POLL

A pic of me @ my gf , we were just messing with the camera

O, how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day!
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "The Two Gentlemen of Verona", Act 1 scene 3

OK so I am being silly and taking a poll

What is your favorite Easter Candy!?;

Peeps!- have ya seen the new orange ones YUMMY
Truffles!!- O are they exciting!
Cadbury eggs!- I don't like the center
Jelly Beans?-why waste calories on the when there is so much wonderful chocolate?

Robin Eggs?-did ya ever use them as lipstick?

Bunny Crisp-don't like them too much

pastel M&M's- you definitely can't eat just one!

Dove squares_ OMG that's what Easter candy should taste like!

Chocolate covered eggs- peanut butter , solid choc, coconut with your name on the top-man have they gotten expensive! I like the peanut butter ones.

And the newest Gummy Bears- kids like em!

Tea Party

Friends/neighbors

My daughter Melanie & I @ the Tea Party - look at all the pretty tables

And last but not least our Table

Today I spent some of the time by the pool, getting some sun! and hot tub! Yeah I think spring has finally sprung in Florida!

Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.
Henry Miller (1891 - 1980)

trip too short

Well it's almost time to travel back down to Florida. I've had a fun time and think the rest of the family has too. We went to Lancaster Pa, for the weekend. Had a lovely time.The weather was spectacular! We loved celebrating Spring coming with such wonderful weather. All the spring flowers are bursting through!
We went to Sight & Sound and saw JOSEPH. The grands loved it, actually we were surprised they liked it as much as they did. They all want to go back there again. For those of ya who don't know , it's a wonderful theater located in the Amish country. They do religious based shows. There is singing,acting & even animals onstage. I can't really explain it well enough, but it's great.
The hotel we stayed in had a heated pool & hot tub. My grands would have been just as happy spending 24/7 in the pool as anything. However there are shopping outlets! So ya know where we spent some of the time. The first store Danny & I went in he looked around for about1/2 a second and reports "boring"! Additionally, being in the Amish country we had to go to "Good & Plenty" a restaurant with Amish/Dutch fair. We did the family style one. Fried Chicken, Meatloaf, Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Chow Chow, Pepper Cabbage, Apple Sauce, Home Baked Breads. O and for dessert was Apple Crumb Pie, Shoo Fly Pie, Orange Jello with Fresh Pineapple & Homemade ice Creams/Sherbets. Needless to say we needed a rest after that TeeHee!

Had some special time with each grandchild. Danny the youngest wanted to know when he would be getting hair under his armpits, I said not till you're a bit older than Kenny. He said are you sure? I can feel the seeds of hair coming, can't you. I just looked with amazement at the things this kiddo can come up with. Of course I didn't laugh, that would be improper!
The twins loved their new outfits. Lizzie almost has enough hair to get it cut for ' locks of love'. Michelle is still plagued by spelling & memory verses, but it doesn't seem to bother her. She still goes around with a bright smile. And finds many things comical.
Kenny kept asking if he looked slim. Which of course he is. Plus he is now taller than grannyjax- a milestone to him, but not me! Not right that my 11 yr old grandson is taller than me!

Well I've gotta get the packing done!

Happy St. Patricks Day

The English Tea a week ago where I live, more to come, but this one fit with the theme today.

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.


We go from the Ides of March to St. Pat's Day.
Personally I go from daughter#2 birthday to my
anniversary.
Such great memories them all!

Now I'm left with a bit of sadness,
but I do have wonderful memories to share.
Of a man who loved me and the family,
with every beat of his heart.

Now I'm left with pictures and ashes,
but I can only be sad for awhile.
Cause I am left with a future full
of new memories to share.

Our daughters are great contributors
to the world in each a differing way.
And I love them for what they give,
but most of all for who they are!

A world full of beauty
family & friends galore.
And four wonderful grandchildren
who make me smile!


Guess its time to quit for today as I've spilled my coffee
all over the computer desk
guess it was time to clean it anyway!

Womens World

Yes, turn the clocks forward! My error, I always get that messed up.Except when actually doing

March is the month we celebrate women. Personally they should be celebrated all year long.

