SEASON-TO-SEASON

I love…al fresco dining!

2012-02-15T11:50:00.001-08:00

happy Valentine’s Day

2012-02-13T16:08:00.001-08:00

I love you..yes, you. My reader. I love that you are taking time from your busy day to peek at mine. I love that you visit more than once to see what I am doing. I love your comments and hope you will comment often. I love to see that I have had visitors from far off places. Even though I do this blog just for me I love that you love it too. Happy Love Day!

LOVE

2012-02-13T16:05:00.001-08:00

Have you ever had a fantasy? This is mine. I love this Vespa. My fantasy is being thin and riding around in the summer with this beautiful blue green scooter zipping here and there. I can picture myself with my book bag, wind blowing in my hair as I ride to coffee with my friends in the morning or do some chores in the late afternoon. I would take a picnic lunch and my camera and go off for the day. I would be carefree and smiling. Wouldn’t it be wonderful?

Aren’t I cute?

2012-02-12T17:01:00.001-08:00

Need I say more?

2012-02-12T16:42:00.001-08:00

A WINTER WALK

2012-02-11T11:11:00.001-08:00

We are back to our usual wintery weather. The snow is so beautiful and still falling gently. The bird feeder is getting a lot of activity and that suicide cardinal who flies into the front window has been tapping all morning. Sadie and I went for a peaceful walk in the Willow Dale Cemetery near our home. Sadie was delighted to get a chance to be outside and run on her leash.

It was so quiet there. I decided to take my small camera to see if I could get some good shots of the snow. We came across the ducks feeding in the little inlet of the pond.
It was great to be outside with the snow falling down. What a great walk!

Photos + Photoshop

2012-02-10T14:20:00.001-08:00

Happy Friday one and all. I have discovered how much I like taking pictures. I’m starting to pay more attention to composition and learning to capture a scene. And I’ve always loved quotes so combining the two has been fun for me. I played around with the above picture. Here are more results.

Squash soup

2012-02-09T13:24:00.001-08:00

I love squash soup but have never attempted to make it on my own. I found this recipe on Susan Branch’s blog so it must be fantastic. One of these days I’m going to give it a go.

Tree of wisdom

2012-02-09T13:02:00.001-08:00

We love a little nature in our homes and these branches in a french styled tin bucket add that little flavor to the sunroom.

On the tree are little tags with sayings. I love little quotes and what better way to incorporate them into my daily living than to have them prominent on these branches.

Have you always felt that you were marching differently than the others around you? I have. Not everyone is like me, but that is a good thing.

This is one of my very favorite quotes. I even have a silver watch with this engraved on it.
It is good to surround yourself with positive thoughts.

Whiling away the hours

2012-02-09T10:32:00.001-08:00

Oh my! It’s one thirty and I have spent a few hours in front of this computer. Do you find that you get so involved on the web that before you know it time has passed you by? That is what happens when I do my class that I am taking over the internet. The lesson today was rather difficult and required watching two videos and following step by step to learn a new technique. I’m not saying I’m old, but it required several stoppings and startings to make sure that I was doing it just right. Learning new things is not always easy, but I’m enamored with Kim Klaussen’s classes. I’m learning things I never thought possible. Here are the results of playing today.

Visitors

2012-02-08T17:03:00.001-08:00

Thank you faithful readers. I am so happy you visit and read my little blog. But did you know that today I had visitors from France, Brazil, and Poland too? How they find me I don’t know but isn’t it nice to know that someone in France looked my way?
Today my hubby and I went on a trek to Erie, PA (about an hour and a half away) just to have lunch at the Olive Garden. (Well, I did get in a little shopping too. I had to check out the new Hobby Lobby). We had a wonderful lunch and spent all day up there. (Sorry Sadie for leaving you too long by yourself). I dashed through my favorite stores...Coldwater Creek, Charming Charlie’s, The Christmas Shoppe, and Kohl’s. There is never enough time.
The weather was cold, but no snow until we got within 20 minutes of home. There must have been snow today because both the ground and the road were snow covered. Here’s a picture of the sun setting that I took over Willow Bay.

Of course I couldn’t resist this bird sign..gives me great confidence that spring will be coming soon.

Ooh la la

2012-02-08T05:10:00.001-08:00

Today’s table has a little touch of France.

