It's Wednesday and it's the first one in a long time that I'll be able to go to Bible Study this afternoon. I've had a lot of things going on. Hair appointments, going to Punta Gorda. The mid-week mark or the "hump" has been high.
Nancy and Dan have been good about posting pictures of young Walter up on Facebook, so I've had a chance to look at my youngest grandchild. I can't really tell if his hair is red or just light colored. He doesn't have much! Much less than Evie had, which was brown, and Vincent's was definitely red.
This has been said many times before: I can't imagine being so young and vulnerable to the world.
Human babies certainly need 100% looking after for 100% of the time. And for so long a time.
Did you read about Yahoo saying that the CEO want all of their employees to be working at the office and not at home? Now, really. That's quite something. They have til June to come back and make arrangements for someone to care for their little ones. My. Oh, my.
Nancy and Dan are lucky. She's home for a while now, and Dan can be home for a while, and she can be home for a while. They can mix or match. If they're both teaching college, so they can do this.
Of course, they have great daycare for Evie; she loves it there, and Walter can go there too. These things have all been arranged. But - I can remember once or twice, when they were without daycare and were really really looking and looking and being naturally stressed out. It's not easy being a parent these days when both parents work. I guess I'm preaching to the choir though because it's the normal way of doing things now adays.
Thank you Edna and Linda for your kind wishes regarding Walter. I appreciate it. Bonnie - thanks for your letter with all the information: about Paul's cousin's death, Devere Boyer. And sorry to hear that Paul's brother Bob is having chemo again. For those of you who don't know, Paul is the youngest sibling of five. First born: twins - Bonnie and Bob, next Edna, next Howard and last Paul.
BTW - I AM having trouble with my e-mail again. GRRRRR. Please. Keep trying at either my Comcast number or my Road Runner one. I find that my e-mails haven't gone out since Feb. 20th from RR. I did get your e-mail Linda, but Edna, Paul tried to send me a copy and it wouldn't go through. I really hate Comcast. and all this e-mail stuff.
Why can't e-mail be easy to send like it used to be? And that we wouldn't have all these problems! It's like the Peter Principle where all goes as planned until it goes too well and then you can bet things will decline. Actually the Peter Principle says that people are promoted til they are beyond their capability and there they sit. Or something like that.
This week is inundated with Showtime practices. Yesterday we had a full rehearsal of all the acts. Lots of little things that had to be fixed with props, sound system, acts that had to do over. The practice started at 1:00 and ended after 4. Carol O. was there to turn pages for me and helped a lot. I sent Carol home early becayse she has a friend, Beverly, who is visiting this week. She left her at home with a good book because we had rain. She would have been out at the pool sunning herself.
Today we don't have practice, but Thursday is dress rehearsal, Friday - performance in the evening, Saturday two performances. Then a pizza party afterwards.
Not much news from other family members lately. It's good I have Facebook and can keep up with what the kids are doing. I enjoy reading about NeeNee, Brenan, Maddie, and others.
Just got a phone call from the director: The guitarist who will accompany one of the singers, is sick and the doctor says he won't be able to perform. Thus I will have to accompany him. Don't know the song, or the chords needed, but it's on UTube. Will look it over. Plus the chorus has requested that the Finale be in a lower key. Have that, luckily! It's in four sharps, and very low, but I've tried it and should be able to to do it.
So - I have to close to take care of things in the above paragraph. Forgive any errors in spelling, grammar.
How're things doin' in your neck o' the woods?
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Pot Pourri
As usual I have too many subjects to write about - thus the title. . .
I don't know about you, but Fridays come around really quickly. I don't know if it's because we're down here, or my age, or what, but the weeks roll around and around and around. February is completely a whizz. Whatever happened to it?
Doesn't seem possible that my friend Marcia's birthday is on February 24th. I had a card for her for a couple of weeks. . . before Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day came and I thought - well - her birthday is in ten days, I have plenty of time to send it out. But, of course, I got it sent out yesterday - after the mail came. It'll be late. Happy Birthday, Marcia. I did think about you. Your card is coming.
I had a dream about my friend Ruth M. She wanted to contact me, so I called her in Myrtle Beach. No, she had company. All was okay. She'd call me in a couple of days when things quieted down. Holy cow. Guess I'm not flamboyant, or what is the word. It escapes me. Clairvoyant.
We're getting into the thick of things down here with Showtime. Lots of rehearsals next week because next weekend is the performances.
Did I mention that we're having three instead of two performances? More people, less crowding. We'll all be tired, doing three performances. Two on Saturday. One Friday. Dress rehearsal Thursday. The show will be one and a half hours instead of two.
This is new: Show people could get a ticket for someone yesterday, Thursday, at the rehearsal. I got one for Paul. Carol O. got one for Bob. That means we don't have to wait on line for two hours on Saturday for tickets. Good.
Bob and we took Bill out to lunch on Wednesday. We went to Fisherman's Village in Punta Gorda. It is situated on a long pier and has an enclosed two-story shopping area with condo rentals on the second level. The shops are small, interesting, and geared completely to tourists. They're fun to walk through or by..
At the end of the pier are two restaurants. An upstairs and a downstairs. The upstairs is more upscale which we didn't want. They both look out into the harbor. We went to the one downstairs one. The upstairs one is similar to being in a ship's dining room. Linen table cloths, napkins The downstairs one is much less formal. They use paper towls for napkins!
You seat yourselves, and we got an immediate seat right on the outside under the roof, and could look at the boats going by. Charlotte Harbour is quite wide at that point - perhaps a mile across. I love the smell of the salt water. Afterwards we strolled by some shops and stopped for ice cream at one of them. It had seating outside. I was surprised to find that the metal chairs were nailed to the floor. The only reason I could think of doing that is people walk off with them. Strange.
Bob's having a new roof put on. They started yesterday morning and the pounding above Martini's head made her very nervous so he brought her over here so she could be lessed stressed out. Well, without Bob here, she wasn't exactly happy. She lay on the floor near the back door and looked out the window-wall to see what was happening and could see him outside.
We had our roof done a couple of years ago and I had forgotten how quickly they work. They had the old roof off, the plywood back up, and now today they're putting up the tiles. Neat.
Paul and I were pleased to receive a Valentine card from Gracie and Sharon's family. "Happy Valentine's Day from the Dog." My thought is that Gracie informed Sharon that she wanted to send us a card, so Sharon complied. Hey - what a great dog, and what a great stepdaughter! Can't get better than that.
Our new Sony Home Theatre Blu Ray machine is not working properly. We've found that it's starting to blank out for a few second intervals every once in a while. We contacted Sony and they couldn't find what was wrong. They said we probably need a new machine. It's defective. Paul has been thinking it isn't the machine, but the things that are attached to it that make it have problems. These "thingies" of which I am completely stupid about are what he's talking about. As they say, a little knowledge is a bad thing. Good thing I don't have any idea what's happenin'.
New update: Paul thinks it's defective. We're calling SONY again.
Anyway - last night we watched "Argo" for $4.95. It blinked on and off and finally gave up the ghost. We turned it off and then on - and finished watching it. I couldn't believe that I was watching a first-run movie here at home - We could see why it was nominated for 7 academy awards. Do see it if you can.
Speaking of Academy Awards - I just finished reading "Silver Linings Playbook" It's up for quite a few awards.
Someone once said that if a movie is made from a book - it's usually not as good as the book. The book was wonderful. I recommend it to anyone. It's $9.99 on Kindle. Pretty good price. (I don't usually go above that.)
I wondered what the movie was like, so I went on Google and looked up the Trailers. I could see the difference even in that. In the book, he's in a mental institution for four years. In the movie - it's 8 months. Part of the angst of the story is that he's missed so much of his life and so much went on without him. The book and the movie are told from his perspective. I will see the movie eventually.
While we were watching Argo last night, we got a phone call from our NY upstateneighbor. Dick. That always makes our hearts beat faster and hands perspire. No. The house was fine.
They're starting up the old Home Owners Association. There's a covenant that people are supposed to follow. I know Paul and I were careful to follow it. One of the rules was that all out-buildings had to complement the house it was with, have the same colors, etc. Couldn't go beyond a certain size. Before we built, we sent letters out to all the neighbors beforehand that we wanted to put up a second building as Paul's workshop. He enclosed the plans. (We didn't end up doing that, but we had thoughts of doing it in the beginning.)
The reason Dick called us was that:
1. The people next to us have put up a big bright metal blue roofed open-sided garage on their driveway out front from which to store their boat, other cars, etc.. I guess it's a real eyesore.
2. Also the house across the way has a buyer who wants to put up a 40 X 60 garage. The house is bigger than ours. Sounds like a business could be coming in.
We told Dick that we support the association completely. He said he'd try to get us to be able to attend the meeting somehow. (technologically) All I can say is - how dare those people try to do that to our neighborhood. Go to it - Dick and neighbors!
So - guess that's all the news that's fit to print (?). and all the news from the Woods' Circle. How're things going in your neighborhood?
I don't know about you, but Fridays come around really quickly. I don't know if it's because we're down here, or my age, or what, but the weeks roll around and around and around. February is completely a whizz. Whatever happened to it?
Doesn't seem possible that my friend Marcia's birthday is on February 24th. I had a card for her for a couple of weeks. . . before Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day came and I thought - well - her birthday is in ten days, I have plenty of time to send it out. But, of course, I got it sent out yesterday - after the mail came. It'll be late. Happy Birthday, Marcia. I did think about you. Your card is coming.
I had a dream about my friend Ruth M. She wanted to contact me, so I called her in Myrtle Beach. No, she had company. All was okay. She'd call me in a couple of days when things quieted down. Holy cow. Guess I'm not flamboyant, or what is the word. It escapes me. Clairvoyant.
We're getting into the thick of things down here with Showtime. Lots of rehearsals next week because next weekend is the performances.
Did I mention that we're having three instead of two performances? More people, less crowding. We'll all be tired, doing three performances. Two on Saturday. One Friday. Dress rehearsal Thursday. The show will be one and a half hours instead of two.
This is new: Show people could get a ticket for someone yesterday, Thursday, at the rehearsal. I got one for Paul. Carol O. got one for Bob. That means we don't have to wait on line for two hours on Saturday for tickets. Good.
Bob and we took Bill out to lunch on Wednesday. We went to Fisherman's Village in Punta Gorda. It is situated on a long pier and has an enclosed two-story shopping area with condo rentals on the second level. The shops are small, interesting, and geared completely to tourists. They're fun to walk through or by..
At the end of the pier are two restaurants. An upstairs and a downstairs. The upstairs is more upscale which we didn't want. They both look out into the harbor. We went to the one downstairs one. The upstairs one is similar to being in a ship's dining room. Linen table cloths, napkins The downstairs one is much less formal. They use paper towls for napkins!
You seat yourselves, and we got an immediate seat right on the outside under the roof, and could look at the boats going by. Charlotte Harbour is quite wide at that point - perhaps a mile across. I love the smell of the salt water. Afterwards we strolled by some shops and stopped for ice cream at one of them. It had seating outside. I was surprised to find that the metal chairs were nailed to the floor. The only reason I could think of doing that is people walk off with them. Strange.
Bob's having a new roof put on. They started yesterday morning and the pounding above Martini's head made her very nervous so he brought her over here so she could be lessed stressed out. Well, without Bob here, she wasn't exactly happy. She lay on the floor near the back door and looked out the window-wall to see what was happening and could see him outside.
We had our roof done a couple of years ago and I had forgotten how quickly they work. They had the old roof off, the plywood back up, and now today they're putting up the tiles. Neat.
Paul and I were pleased to receive a Valentine card from Gracie and Sharon's family. "Happy Valentine's Day from the Dog." My thought is that Gracie informed Sharon that she wanted to send us a card, so Sharon complied. Hey - what a great dog, and what a great stepdaughter! Can't get better than that.
Our new Sony Home Theatre Blu Ray machine is not working properly. We've found that it's starting to blank out for a few second intervals every once in a while. We contacted Sony and they couldn't find what was wrong. They said we probably need a new machine. It's defective. Paul has been thinking it isn't the machine, but the things that are attached to it that make it have problems. These "thingies" of which I am completely stupid about are what he's talking about. As they say, a little knowledge is a bad thing. Good thing I don't have any idea what's happenin'.
New update: Paul thinks it's defective. We're calling SONY again.
Anyway - last night we watched "Argo" for $4.95. It blinked on and off and finally gave up the ghost. We turned it off and then on - and finished watching it. I couldn't believe that I was watching a first-run movie here at home - We could see why it was nominated for 7 academy awards. Do see it if you can.
Speaking of Academy Awards - I just finished reading "Silver Linings Playbook" It's up for quite a few awards.
Someone once said that if a movie is made from a book - it's usually not as good as the book. The book was wonderful. I recommend it to anyone. It's $9.99 on Kindle. Pretty good price. (I don't usually go above that.)
I wondered what the movie was like, so I went on Google and looked up the Trailers. I could see the difference even in that. In the book, he's in a mental institution for four years. In the movie - it's 8 months. Part of the angst of the story is that he's missed so much of his life and so much went on without him. The book and the movie are told from his perspective. I will see the movie eventually.
While we were watching Argo last night, we got a phone call from our NY upstateneighbor. Dick. That always makes our hearts beat faster and hands perspire. No. The house was fine.
They're starting up the old Home Owners Association. There's a covenant that people are supposed to follow. I know Paul and I were careful to follow it. One of the rules was that all out-buildings had to complement the house it was with, have the same colors, etc. Couldn't go beyond a certain size. Before we built, we sent letters out to all the neighbors beforehand that we wanted to put up a second building as Paul's workshop. He enclosed the plans. (We didn't end up doing that, but we had thoughts of doing it in the beginning.)
The reason Dick called us was that:
1. The people next to us have put up a big bright metal blue roofed open-sided garage on their driveway out front from which to store their boat, other cars, etc.. I guess it's a real eyesore.
2. Also the house across the way has a buyer who wants to put up a 40 X 60 garage. The house is bigger than ours. Sounds like a business could be coming in.
We told Dick that we support the association completely. He said he'd try to get us to be able to attend the meeting somehow. (technologically) All I can say is - how dare those people try to do that to our neighborhood. Go to it - Dick and neighbors!
So - guess that's all the news that's fit to print (?). and all the news from the Woods' Circle. How're things going in your neighborhood?
Monday, February 18, 2013
Welcome to the World, Walter William
My little grandson, Walter William, arrived at 3 AM this morning weighing 7 lbs. 13 oz.!
Nancy went to the hospital yesterday at 6 PM. Mother and son are doing fine. I talked with Nancy this morning. I could hear his little voice, not crying, but hungry I think! Nancy sounded tired, of course. Evie (2 yrs. 4 mos.), Vincent (6) are coming for dinner tonight at the hospital to meet their new sibling.
Her mother and father-in-law, who live in St. Louis will be coming to help out for a week which is wonderful.
So - that makes 13 grandchildren for Paul and me! We are so lucky!
Welcome to the world, little Walter. Can't wait to meet you!