Over the years there have been some fascinating women, not just the ones who have fought for our equal rights. I like to imagine myself in other women's shoes at times! Like the pioneer woman! Did she have it hard or what! The Haitian woman I read about in the paper who lost a child and family in the rubble, but found a couple of month old baby. She took the child as her own and is gonna raise despite what her world looks like now.

How about Carrie ten Boom who locked many Jews in a closet during the holocaust, but believed God would prevail. You can read her story in THE HIDING PLACE. She also lost many of her family members but continued her work for disabled and the Jews in the Netherlands.

"Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile, when it is difficult to smile. Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family."
Mother Teresa, in her Nobel lecture Indian (Albanian-born) humanitarian & missionary (1910 - 1997)

I couldn't write about inspired women without mentioning Mother Teresa! She was so inspiring, we should aspire to be just a bit like her! the world would be a better place.

Then of course, there was Eleanor Roosevelt- One of the First Ladies of the USA, was at one time dubbed The First Lady of the World! Go back and read of her O MY what a lady she was. She was involved in so many things, The UN, Equal Rights, the Red Cross only to mention a few. She was a strong woman whose hubby said "she was stiff backed", meaning of course she was stubborn.

Women are wise, inspiring, tough, knowledgeable, stubborn, & fascinating, we must continue in that spirit! For one another and the world!

Texas

There are actually 3 pyramids here in Galveston. One of the places we visited while I was in Texas. There was an aquarium, movie complex, beach resort & great gardens here. Funny to see on the horizon when you are driving to Galveston. Don't quite expect to see. We had a nice time here and a great place to take a 7yr old child! before a long evening of an adult gathering!

We had a really fun time at a park too! Nearby is a water park of which was closed, but looked like fun!

DON"T FORGET WE CHANGE THE CLOCKS BACK SATURDAY NIGHT!

YEAH SPRING IS IN THE AIR_WHAT? 11 DAYS AWAY!

Listen, can you hear it? Spring's sweet cantata. The strains of grass pushing through the snow. The song of buds swelling on the vine. The tender timpani of a baby robin's heart. Spring.
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure, Wake Up Call, 1992

visitors from the North

My brother and his wife Clare came to visit from NJ. SO far we havent done really that much. But do we have to? We enjoy each others company and thtas enough!
I also like to see them interact, they remind me of my mom and pop, the way they banter back and forth. After 30 years of marriage I can still catch them smooching in the store. Teehee
We haven't had the best weather in Fl, it's been cool, but it's nicer than the snow in NJ

trying to get orgnized

Well here I am with the birthday boy! We had a real nice time @ Landry's in Galveston Texas for his 40th birthday. He was my first exchange student from Sweden 22 yrs ago, and we have been in contact ever since. He is presently a doctoral student @ Baylor University in neurophysical Sciences in Houston.

I will never get organised! My brother is coming from NJ tomorrow so I need to fix up the room he will be staying in, but never have energy!

the weather is nice here today despite them saying it was gonna be awful. I hope it's nice while my brother & wife are here!

Well gotta go

DAYS REVISITED

" THIS IS MY NEW TOY SO LEAVE ME ALONE, I'M JUST SITTING ON EVERY ONES COATS THEY FORGOT TO HANG UP ". SADIE

Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

" DANNY, don't get up in a tree like your brother Ken,

NAH look at the Eagle in the tree up there" Dau #2

A day at the zoo. It's a wonderful little zoo in South Jersey. Free, you can give a donation if ya want, don't even pay for parking! Close to the very tip of NJ @ Cape May, NJ. Although a small zoo it has all the animals. It's over many acres of land and wonderful walk paths, under trees which show the fauna & flora of NJ. Very educational. And really not too big to get the children crying & exhausted. We went with my 4 grands & my brothers 3 grands. It was great, the youngest child was a year and oldest 10. The older kids actually were a real help with the little ones. There were 6 adults. We made a donation, of course, and we took a picnic. So the day cost us practically nothing. I love those types of trips! Didn't even have to get souvenirs!

Nothing is worse than active ignorance.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We go from summer to winter. Kenny grandson #1 made this @ school. I wanted to take it home with me but momma said NO! Pretty neat for a 10 yr old huh!

