Small town living

There are people who deride me for living in a small town with its lack of great restaurants and shopping. But I have visited bigger cities with their traffic and waiting in lines and I can say I love my hometown. Where else are you five minutes from your doctors, dentists, and insurance people?  And because it’s a small town when I called the bank on a Saturday morning when I bought a car on the spur of the moment they immediately transferred some money for me instead of waiting for me to do the necessary paperwork. And because it’s a small town the audiologist I see is the mother of the ophthalmologist I see where we talk about her new baby. And because it’s a small town I can count on help when I need it. And because it’s a small town my dentist can get me right in when I have an emergency. And because it’s a small town I don’t have to order in the restaurants we visit in the morning because the waitresses already know what I want and set it in front of me. Yes, it is a small town but the advantages are many. I can look out my window at the hill behind me and find a peace that city dwellers should long for. 

Joan even gets her own personal coffee carafe at Perkin’s because she takes her coffee half regular and half decaf. Now that’s service. 

Questions

 Here are some more questions from my friend at Preppy Empty Nester. Maybe you can share some of your answers in the comments.  

1. So... do you like croissants?  What is your favorite way to eat them?

Today is National Croissant day. I love croissants but don’t eat them often since they are high calorie. My favorite way to eat them is filled with chicken salad. My favorite memory about a croissant is sitting with my friend Yrsa high up in the mountains of Provence, France. We had been walking around this quaint little mountain village shopping and talking when we decided to stop at a small pastry shop. We purchased a chocolate croissant. It’s like a regular croissant except it has a small amount of dark chocolate in the center. I’ll never forget sitting there and how special that day was. 

2.  Speaking of food... how do you handle stress?

Of course food is my go to in order to make myself feel better. Ice cream is my food of choice or chocolate. But when I am really rock bottom I climb into a tub filled with bath salts and bubbles and stay in there for a long, long time refilling the water when it gets cold. I do a little crying and then let the water soothe me. 

3.  Out of the negative emotions of greed, anger, jealousy, and hate, which on affects you the most?

I rarely feel greed, jealousy or hate so I think anger affects me the most. I never learned how to handle anger so I avoid confrontation if I can. I never learned to fight back or let my anger show. I’m the one who always can think of what I should have said hours later. I really never stuck up for myself. 

4.  Out of the positive emotions of compassion, positivity, enthusiasm, and initiative which one is your biggest strength?

I think that positivity is my biggest strength. I try to always find the best outlook no matter what the situation. 

5.  What do you get everytime you go to the grocery shopping, other than staples such as bread, milk, butter, flour, sugar..

That’s a good question. I don’t think there is anything I get every time but often I pick up milk and creamer for Don for his coffee. (Oops, I guess that’s a staple). I like to buy Emergency C. It’s a powdered vitamin C that I put in my smoothie every morning. I think it keeps me from getting colds. 

6.  Please tell us something random about your week so far.

We are not going out for coffee tomorrow morning. It is going to be even colder than today and it is -3 right now. I plan on staying home all day and reading David Baldacci’s newest..Long Road to Mercy. 

Talented

My grandson Scott is such a talented artist. Here is a pencil sketch of a ballerina that he did recently. 

Smile

I saw this on Youtube and smiled the whole way theough it. Hooe you get a little smile on your face too.     

Waterlogue

I had forgotten about the app called Waterlogue. It is so easy to make a photo into a watercolor painting. 

For king and Country

A treat for your eyes and ears.  

DINNER AT WENDY’S

Yesterday we drove to Port Allegany, a small town about 45 minutes away to have lunch with Wendy and her parents who came up from York. Wendy moved up to Port Allegany from York last summer to take a job in Coudersport as a soil conservationist. It was just before she met Chris at a meetup in the Harrisburg area. Since they would be living four hours apart they weren’t sure if they would ever see each other again but they have been together ever since. 

Wendy is quite an accomplished musician and plays many stringed instruments. Chris photoshopped this picture for her as a Christmas present. 

Her collection of dulcimer which she has made sit on top of an antique piano which was made in the York area. 

She also plays the mandolin. Wendy gave me a tour of her charming home which had been remodeled but still had the original woodwork and floors. 

