STILL CRAZY (IN LOVE) AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!

Yesterday Don and I celebrated 43 years of wedded bliss. I met Don when I was 16 and fell madly in love with his sweet smile and his happy disposition. He has been a sweetheart over the years and still looking at him makes me so happy! Like every couple we've had ups and downs but we have always relied on our love to carry us through. I can't begin to tell the ways that Don makes me happy. There is not another man on the planet who could do more for his wife. I love him more each day.

the Option House

You will see no pictures for awhile on my posts. My polaroid camera decided not to work. When you turn it on all you see is a black screen. I called and had to send it back for repair. The funny thing is this is the second camera that has done this. Am I cursed? So while I'm waiting I'll use my old reliable Kodak.
Today was Red Hats. As a Red Hat group I think we are pretty lax. For the most part, not very many girls wear their red hats and purple shirts. We just love to get together. Wearing the outfit at first was interesting, but now that we are just going out for lunch in our own town it isn't necessary. We did have a tour of one of our local establishments..the Option House. It is historic and in it's heyday was a popular hangout. It had gone downhill over the years as many places in this town have. But Sam Slyvester bought it and completely renovated it. It is going to be the pride of this town when it is completely finished. It has huge crystal chandeliers, a huge long bar, original woodwork and new moldings painted gold, faux finished and stenciled walls . The upstairs is called Peacock Alley (original name) and features six smaller rooms for dining which are painted in peacock colors. Today they got their liquor license and as soon as they get a chef will open. It is meant to be a high class place and will feature tapas and microbrewed beer. I can't wait until it is opened. It will be a place to have our Red Hat dinners.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRIEND

My friend, Yrsa, will be 65 on January 24th. I can't believe it. Sixty five is old. She doesn't seem old, and neither do I. It just seems like yesterday we were classmates in elementary school now we are lifelong friends. I wanted to do something really special for her birthday. I bought a really great book about Living ARtfully and the book gave me a great idea. It talks about how to make your life special. At our age another gift is nice, but it would be much nicer to have a kind word. Yrsa has gone through some things lately that make her feel down and she could use something that would make her feel great. I made her a book. I asked all her friends to give me one words that described her and tell why. I got many responses and the words were so flattering. When she sees the book she will know how other people feel about her and how she enriches their lives. I found the perfect poem for the beginning of the book. I can't wait to give it to her.

I searched among the card displays,To see if I could find

,A little something that would sayJust what was on my mind

However there was not a one,That captured it just right,

For no one else can understandJust what I'd like to write.

I even find it difficultTo try to write it down,

For how do I portray to you,The love that I have known?

I close my eyes and what I see,Is someone I adore;

A person who is beautiful,Right down into their soul.

Mere words cannot describeThe many qualities you show

,The love and caring nature thatYou share with those who know.

Your kind and gentle temperament,Your sweet angelic smile,

Your softly spoken sentiments,That reach across the miles.

Your smile and laugh that sparkle withThe softness of your sighs,

The way your face lights up a room ...That twinkle in your eye.

The loving gestures through the years,That quickly come to mind,

For always you've a gentle wordTo calm and soothe I find.

I struggle and I search to tryTo find some words anew ...

And yet I cannot captureAll the things that make you you.

I shall therefore, be satisfiedThat you must simply know,

Just how we feel about you,and how we love you so.

UNEXPECTED COMPANY

Last night I had unexpected house guests. My friend Kay and her husband Tom have a very old house and due to the extreme cold temperatures their pipes froze. No hot water in the sink and no water to flush their toilet. Besides that they don't have very good heat and they were literally freezing yesterday. So I asked them to spend the night with me. They had such a good time they didn't want to go home tonight. We had waffles and sausage for breakfast and a full ham dinner complete with a homemade apple pie. Their beds were toasty. I enjoyed having them except for their tiny poodle who despite being seven years old is not housebroken yet.
Sad news...my aunt Gladys who was 96 passed away on Friday. She had fallen and broken her hip and just couldn't recover. That lady had Betty Grable legs, even in her old age. She was my dad's sister and he was very close to her and her husband.

SNOW POETRY

Falling, falling, ever falling, never-ending

Gracefully, delicately, carefully, beautifully,

It drifts down with the greatest of care.

Each flake has its own place and it knows just where to go

Together the flakes form a soft, white blanket

That covers everything in sight

As if tucking the whole world in long and cold night

It makes even the garbage cans become

Amazing, perfect, white sculptures of snow

It evenly glazes every rooftop

To look as it they were perfectly iced gingerbread houses

Bare skeletons of trees are transformed

Into another masterpiece of the amazing snow

At first you might not hear their sound

But if you wait and listen carefully

You can hear the music they make

Twinkling, shining, glimmering, drifting, sparkling

Are you keeping warm?

The icicles are hanging long from the roof and the temperature is hovering very near zero...yes it's January in Bradford. Everyone's complaining about the cold spell but I think it's just a good excuse to eat hot soup, drink cocoa , and kick back and do nothing.

ARE WE TIRED OF IT YET? yes!!!!!

If the snow wasn't so beautiful.... yes, it snowed again. It just keeps getting deeper and deeper. It isn't a surprise, after all it's January and we can expect it. And we hardy Bradfordians do not let the elements stop us from doing anything. Today I had a dentist appointment in Warren, an hour away. (great checkup,, by the way.) Off we went in Don's new four wheel drive truck despite the cold temps, eleven degrees. But of course Don had to get the ice from his windshield wipers before we could set out. You people in the south have no idea how the winter here requires so much preparation.( IT's the coats, and the scarves, and the gloves, and...well, you get the picture.) The upside was that we ate lunch at Applebee's (they have weight watchers meals and points calculated) and stopped at Aldi's (love the brand...fit and healthy...good food and good for you...how many points in those snacks?? ) before coming home. I was glad just to get home to have a cup of tea and get warmed up. spring is really not that far away (is it???).

Yes, Top Gun, the most loving cat in the universe got himself in trouble. His most favorite thing to do is to get up in my lap when I am talking on the phone. He knows that I will be sitting for awhile and I pet him and love on him the whole time I'm chatting. We have a MagicJack phone hooked to our computer and he came running into the computer room and jumped right up between me and the keyboard. Unfortunately I had a full glass of water sitting there which spilled all over. It got on and under the keyboard. I wiped it up quickly but not in time. My whole computer went out and I could visualize a costly repair to the CPU. My computer continued to emit a continuous beeping sound that I knew wasn't a good sign. After researching it at the library on their computers I discovered that the beeps were codes and that one meant that there was something wrong with a peripheral that was attached to the computer. And of course it was my keyboard since the beeping immediately stopped as soon as I unplugged it. So this morning I'm back in business with a new keyboard.

This was a busy morning with Weight Watchers first weigh in...I'm not elaborating but it was a good one (not as good as previous first weeks, but I'll take any loss), Curves (they are starting a new challenge so I entered...hey, what the heck!), Walmart (to get the new keyboard and the WW cookies for one point that actually taste good) and up to the hospital to see my friend Kay (doing well, might be coming home today). Very snowy today and slippery roads. It's good to stay in. I rented a few movies so that's on the agenda for the rest of the day.

A WOMEN'S HAIR

I am sitting here at the computer for a few minutes on this snowy Saturday waiting for my hair highlights to complete. We women...how our f eelings are so tied up with how good our hair looks. Or maybe some women are just lucky. They have this amazing hair that never seems to need any primping. They just either have thick, curly hair which holds any style they want or long hair which can be conviently pulled back into a ponytail when they are headed out of the house quickly. Then there is my hair...thin and fine. It's a lot of work to keep it looking good..perms and coloring and time in front of the mirror every morning. How tempting it would be to have a pixie haircut like a boy's. Do I have the courage? I did one year when I went to Denmark on vacation. I wanted something that I didn't have to style because with the difference in electricity I couldn't use my curling iron or dryer. How nice it was just to wash and comb it. The freedom...the freedom!