I have just come to a realization, I don't take nearly enough pics of Kenny. So when next up in MD, will have to do better. Can't totally blame granny though. He usually is on the computer or video games or outside tossing a football. AND I have to be the one he tosses it to.

no NO NO!

Yes a pretty sky in my neck of the woods

No, No thanks, I said no, what part of no don't you understand?CLICK

I have had two real annoying calls today! you know the type, the ones who don't take no for an answer. How do these folk do it? call people over and over and are told no, sometimes not even politely, but down right aggressively! Is the money that good or do they need that paycheck that badly!

I really try and be polite, but after several attempts at saying no I get aggravated! I don't usually berate, I simply hang up on them. At one time I would play with them for a bit to try and get them to thinking I might get their offer, but I have grown out of that.

Today I told em I wasn't feeling well and had a headache and had just taken medicine, and I would not be able to make any decisions today. He came back, I am not trying to make you make a decision, I am ONLY asking you send us $99 to upgrade your membership(which has relapsed by the way). O well, thanks but no thanks CLICK!

I have even gone as far as telling them I was dyslexic and they would have to explain everything to me backwards- did that dissuade this fellow! by no means- he started doing his spiel backwards!

Then I found out a friend was dyslexic and thought that mean.

I haven't had a house phone for awhile, and decided maybe I needed one since I have a handicapped daughter, but you wouldn't believe the calls I've received. I even got one the other day in which the entire one sided conversation was in Spanish- I decided that was def a wrong number!

I will continue to try and be polite, BUT it's a hard task sometimes!

Such is the irresistible nature of truth that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
Thomas Paine

Where's my Valentine 2010?

Here he is Snickers! Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.
Albert Einstein
YEP I FIND MYSELF HAVING TO EXERT MYSELF IN MOST THINGS THESE DAYS. BUT SOMETIMES WHERE DO YOU GET THE STAMINA JUST TO EXERT YOURSELF!?

What else is love but understanding and rejoicing in the fact that another person lives, acts, and experiences otherwise than we do…?
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)

YES AND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THAT OTHER PERSON DIES AND YOU ARE LEFT HOLDING THE BAG? YOU PICK YOURSELF UP BY THE BOOTSTRAPS AND CONTINUE ON!

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
I IMAGINE I HAVE INTELLIGENCE DOES THAT COUNT?

There is no remedy for love but to love more.
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), Journal, July 25, 1839

I AM SO GLAD I HAVE CHILDREN & GRANDCHILDREN!

Just because you love someone doesn't mean you have to be involved with them. Love is not a bandage to cover wounds.
Hugh Elliott, Standing Room Only weblog, February 16, 2004

WHAT!!! I WANT TO BE INVOLVED WITH THE ONES I LOVE.

I know what a weird post, but that's about how I feel this Valentines day. Weird, lonely, depressed, however I know I am loved and I have love to give & share!

happening

I always love this moss and how it looks on the trees. Saw this one weekend while I was on a retreatThis little chapel was on the grounds of the retreat center. Lovely inside

Can ya see the beautiful rainbow? This was one of the most wonderful ones I have ever seen. You could see every hue! and at one point it was a double rainbow! I just wish I could have captured it better, but too many buildings were in the way.

Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

Christmastime 2009

The cousins all together. They don't see each other often but when they do they are like brothers and sisters. One big happy family.

Keyanna, Kailey (grandnieces) & Danny- he is a ham!

Keyshaun (grandnephew) Keyanna, Danny & Alexzandria

#1 grandson Kenneth, during school play, his class did China. All the students in the grade school had different countries in which they learned how they celebrated Christmas and other interesting facts. Yep he is as tall as me now!

Alexzandria, grand niece

Alizabeth(grand niece) & Daniel they are 6 months apart in age she is older, we always take pics of them together to see who is bigger- I think he always will be, it's in his genes! His dad is 6'4" hers was about 5'7"

Michelle with Snickers & Elizabeth with Sadie, my girls! oops granddaughters

ups/downs

grandson Daniel when he HAD to have a Mohawk over the summer 2009

Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds along rocks.
- Charlotte Bronte Quite a quote huh!

