Bummer . . .

Lots of Juncos

That'll take the wind out of your sails! Drove to Groton expecting to have dental work done to replace an old crown that is acting up and I couldn't have the procedure. Have to wait at least six months after having had the stent renewed in November so that will bring us into May and then still must take antibiotics and not go off of the Effient. I should have realized that I had a potential problem but I am feeling so well that I forgot all about the stupid new stent. Yuck. I felt badly for Dr. Mackey because that was a lost appointment for her. To cheer myself up, I hate dental appointments and having geared myself up for it and having it cancelled was a big time drag, I found a Dairy Queen that was open all year round and had myself a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard with extra Peanut Butter Cup in Chocolate! Must say that tasted great and perked me up. I did need that. It's only 17 degrees in the sun but I relished every bite as I soaked up the sunshine in the parking lot on Route 82 in Norwich and listened to the radio. So the day was not a total waste. Wish I had bought a large Blizzard.

Seems as if our taxes are ready for filing. Big Louisiana Kiddo, home because of icing, freezing conditions in the South has helped out and run the numbers for us. It's a good thing he helps because I had forgotten a few bucks here and there and he found them for us. So that is the plus for today. If I were a drinking woman I would have a few drinks about now and call it quits for the day!

Quote:   Let parents who hate their offspring rear them to hate labor and to inherit riches, and before long they will be stung by  every vice, wracked by its poison, and damned by its penalty.  ___H. W. Beecher

Heartbreaking . . .

Kiddo made me this neat basketball bracelet.  It works!  

We drove to Groton today for Kiddo's Rec Basketball game. It was the absolute best game we've attended. They were beaten by one point at the buzzer. The team has improved so much since they began it's too bad they didn't pull off the win. But come hell or high water they played hard and were never behind until the last millisecond! I forgot to wear my new bracelet so I have to factor that in. The bracelet did help the UCONN men win last night so I am thankful for that. Perhaps our kiddos should not have chosen Huskies for their team name!

The birds had disappeared from the feeders for the last few days but are back today with a vengeance. And contrary to what others tell me I maintain that the purple finches are purpling. Yes indeedy! I shall state that as fact just can't get decent photos of them to prove my point. Visited both younger brother and sister this week and all are well in this frigid Connecticut. If all goes according to plan Wednesday we shall be connected to cable, computer and phone with Metrocast. Hope it works out well. Nothing can be slower than our AT&T Wifi.

 Kiddo asked me for a piano lesson this week. I was pretty surprised but after the sax concert we sat down at the keyboard and he liked learning to play some very basic music. Glad I kept the kids old music books. Of course he gave it up to watch Gilligan's Island on Amazon with Grampa. Such are the vagaries of this modern life. Time to work on the taxes methinks.

Quote:  Men think highly of those who rise rapidly in the world, whereas nothing rises quicker than dust, straw, and feathers.  ___Hare

It's official . . .

50 years of friendship and love

Today both of us are septuagenarians. Pretty cool, getting on together in love, age, wisdom (debatable, for me) happiness, planes, talking, sharing, books, lousy TV! rides, puzzles, movies, music, laughter, cars, basketball games, horse shoes, exercising, snow blowing, shoveling, building, fixing, helping, writing, flying, teaching, volunteering, cooking, videoing, photographing, visiting, card playing (moi, bien sur) needle work (that's funny) eating out, Kiddos of all ages; good times. Not much to report.  Life is good when it's good and we try to roll through the bad. Can't ask for more than that.

Three day celebration . . .

Have never been able to find a card that I like better than this card for Grampa's birthday so it gets recycled every year since ? (a very long time.)

Now that we're both in our seventies (as of tomorrow) it was time for three days of sweet love and appreciation. So yesterday we embarked on a short journey to Killingly after we dropped off Kiddo. Ended up going to an excellent lunch at The 99 in Killingly Commons. The food is very good, the drinks are fine, the service is excellent and we ate everything put before us. I had a balsamic chicken lunch and P&D's Pop had a balsamic salmon dish. As usual, because it was salmon, the portion was small but per usual I shared half of my chicken and along with his bowl of chowder we were replete; no need for dessert. For supper I brought out our last bottle of Sogno di Sorrento Crema Lemoncello and let the almost seventy year old choose the method he preferred to serve it! I swear I'm trying not to be as anal as usual and the size and warmth of the glasses was perfect. It is taking me a long time to grow up but I am trying to improve with age. Trying to let go of my anality! This morning we had breakfast at the Roadside and bought two fresh slices of Boston Creme cake/pie for our birthday dessert this evening. Hoping the weather will be okay to go to Kiddo's basketball game this afternoon. Have no idea what tomorrow will bring but the day will be just right for our ingression into the seventh decade together.