RYAN'S A DADDY

I always knew that Ryan would make a great father. He has a kid-like quality about him plus an outgoing humorous personality. He has a way with children that puts them immediately at ease and trusting in him. When he taught classes at the swimming pool in high school and worked with disabled children he enjoyed it so much. Later when he worked for the Boy Scouts he was involved with boys of all ages in camping situations. Then he taught young children to swim at his Tennessee job. But he always wanted a child of his own. Now that he has Sean he is totally in his glory. He is such a wonderful father with just the right amount of patience and understanding and the ability to teach Sean what he will need to learn about life. I love these pictures that show Sean and him after a shower.

SEAN IN WINTER PHOTOSHOP PICTURE

Wasn't I just saying I'm not going to talk about not having enough time? Well, I'd love to have more time to spend on Photoshop. Here is one of the pictures of Sean and I that I did. I need to get these on a disk and take them to Walmart...wait a minute....I think I could do this online.. Just send the pics through email and they can send them back to me. Or to Snapfish. Then I wouldn't have to go out in the cold, snowy, day. .....hmmmmmm....

Too Cute!

How cute is she???? Don and I have been contemplating getting a puppy for a few years now. Our darling cocker/terrier mix, Athena had to be put down after 15 years of devotion to us several years ago. It was the first time in our lives that we did not have a dog. We went a few years without an animal and then brought home a stray cat from Diane's house in North Carolina. Yes, we love Top Gun and he is very affectionate, but he. is. not. a. dog. We are feeling the pull to have a dog in our life. There are pros and cons....pro...the love, the companionship, the fun con...the care, the walks, the training, the fact that we travel. I saw a Westie on a program last night and fell in love. Is there a dog in our future?

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Here is a picture taken in Tennessee of my wonderful family. How good looking are they?

I guess this cartoon didn't come out as large as I wanted it to. The two girls are admiring the guy's body..the third has her eye on his ice cream cone...guess which one I am? Today is the first day of Weight Watchers. it's good to be back but daunting to know that I have to be that disiplined.

AND CHRISTMAS IS GONE

I wonder how the house feels. For two months it is festooned and beribboned with garland and shiny balls, decorations wherever you look. It is festive and bright and welcoming. Then one day it is torn apart at the seams...down comes the trees, off come the wreaths, santas are put away for another year. It looks bare. And then out come the old, familiar things...a topiary, a gold vase, a vine covered rooster, a tall horse sculpture. The garden room comes back into its finery. It is cozy and warm with books under the baker's rack and green plants by the window. I think I can melt right into this room. The table setting remains the same calling me to create a company meal.

ENOUGH TIME

"I still find each day too short

for all the thoughts I want to think

All the walks I want to take

All the books I want to read

And call the friends I want to see".

One phrase that I found myself repeating over the course of my life is "I don't have enough time". It doesn't matter whether it was when I was younger, holding down a fulltime teaching position and raising two young children, or now, when I have been retired for several years. I never seem to have enough time to do all I want to do. It may be because I'm a multitasker and always have two to four projects going on at once. Or that I love to keep learning so I spend time boning up on how to become a better digital photographer and playing at the computer to learn how to manipulate photos with photoshop. Or that my interests require some time and I have too many of them? Anyway, I've always felt like I was trying to live each day to the fullest and get more from each hour. But now I realize that I was making a choice. I actually prefer the busy life. While teaching I was living by a schedule and I find I do best if I set written goals and plan my life. I'm always striving. That doesn't mean that I am a type A personality...far from that. I do know how to stop, take a breath, and just relax and enjoy this wonderful life I have been given. I just want to do so much! There once was a book called Follow you Bliss and my bliss is doing something creative. When I'm doing that I am in a zone where time passes without me noticing. It is said that time passes more quickly when you are older and I'm sure that it is true. All the more reason to make the most of every day.

BENJAMIN BUTTON

Today Don and I took Yrsa and Linda to the movies in Olean to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Brad Pitt. What a great movie. Of course you had to buy into the fact that he was born old and grew young as time passed, but after you got over that the plot was so interesting. The story was well told and the makeup outstanding. One thing that caught my attention was the one scene that described how sometimes a simple few things that happen outside your life can have an effect on yours if you just miss disaster by a few seconds. How many of us have had a "close call" and wondered if we had just been a few seconds sooner we might have been killed. Life is all about timing.