Today hasn't been one of the best for me. This morning when I got up the sugar was 89, good right! Well I ate breakfast of oatmeal & coffee. Around 11am it dropped I didn't even take it again, didn't need to, felt shaky & nervous but ate a sandwich and had some cheese. Then for about 3 hours I felt like crap! It's now approx 7pm and I'm finally feeling better. I have diabetes, and really try to keep it under control, it was just one of those days when it just kept dropping.

Some folk I know with diabetes have trouble keeping their sugar down- I'm just different, mine always goes down. It still makes ya feel awful, either way.

I am relating all this because It's just a health note from me, I never stopped nursing. Elevated sugars for a prolonged time can cause all kinds of problems, without ya even knowing it! That's why it's called the Silent Killer. Yes, Heart, Eyes, GI & Extremities. Warning signs of Diabetes:tiredness, unquenchable thirst, urinary frequency, sores that won't heal, frequent infections, weight loss, blurred vision, red swollen & sore gums, tingling of hands & feet.

So if ya have any of these get out to a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner!

February

Sorry he has such green eyes here, but he is truly a love! Man was my hair short, didn't realise it at the time.



It's February! What types of things do you think of when you hear February!?
A short month, a nondescript month. Snow or the beginning of snow.
Days are short and so is the month.OMG a month has already passed in 2010.
Thinking of vacations.Have you given up on New Years' Resolutions yet!
The groundhog-will he see the shadow or not-who ever thought of this silly day? someone sitting around wishing winter had passed already!?



I have a paradigm shift- I really don't know what to expect in February in Florida.
The rains are coming and so are the hurricanes. The days are warm, but the nights are a bit cool. Plants are looking a little sad, but will soon be colorful again. Should I plant tomatoes?Spring training is just around the corner. When will the snow birds return to their places of origin? Guess the Canadians will be going soon.

O Winter! ruler of the inverted year, . . . I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, And all the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturb'd Retirement, and the hours Of long uninterrupted evening, know.
William Cowper (1731 - 1800), Task (bk. IV, l. 120)

Clairification

#2 Grandson Daniel and Me Dec 2009 @ his school play

Dau #2 said I should make some clarifications to previous post. Those folk were prob not my peers, they are prob 10-15 years older than me. Also, I don't really have grey hair. I have just a few grey spots, and I dye not to cover it, but because I like my hair a redder hue not mousy brown.
Age is relative anyhow. I tried to make some humor only. I just don't feel old and hope I never do(good for me). I have many blessings which I am very grateful for. I try not to dwell on things. Sometimes when I go out with my daughters folk think it's nice us sisters go out and laugh allot!


Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil big enough to draw on the ceiling.
- G.K. Chesterton

O could you see the ceilings if kids had those crayons! Reminds me of a time hubby & I were babysitting our toddler niece. We had driven from NJ to VA after working all night and were a bit tired. My bro said would ya watch her? Of course we said yes. But sleep got the best of us. When my brother got home he said who was watching who? Sleepily we said huh! My brother the told us to look at the wall behind the sofa. Yikes how were we supposed to know she wanted to audition for a Picasso!? or could get out of the crib, and had crayons! Well we've laughed about it for years. However at the time Her folks were a bit peeved at us, to say the least.

A friend of mine put on her FB about pencils not being what they used to when she was a kid- she may be 35! She has 4 kids and pencils always, just don't last. I told her that's what happens when "you take the lead out of the pencil"(bad me!)

Yes I could find myself lying in bed writing on the ceilings. I lay in bed and look up and imagine what shadows are. I could color in the shadows and have lovely prints!

BAD TASTE!

I want to give a forewarning for this post, anyone offended I'm sorry. I just post the facts as I see them.

I think I am age discriminatory, yes me!
I went to the theater this afternoon with my oldest daughter who is 39, and in a wheelchair. They had probably 40 handicapped parking spaces. We were there an hour before the show started. I could not find a handicapped place to park. So I hoofed it pushing my daughter who is no lightweight.
As we were seated I looked around the theater and to my utter dismay over 90% of the theater goers were Qtips (folk with GREY hair). Now I don't care if folk have grey hair, but over 90% in a 500 seat theater! In the daytime. Yikes I was almost scared. I felt like I was in the "day of the walking dead"! I know, I know I live in Florida!, but I never expected every senior citizen would be grey headed, tilted over, walking slow!
My adventure continues, we were in the 5th row back from the stage. A gentleman seated in the 4th row had a pair of binoculars out and using them! OMG I could almost see the blemishes on the singer.
Every member of the 5 piece band was a Qtip.
All the ushers were Qtips. Now picture this a Qtip usher helping a Qtip patron and they both had trouble walking- on flat services, never mind the stairs I won't even go there.