This table runner is from Hobby Lobby, one of my favorite stores. When I travel I always try to find one and now I am happy to say there is one in Erie that I can visit.

At Christmas time I found these little French ornaments of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triumph and made this little centerpiece with moss, stones, and twigs.

These little mercury birds from Target were perfect for here.

I also found these pine cones at Hobby Lobby and loved them so much they have found a permanent place in my sunroom.

The tableware consists of a silver charger, black square plate and Paris plate (also from Hobby Lobby). A woven black and silver placement is from Burlington Coat Factory. The silverware is from my country days and has curved knife handles and long tined forks.

A little mercury glass votive holder sits by the place setting. I love the napkin rings which were made from old spoons.

I left a velvet brown and olive green bow up on the candlelier from Christmas time.
These little French chairs are from the garden but brought indoors to give extra seating at the table.

I hope you all enjoyed our little trip to France and will visit Between Naps on the Porch (on my sidebar) and see all the lovely tablescapes today.

Happiness

2012-02-06T09:47:00.001-08:00

What makes you happy?

2012-02-06T09:41:00.001-08:00

Today’s assignment in my Beyond Layers course is to think about what makes you happy. Happiness is a choice. But often I find myself not doing the things that make me happiest. The hours in the day should make room to do things that you find enjoyable. Here is a small list in no particular order.
Traveling on a vacation or to see family, reading, enjoying a wonderful dinner out at a very nice restaurant with ambience, candlelight, good music, sitting out on my courtyard in the summer, holding my husband’s hand, doing some kind of creative project like flower arranging or painting, decorating my house, shopping at gift stores and seeing beautiful things, talking with friends and enjoying an activity together, dancing, sitting with my dog on my lap, photography and photoshop, blogging, watching flowers bloom in the spring, listening to the waterfall on our pond, seeing our crab apple tree full of blossoms, feeling sunshine on my face, attending Literary Club, enjoying the crispness and colors of fall, garden walks, house tours and being near the water.

What makes you happiest?

just some photos

2012-02-05T14:20:00.001-08:00

Sunday…a day for quotes

2012-02-05T10:36:00.001-08:00

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

2012-02-05T06:53:00.001-08:00

Old City Hall Bradford PA

Every once in awhile you hear people (sometimes even me) complaining about living in such a small rural town. But after I visit a big city (like Buffalo yesterday) I feel that I have the best of both worlds. Let’s compare.

Shopping:
Bradford-very few stores, limited merchandise, hard time finding things you want or need, no waiting in lines to pay
Buffalo-fabulous shopping, many selections, sales
crowded stores and waiting to pay

Restaurants-
Bradford-very few restaurants, limited selections, no variety or upgraded products
Buffalo-many cuisines, great tasting food and presentation, waiting in lines for hours for a table

Traffic
Bradford-no traffic, no waiting, easy to get around in, nothing is more than 5-10 minutes away
Buffalo-lots of whizzing cars, crammed highways, takes an hour and a half to get to

Ambience
Bradford-cozy, quiet, nature at your door, peaceful, places to walk, boat
Buffalo-busy, hectic, noisy

I love going to Buffalo for the day. But I also love coming home to the country and my home.

Hand tinting

2012-02-04T09:34:00.001-08:00

Just trying out a new technique in Photoshop..hand tinting.

From a cocoon to a butterfly

2012-02-04T08:33:00.001-08:00

Aren’t we always changing? You are not the same person you were even a year ago. When we reach the older stage in our lives we can reflect on those different personas that we have gone through and the growth and learning that has taken place. It is no wonder that other cultures revere the elderly for their wisdom. You do learn your lessons as you age.
   Every day you hear stories on the news of people who have recreated themselves. It takes energy and courage to go forward and make life different by becoming a new person. But also every day you hear sad stories of people who lead lives of desperation because they don’t have the ability to change their way of living.
   Are you stuck? Is there something that you’d like to change? Can you gather the courage to move into a new style of living and leave what is comfortable and allowed you to cope? What do you need to happen to make the change you deserve?
“When will things change?” said the little girl to her mother. “When your desire to be a butterfly is greater than your need to be a caterpillar,” she replied.

