AC on in March !!!!

Well, now we've gone and done it. We turned the AC on in March!!! Got home to an inside temp in the mid-80s and simply couldn't get it any cooler with the fans. It was getting awfully sticky in here. The humidity was really kicking in today, too. Feels good now. Hopefully, we can turn it off in a day or two. I think Tuesday is supposed to be near "normal" (mid 50s).

I can tell it's Spring as we're judging the first BBQ of the season tomorrow. Looking forward to some good food and a chance to see the whole BBQ gang. Funny, we see those folks every couple weeks for 6 months straight and then not at all for the other 6 months. Only a few of us stay in touch via FB through the winter. One of those few let me know today they won't be there tomorrow but are encouraging us to expand our horizons and judge a chili contest with them in 2 weeks! Hmmm, need to check our calendar for that one. We've never done a chili contest.

We had a great visit with some friends today. We did get a Japanese Maple for a memorial gift for them. (She lost her Mom last month.) I was willing to go along with The Big Guy's choice of a saucer magnolia since we like ours so much, but the ones they had at the nursery just didn't look great.) The tree was a little bigger than we'd planned and was a little harder to fit in the van. The nursery guy ended up crawling into the vehicle to pull it in and get it situated then had trouble getting out. I teased him that we were going to hold him captive but he found a hole to squeeze through. Amazingly, The Big Guy didn't have a lot of trouble pulling it out, pot first, through the sliding door on the side! They were really pleased with it and were trying to decide just where to plant it when we left. (They do own automated digging equipment that will make that job easier for them.)

Got home in time to squeeze a quick nap in before our neighbor came over for the weekly card game. All-in-all, it was a good day.

Our neighbor did the lawn last night and today so I guess we need to get out there and work the flower beds and do some trimming now to make it "Lawn Beautiful" as The Big Guy likes to call it. Still too early here to really plant yet. Hard to believe it when you look around though. The forsythias are gorgeous this year - very full. The flowering cherries and plums are pretty much at their peak (we've got a tremendous number of both in the general area), the saucer magnolias and star magnolias have actually peaked and are going to leaf now, the red buds are blooming and the earliest azalea breed around these parts popped forth today. Daffodils are everywhere! I even saw a few beds of hyacinths in bloom today. We're a full month early on most of these.

Well, got to head off to bed so I'll be ready to judge in the morning.

Happy weekend, All!!

It's been a long week.

It's been a long, tough week and our journey's not yet done.

As I said in my last post, my m-i-l passed away last Saturday after a long and exhausting illness. It is comforting to know she is no longer suffering and is now in a much better place. My personal belief is that her soul is now reunited with her loved ones that went on ahead - her husband of over 50 years and her parents and siblings. She was the last of that generation in her family.

The last photo I took just s few weeks ago,

surrounded by her grandson and great-grandson.

Because we had to schedule family members traveling from across country and the need to bring her ashes East, we have not yet completed the burial. That will happen next weekend and will culminate with a gathering of friends and family to celebrate her life. We will share photos and memories and, hopefully, lots of hugs and smiles. Mom always enjoyed her extended family. I think she'd approve.

The day-to-day antics of her
great-granddaughter brightened her days.
August, 2010

In the meantime, we're sort of in a state of suspended animation. We've cried many tears, reminded each other of better times and, in our space and time, have mourned her loss. We will miss her tremendously. We've done all the phone calls, planning and preparations for events on this end. There's nothing to take care of for another week now.

I know we will once again shed tears and share our grief when the rest of the family gets in later in the week. For now, though, it's time to simply wait. We can't just sit and stare at the walls so we have proceeded with many of our normal activities but have done so with heavy hearts.

Summer, 2009, the three if us at a

Friday night concert at the mall.

Yesterday and today we judged a BBQ contest. It was a commitment we made many months ago so we proceeded as planned. This morning was one of the days I set out feeling very down and wanting simply to call and cancel. We were with people we've known for several years but, for the most part, they are not close enough to our family to have been part of situation. Many were aware Mom had been very ill simply because we had been forced to miss numerous competitions this season to tend to family needs.

We dragged her to a riverfront
blues festival in August, 2010 - she loved it!

