300th POST & Giveaway

Clearwater Beach June 2009

they are celebrating my 300th blog, actually 2 on left are my 2 nieces in a program @daycare

I can't believe it. When I started this blog back in Jan 2007, I never expected that I would get here so quickly. So much has happened, so many blogs. When I first heard the word blog- I said "What in the world is that!, I could never do that, I wouldn't commit to it, Folk wouldn't read my stuff." But, I have gone on to find differently, plus I have the advantage of finding some great blogs & folk to become friends with in the blogosphere! Unfortunately some of them don't blog any longer, but I still think of them and wish their blogs sites were up and running. I think some blogs have been replaced by Facebook & Twitter and like, but writing here is different, you can put as much time & effort as you want. Almost like journeling, but to me easier. I do love reading others blogs and sigh when they haven't blogged in a day or two, and worry if it's over an extended time! or it's the demise of yet another good read.

What with my blog be without a quote:
Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not. We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.
John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801 - 1890)

In commemoration of my 300th post, I am celebrating with a giveaway. I am giving a bottle of locally grown Blueberry wine. Supposedly the home in NJ is the capitol of Blueberries!

To gain chances, just do the following

1 entry-leave a comment (with contact information)

2 entries-follow me and leave a comment stating that you follow me (for my current followers just leave a comment stating you follow)

3 entries-blog about this giveaway, then leave a comment with the link The maximum number of entries is 3 total per person.This contest will end on Saturday September 9, 2009 at 2pm EST. I will pick the winner by random draw,
if you are the winner and I am unable to contact you for your mailing address within 3 days of contest ending, I will pick a new winner. Good luck to all and thank you to all my blog friends!

Hitting the Beaches

Been watching the news about BILL all day. Seems as though he is going right up the Eastern Coast. Where will he hit land!? I hope not at all, but only time will tell!
Saw this pic and couldn't resist, no I didn't take, but wish I had. Quite surreal I think.
The storm we had yesterday was quite surreal too. We drove from NJ up I95 and saw it coming all the way. Seemed like we were skirting it really.

At one stop my grandchildren were outside eating at a picnic table while dau #2 and I were getting coffee. All of a sudden twin #1 comes in the shop and says "grandma, I am scared it looks like we are gonna get caught in a tornado!' I say well go get into the car I will come out with you.

All the kiddos ran to the car with dogs tucked safely under their arms. You could see folk pointing toward the sky and running for cover. We were right on the storm front and it was quite a site to see. We only saw rain for a bit about 20 miles further down I95.

We come back to dau#2 home and then take kiddos to their dad's for the weekend. When we drove back to dau#2 abode did we ever see some clouds & lightning. Thunder was just that thunderous! To be quite honest I have never been in a storm quite that bad before, that I can remember. Lightning was striking all around us! Whew I feel lucky that we didn't get struck.
We had an unbelievable amount of rain, the collection barrel is almost full!
Hope everyone is safe and secure!

Just an Fyi- I am nearing my 300th post woowoo. I will be hosting a give away, so watch for it with next post!!!

Though the circular round-and-round of routine be the bulk of life's affairs, make an occasional jutting diversion - of fun, love, or something that will outlast you - so the shape and motion of your life shall resemble the round lifegiving sun with bright rays shining forth from all directions. ~Destin Figuier

Dog Days of Summer

Nothing is so good for an ignorant man as silence; and if he was sensible of this he would not be ignorant.
Saadi (1184 - 1291)

The dog days of summer are really here
when the air is oppressive as it can be.
Children are thinking of return to school
all too near.

The cicada are singing their unusual song,
the crickets join in like a jubilant throng.
The Squirrels are starting to gather the nuts.
Hummingbirds, butterflies are also around!

The lawn needs mowing every other day.
Is that a hurricane I hear is on the way?

Swimming pools cleaned more than in May.

Beaches are crowded as they can be.

All too soon it will be fall

when the trees turn color

red, yellow, & brown

in waiting for the first frost to fall.

So enjoy the end of the summer

as long as we can

even if its hot as can be.

Lets just go out and have a ball!

