Happy Easter

 

I hope you all are enjoying a happy Easter. Yesterday the weather was sunny and warmer. When Sadie and I went for a walk we could see tiny leaves popping out on some bushes and pussy willows. My daffodils and tulips are growing taller. These first signs of spring are so welcomed. Don and I went out to dinner at the Runway at the small local airport. As always the food was delicious. We came home and watched the Steve Jobs movie. I was surprised that it was not just another repeat of his story...starting Apple in his garage..but began at the launch of Macintosh. It also showed a different and not flattering side of him concerning his denial that Lisa was his daughter. He was a brilliant but abrasive personality but to whom we owe so much.

 

Posted with Blogsy

After The Crash

Yesterday I finished reading After the Crash by Michael Bussi. It's been a while since I've read such a page turner. It was suspensful right up until the last pages and I couldn't put it down. Here is a review from Amazon.

Just after midnight on December 23, 1980, a night flight bound for Paris plummets toward the Swiss Alps, crashing into a snowy mountainside. Within seconds flames engulf the plane, which is filled with holiday travelers. Of the 169 passengers, all but one perish.

The sole survivor is a three-month-old girl--thrown from the airliner before fire consumes the cabin. But two infants were on board. Is "the Miracle Child of Mont Terri" Lyse-Rose or Emilie? The families of both girls step forward to claim the child. Dogged by bad luck, the Vitrals live a simple life, selling snacks from a van on the beaches of northern France. In contrast, the de Carvilles, who amassed a fortune in the oil business, are powerful-and dangerous.

Eighteen years later, a private detective tasked with solving the mystery of the girl known as "Lylie" is on the verge of giving up. As he contemplates taking his own life, Crédule Grand-Duc suddenly discovers a secret hidden in plain view. Will he live to tell it?

Meanwhile, Lylie, now a beautiful university student, entrusts a secret notebook into the hands of Marc, the brooding young man who loves her, and then vanishes. After Marc reads the notebook's contents, he embarks on a frantic search for Lylie.

But he is not the only one looking for her.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Ellicotville

 

Can you see the ski slopes in the distance? Ellicotville, NY is about 40 mintues from our house and is a ski town. Of course now the ski season is over but during the winter this town is booming. It is filled with cute shops and places to eat. We pass through here on our way to Buffalo. And it was always a neat spot for a girl day trip.

There are two ski slopes in town and in the winter there is a lot of activity. This small town has many festivals during the year. What Ellicottville lacks in size, it makes up for in effort: As many as a dozen restaurants line the two-block downtown, interspersed with shops, both chic and pragmatic (including one store that specializes exclusively in socks, and four that sell skis and bindings and snowboards).

For years, Holiday Valley – the busiest ski resort in New York – has earned raves in skier surveys for its après ski activities. This year, readers of Ski magazine ranked the resort third in that category in the Eastern United States – behind only Tremblant in Quebec, and Killington, Vermont (and ahead of much better-known ski destinations in Lake Placid, New York, and Stowe, Vermont).

Spend a day, a night – or, better yet, a weekend here -- and it's easy to see why.

And there are many other things to do there besides ski.

August 13th and 14th, 2016 it’s the Taste of Ellicottville where everyone can sample the best that Ellicottville’s fine restaurants have to offer as they set up “Cafe Style” on the streets. Tickets are $1 each and items are between $1-$4. You can purchase tickets at the main ticket booth centrally located in the village. The event will take place throughout the village from 12:00PM – 4:00PM both Saturday and Sunday. - See more at: http://www.ellicottvilleny.com/event-calendar/taste-of-ellicottville/#sthash.5PGENiWQ.dpuf

 

Posted with Blogsy

Vet report

After the vet checkup we knew that he would say that Sadie needs to lose weight. The prednisone makes her very hungry and we give in to her begging for food. We fed her too much and she put on some pounds. So he encouraged us to try to get off five pounds and that would help her joints. We will continue the Meds and see if the lose of weight helps her feel better. She will miss all her treats and people food but we have to do what is best for our baby.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

We're off

 

We are off to Buffalo this morning to take Sadie to the vet for a checkup. While we were on vacation we noticed that her back leg was going out and she would fall. She is still on Prednisone but every time we try to lower the dose her joints swell. She still seems in pain when we walk a little distance. I would like to see my energetic dog back again.

 

Posted with Blogsy

What's going to happen today?

 

Sara's little dog Zoe was the runt of her litter. She is almost two years old and still is the size of a puppy. She is so sweet and loves to be held. Whenever you sit down she jumps right in your lap. She is almost like a living stuffed animal.

 

Yesterday I had my art lesson for the week. I have really enjoyed taking this class and painting in oils. It hasn't been easy and I need to really concentrate on what I am doing but I'm so happy that I am doing it. I talked about it for years. There are some things that you do and it puts you in bliss. While you are doing it you don't think about anything else because you are in a different stae. What do you do that puts you in that blissful state?

I'm also working on my computer class in Photo Artistry. The course is huge and by that I mean that there are many videos to watch and tons of downloads. I am learning a lot. Luckily I have used Photoshop Elements for many years now and am familiar with it. That was a big learning curve. It took me a long time to learn that. Now the things I'm learning are expanding on what I know. The goal is to take photos and turn them into works of art that can be printed out.

I am also trying to squeeze in some reading time. Currently I'm reading After the Crash and waiting for me is Shonda Rhimes book The Year of Yes and Maeve Binchey's colection of short stories called A Few of the Girls.

In between all of that I'm organizing. Yesterday I purchased a large metal shelf unit. Don put it together and we carried it down to our basement extra room to add some additional storage. Today I hope to go down there and organize. Our basement has always been a place to put all that "stuff". But for years now I have been paring down and reorganizing. We find that there are things we just wouldn't be using now. My goal is to paint the basement floor.

When I retired my biggest worry was that I wouldn't have enough to do to keep me busy. Guess I shouldn't have worried about that!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Daniel

Dan is my oldest grandson and will be celebrating his birthday this week. He is a mechanical engineer and lives in Pittsburgh. He and his fiance Gretchen just bought their first home and will be married on May 6 in Belize.

And this is Scott, his younger brother, who will also have a birthday this week…his 21st. Scott is in his third year of college pursuing a degree in graphic design.

 

Both boys are musical. Scott plays drums and guitar and is currently collecting vinyl rock albums. Dan plays guitar, piano, and trumpet. Both are also great at anything electronic and are my go to guys when I have a computer problem.

 

Happy Birthday, guys!

Star Wars at Knoxville Zoo

Sara and Sean went to the Knoxville Zoo yesterday for Star Wars Day. It looks like they had a great time.

Posted with Blogsy

And so it’s Sunday

Are you enjoying your weekend? When I was working my weekends were so busy doing catch up work around the house and playing with the family. Now my weekends are a time for slowing down and relaxing. I try not to do too much on the weekend as I have all the time in the world during the week to get things done. I do all my errands during the week so I don’t have to go into the stores on Saturday. I use the weekend time to read or work on the computer. I am certain missing Downton Abbey on Sundays, are you? I’ve been watching a new show called The Family and it is interesting.

   This past week I have been putting out Spring decorations to welcome the new season. Snow was predicted for Saturday and I was very happy that it didn’t materialize even though the weather was cold. Don and I had date night and went to a movie (London has Fallen) and dinner (Applebee’s) last night.

  Dinner is in the crock pot. I am making stroganoff. I need to use the crock pot more because there is nothing I like better than having dinner all ready. Now all I have to do is add the sour cream and cook the noodles. Easy-peasy.

  

  

Some randomness on a Saturday

 

This is a phot o I took of Children's Lake in Boiling Springs, PA near

Chris' house. It's a lovely small lake and is beautiful in all seasons but especially in the fall. This is the picture I am working on in art class. The classes are going well but I have a lot to learn.

Just playing around with apps here.

 

This one's for you Tammy. I have another friend also who is happy just to be alone. Not me...the more the merrier.

 

 

The daffodils were out at Ryan's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

It's time for Spring

 

It's time for the changing of the seasons. In 2006 when I started blogging I named my blog Season to Season. Going from one season to another is a way of marking time passing. There is a freshness to moving into a new season of the year. And there is no better season for freshness than Spring. It's a renewal after a long winter. The days suddenly become longer as daylight hours move into evening. The trees and bushes start to show buds popping out and you know soon flowers and leaves will follow. The snow piles are gone and the green grass begins to grow. You notice robins pecking at the ground hunting worms. Change is in the air as you switch from heavy winter coats and scarves to a lighter jacket.

The house decorations change too. Pine cones are replaced by flowers and bunnies. This cutie was found at Hobby Lobby. Since there is just a week left before Easter I won't be putting out the usual baskets and eggs. I'm moving right into Spring. This weekend I'll get out my Spring wreath for the front door.

With the coming of Spring comes Spring cleaning and nesting. And I feel the need to eliminate all that I can from each room. I will be sorting and purging..if that is possible. And organizing what is left. I want to do all the inside cleaning before the really nice weather comes and I want to spend all the time I can outside.

