Couldn't resist sharing

Sara after we played makeover. Only four going on thirteen.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Summertime blogging break

 

We all need it, don't we? To take a little time off and get away. I've been blogging steadily since 2006. That's a lot of posts.

So I know you won't mind if I take a short break. It's summer and my life is calling me.

 

I plan to relax and enjoy my life and family this next week. Now you know I will be visiting your blogs and commenting.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

It's all good

 

We are so happy that Sadie's blood work came back good. Her liver function is back to 95% and the other two values that were off are back to normal. Whew! No more worries about that. He wants her to continue her liver pills and recheck her blood in September.

He also wants her to continue with her cipro for her bladder infection and vitamins C and E as well as glucosamine for her joints. And thyroid of course.

I hid the pills in ham salad yesterday. Going to try something different today. She did take them willingly.

To me she still isn't normal. Her back legs are still weak and she doesn't want to jump up or go up and down stairs. I think her legs still hurt her. Maybe it's still the torn Alc.

but she is getting better so that is good. She still loves to go for a walk and acts entirely normal there.

Thank you everyone for your concern. These pets are like our babies.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Rain, rain go away

 

Looks like another rainy day. They say it stormed badly around five in the morning but I slept through it. Sadie must have known though because she was under the bed this morning. I haven't had to water the flowers very much this summer since we've had plenty of rain.

I have a stack of books so this is going to be a reading day. I started Jacquelyn Mitchard's Cage of Stars. I like reading large print because it is easier on the eyes. I'm also reading The Last Time I saw Paris on the iPad. It's not much on plot...older woman, younger man...but they are driving through the French countryside and I love the descriptions of where they stay, what they see, and what they eat. Can you say...living vicariously? It does bring back those wonderful memories of when my best friend and I had our Provence adventure.

It's wonderful to relax and just enjoy a summer day. They go all too fast.

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

update on Sadie

Thank you all for your kind words and concern about our little Sadie. As you know she hasn’t been herself for quite a while now. At first we thought it was her back (slipped disk) and then found out it was an ACL tear in her leg. But when she kept getting worse blood tests revealed that she her liver function was bad. More meds followed. Still not returning to normal we did a urinalysis to reveal a bladder infection. More meds. Luckily we were giving her the pills concealed in her favorite…peanut butter. Even though she was taking 5 pills in the morning and four at night she took them so well.  That is until we added Cipro. It must have upset her stomach because she absolutely refused to be coaxed to take them. We even bought special treats that hide pills. But after a few times she got wise to those too. I did get her to take them this morning by hiding them in ham salad. Tomorrow we are going to do more blood work to see how the liver is doing now. She isn’t acting as bad as she once was but her back legs are weak and she doesn’t have the spunk she is known for. She still loves to go for walks, is eating well, and seems better than before. Maybe these new tests will let us know where we are.

Father's Day

My husband is a great father and taught his sons well. They learned from him that your handshake and your word is never failing. They learned to be good men, treat their women well and how to live an upright life. There was so much more he taught them also. Don is extremely mechanical and taught them how to use tools in electrical and mechanical, work, plumbing and car repair and mantainance. My two sons were well prepared to go out on the world.

Chris is also an excellent father and has passed on these traits to his two sons. This weekend he showed Dan how to replace the brakes and rotors on his car.

Even though Dan is a mechanical engineer he had never done this before. Like father, like son.

 

Posted with Blogsy

My footsteps of Time

Several years before my father passed away I asked him to write his memoirs. Instead he spoke them into a casssette tape recorder and presented them to me. It was incredible how much and in what detail that he remembered his past. I typed them out for our family. And then one Christmas I presented him with a scrapbook I made for him. It was one of my proudest accomplishments and a labor of love.

My father passed away in 2007 at the age of 87. And I miss him every day. He was a creative, smart, and caring man and a great father. This is the dedication to the scrapbook

happy Father's day to you dad.

 

Posted with Blogsy

What do you love most about your garden?

It's summertime and most of us Northeners try to spend every moment we can out in our gardens. After being in all winter there is nothing better than sitting or eating outdoors.

And after the white of winter we love the splashes of color our gardens provide. Whether it is a window box or a small pot of flowers we derive pleasure from their sunny colors.