We sat down to a turkey dinner using her grandmother’s Wedgewood china. 

Rich and Linda are delightful people and we spent hours chatting about our lives. I looked through old photograph albums which gave me a glimpse into Wendy’s early life. 

What a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  On the way back to Bradford we stopped in Eldred and visited with Don’s brother and wife and then stopped at his stepmother’s home where his other brother was there. We decided to stay and play cards for a while. It was such a lovely day. 

You are

You are the books you read, 

the movies you watch, 

the music you listen to, 

the people you spend time with, 

the conversations you engage in. 

You are what you take from these. 

You are the sound of the ocean, 

the breath of fresh air, 

the brightest with and the darkest corner. 

You are a collective of every experience 

you have had in your life. 

You are every single day. 

So drown yourself in a sea of knowledge 

and existence.

 Let the words run through your veins 

and let the colors fill your mind."

Jac Vanek

I spent a lot of time in my younger days thinking everyone should be like me. They should think like me, act like me, like the same things I liked. I felt superior to those who didn’t. I thought what I knew was always correct. I gravitated to those who shared my point of view. 

Then I matured. Isn’t diversity wonderful? It’s nice to hear the point of view that differs from yours for that is how you learn. You take the best from those who know better than you and incorporate it into your life and your thinking. You read and gain opinions and arguments that support theories that you never thought possible. 

All your life you have been building you. You are the sum of all you have experienced, the good and the bad. You have learned lessons, sometimes the hard way. Through trial and error you have formed yourself into the person you are. Aren’t you lucky to be individually you?

Mindful

This piece by photographer Guy Tal - The Mindful Photographer - articulates the subject of mindfulness so well.

”Those who notice more than you do are not endowed with any special gift not available to others; they are simply people who have trained themselves to be mindful—to summon up attention that may otherwise be allocated elsewhere, and to focus it consciously on the task of becoming aware of things, feelings, and sensations, and to weave those into visual compositions. You can train yourself to do the same thing—to be more mindful—too.”

There is a certain style of photography that I like. It is exemplified by my friend Donna Hopkins in her blog Like Medicine for Me. She takes photographs of ordinary things in such an amazing way. You can visit her blog on my sidebar. Donna is mindful. She pays attention to the ordinary little things that she sees. She goes out every day and takes pictures and has become so professional that her work is being recognized. She can make you look at an ordinary leaf in a different way. 

I love to take pictures. I blog daily so I use my phone or ipad to shoot with instead of my big camera. It is easier than getting out that camera. But I have a longing to be a better photographer and not just take pictures to put on a blog. I would love to learn my camera better and take mindful pictures. 

When I visited Donna she took me on a photography walk that I won’t forget. She showed me how to look. We walked down streets as she pointed out simple things to take pictures of. She taught me to walk slowly and observe. Now I need to practice. 

Those were some of the most favorite pictures I have ever taken. 

Random Saturday

        Just a few thoughts on a cold Saturday morning.....

I’ve talked before about Marie Kondo and her method of tidying up but I’m amazed at the influence she has had on me. I always get the urge to organize the house in January. It’s a great month to do that since you are stuck inside anyway. But since seeing her videos on Netflix she has created an organizing monster. I have cleaned out closets and drawers and it gives me great satisfaction to see things all neatly organized. My latest project was cleaning out my linen closet. 

I used some boxes that I had from when I subscribed to Nikki’s box and labeled them with tags I printed out. Now I will make a chart which shows what is in each box and tape it to the back of the door. I now need to look for more boxes to replace those bins. I do have more towels than that but they are in the laundry right now. It is nice to look in there and see thing all neatly stacked. 

Don never forgets to bring me flowers for our anniversary. It is so cheery to see flowers blossoming this time of year when everything is so white outside. 

I’ve just begun a new painting of paperwhites. I was going to save it to do at art class but I just couldn’t wait. 

This afternoon we are going over to Port Allegany to have dinner with Wendy. Her parents are coming up to visit so it will be a great get together. 

How are you spending this random Saturday?

Painting with wendy

Paint Night

Have you ever been to a painting party? Last night was my very first time. Wendy and I have been trying to go to one for a few times now but something always comes up and we couldn’t make it. So last night we planned on going to Ellicotville, NY a ski resort town about an hour away. We had a good time chatting on the way up and back and I really enjoyed getting to know her a little better. 