Beyond Layers Class

2012-02-03T14:13:00.001-08:00

This week’s online class was creating a storyboard. I used pictures of Don and Sara to capture that moment of love with Papa’s little girl. We waited a long time to get a little girl and she is the apple of our eye.
Today was the Literary Club’s Valentine’s Tea. It was a great time. We invite the Current Events Club in town and had an attendance of over 50 people. We played a cute game called Famous Couples. A name was pinned on each person’s back and they had to guess who they were. Then they had to find their mate. We had a guest speaker, Sally Costick who told about Bradford couples from the twenties ..What I did for Love. Afterwards we had tea sandwiches and sweet treats. It was a very nice time.

Groundhog sees shadow (what else is new?)

2012-02-02T09:41:00.001-08:00

Another groundhog day and Phil predictably saw his shadow so 6 more weeks of winter. If the weather continues in this warm trend we won’t mind six more weeks.

Living in Pennsylvania we are very familiar with the Punxatauwny ritual that takes place every February 2nd. One time my sisters even ventured to Gobbler’s Knob to observe the festivities. It was a cold morning and they observed that there was a lot of drinking going on there and very large crowds.
This is also a sad day for our family. It was five years ago today that we lost my father. He fell down some stairs at my sister’s house and cracked his skull . He did not survive the injury and we spent three weeks traveling to the Roanoke hospital back and forth each day.
My father was an amazing man and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of him.

Let’s hear it for the sunshine!

2012-02-01T13:13:00.001-08:00

The sky is blue and the sun is shining. all the snow has melted away in the 44 degree temperatures. Sadie loved her walk in the cemetery near our house. I’ve been reading Sisters Everlasting, the sequel to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It is the selection for our Literary club to read this year. Barbequed chicken is cooking in the crockpot. (to see the recipe go back a few posts). Life is good.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT YOUR MOTHER’S WEDDING?

2012-01-31T14:01:00.001-08:00

My friend, Becky told about her mother’s wedding on her blog and challenged us to write about our mother’s wedding. A few years before my father passed away I asked him to compile his memoirs. He presented me with two full cassette tapes which I transcribed. I later made him a scrapbook from the story with pictures. The story needs to be told as he wrote it:

”I enrolled in a welding school. In welding school there was this girl learning to weld. She looked great wearing bib overalls and a bandana on her head and welding goggles on her forehead. I didn’t know it then but she was to be your mother. It wasn’t long before I started making passes at her. I thought what was a girl doing at welding school? One day she asked me to take her home as her ride was sick that day That was the break I needed. . I found out she was from Georgia and her name was Eleanor Todd. I asked her for a date. She refused. and somehow I got her wristwatch and wouldn’t give it back until I got a date. She said yes. “
“Eleanor and I would visit places like the Empire State Building. We’d go to Coney Island, which was an amusement park. We went to Jones’ Beach which was a famous beach on Long Island. In the spring of 1944 we made up our minds to go to Georgia. We didn’t have any jobs in sight. One wouldn’t do that today. “
“ We decided to go to Georgia and we also decided to get married. Ed Metcalf’s brother who was a doctor gave us the blood test at no charge. We then got our marriage license. We wanted to get married in DuBois but found out that with our New York blood test we had to get married in New York state. We left New York and was on our way to DuBois. We almost missed getting married. We stopped at Port Jervis, New York which was on the border of new York and Pennsylvania. Reverend Hill, a minister, married us. I still remember the red velvet suit she was wearing. It looked great. On the way we stopped in Kane and spent our honeymoon night. “

SHUFFLE OFF TO BUFFALO

2012-01-30T14:08:00.001-08:00

Off we go..today I took a quick trip (well it’s never a quick trip) to Buffalo to take my friend Linda to meet her plane. She is venturing to a friend’s in Virginia Beach for a week. My pals Lisa and Joan rode along with me. It’s an hour and half one way. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I had my favorite..Thai chicken wraps.

I always thought that was a great diet choice until I read this:

Calories

If you thought you were being smart by skipping an appetizer and choosing the Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps as your entree, you will be disappointed to learn that one plate with six wraps has 1,536 calories, roughly half a day's worth for the average non-dieting man, or about three-quarters the daily allotment for a non-dieting woman. If you also had drinks and dessert, you pretty much consumed or exceeded your daily allotment of calories in one meal.

