We have a lull. I should say I have a lull. Everyone else is busy. The big kids and their folks are at the mall for the day. The kids got gift certificates and money for Christmas and are having a great time, I'm sure.
We had a dusting of snow last night. It's been sunny for a few minutes so Paul and Dan have the Vincent and Evie outside. They're out sledding on our back hill. In fact, I heard through the grapevine (via Dan) that Paul even went down once! Nancy and baby Walter decided to see what was going on. Walter fussily put on his snowsuit so he could joined his brother and sister outside.
I don't own boots. At least I don't think I do. I haven't worn them in a couple of years. I can see the top of the hill from my window as I type, and periodically there's someone there and then they disappear from view, so I guess they're sledding. Dan has my camera so I hope he's using it. ( He did and got some great pictures.) Gracie's having a grand time - barking through the back window at all the commotion.
We've had a busy couple of days. Somehow the days are becoming a blur.
Monday: Brenda, Eric, Emma and Lina arrived from California/Germany - via NYC then a stop in Middletown to visit relatives, get a rental car and came in on Monday afternoon, the day after Brenda's birthday which she spent in NYC. Greg, Noi, NeeNee and Brenan came in later that night from Florida.
Tuesday, Christmas Eve: Sharon had everyone up - on Christmas Eve early to help decorate Christmas cookies and have some pickled baloney for lunch. It's a family favorite. Pickled baloney. (I can't see why.) Paul and I went for lunch. While we were there, it snowed - perfect to make it a White Christmas Eve. We didn't get to church . . . the first Christmas Eve in a long time. We hadn't actually planned on going, so that was okay because we were expecting Jeff and Dorothy.
Jeff, Dorothy and DJ drove down after work, on Christmas Eve night around 7:30. The roads weren't good, but they were coming from up near Rochester, a three-hour trip. It was slow-going. Dorothy brought Chili for us all for supper. We had 17.
Wednesday, Christmas Day: Sharon, Dave, Lee, Charles and Ida join us all for brunch cooked by Greg, Jeff, and Eric, at 11:00 and then they stayed for the rest of the day.
An aside: During a flurry of activity, Dorothy came up to me and said, 'you know Jeanne, there's a lot of dog toys and slippery mats around on the floor. You'd better be careful.' Then she said 'I say the same thing to my mother.' I, of course, felt rather indignant - her mother's in her 80's. I'm 73. Not a spring chicken, but nevertheless...
So, wouldn't you know - with all the people here, all the throw pillows, shoes, boxes, etc. I climbed over some stuff and took a fall trying to get some glass candlesticks out of my bookcase. Tripped over my own feet, I think. Sometimes my sneakers don't want to go where I want to go. Didn't hurt myself, but it shook everyone and me up. Everyone rushed to help me up. Hurt my pride more than anything. Stupid. I'm a little sore, but that's all. The rug is very soft. The one-hundred year old candlesticks were fine too.
Nancy, Dan, Vincent, Evie and Walter arrived early afternoon from Nancy's dad's house all dressed in their Christmas finery, and the Corning relatives came in a little while after them. All told, including baby Walter, we had 27 for dinner.
Even though we had 27 for dinner, we still had family missing. And they were missed.
Bill and Epril are in Florida. They went to Pensacola to spend Christmas with Epril's cousin and her husband. I saw pictures of the four of them on Facebook. The table was laden with wonderful foods for a Christmas feast. We talked with them on the phone later on Christmas day as they driving home - a seven hour trip. Unfortunately, the sound wasn't that good, but Nancy and I still had a chance to chat, and I promised Bill that we'd call them tonight on the phone (just to touch base again.)
We were starting a white elephant gift-exchange, and everyone was so noisy. It was hard to hear. And before that:
Alaina, Dorothy and Jeff's 23 year-old daughter, is in the Peace Corps and is just settling in, in Uganda. She had a time set to call us at 1:00, so everyone crowded around the phone in the living room. It was on speaker/phone so we could all listened. And then she talked to people individually. Both Brenda and Greg had been in the Peace Corp so Paul's family is very familiar with it. Alaina still isn't settled in, but when she is, she'll be getting lots of packages from home.
I think I mentioned to you all, that as a Christmas gift to Paul and I, since we requested NO GIFTS, they're all chipping in to plan menus, shop, cook, clean-up, do all these wonderful things for us while they're here. It's been wonderful and we've appreciated it all. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family.
Dorothy, Jeff and DJ left for home, after Christmas dinner, because they all had to be at work today. Jeff retired in September, but he's now working at Home Depot. Dorothy works for Wegmans, and DJ works at a lawyer's firm in Rochester.
Nancy and her family moved into the big guest room upstairs, vacated by Jeff and Dorothy. The kids are on air mattresses. Baby Walter is in the walk-in closet in his crib. I have two cross-stitch baby pictures on the wall, and a rug on the floor, so other than windows, it looks like a little room. He has a night light they brought with them. Nancy said he's very comfortable in there.
Evie has decided that Gracie wuvs her because she's always giving her kisses. (She doesn't realize that Gracie does that to everybody. She has trouble controlling her licker.) Evie and Vincent are both being very gentle with her. For little kids, that's good.
It has started snowing again. The kids came inside a while ago. I found some hot chocolate on the shelf. Evie told Nancy and me that when she was tired she said she told them (Paul and Dan) that she wanted to go home. Nancy said - isn't it great? You are home.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Well, you can imagine. . .
I have all sorts of error messages coming on my BlogSpot account. Since I'm writing from a "different spot" (home now) perhaps that's the reason. Oh, well. Carry on.
Yes. We're home now. Feels like we've been home two weeks and it's only been four and 1/2 days. I won't count this as a full one, since it isn't yet.
What a lot of stuff we've done. Well, you can imagine coming home to an un-decorated house, presents to be picked up next door, then open boxes, match gifts with list in folder, wrap presents, go shopping for things still needed - go several times. Well, you can imagine. Well, you say - so what? I know you're all going through it - in some manner or other. All families are the same at this time of year.
Paul is busy putting a new lock on our front door - one that is extra sturdy because, while we were in Florida, one of the neighbors found it standing open. This is a deadbolt lock that requires a key. It looks very good. I don't think anyone could open it unless they have a key. But let's not tempt fate.
Post note: Paul is having a devil of a time with it. Some of the screws aren't working right, so he's had to file them down, etc. and the thing cost $129.00 at Lowe's yesterday.
Our trip was good. We rented a car from Venice on Monday morning. We packed our suitcase (1). Paul didn't bring any clothes. He said it was all here. I packed it with mostly stuff rather than clothes. Ex. Christmas music, Song sheets, Photo album - all things for people to see, do, sing. Needed to "make the Christmas bright." As the song goes.
So off we went to St. Petersburg airport. Gracie was as good as gold. As you know, Paul's been training her with treats in her carrier - walking her around the house. When we parked the car, we gave her some cheese with her pill inside. It worked very well. We went through security. Got to our gate and saw the plane outside, waiting for us all to board. NOT TO BE.
The pilot was sick. They needed a new one. There weren't any extra in St. Pete's. They had to send to Sanford for another - a two hour trip - but on rush hour on I-4 it took three hours. He got there and we left. We let Gracie out of her carrier for a while because it was such a long time, and Paul walked her around a bit. She did a lot of sniffing - lots of smells. We were concerned about her bladder control, but she was a true heroine (not sure how to spell that - looks like the drug, but you know what I mean). She whined a little when we put her under the plane seat, but she slept the whole way. It was a very smooth trip.
.
An aside, while in St. Pete's airport, we had a chair for Gracie between us at the gate. She was in her carrier most of the time. Paul left to take a walk. There were plenty of seats around, but an old lady came by and wanted his seat. I explained to her that it was taken. She said - well, can't you put the dog on the floor? At this point someone else pointed out all the seats around and she could sit by her. I'm always slow on the uptake. Afterwards I thought - we paid more for Gracie's ticket than our own - we shouldn't feel guilty that she had a seat of her own, even if she had to be under a seat onboard the plane! Especially if there were more seats. If there weren't, I would have gladly put her on the floor, or held her on my lap. But that's neither here nor there.
We got to Elmira to VERY cold weather. Didn't have my winter coat. There was a good 8" of snow on the ground. They didn't have a winterized section for us to walk through into the terminal, but they did have an open-air three-positional ramp that had been de-iced. Just like we had in St. Pete's. All I could think of was - Slip on ice. broken hip. Dead soon. But that was only for a second. My suitcase did roll down the third ramp section, but a kind attendant stopped it and me from sliding the whole way. The airport runway was fine. No ice. It's strange. I thought of snow, but I didn't think of cold and ice. I'm fine now. It took me a day or two to adjust. Lue was there to meet us. God bless her.
When we got inside the airport gate area, Paul zipped open the carrier a little bit and Gracie's quickly pushed her nose and head out. . I commented to Paul as he walked along that she looked like the hood ornament on a car.
Lue is on her way to Boston area. The weather is good. She's driving with her dog Greta. She left at 7 AM so that she'll get there before dark. She said since they're so close to the coast, it's dark there about 3:45 at this time of year. It's a 7-8 hour trip. God bless her. She went to a fish fry with us last night so we had a chance to be with her before she left. She looked good.
Bob is in Alpharetta with Jon's family. They'll have quite a house-ful as Cookie and Clarkie, Nicole's parents, and her sisters and families will be there to visit from Florida and Long Island. Reminds me of our house here. We'll have between twelve and sixteen staying with us - depending on the day. On Christmas day we'll have twenty-six for dinner. The "kids" are taking care of everything. We did buy a turkey. Paul may cook up some wimpies. (sloppy joes for those of you who aren't informed) I bought ground beef.
I called my good friend Marcia in North Carolina. She said it was 80 degrees. They were out walking. Their cat Cleo is on her last leg - 19 years old and ready to be put down. Marcia becomes so fond of her pets, as do we all. I can't imagine how I'll be when the time come for Gracie leaving us. So they've cancelled their trip to visit her brother Bob in northern Florida. It is what it is.
I saw a picture of Brenda, Eric and Emma on the airplane. So they're on their way! Or probably even in NYC by now. They're picking up Lina, their exchange student coming in at 3 PM from Germany to spend Christmas with us all.
Our grandson, Lee, stopped here yesterday and spent several hours in Paul's workshop working on some presents. . It was good to see him. It was quite cold in there, but we were glad to have him visit. He was very secretive about what he was working on.
We are actually quite well-adjusted to being here and getting organized. Presents are all bought. Most gift wrapping is done. Thank goodness! I'm waiting for Paul to disappear so I can wrap a couple for him. I did buy him the recliner for the new Florida room. I wanted something for him to unwrap here though.
I'm disappointed that there probably won't be any snow for Christmas. (So Bill and Epril - don't be sad that you're not with us. Epril will have to see snow some other time. Although we do miss you both. Glad we could get together on Sunday.) It's been warming up and it's supposed to go up to 50 degrees this weekend. Yes. 50 degrees! There'll probably be rain, but no snow is forecast. That's good, in a way - since we have so many people traveling. We would have preferred clear weather, and perhaps it will be, but rain is better than snow. As long as it isn't icy. But I had wanted snow for Evie and Vincent to sled ride down our back hill.
I am nursing a cold. Much sneezing. Haven't had one in years. Hoping to be better by Christmas. There's still time.
Yes. We're home now. Feels like we've been home two weeks and it's only been four and 1/2 days. I won't count this as a full one, since it isn't yet.
What a lot of stuff we've done. Well, you can imagine coming home to an un-decorated house, presents to be picked up next door, then open boxes, match gifts with list in folder, wrap presents, go shopping for things still needed - go several times. Well, you can imagine. Well, you say - so what? I know you're all going through it - in some manner or other. All families are the same at this time of year.
Paul is busy putting a new lock on our front door - one that is extra sturdy because, while we were in Florida, one of the neighbors found it standing open. This is a deadbolt lock that requires a key. It looks very good. I don't think anyone could open it unless they have a key. But let's not tempt fate.
Post note: Paul is having a devil of a time with it. Some of the screws aren't working right, so he's had to file them down, etc. and the thing cost $129.00 at Lowe's yesterday.
Our trip was good. We rented a car from Venice on Monday morning. We packed our suitcase (1). Paul didn't bring any clothes. He said it was all here. I packed it with mostly stuff rather than clothes. Ex. Christmas music, Song sheets, Photo album - all things for people to see, do, sing. Needed to "make the Christmas bright." As the song goes.
So off we went to St. Petersburg airport. Gracie was as good as gold. As you know, Paul's been training her with treats in her carrier - walking her around the house. When we parked the car, we gave her some cheese with her pill inside. It worked very well. We went through security. Got to our gate and saw the plane outside, waiting for us all to board. NOT TO BE.
The pilot was sick. They needed a new one. There weren't any extra in St. Pete's. They had to send to Sanford for another - a two hour trip - but on rush hour on I-4 it took three hours. He got there and we left. We let Gracie out of her carrier for a while because it was such a long time, and Paul walked her around a bit. She did a lot of sniffing - lots of smells. We were concerned about her bladder control, but she was a true heroine (not sure how to spell that - looks like the drug, but you know what I mean). She whined a little when we put her under the plane seat, but she slept the whole way. It was a very smooth trip.
.
An aside, while in St. Pete's airport, we had a chair for Gracie between us at the gate. She was in her carrier most of the time. Paul left to take a walk. There were plenty of seats around, but an old lady came by and wanted his seat. I explained to her that it was taken. She said - well, can't you put the dog on the floor? At this point someone else pointed out all the seats around and she could sit by her. I'm always slow on the uptake. Afterwards I thought - we paid more for Gracie's ticket than our own - we shouldn't feel guilty that she had a seat of her own, even if she had to be under a seat onboard the plane! Especially if there were more seats. If there weren't, I would have gladly put her on the floor, or held her on my lap. But that's neither here nor there.
We got to Elmira to VERY cold weather. Didn't have my winter coat. There was a good 8" of snow on the ground. They didn't have a winterized section for us to walk through into the terminal, but they did have an open-air three-positional ramp that had been de-iced. Just like we had in St. Pete's. All I could think of was - Slip on ice. broken hip. Dead soon. But that was only for a second. My suitcase did roll down the third ramp section, but a kind attendant stopped it and me from sliding the whole way. The airport runway was fine. No ice. It's strange. I thought of snow, but I didn't think of cold and ice. I'm fine now. It took me a day or two to adjust. Lue was there to meet us. God bless her.
When we got inside the airport gate area, Paul zipped open the carrier a little bit and Gracie's quickly pushed her nose and head out. . I commented to Paul as he walked along that she looked like the hood ornament on a car.
Lue is on her way to Boston area. The weather is good. She's driving with her dog Greta. She left at 7 AM so that she'll get there before dark. She said since they're so close to the coast, it's dark there about 3:45 at this time of year. It's a 7-8 hour trip. God bless her. She went to a fish fry with us last night so we had a chance to be with her before she left. She looked good.
Bob is in Alpharetta with Jon's family. They'll have quite a house-ful as Cookie and Clarkie, Nicole's parents, and her sisters and families will be there to visit from Florida and Long Island. Reminds me of our house here. We'll have between twelve and sixteen staying with us - depending on the day. On Christmas day we'll have twenty-six for dinner. The "kids" are taking care of everything. We did buy a turkey. Paul may cook up some wimpies. (sloppy joes for those of you who aren't informed) I bought ground beef.
I called my good friend Marcia in North Carolina. She said it was 80 degrees. They were out walking. Their cat Cleo is on her last leg - 19 years old and ready to be put down. Marcia becomes so fond of her pets, as do we all. I can't imagine how I'll be when the time come for Gracie leaving us. So they've cancelled their trip to visit her brother Bob in northern Florida. It is what it is.
I saw a picture of Brenda, Eric and Emma on the airplane. So they're on their way! Or probably even in NYC by now. They're picking up Lina, their exchange student coming in at 3 PM from Germany to spend Christmas with us all.