When we got to The Public House, a small bar, we went up to a spacious room upstairs and met our instructor for the night. She had driven down from Dunkirk which is between Buffalo and Erie to teach the class. 

Gradually people started coming in and there were eighteen of us in all. 

The teacher began the class by telling us to notice that we only had one small paintbrush and six paper towels. 

That is because we painting almost all the picture with the paper towels.  And I loved it! 

We started out brushing on a dark blue then proceeded to add the colors one at a time mixing the secondary colors right on a foam plate. I loved this process and made a pretty sky. 

At the very end we added a silhouette of a tree in black.

 I had to make two attempts at the tree and still am not satisfied with the results.  I love Wendy’s. 

The battle of the bulge

I’ve been fighting a battle all my adult life. And I’m not winning. You would think after 50 some years that I could have figured it all out since I’ve read every diet book out there and gone on most of the diets. But I never give up and that has lead me to going to the gym (YMCA). 

I’ve never, ever loved to exercise. I’ve never felt that “high” that athletes talk about. But I’m walking the treadmill and I don’t mind that for thirty minutes. Well, I think you will laugh when I tell you how I do it. Gretchen Rubin who has written books and currently has a podcast tells about developing habits. One of the way is called Pairing. That means put a pleasant task hooked on to a more unpleasant one. So when I go on the treadmill I listen to a favorite podcast to distract me. But for the past few days I found a pairing that works even better. I watch an episode of Grace and Frankie on Netflix using my phone sitting on the treadmill frame in front of me. I had to walk thirty minutes so I could finish the episode. Worked for me!

Random Wednesday

More random questions....thanks to Preppy Empty Nester. 

1.  Okay, 'fess up.  Tell us your top three favorite pies, please.  Will you have some pie today?

My all time favorite pie is pecan pie. It may relate to my southern heritage because I never remember having it growing up in the north but when I visited Geogia I always tried to have a piece when I was there. Now I find it too rich so I rarely indulge. 

  I also love apple pie (now that is a Northern favorite.) Every year I buy a half bushel of apples and peel and freeze them to make pies in the winter.

   My third choice would be cherry. My mother made them with a woven lattic top. 

2.  While we are talking about food... are you a picky eater or are you ready to try any new food?  What is the worst thing that you have ever eaten?

I grew up a picky eater. I remember my mother would always fix me something different if I didn’t like what was being served for dinner. Therefore my palate was very limited. I remember in high school going to a pizza party and not liking pizza. My mother was from the south and pizza was never served in our house. I didn’t even like salad until I was an adult. I still do not have a taste for seafood. The worst thing I ever taste was fois gras. It was a beautiful setting in France where we were sitting at an outside table. We were traveling with friends and staying at a restored Medieval village high in the hills of Provence where each night we cooked and ate food that was bought that day. My Danish friends were relishing their fois gras and offered me some. When I tasted it I found it a quite unusual taste and then it went to my throat and had a really different and unpleasant taste which lingered in my mouth a long time. 

3.  Baking could be considered an art as could cooking.  

How do you define art?

Art can span so much that it is difficult to define. Art to me can be something as simple as the way a creek splashes across the rocks. A leaf sitting on a wooden railing. An arrangement of colorful glasses on a shelf. Art is all around us everyday if we care to notice it. 

4.  Tell us a really stupid joke that made you laugh, please.

That one is hard for me. I have a terrible memory for jokes. The latest one I laughed at was a cartoon of Trump which said “Does this ass make my country look small?” Sorry for the political commentary. I try not to do it too much for I respect everyone’s rights to choose for themselves. 

5.  January 23rd is also National Handwriting Day.  Do you have nice handwriting?  Did cursive writing come naturally or did you practice in those double-lined practice books until your fingers hurt?

I personally love cursive and can’t believe that they no longer teach it in school. I learned it in elementary school. When I was in seventh grade we were allowed to use pen and ink (and by that I mean a quill type pen and an inkwell) to write cursive. To me that was such a big deal. 