And if you are lucky enough to have a fountain of some sort the sound of splashing water puts you in a relaxing mood.

And there are some with vegetable gardens who can have the pleasure of picking fresh produce to enjoy.

Whatever the size or kind of garden it is our chance to be a part of nature. We were meant to appreciate and enjoy our gardens.

My favorite thing I sitting on the porch swing reading. What is your favorite thing about your garden? By the way, in case you don't know you can comment anonymously. If you are a reader but a non commenter I would love to hear from you.

 

Posted with Blogsy

The best laid plans

We had such great plans for today. Chris brought his two kayaks and a canoe and we were going on a picnic to State Park. But it threatened rain all day and cooled down so we had our picnic inside and played Pictionary instead. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for us before they have to go home.

So this post is instead about patio lights. There is nothing that says summer more than a string of lights. It creates such an atmosphere and sitting out under the lights is really fun. On my breezeway I have these small industrial lights. I love the way they look

 

Over by the pond is a large streetlight which looks so inviting at night.

I also lit up the big wire sculpture in the pot.

And around the addition there are round bulbs a la Olive Garden.

I tried out a new recipe Roasted Grape and cheese crostini. I can't say it went over well with the guys...where are my girls when I need them?

 

Posted with Blogsy

Love having family around

Dan and Chris are here for the weekend. I always love it when family comes around. Dan lives in Pittsburgh and Chris is from southern Pennsylvania. Since it was rainy today we are going for dinner and a movie...Jurassic World...later. Tomorrow we're planning a picnic.

 

Posted with Blogsy

A nongardener's mistake

I am not, nor have ever been a good gardener. I plant by what looks good to me and not by the rules that most good gardeners know. I must have missed the class on how to plant nasturtiums. I didn't realize that the leaves got so tall I thought they were low and ran along the ground so when I put them in the new little planting bed under the whirlygig I thought everything would be fine.

BIG MISTAKE,

You can't even see all the other flowers I planted behind them like marigolds, straw flowers, and runnuculus.

I guess my only solution is to dig those up and plant them elsewhere. I did plant some nasturtiums in an urn all by themselves and they seem to be thriving well.

Live and learn life's lessons, I guess.

 

Posted with Blogsy

A surprise visit

For years our neighbors were the Gutshalls. They had three children that were like my own. We shared good times until they moved to Warren many years ago. Today I was watering my porch boxes out front when someone hollered to me from a a passing SUV. It was

Cindy with her twenty four year old daughter Shelby. They stopped in and we had fun catching up with the family news. It was so nice to see the again.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Beach luncheon

Here are a few shots from the lunch with my girlfriends. The theme began when my sisters and I shopped at the Christmas Shoppe in Buffalo.  They had placemats, napkins, and cups with a crab theme and I thought they would go well for the luncheon.

We needed a beach centerpiece so I gathered what few beachy items I had…a conch shell, some small shells from the Dollar Tree, some moss that looked like seaweed,
and some beach glass.
I added some blue candles, a beach chair and a fern and had a centerpiece.

We put a mercury glass vase upside down in the candlier and added some viny stuff that looked like seaweed. Linda brought me some luminara candles from Tuesday Morning. I love how they look real and are on timers.


We had a lot of fun decorating the table and had an enjoyable lunch. Our menu consisted of savory rosemary raisin and pecan Mermaid Muffins, Aloha Fruited chicken Salad, Under the Sea mixed green salad and for dessert…Apple Rose Puffs.

It would be best to look up the video on Youtube but here are the ingredients.

• 1 frozen pastry puff sheets (thawed)
• 2 apples (red organic, I used red delicious)
• 1/2 lemon juice
• 1 tbsp flour (to sprinkle the counter)
• 3 tbsps apricots (preserve)
• cinnamon (optional)
• powdered sugar (for decorating, optional)

It was a great dessert and really was a hit.

The garden after the rain

 

I love a refreshing rain. This morning the garden is awash with raindrops on the leaves. I'm sure the flowers enjoyed the overnight showers.

It was a perfect time to take some photos so I took my ipad out into the courtyard and snapped these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy