Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone. Hubby and I are having a quiet homey football filled eve. We are drinking the sparkling Spanish wine which we love....Cristalino . Mercy but it is excellent, in my opinion and cheap, no make that very inexpensive. Try it! You'll like it! We do! We also had lobster and they were big enough to allow for leftovers tomorrow in the form of bisque. Oh! That is more exciting than the lobster we just had, in my opinion.

Hope that everyone is sparkling and bubbling and warm and toasty. See you next year.

A Relaxing Holiday

Ahhhhhhh! The work week is done and a looooooong stretch of holiday awaits. We had the Patriots last night and a couple of friends came over, we have a neighborhood get together tomorrow night and then a very quiet New Year's Eve which will involve lobster cooked by the local marketplace and sparkling wine and snoozing in the recliner.

That snoozing in the recliner will more than likely not be only on New Year's Eve by the way. There may even be doing some of that shortly. Holidays wear me out and because this picture speaks to the worn out and also invokes the memory of a recently (a year ago October) deceased and much missed good boy I share with you the Bear in his favorite position. Have a great day. Go Pats

Some shovels are better than others

Back to work. Where did the time go? Seems like just yesterday it was Christmas. Oh. That's right. It was. Short week anyhow and today I have decided that the no tree decision was the best ever. I just talked to a couple of friends who are sighing and moaning about putting all the decorations away. Lucky me!

I have a pile of stuff here at the desk and it must be shoveled out since the week is short and we have another holiday coming up. I must grab the shovel and move this paper. At least it's not the shovel I have had to use in this situation.

Half a Thought

Started this days ago and forgot about it. It was going to be much longer and nostalgiac but everything got in the way. I may return and finish it off. Later.



Listening to Alistair Begg, Truth for Life, as I do frequently. I love his brogue...straight from Edinburgh or some other place in Scotland. It reminds me of all our neighbors when I was very young. See how I digress? Our neighborhood was and still is in the shadow of a great shipyard called Fore River. It no longer is a shipyard but in my childhood years and prior to me it was a booming source of jobs and revenue. Tons of workers, skilled and otherwise arrived from across the seas. Most of our neighbors were workers at the yard and were originally from Scotland which worked beautifully for me as a child since our family was Scottish in heritage. This meant that in my fourth grade Social Studies course when we had to pick a country and expound on it by means of reports, shadow boxes, posters, costumes, special foods etc etc etc, I picked Scotland and boy oh boy what a report I had. I would have brought my neighbors to wear kilts and all but that would have been over the top.

Where was I? Oh yes, Alistair Begg and Truth for Life. Today his lecture or sermon if you will concerned Psalm 31 and the message was and is "my times are in Your hands." I am not trapped in the grip of a blind cold force. I may never know in this life why things are going on but I will, eventually. All things will be made clear. As I have said many times here, the radio is often my link to messages I need to hear. Once again, this is true. I started to write this days ago and I have had events occur, minor to many but you know how that is, I repeated often as I went through the days, "My times are in His hands". What a relief it is to know that.

Tis the Season

I have nothing done for Christmas, except my wreath on the door. That's it. No tree. No lights. No presents. I have decided to make donations this year in place of presents for the older kids in the crowd. I am donating to Angel Tree in lieu of gifts. The younger group will not be coming to the house this year and so I won't see them until after the holidays if then and they are the only reason to buy gifts. We are having Christmas Eve on Sunday since too many of my husband's family are working on Monday and Tuesday. We have it at our house and it is soooo tiny that when a tree is placed in the room with 12 or more people there is barely room to inhale.

Last year I moved the dining room/kitchen table to the middle of the living room so that there would be room to move around the table and once seated actually get up again without the entire table moving to accomodate you. Yes, that's the way it was all other years. We are a close family. Once in the living room, the tree was not a possibility and I have to confess that once the room filled with yammering eating and once the crowds left and I started to clean, I didn't miss it at all. I especially didn't miss the putting away part of the tree. I think the only part I really ever enjoy is placing the ornaments on since it's been a year and I so enjoy remembering where each came from and who they remind me of. Maybe my newer Christmas tradition will be to get the ornament boxes out, open them and oooh and aaah over each as I lift them out and return them to the box. I will then put the boxes away and vacuum the house preparing to serve dinner to 12 or more. Thank goodness the husband is in the kitchen cooking and preparing. I just have to set the table and look pretty.

I didn't send cards this year. I guess I didn't last year either. I know I pulled the cards out last year and noticed a great many were addressed from the year before so I guess that I can safely say, "I don't send Christmas cards". Now is the time that I bend with the burden of guilt however. The cards dwindle in and I think that I well send them as I get them. I have three ready to go this morning. I don't get many cards either. I used to, years ago, when I sent them. Hmmm, could there be a connection? Could the cards I got be a result of the cards I sent? Could those people be sending cards as I now do? Do I really have a great social network or do I merely have a bunch of responders out there?

On that note I am off to the post office to respond to what I got and consider my character and the people I surround myself with, card wise.

