Such a great weekend.

 

It was so great having Dan, Gretchen, and Chris here for the weekend. chris helped me with all my technical difficulties...setting up my wifi signal booster, helping me figure out how to convert Works documents to word and installing my Photoshop. Now I should be good for a while.

We played some card games and a game called Marbles, watched a movie and went out to dinner at the Airport cafe. The weather was cooperative with good roads and not freezing temperatures. Now when everyone is gone it is so quiet.

 

I took this picture a few years ago.

 

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Company's coming

Dan and Gretchen are visiting this weekend and Chris will be coming up tonight. I always love it when family is here. Gretchen has to spend the day working remotely but

Dan had the day off.

We plan on going out to the airport restaurant, the Runway Cafe for dinner tomorrow night. Tonight Don will make his special chicken wings for dinner. I made brownies and a cheesecake for dessert.

It's a cold snowy day today. I went to an early Literary Club meeting. Even though the weather wasn't the best a lot of ladies turned out. Our speaker was from the local senior Center and we donated items and supplies to help them out. Afterwards we had a light luncheon with wraps, fruit salad, munchies and sweets.

 

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Winter Survival

I can get through winter just fine...as long as I have....

A pile of good books...

The flickering of a candle...

A nice warm drink..tea or hot cocoa..

A pile of pillows and a nice warm throw...

 

And some flowers for beauty..

What would be in your survival kit?

 

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Beautiful Blooms

Bright flowers are the perfect way to chase away the winter blues. Don always remembers me with flowers on our anniversary, my birthday and Mother's Day. This time the roses are red.

My friend and maid of honor at my wedding sent me this cheery bouquet that had red tulips, carnations and daisies.

And my friend Lisa gave me an amaryllis which is blooming now.

 

I must have flowers, always and always. Claude Monet

 

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Snow at Chris' house

 

Wow! The snow is really deep at Chris' Lily, the golden loves it.

 

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A little humor

I have officially nothing to say today so Pinterest to the rescue. Here is a little retro humor to brighten your day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Here chicky, chicky

Is it just me or are you tired of cooking too? Really. I've been at this for fifty years and I love eating but I'm just tired of coming up with a meal every single day. Don, who loves anything that involves beef, potatoes and gravy isn't hard to please. But I don't like to eat so much beef and gravy certainly isn't a good thing to have all the time. 
  I used to be such a great cook, scouting out new recipes. Now I share recipes (which means I put them on my wall) in Facebook so I can find them again but never seem to actually cook them. I fall back on the old familiar recipes that I can make by heart. I have learned through the years how to season well to make things tasty and that gets me by. 
  I have vowed that this winter I will use the crock pot more. I love having dinner ready later. I found this recipe for crock pot chicken and biscuits that I think I will try tonight. So I'm sharing it with you. Nothing involved or special about it..just easy in the crock pot.

Put 4 boneless chicken breast in the bottom of the crock pot. Pour over 1 can of chicken broth and 2 cans of cream of chicken soup (that seems like a lot to me, but I'll try it that way) Add in carrots, celery and onion (as much as you want). Cook on high for 3 hours. Remove chicken and shred. Add it back with some crumbled bacon and 1/2 can peas. Stir together and put on the top some flaky biscuit dough uncooked. Cook for another hour or so on high or until done.  

I'll let you know how it comes out. Sounds yummy.

No storm here

 

What a switch...no storm here. But my southern families are getting hit. My niece in Raleigh lost power and it won't be back till Monday.

Linda's deck....

And my son in southern Pennsylvania already has over two feet.

The grands in Tennessee are having a ball..

We are having a rather quiet day. No snow coming down and the roads are clear.

We went over to Applebee's for dinner with friends last night.

 

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Tatiana

This morning it looks like Tatiana is wearing a hat and scarf to ward off the cold. It will be another cold day today. Our Literary Club is having a luncheon at the hospital today.

Today is a very special day. It is our fiftieth anniversary. We were married January 22, 1966 in the middle of a blizzard. Don was my high school sweetheart. He went in the Navy after high school while I went to college. We sustained our relationship and got married after I graduated from college. He has been a steady force in my life and a great support. I am lucky to have him. We will be celebrating next week when my family is coming to visit. Tomorrow night we will have dinner with our friends.

 

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I need the birds

In order to see birds
it is necessary...
to become  part of the silence. 
   Robert Lynd

   

 When life gives you crumbs, feed the birds. 