Nancy went to the hospital yesterday at 6 PM. Mother and son are doing fine. I talked with Nancy this morning. I could hear his little voice, not crying, but hungry I think! Nancy sounded tired, of course. Evie (2 yrs. 4 mos.), Vincent (6) are coming for dinner tonight at the hospital to meet their new sibling.
Her mother and father-in-law, who live in St. Louis will be coming to help out for a week which is wonderful.
So - that makes 13 grandchildren for Paul and me! We are so lucky!
Welcome to the world, little Walter. Can't wait to meet you!
Sunday, February 17, 2013
another nice e-mail
It always makes me want to write when I get an e-mail from someone who says they read my blog.
I heard from and old friend, Barbara. She and her husband Dick lived near us in the apartment complex with cousin Alice and Jack. . . eons ago. She asked to be remembered to Alice and hopes she remembers her. Since Alice reads this, Barbara, consider it done.
Yes. We've been having cold weather (for Florida) recently. I went to church without a sweater and felt rather cold. Bob and Paul both had jackets with them. (I know all your northerners feel sorry for me.) I have one sweater down here but it is not suitable for church. It keeps me warm on "regular" days. We go to the contemporary service which is held in the fellowship hall at 9:00. We sit at round tables, have coffee and it's nice.
A couple of tables over from us were our old friends Carolyn and John who rent in Venice. They're from Bath Presbyterian, retired teachers like me. We went to the same church together. Their son, Seth was there with them. Seth's family would come to visit his folks each year, driving all night long and all day long, from Bath, to get here as quickly and as cheaply as possible. After several years, Seth and Kelly liked it so much, they moved down here. He's teaching at the high school. He also attends Trinity Presbyterian church and his younger teenage daughter sings in the Contemporary Choir. You know, I have a feeling I may have mentioned this before. If I repeat myself, it's age related. If I repeat myself, it's age related.
Took a walk with Paul and Gracie around the circle. It was windy, cool, but sunny. I was glad I wore my only sweater. Paul had a wind breaker on. We walked past the clubhouse pool and a couple with grade-school aged children were in the hottub having a wonderful time. Poor things. We always hope for warm weather for visitors. We didn't say a thing to them about it being against the rules for kids to be in the hottub. We're glad we didn't. As Paul said, someone will probably say something. Glad it wasn't us.
Because it was Sunday, there were two Open Houses so we went "touring" on our walk. Nice homes. One was near the water with a beautiful view of the lake. Prices were good too. We're always looking to see what people have done to their homes. We're excited about getting our lanaii done. Soon.
Heard from Nancy yesterday and she's still hanging in there. If this keeps up, this little guy of hers will be completely different from Vincent and Evie early arrival into the world. There's only a couple of days left to be judged early. Nancy's feeling okay. She's presently getting contractions from 5-9:00 PM and then they disappear! (Barbara expressed her good wishes for her. See. . .she does read my blog!)
We got a phone call last night at 10:00 and expected it to be about Nancy, but it was from Bob wondering if we were going to church in the morning!
BTW I was glad to hear that I wasn't the only grandparent calling to see how she was doing. I didn't' want to be a bother. Nancy said the other two sets have all been calling.
Paul is loving our new sound system with the streaming video captions. Yea! It's so wonderful that he can enjoy those movies also.
We had such a nice day yesterday, Saturday. We took Gracie with us to do several errands:
The Shoemaker: Paul got a pair of sneakers that he ordered online and one needs a lift, as usual, so we went to the shoemaker to have that done. It cost as much as the sneakers! Okay. He needs to make a living, just like everyone.
From there we went to Habitat for Humanity and dropped off the old blu-ray machine, and some clothes. Nice to walk around there. Florida has so much better second hand stuff. As they say - you can't take it with you.
Then I suggested we go to the jetty and have a hotdog for lunch. We did that. It was very very windy and the water was choppy. Lots of white caps. We sat and ate in the car, facing the inlet side and watched a lot of the sailboats put down their sails before going out into the gulf. Gracie'd never been there and she was very interested in looking out the front windshield at all the birds flying by, the boats going past, the people walking. There were a lot of people on the jetty in spite of the weather.
Our lawns are looking a lot better since we had some rain this week: Valentine's Day and yesterday.
Lina, Brenda and Eric's exchange student, sent us a note asking if she could come to our home for Christmas. She has three weeks off. How wonderful! Next year our plans are to be home in NY since it'll be our daughter Nancy's family and Brenda's family year to visit. I know the cousins missed each other this year.
Showtime practices are going to speed up this week - since it's dress rehearsal on the 28th, and then three performances: On the first and second of March - one on Friday night, one a Saturday matinee, and then the evening performance.
I've got wash on. Gotta go. Hope you're all well. Heard from Lue. She sounds good. She's having a lot of company this winter. Good. Forgive if there are errors in spelling, english. It's now late.
So - how're things going in your neck o' the woods?
I heard from and old friend, Barbara. She and her husband Dick lived near us in the apartment complex with cousin Alice and Jack. . . eons ago. She asked to be remembered to Alice and hopes she remembers her. Since Alice reads this, Barbara, consider it done.