POISON IVY! / A DAY IN THE LIFE

Dau #2 has a sinus infection, bronchitis and now a wonderful poison ivy infection on her leg,arm& ???face. Needless to say she is in itch mode! She has too much poison ivy around her house and she just can't stay out of it. You'd think she'd learn by now. On Sunday we were moving brush on her property. I wore long pants and longer sleeves despite the temp, but she had shorts & tank top.

Poison Ivy is pretty to look at, but one must stay away from! I can't tell ya how many times she has had it!

There's been many men coming in and out of the house! Repairmen of all shapes and sizes.

A very large earth mover arrived today. Maybe I will get back to Florida before winter! Keep

hoping!

Today we went for a dip at a friends pool, oops the kiddos went, we went without bathing suits, but I got drenched none the less. Great time!

This eve are going to a local joint for dinner, have live music and great food, so should be good!

On another note I am asking for prayer for an orphanage in India which my cousin is very involved with. There are 37 kids there. Five have contracted swine flu and are hospitalized. The administrators wife now has symptoms. The home has been under quarantine. Please pray, these children already have so many strikes against them!

Time Marches ON

Family Reunion 2009 in New Jersey- This is a pic of my brothers and sister. I am in orange.

There are many years difference in our ages. Oldest soon 65 & youngest 44. We had an interesting upbringing. The oldest and youngest never lived in a house together. He was off to college when she was born. We had great parents who somehow melded us into a family. They actually wanted 10 years separating us, but that was not to be. My younger brother was born when I was 13. I learned how to take care of children when I was a youngin. I sometimes feel like I am the youngest ones mom. They rely on me like a mom now. I am the oldest granddaughter of about 45 grandchildren to my grandparents. My youngest cousin is in her 30's now. A couple of weeks ago we went to a concert together. It was fun. Luckily we went to a country concert so I did enjoy the music. You should have been to the reunion-so many folk there. I still have 1 aunt & 3 uncles who are alive out of 10 children. I saw folk I haven't seen for along time.



Update: I hate selling a house! I am stuck here in the north till all is done. I have to put in a new septic system!! Who knows when that will get done. WE have pushed settlement back 5 weeks.

The system didn't give us trouble, but they say it has to be replaced! Luckily the buyer still wants the house. AT least the weather has been nice up here and I am not in that heat & humidity in Florida. Although it is 90 degrees here today!


The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.
Bret Harte (1836 - 1902)

WATER

Niagara Falls

you can actually get this close

Ok I am on a nature trail this week, go figure. Maybe just reminiscing about vacations of the past?

I have always been fascinated with Niagara Falls. That much water coming continually. I have even seen it in the middle of winter when the water was frozen @ midnight with the moon glistening its texture, but somehow the rumble of water continues! Amazing I tell ya!

I also think I love it so much because its nature, God's amazing nature. Plus its not like going to an amusement park, you don't have to pay just to see it! Just like Mt Rushmore!

You don't have to stand in a big line with folk pushing, grabbing or grumbling just looking in awe!
I took just about every exchange student to it- 9 of them. It always made for a fun 4 day weekend for the family! Now we would have to get passports to go Canadian side. thinking of that I have to get mine updated! Tell ya why later!

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. C. S. Lewis

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. C. S. Lewis

p.s. anybody have any knee arthritis remedies besides knee replacement? mine is KILLING ME!

Hills & Valleys

IF YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN MT RUSHMORE, IT'S AN UNBELIEVABLE SITE!


A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I am imagination. I can see what the eyes cannot see. I can hear what the ears cannot hear. I can feel what the heart cannot feel. Peter Nivio Zarlenga



I never thought when I was young
life would be filled with hills and valleys
Hills so high you can hear a birds song
and valleys so low I want to sing a durge song

Life is so full of every imaginable thing
a child's first cry
to the last breath drawn

Kids so jubilant with their first puppy
to the tears they have when poppie is gone
Little ones wonder at everything
but slowly grow to adult life's wrongs

We try and shield them from deaths song
but alas they can feel the longing of the one gone
We try and explain all the hurt away
but how can that be done?

When we are feeling deaths song
thank God I'm not in this valley too long
Get up and see the birds singing their song!


I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities. Theodor Geisel

Days Gone By

Look at the tiny face looking at ya! Stolen from my daughter! I must get my pics downloaded one of these days!

This was taken last summer when the kids were visiting@ the Sponge Docks in Florida-How little they look then! Dau #1 looks burnt,Dau#2 is hardly visible, and departed Hubby looks so happy with his grandkids and kids!

"If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
Albert Einstein

Today is sure a hot one. Hanging clothes outside one works up a sweat! We did some yard work early before it got too hot. It's 4pm now and siesta time although I am online I can rest LOL.

Did I ever tell ya that retirement is a state of mind! It sure seems like it to me. I have done more labor since I retired than when I actually worked I think!

Update on the house selling. Bad news, I have to put in a new septic before I can sell it. Owell its just money! money??? who has that! The settlement date has changed to Sept- whenever the septic is finished. However, it passed the certificate of occupancy-can't quite get that one! Thankfully the people still really want it!

Just been told by dau#2 that that's me in the pic!?, not her, click to enlarge.

Rocky Road

This was taken a mile or two from my place in Florida



A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. Lou Holtz

This quote reminds me of the tornadoes last weekend

A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. John Muir

just what are mistakes??

A mistake is simply another way of doing things. Katharine Graham

put this in your mind!

A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books. Walt Whitman

A woodland in full color is awesome as a forest fire, in magnitude at least, but a single tree is like a dancing tongue of flame to warm the heart. Hal Borland

patience is something too many people don't have or care to have! we are a folk of immediate gratification aren't we, a throw away society!

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don't know why I posted like this today! just a little different to suit my mood I guess. I am ready to go back to Florida, but know as soon as I get back will be longing for the family up here. esp for dau#2 and grandchildren. I am not looking forward to the drive back with my pooch, but am ready for my own space and time frame! got so much to do before I go!packing,parties, lunches, dinners, etc. have allot of angst about the house selling, not the actual selling, but all the stuff that goes with it! inspections, final repairs etc.

do we ever know what we want! or what we want to be when we grow up!

EARLY MONDAY MORN

Saw these two while driving up I95! Yes there are pink elephants, one granddaughter loves them so had to click the pic! Can always find interesting things on that road!

My daughters and I went to The 'Women of Faith Event' in Washington DC. Despite dau#2 and I not feeling too well, we had a nice time all in all. Great speakers, and the music OMY! Steven Curtis Chapman, Mandisa & Sandi Patty were the main singers, they had that place a jumpin! Then of course the regular event singers were there. The speakers were very good. They dealt with 'folk dealing with a variety' of things; Depression, Money, Abuse just to name a few.

Of course, I got lost going there, but who doesn't in DC. For some reason they have changed the exit numbers on 495! They could have told me! teehee! It was in the Verizon center. We all went in my Mini- that was fun! Ya know, I really love the capitol! so much history, and the buildings! ya gotta love them. Washington Monument looks so different without the scaffolding all gone from the repair! Verizon Center is a few blocks from the White House and I wasn't invited there! Humm whats up with that! Pushing a wheelchair around in DC is sooooo much fun! no wonder my knee is aching and I can't sleep!

Maryland hosted 3 tornadoes over the weekend! Mother Nature had her sort of fire works, with wind & rain! Dau #2 house was sorta around the center of the three of them. Since she went later than us, she texted they were in a monsoon! Luckily not allot of damage was done around here, but ya can tell there were good winds, many trees and branches are everywhere! Sunday,we were still having remnants of rain. Maybe the sun will shine later!- one can only hope! I even did some laundry Sunday as I only brought so many clothes with me, and put them in the dryer! It was a good old fashioned do nothing Sunday after church! Gotta get rested before the dau puts me to work Monday! On the agenda is: more laundry, getting stuff off the trailor so I can haul a freezer back up to NJ, & getting ivy vines off the big red barn!

It's 2am- just went out to take Snickers for a short walk, There were stars in the sky and the moon is quite full & on the horizon! Maybe we will have a blue moon this month!

Thanks for all the wonderful responses I have been receiving-I don't usually respond to them, but I sure read them and appreciate!