And I need to make more time to pursue the online photography art course I am taking as well as finding time to take some photos and read. When I retired I heard many people tell me that you are so busy that you wonder how you found time to work. I feel the same way. I keep very busy and am always wanting more hours in the day than I have.

Are you ready for the change of seasons? Do you have any routines that happen at this time of year? Which is your favorite season?

 

Posted with Blogsy

Are you still out there?

Hello, my friends. I hope you haven’t given up on me. I’ve been gone quite a long time. Sometimes a break is needed and I enjoyed every minute of my time away from blogging. For almost two weeks Don and I went south to Tennessee and Virginia visiting family. Here are a few highlights. I really didn’t take out my camera much because I was too busy having fun.

Have you ever played Pie Face? Sean got this for his birthday and it was so much fun. You put your head through the face and turn a knob. If you are lucky you don’t get pie in your face. But it is so much fun if you do.

Of course I took a few pictures of the grands.

We had such a great visit and then went over to my sister’s house at the lake. Linda also came down and when three sisters get together you know there was laughter and fun. As always it involved shopping and eating and we did plenty of both. No pictures…too busy.

Then on the way home we stopped at Chris’ to visit. So I got to see all my family in one trip. It is nice to be home now but it is going to take a while to get rested up. Yesterday was such a busy day..coffee, groceries, haircut, Red Hat lunch, laundry, art lesson…whew! I was done in. I will take it easy today for sure.

Thank you for coming back and taking the time to read my blog once again. I appreciate you.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Fun, fun, fun

Hi friends, I am not back to regulate blogging yet but had to post a craft that I did with my sisters. We made silver antique eggs.

 

It was time consuming but the results were worth it.

If you'd like to try it go to this site. http://www.justcraftyenough.com/2014/02/project-antiqued-silver-eggs/

 

 

Now I can't wait to get out my Spring decorations.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Are you using Blogger?

If you don’t like tech talk you can skip this post. When I got my new computer with windows 10 a lot of things were lost. One of them was Windows Live Writer, a platform that I used to create my blog posts. After trying to download it and researching it I found out that it was not compatible with Windows 10. That made me very frustrated because that meant that I would have to use the Blogger way of posting which required me to download pictures from my Photo Gallery. Since my internet speed is slow that meant that the pictures would take quite a while to load and if I had a lot there was a lot of wasted time there.

   But Hallelujah! While looking for something else I discovered Open Live Writer which is Live Writer on steroids. I was able to download it without any problems and now use it to do my posting. And the most wonderful thing about it is that you can just drag and drop pictures into the post quickly. It just made my blogging life so much easier.

 

I don’t know if you Blogger users out there have tried it but it is simple to do and makes great posts. I highly recommend it!

THE THINGS YOU REMEMBER

I was looking for some topic to blog about today. As you know I have blogging since 2006 and that’s a long time.  I feel I have put it all out there and told all there is to know about me.

 

Today’s prompt is about what you remember about elementary school. I have to take my mind back a long, long ways but the memories from there made an impression on who I am today.

 

My elementary school was only five houses down the road which meant I was a walker. In that time there were at least nine small schools in our town. My school went up to seventh grade. When I was in sixth and seventh grade I was chosen to be a patrol girl. That meant that before and after school I led the rest of the walkers along the road to and from their homes. I used a long pole with a red flag at the end to cross them if needed. I felt that it was a big responsibility and O took it seriously. The reward for serving was a trip to Washington, DC at the end of seventh grade. I still remember catching a train that took us into the city. As a group we toured Washington and Mount Vernon. Being boy crazy like I was I met a boy from another school and we spend some time together. I met this boy again at my class reunion fifteen years ago and we still got along really great. Do you ever forget your first crush?

The principal of the school lived just two houses away from us. He and his family were like my second family. He was an amazing teacher and principal. He knew that sixth and seventh graders needed a place to socialize so he planned school dances for us. He gave us a dance card (just a dittoed paper) and we had to have the boys sign up to dance with us. That was a great thing because then we knew which dances we were booked for. And the boys didn’t have to worry about asking us. The gym always was full and we did the Bunny Hop, the Hokey Pokey, and all the dances of the time. What a fun time it was.

I loved music and art (no surprise there) and I remember having my art chosen for the art exhibit at the end of the year. I also remember operettas and plays. Once I was Mary Washington and even wore a hoop skirt.

I had the best childhood anyone could ask for. It was a Sally, Dick and Jane time of innocence.

What are your special memories of elementary school?

 

 

Blogging Break

Starting Wednesday I will be taking a blogging break for a few weeks. I will still post a little but not on my regular daily schedule. I’ll  be taking time to enjoy my family visit. I’ll miss you.