Our grandson, Lee, stopped here yesterday and spent several hours in Paul's workshop working on some presents. . It was good to see him. It was quite cold in there, but we were glad to have him visit. He was very secretive about what he was working on.
We are actually quite well-adjusted to being here and getting organized. Presents are all bought. Most gift wrapping is done. Thank goodness! I'm waiting for Paul to disappear so I can wrap a couple for him. I did buy him the recliner for the new Florida room. I wanted something for him to unwrap here though.
I'm disappointed that there probably won't be any snow for Christmas. (So Bill and Epril - don't be sad that you're not with us. Epril will have to see snow some other time. Although we do miss you both. Glad we could get together on Sunday.) It's been warming up and it's supposed to go up to 50 degrees this weekend. Yes. 50 degrees! There'll probably be rain, but no snow is forecast. That's good, in a way - since we have so many people traveling. We would have preferred clear weather, and perhaps it will be, but rain is better than snow. As long as it isn't icy. But I had wanted snow for Evie and Vincent to sled ride down our back hill.
I am nursing a cold. Much sneezing. Haven't had one in years. Hoping to be better by Christmas. There's still time.
Friday, December 13, 2013
When you get to be my age. . .
When you get to be my age. So some of you can relate, some of you - not yet.
I had a wonderful night's sleep last night.
I got in bed and fell asleep within a nice length of time. Not an hour and a half. I didn't waken during the night. I woke up this - morning at 8:00 when Gracie awoke us both. She wanted to go out. It felt so good and refreshing. ( I meant just the weather. )
The only thing I considered possibly a deterrent to my happiness. . . is the happiness that it was cold out. (for us) Meaning. . .Tomorrow morning I have planned on going to water aerobics. That would be out of the question if it's so cold. (cool) No one would want to do it then. That'd be a shame because I really am enjoying how I feel when I'm done exercising in the pool. My knees are fine, and I have a lot of energy the rest of the day.
After a partial week of fluttering into oblivion, our DVR has stopped working. I am so annoyed. Paul studied it and studied it. So this morning we went down to the Comcast office. Day of all days - there wasn't a line - so we were able to get there, get out, within 10 minutes. The man was so polite and helpful, we thought, so . . . now we've got a new machine but it still isn't working. We've called Comcast, and I guess we'll have to again. They said to wait 45 minutes for it to reboot. The man at the office, said wait 5-7 minutes. (we thought - now we have to go do some phoning, with the phone on speaker mode so I can help Paul hear correctly.)
My computer is erasing my words as I write - the above paragraph I've written four times. Each time it has disappeared. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with our TV situation, as we have a bundle with Comcast: TV, Computer and Phone. This is unusual. I will try and not let it annoy me and I will go out and help Paul. He just said - it's the RNG 200 M. It causes all kinds of problems. You can only record one program at a time. The older version let you do two at a time.
My happiness is eroding.
We had a good Carol Sing last Saturday night. There were 12 people here at the house, so we could do a full The Twelve Days of Christmas. If you remember, I made up copies of the songs we were going to sing. . . in nice big beautiful print. The only problem there, was that I hadn't collated it so that it was a little confusing. To say the least. So this week, I collated it all, stapled them together, and guess what - I'm bringing them up North with me for Christmas, along with the piano music. So, all you northerners, be aware and ready to sing Christmas songs with me at the piano. Be in a happy mood. It should be fun. We'll make sure it is.
So- I guess my computer has stopped erasing words. Good.
We're going to the Christmas dinner/dance Saturday night. Alice is going with us and our new next door neighbor, Linda, who also joined us Saturday night for the Christmas Sing. Linda lost her husband a year ago on December 18th and it was a hard time for her. As can be expected. I'm glad she'll be coming with us, and that Alice, also a widow, will be there. We usually don't stay for dancing. We won't tonight.
We have our TV working. Kind of. All is well again. Of course all our recordings have been erased. But that's easy to correct. Just record them again. I take that back. It's not. It is breaking up, the sound comes and goes. Paul's checking the cable now and working on some other things.
Bob is busy getting ready to go to visit his daughter Christine tomorrow on the East Coast. He's going to leave from there to go to Alpharetta and spend Christmas with his son Jon's family. He'll be gone until around the time we return here to Fla. from our sojourn up north. We'll be going to a fish fry tonight, however, so we'll see him before he goes.
We got Gracie a Thundershirt. From the vets. What's a Thundershirt? It is for pets who experience stress from thunderstorms, travel anxiety, other things that make them anxious. It holds her very close, almost like a mother would hold a small child. Like an Indian papoose (?) We tried it on her after we got home and she was fine with it. Her tail didn't go down - which is a sign of unhappiness - and she didn't mind when we left it on her. She was as bouncy as ever. I had mixed emotions about getting it - it was costly. But after seeing it on her and observing her, I'm glad we got it. Besides, it's like a little coat, so it should be good for the cold weather when we arrive up north.
Bill and Epril are coming for dinner on Sunday so we're leaving our Christmas decorations up until they leave. I put up some decorations but there isn't much, because we're only here til the 16th. It was good to see their tree last week. It looked good. Epril did a good job of decorating it.
We went to the Christmas Lights Concert at the church last Sunday evening. They had been speaking about it for several weeks during church services. And. . . What a beautiful experience it was! There were about 100 people, all the men in tuxedos, women in dressed in black dressy outfits, lots of candle light, beautiful music - the choir, an orchestra, the bell choir, the piano, organ. The church was completely full. I brought some Kleenex with me but only needed to use it twice. I'm very susceptible.
The next time I write, I'll probably be upstate. If it's not a state of confusion, I will be writing. Will try. It'll be good to see everyone. We're both looking forward to it..
Pray for our DVR. It needs it.
I had a wonderful night's sleep last night.
I got in bed and fell asleep within a nice length of time. Not an hour and a half. I didn't waken during the night. I woke up this - morning at 8:00 when Gracie awoke us both. She wanted to go out. It felt so good and refreshing. ( I meant just the weather. )
The only thing I considered possibly a deterrent to my happiness. . . is the happiness that it was cold out. (for us) Meaning. . .Tomorrow morning I have planned on going to water aerobics. That would be out of the question if it's so cold. (cool) No one would want to do it then. That'd be a shame because I really am enjoying how I feel when I'm done exercising in the pool. My knees are fine, and I have a lot of energy the rest of the day.
After a partial week of fluttering into oblivion, our DVR has stopped working. I am so annoyed. Paul studied it and studied it. So this morning we went down to the Comcast office. Day of all days - there wasn't a line - so we were able to get there, get out, within 10 minutes. The man was so polite and helpful, we thought, so . . . now we've got a new machine but it still isn't working. We've called Comcast, and I guess we'll have to again. They said to wait 45 minutes for it to reboot. The man at the office, said wait 5-7 minutes. (we thought - now we have to go do some phoning, with the phone on speaker mode so I can help Paul hear correctly.)
My computer is erasing my words as I write - the above paragraph I've written four times. Each time it has disappeared. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with our TV situation, as we have a bundle with Comcast: TV, Computer and Phone. This is unusual. I will try and not let it annoy me and I will go out and help Paul. He just said - it's the RNG 200 M. It causes all kinds of problems. You can only record one program at a time. The older version let you do two at a time.
My happiness is eroding.
We had a good Carol Sing last Saturday night. There were 12 people here at the house, so we could do a full The Twelve Days of Christmas. If you remember, I made up copies of the songs we were going to sing. . . in nice big beautiful print. The only problem there, was that I hadn't collated it so that it was a little confusing. To say the least. So this week, I collated it all, stapled them together, and guess what - I'm bringing them up North with me for Christmas, along with the piano music. So, all you northerners, be aware and ready to sing Christmas songs with me at the piano. Be in a happy mood. It should be fun. We'll make sure it is.
So- I guess my computer has stopped erasing words. Good.
We're going to the Christmas dinner/dance Saturday night. Alice is going with us and our new next door neighbor, Linda, who also joined us Saturday night for the Christmas Sing. Linda lost her husband a year ago on December 18th and it was a hard time for her. As can be expected. I'm glad she'll be coming with us, and that Alice, also a widow, will be there. We usually don't stay for dancing. We won't tonight.
We have our TV working. Kind of. All is well again. Of course all our recordings have been erased. But that's easy to correct. Just record them again. I take that back. It's not. It is breaking up, the sound comes and goes. Paul's checking the cable now and working on some other things.
Bob is busy getting ready to go to visit his daughter Christine tomorrow on the East Coast. He's going to leave from there to go to Alpharetta and spend Christmas with his son Jon's family. He'll be gone until around the time we return here to Fla. from our sojourn up north. We'll be going to a fish fry tonight, however, so we'll see him before he goes.
We got Gracie a Thundershirt. From the vets. What's a Thundershirt? It is for pets who experience stress from thunderstorms, travel anxiety, other things that make them anxious. It holds her very close, almost like a mother would hold a small child. Like an Indian papoose (?) We tried it on her after we got home and she was fine with it. Her tail didn't go down - which is a sign of unhappiness - and she didn't mind when we left it on her. She was as bouncy as ever. I had mixed emotions about getting it - it was costly. But after seeing it on her and observing her, I'm glad we got it. Besides, it's like a little coat, so it should be good for the cold weather when we arrive up north.
Bill and Epril are coming for dinner on Sunday so we're leaving our Christmas decorations up until they leave. I put up some decorations but there isn't much, because we're only here til the 16th. It was good to see their tree last week. It looked good. Epril did a good job of decorating it.
We went to the Christmas Lights Concert at the church last Sunday evening. They had been speaking about it for several weeks during church services. And. . . What a beautiful experience it was! There were about 100 people, all the men in tuxedos, women in dressed in black dressy outfits, lots of candle light, beautiful music - the choir, an orchestra, the bell choir, the piano, organ. The church was completely full. I brought some Kleenex with me but only needed to use it twice. I'm very susceptible.
The next time I write, I'll probably be upstate. If it's not a state of confusion, I will be writing. Will try. It'll be good to see everyone. We're both looking forward to it..
Pray for our DVR. It needs it.
Monday, December 9, 2013
What a Treat!
One Saturday this past Fall, when the autumn colors were at its peak, we went for a ride with Gracie to try out my new camera.
I wanted to take some photos, and if any came out well, we could make them into poster/paintings to put on the walls of our new room. It'd be a great way to remember our beautiful upstate New York area, while we're living down here in also beautiful Florida. .
Paul. . . God bless him. He took one of my pictures and had it made into a poster/painting. He gave it to me last Saturday. The photo is of a little fishing hole where he liked to stop and fish.
( Paul liked to meander and found this little spot.)
If I must say so myself, the colors are delightful. I used the camera's vivid color setting. It has the most appealing lemon yellows, greens, and light blues.
There was a sister photo to this one. . . of Paul and Gracie looking for fish down into the water together. It is adorable. He has on a red shirt and she has on a red harness. So - I had that one made up today, and now we have two matching photo/paintings.
As I was waiting for this photo to be completed, (I knew it was going to be a while - at least over an hour,) so I had some lunch at Walmart's new Burger King restaurant that's been opened up only a week.
You could tell it was new - There weren't many chairs and tables set up yet. It was very crowded. But I found one small empty table with two chairs. I had planned on being by myself: It was going to be a long wait, so I was going to have a cup of decaf coffee, some lunch, and read my Kindle.
A little, tiny elderly lady, with a cane, came into the restaurant. She had a hamburger, coffee and fries and was trying to navigate everything with her cane and found a seat at an eating bar facing out to the rest of the store.
I asked if she'd like to join me. Oh, she was so grateful. She didn't know how she was going to manage that high stool with the cane and all her food. (I know how she felt).
Well, I had a most delightful time listening to her talk. She ended up being quite a conversationalist. I had her life history before the hour was out. She just kept on talking and talking. I don't remember when I've had such an interesting experience. She even included whoever was sitting at the table next to us. (which included a couple who told us they were celebrating their 52nd anniversary today, and when they left, there was another gentleman who was able to tell us the name of the sport we couldn't guess: lacrosse.) And they were as spellbound as I was.
One of the things she said was -
When she was a little girl, her mother took her by the hand and told her - Now. . . when you're out in public, make sure you always smile at people who look at you, and if they look you in the eye - well - then you must say smile and say hello - how are you? because you never know if they've had a good or a bad day, and if they've had a bad day, then they will be happier for you being friendly. And so she told this to her four children and they've always been friendly and outgoing. They're in their fifties, she said. Except for one who died at age forty-seven. She lived up in Massachusetts and worked in medicine.
She'd been retired since 1991 after having three bad breathing episodes. I had thought she was lonely and probably needed to talk to some one so I was happy to oblige, but that obviously wasn't the case because she'd just finished volunteering at the Jacaranda Library. She's been volunteering for twelve years! She said she was quite tired today. She started work at 8:00 that morning. She had to get some milk. That's why she was at Walmart. She said she never seemed to get just one thing though. (Doesn't that sound familiar?)
The hour went by very quickly and we both said our good-byes. What a treat that was!
Then I got home here, we put up the other picture, and I started on my computer. I found this saying. I wrote it down, but forgot to check where it's from, but I'm still going to write it out so you can enjoy it too.
Happiness can be found even in the smallest places. Whether you're having the best or the worst day ever, more joy is just waiting to be discovered. The next time you're feeling blue, remember that happiness is unavoidable and may even be right within your reach.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
This Week has been Full.
Yes. This week has been full.
We went to John and Carol's aka Cookie and Clarkie for Thanksgiving dinner and as usual she put on a marvelous spread of food.
Someone asked if that was why Cookie was named Cookie, since she was such a good cook. It was impossible to eat it all, but she made enough to last all weekend. This was very good since they had a houseful of guests.
Bob's son, Jon and his family of five down here from Alpharetta, and Danielle and her husband and twins Nicole and Nathan, (two and a half) flew down from Long Island. Then for Thanksgiving dinner, she had Bob, my nephew Paul, my Paul, and I, and Bill and Epril, and her daughter Denise and her family. Good Heavens. (It felt like what Christmas will be at our house with all Paul and Nancy's families. )
Clarkie had a hip replacement two weeks ago and is doing well, but he said he's looking forward to Friday when everyone was going to go to Disney World and he was going to be by himself. He was tired by the end of the day. Nicole and Nate were looking forward to seeing Mickey and Minnie. . . their favorites. From their mom's Facebook videos, they have a lot of Mickey and Minnie Mouse things. Beds, clothes, you name it.
Epril had on a new pair of fancy Imelda Marco shoes, making her about. . . . 3" taller than me. I love to tease her about her shoes. She loves them so.
I was convinced that Epril's birthday was December 11th - and then I realized that date was the birthday of my good friend Marcia's husband, Hal. Epril's birthday is Friday, December 6th . We're going to go out to lunch on the 7th to celebrate because Bill and she are both working on her birthday. I think my mind is going.
Paul has all the decorating done outside. I could hear him outside with some of the men having a gabfest. They were all outside doing the same thing. I haven't done any yet, but I will. Eventually. I need to this week because. . ..
We've invited the neighbors in to have a Carol Sing next weekend. Last year was the first time I'd done this.
When the Carol Sing was in the back of my mind, I remembered this: If we did it again, we'd need song sheets. (Old eyes don't see, from afar, little print being played on a piano.) So, Alice kindly lent me some song sheets from the Clubhouse and I looked on the internet for the ones we didn't have. I enlarged the words so everyone should be able to see them fine. No excuses for not singing this year. That's not fair - we had a good group of singers last year.
That (making copies) took me a good part of the morning. Then I decided to practice the carols and ended up playing all sorts of music for a good hour. It felt invigorating. I haven't done that in a long time. I was rusty, but I got better.
So Bob is back from Alpharetta. Gracie and Martini were comical when they saw each other. They were outside, twenty feet apart, in the play stance, with front feet down, back feet up, tails wagging wildly, barking loudly, and then Gracie did huge figure eight "zoomies" around Martini. Very cute.
