Oh, my

Right off the bat, I apologize for my absence these two days. Yesterday I spent all day in Erie. I really intended to take pictures of all the pretties I bought and post them but stuff happens and I didn’t get to it today. Today I spent most of the day trying to download Lightroom 4 which I purchased at Best Buy yesterday. (by the way…it’s $30 cheaper at Amazon..I should have done my homework first..but it’s too far to go to take it back). Anyway, I tried 4 times and it wouldn’t download, just gave me an error message. So after looking around on the web for answers I finally contacted Adobe’s chat help and Garnesh helped me go into my computer, repair the Windows Installer correctly so it would finally download the program. That took all day. Then I found out that there is an update for it so I started to download that…that will take about 3 hours. I’m only 67% of the way now.  Ok, then I opened the wonderful Lightroom program only to discover ….WOw! It’s complicated.. This is going to take some MAJOR learning with tutorials. I hope that Kim Klassen will be able to help. She had a class, but since I didn’t have lightroom then I didn’t take the class.  So I closed lightroom and decided to download pictures from the other day. But , Nooooo.  They went to Lightroom instead of to Windows Photo Gallery so I can’t use them in this blog…..Do I sound frustrated???? I guess I was a little too tired to tackle all this today. I’m just shaking my head. I won’t be able to work on it tomorrow..there’s a Literary Club Valentine tea and I have to make egg salad tea sandwiches in the morning. How did this week get so busy? Any way, excuse my ramblings. Better posts will be forthcoming.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Just a quick post. Today I spent the day with my girlfriends. The four of us have a tradition that we take the birthday girl out to lunch. Today we went to Don Lucos in Allegany, NY to celebrate Yrsa’s birthday. After lunch there was a little shopping involved although we didn’t come home with much. Tomorrow it is Erie to return a Christmas present that I had bought for someone and they didn’t want it so I got them something else. So I’m off.  There will be much better shopping in Erie for sure.

A little Valentine song for you

Icy, dicey

Today we are experience what we call in the north a “wintry mix”. That means that the temperatures can’t make up their mind if they want to be above or below freezing. So in the early morning there is ice on the road, then it melts slightly and then it rains, then back to ice again. Currently it is 28 degrees.

I’m so lucky that I can spend all day at home and not out on the roads. I have a new book to read…Preston and Child’s Two Graves in large print which is so much easier on my eyes. I’ll just read between visits to the basement to do laundry. The bed is changed, lunch is finished and I’m ready to settle down. I hope your day is calm and just the way you want it.

I had to share this:

I was telling my sister Diane about the card that I got from my son for our anniversary. He had handwritten at the bottom of it how he remembered when we attended a Christmas Eve service with him and he looked over and we were holding hands. He thought it was so sweet that we still wanted to hold hands after all the long years we had been married. This car came in the mail from Diane today.

Still holding hands after all these years:

It’s a “soup-er” day

Oh, the weather outside is frightful—ly cold and nothing warms you up on a frigid day like a nice steaming bowl of soup. I saw this recipe on Cheeky Bums market blog and decided it would be just the thing for lunch.

I just happened to have some cooked left over sausage that would not only work in the soup but allow me to use leftovers.

The aroma of the onions and garlic cooking with the herbs was tantalizing. I didn’t have any rosemary but added these mixed herbs instead.

Into the big soup pot it went along with the white beans and potatoes.
Yum, yum!

I think that women just have a primeval instinct to make soup, which they will try to foist on anybody who looks like a likely candidate.
Dylan Moran

“To feel safe and warm on a cold wet night, all you really need is soup.”
Laurie Colwin

“Good soup is one of the prime ingredients of good living.  For soup can do more to lift the spirits and stimulate the appetite than any other one dish.”
Louis P. De Gouy, ‘The Soup Book’ (1949)

One whiff of a savory aromatic soup and appetites come to attention.  The steaming fragrance of a tempting soup is a prelude to the goodness to come.  An inspired soup puts family and guests in a receptive mood for enjoying the rest of the menu.”
Louis P. De Gouy, ‘The Soup Book’ (1949)

Blogger’s Block

It must happen to other bloggers.  What do you do when you run out of things to say?

On these cold winter days I find that I am doing nothing.

I’m voluntarily taking the month of January off. No projects, no major organization or cleaning, no recipe trying.

I have to state that there is nothing of any consequence going on in my life at the moment.

I could bore you with another picture of the snow. Or a cute quote from Pinterest. Or some picture of the grandchildren.




I could sit here at the computer until a brilliant idea comes along.




Or I could add a funny cartoon that got me laughing:


It’s not that my blog is all that thrilling to begin with.


But there may be some nugget of information here.  Why else would you keep reading it?

So I’ll take this opportunity to thank you ..loyal readers for hangin’ in there.
Look for some erudite post tomorrow. (Yes I threw that word in just so you wouldn’t think less of me).