The End of The Day

Loooooooongggg Day. Snow and Rain and Huge Winds!!! I would have used all caps but I hate to be hysterical. My husband says that I have multiple personalities one of which is Chick(en) Little. I go from low key, laid back to shrieking, arm waving, Bonnie and Clyde sister in law running around the front lawn with a spatula behavior over something I researched on the net and am sure I have. Years ago our family doctor told me I would die from a misprint. He also told me that wasn't his original thought but he had read it somewhere and it applied to me. Okey Dokey. Now you know how the day went. I had a very nasty drive down to this place on Thursday which I will write about sooner or later and truth be told I am still not over it. We had a Christmas party to attend today and the weather was as previously indicated and it was unclear what the day would turn into. We went and enjoyed and the husband did as the husband always does at this party which is to imbibe and enjoy and I am, as always at this party, the designated driver. We are home and safe and there was no weather reason we shouldn't be although the weather people were sitting on the edge of hysteria most of the day. Why do they do that? Why can't they just tell us what the weather is......anyway....

I am now having a glass of wine and the husband? Why he is asleep in the recliner as he always is after this annual event. Have a nice night. By the way...the Patriots? They WON AGAIN! Tom Brady is the cutest isn't he? Go Pats!

It's Christmas!!!

This picture thing has me captured. How wonderful the age we live in. I am going to regale you with my Christmas decorations. All one of them. I hung the wreath on my outside door. This is a picture of it before it went outside. I saved the scallop shells from the baked stuffed scallops sold at the fish market down the road. Having shopped all over and fallen down by the prices of everything, I bought a cheap, no make that inexpensive, undecorated wreath, found the glue gun and Voila.....behold! It's Christmas here.

Some Old Photos

I know I said that Alaska would be next but I'm not at the computer where I can do that....this one has some pictures that I scanned a long time ago but doesn't have what I need to download the pictures of my summer vacation from the digital camera. I thought that I might regale you with a favorite of mine...On the left, my grandmother and my two brothers. Aren't those boys darling? Look at the little guy and how sweet he is holding his little hands. His big brother is an imp isn't he? My Grandmother looks so stern and yet she was such a peach. I wasn't in the picture yet, and I mean that literally. Probably this was Easter and I wouldn't be along until Christmas season. I have another picture of this wonderful woman as a young mother. She is standing just as proudly and protective of the two children she bore as she is of these, her grand sons. I really miss my family. I am so glad though that I had them. Now there's some blessing. I am going to try to add that picture now. Wish me luck.

I did it --On the right, my grandmother as a young mom. She is travelling to Halifax Nova Scotia on a ferry to visit her family. My aunt and uncle are with her. My dad was not in the picture yet. Great shot isn't it? Imagine looking so swell and the kids so elegantly attired after the journey they must have already taken. They were living in Massachusetts at the time and this was prior to 1912. Yikes. I can't get to work 12 miles away without wrinkling like a bag of old laundry.

More Remarkable Photo Adventures

Here's my girl with her favorite toy. Behind her is the TV and all the electronics that to with it. Fortunately she holds onto that sucker when she swings it around. Someday though....

One more picture and then I'm done. This is where I sit and write and read...to the left is the lap top. These hydrangeas are from my very own plant. Isn't the color remarkable? I wish I had some pictures of the arrangement I made when that hydrangea bush started to fade. The color as they turned..like leaves on a tree..was even better. If I find any pictures that do them justice, why I will just upload them since I am the remarkable picture uploader.

Why has it taken me so long to bore everyone even more than I already have. This will be like showing the slides of our vacation. And now that I mention it.....I'll be back with those. We went to Alaska a couple of years ago. Remember?

I'll be back. Now you say "Thanks for the warning."

Daffodils and Nantucket

I am so excited -- picture skills. This is another test of my newly acquired bit of knowledge. This is a picture I took last spring when I went to Nantucket. It was Daffodil Days weekend. Man it was so pretty.

Testing one two three

This is a test to see if I know how to add a picture. Isn't this the cutest pooch ever?

Happy Birthday to me

Way back in December 2004 I wrote about the story of my birth. My mother would always tell this one with great vigor. Yesterday was my birthday and I started out determined to be depressed since I have no immediate family member left to wish me HB. My husband never uttered a word until way later in the day when I told him that he had better say HB before I thought too much more about his silence and really worked up a good one. His deer in the headlights eyes said it all...oh well he was appropriately contrite and I got to play the HB card all day, as in "No I don't want to go to the dump. It's my birthday today." etc etc and so forth.

At the close of the day I have to admit I really had a nice birthday. My dearest and longest forever friend called first thing and she sang. My other BFF called and sang and her husband joined in. My cousin called, my niece called, a neighbor dropped off a card and another childhood friend called after we got back from dinner. I heard the birthday song from time to time all day long. It was a lovely day. Plus the sun was out and it was almost 4o degrees. How great was that?