Yes. We've been having cold weather (for Florida) recently. I went to church without a sweater and felt rather cold. Bob and Paul both had jackets with them. (I know all your northerners feel sorry for me.) I have one sweater down here but it is not suitable for church. It keeps me warm on "regular" days. We go to the contemporary service which is held in the fellowship hall at 9:00. We sit at round tables, have coffee and it's nice.
A couple of tables over from us were our old friends Carolyn and John who rent in Venice. They're from Bath Presbyterian, retired teachers like me. We went to the same church together. Their son, Seth was there with them. Seth's family would come to visit his folks each year, driving all night long and all day long, from Bath, to get here as quickly and as cheaply as possible. After several years, Seth and Kelly liked it so much, they moved down here. He's teaching at the high school. He also attends Trinity Presbyterian church and his younger teenage daughter sings in the Contemporary Choir. You know, I have a feeling I may have mentioned this before. If I repeat myself, it's age related. If I repeat myself, it's age related.
Took a walk with Paul and Gracie around the circle. It was windy, cool, but sunny. I was glad I wore my only sweater. Paul had a wind breaker on. We walked past the clubhouse pool and a couple with grade-school aged children were in the hottub having a wonderful time. Poor things. We always hope for warm weather for visitors. We didn't say a thing to them about it being against the rules for kids to be in the hottub. We're glad we didn't. As Paul said, someone will probably say something. Glad it wasn't us.
Because it was Sunday, there were two Open Houses so we went "touring" on our walk. Nice homes. One was near the water with a beautiful view of the lake. Prices were good too. We're always looking to see what people have done to their homes. We're excited about getting our lanaii done. Soon.
Heard from Nancy yesterday and she's still hanging in there. If this keeps up, this little guy of hers will be completely different from Vincent and Evie early arrival into the world. There's only a couple of days left to be judged early. Nancy's feeling okay. She's presently getting contractions from 5-9:00 PM and then they disappear! (Barbara expressed her good wishes for her. See. . .she does read my blog!)
We got a phone call last night at 10:00 and expected it to be about Nancy, but it was from Bob wondering if we were going to church in the morning!
BTW I was glad to hear that I wasn't the only grandparent calling to see how she was doing. I didn't' want to be a bother. Nancy said the other two sets have all been calling.
Paul is loving our new sound system with the streaming video captions. Yea! It's so wonderful that he can enjoy those movies also.
We had such a nice day yesterday, Saturday. We took Gracie with us to do several errands:
The Shoemaker: Paul got a pair of sneakers that he ordered online and one needs a lift, as usual, so we went to the shoemaker to have that done. It cost as much as the sneakers! Okay. He needs to make a living, just like everyone.
From there we went to Habitat for Humanity and dropped off the old blu-ray machine, and some clothes. Nice to walk around there. Florida has so much better second hand stuff. As they say - you can't take it with you.
Then I suggested we go to the jetty and have a hotdog for lunch. We did that. It was very very windy and the water was choppy. Lots of white caps. We sat and ate in the car, facing the inlet side and watched a lot of the sailboats put down their sails before going out into the gulf. Gracie'd never been there and she was very interested in looking out the front windshield at all the birds flying by, the boats going past, the people walking. There were a lot of people on the jetty in spite of the weather.
Our lawns are looking a lot better since we had some rain this week: Valentine's Day and yesterday.
Lina, Brenda and Eric's exchange student, sent us a note asking if she could come to our home for Christmas. She has three weeks off. How wonderful! Next year our plans are to be home in NY since it'll be our daughter Nancy's family and Brenda's family year to visit. I know the cousins missed each other this year.
Showtime practices are going to speed up this week - since it's dress rehearsal on the 28th, and then three performances: On the first and second of March - one on Friday night, one a Saturday matinee, and then the evening performance.
I've got wash on. Gotta go. Hope you're all well. Heard from Lue. She sounds good. She's having a lot of company this winter. Good. Forgive if there are errors in spelling, english. It's now late.
So - how're things going in your neck o' the woods?
Thursday, February 14, 2013
It's been great down here weatherwise. I hate to tell you people in the Northeast that, after all you've been through. It's not been easy for you. Paul got some pictures from his brother Howard and his wife Alice who live in a little beautiful Connecticut town that we visited last October. Wow. That's a lot of snow. I can remember snowstorms like that, and can't say I miss them. Although Paul wrote he'd kinda like to be out shoveling. Sorry, my dear, you have to make up for it by watering the flowers.
We've been doing a lot of shopping via the internet this year. Paul, Bob and I went down to Best Buy in Port Charlotte on Saturday. We had a lot of fun windowshopping. We looked at all kinds of things, phones, Kindles, Kindle equipment, cameras, TV's, movies - (a lot more 3D movies, which we can use upstate NY with our TV set, so we'll enjoy looking up there in the late Spring.)
Let me back up - our DVD player has stopped playing movies. Paul tried each and every way to get it to play, getting a company representative on the phone, but to no avail. It said it needed some new updates. However, they weren't available for our machine. And it's only two years old! Grrr. Plus . . .We never could get captions on streaming videos. That makes it almost impossible for Paul to enjoy them. But guess what we read recently. . . that certain newer machines will do it! Thus our trip to Best Buy where we saw a Home Theatre that included all the things we wanted, got the model number, came home and ordered it. I can hear he's having fun with the sound.
