Return visitor

Mr. bear came out of hibernation. If you have been following me for awhile you know I live on the edge of the woods and in the past have been visited frequently by black bears. They have come right up to my French doors at night, taken a dip in my little pond, and placed their muddy tracks even in fresh cement. So having them is not unusual. They usually begin the spring by satisfying their hunger with birdseed. And so he/she did. He bit the finch feeder and poured out all the seed. Then he knocked over a metal garbage can that held sunflower seeds and suet cakes and indulged himself. He must have waddled away. Now we will have to stop feeding the birds. We have a large gazebo feeder than once was torn apart by a bear so in the summer we do not feed so he can find other food elsewhere. 

  The rain stopped yesterday and it was warm so I went on a little walk on the Pitt trail. There weren’t a lot of people out even though we can go out as long as we social distance. I need to get out of the house once in a while just for a change of scenery. My sense were working overtime as I listened to the chirping of the cardinal, the rush of the swollen creek. Even the reflection of clouds in a puddle held a fascination for me. Staying home has made me much more appreciative of the little things that I always took for granted before 

     This time must be used wisely. I think every one of my closets will be clean by the time this quarantine is over. Each day I find a little task to keep me busy. 

   

Take a deep breath

It is a strange time and my mind is continually trying to process this Covid virus pandemic that we are going through. Each day the bad news comes through the tv as cases build up and hospitals plea for help. Our country was unprepared for this type of crisis and we are doing the best we can but this virus is dangerous. There isn’t a life that isn’t untouched by what is happening in our country and the world. It is scary to think that this invisible threat could end our lives. We are at risk and the only way we can save ourselves is to just stay in the house and away from all people. Even my son and his wife don’t dare come to visit for fear they may be infected without symptoms. 

   I know that someday this will come to an end but not soon. I am adapting to our new way of life, isolating ourselves right in the house. I am using the time as well as I can, keeping contact with family and friends, and not obsessing with the news. A positive attitude is hard to keep as I try to keep myself amused and filled with hope.

         

It felt so good

I never thought digging the dirt would feel so good. I am not one of those gardeners who loves to get dirty. Those who live for planting flowers and vegetables. One who spends time planning their gardens. I am more a spontaneous ..ooh, it looks like there are too many weeds there..type. I love to see pretty though so I do spend time taking care of my flower beds. We had a rare warm day yesterday..63 degrees and I knew I had to get outside. It is really early to start spring cleaning outside but I looked at my climbing hydrangea and decided that it needed a good pruning. I got out the large pop up vinyl garbage can and went to town clipping and cutting and hauling till the hydrangea was down to a more manageable size. 

Before the shed on the back of the garage was covered with vines. I also cleaned up those stubborn old leaves that filled the bed beneath the hydrangea. I cut back all the dead peonies and put up the peony cages in preparation for those little sprouts that I saw popping up. 

   But that wasn’t all. Next I tackled the front walkway gardens. On my hands and knees I weeded and trimmed getting rid of all the old trash from last summer’s garden. My lilies are coming up (too early I fear) and I think those little leaves are grape hyacinths. I emptied the large trash bin four times which might tell you how hard I worked.

    And it felt wonderful! It seemed so nice to do something so productive. There is still more to do but the forecast for the weekend is rain and all next week it will be in the forties. If I can get to a store I need to buy more gardening gloves.  (It seems so strange to have to think that way. In normal times I would just go to the store anytime I needed something. Now I hesitate and try to weigh how much I need an item and is it worth my health.)

    My friends, I hope that you are weathering this quarantine as well and staying safe. Thank you for being a reader.

Things to do

All of us are trying to find things to keep us busy these days. I have found that getting dressed and putting on make up as usual helps me bring some normalcy to my day. I’ve also been trying to stay away from watching the news all day (although my husband likes to keep the tv on). Yesterday for the first time it seemed like a normal day, I went downtown, I worked outside. My mind needs a respite from the onslaught of bad news coming at me daily. It is keeping me from sleeping as I try to ignore it all day but seeps into my mind when my head is on the pillow. 

        The French Country Cottage blog had 34 excellent things to do at home. You can find her on my side bar or click on this link:

https://www.frenchcountrycottage.net/2020/03/34-things-to-do-while-staying-at-home.html

     I’ve also found time to read and can recommend The Scent Keeper. It reminds me a little of Wher e the Crawdads Sing and had me lost in the story. 

Erica Bauermeister, the national bestselling author of The School of Essential Ingredients, presents a moving and evocative coming-of-age novel about childhood stories, families lost and found, and how a fragrance conjures memories capable of shaping the course of our lives.

Emmeline lives an enchanted childhood on a remote island with her father, who teaches her about the natural world through her senses. What he won’t explain are the mysterious scents stored in the drawers that line the walls of their cabin, or the origin of the machine that creates them. As Emmeline grows, however, so too does her curiosity, until one day the unforeseen happens, and Emmeline is vaulted out into the real world—a place of love, betrayal, ambition, and revenge. To understand her past, Emmeline must unlock the clues to her identity, a quest that challenges the limits of her heart and imagination.