Printable Calorie Chart The Ultimate Healthy Living Toolbar Get Daily Fitness Tips & More. Free www.dailyfitnesscenter.com

Protein

A plate of Cheesecake Factory Thai Lettuce Wraps contains 96gm of protein. The average individual needs about .8gm per kilogram of body weight, which is pounds divided by 2.2. If you use this formula, a 150 pound adult needs about 54gm of protein daily. So you would have more than satisfied you protein needs if you consumed the whole plateful.

Carbohydrates

You may have thought you were keeping it low-carb by passing up the pasta and choosing the Lettuce Wraps instead. But your plate of wraps packs 114gm of carbohydrate, making up 30 percent of the total calories. Roughly 60 percent of your total daily calories should come from carbohydrates, so if you didn't eat anything else that day, you were well below your total daily requirement.

Fat

The not-so-bad news is that a plate of Cheesecake Factory Lettuce Wraps contains only 6gm of fat, albeit saturated fat. That translates to 54 calories, or about 4 percent of your meal's total calories. Fat should make up less than 10 percent of your total daily calories, so you're good there.

But who cares? I only get that treat a few times a year and I’ve survived before without a weight gain so I think I’ll be all right this time. Maybe ignorance is bliss.

Playing around with PhotoScape

2012-01-28T12:53:00.001-08:00

I used Photoshop a lot with my pictures but was still sad that Google will no longer have Picnik, a free imaging program, on the web. I have used Picnik to create some great results in the past and will be sad to see it go. There is outrage all over the internet about it’s passing away. Today I went back to Photoscape to create the following pictures.

Cute couple

2012-01-27T12:45:00.001-08:00

Awww….aren’t they sweet? Dan and Gretchen at Penn State.

Uh-OH

2012-01-27T12:34:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I edited two of my posts and now they are the only two posts I can see on my blog. The other ones are there if you click on “older posts” at the bottom of the page. Sorry about that. I don’t know what to do to make it like it was before. I’ll just keep posting and hope that it corrects itself. I have been reading all over the blogosphere that Blogger is updating and that is resulting in mega problems.
Today the Literary Club volunteered at the American CAncer Society. After a morning of work we enjoyed lunch at Beefeaters. The rain has washed away all the snow and the temperature hovers at 33 degrees. It’s still cold but it seems funny how warm the winter has been this year. last year we had freezing snow and a buildup of ice on the roofs. This year we have only plowed the driveway a few times. This is a picture of the deep snow last year at this time.

Things I learn on Pinterest

2012-01-26T11:34:00.001-08:00

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it was a good idea. Whoever wrote this sure knows what they are talking about. I can't wait to try it this summer.

Am I the only person who hasn't heard of "cooler corn"? As an obsessive food nerd, you'd expect that I would have at least heard of it, but over the weekend I was blind-sided by the simple genius of this method for cooking loads of corn on the cob perfectly. I was hepped to it while visiting my family in Maine . Short story: We like corn on the cob. And with eight adults at the table, that means a couple of dozen ears. We would have used the lobster pot to cook them all, but the lobster pot was busy steaming lobster. Then my sister, a capable Maine cook with years of camping experience, says "let's do cooler corn!" Before I can ask "what the hell is cooler corn?" a Coleman cooler appears from the garage, is wiped clean, then filled with the shucked ears. Next, two kettles-full of boiling water are poured over the corn and the top closed. Then nothing. When we sat down to dinner 30 minutes later and opened it, the corn was perfectly cooked. My mind was blown. And I'm told that the corn will remain at the perfect level of doneness for a couple of hours. Turns out, Cooler Corn is pretty well known among the outdoorsy set but for those of us who avoid tents as much as possible, it's perfect for large barbecues and way less of mess than grilling. In fact, I may

I thought this was hilarious!

Current new goal:

Cute idea for Valentine’s day—use Dove chocolates.

Sweet Baby Ray’s Crockpot chicken

4-6 pieces boneless skinless chicken breasts (i threw them in frozen... even easier!)
1 bottle BBQ sauce (sweet baby ray's all the way!)
1/4 c vinegar
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp. garlic powder
mix BBQ sauce with all ingredients listed under it. place chicken in crockpot. pour sauce over it and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours. you pretty much don't even have to stir it... how easy is that!?