That was Saturday. This is Tuesday. It's amazing how fast ordering over the internet is. It came today and Paul's been getting it ready. . Plus it was almost $80 cheaper. No charge for shipping either. I don't think there was a tax.
Friday we went to the outlet mall on the other side of Sarasota. (About 40 miles away). We needed new Rockport sneakers and I needed some Corningware casserole dishes. Got the dishes, but the Rockports we couldn't find in our sizes. So when we got home we ordered them online. At least Paul ordered his. I haven't been able to find mine but I did find a pair I liked, so I'll probably order it too. I need to study it a bit.
As you know, we've been trying to find a contractor to do the work on our lanaii that we want done: move out the wall to the drip-line (about two feet), raise up the floor so it's the same level as the rest of the house, take out the movable glass walls and put in a regular wall with windows.
It's been a lot of waiting for initial reviews, written estimates, but we finally found one! He's done a lot of homes here in Circlewood, so he knows the houses, the area and what needs to be done. He guaranteed (?)(not really) but said it would be completed by April first, (the fifteenth the latest.) Since he knows houses here, he can probably give us a reliable timeline. Good!
He came today, and I signed the papers, and gave him a check to start the process going. It is so exciting.
I have mixed feelings, as I can remember my mother on that lanaii enjoying the screened in porch when the sliding wall is moved back. My parents were very proud of this house when it was built in 1980. It had all the most modern things. Including the sunken lanaii. My mother would sit in her chair and enjoy the cool breeze, or the sun, with what she called her "office" which was an old Kamenstein black plastic circular gadget that spun around so that she could get her magnifying glass (her eyesight was very poor)or scissors, paper clips, her name/address stamp, or papers, pencils, pens, etc.
But we have such a nice patio now outside that Paul put in I know we're not going to miss it. It's great to sit out there and read, or have a drink, or just talk. And Gracie and Martini can "chase" squirrels, lizards. They never catch them.
Paul and I have been walking Gracie around the circle. We think it's a mile around, Bob thinks it's seven tenths of a mile. Gotta check that out. I walked over to see Carol O. yesterday. She had a friend of ours from Bath visiting - Pam. Carol's been having lots of visitors, and she's been very busy with them. Good for her. She's being a page turner again for me at Showtime this year. That'll be helpful. I haven't had her at the first rehearsals but when it gets closer, I'll need her.
Talked with Nancy today. She's home full-time since Friday, waiting for the baby. Vincent and Evie were early. Her due date is February 19th. So. . .it could be any time. I had forgotten it was Lincoln's birthday. Vincent was off from school. They were about to go out to the store. So we didn't talk for long.
Bob and Paul went out to lunch yesterday with a group from our church called ROMEO'S It stands for Retired Old Men Eating Out. This was the first time for them. They both said they enjoyed it, and I think they're planning on going again. It was a small group - only nine. ROMEO'S meets the second and fourth Mondays of the month at different restaurants around here.
We had practice this afternoon in the Clubhouse. The director has it all planned out so that every twenty minutes another group works. I got there a little early. I should have checked the schedule a little more. So I know that next time I can arrive later. Cousin Carol and Cousin Alice are both in it.
So - as you can see - we've been busy. Can't wait for the lanaii to get started though. Should be next week, I would think. Or perhaps we have to wait for permits. Forgot about that. I'm excited.
Heard from stepdaughter Sharon last week and she said Lee's looking at colleges; it's such an exciting time of life.
Where has the time gone? Got an e-mail from Lue wondering when I was writing. Sorry for not sending this out. Time flies by here.
It's Valentine's Day - Thursday - sent out a lot of e-valentines. Hope you enjoyed them if you got one. It's begun to rain and we have reservations for dinner at my favorite restaurant. . . . outside. I guess they'll have to do something about it, or the rain - which we need a lot. I can't really say negative things about it. Got some beautiful flowers from Paul, which are in my blue glass vase on the lanaii.
Got a call from the contractor. The windows for the lanaii should be delivered on March 9th. Hooray!
So - what's been going on in your part of the woods? That's what's happenin' in our neck o' the woods
We've been doing a lot of shopping via the internet this year. Paul, Bob and I went down to Best Buy in Port Charlotte on Saturday. We had a lot of fun windowshopping. We looked at all kinds of things, phones, Kindles, Kindle equipment, cameras, TV's, movies - (a lot more 3D movies, which we can use upstate NY with our TV set, so we'll enjoy looking up there in the late Spring.)
Let me back up - our DVD player has stopped playing movies. Paul tried each and every way to get it to play, getting a company representative on the phone, but to no avail. It said it needed some new updates. However, they weren't available for our machine. And it's only two years old! Grrr. Plus . . .We never could get captions on streaming videos. That makes it almost impossible for Paul to enjoy them. But guess what we read recently. . . that certain newer machines will do it! Thus our trip to Best Buy where we saw a Home Theatre that included all the things we wanted, got the model number, came home and ordered it. I can hear he's having fun with the sound.