Watched Kevin Ollie as he was almost physically ejected from coaching against Louisville at Gampel last night and I must say the ref made a horrendous non call and I'm on Ollie's side all the way. A double technical is more than outrageous when Ollie was right to question the non call. I don't like Rick Pitino so I was ticked off that UCONN wasn't playing well on their home court. They have the players to be contenders but somehow not all of the kids have the fire. Not sure how a coach can make kids go out and work their butts off to exhaustion for the win. There is an element lacking in this UCONN team. Not every player goes all out all of the time. They can go pretty far  this year if they just play as hard as they can and stop playing catchup. Oh well, that's my take on a matter of no import!

Quote:  Labor to keep alive in your heart that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.    ____Washington

Starting out right . . .

Met P&D's Pop for breakfast at the Roadside at 9am. We had to bring the Hyundai to Plainfield for 10am  to get the new lock put in and P&D's Pop was at the High School for class until 9. It worked out well. It looks like the diner finally got its act together and has the right chef cooking breakfast. That is a big plus. Not sure if we had anything to do with the change but it's a good one.

Just took a break from blogging to go video Grampa as he flew the little yellow RC model he got from the school. It was a left over kit from last year. Pretty cute. Now if Kiddo decides he wants to fly some RC we'll have a plane for him. I think I like electric! Grampa also came home today with a copy of a paper one of the kids had to write as his end of year evaluation of the Engineering class. Pretty neat. They really do appreciate all P&D's Pop has done to help them out. Looks like he may have a permanent volunteer slot in the Engineering Class! I like that too.

Called Metrocast today and signed up for almost all they have to offer:  DVR to go with cable, WiFi and faster Internet, and phone too. It'll cost about the same as we've got now only it'll provide speedier and stronger Internet and WiFi and with the DVR we should be able to cut out the ads when we watch TV. Sounds good to me, really it sounds good to both of us. Feeling a bit more clear headed today so I'm hoping that the increased blood pressure medicine is working its wonders. I'm still pokey, physically but the brain is chugging along quite well. At least it seems that way to me.

Quote:  Minds of moderate caliber ordinarily condemn everything which is beyond their range.  ___LaRochefoucauld

Happy . . . not happy . . .

Happy with the trip P&D's Pop and I took to the flying field today. We had sunny, blue skies and the two videos I made came out pretty good. I still need to improve the focusing in on something but if I work at it often enough perhaps I'll get the hang of it. P&D's Pop also came home from PHS with the school newspaper and there was a feature article about the Engineering Class he has been helping to build model planes. It was a nice article. I don't doubt for a minute that he was the reason the planes can actually be made to to fly this year! He flew one today for one of the students who had bought his own radio. The student along with the two instructors and a couple of other kids who were not preparing for Final Exams watched as Grampa showed them how well the planes fly. I'm certain they were all elated, including Grampa!

Not happy with the Rehab class because Dr. Foley told the head nurse to tell me to double up on the blood pressure medicine. I don't understand what it really means so I'll just do as I'm told and see what happens. I've been feeling squirrelly lately so maybe this will tone me down! Bought oranges, bananas, blueberries and Chamomile tea today because I feel an almost desperate need for fruit and something plain but hot to drink. Someone asked me last week if I was pregnant! I guess these cravings are the onset of aging improperly. Perhaps I am having the Winter Blues and need a lot more Sunshine and outdoor weather. It seems to me that the birdies are starting to show a little more color but Grampa thinks I am exaggerating! 

Bought Kiddo some books on Michael Jordan and two nice jersey type t-shirts for school! He must be Michael Jordan in February for his book report. He had to choose a character for the celebration of Black History Month so he chose Michael Jordan. The best line so far from his lips: "Oh good, Michael Jordan is black." That came out because I gave him permission to go on line to Amazon and find some books for himself. He looked really hard at the photo on the cover of one of the books and it resulted in the aforementioned remark. That is perfect.

Quote:  We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures on the dial; we should count time by heart-throbs.  He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.   ____Bailey

Wow, that was nice . . . really nice . . .

You don't realize how well kids can fit back into your life until they kinda just drop in on their way back from work. Oldest Kiddo was here for a visit from Friday afternoon until noon today. It would be an understatement to describe how comforting and good the visit felt. So that's all I can say. Yup, we've got nice kids. That's all she wrote.

