminds me of The Little Girl - who when she was good, was very very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid. Remember that? That describes our weather at this time of year to a "t".

Our forest leaves and bushes are becoming denser - but they're still that lovely early, soft light green. I took Paul out for breakfast this morning and it was a pretty drive. All the tulips are at their peak. Even the snow-white pear tree tops are at that light green stage. We took a walk around the "estate" when we got back and enjoyed looking at all the plant growth. Strawberry plants near the back of the house are coming along. Rhododendrons are past flowering.

Gas prices: Jil blogged that he is so thankful that he works at home. Lucky him. It is a good perk. He saves on that, plus not eating out. It's lucky that both Paul and I are retired. We've been using the Toyota Corolla a lot because it's $3.33 mpg. The van sits. Nancy has said that they fill up both their Hondas - around 3 times a month. Chicago gas was $4.69 a gallon. Isn't that awful? Nancy got a bike for Mother's Day. I know she biked to work before Evie was born. I wonder if she'll do that again.

Paul has put weed-control on the lawn. First the front yard, and then a couple of days later - the back. Gracie could become very ill if she came in contact with it, so we've been keeping close track of her. . . so Paul put her on a long leash-rope attached to the deck. She can't get on the grass while Paul is working on the lattice work skirting beneath the deck.

I've started back at Curves. Somehow the days get by me. I'm hoping to get back on track. I'm trying. . .really I have. . .I've been two days in a row. We have plans to visit a plant nursery up on Seneca Lake this afternoon. I wonder if I'll be able to fit in both. Curves and nursery. It remains to be seen. We may skip lunch due to that big breakfast. (more time available. . .to fit in both?)

potpourri

Below are a bunch of pictures - Mothers' Day Brunch at the Harbor Hotel.

Gracie - doing her favorite thing - putting a toy on her "bed" and pulling it around. When it falls off, she grabs it, puts it back on, and repeats pulling it and continues on til it falls off again. Then she does it again.

Ida came for dinner one night and Paul helped her with homework - a reading assignment.

The flowers were from Nancy, Dan and children.

birthday photos

No need to explain these photos. . . except note the amount of grown-ups there were to children. That helped a lot. Parties are so different than in my or Nancy's generation. Or perhaps in big cities, this is the way they do/have done things. When in Rome. . .

multi-tasking?

I am multi-tasking at the moment - boiling eggs and writing in my blog. That's about the extent of what I can do more than one of. I should really push myself, because there always seems to be so much more I need to do, and I get so little done. eg. Little things. Take mounds of clothes to the salvation army. Get pics printed out at Walmart to put in an album. (Not bought yet.) Go food shopping. Exchange some new clothes I didn't care for, for others, at a store I discovered. Thanks to Carol O for introducing me to it! Which is for another paragraph, further on down.

We're finally getting nice weather! I mean it. Well, it is May. The sun is out, the grass is green. Reminds me of that saying '"The sky is blue, the grass has riz. I wonder where the birdies is." Or something like that. The birdies are plentiful since Paul filled the feeders out back. We were just admiring them.

Got an e-mail from Jil yesterday wondering what I was doing. . . I hadn't written in my blog, nor e-mailed. I promised him, and myself, I'd spend one hour to write.

This past weekend, actually a week ago, I flew to Chicago to help Vincent and his family celebrate his 5th birthday. What a nice little boy he is. He told me, "Grandma, I'm 5 now, and 5 year-old boys behave themselves and are good." I may have paraphrased that, but. . . Can't you just hear his parents in that? Well, he was very good. And it did my heart good to see how well he treated his 7-month old sister, Evie.

My flights were good. I had to wait a long time (several hours) between planes both ways, and I thought that would be annoying, but it wasn't. I had my Kindle, bought a magazine; I took my time getting to the departure gates - which were at least a mile away each time. Good exercise.

Dan's parents came in by train from St. Louis (5 hours) and Dan's two brothers work in Chicago, so they helped Vincent celebrate too. I hadn't seen Dan's parents, or his brothers, in a couple of years - scheduling conflicts, I guess. It made the time extra special.

Vincent is in-to Superheroes. He got superhero toys, games, outfits. I bought him a Bumblebee transformer outfit, and Dan's parents bought him a Buzz Lightyear costume. He had a Spiderman costume, so he was all set! Cute. He kept changing outfits. His birthday cake was superheroed (is that a word?. He invited his classmates and their parents to his party, held at a gymnasium - complete with all kinds of pre-school/early aged climbing apparatus, and he also had a room set aside with little tables and chairs for pizza, cake. He was/is a lucky boy.My plane got back here at 11 PM Monday. I'm so glad we live near the airport! Even so, our lights weren't off til after midnight.

Our new bathroom mirror looks beautiful! I'm so glad we did it. It was the first thing I looked at when I came in the door Monday night. It makes the bathroom look so big! So - Now we're in the process of looking for a shower door to replace our shower curtain. We can't seem to find one that'll fit. Yet. Paul has some ideas. (as usual)

Paul's out now at his favorite store, Lowe's. Gracie usually accompanies him, but she is lying on the futon here in the computer room. Speaking of stores: Carol O. introduced me to CJ Banks, at the mall. I am completely in love with the place. I got tired of the same old, same old, style of clothing, and happy to have some new ideas to spruce myself up. I bought some, kept some, and am going to return some to definitely replace them.

As you can see, no photographs this time. I will post them soon. I promised myself I'd write for an hour. It's nearly up. So - that's all the news from this part of the woodsedge.

What's happenin in your neck o' the woods?