Quite a few (both judges and cooks) ran over to say hello and ask about the situation as soon as we arrived. They were genuinely concerned to find she had passed. I was amazed at the many kind, supportive and sincere words these friends shared with us. There were several truly warm and comforting hugs and I'm glad we did do the event. I am once again struck by how wonderful, sweet and compassionate our BBQ family is.

She loved a good laugh!!

It was a gray and rainy day - a bit depressing in and of itself but our BBQ friends managed to make me feel quite a bit better.

Thank you BBQ friends. I needed that!

It's been a great day !!!

We picked up our new dining room chairs today. They are beautiful!!!

We’ve had the same old chairs for about 21 years now and we got those second hand. Don’t get me wrong. We liked those chairs a lot but there’s just something about “NEW” that feels really good.

We were sort of forced into this purchase. Our old chairs have slowly died off until, along about Thanksgiving, we realized we only had three useable chairs! Now, that makes for a very small dinner party! It just looks so “college dorm” to seat a crowd using three decent dining chairs, a couple of folding metal chairs, one ancient folding wooden chair and a kitchen stool or two.

Our old chairs were actually about 36 or 37 years old and had lived a long tough life. We got them from my best friend’s mom when she bought new ones. At that time, we received six chairs. Both households consist of some large, sturdy (read “heavy”) folks and these chairs were used for every meal in both houses. They were also used for dining room table bookkeeping, game playing, and everything else one might due at the only large solid table in a household. I recovered them twice over the years. In fact, the reason they were replaced by the original owner was that her cat had scratched up the original leather seats.

They were made of teak by Scan, an upscale chain specializing in quality Scandinavian style furniture. Way above Ikea quality. (Sort of a Nordstroms/Walmart comparison.) Unfortunately, Scan left the Mid-Atlantic area several years ago. I believe they still have some stores on the West Coast and possibly a store or two in Florida. None I could find on line would ship to Maryland or we would have bought the same chairs again. (At the time the stores left this area, they did still carry them.)

We wanted good, solid wooden chairs. We hope to get another 30 years out of these. We turned to the Amish where our purchase was made to order by hand. We chose the style, the type of wood and the stain color. This kind of work takes time. We ordered them the first week in December and they came in this week. The only challenge was finding a weather window in which to go pick them up between snows. Today, we had a few short hours between snow events to sneak up to Lancaster and back.

Mission accomplished!

Another high point of the week was having great neighbors. (Of course, we knew this long before this week!) On Wednesday when we had about 4“-5” of snow in the morning, they came over and shoveled off our steps and cleaned my car off. She began shoveling my husband’s half of the driveway (He’d already left for work when most of the snow came down) and her husband finished it up with the snowblower. Believe it or not, they did it for all seven houses on the block! He even made sure the roadway was negotiable for everyone to get in and out.

On Thursday, we awoke to about 7” inches of fresh snow. The Big Guy stayed home and when he went out to work on the driveway, he was joined by this couple and another great neighbor and his snowblower.A HUGE "Thank You" goes out to Tony, Michele and Dave!!

Isn’t it terrific having such great friends right next door?

Thank you for the gift of patience.

To my readers who are still here, "Thank you for your patience." I think I am finally ready to make a comeback here. (I know, I've said that several times in the last few weeks.)

It seems the busy holiday season, some quirky twists in my normal daily routine and an inability to go 'round the clock without sleep and still be productive (a recent development in my old age!), caused some things to simply drop by the wayside. Blogging was a good ways down on the priority list. Here's to hoping I'm now back on track and back in control of my time. I've really missed our daily chats!

We're lucky to have a full and loving circle of family and friends with whom we gather throughout the holiday season. At this point we're still in the midst of those get-togethers and I'm loving every minute of them. I'm sad to have missed a few due to scheduling conflicts but I haven't quite accomplished being in two places at once yet.

There's still a small pile of presents yet to be dispensed but we hope to see those folks within the next week or two. We used to have a big family party on Christmas Eve but it became harder and harder for those with young children to squeeze that one into their busy schedules so we moved it to the weekend after Christmas for several years. Gradually, it slid into January and has now settled into the mid-January time slot and the size of the event has also gotten smaller. It now seems to serve the purpose of a wrap-up party to the season and those last few gifts finally slide into the hands of their recipients. So, we'll still be Christmas-oriented for a little while longer.