Today I am doing laundry and house things. I bought a wreath yesterday, a plain one and I am using the giant scallop shells we have gathered. A local fish market makes fabulous stuffed scallops and they are in giant scallop shells. I have at least a dozen that I have scrubbed clean and put away. They are about to be glue gunned and mounted on that wreath. I saw one already done up at the nursery and they wanted $39.00 for it. It was lovely but...mine will be equally stunning and only cost $6.95. I am such a Martha Stewart. Now if only I don't glue the works to the kitchen counter. Wish me luck. Maybe this will push me into the picture phase of this blog. Have a wonderful Sunday.

Plans are Cast in Concrete Unless They Aren't

Well, my free kitchen was short lived. I should know by now that whenever the husband gives me his plan for the day it changes. He says that he will be on the road all day. "Don't hold lunch for me. I'll be back late." And so I plan my day accordingly. 11:30 AM the phone rings and there he is, pleased as punch to report that he's on his way home and what's for lunch? This is 99.99% of the time. I can count on the day to be totally unlike whatever he tells me it will be. This is the same man however who can get into an offhand casual conversation weeks ago with you and you may say that Friday the 7th would be a good day to go to lunch at some place or other. Here we are weeks later and you may say that you have a something or other planned for Friday the 7th and he will get very agitated since we made plans for lunch and he has it marked down and when we make a plan, by golly, he plans it absolutely.

He wears me out!!

The Kitchen? She is Mine!

In a way, when I woke up this am and only saw rain, I was a bit disappointed. Those weathermen and women were revving us up and maybe further north it was accurate. Not here. It's over 40 degrees too, that's F not C. My plans to go nowhere do nothing are still intact but it doesn't feel the same when you could get out and just don't.

I have no plans at all for the day. Chicken pie perhaps or some kind of bean soup would be in order. I have all the makings and my husband will be on the road so the kitchen is mine. He has ramped up to cook of the house and although I know this too shall pass, at the moment, when he's home it is impossible to be in the kitchen at the same time with him. He thinks I am the sous chef, you know, one of the minions who chop and saute and bow and scrape when the Iron Chef barks a command. I truly think he has a video camera planted around here somewhere and he records it all to play back at his leisure, admiring his deft knife skills, the economy of movement, the genius of spice interaction, blah blah blah. But today. The kitchen? She is mine! Ha! Ha! She laughs in triumph.

But first I must make the coffee and prepare breakfast for the master. Yes. He sits back during the morning and midday meal and allows the kitchen wench to perform. You know it's a good thing I love him and find him to be cute as a button. He's also a good cook and way better than yours truly. Mostly. He loves to cook for crowds and that all by itself makes him great to have around. If he ever reads this I will be demoted from sous chef to scullery maid. Love ya hon.

Well....gotta go and enjoy my freedom while I have it.

Aftermath

Well I lived through it. It was every bit as bad as I expected. The ray of sunshine was the mother to be who looked great and smiled graciously and thanked everyone with hugs and sincere gratitude. It's too bad , yes I am about to be judgemental here, that she seems to have picked a loser for her child's father. It's even more too bad that he hasn't stepped up, married her, found a job and worked towards supporting himself and his new family. No. Rather than those things he has moved her with him into his mother's house which I am told is tiny. His sisters still live at home and his mother is a single mom. I hope I am proven wrong about this but only time will tell. Meanwhile we always have Christmas Eve at our house and my husband has always put his foot down when the nieces want boyfriends to come. "They're not family", he growls and they don't come. The nieces do, the boyfriends don't and honestly, all of those past connections are gone so it's good our memories are as the husband wants them to be "just family". Now his sister wants this, yes, I am going to say it, loser, to come since he is the baby's dad. This should prove interesting. The husband? He is a man of strong opinion and he has a strong one in this regard. Those comments above regarding the dad? Mine alone. I don't share since I don't want to influence. I didn't have to since the husband? he has an even dimmer view of this relationship. How much time is there before the eve of Christmas?

Calm and Serene

I have not checked the news yet. I fear for my serenity. I must attend a family function today. My neice is pregnant and single, what's new? My sister-in-law is having a shower for her today and although this is the sister-in-law who is always in need, no money, no food, no pills, no nuthin', do you know the type? Never has anything but always has her nails done and has the latest fashion item, nose pierced and can afford to smoke on top of all the rest. The shower is in a hall and who knows how many are invited. My other sister-in-law and myself have gone in on the gift which I bought this week. The mother to be is registered and I went to the store to get the gifts and there was nothing on the list available at the store. No one had bought any of the items according to the register and so I bought two of the closest to the requested items I could find, a diaper genie and a diaper bag. When the SIL throwing the shower talked to the SIL I will be picking up to go to the shower she made it clear (as she always does) that the mom to be will only be happy with the identical items she registered for. Well we will have an unhappy mom to be at that shower now won't we?

What is it with people anyhow? Where does that come from, that "come to my party, buy me presents and they had better be the presents I want or else"? I will need every bit of strength to maintain my calm and serene attitude. For those of you who know me - - YES I AM TOO CALM AND SERENE. There we are....tranquil is my middle name. Pray for me....I hate scenes in public places.