6.  Tell us something random about your week. 

Last night I was trying to find a parking place downtown so I could go to my art class. Parking is not very good at best in our town but there wasn’t any places at meters that I could find near the building. I saw some places that were not metered behind another building so I decided to pull in there. The snowplow had gone by and piled snow along the outer edge but I thought I could make it. I was wrong and got my car stuck and despite all my efforts at rocking it back and forth I couldn’t get it out. I waved down a passing guy and he tried to push. Another man and woman came by and they couldn’t either. My back end was sticking out blocking one lane of traffic. Luckily it was a road with not too many cars. One man got a shovel and tried to shovel out the snow underneath. After they pushed awhile we discovered that the parking brake had put itself on. That had happened to me once before where the parking brake comes on by itself. After we disengaged it they were able to push me right out. I felt so helpless. Other times when I would have that kind of trouble I would call my husband who would bring his truck down with a tow rope and pull me right out. We no longer have our truck since we gave it to Chris and got a new car. 

Downtown Bradford street

What is the worst thing you have every tasted?

The Japanese bridge

My sister Linda requested a painting of Monet’s Japanese bridge. 

When Linda and I traveled to Germany we took a train to Paris. We were only there a few days but one side trip we made was to Giverny to see Monet’s house and gardens. It made such an impression ..no pun intended...on me that I will never forget seeing that lovely pink house and walking on that Japanese bridge. 

Oh what a beautiful morning

I had to get up early this morning to do some blood work at our local hospital. The temperature outside was minus nine as I drove the five minutes downtown. I’m usually not out at seven thirty in the morning and I don’t know what I’ve been missing. I should have stopped the car and taken a picture of the sky. It was a lovely shade of pinks and blue. 

The heavy snowfall was glistening and the sun was so bright. 

The air was crisp and it was a morning that made you glad you are alive. It was a morning to be thankful. 

Have you been reading this winter? I just finished Target Alex Cross.  I like most of the Patterson books but the ones I like best are the ones written by him only and not with co authors. This one was typical of his and a quick read. 

What are you reading this winter?

Paperwhites

On a cold winter's day like today I needed something to lift my spirits. What is my most favorite thing to do? Decorate and make vignettes. I've been seeing paperwhites all over the web blogs. A lot of bloggers force grow their own and I have done this in previous years. But I also have some that are pretty close to real so I decided I needed to make a vignette. 

   I have been in that transitional time of decorating where my Christmas things are all put away but I left out some pinecones and trees and wintry things. 

  One of my favorite places to decorate is the end of the fireplace where I found an old trunk at an antique co-op. And here are the results.
 

 I used the french wire basket and old Frenchy looking pots. Then I string some brown velvet ribbon from side to side and added very French looking black and white ribbon on it. I made this little paperwhite sign and used some wooden clothespins with French writing on them to hold it on. 

I had some small pots of snowdrops on one side and a white lantern on the other. I'm very happy with the way this vignette turned out.

Paperwhites

Minus 7

Yep, really cold this morning.  This is more like the winter Bradford weather that I am used to. The good news is that it won’t stay and it is one day closer to Spring. 

We had such a great weekend spending time with Chris and Wendy.  

On Saturday they took us out to celebrate our 53rd wedding anniversary. We stayed in town since we had winter storm warnings and enjoyed a lunch at Perkins. During the day we played cards and watched movies. I made beef on weck for dinner. For those of you unfamiliar with this dish it is a local favorite. 

A beef on weck is a sandwich found primarily in Western New York State, particularly in the city of Buffalo. It is made with roast beef on a kummelweck roll. The meat on the sandwich is traditionally served rare, thin cut, with the top bun getting a dip au jus and spread with horseradish

Just bake an eye of round with onion soup mixfor quite a long time.  Slice thin and then put in a crock pot for a while. This meat is so tender and served with a large roll with kummelwick seeds and salt on the top.  

I also tried a new recipe. Bagels...

I used whole wheat flour and these turned out very dense but the seeds on top still made them tasty. I must have been on a roll...no pun intended...because I made Stone Gabel’s  homemade vegetable beef soup too. 

Just a note...I accidentally made this post using BlogTouch pro because I forgot it wasn’t working. But guess what?  It worked. hallelujah!!!

At the Cheesecake Factory