Yesterday was Black Friday. I didn't go out, but I let my fingers do the walking and shopped for gifts here on the computer. My eyes were rather bleary by the time I finished up for the day. Got more to do, though. Just like almost everybody else in the world.
We went to John and Carol's aka Cookie and Clarkie for Thanksgiving dinner and as usual she put on a marvelous spread of food.
Someone asked if that was why Cookie was named Cookie, since she was such a good cook. It was impossible to eat it all, but she made enough to last all weekend. This was very good since they had a houseful of guests.
Bob's son, Jon and his family of five down here from Alpharetta, and Danielle and her husband and twins Nicole and Nathan, (two and a half) flew down from Long Island. Then for Thanksgiving dinner, she had Bob, my nephew Paul, my Paul, and I, and Bill and Epril, and her daughter Denise and her family. Good Heavens. (It felt like what Christmas will be at our house with all Paul and Nancy's families. )
Clarkie had a hip replacement two weeks ago and is doing well, but he said he's looking forward to Friday when everyone was going to go to Disney World and he was going to be by himself. He was tired by the end of the day. Nicole and Nate were looking forward to seeing Mickey and Minnie. . . their favorites. From their mom's Facebook videos, they have a lot of Mickey and Minnie Mouse things. Beds, clothes, you name it.
Epril had on a new pair of fancy Imelda Marco shoes, making her about. . . . 3" taller than me. I love to tease her about her shoes. She loves them so.
I was convinced that Epril's birthday was December 11th - and then I realized that date was the birthday of my good friend Marcia's husband, Hal. Epril's birthday is Friday, December 6th . We're going to go out to lunch on the 7th to celebrate because Bill and she are both working on her birthday. I think my mind is going.
Paul has all the decorating done outside. I could hear him outside with some of the men having a gabfest. They were all outside doing the same thing. I haven't done any yet, but I will. Eventually. I need to this week because. . ..
We've invited the neighbors in to have a Carol Sing next weekend. Last year was the first time I'd done this.
When the Carol Sing was in the back of my mind, I remembered this: If we did it again, we'd need song sheets. (Old eyes don't see, from afar, little print being played on a piano.) So, Alice kindly lent me some song sheets from the Clubhouse and I looked on the internet for the ones we didn't have. I enlarged the words so everyone should be able to see them fine. No excuses for not singing this year. That's not fair - we had a good group of singers last year.
That (making copies) took me a good part of the morning. Then I decided to practice the carols and ended up playing all sorts of music for a good hour. It felt invigorating. I haven't done that in a long time. I was rusty, but I got better.
So Bob is back from Alpharetta. Gracie and Martini were comical when they saw each other. They were outside, twenty feet apart, in the play stance, with front feet down, back feet up, tails wagging wildly, barking loudly, and then Gracie did huge figure eight "zoomies" around Martini. Very cute.
Yesterday was Black Friday. I didn't go out, but I let my fingers do the walking and shopped for gifts here on the computer. My eyes were rather bleary by the time I finished up for the day. Got more to do, though. Just like almost everybody else in the world.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Thanksgiving Week Already?
OMG - is it Thanksgiving week already? And it's late this year! That means that Christmas is less than a month away.
Don't you sometimes feel like Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday? All the stores are playing Christmas music and have been decorated for weeks. Black Friday gets more advertising than Thanksgiving, and with all the stores opening up Thanksgiving day, well - it's a darn shame. It's all about money, of course. If people don't come, they won't have sales. So, people, don't go. Stay home with your families - Have a great sit down dinner, watch ball games, or a good movie, play some board games . . . Boycott the stores. Then get up at 4 AM and go shopping on Black Friday.
Well, I have all my Christmas cards written, envelopes stamped -but I don't have return addresses on them. I ordered new ones quite a while ago for here but they haven't arrived yet. I'm trying to wait for them - I really don't want to use my NYS one, but if the time gets too close, I'll have to. It's so annoying since I ordered that a couple of weeks ago. I'm used to Amazon Prime. I can order something one day and get it the day after. This obviously wasn't Amazon Prime.
We're going to miss Epril and Bill this Christmas, but they're saving for a trip to the Philippines for Epril's sister's wedding in April. (I know I've mentioned this in several posts.) BUT - We'll celebrate with them before we fly up North. Also - Epril's birthday is coming up and that will be cause for a celebration! I'd like to see them up north this summer. Perhaps for Bill's birthday in August.
Saturday evening we got a call from Bob from Alpharetta, GA. He'll be coming home on Wednesday. Good! We sure miss him, but we're glad he's having such a good time with Jon and his family. He and Martini even have their own room there. Nicole and the kids are here now in Sarasota with her folks, and Jon and Bob will be traveling together Tuesday late. That's good that Jon's coming down with him since it's a long trip.
We like the new room. If you remember from my last posting, we were having trouble finding a place for our TV and had put it in front of the Computer Room door. Now we've moved it between the two doors. Even though it almost fits, it looks better. Paul painted the doors yellow to match the walls. There's a lot of yellow in that room, but I like it. In the evening the yellow doors almost look white because of the lighting.
Paul's kids and Nancy are getting set with plans for Christmas. As a gift to us - Everyone who's staying at our house will be doing the meals. What a great treat! (Although I do love to cook. . . perhaps I'll sneak in the kitchen and do some cooking. You never know. . .)
I'm going to do most of my Christmas shopping on the internet. From here. I had asked my next door neighbor if I could ship packages to her house. I phoned her to double check, and she said she'd be fine with it. Good! I have already ordered some blankets for upstairs for the twin beds. The ones on them were a disgrace.
Saturday morning I skipped a pancake breakfast at the Clubhouse. I went to water aerobics with Alice. She said she was very proud of me. I was too. And I enjoyed the workout. There were eight of us. There's a six day schedule: Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30, and Monday, Wednesday and Fridays at 10:30. With that - perhaps twice a week and Curves three times a week, I'll be very healthy and fit. I can't believe how well my knees are doing. I wouldn't have given a plugged nickel for them in August. In August I wasn't able to exercise. I was lucky to get from one part of the house to the other. With my cane.
I am planning a Carol Sing here on December 7th with friends and neighbors. We will put up a few decorations, but not like last year when we stayed for the season. After all, we have two houses to decorate this year.
Paul's been practicing with Gracie and her carrier for our plane trip up north. Even though we use her carrier as a sleeper in hotel rooms, and she was sedated, she was very scared when she flew in it two Christmases ago. He's been working with her for a couple of days and the training process is progressing: Now she'll go in if he puts treats in it, and today he carried her around in it with her head out the top. He wondered if he'd be able to do that in the airport. I said, I don't know, but why not?
And even if not. . . so what?
Our ice-maker is kaput. And I'm feeling its pain. Sure miss my ice. Paul's looking for another one on the internet. What a guy. We have one ice cube tray that Bob left here, and it'll come in handy. Thanks Bob!
Hey - good news as I write! Paul just showed me the ice-maker. It looks fixable! As I said before, What a guy!
Don't you sometimes feel like Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday? All the stores are playing Christmas music and have been decorated for weeks. Black Friday gets more advertising than Thanksgiving, and with all the stores opening up Thanksgiving day, well - it's a darn shame. It's all about money, of course. If people don't come, they won't have sales. So, people, don't go. Stay home with your families - Have a great sit down dinner, watch ball games, or a good movie, play some board games . . . Boycott the stores. Then get up at 4 AM and go shopping on Black Friday.
Well, I have all my Christmas cards written, envelopes stamped -but I don't have return addresses on them. I ordered new ones quite a while ago for here but they haven't arrived yet. I'm trying to wait for them - I really don't want to use my NYS one, but if the time gets too close, I'll have to. It's so annoying since I ordered that a couple of weeks ago. I'm used to Amazon Prime. I can order something one day and get it the day after. This obviously wasn't Amazon Prime.
We're going to miss Epril and Bill this Christmas, but they're saving for a trip to the Philippines for Epril's sister's wedding in April. (I know I've mentioned this in several posts.) BUT - We'll celebrate with them before we fly up North. Also - Epril's birthday is coming up and that will be cause for a celebration! I'd like to see them up north this summer. Perhaps for Bill's birthday in August.
Saturday evening we got a call from Bob from Alpharetta, GA. He'll be coming home on Wednesday. Good! We sure miss him, but we're glad he's having such a good time with Jon and his family. He and Martini even have their own room there. Nicole and the kids are here now in Sarasota with her folks, and Jon and Bob will be traveling together Tuesday late. That's good that Jon's coming down with him since it's a long trip.
We like the new room. If you remember from my last posting, we were having trouble finding a place for our TV and had put it in front of the Computer Room door. Now we've moved it between the two doors. Even though it almost fits, it looks better. Paul painted the doors yellow to match the walls. There's a lot of yellow in that room, but I like it. In the evening the yellow doors almost look white because of the lighting.
Paul's kids and Nancy are getting set with plans for Christmas. As a gift to us - Everyone who's staying at our house will be doing the meals. What a great treat! (Although I do love to cook. . . perhaps I'll sneak in the kitchen and do some cooking. You never know. . .)
I'm going to do most of my Christmas shopping on the internet. From here. I had asked my next door neighbor if I could ship packages to her house. I phoned her to double check, and she said she'd be fine with it. Good! I have already ordered some blankets for upstairs for the twin beds. The ones on them were a disgrace.
Saturday morning I skipped a pancake breakfast at the Clubhouse. I went to water aerobics with Alice. She said she was very proud of me. I was too. And I enjoyed the workout. There were eight of us. There's a six day schedule: Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30, and Monday, Wednesday and Fridays at 10:30. With that - perhaps twice a week and Curves three times a week, I'll be very healthy and fit. I can't believe how well my knees are doing. I wouldn't have given a plugged nickel for them in August. In August I wasn't able to exercise. I was lucky to get from one part of the house to the other. With my cane.
I am planning a Carol Sing here on December 7th with friends and neighbors. We will put up a few decorations, but not like last year when we stayed for the season. After all, we have two houses to decorate this year.
Paul's been practicing with Gracie and her carrier for our plane trip up north. Even though we use her carrier as a sleeper in hotel rooms, and she was sedated, she was very scared when she flew in it two Christmases ago. He's been working with her for a couple of days and the training process is progressing: Now she'll go in if he puts treats in it, and today he carried her around in it with her head out the top. He wondered if he'd be able to do that in the airport. I said, I don't know, but why not?
And even if not. . . so what?
Our ice-maker is kaput. And I'm feeling its pain. Sure miss my ice. Paul's looking for another one on the internet. What a guy. We have one ice cube tray that Bob left here, and it'll come in handy. Thanks Bob!
Hey - good news as I write! Paul just showed me the ice-maker. It looks fixable! As I said before, What a guy!
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Moving Furniture, Rearranging things
I feel like I'm in a new house!
For years I've wanted to do the things we've done this past year and current year and now it's coming true. It's amazing all the things we've completed. Did I say "we?" I meant Paul. That man is a wonder. All I have to do is mention something, and the next thing I know, it's done.
Our new room (formerly the lanai) now has a new rug, and all the living room furniture. The one exception is the white digital piano which stayed in the front room.
There is still a problem, according to Paul. He doesn't like where we put the TV. Even though we've added floor space, there's still the problem of wall space. So, right now we've got it in the corner in front of the closed/locked computer room door. I don't think you really notice it very much. Paul says we do. There used to be a sliding glass door into that room but Paul changed it to a pocket door so we would have more wall space. But it's just not enough wall space. Perhaps we need to eliminate that door, since it's not necessary - the computer room has another door. But that's down the road, if at all.
Last weekend we ordered a sage green recliner for the new room. So yesterday we saved $49 by going to the Sarasota warehouse, and picking it up in Paul's van. Paul's already taken a couple of naps on it, so the recliner's a success. Afterwards we went to Panera Bread for lunch. We sat outside because Gracie was with us.
The dining room furniture that we have off the kitchen will go in the front room. The china cabinet is already there where the piano was - and the piano has been moved to the front corner by the window. (As I said before, it's like having a new house!) Since all the glass and the china from the cabinet was taken out and put on the dining room table, I have to wash it all and put it back in. Plus I cleaned the china cabinet's glass doors, and shelves. These are all a given. But I'm slowing down.
*********************
Last night we went to Alice's for a dinner party for eight for Carol's 75th birthday. It was delicious! She served two kinds of lasagna - we took some home as did others and we had it for lunch today. Carol requested a lemon meringue pie instead of cake, so Alice made two, just to be on the safe side, but we ate only one. I called Alice this afternoon to thank her for the lovely time and she told me she sent the other pie home with Carol so she didn't have to look at it. Carol was going to a potluck tonight and would bring it with her. I don't blame her! That's a temptation.
For years I've wanted to do the things we've done this past year and current year and now it's coming true. It's amazing all the things we've completed. Did I say "we?" I meant Paul. That man is a wonder. All I have to do is mention something, and the next thing I know, it's done.
Our new room (formerly the lanai) now has a new rug, and all the living room furniture. The one exception is the white digital piano which stayed in the front room.
There is still a problem, according to Paul. He doesn't like where we put the TV. Even though we've added floor space, there's still the problem of wall space. So, right now we've got it in the corner in front of the closed/locked computer room door. I don't think you really notice it very much. Paul says we do. There used to be a sliding glass door into that room but Paul changed it to a pocket door so we would have more wall space. But it's just not enough wall space. Perhaps we need to eliminate that door, since it's not necessary - the computer room has another door. But that's down the road, if at all.
Last weekend we ordered a sage green recliner for the new room. So yesterday we saved $49 by going to the Sarasota warehouse, and picking it up in Paul's van. Paul's already taken a couple of naps on it, so the recliner's a success. Afterwards we went to Panera Bread for lunch. We sat outside because Gracie was with us.
The dining room furniture that we have off the kitchen will go in the front room. The china cabinet is already there where the piano was - and the piano has been moved to the front corner by the window. (As I said before, it's like having a new house!) Since all the glass and the china from the cabinet was taken out and put on the dining room table, I have to wash it all and put it back in. Plus I cleaned the china cabinet's glass doors, and shelves. These are all a given. But I'm slowing down.
*********************
Last night we went to Alice's for a dinner party for eight for Carol's 75th birthday. It was delicious! She served two kinds of lasagna - we took some home as did others and we had it for lunch today. Carol requested a lemon meringue pie instead of cake, so Alice made two, just to be on the safe side, but we ate only one. I called Alice this afternoon to thank her for the lovely time and she told me she sent the other pie home with Carol so she didn't have to look at it. Carol was going to a potluck tonight and would bring it with her. I don't blame her! That's a temptation.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Why are Seniors Susceptible to Identity Theft? To Scams? How Can We Help Them?
My father was a very kind gentle man. Throughout his life, I cannot remember him saying a hateful or unkind word about anyone he met. Especially about his family and those close to him. He always had an excuse for someone's crummy actions. He'd smile and say, "Isn't he a great guy?" We would shake our heads wondering how he saw these things. But we considered this good.. . . What a way to live - so optimistically. He died in his mid 70's and, loving him as we did, we would have loved him to live longer, but I can't help thinking: if he did live into his 80's or 90's, would he have been susceptible to identity thefts or scams?
Researching this subject, I found an article in The Senior Planet that was published last December, 2012. Shelley Taylor,a research psychologist for UCLA, did a test, using groups of 55 or older, and groups of 20-somethings as test subjects. They were shown a set of 50 photos of faces - some identified as shifty looking. Some elderly couldn't see it. They, again and again, had difficulty seeing and interpreting a deceitful face as potentially dishonest. The young people readily saw it. These were neurological changes, seen in brain scans, that came in aging brains. .So - could it possibly be: that it's a neurological change in the brain of older people? Yes.
But others say: Seniors have a naturally positive bias to making life more positive. At the end of their lives, they want to see the good in life and people. So. . . Why make unpleasant waves?
When we say the elderly have trouble keeping up, we blame the modern fast-paced world. But - A New World is always upon us. The only thing that doesn't change is change itself.