That was Saturday. This is Tuesday. It's amazing how fast ordering over the internet is. It came today and Paul's been getting it ready. . Plus it was almost $80 cheaper. No charge for shipping either. I don't think there was a tax.
Friday we went to the outlet mall on the other side of Sarasota. (About 40 miles away). We needed new Rockport sneakers and I needed some Corningware casserole dishes. Got the dishes, but the Rockports we couldn't find in our sizes. So when we got home we ordered them online. At least Paul ordered his. I haven't been able to find mine but I did find a pair I liked, so I'll probably order it too. I need to study it a bit.
As you know, we've been trying to find a contractor to do the work on our lanaii that we want done: move out the wall to the drip-line (about two feet), raise up the floor so it's the same level as the rest of the house, take out the movable glass walls and put in a regular wall with windows.
It's been a lot of waiting for initial reviews, written estimates, but we finally found one! He's done a lot of homes here in Circlewood, so he knows the houses, the area and what needs to be done. He guaranteed (?)(not really) but said it would be completed by April first, (the fifteenth the latest.) Since he knows houses here, he can probably give us a reliable timeline. Good!
He came today, and I signed the papers, and gave him a check to start the process going. It is so exciting.
I have mixed feelings, as I can remember my mother on that lanaii enjoying the screened in porch when the sliding wall is moved back. My parents were very proud of this house when it was built in 1980. It had all the most modern things. Including the sunken lanaii. My mother would sit in her chair and enjoy the cool breeze, or the sun, with what she called her "office" which was an old Kamenstein black plastic circular gadget that spun around so that she could get her magnifying glass (her eyesight was very poor)or scissors, paper clips, her name/address stamp, or papers, pencils, pens, etc.
But we have such a nice patio now outside that Paul put in I know we're not going to miss it. It's great to sit out there and read, or have a drink, or just talk. And Gracie and Martini can "chase" squirrels, lizards. They never catch them.
Paul and I have been walking Gracie around the circle. We think it's a mile around, Bob thinks it's seven tenths of a mile. Gotta check that out. I walked over to see Carol O. yesterday. She had a friend of ours from Bath visiting - Pam. Carol's been having lots of visitors, and she's been very busy with them. Good for her. She's being a page turner again for me at Showtime this year. That'll be helpful. I haven't had her at the first rehearsals but when it gets closer, I'll need her.
Talked with Nancy today. She's home full-time since Friday, waiting for the baby. Vincent and Evie were early. Her due date is February 19th. So. . .it could be any time. I had forgotten it was Lincoln's birthday. Vincent was off from school. They were about to go out to the store. So we didn't talk for long.
Bob and Paul went out to lunch yesterday with a group from our church called ROMEO'S It stands for Retired Old Men Eating Out. This was the first time for them. They both said they enjoyed it, and I think they're planning on going again. It was a small group - only nine. ROMEO'S meets the second and fourth Mondays of the month at different restaurants around here.
We had practice this afternoon in the Clubhouse. The director has it all planned out so that every twenty minutes another group works. I got there a little early. I should have checked the schedule a little more. So I know that next time I can arrive later. Cousin Carol and Cousin Alice are both in it.
So - as you can see - we've been busy. Can't wait for the lanaii to get started though. Should be next week, I would think. Or perhaps we have to wait for permits. Forgot about that. I'm excited.
Heard from stepdaughter Sharon last week and she said Lee's looking at colleges; it's such an exciting time of life.
Where has the time gone? Got an e-mail from Lue wondering when I was writing. Sorry for not sending this out. Time flies by here.
It's Valentine's Day - Thursday - sent out a lot of e-valentines. Hope you enjoyed them if you got one. It's begun to rain and we have reservations for dinner at my favorite restaurant. . . . outside. I guess they'll have to do something about it, or the rain - which we need a lot. I can't really say negative things about it. Got some beautiful flowers from Paul, which are in my blue glass vase on the lanaii.
Got a call from the contractor. The windows for the lanaii should be delivered on March 9th. Hooray!
So - what's been going on in your part of the woods? That's what's happenin' in our neck o' the woods
Saturday, February 2, 2013
And it sounds good.. .
Things have been happening around here. Nothing earth-shaking, but we've been busy.
We're getting ready for Showtime, our annual music review, here at Circlewoods. I'm the piano accompanist for a several of the performers and production numbers.
Last year, the sound engineer, Ron, had trouble recording the best sound between the piano and the performers. He wanted to try to fix it.
Ron knew that some Showtime performers preferred recorded accompaniments, which is fine, and they record well in the clubhouse. So, why not record mine, so he could improve the sound?
So . . . we scheduled a meeting here Wednesday, to record my music. Ron came with Pat, Showtime's director, Ron's wife, Audrey and cousin Alice. (I was accompanying Alice and Audrey on two of the songs.) They were all here for a little over an hour and I recorded four song accompaniments.