Great Saturday

Don loves his new truck !

Don't worry...I'm not even going to discuss my dieting on this blog but I can't resist the cute cartoons.

It was so nice meeting my friends for coffee today. What a great support group I have here in Bradford. They all said how much they missed me even though I was only gone a week. They are great women and are really there for me.

Afterwards I had errands to do...stop by the notary to sign for registration of Don' new truck, get a gift card for the cat sitter, mail Ryan's camera back to him (he left it in my car), get some papers copied.

Now I'm waiting for Don to finish watching Gold Fever and then we are de-decorating the house. I'll be glad to get all the Christmas stuff up in the attic and get on with the new year.

It was so much fun over the holiday. It was really great to stop at Roanoke and have lunch with Diane and her family. What a great group of people. Steve and Vicki have such darling children and they are so much fun. (Hi Vicki!) She told me she reads my blog, imagine that. I just do this for me and really don't know who reads it. So if you are out there please comment and let me know. Also I saw the new baby, Molly. How cute! Our family is so fortunate that we have all that love going on!

the new year's diet poem

T'was the month after Christmas, and all through the house,nothing would fit me, not even a blouse;The cookies I'd nibbled, the eggnog I had to taste,at the holiday parties had gone to my waist;When I got on the scales there arose such a number!When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber),I'd remember the marvelous meals I'd prepared,The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared;The wine and the rum balls; the bread and the cheese,and the way I'd never said, "No thank you, please."As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt,and prepared once again to do battle with dirt,I said to myself, as only I can,"You can't spend a winter disguised as a man!"So, away with the last of the sour cream dip.Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip.Every last bit of food that I like must be banished,'til all the additional ounces have vanished.I won't have a cookie--not even a lick.I'll want only to chew on a long celery stick.I won't have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie,I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.I'm hungry, I'm lonesome, and life is a bore,But isn't that what January is for?Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!

it's a small world!

During our stay at Ryan and Jenny's we decided to spend one day in the mountains. The Smokey Mountains are so beautiful and vast even at this time of year when there are no leaves on the trees. We stopped at a country store where we found a wood carver out front. He had carved animals and birds into huge logs. I stopped to ask him about it and told him there was a huge woodcarver convention in a town near ours every year. He asked me if I was talking about Ridgeway. When I said yes he told me that he and his twin brother started that ten years ago. That was when he turned around and I saw Ridgeway on the back of his jacket. He said that I should try to go to when the carvers are there. They come from all over the world since it is the biggest event of its kind in the world. I'm going to try to get there at the end of February.


While we were driving through the mountains following a quickly flowing stream along the roadside we decided to stop where a few kayakers were beginning their journey down the stream. We watched while two kayakers put their kayaks on a large rock and then pushed them off the ledge. It was neat to see. The water was cold that day and they went completly under the water and popped back up.

.

REFLECTION

As I am reflecting on 2008 this poem summarizes some of the lessons I've learned in my life.




As I Walk Through Life

I've learned-
that you can do something in an instant
that will give you heartache for life.



I've learned-
that you should always leave
loved ones with loving words.
It may be the last time you see them.



I've learned-
that you can keep going long after you can't.


I've learned-
that we are responsible for what we do,
no matter how we feel.



I've learned-
that either you control your
attitude or it controls you.



I've learned-
that money is a lousy way of keeping score.



I've learned-
that my best friend and I can do anything
or nothing and have the best time.



I've learned-
that sometimes when I'm angry
I have the right to be
angry, but that doesn't give me
the right to be cruel.



I've learned-
that just because someone doesn't love you the
way you want them to doesn't mean they
don't love you with all they have.



I've learned-
that no matter how good a friend is,
they're going to hurt you every once
in a while and you must forgive them for that.



I've learned-
that it isn't always enough to
be forgiven by others,
Sometimes you have to learn
to forgive yourself.



I've learned-
that just because two people argue, it doesn't
mean they don't love each other.



I've learned-
that two people can look at
the exact same thing
and see something totally different.