Went to see younger sister this past Thursday and found her looking very well. It's so good to see her healthy and she is also wise! Older brother let us know that his health is also improving so it doesn't get any better than that. Looks like all of the Carons are chugging along at this wild and wonderful game of life. Even the UCONN men are perking up! Played their best game of the year yesterday. Hope they continue to play together because that's how a team works. Our Kiddo was here Friday and   his concert was the best yet. He continues to like what he's doing. I hope his teacher can push him along a little. Group lessons can be short and I imagine it is difficult to pay attention to individual students as you work with 12 kids and three different instruments!

Quote:  To reason justly from a false principle is the perfection of sophistry, which it is more difficult to expose than to refute false reasoning.   --The proper way to expose its errors is to show that just and conclusive reasonings have been built on some false or absurd principle.   ____Emmons

Needed that . . .

Tried to put in a video with no success.  So here is a poor, little, frozen, hungry finch.

Went out for dinner with Oneco friends at the Village Tavern in Voluntown last evening. It seemed like forever since we had been able to connect for some conversation and plain, downright good company, probably since October; all sorts of surprising dilemmas got in the way. Well last night was just right. Even the weather cooperated. The rain stopped; the freezing wind dried the roads and we had no weather problems. Good on Mother Nature who has been a nasty old lady lately. She was kind. Hope she continues her decent ways as oldest child is in New York for work and we're hoping he'll be able to stop in for a short visit.

Looks like we'll manage to get the whole family together sometime in March. That hasn't happened in about nine or ten years; hurricanes, work, distance, vacation time have caused some havoc but it looks like we will nail it in 2014, id est 2014 will be considered an excellent year.

Not much going on today; housecleaning, reading, playing with the video program on the computer  and some exercise. Speaking of exercise I think I may get myself a 4 lb medicine ball. Jeff, one of the rehab nurses, was showing me how to use one more than we did the last time I was there; I rather like working with it. I am a bit leery of losing control of it and making a hole through a wall, window or someone but I'm thinking on it. Need to liven up the work out a tad.

Will try to go see younger sister Thursday. She's already got our itinerary set for the day - a visit to Barnes and Noble. That will be wonderful. I'll quit writing now as the young man who is helping with our old electrical problems is half way in the kitchen at the top of the cellar stairs banging away.

Quote:  His daily prayer, far better understood in acts than in words, was simply doing good.    ____Whittier

$22.33 . . .

Voila, c'est fini.

Completed the itty bitty 1000 piece puzzle this morning. It was the most enjoyable puzzle ever. Because it is only 11.7" by 16.5" it is easy for me to work on it at the kitchen table without having to stand up and bend over searching out pieces. I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun it was. P&D's Pop, my QC inspector,  only had to help me out once when I had trouble with the sky border.

After completing the puzzle I asked P&D's Pop to take me out to lunch. We went to the Roadside Diner even though I have been less than enthusiastic about it lately. For the aforementioned $22.33 we had: Baked Bay Scallops with mashed potatoes, carrots and fresh bread, Fish and Chips with coleslaw, tarter sauce and fresh bread, constant coffee and home made tapioca pudding. But . . . that was not all she wrote . . . major chef and owner sent out a walnut, streusel muffin for P&D's Pop 's approval. Naturellement, he needed my help! Fantastic food, perfect lunch. No need to make supper tonight. I'll save the meatloaf for tomorrow. Leftovers it shall be.

The birds are eating up a storm already passed! I've managed to get some good photos. Whatever Grampa did to the camera, bringing it back to its original settings, has helped. I must also learn to be patient. Shooting from in the house through the kitchen windows can be trying but I sometimes manage to get decent results if I don't go too fast.

Time to exercise. Missed rehab Friday because of the snow and below freezing temperatures. I believe our low was -7 this morning. It was -3.5 when I went to bed last night. It's about 22 in the sun today. We left the thermostat  on 71 all night because when this old house gets cold it doesn't like to warm up again any too soon!

Quote:  Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain.   ___ Locke

Happy New Year

Too much thinking today as I take down the Christmas Tree. So many loves still loved but not here except in my heart and soul and mind. But one can still laugh through the tears. I'm certain they're happy and telling me to stop being a maudlin old lady!  So, okay.  They win.  They always have!  I'll buck up and get this done with a minimum of self-indulgence.  But . . . I just may have a glass of Lemoncello in Remembrance of Things Past.