The next day Thursday morning at 9, Pat, called me. Would I mind doing the show live? Of course, I'd be happy to. She thought that my music would be better live. She said some people do better with live accompaniment. Live. . . slow down when they need, speed up. . .to accompany and follow along. My words would be: Not putting the cart before the horse .
Some people enjoy singing to recorded accompaniment. (karaoke, anyone?) And they do well. And it sounds good. .But others prefer the other way around. I'm glad to help them. And it sounds good.
Carol O. had some visitors for a couple of days. Two retired teacher/friends that I enjoyed teaching with. I stopped at Carol's Friday morning to have a cup of coffee with them before they left for the East coast where one of them live.
Last night, we went to a fishfry at the Englewood Moose Club with Bob, Bill and Epril. It was a delicious dinner and the service was great! Luckily the food service wasn't like last Sunday morning when we went after church. We had to wait 55 minutes to be served.
Bill and Epril came early - around 3:00 to just visit. I had a soloist here to practice so they sat outside on the patio and visited with Bob and Paul for a while. Our back-door neighbor, Brent, stopped by with his golden retriever, Winnie. Bill and Epril drove their own car to the Club so they could continue on back to Punta Gorda. Epril looked so pretty in another outfit and pretty shoes. Each time she comes she's in an outfit even prettier than the last. Afterwards we went out for some ice cream. Oh, my. It was so good.
Bob is pet-sitting his son Jon's dog, Tank, while they went to Miami this weekend for a wedding. Tank is a big, part-black lab. He's like a big baby. Gracie was astounded and barked a lot this morning when she saw Tank out back. She really fussed, but he's so gentle, (like Winnie), that she got over it. Kinda. Martini's used to Tank. So she didn't put up a fuss. Gracie followed her lead.
I talked with Nancy for her birthday and she seems to be doing fine. February 19th is the due date for the little boy to arrive. Perhaps he'll come a little earlier. Vincent and Evie did. His grandfather's birthday is today, Ground Hog's day. I guess he's missing that one too. We have Valentine's day coming up. . .
Paul helped out at the annual Clubhouse garage sale this morning by helping park cars. His time was 8:30-10:30. It was a little cool so he took his windbreaker with him. I didn't get down to it and have no desire to be a part of it. My garage days are over. I think. Never say never.
So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?
We're getting ready for Showtime, our annual music review, here at Circlewoods. I'm the piano accompanist for a several of the performers and production numbers.
Last year, the sound engineer, Ron, had trouble recording the best sound between the piano and the performers. He wanted to try to fix it.
Ron knew that some Showtime performers preferred recorded accompaniments, which is fine, and they record well in the clubhouse. So, why not record mine, so he could improve the sound?
So . . . we scheduled a meeting here Wednesday, to record my music. Ron came with Pat, Showtime's director, Ron's wife, Audrey and cousin Alice. (I was accompanying Alice and Audrey on two of the songs.) They were all here for a little over an hour and I recorded four song accompaniments.
The next day Thursday morning at 9, Pat, called me. Would I mind doing the show live? Of course, I'd be happy to. She thought that my music would be better live. She said some people do better with live accompaniment. Live. . . slow down when they need, speed up. . .to accompany and follow along. My words would be: Not putting the cart before the horse .
Some people enjoy singing to recorded accompaniment. (karaoke, anyone?) And they do well. And it sounds good. .But others prefer the other way around. I'm glad to help them. And it sounds good.
Carol O. had some visitors for a couple of days. Two retired teacher/friends that I enjoyed teaching with. I stopped at Carol's Friday morning to have a cup of coffee with them before they left for the East coast where one of them live.
Last night, we went to a fishfry at the Englewood Moose Club with Bob, Bill and Epril. It was a delicious dinner and the service was great! Luckily the food service wasn't like last Sunday morning when we went after church. We had to wait 55 minutes to be served.
Bill and Epril came early - around 3:00 to just visit. I had a soloist here to practice so they sat outside on the patio and visited with Bob and Paul for a while. Our back-door neighbor, Brent, stopped by with his golden retriever, Winnie. Bill and Epril drove their own car to the Club so they could continue on back to Punta Gorda. Epril looked so pretty in another outfit and pretty shoes. Each time she comes she's in an outfit even prettier than the last. Afterwards we went out for some ice cream. Oh, my. It was so good.
Bob is pet-sitting his son Jon's dog, Tank, while they went to Miami this weekend for a wedding. Tank is a big, part-black lab. He's like a big baby. Gracie was astounded and barked a lot this morning when she saw Tank out back. She really fussed, but he's so gentle, (like Winnie), that she got over it. Kinda. Martini's used to Tank. So she didn't put up a fuss. Gracie followed her lead.
I talked with Nancy for her birthday and she seems to be doing fine. February 19th is the due date for the little boy to arrive. Perhaps he'll come a little earlier. Vincent and Evie did. His grandfather's birthday is today, Ground Hog's day. I guess he's missing that one too. We have Valentine's day coming up. . .
Paul helped out at the annual Clubhouse garage sale this morning by helping park cars. His time was 8:30-10:30. It was a little cool so he took his windbreaker with him. I didn't get down to it and have no desire to be a part of it. My garage days are over. I think. Never say never.
So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?
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