The elderly should be overly cautious. Fifty percent or more of scams are done by family members. Unfortunately, they don't see it and don't recognize that they can't judge people correctly any more. That's the problem. They don't see that they have a problem.
All you Gen. X'ers, Baby Boomers and Millenials - face it and be aware, your time will come.
Can anything help?There are a couple of things that come to mind. BCM Momentum, a forum from Baylor College of Medicine. April 12, 2013, says that not everyone is vulnerable to cognitive impairment or financial exploitation:
.
1. There is moderate evidence that physical activity could help with memory problems. (But check with your doctor first before beginning any exercise program.) Stay active for a healthy mind, body and bank account. 2. Seniors have the time to open junk snail mail and e-mails that can be scams. Read them. But be ready to trash. Remember: trashing junk mail is a useable skill. 3. Get in the habit of checking out *www.snopes.com. Snopes has a section on fake e-mails and websites that collect personal information. Brains may age, but knowledge is power. Learn this and review these so you can evaluate whatever information comes your way.
Remember - Most seniors have a clean slate. They've saved more over a longer period of time. They've most likely paid off the mortgage and don't owe much debt, if any. Their credit is most likely good. It's a no-brainer for identity thieves or scam artists. Once they're in, they can make life miserable for the elderly, and making life all the better for themselves. Therefore, you younger generations: keep a closer watch on parents, aunts, uncles, elderly neighbors and anyone who may be susceptible. And seniors - keep an eye on yourselves.
*I myself use Snopes regularly to verify facts on e-mails I find offensive. This was/is particularly helpful to me during political campaigns.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Cursive Writing: Going, Going . . .
Cursive writing is (gasp). . . dying?
Without knowledge of cursive, it greatly narrows the scope of the written word:
Recently, a third grade parent called her son's teacher to find out when she planned on teaching cursive writing. The teacher told her they would spend two weeks (Yes. Two weeks.) on it. . . at the end of the school year. He never learned how to write a Z because they ran out of time.
The Common Core Standard Initiative was adopted in 46 states as of this August. It provides a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know that they need to do to help them succeed in a global economy. It doesn't include cursive writing.
Obviously, if you haven't learned cursive writing in school, you can't read it, write it, or understand it. Do we want our children to be cursive illiterate in their own language? Do we want them to be dependent on those who can transcribe? Lots of school districts don't teach it any more. Although, thankfully, some schools fit it in.
Of course, with the access of smart phones, tablets and computers, it's easy to connect to other people and . . . communicate. Let's face it: The 21st Century needs these skills much more than the art of penmanship. . .and cursive is an art form. We know fonts can be beautiful. But - what about those times when an electronic gadget isn't available? What about lower income families who can't afford computers, etc. What then? It's the same thing about learning arithmetic facts in case calculators are not available.
When did cursive writing begin? Cursive handwriting began approximately in twelfth century Europe after the introduction of lower case letters. In the mid 1700's special schools were established to teach handwriting techniques, or penmanship. Master Penmen were employed to copy official documents. In the mid 1800's Zaner-Bloser Company was formed.
In 1904 the Zaner Method for Elementary Children began. It is the main style today. During the 1950's and 1960's, second and third grade children anticipated the rite of passage. . . And from then on, they were expected to always use it. In 1970 D'Nealian which used slanted print letters were used to transition into cursive. It is popular today.
Before the typewriter was invented, .handwriting was the main way to communicate. Schools spent hours teaching penmanship; averaging 15 minutes a day, each school day, for usually three years. Each writer's script had to be beautifully formed. There really was the three R's: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.
In the 1700's Cursive writing was considered "the art of handwriting". Then it gradually became handwriting purely as communication. Letters weren't as carefully formed or joined together, but everyone learned it.
Cursive was so popular in some school districts that they introduced cursive in first grade; printing was ushered in later. Good penmanship meant you'd grown into a disciplined adult.
There are so many reasons for keeping cursive writing:
1. Joining letters made it easier and quicker for words and ideas to flow. 2. Handwriting increases brain activity, it hones fine motor skills. and can predict a child's academic success in ways that smart phones, tablets and computers cannot. 3. It prevents reversals (b,d) and confusion of letters, (p,q)
4. It enhances spelling ability. 5. Less strokes are needed to form letters. (3 strokes per cursive letter vs. 6 for printing.).
Historically: Who'll be able to read i.e. The Constitution or other documented papers? Should every-day journals be thrown out because they can't be read? And simply because some papers are written in cursive, will someone else be needed to translate to others?
We all know people who write beautifully. .I'm sure you can picture someone right now. As mentioned before - Cursive is an art form. Also - A 2006 study of the essay portion of the SAT showed that those who used cursive did slightly better than those who printed. (Even though only 15% used cursive.)
Yes. Cursive could be thought of as a dying art form. But there is a growing community of people who value this and they wish to see it continue being taught. I say, good for them! It would be unwise to see it die out.
Without knowledge of cursive, it greatly narrows the scope of the written word:
Recently, a third grade parent called her son's teacher to find out when she planned on teaching cursive writing. The teacher told her they would spend two weeks (Yes. Two weeks.) on it. . . at the end of the school year. He never learned how to write a Z because they ran out of time.
The Common Core Standard Initiative was adopted in 46 states as of this August. It provides a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know that they need to do to help them succeed in a global economy. It doesn't include cursive writing.
Obviously, if you haven't learned cursive writing in school, you can't read it, write it, or understand it. Do we want our children to be cursive illiterate in their own language? Do we want them to be dependent on those who can transcribe? Lots of school districts don't teach it any more. Although, thankfully, some schools fit it in.
Of course, with the access of smart phones, tablets and computers, it's easy to connect to other people and . . . communicate. Let's face it: The 21st Century needs these skills much more than the art of penmanship. . .and cursive is an art form. We know fonts can be beautiful. But - what about those times when an electronic gadget isn't available? What about lower income families who can't afford computers, etc. What then? It's the same thing about learning arithmetic facts in case calculators are not available.
When did cursive writing begin? Cursive handwriting began approximately in twelfth century Europe after the introduction of lower case letters. In the mid 1700's special schools were established to teach handwriting techniques, or penmanship. Master Penmen were employed to copy official documents. In the mid 1800's Zaner-Bloser Company was formed.
In 1904 the Zaner Method for Elementary Children began. It is the main style today. During the 1950's and 1960's, second and third grade children anticipated the rite of passage. . . And from then on, they were expected to always use it. In 1970 D'Nealian which used slanted print letters were used to transition into cursive. It is popular today.
Before the typewriter was invented, .handwriting was the main way to communicate. Schools spent hours teaching penmanship; averaging 15 minutes a day, each school day, for usually three years. Each writer's script had to be beautifully formed. There really was the three R's: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.
In the 1700's Cursive writing was considered "the art of handwriting". Then it gradually became handwriting purely as communication. Letters weren't as carefully formed or joined together, but everyone learned it.
Cursive was so popular in some school districts that they introduced cursive in first grade; printing was ushered in later. Good penmanship meant you'd grown into a disciplined adult.
There are so many reasons for keeping cursive writing:
1. Joining letters made it easier and quicker for words and ideas to flow. 2. Handwriting increases brain activity, it hones fine motor skills. and can predict a child's academic success in ways that smart phones, tablets and computers cannot. 3. It prevents reversals (b,d) and confusion of letters, (p,q)
4. It enhances spelling ability. 5. Less strokes are needed to form letters. (3 strokes per cursive letter vs. 6 for printing.).
Historically: Who'll be able to read i.e. The Constitution or other documented papers? Should every-day journals be thrown out because they can't be read? And simply because some papers are written in cursive, will someone else be needed to translate to others?
We all know people who write beautifully. .I'm sure you can picture someone right now. As mentioned before - Cursive is an art form. Also - A 2006 study of the essay portion of the SAT showed that those who used cursive did slightly better than those who printed. (Even though only 15% used cursive.)
Yes. Cursive could be thought of as a dying art form. But there is a growing community of people who value this and they wish to see it continue being taught. I say, good for them! It would be unwise to see it die out.
Friday, November 8, 2013
It's beginning to seem a lot like . . .Florida
On the spur of the moment, we went to the jetty for lunch today. It was such a beautiful sunny day. Perfect temperature. Windy. I brought a hat.
We should do more things on-the-spur-of-the-moment. It was really really nice. Windy, which meant wind, of course. Duh. Funny, but I didn't think about that the wind would make waves, or the spray from the sea water would be there. That was an added bonus. The reason I brought a hat was so my hair wouldn't be messed up . (ha, like it really helped. I forgot to put it on)
We took Gracie with us. Paul put her pink harness and pink leash on her. He couldn't go into the tiny little hotdog stand with her, so I went in, while he waited outside with her at one of the picnic tables. ( No animals are ever allowed in food establishments.)
There were a lot of people standing around. I had thought there was a line, but when I asked, they had all ordered, and were waiting for their order. so I ordered mine, and then became a member of the real line. Eventually, actually, quite quickly, the gal served me.
A short-order cook is a fascinating person to watch. She didn't write down orders, but put the hotdogs on the grill according to the orders. And they moved to the forefront as the hot dogs were cooked and ready. Paul got the jumbo, huge, extra sized dog. He likes everything on it, so I took care of Gracie while he fixed his and put on everything. I was happy with a plain ole dog with mustard, no ketchup, please.
After we ate, we walked across the sandy parking lot and watched the waves crash onto the big boulders.
Paul said he remembered last year taking Sharon and the family to the jetty. Ida and Charlie were jumping across those rocks and I remember Charlie's new sneakers getting soaking wet. And the waves weren't half as big then Paul said. It took a while for them to dry back here at the house. Just as Paul spoke, a couple of kids went by - jumping from rock to rock. Paul said - I guess it's what the young do. They're gonna break a leg. I said possibly - and within a week, it'll heal.
I was thinking of jumping on the rocks to take some pictures, but I knew if I did I'd probably break a leg or something. . . and it would take a year to heal. I did get some good pictures, but nothing outstanding.
Speaking of pictures. I have so many awful pictures in my camera. When I got this new camera I had promised myself that I would delete the awful ones. I wouldn't have a backlog of them. Well, I never did get rid of them. Some I did. The rest... they're still there. I'll never change.
Bob and I went to the pool about 2:00 when the sun is up high enough to give you a good tan, but not enough to be so hot to be unpleasant, or give me a sunburn. Several ladies were in there "swimming." Actually they tred water in the deep end . . . using the "noodles." I'm sure you all know what noodles are. So I joined them as I can noodle with the best of them.
Fish fry tonight. We went to the Englewood Moose Club with Bob. Paul and Bob liked their fish. I wasn't that impressed. Too dry for a baked fish. The price was good $7.95. We could write reviews for each place we go. Next week we'll try someplace else.
Don't we have a rough life here? Oh, well. Someone has to do it.
Isn't that horrible news about the enormous typhoon in the Philippines? Epril's family is okay.
As you all know, Epril's family is from there. Bill sent a message on Facebook that the village was south of where the typhoon hit. So that was a relief. As you know, I went to their wedding five years ago and can picture the whole area. Alice called me. Thanks, Cuz.
We should do more things on-the-spur-of-the-moment. It was really really nice. Windy, which meant wind, of course. Duh. Funny, but I didn't think about that the wind would make waves, or the spray from the sea water would be there. That was an added bonus. The reason I brought a hat was so my hair wouldn't be messed up . (ha, like it really helped. I forgot to put it on)
We took Gracie with us. Paul put her pink harness and pink leash on her. He couldn't go into the tiny little hotdog stand with her, so I went in, while he waited outside with her at one of the picnic tables. ( No animals are ever allowed in food establishments.)
There were a lot of people standing around. I had thought there was a line, but when I asked, they had all ordered, and were waiting for their order. so I ordered mine, and then became a member of the real line. Eventually, actually, quite quickly, the gal served me.
A short-order cook is a fascinating person to watch. She didn't write down orders, but put the hotdogs on the grill according to the orders. And they moved to the forefront as the hot dogs were cooked and ready. Paul got the jumbo, huge, extra sized dog. He likes everything on it, so I took care of Gracie while he fixed his and put on everything. I was happy with a plain ole dog with mustard, no ketchup, please.
After we ate, we walked across the sandy parking lot and watched the waves crash onto the big boulders.
Paul said he remembered last year taking Sharon and the family to the jetty. Ida and Charlie were jumping across those rocks and I remember Charlie's new sneakers getting soaking wet. And the waves weren't half as big then Paul said. It took a while for them to dry back here at the house. Just as Paul spoke, a couple of kids went by - jumping from rock to rock. Paul said - I guess it's what the young do. They're gonna break a leg. I said possibly - and within a week, it'll heal.
I was thinking of jumping on the rocks to take some pictures, but I knew if I did I'd probably break a leg or something. . . and it would take a year to heal. I did get some good pictures, but nothing outstanding.
Speaking of pictures. I have so many awful pictures in my camera. When I got this new camera I had promised myself that I would delete the awful ones. I wouldn't have a backlog of them. Well, I never did get rid of them. Some I did. The rest... they're still there. I'll never change.
Bob and I went to the pool about 2:00 when the sun is up high enough to give you a good tan, but not enough to be so hot to be unpleasant, or give me a sunburn. Several ladies were in there "swimming." Actually they tred water in the deep end . . . using the "noodles." I'm sure you all know what noodles are. So I joined them as I can noodle with the best of them.
Fish fry tonight. We went to the Englewood Moose Club with Bob. Paul and Bob liked their fish. I wasn't that impressed. Too dry for a baked fish. The price was good $7.95. We could write reviews for each place we go. Next week we'll try someplace else.
Don't we have a rough life here? Oh, well. Someone has to do it.
Isn't that horrible news about the enormous typhoon in the Philippines? Epril's family is okay.
As you all know, Epril's family is from there. Bill sent a message on Facebook that the village was south of where the typhoon hit. So that was a relief. As you know, I went to their wedding five years ago and can picture the whole area. Alice called me. Thanks, Cuz.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Food for Thought
Paul was busy this morning tearing out the mosaic tile he put in the new room. It did not adhere properly so he went back to Lowe's this morning and got a different tile. I like it better than the first one. It was inevitable that he'd get rid of the first. He's a perfectionist and he certainly disliked this immensely.
My mother used to say: You don't say you hate something, or someone. You say "you dislike it immensely." Never ever say the "h" word. I guess that fits.
He put some cement down and of course Gracie left a paw print in it. Luckily it was fixable. We've been keeping her closer!
Bob and I've been to the pool twice. Both times it was partly cloudy, or mostly cloudy when we got down there. We go down late afternoon when the sun isn't strong. It's been beautiful! It works out well. The water temp is perfect.
I went to Bible Study at Alice's yesterday. There were 18 ladies. It's nice to see old friends. Both at the pool and at Alice's. We've just begun studying The Book of Acts. I'm used to going on Thursdays up north, so now I have to get in the habit of Wednesdays.
Bill called the other evening when Uncle Bob was here so we put him on speaker phone so we could all hear. . We hadn't heard from him in a while. It actually hadn't been that long, but it seems like a long time. I spoke with Epril. Epril's English is improving a lot . . . probably because she can practice it at work. They both have good friends nearby. I finally realized that it's her sister Susan who lives in the Netherlands that comments on my Facebook page a lot. I didn't put two and two together. (that means I didn't connect Susan and Epril together. . .sometimes idioms or phrases are hard to understand) It's nice to hear from her.. She and her fiancée are getting married back in the Philippines. I hope we get a lot of pictures! Don't forget, Susan.
Edna - before I forget - thanks for the recipe for the ham sauce. I did get it when we first got here. It's in my recipe book.
Talked with Nancy too. She and her family are very busy. Walter is almost 10 months old. I'm glad my children keep in touch. It's hard to know when to call when I don't want to interrupt them. They're so busy! My goodness. I can remember those days.
I meant to get out all day, but Paul was waiting for a package from Fed Ex, and he had to go out, so I stayed in. Now it's my turn. Perhaps I'll still take a ride.
* * * * * * * *
Something new: I've been thinking about this for a while. . . I am going to be writing a new kind of post.: I'm going to explore things.
It won't be about friends and family, but about certain topics that appeal to me, and I'll be giving my point of view. I won't give up writing about us all, so please continue to read. I enjoy your comments and giving you our day to day experiences very much. It's always a pleasure to write but I just wanted to expand my writing. I hope these new posts give you something to think about.
I'm going to enjoy (and am presently enjoying) researching, and then writing, and adding my slant. I hope you like it. . . I've had a lot of fun exploring and learning more about my first subject. The internet is wonderful for that.
So - I hope you'll enjoy them.
My mother used to say: You don't say you hate something, or someone. You say "you dislike it immensely." Never ever say the "h" word. I guess that fits.
He put some cement down and of course Gracie left a paw print in it. Luckily it was fixable. We've been keeping her closer!
Bob and I've been to the pool twice. Both times it was partly cloudy, or mostly cloudy when we got down there. We go down late afternoon when the sun isn't strong. It's been beautiful! It works out well. The water temp is perfect.
I went to Bible Study at Alice's yesterday. There were 18 ladies. It's nice to see old friends. Both at the pool and at Alice's. We've just begun studying The Book of Acts. I'm used to going on Thursdays up north, so now I have to get in the habit of Wednesdays.
Bill called the other evening when Uncle Bob was here so we put him on speaker phone so we could all hear. . We hadn't heard from him in a while. It actually hadn't been that long, but it seems like a long time. I spoke with Epril. Epril's English is improving a lot . . . probably because she can practice it at work. They both have good friends nearby. I finally realized that it's her sister Susan who lives in the Netherlands that comments on my Facebook page a lot. I didn't put two and two together. (that means I didn't connect Susan and Epril together. . .sometimes idioms or phrases are hard to understand) It's nice to hear from her.. She and her fiancée are getting married back in the Philippines. I hope we get a lot of pictures! Don't forget, Susan.
Edna - before I forget - thanks for the recipe for the ham sauce. I did get it when we first got here. It's in my recipe book.
Talked with Nancy too. She and her family are very busy. Walter is almost 10 months old. I'm glad my children keep in touch. It's hard to know when to call when I don't want to interrupt them. They're so busy! My goodness. I can remember those days.
I meant to get out all day, but Paul was waiting for a package from Fed Ex, and he had to go out, so I stayed in. Now it's my turn. Perhaps I'll still take a ride.
* * * * * * * *
Something new: I've been thinking about this for a while. . . I am going to be writing a new kind of post.: I'm going to explore things.
It won't be about friends and family, but about certain topics that appeal to me, and I'll be giving my point of view. I won't give up writing about us all, so please continue to read. I enjoy your comments and giving you our day to day experiences very much. It's always a pleasure to write but I just wanted to expand my writing. I hope these new posts give you something to think about.
I'm going to enjoy (and am presently enjoying) researching, and then writing, and adding my slant. I hope you like it. . . I've had a lot of fun exploring and learning more about my first subject. The internet is wonderful for that.
So - I hope you'll enjoy them.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Our first full week in Florida
This week went by so quickly. . . doesn't seem possible that it's Friday already. Time gallops when you're old.
It's hot -87 yesterday. It's supposed to snow Sunday up in Elmira. It's the season, I guess.
Paul is busy with the flooring on our new room. He put some beautiful beige tile by the back door and an equally lovely foot-wide mosaic tile. It separates the tile in the kitchen area from the soon-to-be new rug in the back room.
Rugs? Flat Rat's tail (Gracie's toy)was exactly the right color of brownish beige for our rug, so Paul put it in his pocket and we picked out a carpet- it should be here in within a week. It will be gorgeous and match both sets tiles. We have a carpet store we like. They do a good job.
Gracie was sad that we took her toy with us, and not her. She grabbed it up as soon as we got back. and flapped it back and forth against her head. She's usually with us when we go to Lowes, but we had other places to go afterwards.
Materials? Lowe's is a great place to get what you need, for whatever project you are doing. . .and it's entertaining.
My idea is - get what you need, plus more so that if you need it, you'll have it in hand. You can always return it. Paul's idea is: get what you need. No more. Then go back and get what's needed. If you need it. It works out the same in the long run. Six or one-half dozen the other. The only difference is in the amount of gas you use. It's not far away.
But most important, Lowe's is a fun place. Or Home Depot. Paul just got back. He was looking at baseboards.
Yesterday was Halloween. No trick or treaters. None expected.
I did enjoy seeing Facebook pictures of my grandkids in their costumes. Vincent was a Superhero. Evie - a Ninja Tinkerbell, dressed in a wispy costume of green and pink with attached wings, and carrying a sword. There's an obvious influence there. Dan wore a Cardinal's hat and shirt. He went as a Disappointed Baseball Fan.
It was fun to see other peoples' photos on Facebook of their kids or grandkids.
I went to Curves on Monday. My knees hurt afterwards, so I didn't go the rest of the week. They feel fine now so I guess I'll start again next week.
I haven't been to the pool yet. I was worried about my arms. My colitis medication causes bruising and I was worried that they would become more blotchy. Not to worry. . .
Paul had an appointment with our dermatologist on Wednesday(BTW all was okay) and asked him for me. The doctor said not to worry. Just use lots of sun screen. Spoken as a true dermatologist.
It's hot -87 yesterday. It's supposed to snow Sunday up in Elmira. It's the season, I guess.
Paul is busy with the flooring on our new room. He put some beautiful beige tile by the back door and an equally lovely foot-wide mosaic tile. It separates the tile in the kitchen area from the soon-to-be new rug in the back room.
Rugs? Flat Rat's tail (Gracie's toy)was exactly the right color of brownish beige for our rug, so Paul put it in his pocket and we picked out a carpet- it should be here in within a week. It will be gorgeous and match both sets tiles. We have a carpet store we like. They do a good job.
Gracie was sad that we took her toy with us, and not her. She grabbed it up as soon as we got back. and flapped it back and forth against her head. She's usually with us when we go to Lowes, but we had other places to go afterwards.
Materials? Lowe's is a great place to get what you need, for whatever project you are doing. . .and it's entertaining.
My idea is - get what you need, plus more so that if you need it, you'll have it in hand. You can always return it. Paul's idea is: get what you need. No more. Then go back and get what's needed. If you need it. It works out the same in the long run. Six or one-half dozen the other. The only difference is in the amount of gas you use. It's not far away.
But most important, Lowe's is a fun place. Or Home Depot. Paul just got back. He was looking at baseboards.
Yesterday was Halloween. No trick or treaters. None expected.
I did enjoy seeing Facebook pictures of my grandkids in their costumes. Vincent was a Superhero. Evie - a Ninja Tinkerbell, dressed in a wispy costume of green and pink with attached wings, and carrying a sword. There's an obvious influence there. Dan wore a Cardinal's hat and shirt. He went as a Disappointed Baseball Fan.
It was fun to see other peoples' photos on Facebook of their kids or grandkids.
I went to Curves on Monday. My knees hurt afterwards, so I didn't go the rest of the week. They feel fine now so I guess I'll start again next week.
I haven't been to the pool yet. I was worried about my arms. My colitis medication causes bruising and I was worried that they would become more blotchy. Not to worry. . .
Paul had an appointment with our dermatologist on Wednesday(BTW all was okay) and asked him for me. The doctor said not to worry. Just use lots of sun screen. Spoken as a true dermatologist.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
And a thank you. . . .
It's always good to know that people are reading my blog. Sometimes I don't get much feed back.
Three times in as many days, people have mentioned it.
* My good friend Marcia always writes when she's worried about me. "Haven't heard from you lately. You haven't posted lately " (She means, I hope, I hope you're okay.)
*Epril and Bill came today, and Epril said her mother wants to say hi. She reads my blog all the time in the Philippines. Yes. I haven't written in three weeks.
*Saw Edna and Mike on Monday for lunch - Edna said - Mike likes to read what I've written about Gracie.
So - there you are - three people, three different circumstances. Thank you! Thank you! I appreciate your concern and enjoy your comments about my writings.
Speaking of my writing: I don't consider myself a good writer. I've been trying to figure out what's wrong with it. It's my general way with words, and I realize that I'm handicapped in that - I was in elementary school for so long, my vocabulary just hasn't increased enough to make my vocabulary get better. I suppose that's what happens to elementary school teachers.
I can remember when Bob, his wife, Sue, mom and I went to Key West one vacation and we were seated near a group of older women at a restaurant. Bob said - listen - they're elementary school teachers. Listen how they talk. It's true. You could tell. They talked slowly and concisely.
Of course, when I was growing up, girls were either a nurse, a secretary, or a teacher. It's hard for people to realize nowadays that not much was available to us. And retired teachers flock together. You can pick out the kindergarten, first grade teachers especially. I taught Kindergarten for seven years. Then I taught remedial reading. Stunted vocab.
I especially envy my son Bill's and my daughter Nancy's vocabulary and ability to write. I suppose if I'd gotten out of elementary school, in my 29 year career, my writing would have been better. My grandfather on my mother's side was a writer.
Before I forget - Yep. We're in Florida now. We left on Monday, had lunch with Edna and Mike. BTW Edna - still want that recipe for the sweet n sour ham you had. It was delicious! Monday - 400 miles. Tuesday we did 500 miles. Wednesday we did 400+. I don't know why but we both found the trip tiring this time. Are we getting older? Nah. I'm sure I can find another reason for it! If I try hard enuf.
It doesn't seem possible that it's Saturday. My grandson Vincent and his dad, Dan, are at the World Series in St. Louis . Can you imagine what that must be like for a seven year old??? Wow. And his dad to be sharing it with him. Way to go, Dan. The whole family is in St. Louis for Dan's birthday, and the Cardinals, whom Dan's whole family adore very conveniently are in the World Series. We're rooting for the Cardinals of course.
So - we enjoyed seeing Bill and Epril this afternoon for a short time before they went on to Tampa and Busch Gardens' Halloween spectacular. It'll be really scary, and Epril will enjoy it all, while saying she's scared. We saw an advertisement on the tv for it tonight. Should be good, Epril! They were meeting several friends and staying overnight with some friends. They're coming back here on their way home tomorrow for a steak dinner. That'll be nice.
Speaking of dinner, Paul had his birthday dinner (yesterday) at Outback. Uncle Bob, his son Paul joined us. A nice time. We had shrimp cocktail here at the house with cocktails. The food was delicious at the Outback, but we ate too much. We were too stuffed to have birthday cake, so we're saving it for tomorrow when Bill and Epril are here. .
Bob went to Disneyworld today. He'll be gone til Tuesday. He's meeting his daughter, Christine and his grandchildren Susan and Tommy there and he'll be "watching" the kids while Christine goes to a conference. He won't be babysitting them because they're too old, but they'll be watched out for.
So - he left Martini home with Paul. Paul was working today, so Bob called and asked me if I could let Martini out. Of course. And I brought her back here with us. Interesting that Gracie was quite jealous when I was outside with Martini. Paul said she put up quite a racket. Can't put anything over on her. You can see quite well from the windows in our lanaii. Even little dogs can.
Martini wasn't too happy being here. She wanted to go home, but it gave her some change from being alone. And Bill and Epril arrived and took her mind off of missing Bob. Before they came, I noticed when I sat in the lanaii (to keep her company) she lay down near me. And when I said Good dog, she wagged her tail. Of course Gracie thought I was speaking to her. She was in the other room watching tv with Paul. I didn't mention anyone's name. If the shoe fits. . .
Did I mention that Gracie watches tv? She does. If an animal is on, her head comes up, and she is definitely entranced by it. She also barks at the TV doorbell or a knock on the TV door. Since her head is always facing the tv, she watches more than we realize. I expect her to begin carrying on a conversation any time now. Her vocabulary is increasing. . . . even though mine is not.
Supper tonight wasn't what I'd planned. Because - I only had frozen vegetables in the freezer from the Year One. We'd been to the store several times, but I never remembered that one part of dinner. No fresh ones also obviously. We went out to Bob Evans and had a dinner loaded with carbs, calories and whatever else comes to mind when you have comfort food. (turkey dinner. . . me. meatloaf .. . Paul.) Not good. Tomorrow after church we're going to get a ton of veggies to have on hand.
The weather has been beautiful since we got here. Really. Everyone has said we brought the good weather. It's been mid 70's, no humidity, and sunny. I'm glad it's continuing to be good for Epril and Bill up in Tampa.
My sister-in-law, Carole, (my previous one, but I consider her still to be one) a widow, moved from the house she raised her kids in. A lot of deja vue moments. I remember it clearly. Not easy, but she has a great new place to go to. Not sure if she reads this, but "Good luck, Carole. What great experiences you have to look forward to!" Look at me! Who would have thunk it? Love that word.
What else is new? Can't think of much more right now.
So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?
Three times in as many days, people have mentioned it.
* My good friend Marcia always writes when she's worried about me. "Haven't heard from you lately. You haven't posted lately " (She means, I hope, I hope you're okay.)
*Epril and Bill came today, and Epril said her mother wants to say hi. She reads my blog all the time in the Philippines. Yes. I haven't written in three weeks.
*Saw Edna and Mike on Monday for lunch - Edna said - Mike likes to read what I've written about Gracie.
So - there you are - three people, three different circumstances. Thank you! Thank you! I appreciate your concern and enjoy your comments about my writings.
Speaking of my writing: I don't consider myself a good writer. I've been trying to figure out what's wrong with it. It's my general way with words, and I realize that I'm handicapped in that - I was in elementary school for so long, my vocabulary just hasn't increased enough to make my vocabulary get better. I suppose that's what happens to elementary school teachers.
I can remember when Bob, his wife, Sue, mom and I went to Key West one vacation and we were seated near a group of older women at a restaurant. Bob said - listen - they're elementary school teachers. Listen how they talk. It's true. You could tell. They talked slowly and concisely.
Of course, when I was growing up, girls were either a nurse, a secretary, or a teacher. It's hard for people to realize nowadays that not much was available to us. And retired teachers flock together. You can pick out the kindergarten, first grade teachers especially. I taught Kindergarten for seven years. Then I taught remedial reading. Stunted vocab.
I especially envy my son Bill's and my daughter Nancy's vocabulary and ability to write. I suppose if I'd gotten out of elementary school, in my 29 year career, my writing would have been better. My grandfather on my mother's side was a writer.
Before I forget - Yep. We're in Florida now. We left on Monday, had lunch with Edna and Mike. BTW Edna - still want that recipe for the sweet n sour ham you had. It was delicious! Monday - 400 miles. Tuesday we did 500 miles. Wednesday we did 400+. I don't know why but we both found the trip tiring this time. Are we getting older? Nah. I'm sure I can find another reason for it! If I try hard enuf.
It doesn't seem possible that it's Saturday. My grandson Vincent and his dad, Dan, are at the World Series in St. Louis . Can you imagine what that must be like for a seven year old??? Wow. And his dad to be sharing it with him. Way to go, Dan. The whole family is in St. Louis for Dan's birthday, and the Cardinals, whom Dan's whole family adore very conveniently are in the World Series. We're rooting for the Cardinals of course.
So - we enjoyed seeing Bill and Epril this afternoon for a short time before they went on to Tampa and Busch Gardens' Halloween spectacular. It'll be really scary, and Epril will enjoy it all, while saying she's scared. We saw an advertisement on the tv for it tonight. Should be good, Epril! They were meeting several friends and staying overnight with some friends. They're coming back here on their way home tomorrow for a steak dinner. That'll be nice.
Speaking of dinner, Paul had his birthday dinner (yesterday) at Outback. Uncle Bob, his son Paul joined us. A nice time. We had shrimp cocktail here at the house with cocktails. The food was delicious at the Outback, but we ate too much. We were too stuffed to have birthday cake, so we're saving it for tomorrow when Bill and Epril are here. .
Bob went to Disneyworld today. He'll be gone til Tuesday. He's meeting his daughter, Christine and his grandchildren Susan and Tommy there and he'll be "watching" the kids while Christine goes to a conference. He won't be babysitting them because they're too old, but they'll be watched out for.
So - he left Martini home with Paul. Paul was working today, so Bob called and asked me if I could let Martini out. Of course. And I brought her back here with us. Interesting that Gracie was quite jealous when I was outside with Martini. Paul said she put up quite a racket. Can't put anything over on her. You can see quite well from the windows in our lanaii. Even little dogs can.
Martini wasn't too happy being here. She wanted to go home, but it gave her some change from being alone. And Bill and Epril arrived and took her mind off of missing Bob. Before they came, I noticed when I sat in the lanaii (to keep her company) she lay down near me. And when I said Good dog, she wagged her tail. Of course Gracie thought I was speaking to her. She was in the other room watching tv with Paul. I didn't mention anyone's name. If the shoe fits. . .
Did I mention that Gracie watches tv? She does. If an animal is on, her head comes up, and she is definitely entranced by it. She also barks at the TV doorbell or a knock on the TV door. Since her head is always facing the tv, she watches more than we realize. I expect her to begin carrying on a conversation any time now. Her vocabulary is increasing. . . . even though mine is not.
Supper tonight wasn't what I'd planned. Because - I only had frozen vegetables in the freezer from the Year One. We'd been to the store several times, but I never remembered that one part of dinner. No fresh ones also obviously. We went out to Bob Evans and had a dinner loaded with carbs, calories and whatever else comes to mind when you have comfort food. (turkey dinner. . . me. meatloaf .. . Paul.) Not good. Tomorrow after church we're going to get a ton of veggies to have on hand.
The weather has been beautiful since we got here. Really. Everyone has said we brought the good weather. It's been mid 70's, no humidity, and sunny. I'm glad it's continuing to be good for Epril and Bill up in Tampa.
My sister-in-law, Carole, (my previous one, but I consider her still to be one) a widow, moved from the house she raised her kids in. A lot of deja vue moments. I remember it clearly. Not easy, but she has a great new place to go to. Not sure if she reads this, but "Good luck, Carole. What great experiences you have to look forward to!" Look at me! Who would have thunk it? Love that word.
What else is new? Can't think of much more right now.
So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
So many thoughts and so much preparation
The weeks are going by very fast. - it must've been more than one week since I've written. Apparently not. I don't know about you, but it seems impossible that it's not August any more.
September just flew by. Now it's going towards the middle of October. The weather says it all: The temps going down. Sunday - 80. Today - mid 40's but warming up to 64. Sunny all day long. Paul was outside a while ago with hat, coat and gloves on - continuing getting the place ready for winter, and our trip to the Southlands.
He's taking a breather right now, perusing his computer. He keeps accurate records each year. It surprises me as he reads them aloud: we're six days earlier getting the "animals and the elves in". The porch furniture - the 16th. The year before that, the 19th. The hottub last year - on the 17th. We're getting earlier each year. Paul glanced out the window - "There's a robin out there. He's supposed to be headin' south." Like us. Soon. We still have things to do, people to see, places to go. Food to eat. (tryin' to clean out the freezer)
We have scarecrows and a electric-lit jack-o-lantern on the porch. (And Paul's put up candles in the windows. For Christmas. Or for anytime at all. True.)
Getting this house "ready" for Christmas. Yes!
We're coming back for three weeks this year because Nancy and family, Brenda and family will be headin' "East." to us. Brenda, Eric and Emma's exchange student Lena will be coming from Germany. And of course, Greg and family will be traveling up from Gainesville.
It's all very exciting, but needs lots of preparation on our part - waaaay ahead of time.
We have our airline tickets all set, which means one for Gracie too. She'll need to have medication which she has to try ahead of time. This time our trip to the airport takes only an hour. We leave from St. Petersburg. To Elmira - which is 15 minutes from our house here. Nonstop. Fantastic!
Gifts:
I'm thinking of ordering gifts on-line to be delivered to my next door neighbor. I can pick them up when I get home. I haven't talked to her yet, so it's still in the "thinking stage."
Last year I sent packages to Nancy's in-laws because she was spending the holidays there. Unfortunately, I didn't have them wrapped. It's expensive. I combined gifts for both grandchildren in shipping boxes. They had to be opened, wrapped, tagged, and poor Nancy was stuck on Christmas Eve. I really hadn't thought that through very well. It should have been One box, One child.
I use Amazon Prime, a service on Amazon.com, and a lot of shipping is free. I use it all year long. It's fun, it's easy, and costs the same as going to the store. Or less - thinking of gas. Plus - I do a lot of window-shopping, or is it monitor-shopping? Black Monday, after Thanksgiving, is wonderful!
So - that's what's happenin' in our neck o' the woods? What's happenin' in yours?
September just flew by. Now it's going towards the middle of October. The weather says it all: The temps going down. Sunday - 80. Today - mid 40's but warming up to 64. Sunny all day long. Paul was outside a while ago with hat, coat and gloves on - continuing getting the place ready for winter, and our trip to the Southlands.
He's taking a breather right now, perusing his computer. He keeps accurate records each year. It surprises me as he reads them aloud: we're six days earlier getting the "animals and the elves in". The porch furniture - the 16th. The year before that, the 19th. The hottub last year - on the 17th. We're getting earlier each year. Paul glanced out the window - "There's a robin out there. He's supposed to be headin' south." Like us. Soon. We still have things to do, people to see, places to go. Food to eat. (tryin' to clean out the freezer)
We have scarecrows and a electric-lit jack-o-lantern on the porch. (And Paul's put up candles in the windows. For Christmas. Or for anytime at all. True.)
Getting this house "ready" for Christmas. Yes!
We're coming back for three weeks this year because Nancy and family, Brenda and family will be headin' "East." to us. Brenda, Eric and Emma's exchange student Lena will be coming from Germany. And of course, Greg and family will be traveling up from Gainesville.
It's all very exciting, but needs lots of preparation on our part - waaaay ahead of time.
We have our airline tickets all set, which means one for Gracie too. She'll need to have medication which she has to try ahead of time. This time our trip to the airport takes only an hour. We leave from St. Petersburg. To Elmira - which is 15 minutes from our house here. Nonstop. Fantastic!
Gifts:
I'm thinking of ordering gifts on-line to be delivered to my next door neighbor. I can pick them up when I get home. I haven't talked to her yet, so it's still in the "thinking stage."
Last year I sent packages to Nancy's in-laws because she was spending the holidays there. Unfortunately, I didn't have them wrapped. It's expensive. I combined gifts for both grandchildren in shipping boxes. They had to be opened, wrapped, tagged, and poor Nancy was stuck on Christmas Eve. I really hadn't thought that through very well. It should have been One box, One child.
I use Amazon Prime, a service on Amazon.com, and a lot of shipping is free. I use it all year long. It's fun, it's easy, and costs the same as going to the store. Or less - thinking of gas. Plus - I do a lot of window-shopping, or is it monitor-shopping? Black Monday, after Thanksgiving, is wonderful!
So - that's what's happenin' in our neck o' the woods? What's happenin' in yours?
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Every once in a while I go past a church that has messages out front on a sign. Two. . .
Aspire to Inspire
Before you Expire
A family Altar
Alters a family
This time I looked, they were advertising some person coming to preach. I'm waiting for them to put up some more quotable ones
We're in the midst of Indian Summer. It's just absolutely beautiful around here. The leaves haven't changed completely or even half-way, but it is beautiful. And it portends to more. Paul is enjoying mowing the lawn. He said he finds it very relaxing. He's out there on his tractor pulling a huge branch down the bank. He said he chopped down two trees.
We had Lue here for her birthday last week and invited Sharon and her family for cake and ice cream later. Ida had soccer practice until 6:15, so they came at 7. Ida is now taller than me, and she's in the fourth grade, or is it the fifth grade? Now, only Vincent, Evie and Walter are shorter than me. Older people get shorter with age. I'm old. I'm now 4'11 and 3/4ths. Or is it 1/4th? I prefer the first number. Life really is short, but I don't like being short too.
We have doctors' appointments all week long - our checkups before we go to Florida and get our checkups there. There doesn't seem to be a redundancy, since Paul has his dermatologist in Fla. We both have a GP down there too. Perhaps that's double, but needed. I had my pulmonologist in Corning today, and went by myself. (Paul had things to do around here and he really wasn't needed to tell the doctor I'm fine, and hear the doctor say - "You're fine. See you next year." Which is what happened. My next appointment is October 2014.
I always enjoy going to Corning. That's where I taught for so many years and have such happy memories. I always meet people I know in Wegman's Grocery Store. I saw two people from Corning and one from Bath.
An acquaintance came up to me and was brave enough to say - I know you, but I don't remember your name. We've all tried to fake it when we see someone we're supposed to know, and it comes off lame. Why lie. Just tell the truth. Like she did. It's worth the try. I ended up getting little things from Wegman's and from the Corning Outlet Store. It was such a nice day. The hills are starting to color up. It's a 25 mile trip.
Saturday, we took Gracie went to the Windmill, the Amish Trade Fair, situated out in the country up near Penn Yan, near Keuka Lake. Beautiful spot. They're open every Saturday until December 8th. The weather was beautiful. Paul and I decided there were about 5,000 people. Give or take a couple of 100. It's a spot you can bring your leashed dog. And there were many different breeds. Such beautiful dogs - big and small. Paul had to hold Gracie when we went into some buildings. Too many people. Too close quarters.
We've gone there before, but this was the first time that about one out of four people knew she was a Papillon. Interesting. Or stated they knew what she was . . .she was a Papillon. We even met a person who had to stop and tell us that she had had a Papillon who lived for 9 years. He was the runt of the litter, and only weighted 2+ pounds. She had tears in her eyes as she spoke of him. Someone else's parents, who lived in Pennsylvania, raised Papillons. Before, everyone would ask - what kind of dog is she? Is she full grown? Is she a long-haired Chihuahua? Will she grow into her ears
My favorite and closest ice cream stand closed for the season this past weekend. We stopped on our way back with Gracie. Last year I was able to purchase ice cream from them to put in our freezer, but this year they didn't have any extras to sell. Good for them. Not for me. Good thing we're leaving for Florida where I have several favorites. Not too far away.
Cousin Alice is just back in Venice from visiting her son, Rick and his family in Vermont. Bob picked her up at the airport today. He's back from visiting his son, Jon, who moved from Sarasota to Alpharetta, Ga. this summer. Bob stayed several weeks with Jon and his family.
So - how're things goin' in your neck o' the woods?
Aspire to Inspire
Before you Expire
A family Altar
Alters a family
This time I looked, they were advertising some person coming to preach. I'm waiting for them to put up some more quotable ones
We're in the midst of Indian Summer. It's just absolutely beautiful around here. The leaves haven't changed completely or even half-way, but it is beautiful. And it portends to more. Paul is enjoying mowing the lawn. He said he finds it very relaxing. He's out there on his tractor pulling a huge branch down the bank. He said he chopped down two trees.
We had Lue here for her birthday last week and invited Sharon and her family for cake and ice cream later. Ida had soccer practice until 6:15, so they came at 7. Ida is now taller than me, and she's in the fourth grade, or is it the fifth grade? Now, only Vincent, Evie and Walter are shorter than me. Older people get shorter with age. I'm old. I'm now 4'11 and 3/4ths. Or is it 1/4th? I prefer the first number. Life really is short, but I don't like being short too.
We have doctors' appointments all week long - our checkups before we go to Florida and get our checkups there. There doesn't seem to be a redundancy, since Paul has his dermatologist in Fla. We both have a GP down there too. Perhaps that's double, but needed. I had my pulmonologist in Corning today, and went by myself. (Paul had things to do around here and he really wasn't needed to tell the doctor I'm fine, and hear the doctor say - "You're fine. See you next year." Which is what happened. My next appointment is October 2014.
I always enjoy going to Corning. That's where I taught for so many years and have such happy memories. I always meet people I know in Wegman's Grocery Store. I saw two people from Corning and one from Bath.
An acquaintance came up to me and was brave enough to say - I know you, but I don't remember your name. We've all tried to fake it when we see someone we're supposed to know, and it comes off lame. Why lie. Just tell the truth. Like she did. It's worth the try. I ended up getting little things from Wegman's and from the Corning Outlet Store. It was such a nice day. The hills are starting to color up. It's a 25 mile trip.
Saturday, we took Gracie went to the Windmill, the Amish Trade Fair, situated out in the country up near Penn Yan, near Keuka Lake. Beautiful spot. They're open every Saturday until December 8th. The weather was beautiful. Paul and I decided there were about 5,000 people. Give or take a couple of 100. It's a spot you can bring your leashed dog. And there were many different breeds. Such beautiful dogs - big and small. Paul had to hold Gracie when we went into some buildings. Too many people. Too close quarters.
We've gone there before, but this was the first time that about one out of four people knew she was a Papillon. Interesting. Or stated they knew what she was . . .she was a Papillon. We even met a person who had to stop and tell us that she had had a Papillon who lived for 9 years. He was the runt of the litter, and only weighted 2+ pounds. She had tears in her eyes as she spoke of him. Someone else's parents, who lived in Pennsylvania, raised Papillons. Before, everyone would ask - what kind of dog is she? Is she full grown? Is she a long-haired Chihuahua? Will she grow into her ears
My favorite and closest ice cream stand closed for the season this past weekend. We stopped on our way back with Gracie. Last year I was able to purchase ice cream from them to put in our freezer, but this year they didn't have any extras to sell. Good for them. Not for me. Good thing we're leaving for Florida where I have several favorites. Not too far away.
Cousin Alice is just back in Venice from visiting her son, Rick and his family in Vermont. Bob picked her up at the airport today. He's back from visiting his son, Jon, who moved from Sarasota to Alpharetta, Ga. this summer. Bob stayed several weeks with Jon and his family.
So - how're things goin' in your neck o' the woods?
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
We're back!
You didn't even know we were gone, did you!
Well - last weekend we went to Chicago to help celebrate our (almost) 3-year old granddaughter, Evie's, birthday.
We dropped Gracie off at the Pet Sitter, Carol's, home Thursday night. I'm always amazed at how she loves to go there. We get out of the car, she hears Mickey (their little dog) bark, and she's off - like a rocket - to the door. Of course, that's in her dreams because she has on her leash. But - that's what she'd like to do. If she could.
Rather than go home to eat, on the spur of the moment, we had dinner at Moretti's restaurant. If you've never been there, you're missing out on a great meal. I can't recommend it enough.
So - our flight left from Rochester - a nonstop one - an hour and forty minutes later we landed in Chicago. I had a wheelchair waiting as I got off the plane because I knew it was a long walk to the Baggage Claim area. And I wanted to save my knee for going to the playground with the grandchildren.
After we got our bag, and were in the taxi for the ride to Nancy and Dan's, I called Nancy on my cell. Bad news. This afternoon Evie and Walter (7 months) were sent home sick with a rash from daycare.
They had something called Hand and Mouth (?) disease. Evie and Walter were both sleeping. We got to their apartment, and Nancy told us that it was a virus and was highly contagious. Oh, my. Goodness. BUT the pediatrician said when the rash was present they were no longer contagious. So, all was well. Nancy postponed Evie's party because the guests were three little girls from her daycare. My thoughts are that their moms were happy. Even though they'd all be exposed to it.
We felt sorry for Evie.
BUT lo' and behold - Evie got up from her nap, and she was a happy little girl. No fever, no rash. In fact, both children seemed fine all weekend. We think the daycare providers over-reacted. And having grandma and grandpa there made the weekend special, anyway. So her birthday will be celebrated over and over. (Thursday is the day) (New party to be scheduled)
There's a big wedding for Dan's family next weekend. His brother Jeff and his fiancee Nina are getting married. Grandpa Neal and Grandma Judy are coming up to babysit Walter, Evie and Vincent. That is so nice. Evie is the flower girl, and Vincent is the ringbearer in the wedding. I do hope we get a lot of pictures on Facebook, or e-mail. The kids won't be at the reception, and Nancy and Dan don't have to worry. Come to think of it, I remember that they babysat Vincent when Paul and I got married.
Vincent (7) is getting so big! He's playing soccer and his dad is the assistant coach. Vincent kept asking if it was time to go yet. He's so into it. After the game, Dan and he were going to a birthday party. So they were gone a good part of Saturday afternoon. When they got home Vincent had to tell us all about the plays he made and how the game went. He was all excited. He scored a goal! Of course I don't remember whether they won or not.
While Dan and he were at the soccer game, and after the little ones had naps, Nancy, Walter, Evie and I walked to the playground. (Paul watched the Gators on TV.) Evie had a milestone - walking on a wiggly balancing beam all by herself - Nancy stayed beside her. She was so proud she had to do it again and again. Of course we clapped each time.
We left on Sunday. Our flight was at noon. I used a wheelchair from the ticket area to the gate. It helped a lot. My knee hurt on Monday and I thought I was going to be going through what I did after Alaska. Boy, that hurt. But . . . No. Today I'm fine again. Good!
We're enjoying beautiful early Fall weather here. The grass is that beautiful green, the flowers are at their peak. I love this time of year. I have a yen to bake an apple pie. We'll make a trip up to the apple orchard some time soon.
So - how're things goin' in your neck o' the woods?
Well - last weekend we went to Chicago to help celebrate our (almost) 3-year old granddaughter, Evie's, birthday.
We dropped Gracie off at the Pet Sitter, Carol's, home Thursday night. I'm always amazed at how she loves to go there. We get out of the car, she hears Mickey (their little dog) bark, and she's off - like a rocket - to the door. Of course, that's in her dreams because she has on her leash. But - that's what she'd like to do. If she could.
Rather than go home to eat, on the spur of the moment, we had dinner at Moretti's restaurant. If you've never been there, you're missing out on a great meal. I can't recommend it enough.
So - our flight left from Rochester - a nonstop one - an hour and forty minutes later we landed in Chicago. I had a wheelchair waiting as I got off the plane because I knew it was a long walk to the Baggage Claim area. And I wanted to save my knee for going to the playground with the grandchildren.
After we got our bag, and were in the taxi for the ride to Nancy and Dan's, I called Nancy on my cell. Bad news. This afternoon Evie and Walter (7 months) were sent home sick with a rash from daycare.
They had something called Hand and Mouth (?) disease. Evie and Walter were both sleeping. We got to their apartment, and Nancy told us that it was a virus and was highly contagious. Oh, my. Goodness. BUT the pediatrician said when the rash was present they were no longer contagious. So, all was well. Nancy postponed Evie's party because the guests were three little girls from her daycare. My thoughts are that their moms were happy. Even though they'd all be exposed to it.
We felt sorry for Evie.
BUT lo' and behold - Evie got up from her nap, and she was a happy little girl. No fever, no rash. In fact, both children seemed fine all weekend. We think the daycare providers over-reacted. And having grandma and grandpa there made the weekend special, anyway. So her birthday will be celebrated over and over. (Thursday is the day) (New party to be scheduled)
There's a big wedding for Dan's family next weekend. His brother Jeff and his fiancee Nina are getting married. Grandpa Neal and Grandma Judy are coming up to babysit Walter, Evie and Vincent. That is so nice. Evie is the flower girl, and Vincent is the ringbearer in the wedding. I do hope we get a lot of pictures on Facebook, or e-mail. The kids won't be at the reception, and Nancy and Dan don't have to worry. Come to think of it, I remember that they babysat Vincent when Paul and I got married.
Vincent (7) is getting so big! He's playing soccer and his dad is the assistant coach. Vincent kept asking if it was time to go yet. He's so into it. After the game, Dan and he were going to a birthday party. So they were gone a good part of Saturday afternoon. When they got home Vincent had to tell us all about the plays he made and how the game went. He was all excited. He scored a goal! Of course I don't remember whether they won or not.
While Dan and he were at the soccer game, and after the little ones had naps, Nancy, Walter, Evie and I walked to the playground. (Paul watched the Gators on TV.) Evie had a milestone - walking on a wiggly balancing beam all by herself - Nancy stayed beside her. She was so proud she had to do it again and again. Of course we clapped each time.
We left on Sunday. Our flight was at noon. I used a wheelchair from the ticket area to the gate. It helped a lot. My knee hurt on Monday and I thought I was going to be going through what I did after Alaska. Boy, that hurt. But . . . No. Today I'm fine again. Good!
We're enjoying beautiful early Fall weather here. The grass is that beautiful green, the flowers are at their peak. I love this time of year. I have a yen to bake an apple pie. We'll make a trip up to the apple orchard some time soon.
So - how're things goin' in your neck o' the woods?
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Potpourri
I looked and it's been only six days since I posted. Seems like two weeks. Somehow I'm finding it hard to get my days straight. I was beginning to feel guilty about not having written.
It's gonna be a hot one today. Up in the 90's. I feel sorry for those in those non-air-conditioned schools (like where I worked).
We got some new mums on the back deck and I was out there this morning trying to get some pics. The sun made them look so beautiful from the kitchen, but the glare ruined the pictures. I'm going out this afternoon to see if the sunrays behave better. Paul picked some green peppers and we're having stuffed peppers tonight. Perhaps I'll add green peppper and red tomatoes to the picture (s)!
So - if you are among the elite, you can see that I've learned how to download my pictures from my camera. The luckiest ones are those on Facebook because with this new camera it is so easy! And fun.
There's even an icon to tell me and definitely easy 1-2-3 steps to follow. I can make albums and title them too! And add to them. Some of you are nodding, well yes, as you've known this for generations. I'm a little slow. As we all know.
My e-mail pictures went out and I've gotten good responses. Paul said they were too big and took up too much room. Uh oh. If you had trouble getting them, please let me know. My computer was not happy too. It left me several indignant messages.
Edna and Mike - sent you pictures via e-mail, and they came back. Address unknown. At least the one we have doesn't work. Could you send me your newest one? You have my e-mail address and Paul's.
Going back to HOT - Paul said he wasn't going out again today. Then the next minute he said he was taking Gracie out for a walk. When I commented, his reasoning was that probably it wasn't as hot in the front - more shade. Guess it was okay.
Our old friends, Dayle and Darryl, who moved to Virginia a couple of years ago, are up for a couple of days. They're staying with Guy and Ginger. We all belonged to Card Club together. Ginger and Guy, Ruth P, Lue, and we went out to dinner with them at the Seneca Harbor Station Sunday evening. It's right at the head of Seneca Lake.
It was a perfectly gorgeous evening - the water was a deep blue with white caps. Lots of sailboats. Lots of people strolling on the pier. The food was good. Paul and I had their chicken alfredo and we took half of it home. I had it for lunch on Monday.
We're having some visitors this weekend - Jeff and Dorothy. Jeff is going to help his friend Vince at a race at the Glen on Saturday. It's up in the air as to when they'll be here. It doesn't matter. We're always prepared for guests . Alaina and DJ are coming Friday night.
Yesterday I went to Bath (I consider Bath my hometown) for my yearly contact lens exam.
My eyesight is now 20/20 - both far and near. My close-up vision has always been good. The doctor said it's because of my glaucoma. It tends to change eyesight. He congratulated me. I'm one of the lucky ones. For some, it goes the other way.
He changed my contact lens prescription. I really don't need them and seldom wear them, but it's very inexpensive to get them. I only use one contact, and that's in my left eye. It's hard to describe, but my left eye tends to let my right eye do the work. But I have 20/20 vision. Go figure.
Afterwards, I had lunch with my very good friend Ruth, her husband Wes, and Ruth's mother, who is 96. I stayed only a little while and then went on my way. Ruth was busy in the afternoon.
I stopped at Dean's ice cream (very bad, or very good - depending on how you look/taste (at) it). I saw Kerri, the owner. Nancy worked there eons ago, and I had the cutest picture of Evie with me, with her flowergirl dress on. Kerri said she could see Nancy's "twinkle" in Evie's bright smile. Lucy, an old Curves friend, was there with her husband.
From there, I traversed Bath - I went to Tops market and saw two friends from my church. I drove past all three homes I'd lived in. I couldn't get over the size of the trees, greenery, and the amount of flowers at each place. I had been wondering how things were - here and there. They all looked beautiful, and did my heart good.
So, it's lunchtime. I think I'll make BLT's. Paul had them yesterday for lunch while I was in Bath, but I'm sure he won't mind having them again.
So - how're things goin' in your neck o' the woods?
It's gonna be a hot one today. Up in the 90's. I feel sorry for those in those non-air-conditioned schools (like where I worked).
We got some new mums on the back deck and I was out there this morning trying to get some pics. The sun made them look so beautiful from the kitchen, but the glare ruined the pictures. I'm going out this afternoon to see if the sunrays behave better. Paul picked some green peppers and we're having stuffed peppers tonight. Perhaps I'll add green peppper and red tomatoes to the picture (s)!
So - if you are among the elite, you can see that I've learned how to download my pictures from my camera. The luckiest ones are those on Facebook because with this new camera it is so easy! And fun.
There's even an icon to tell me and definitely easy 1-2-3 steps to follow. I can make albums and title them too! And add to them. Some of you are nodding, well yes, as you've known this for generations. I'm a little slow. As we all know.
My e-mail pictures went out and I've gotten good responses. Paul said they were too big and took up too much room. Uh oh. If you had trouble getting them, please let me know. My computer was not happy too. It left me several indignant messages.
Edna and Mike - sent you pictures via e-mail, and they came back. Address unknown. At least the one we have doesn't work. Could you send me your newest one? You have my e-mail address and Paul's.
Going back to HOT - Paul said he wasn't going out again today. Then the next minute he said he was taking Gracie out for a walk. When I commented, his reasoning was that probably it wasn't as hot in the front - more shade. Guess it was okay.
Our old friends, Dayle and Darryl, who moved to Virginia a couple of years ago, are up for a couple of days. They're staying with Guy and Ginger. We all belonged to Card Club together. Ginger and Guy, Ruth P, Lue, and we went out to dinner with them at the Seneca Harbor Station Sunday evening. It's right at the head of Seneca Lake.
It was a perfectly gorgeous evening - the water was a deep blue with white caps. Lots of sailboats. Lots of people strolling on the pier. The food was good. Paul and I had their chicken alfredo and we took half of it home. I had it for lunch on Monday.
We're having some visitors this weekend - Jeff and Dorothy. Jeff is going to help his friend Vince at a race at the Glen on Saturday. It's up in the air as to when they'll be here. It doesn't matter. We're always prepared for guests . Alaina and DJ are coming Friday night.
Yesterday I went to Bath (I consider Bath my hometown) for my yearly contact lens exam.
My eyesight is now 20/20 - both far and near. My close-up vision has always been good. The doctor said it's because of my glaucoma. It tends to change eyesight. He congratulated me. I'm one of the lucky ones. For some, it goes the other way.
He changed my contact lens prescription. I really don't need them and seldom wear them, but it's very inexpensive to get them. I only use one contact, and that's in my left eye. It's hard to describe, but my left eye tends to let my right eye do the work. But I have 20/20 vision. Go figure.
Afterwards, I had lunch with my very good friend Ruth, her husband Wes, and Ruth's mother, who is 96. I stayed only a little while and then went on my way. Ruth was busy in the afternoon.
I stopped at Dean's ice cream (very bad, or very good - depending on how you look/taste (at) it). I saw Kerri, the owner. Nancy worked there eons ago, and I had the cutest picture of Evie with me, with her flowergirl dress on. Kerri said she could see Nancy's "twinkle" in Evie's bright smile. Lucy, an old Curves friend, was there with her husband.
From there, I traversed Bath - I went to Tops market and saw two friends from my church. I drove past all three homes I'd lived in. I couldn't get over the size of the trees, greenery, and the amount of flowers at each place. I had been wondering how things were - here and there. They all looked beautiful, and did my heart good.
So, it's lunchtime. I think I'll make BLT's. Paul had them yesterday for lunch while I was in Bath, but I'm sure he won't mind having them again.
So - how're things goin' in your neck o' the woods?
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Doctor's Visit
I had my appointment with my orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Greene, this afternoon. I wanted to know what he thought and what he would suggest as what should be done with my knees.
Naturally, my knees felt good today, yesterday and the day before, (isn't that the way it works???) since I wasn't walking much. At times like these, I told Paul, I felt like a hypochondriac. I also told the doctor the same thing. The doctor said that my X Rays were BAD. They don't lie. He said that it was great that I didn't have any pain, but he could see that pain was possible. Very possible.
He said I didn't need a knee replacement yet, but that sometime "before the end of my life" I would need to have two knee replacements. I wanted to ask him, but didn't - and when do you think that would be? He wants me to keep my knees as long as possible. Good.
He also talked about some injections that can be done - once a week - for three weeks - in both knees. I said I'd like them. He said it could be done before we went to Florida. Good idea. He's going to arrange it.
He also said he has many patients who go to Florida. They have orthopedists that they work with there too. And he and the doctors talk back and forth. He said 60% have it done down there. The other 40% up here. Or vice versa. He suggested I find one down there to work with too, and he'd see me when I returned in May. Meanwhile, I'll have the shots done.
Believe me, that's a relief. I wasn't looking forward to a knee replacement before I went back to Fla. and I'm glad there's something that can help me when I need it. He also said Curves is a good thing. Hallelujah!
And the nurse didn't weigh me. She just asked me what I weighed. I fudged it. (I didn't count the four pounds I gained on the cruise.)
So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?
Naturally, my knees felt good today, yesterday and the day before, (isn't that the way it works???) since I wasn't walking much. At times like these, I told Paul, I felt like a hypochondriac. I also told the doctor the same thing. The doctor said that my X Rays were BAD. They don't lie. He said that it was great that I didn't have any pain, but he could see that pain was possible. Very possible.
He said I didn't need a knee replacement yet, but that sometime "before the end of my life" I would need to have two knee replacements. I wanted to ask him, but didn't - and when do you think that would be? He wants me to keep my knees as long as possible. Good.
He also talked about some injections that can be done - once a week - for three weeks - in both knees. I said I'd like them. He said it could be done before we went to Florida. Good idea. He's going to arrange it.
He also said he has many patients who go to Florida. They have orthopedists that they work with there too. And he and the doctors talk back and forth. He said 60% have it done down there. The other 40% up here. Or vice versa. He suggested I find one down there to work with too, and he'd see me when I returned in May. Meanwhile, I'll have the shots done.
Believe me, that's a relief. I wasn't looking forward to a knee replacement before I went back to Fla. and I'm glad there's something that can help me when I need it. He also said Curves is a good thing. Hallelujah!
And the nurse didn't weigh me. She just asked me what I weighed. I fudged it. (I didn't count the four pounds I gained on the cruise.)
So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?
The end of our trip . . . but not the end of our activities!
Have we been home only six days? It feels like two weeks! When I think back, I have to think what week were we gone? When did we come home? It's crazy. It's only been six days!
Thursday
Well, our six-hour trip to Seattle was good. It was a gorgeous trip.
We pulled over at a place called Dry Falls. It was a spot that looked like the Grand Canyon - a place where there had been a gigantic waterfall during the glacial times or after? - four times as high as Niagara Falls and as wide, or more. Spectacular. We were up top at the rim - and looking for miles and miles back and forth - small little lakes and rivers still there, but mostly gigantic cliffs.
We went through a mountain pass mid-afternoon that was blasting scheduled for early evening. We were surprised that it was backed up. When we got there, they had these trucks, with blinking lights, that slowed traffic down and didn't allow anyone to pass. Interesting way to control the traffic. As noted, this was several hours before the blasting. But it was a pretty area.
We dropped our luggage off at our hotel, same one as before, went for some dinner, and then dropped the car off at the airport, got a shuttle bus back to the hotel.
We had a wake-up call for 3 AM. Our flight left at 6 AM. It's just as you can imagine. Thank goodness for wheelchairs. Weary, tired, slept a good part of the trip. We were back in Elmira at 5:00. Lue's son-in-law, Garland, and she picked us up and dropped us off home. Happy to be home!
Friday
We spent just getting unpacked.
Saturday
Began the Jenn and Robert Y.'s Wedding Weekend up at Glenora Winery. The winery overlooks Seneca Lake. Robert's mother and father, Jen and Garland, are from Tennessee. Jennifer is Lue's daughter. They put on a beautiful Cocktail Party for those coming from out of town to the wedding. We were invited, as family, obviously, cause we certainly weren't from out of town!
The Saturday evening party was held across the street at another beautiful winery. The Glenora winery has a motel atttached. Lots of people stayed there, so the Saturday evening festivities were in a good location for travelers. It was so good to see everyone! (I'm getting to know a lot of people and enjoyed talking with them.) The finger food was delicious, and of course, the wine was great. My knees started hurting just before we left. That was "well-planned."
Have I mentioned that there's a lot of Jennifers in Lue's family? Well, there are five that I can name. It's confusing at times. Three were recent brides.
Sunday
The wedding was at 4 PM. It was held outside on the back lawn overlooking the lake and the vineyards. The ceremony was under a beautiful mantel decorated with greenery. There were six bridesmaids and six groomsmen. And little Robert, Lue's great grandchild, age 15 months, was held by his father, one of the groomsmen. He was the "ringbearer" I've been told. A picture-perfect place and day.
The reception was inside the restaurant that goes with the winery. Gorgeous, of course. Beautiful table settings, candles, votives. Not sure how many people - perhaps one hundred?
So what a great way to end a wonderful trip. We were so fortunate.
Thursday
Well, our six-hour trip to Seattle was good. It was a gorgeous trip.
We pulled over at a place called Dry Falls. It was a spot that looked like the Grand Canyon - a place where there had been a gigantic waterfall during the glacial times or after? - four times as high as Niagara Falls and as wide, or more. Spectacular. We were up top at the rim - and looking for miles and miles back and forth - small little lakes and rivers still there, but mostly gigantic cliffs.
We went through a mountain pass mid-afternoon that was blasting scheduled for early evening. We were surprised that it was backed up. When we got there, they had these trucks, with blinking lights, that slowed traffic down and didn't allow anyone to pass. Interesting way to control the traffic. As noted, this was several hours before the blasting. But it was a pretty area.
We dropped our luggage off at our hotel, same one as before, went for some dinner, and then dropped the car off at the airport, got a shuttle bus back to the hotel.
We had a wake-up call for 3 AM. Our flight left at 6 AM. It's just as you can imagine. Thank goodness for wheelchairs. Weary, tired, slept a good part of the trip. We were back in Elmira at 5:00. Lue's son-in-law, Garland, and she picked us up and dropped us off home. Happy to be home!
Friday
We spent just getting unpacked.
Saturday
Began the Jenn and Robert Y.'s Wedding Weekend up at Glenora Winery. The winery overlooks Seneca Lake. Robert's mother and father, Jen and Garland, are from Tennessee. Jennifer is Lue's daughter. They put on a beautiful Cocktail Party for those coming from out of town to the wedding. We were invited, as family, obviously, cause we certainly weren't from out of town!
The Saturday evening party was held across the street at another beautiful winery. The Glenora winery has a motel atttached. Lots of people stayed there, so the Saturday evening festivities were in a good location for travelers. It was so good to see everyone! (I'm getting to know a lot of people and enjoyed talking with them.) The finger food was delicious, and of course, the wine was great. My knees started hurting just before we left. That was "well-planned."
Have I mentioned that there's a lot of Jennifers in Lue's family? Well, there are five that I can name. It's confusing at times. Three were recent brides.
Sunday
The wedding was at 4 PM. It was held outside on the back lawn overlooking the lake and the vineyards. The ceremony was under a beautiful mantel decorated with greenery. There were six bridesmaids and six groomsmen. And little Robert, Lue's great grandchild, age 15 months, was held by his father, one of the groomsmen. He was the "ringbearer" I've been told. A picture-perfect place and day.
The reception was inside the restaurant that goes with the winery. Gorgeous, of course. Beautiful table settings, candles, votives. Not sure how many people - perhaps one hundred?
So what a great way to end a wonderful trip. We were so fortunate.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Greetings from the Cascade Mountains!
Greetings from the Cascades Mountains in Eastern Washington, about two hours north of Spokane.
Paul and I are visiting his brother in law, Scott, who lives in a beautiful spot. We arrived yesterday mid-afternoon, and I'm going to back-track a bit so that I can tell you what's happenin' in this neck of the woods.
Our cruise stopped in Victoria, BC, for a really beautiful evening tour on Saturday. The ship docked at 6 PM, and at 6:30 we were off on a two hour bus tour. Victoria is a beautiful hilly Canadian city - full of hanging baskets, colorful flowers and lots of beautiful homes. We saw such beautiful places - up and down the mountainsides.
Unfortunately, our bus broke down 20 minutes into our tour, and we stopped at a marina to wait for a healthy bus. It took a half hour to get there and then we were off again. Another, unfortunately, the sun was going down - but what a gorgeous sunset overlooking the water. We stopped at a park overlooking the city. We took some more pics but I could have done better if the sun was not going down. We got to the city, itself, in the dark, but still got some pics. I'd rate this city number one right now. Truly beautiful. I'd love to come back and spend some time.
The next day was Sunday, our day to leave the ship.
So we packed up Saturday night, sending our luggage out to the hall. We had a tour scheduled at 8:30 AM of Seattle. So our luggage was marked and placed in a special spot near the tour bus. It made it very easy for us to get off the ship.
Sunday:
The tour was very informative. Our guide left us at the beautiful Pike's Farmers' Market, for an hour. They had such huge beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers for $5, or $10. And the food stalls were just a pretty. If I lived there, I'd certainly have fresh flowers every day! There were street performers: guitarists, along the way, even a piano player. The guide says that there's a four-year waiting list for street performers, and to get a produce Stall takes even longer. The market was huge. It went on for at least a mile.
Nearby - There are Starbucks coffee shops every other block. (Starbucks began in Seattle.) Our guide said there are 575 Starbucks in Seattle. The lines were huge at each one near the market! But we managed to get some decaf to take on the bus.
After the market, we went to the Space Needle and got up to the top for the view. Bad news: I really damaged my knees with all this walking on the tour. My cane was good, but now it helps only somewhat. I'm very good when I'm sitting. Haha. Like now. My knees feel fine. LOL. The Space Needle had a ramp and I was on my feet for at least 30 minutes going up to the elevator. On a slanted floor. Not good.
After that we were dropped at the airport, we got our car, a Subaru Outback, and we went on our way to get to Leavenworth, WA. If you've never heard of it, it's a little town in the mountains - three hours out of Seattle. They decided they'd market themselves as a German town, and was truly beautiful. Paul had been here with Donna in 1996 when they'd gone to Alaska. He said it had grown a lot - more hotels. But still - Lots of flowers, very green, little windy cobblestone streets with shops, restaurants. I got a lot of pictures.
We found a hotel - really big - five or six stories - and so beautiful. We found it on the main street through town. It had been built in 2005. Looked very Germanic. White walls outside,, Window boxes with flowers, at each window, and flowers out front. Our room was very large and decorated in a European way.
We had sauerbraten for dinner in a little shop across the street . . . that's something I've been wanting for a long time! The whole town was filled with flowers. Lots of petunias in purple, pink, white. Lots of dogs on leashes. When we finished our dinner, we came outside and there were two patient Bernaise Mountain Dogs being hugged by a little toddler. Those dogs were as good and patient as could be. Made us think of Lue's Greta, of course.
Monday
The next morning we and other tourists staying at the hotel, had our free breakfast on linen tablecloths and cloth napkins. Wonderful, anything to eat. Marvelous coffee.
I wish my knees were better and that I could have toured the town more. We did get to see most of it from our car. I guess my prayers were answered, and the cruise was delightful - due to my cane and my cortisone shots.
Now we have to think about the next step with my knees. I still have an appointment on Sept 4th with the orthopedic surgeon. I'm glad I didn't cancel that after the injections given by his physician's assistant.
Our trip across the state was beautiful - Paul took us through the Cascade mountains, and then the middle of the state, that's really arid. Then back into the mountains. Gorgeous lakes and rivers.
Every view from Scott's house is beautiful. Paul said Scott cut down trees to enhance the view of the mountains. Each side of his house has a deck to sit on and take in the view. He has a reflecting pond with a marble bench, and a couple of totem poles. One is about six feet tall and is close to the pond and the other one is about twelve feet tall off in the distance. Scott has 20 acres of land. There is a deer lick off in the forest that you can see from the house. Paul took a walk this morning and got some huge turkey feathers for the little grandkids.
Scott has a very nice dog he's adopted, called Lucille. She's about 40 pounds of gentleness. She really is very even tempered and easy to love. And he does . . . you can tell. She stays right nearby him. You can tell the feeling is mutual. What a sweet dog.
Tuesday
We took Scott out for dinner last night for his birthday. (which is Wednesday, the same as Sharon's Happy birthday, Sharon. We'll be thinking of you on our trip back to Seattle. ) Scott has many many friends here, and all the waitresses give him hugs. Tonight we're going out again, and I'm sure this place will have waitresses as demonstrative as the last night.
I got an e-mail from Carol, our pet sitter, saying Gracie is doing wonderfully. We'd been wondering how she was doing, of course. Carol said became good friends with one of the larger dogs and liked to walk near it when they were taken for walks. That's what I like about Carol - she keep us informed.
My camera has been taking beautiful shots, but I had trouble getting ones in the car because when I'd open the lens and didn't take a pic for a while, it closes. Then when I saw a pic, I'd have to open it up, snap the pic and by the time I did that, the view was gone! Slow reflexes, I guess, on my part.
Tomorrow we leave in the morning for the complete trip to Seattle. No stopping this time. Approximately a six hour trip. We drop the car off at the airport, then onto the hotel, get up Thursday morning at 3 AM for the shuttle to the airport and on to our flight back to NY. What a wonderful trip it has been.
Paul and I are visiting his brother in law, Scott, who lives in a beautiful spot. We arrived yesterday mid-afternoon, and I'm going to back-track a bit so that I can tell you what's happenin' in this neck of the woods.
Our cruise stopped in Victoria, BC, for a really beautiful evening tour on Saturday. The ship docked at 6 PM, and at 6:30 we were off on a two hour bus tour. Victoria is a beautiful hilly Canadian city - full of hanging baskets, colorful flowers and lots of beautiful homes. We saw such beautiful places - up and down the mountainsides.
Unfortunately, our bus broke down 20 minutes into our tour, and we stopped at a marina to wait for a healthy bus. It took a half hour to get there and then we were off again. Another, unfortunately, the sun was going down - but what a gorgeous sunset overlooking the water. We stopped at a park overlooking the city. We took some more pics but I could have done better if the sun was not going down. We got to the city, itself, in the dark, but still got some pics. I'd rate this city number one right now. Truly beautiful. I'd love to come back and spend some time.
The next day was Sunday, our day to leave the ship.
So we packed up Saturday night, sending our luggage out to the hall. We had a tour scheduled at 8:30 AM of Seattle. So our luggage was marked and placed in a special spot near the tour bus. It made it very easy for us to get off the ship.
Sunday:
The tour was very informative. Our guide left us at the beautiful Pike's Farmers' Market, for an hour. They had such huge beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers for $5, or $10. And the food stalls were just a pretty. If I lived there, I'd certainly have fresh flowers every day! There were street performers: guitarists, along the way, even a piano player. The guide says that there's a four-year waiting list for street performers, and to get a produce Stall takes even longer. The market was huge. It went on for at least a mile.
Nearby - There are Starbucks coffee shops every other block. (Starbucks began in Seattle.) Our guide said there are 575 Starbucks in Seattle. The lines were huge at each one near the market! But we managed to get some decaf to take on the bus.
After the market, we went to the Space Needle and got up to the top for the view. Bad news: I really damaged my knees with all this walking on the tour. My cane was good, but now it helps only somewhat. I'm very good when I'm sitting. Haha. Like now. My knees feel fine. LOL. The Space Needle had a ramp and I was on my feet for at least 30 minutes going up to the elevator. On a slanted floor. Not good.
After that we were dropped at the airport, we got our car, a Subaru Outback, and we went on our way to get to Leavenworth, WA. If you've never heard of it, it's a little town in the mountains - three hours out of Seattle. They decided they'd market themselves as a German town, and was truly beautiful. Paul had been here with Donna in 1996 when they'd gone to Alaska. He said it had grown a lot - more hotels. But still - Lots of flowers, very green, little windy cobblestone streets with shops, restaurants. I got a lot of pictures.
We found a hotel - really big - five or six stories - and so beautiful. We found it on the main street through town. It had been built in 2005. Looked very Germanic. White walls outside,, Window boxes with flowers, at each window, and flowers out front. Our room was very large and decorated in a European way.
We had sauerbraten for dinner in a little shop across the street . . . that's something I've been wanting for a long time! The whole town was filled with flowers. Lots of petunias in purple, pink, white. Lots of dogs on leashes. When we finished our dinner, we came outside and there were two patient Bernaise Mountain Dogs being hugged by a little toddler. Those dogs were as good and patient as could be. Made us think of Lue's Greta, of course.
Monday
The next morning we and other tourists staying at the hotel, had our free breakfast on linen tablecloths and cloth napkins. Wonderful, anything to eat. Marvelous coffee.
I wish my knees were better and that I could have toured the town more. We did get to see most of it from our car. I guess my prayers were answered, and the cruise was delightful - due to my cane and my cortisone shots.
Now we have to think about the next step with my knees. I still have an appointment on Sept 4th with the orthopedic surgeon. I'm glad I didn't cancel that after the injections given by his physician's assistant.
Our trip across the state was beautiful - Paul took us through the Cascade mountains, and then the middle of the state, that's really arid. Then back into the mountains. Gorgeous lakes and rivers.
Every view from Scott's house is beautiful. Paul said Scott cut down trees to enhance the view of the mountains. Each side of his house has a deck to sit on and take in the view. He has a reflecting pond with a marble bench, and a couple of totem poles. One is about six feet tall and is close to the pond and the other one is about twelve feet tall off in the distance. Scott has 20 acres of land. There is a deer lick off in the forest that you can see from the house. Paul took a walk this morning and got some huge turkey feathers for the little grandkids.
Scott has a very nice dog he's adopted, called Lucille. She's about 40 pounds of gentleness. She really is very even tempered and easy to love. And he does . . . you can tell. She stays right nearby him. You can tell the feeling is mutual. What a sweet dog.
Tuesday
We took Scott out for dinner last night for his birthday. (which is Wednesday, the same as Sharon's Happy birthday, Sharon. We'll be thinking of you on our trip back to Seattle. ) Scott has many many friends here, and all the waitresses give him hugs. Tonight we're going out again, and I'm sure this place will have waitresses as demonstrative as the last night.
I got an e-mail from Carol, our pet sitter, saying Gracie is doing wonderfully. We'd been wondering how she was doing, of course. Carol said became good friends with one of the larger dogs and liked to walk near it when they were taken for walks. That's what I like about Carol - she keep us informed.
My camera has been taking beautiful shots, but I had trouble getting ones in the car because when I'd open the lens and didn't take a pic for a while, it closes. Then when I saw a pic, I'd have to open it up, snap the pic and by the time I did that, the view was gone! Slow reflexes, I guess, on my part.
Tomorrow we leave in the morning for the complete trip to Seattle. No stopping this time. Approximately a six hour trip. We drop the car off at the airport, then onto the hotel, get up Thursday morning at 3 AM for the shuttle to the airport and on to our flight back to NY. What a wonderful trip it has been.
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