I don't feed the birds because they need me; I feed the birds because I need them.  Kathi Hutton
It was a quiet day. The kind of day when you can sit inside and watch the snow come down, fluttering steadily in its path from sky to ground. All day it comes, incessantly, adding more to the white piles already on the lawn. I got out my DSLR camera and took some shots of the birds at the feeder. What joy they are in the winter to watch. The chicadees and junkos take turns when the larger jays let them. In the evening the cardinals know that it is time for them to have their dinner. We are happy to provide their lunch and dinner for the pleasure of watching them cavort around.

January cleaning

Why is it that in January I get the urge to organize? Is it because I'm in the house a lot and notice the problem areas more? 
  I'm not a neat freak...far from it. I like the house to be neat and clean and most of the time it is picked up and I can put my hands on the things I need so I consider it organized to some degree. But it never looks like those magazine pictures. 
   A while ago I thought I discovered a secret to organizing...having the right containers. Even the mess looks better if it is containerized and labeled. It helps you sort through things and know where things are. So I've tried to use that system somewhat. The more I get things stored correctly the more I like it. 
  Take batteries for instance. Before we remodeled our kitchen we had a junk drawer. All kinds of things got piled in that drawer. But with the remodel there just wasn't room for a junk drawer and how happy that makes me. That means that the "stuff" that got put in that drawer to be put away later just had to be put away now. One of those things was batteries. But there was a solution...a battery holder...who knew? It's nailed onto the basement stairway wall and hold quite a number of all sizes of batteries. It's convenient, easy to see how many you have and easy to get batteries from. A great solution to a constant problem...now no problem at all.  
   And that is the way with everything. If there is a designated home for things it makes life much easier. Which leads me to today's challenge. I cleaned the bathroom. Ok, it isn't the first time by far, but this time I organized my makeup, hair products, etc. I hadn't done that in a while and it needed it. There is such a sense of satisfaction looking at it when it is all finished. 
    

Never stop learning

What have you learned lately? Are you the kind of person who continues to find new things to get interested in? Or do you settle on one things and become such an expert in it? I know my curiosity has led me in a lot of different directions in my life. I've gone through a lot of stages where I tried out different hobbies. I usually liked the results but not enough to keep doing it forever. I tried a stained glass class once. It was fun but demanded precision and patience..two things that I am not known for. I am happier with things that can be completed in an hour. I need that instant gratification. Something that can be done quickly suits me better. That is why I didn't pursue cross stitch. I really liked doing it but it took a while to finish some project.

I wondered why I didn't have a passion for one particular thing till last week I heard Brene Brown speak on Oprah's new program on Sundays. She said that there are some people who are butterflies. They go from one curiosity to another and that is the way they spread their joy in the world. And that was me. I like to try out things. I just love to learn. Currently I am loving my oil painting class. And I still love photography and using programs to enhance the pictures. These things are my current passion.

What is yours?

 

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Pink sky in morning

 

Remember the old saying..

Pink sky at night, sailors delight

Pink sky in morning, sailors take warning.

The sky this morning at sunrise was the most beautiful shade of pink. Isn't it glorious how nature paints the world?

 

 

 

 

 

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Looking back on life

When you get to the older section of your life sometimes you reflect on how your life went. There is a lot of time behind you and you know there may not be as much time left. Then you get philosophical and think back and question...did I live a purposeful life? Did my life matter? Did I do all I should have done?

I have been so blessed all my life. Only small adversities have come my way. Nothing I couldn't handle. And so many good opportunities happened for me. I had a wonderful childhood with two loving and caring parents who taught me values. I was able to get an education and have a job that I loved. I met a man who has loved me and taken care of me for fifty years. I was blessed with two sons who turned out to be wonderful men and fathers. I have a special relationship with my sisters and good friends. Life has been so kind to me.

Now I can look back fondly at my memories and ahead to creating more. My word of the year is savor and I intend to take every opportunity to enjoy each moment that comes along.

 

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Another busy day

My goal is to only do one extra thing a day but today I was busy all day. After coffee with my friends I went to what might be the last physical therapy visit. I have a dr's visit tomorrow so we'll see I am so much improved now with very little pain in my hip. After that I came home, grabbed a little lunch and was off to get my hair done. I went straight from there to my art lesson. This evening I'm glad just to be home although I'm chilled.

I wonder if any of you remember talking on the phone for hours tethered to it by the long curly coil?

 

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