I really did enjoy the show I had quite a wonderful time viewing the sights. O, ya know when someone sings or the like, you see at least a few in the audience bobbing their heads or tapping their feet! Well non of this was seen by me. In fact, I seriously wondered if they had taken their last breathes! I felt sorry for the singer. She almost had to start the clapping(bad me).
Side note- it was 68 degrees when we exited the show @ 3pm- I actually saw a woman with a fur coat & hat on!

Now to almost the best part. Do you know how long it takes 500 seniors to exit a theater? Not very long. I don't know what they had to go do @ 3 pm! Go get the senior citizens discounts @ Denny's, etc., Ah maybe the depends were overflowing. I am telling Ya I think my daughter was the youngest person in the theater and me the next youngest and we were just about the last to leave. There were 2 other wheelchair patrons on the other side of us. They had to go around us to get out the theater. For what I ask! I just stood and marvelled with my daughter.
Then we are finally walking to the parking lot. A lady in front of me , with a walker, going down hill. I was really afraid I couldn't stop the wheelchair so as not to hit her!

In the car we, I am trying to back out and see all these crazy seniors speeding in the parking lot! I just sat there in bewilderment.
I know I should not be writing a blog about my peers in this way, but come on dye your hair!
I know I will have nightmares tonight of crutches, wheelchairs, canes, hearing aides, & dentures all sporting Qtips!

Just a lovely pic of Florida a couple of weeks ago when it snowed here

An Update

Snickers, Elizabeth & Alizabeth over the Holidays

This is Sadie- just resting, she has gotten so big. She is actually lying on Dau #1.

Ok a lot has transpired since I have done any serious blogging. I have lots of new pictures & anecdotes to write, maybe for at least awhile. In fact I have so many blogs to read, I seriously doubt I will get accomplished before Easter.

I just put my suitcases away, and hopefully won't have to use for any travel before going back up north as a snowbird. Why are we called snowbirds? O duh- its because we travel where it's warm and doesn't snow! But doesn't it actually sound like we like snow??? We should be called something tropical, airy, sun baked, any ideas?

Thanks for all the well wishes on My mother-in-law.

Since I have been home I have be SICK! Some kind of flu bug or something I don't want anyone else to get!!! A 24 hour thing! but have been quite tired since. Imodium/Lomotil, crackers, and ginger ale are my new friends if ya know what I mean! No one I know has had these symptoms so I am attributing it to the plane. Where else could I get it!?

Where does all the laundry come from!? 2 people I tell ya and I have done a couple of loads a day since I have come home! My house presently looks like I have the ole hoarding disease, I haven't even put up holiday decorations, etc. OWELL I will get it done.

Hope all is well in your worlds!

A Wierd Winter

As I told ya I am in Colorado.
Last weekend I was in Florida.

I didn't bring a coat with me.
Last weekend I had to wear a winter coat, gloves & hat!

GO figure! When I was in Maryland & New Jersey
I about froze to death!

Well it's about to change again,
supposed to snow the next couple of days,
and I didn't bring a coat!

I'll take some pics of the mountains,
and keep ya posted on my weather observations.

The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.

Doug Larson

Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.

Robert Frost (1874 - 1963), Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

I love Robert Frost so had to include this one!

Passages

Did this yesterday, and somehow got lost in cyberspace.

I am now here in Colorado. I wanted to come before my M-I-L passed but that wasn't in the plan.
I arrived almost 24 hours after she passed. Thought I would come anyway, to help out my sister in law.
We have decided to have the funeral in the summer so all the kids could come, right now everyone is so spread out, and school! WE wanted to have the funeral in the mountains, so this works great to have it in the summer.

Rest in peace Eva Grace McClement Carver-1912-2010