Don't get me wrong. We do see most of the family multiple times throughout the season including our "Round Robin Trek" on Christmas Day! We generally make 5 stops, beginning at about 9:30 a.m. and we don't get home until at least 10 p.m., covering about 140 miles round-trip! We've talked about cutting back on this but who could we eliminate?

Ultimately, we, personally, would miss it. The rushed journey has become tradition and it just wouldn't be Christmas without it! After all, isn't it the traditions we all look forward to?

I hope your holiday was filled with fun, laughter, love and lots of hugs. I hope you spent time with those who matter most in your life and I hope you celebrated those time-worn traditions that make your family's celebration unique!!

Happy Labor Day, y'all !!!

Okay, hope y'all are having a great weekend ! The weather has turned to simply fantastic here - upper 70s - low 80s, a slight breeze and lots of sunshine ! We're enjoying it while we can. Yard and garden work called to us on Saturday and then a big evening out. We're rarely out late but we didn't get in till 3 a.m.!!!
The first party of this holiday weekend was Sunday. Luckily we didn't have far to go as the get-together was right next door. In fact, we had dueling smoking grills in both yards. The Big Guy did two turkey breasts on our smoker while the neighbor had the sausage, burgers, hotdogs and chicken on his. Wow, the air around here smelled great!!


There was tons of food, good music, a dose or two of spirits, dancing and fantastic fellowship among friends. (Who, incidentally, also happen to be our terrific neighbors.) Seriously, no one had to worry about driving home or traffic. The farthest anyone traveled was about 700 feet!!







As time went on and we all became more mellow, there were even dance lessons!!!


We are so lucky to live on a block with such great, caring people. Most of us have been here together for several decades now. We only regret that a few of our neighbors were not in town for this social event. We missed them. Maybe next time.

Today is another annual get-together that we always look forward to. This one is a semi-annual event that includes folks I've hung out with for over 4 decades!!! There are some we see weekly and a few we only see at this party. Always good food and lots of hugs, chatter and memories. (Oh yeah, there's ALWAYS some great roasted corn done on the grill at this one, too!)

Whatever you're doing today, I hope you're with friends, enjoying good food and lots of laugh. Be safe and happy on this holiday weekend!!

Summer storms..

We've had some wild weather lately. Just the other night there was a real thunder boomer around these parts. Brought this story to mind:

A Dark & Stormy Night -

They were together in the house.

Just the two of them.

It was a cold, dark, stormy night. The storm had come quickly and each time the thunder boomed, he watched her jump.

She looked across the room and admired his strong appearance... and wished that he would take her in his arms, comfort her and protect her from the storm.

Suddenly, with a pop, the power went out.

She screamed.

He raced to the sofa where she was cowering.

He didn't hesitate to pull her into his arms.

He knew this was a forbidden union and expected her to pull back.

He was surprised when she didn't resist but instead clung to him.

The storm raged on...

They knew it was wrong ...

Their families would never understand.

So consumed were they in their FEAR, that they heard no opening of doors...

just the faint click of a camera...

Meet a few more of my friends ...

I'm not in a very bloggy mood tonight.

It's cold here. We'll slip down to 15 degrees within the next few hours and a stiff wind will keep it feeling colder yet. (This is cold for our area! I know a lot of you would love to have a heat wave that high.) I just want to snuggle up in my blankey and hibernate a bit.

Like I said, I'm just not feeling bloggy at the moment so I'll just share a little about a few more of my followers. Maybe you can take the time to stop in and see what they have to say tonight.

While Living in Fairyland, iluvlucy8 is Mom to eight, plus one grandchild. Time is tight but she still stops in to post on a regular basis. Recently, she blogged about meeting one of my heroes, Paula Deen. (I'm soooo jealous!)

Paula at Purse Stuff uses her blog to share craft show news and reviews. She'll be doing a series of RV Resort shows in the Southwest (Tucson, Mesa, Sun City, and more) over the next few months. If you see her out there, say "Hi!."

Holly at Holly Rocks has been one of my most faithful commenters. Although, lately, she's slacked off a bit! I'll excuse her though. She's been busy with getting married (Congrats, Holly!), starting her first teaching job AND moving into a new house! By the way, she recently posted some really romantic pics from her lovely winter wedding.

Tommye is another of my frequent commenters. She wraps tidbits of her life in between pieces of her intricate and precise stitchery. The detailed counted cross stitch creations shown in all her posts on I'd rather be stitching... will make you say "Wow!."

I'm still making my way through the mob and trying to stop in and visit with each of my followers. If I haven't been to your blog yet, hang in there. I'm coming. I've already been to at least half of you this month!

So, leave the light on, please.

So, how was your weekend?

Another busy weekend coming to an end !!! How come they seem, so short? We didn't do anything spectacular but it was a good one.

We had a great "just us" day on Saturday doing something we enjoy together. Starting with breakfast out by 9 a.m., we didn't roll back in the door until about 9 p.m. !

After a good night's sleep, we took advantage of the warmer weather and made the trek to a friend's house for a last-minute afternoon-dinner plan. They live in a somewhat remote rural area that we avoid in frozen times. Today was damp and foggy but in the 50s. We spent a few hours enjoying some great burgers, lots of chatter and the guys watched the football game together. By 5, we were heading home. The Big Guy has a weekly pinochle game here on Sunday evenings so it wasn't long till that gang arrived. Before we knew it, his bedtime had rolled around and here I sit, me and my keyboard (together and alone again) !

I've been worrying this evening.

Maybe I watch too much Medium and Ghost Whisperer and such lately. While using the powder room at my friend's house today, I glanced up at a pretty little hand-stitched sampler on the wall that I've seen there many times before. The very familiar verse says: "Angels sent from heaven above, please protect all those we love."

Of course, when one lets their mind wander without adult supervision, one must expect surprises. My roaming mind read it like this: "Angels sent from heaven above, please contact all those we love." Yep, that one jerked me back to attention!

One of those do-do, do-do moments for sure!

All I can hope is those of you contacted by my angels will welcome their efforts and be comforted by the gesture. We can all use an extra angel or two.

I'm baaack!!!

Remember that New Year's goal to post daily? Well, I blew it -- again.

I had a good excuse. We were away for 5 days - just lounging around with good friends, eating well, chatting and just enjoying the company. It was wonderful!!!

Seriously, I did think about all of you, my readers. I even prepared some posts that were supposed to run while I was gone. Unfortunately, I ran into some internet access problems Thursday night when I tried to pre-post so only Saturday's post ran. So, sorry.

(Did you ever notice most of our road trips seem to involve snow along the highway? What's up with that?)

We visited some very close friends who, unfortunately for us, moved to South Carolina two years ago. They were our running buddies and are sorely missed. It's a 10-11 hour drive these days so our visits are few and far between. When we get together we savor every moment. This weekend was no exception.

Both halves of this couple are excellent cooks. We ate really, really well! There was jambalaya, biscuits with sausage gravy, lentil soup, cheese tortellini, cheese fondue with all the fixin's, chicken fried steak, cake and more!!!

We didn't do many activities away from the house - we were too busy eating !! There was lots of time to lounge around, relax, play with the pets (a cat for every lap!) and just be together.

I had a great weekend. I hope y'all did, too!!

On the road again ...

Here I am, packing again!! This time, it's just a quick weekend getaway. We're off to Johnstown, PA for the American Flood City Music Festival.

This event used to be the Johnstown Folk Fest and was held on Labor Day Weekend but running Friday through Sunday. For many, it served as a homecoming to the town they grew up in and hordes of people made the annual trek to see their loved ones and enjoy the festival.

Over the last few years the event has undergone numerous changes and it has become quite different. It used to be held in the Cambria City area of Johnstown and was combined with the Ethnic Festival which was organized by the various ethnic church congregations making up the many churches located within a 10 block area. A few years back, the Folk Festival committee purchased a portion of the old Bethlehem Steel plant property to create Festival Park, a permanent fairground type location. (A number of events in the city are now held in Festival Park.) This caused the two festivals to become separate events.

The Ethnic Festival remained in Cambria City, where most folks attended for the great variety of foods prepared just as they were back in "the old country." Each church featured foods of their ancestors and most had live entertainment throughout the weekend. The Irish church ran an Irish pub in the basement complete with a fully stocked bar, a traditional Irish menu and great Irish entertainment. The crowds there were always standing room only all three days! The Polish congregation had pierogies, "pigs" and more. Halusky and halupka were available. A variety of ethnic desserts prevailed. Lamb roasted on the spit in front of the Greek church. One church featured big band and polka type music all weekend (and cheap beer)!

The Folk Festival, (now downtown in Festival Park) with its large corporate sponsors, ran continual entertainment on four stages beginning Friday evening and running till about midnight. Entertainment on Saturday and Sunday began at noon and ran till 10 p.m. both nights. Music covered all genres - rock, blues, country, gospel, bluegrass, children's, classical, alternative, comical, soul and more. Performers were a mix of national, regional and local acts. Food here was more of the standard festival type and there were other standard things like children's activities, car and truck displays, community booths, etc.

Both events were free to the public and by the second year of the separation, there were free shuttle buses running between the two festivals. We went back and forth more than once during the days.

Within the past year, the Archdiocese demanded five of the very different ethnic congregations close their churches and form one. This seemed to sound a death knoll for the Ethnic Festival. However, the few churches that are left are valiantly attempting to do a festival this year on Labor Day weekend. it has been scaled back some and will cover a much smaller geographical area than the old 10-block strip. It will still be free and will feature entertainment and ethnic foods for sale.

The Folk Festival has changed its name in an effort to form a new image that they feel better defines their identity as a multi-faceted music event. Thus, the birth of the American Flood City Music Festival. To further establish their new identity, they've moved the dates of the event to this weekend, not Labor Day weekend. They feel this will give the college students an opportunity to participate before leaving for the semester away at school.

Since only a small portion of the music is youth oriented, those of us who have always attended and spent money at the event are a bit disappointed. We will only be able to attend on Friday and Saturday as most of us need to head home on Sunday. (In the past, we used the Monday holiday for travel.) I wonder if the trade off of students versus families will work out for the committee when it comes to spending ability. Also, a number of colleges in our area are already returning to campus so I need to wonder if this will turn out the way they think it will.

To top it all off, the festival committee has also instituted an admission "donation." I believe they need to call it a "donation" to maintain their non-profit status. Does that mean folks could supposedly not make a donation but still be admitted? This aspect does not phase us as we are used to paying fairly sizeable admissions in our area and feel the price they have set ($5 on Friday and $10 for each of Saturday and Sunday) is somewhat low. But will those students agree?

For us, this has always been a party weekend with three or four couples gathering at one couple's home for the entire weekend. We attend the festivals together, eat together and simply commune for the weekend. We enjoy each other's company even without a major event happening around us. We're looking forward to seeing close friends that we haven't seen in months. We don't want the festival to fail but we're hoping they do reconsider and change it back to Labor Day weekend next year. After all, it's tradition!!

I'll let you know how it went, complete with pics when we get back.

Warn your friends, everyone!!!!

In honor of my birthday this weekend, a friend sent me this warning and urged me to let all my acquaintances in on this terrible crime wave, too. So, I'm sharing this bulletin with all of you so, you too, can be on guard against such terrible attacks!!

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You've heard about people who have been abducted and had their kidneys removed by black-market organ thieves. Well, this kind of cruel theft is happening with other body parts as well !

My thighs were stolen from me during the night a few years ago. I went to sleep and woke up with someone else's thighs. It was just that quick. The replacements had the texture of cooked oatmeal. Whose thighs were these and what happened to mine? I spent the entire summer looking for my thighs. Finally, hurt and angry, I resolved myself to living out my life in jeans. And then the thieves struck again.

My butt was next. I knew it was the same gang, because they took pains to match my new rear end to the thighs they had stuck me with earlier. But my new butt was attached at least three inches lower than my original ! I realized I'd have to give up my jeans in favor of long skirts.

Two years ago, I realized my arms had been switched. One morning I was fixing my hair and was horrified to see the flesh of my upper arms flop to and fro with the motion of the hairbrush ! This was really getting scary - my body was being replaced one section at a time. What could they do to me next?

When my poor neck suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a turkey neck, I decided to tell my story. Women of the world, wake up and smell the coffee ! Those "plastic" surgeons are using REAL replacement body parts - stolen from you and me !!! The next time someone you know has something "lifted," look again - was it lifted from you ?

THIS IS NOT A HOAX. This is happening to women everywhere every night.

WARN YOUR FRIENDS !!!

P.S. Last year, I thought someone had stolen my boobs. I was lying in bed and noticed they were gone !! But when I jumped out of bed, I was relieved to see that they had been hiding in my armpits as I slept. Now, I keep then hidden in my waistband.

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Ain't it great having friends!!!