The aftermath

So quiet. My company left at staggered times. chris was off on Friday to go home and finish packing. He left for switzerland from the Washington airport yesterday. Dan, Gretchen and Scott left on Saturday and Ryan and family got up early this morning at five and were on the road to Tennessee by six.

Today will be..get back to normal day. The goal for today is laundry..all six beds worth. And then rest

It was a wonderful holiday. I always enjoy being around the little ones. And the grown up grandchildren. Highlights were the feast of course, then we went to a local famous restaurant the Beef and Barrel for a beef on wick...that's a kümmel wick roll with salt and seeds on the top. Saturday we traveled to Erie for some shopping. It was a busy few days and I loved it.

Now for a few days of rest before I travel to Virginia to have some sister time.

 

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So thankful

 

After turkey and winding down time. The kids who have far more energy than I do at this point are out taking the dogs for a walk. I'm enjoying these few minutes of quiet time

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Hope your day was happy and filled with gratitude.

 

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I love my Jack Russell

I'm telling Santa that I'd like a Jack Russell tee shirt for Christmas. But there are so many to choose from. Love all these! LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Busy, busy

 

What a busy day. When company is coming there are a ton of things to do to get ready. Add in a huge holiday dinner and it gets crazy. I worked all day today and still have a run to the store tomorrow. Then my son chris calls at nine tonight and tells me he is driving in tonight instead of tomorrow to avoid the snowstorm. He'll get in around one thirty. The Tennessee family will be driving all day tomorrow. Then let the fun begin! There is nothing I like better than having my whole family together.

 

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Blog fest

Some bloggers today are doing a blog fest where they talk about blogs they miss and blogs they would really miss. So I thought about that and decided to write today about that topic.

Blogs I miss

I don't remember how I came across Dewena's blog Across the Way. Right away I felt at home with her style of blogging and her gentle Southern style. She was one of the first people to regularly comment on my blog besides friends or family. I'd visit her blog daily to read her lovely book reviews or quotes or see her house in Tennessee. I had a sad face when one day I read that she was leaving the pressures of blogging to be able to pursue more interests. Oh, how I missed her. But she would occasionally visit and comment and let me visit her private family blog for which I was grateful. So thank you Dewena. For all the support and friendship you have given me.

Blogs I would miss

Now this was a tougher category for I love all my blogs. Trying to decide on just one or two is like trying to love one of your children better than the others. But I do have some favorites.

 

One that I owe a lot to and would miss is Kim Klassen. Kim klassen.com. When I was just starting out in photography I found Kim. Her blog was inspiring and she offered free classes and tips that helped me understand taking pictures a lot better and how to use me camera and software to manipulate a phot to make it more than just a picture. Kim started out as a shy unassuming blogger and gained such a following that she has become a guru in the blogging world. She offers classes and is so generous in her help to fellow bloggers. I never would have learned how to use Photoshop without her.

Between Naps at the Porch is another blog that I have been following for a long time. I instantly clicked with Susan as she showed so many tablescapes on her outdoor porch. Her blog is super organized and she has many categories like home tours, movie houses, recipes, gardening, and recommended decorating books.

And then there are some bloggers who become friends.

Tessa at ....here there be musings ...is like that. We began a back and forth commenting and I look forward to her opinion of my posts. She finds the most delightful illustrations and quotes to put on her blog and visually it is a treat. Her blog is down to earth about her life and what is happening in it.

Tammy's blog Peanut on the Table was recommended by Dewena. It was unlike any other blog out there. Tammy writes in free style with just a few words on each line. She is a prolific talker and punctuates her dialog with photos that illustrate her point of view. She is a minimalist and even left Peanut for a while for health reasons. But now she'd back and I love her quick wit and willingness to put it all out there. She is a frequent commenter on my blog and I appreciate her greatly.

Standing into Danger is one of those blogs that is written by a real writer. I admire Louise's way of telling a story and her Friday series Landsdown letters about her teacher father who leaves home to educate Indians in Canada is fascinating.

One last blog that I love dearly is written by a friend and fellow teacher, Becky Ryan as a family blog. She chronicles not only her family life but also the weather. She is a fascinating person and a master gardener.

So thank you friends. For sharing your life so willingly. For your honesty and dedication to your daily writing. I always enjoy my visits with you.