Lyrical and immersive, The Scent Keeper explores the provocative beauty of scent, the way it can reveal hidden truths, lead us to the person we seek, and even help us find our way back home.

It seemed like a normal day

It seemed like a normal day

 The Corona blues

I dressed and put on my makeup

(but my coffee group no longer meets in the morning)

I drove to the post office

(but the streets were empty of people and the sign on the post office door said "keep 6 feet away")

I stopped at the bank

(but the doors were locked and only one sole person at the drive through greeted me)

I went for a walk on a familiar trail

(but very few people were out walking on this warm spring day)

So when I got home I opened the garage door and got out my pruning clippers. I tackled the small herb garden outside my kitchen door. As I gathered all the dry oak leaves who stubbornly refused to blow away the sun hit me on the back and I reveled in its warmth.  I cleaned out the two hydrangea pots and trimmed back the dead wood and noticed the buds already trying to leaf out. 

They don't know the world has stopped.

How I felt

And how are you amusing yourself?

It was just less than a month ago that Chris and Wendy came up and we went to the Comedy Museum. How life has changed in such a short time. Don and I are self quarantining to keep Corona away. It is so strange to not be able to go shopping or the movies out of fear. The world has stopped as we knew it. It is truly a crisis and eventually we will get through it. But meanwhile we will keep ourselves safe and try not to have too many sleepless nights. I am trying to stay positive and use this time productively. There are always projects like organizing to keep me busy. But sometimes I need to get out of the house so I went for a walk around Marilla the other day. 

It always is good to get out in the fresh air and the mile walk around the lake is just what I needed. The day was over sixty degrees, one of the warmest we had in a while. It has dropped back down into the twenties now. 

I stopped on the far bridge to think about how lucky I am that I can still get out and enjoy nature while some shelter in place inhabitants have to stay indoors. 

On Saturday I got Don out of the house for the first time in a week. We went for a little ride over to the state park nearby. The trees are all still bare and not so pretty but we still enjoyed the trip. We rode around the lake there and saw others who had cabin fever walking or riding bikes. As we rode back through our downtown the streets were empty with no stores open. I briefly stopped in the grocery store and noticed that there were hardly any people shopping. This will have a grave effect on our local economy. 

Wherever you are, please stay safe. I have seen that a a lot of states still have not asked people to stay home and that is the only way we can slow down the spread.

On the window sill

Hello my friends. I am thinking of you this morning and wondering how you all are coping with this new normal of staying in and staying home. I must say that I am very concerned and worried but am trying to keep a good attitude. We are self quarantining here as Don with COPD can’t take any chances. I got out a jigsaw puzzle to work on and keep myself busy with water coloring and playing the piano. I keep in touch with my boys through FaceTime and talk to the grandchildren. Our coffee group is not meeting of course but we keep in touch. This will be a long haul and we will do the best we can. I pray for your safety and wellness. 

This quote gives me comfort...

One thing leads to another

Do you notice something new?  Don painted the bottom of my kitchen.  

It is a very bright green. Much brighter than I had imagined from the paint chip. 

It is very bold!

What do you think? Too much?

Something new

I felt like a spring refresh so I put some new wall covering on the kitchen walls. 

I love the black and white flowers. 

And I added some green ticking curtains. 

I took away the lower tier curtains which really opened up the corner windows. 

This is just the soul lift I needed to cheer me up.  

Ooh la la

The French flower market has arrived on Chatham Lane. This flower market sign was found at an architectural artifacts store in Virginia and I gather all the flowers from various stores. 

At the comedy center

Chris and the puffy shirt   

Always foolin’ around....

My photo on the wall of fame. 

Don and I acted out the famous scene from I Love Lucy. 

Beautiful things

Gazing on beautiful things acts on

my soul, which thirsts for heavenly light."

MICHELANGELO

I am thinking....

  What fun it is to have family visit. Family means everything to me. I wish that we all lived closer so we could spend more time together. 

Outside my window..

the snow has melted away and I can smell Spring in the air. Tough a small wind is blowing and the sun Has been shining all day.

I am thankful...

For having this wonderful day of rest. Just kicking back, completing the laundry and changing the sheets, reading and relaxing. No cooking today as we will eat Olive Garden leftovers. 

I am wearing...

Comfortable jeans and a pink lightweight shirt with ties at the neck. Lounging clothes.

I am watching...

Tonight is American Idol..one of my favorite programs. Others are This is Us and A MIllion LIttle Things.

I am enjoying...

Don’s homemade chili. He makes the best and makes gallons at a time. We freeze it and haul it out when we get a taste for it. We sent some home with Chris and Wendy. 

The National Comedy Center

Chris and Wendy were here for the weekend and we wanted to try something a little different so we went to Jamestown, NY to the National Comedy Center. Since nearby Celeron is the birthplace of Lucille Ball the city has been celebrating comedy and had already opened the Lucy and Desi Museum. We spent about two and a half hours there and it was amazing. I highly recommend it. It was very interactive and Don and I got to star in the famous Lucy and Ethyl candy factory scene. Chris did an impromptu stand up comedy skit at a mike and drew admiring applause. 