Diamonds on the snow

I pray this winter be gentle and kind
a season of rest from the wheel of the mind.
                      John Goulds

This is one sight that my friends in warmer climates never get to see….the snow glistening like diamonds. It is extremely cold this morning…-1 degree and as I look out the sun is shining brightly and all of the snow is sparkling. There was even a light snow falling from the sky and the tiny snowflakes were glowing like diamonds in a jeweler’s case. The roofs are snow covered and a steady stream of gray smoke is pouring out of every chimney. I didn’t even want to go out of the house this morning so I stayed in and didn’t even meet my friends for coffee. I am so lucky to have such a warm cozy house to spend the day in.

Where would you rather be?

OR

Inside?


With the temperature at 7 degrees this morning I am ready to spend the rest of the day indoors. I stopped at the library and found the new James Patterson book and a few others. I’m curling under the covers now.

The best of 2012

January 2012  Celebrating birthdays with your friends is the best!
There couldn’t be a February post without a little snow.


March 2012 This is my friend Joan. I treasure my coffee group friends that meet every morning. They are a great support system and I couldn’t get along without them.




April 2012 Our family trip to Orlando. It was the first vacation we had ever had together. What fun!



May 2012 The summer was just beginning. It is so nice to bring the summer table out of storage and begin the al fresco eating.


June 2012. We sold the Jacuzzi and created an office for me.


July 2012 and here is Sadie. She is so devoted and loving I don’t know how I ever lived without her.

August 2012 was when my dream of having new landscaping finally came true. We found a wonderful landscaper who really listened to my vision. I was so happy when it was completed and am looking forward to spring to see all the blooms.





I don’t talk a lot about my wonderful husband on the blog but he is my rock. This picture from September 2012 shows his making his famous and delicious chili.



This was the defining moment for me in October 2012. My car went out of control and hydroplaned causing me to weave all over the road and into a ditch. It was scary and still gives me chills to think about what might have happened. It made me appreciate every single day from then on and be glad that I am still here to enjoy it.



This poem illustrated by Susan Branch was posted in November 2012. I think it tells how I feel about my home. I have lived in the same house since 1973 and it has grown along with me. My decorating tastes have changed over the years but the warm feelings that this house has given have continued each and every year. It is a cozy house, full of items which were hand picked by me and give me comfort and peace. It is a place of peace.





This picture from December 2012 of me and my camera sums up what this journey of blogging is all about. I began blogging in 2006 to create a documentation of my life. As memories fade I wanted to have it on record. Not every day was outstandingly memorable, but looking back I can see how I spent my time and what things meant a lot to me. Blogging has been one of my greatest pleasures. I started it out just for me but I am pleased to have other readers. As my blogging grew I learned to be a better photographer. I have gained so much inspiration from fellow bloggers and have improved my techniques over the years. I hope to continue blogging in the future years.

pepperoni rollups

These look easy and good. It’s a quiet Sunday. Chris and Scott left for home around two o’clock. We had a wonderful dinner at the Red lobster in Jamestown and had some games of Five Crowns while they were here. It is so nice to see them. Scott is seventeen and becoming a man and getting so handsome. Next year he’ll be away at college. How fast time goes by. It has snowed off and on and the wind blew hard, but it’s stopped now and we are expecting very cold temperatures this week. It’s a good time to cuddle down and read. Hope you stay warm too.

Winter Table and reminiscing

  

The snow is melting again, very slowly. The temperature is hovering just above freezing and the weather forecast says that bitter cold will be moving in after the weekend. We are used to that in Bradford, sometimes called the Coldest spot in the nation.  In fact, last winter the weather channel had a contest and Bradford was the runner up for title of Coldest Place in the country. Last winter and this winter have given us little to complain about. We have only had someone plow our driveway three times so far. That is in great contrast to the year before that when the snow was so deep I couldn’t see out my picture window.
    Today my son, Chris, and his son Scott are coming up to visit and take us out to celebrate our 47th anniversary which will be on the 22nd of January.
Here I am in my wedding portrait.

My
My girlfriend, Kay, was my Maid-of-honor. Kay and I have remained friends for over fifty years.
My handsome father is walking me down the aisle.



The wedding party. Three of the girls are my friends and sorority sisters from college. My sister Diane is in the front row. I can still remember how beautiful their gowns were….dark deep cranberry velvet on the top and pink satin on the bottom.

A pose with our parents. How young and beautiful they look. My mother’s dress matched the bridal party…cranberry velvet with a pink ruffle.
Everyone has a wedding story. Mine is about the blizzard which dumped two feet of snow that night. When we came out of the church it was snowing very hard. In fact, one of the groomsmen had gone to Delaware during the day to fetch my aunt and didn’t make it home for the ceremony. We had to find my sister-in-law’s boyfriend who fit the tux to fill in. Seeing the deep snow I told don that we should just skip going to the Castle hotel and just go home. But he wanted me to have the fairy tale and we drove over to Olean in bad roads. The next day we couldn’t even see our car because it was buried so deep in the snow. But that didn’t stop us from having our honeymoon in Niagara Falls.

My going away Pendleton tweed green suit.

One of my favorite pictures….kissing my dad goodbye.

IF IT’S GOTTA SNOW

If it’s gotta snow….spend the day in a chateau.

Just enter the gate…


And pull up the drive…

come on up the steps…


and sit by the roaring fire.



Curl up with a good book….

and let it snow, let it snow.