 

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The wisdom of Pooh

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I love Winnie the Pooh. I read it to my kids. I read it to my students at school. Heck, I even named my son Christopher after Christopher Rpbin. And I love Piglet, and Eeyore. Such characters. Their quotes always make me smile

 

 

 

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What to buy, what to buy

Today I went Christmas shopping in a nearby town. Every year I say I'm going to do this early but I always find myself shopping in December. Do you have the same trouble I do? What to buy. Because my family all live away it's hard for me to know what they have and what they need. I love it when they just tell me what they would like. It certainly saves me guessing. And buying for my hubby is as difficult as him trying to buy for me. We just don't need any more material things. I'm more into making memories instead. A lot of people give gift cards but I'm old fashioned and like people to have a gift to unwrap. How about you?

 

 

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Currier and Ives

 

It's a Currier and Ives kind of November. When I was growing up I remember a Currier and Ives tray that my mother had. It seemed they depicted winter scenes of long ago.

Currier and Ives was a successful American printmaking firm headed by Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) and James Merritt Ives (1824–1895). Based in New York City from 1834–1907, the prolific firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and white lithographs that were hand colored. Lithographic prints could be reproduced quickly and purchased inexpensively, and the firm called itself "the Grand Central Depot for Cheap and Popular Prints" and advertised its lithographs as "colored engravings for the people."[1]

Did you ice skate when you were little? I don't mean at an ice skating rink. I mean on a pond or creek. Does it seem to you that when we were kids we were more in tune with nature than this generation? We knew how to have fun outside with very little extra equipment. Just give us a pair of skates. That's all. And we would find a place to skate. My husband fondly recalls pushing snow off a creek so he and his friends could skate. They used skates that clamped on their shoes. They would make their own hockey sticks and the puck would be a tin can. They would go to a service station and get old metal oil cans and cut the tops off then they would steal crude oil from a tank..remember we are in the middle of oil fields here in Bradford...famous for our oil...to put in the cans. They would light them at night to give light to skate by.

My dad used plastic rimming and flooded a little pond for us on our back patio. It wasn't very big but we had such fun.

We always loved being outside in any kind of weather and winter was no exception. We would stay out till our cheeks were frost bitten and our boots and necks were full of snow. We would only go in if we were called. There was sled riding down little slopes and even skiing with clamp on skis. We made snowmen and snow forts and tunnels and had snowball fights. What a fun winter childhood.

 

 

 

 

 

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By the fire

brr...Bradford. We are in a cold snap but I'm safe and warm here by the fire. I began my Christmas decorating a little early this year since December looks like a busy month for me with going to visit with my sisters and traveling south.

I fully intended to only put a few things out, but you know how it is. When you open those attic bins it's like Christmas..of course it's like Christmas. All those pretty things come tumbling out and you ooh and awe all over again. Trying to decide which ones would come down and which ones had to stay was just too much for me.

So I decorated fully. Red for the living room and green and white and silver for the sunroom. It seems every Christmas it looks different. Just like when I taught school I never taught the lesson the same way each year I tend to evolve my decorating too. It's so fun to be creative each year. But there are some traditional things that just have to be out...Don's childhood football and the kids letters to Santa.

 

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Moldiv

Just playing around today with the Moldiv app in magazine mode

 

 

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Untitled

May love and laughter light your days,

and warm your heart and home.

May good and faithful friends be yours,

wherever you may roam.

May peace and plenty bless your world

with joy that long endures.

May all life's passing seasons

bring the best to you and yours.

- Irish toast -

Our town square

 

My house in the snow (edited)

 

 

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We were spared!

Pictures from WKBW, buffalo

Like the rest of the nation we watched on tv the terrible snowstorm that Buffalo received last night. Here in Bradford we are just seventy five miles south of Buffalo and when they get lake effect storms so do we.

But for the last two years the storms have gone around us to the north and south.

 

We had some snow but nothing compared to what they are dealing with right now. The news channel from buffalo has been on all day reporting and telling people to stay in.

It's hard to believe that by next Tuesday it will be fifty four here. My grandchildren are coming and are hoping to play in the snow. They have bought snow pants and boots and are getting ready. I think by the time they get here we will have another snowfall.

 

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