Opened in August 2018, the National Comedy Center quickly received formal designation from the U.S. Congress as the nation’s official cultural institution dedicated to the art form of comedy, as well as a position on TIME magazine’s “World’s Greatest Places of 2019.”

The Center is also a destination for live programming, such as comedy shows, festivals and other special events that will bring people to Jamestown, especially in the more temperate seasons.

The thing that the Comedy Center does very well is present a lot of information—some might say an obsessive amount, but we are talking about comedians—accessible at many different levels, depending on a visitor’s interests (and how much time they have to spend).

National Comedy Center, 203 W. 2nd St., Jamestown, NYNational Comedy Center

Jamestown is where Lucille Ball, the beloved star of “I Love Lucy,” was born. And the Center embraces its origin story: that Ball, in her later years, insisted that any future institutions built to recognize her, also recognize “all of comedy.”

The impact of both the materials and the technology cannot be overstated. According to museum data, the average visit is 2.5 to 3 hours. You could conceivably spend all day, or even all weekend.

you have to drive to Jamestown to visit it. But a center for comedy was the dream of Lucille Ball, born and buried in Jamestown, so that's where it was built and opened on August 1, 2018.

The Puffy Shirt.

The Center is part museum, part hall of fame, and part high-tech comedy club. Visitors are given an RF "laugh band" when they enter and are instructed to create a "sense of humor profile" by tapping a series of screens. This skews what they will see, running the har-de-har gauntlet from vaudeville to sketch comedy to YouTube videos of cats.

The Center has a room with a bar where visitors can perform "comedy karaoke" by reading their favorite comedians' jokes on a stage. The "Blue Room" is devoted to adult humor; a "Stand-up Lounge" offers holograms of the famous. And there are comedy relics as well: Seinfeld's puffy shirt, Chaplin's cane, Weird Al Yankovik's accordion, a Flying Fickle Finger of Fate award from Laugh-In.

For kids -- or adults who refuse to grow up -- the Center provides a "Ham it Up" video wall that encourages funny faces (or Louis Black-inspired angry faces), and at least one bench with a secret built-in whoopee cushion

Here is another review....

As full-time travelers, we’re often skeptical when we hear about “must-see” sights. Can this museum or that hotel really be so spectacular? 

In the case of the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, N.Y., the answer is a laugh-out-loud, “Yes!” 

We can understand why Time magazine listed it as one of the 100 greatest places (in the world!) to visit in 2019. It’s that good.

The National Comedy Center opened in 2018 in Lucille Ball’s hometown, four blocks from the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum, a traditional display of artifacts that opened in 1996. The legendary redhead comedian, who died in 1989 at 77, had expressed a desire to see the creation of a museum celebrating all of comedy. That took 22 more years, and the two museums are now managed by one organization.

There are some classic comedy artifacts on display, like Jerry Seinfeld’s Puffy Shirt from 1993 and Carol Burnett’s cleaning lady costume. But what really sets the National Comedy Center apart from is the totally customized interactive experience. 

Upon entry, visitors create a personal “sense of humor” profile, selecting favorites on a series of touch screens from hundreds of comedians, TV shows, and movies. This information is loaded into a Laugh Band worn on the wrist to be scanned at various exhibits throughout the museum. Each visitor will see slightly different footage, depending on specific comedic preferences.

The table is set

Tomorrow I am hosting the Giggle Girls at my house. The table is set and ready. 

I made this centerpiece the other day by throwing together some flowers, artichokes, cabbages and greenery. 

I also used some Spring post cards that Linda had gifted me with a few years ago. 

The green napkins and ivory beaded napkin rings fit in perfectly. 

I found the material for the tablecloth at Walmart. 

It all just came together. Today I will make a cinnamon coffee cake for the girls and get out the marble game. 

Ahh....spring?

I didn’t get a chance to walk on the treadmill at the YMCA this morning but the sunshine and 45 degree weather was calling me to go outdoors. I ventured down to the trail at the University of Pittsburgh campus and went for a short invigorating walk. 

There is still snow on some parts of the trail and I had to wear a scarf and gloves but the walk was so enjoyable and it was so nice to breathe the fresh air. 

It will be a while before we have buds or leaves on our trees...usually the middle of May.

I am hoping for many more days when I can get outside. I really miss have Sadie walking by my side though.

Happy birthday

Happy birthday Sean. I can’t believe he is twelve. He is such a happy, adventurous and fun loving boy. He is off this weekend on a Boy Scout trip. Tonight he sings in a chorus program. He has a beautiful voice.  What a busy guy. 

More Spring

I love this bunny. He has a good place on the mantle. 

Have you started your Spring decorating yet?

I can smell Spring in the air. It is only forty degrees out but the snow has melted except in the shady places under the trees. The stores are full of flowers and bunnies. The season is so rushed now that if you don’t grab something pretty when you see it you won’t find it ever again as they rush to put out the beach things. Little by little I am pulling out more and more. I made this arrangement which has a touch of wildness and I think it suits the painting that I did last year.