Unholy way to begin this day . . .

Not the Bluebird!

Can't believe I've just spent about three quarters of an hour cleaning shit off of one of my favorite pairs of shoes. I made a huge mistake yesterday when I was so excited about the Bluebirds that I decided to make them a treat and I put out some peanut butter with raisins and mealworms in a flattish dish on the big outcropping near their box. I also put out some very expensive special bird food and dried mealworms in another dish also on the rock. I checked them out after breakfast this morning and both had been licked clean. I came in the house to clean up the pans and P&D's Pop noticed the mess I made when I wiped my feet on the old towel I leave by the door. It was the worst mess I've smelled or seen in many years. I had to flush the bottom of the shoe outside with high pressure from the faucet and then brush like hades to get it perfectly clean; then I threw everything that had touched the right shoe away. Horrid, horrid horrid. To top it off I didn't think it was a fox that made the mess. As I'm writing this blog I saw Soldier, who never goes past the driveway and . . . yep, he was checking out the place where the flat bottomed pans had been! And yep, I'm sure it was dog shit I stepped in and it was he who came here and didn't bother to stop at the door for his regular snack. I yelled at him and made him go home and the tête de merde stopped in the middle of our property on his side of our house and pooped. He never used to poop here, peed yes, but there's a newish dog in the neighborhood and the people let him out and I have to chase him away from this yard whenever I see him because he poops here too. I think I'll ban Soldier who seems to be following the new dog's lead. No more snacks. I hate having to watch out in my own yard for dog messes. Still ticked off,

Well that's a load off my mind. Ha. Having a good weekend other than stepping in it. Kiddo went sliding Friday and that's a good thing because it's already 50 degrees at 9 of the clock in the morning and the melting is audible. He beat me at every game we played this weekend but Grampa managed to beat us at the newest iteration of Monopoly. He, Grampa, was tickled pink! Kiddo is turning out to be a pretty good sport and though losing is not fun it isn't a big deal. While he was playing his concert for me yesterday the Bluebirds showed up so I had to go take some photos while they graced us with their presence.  After bringing him back to Groton we stopped at Gus's Pub in Plainfield for lunch thanks to Grampa's gift certificate. Food was fine and since they only have beer and wine I tried a Bud Light Lime-a-Rita: surprisingly good, stronger than I expected but definitely drinkable.

Time to think about getting ready for late Mass.

Quote:  Narrow-minded and ignorant persons talk about persons and not things; hence gossip is the bane and disgrace of so large a portion of society.  ___George Eliot

Best Turkey . . .

Yuppers! Gotta hand it to son-in-law; he roasted up the best turkey of the year. The meat was tender, tasty and downright salubrious. I've never been very good at turkey and so I was delighted when middle child called and said they were in charge of Thanksgiving this year. Phew. I only made two pies and a bread; the rest is a delicious history with no clean up plus two really sweet young men at the table. One for the books, I say.

Son-in-law called his brother in Florida to wish them a happy day and also wanted to speak with his sister and her son who had flown to Florida for a family/Disney visit. But to his surprise she wasn't there. Seems she had tickets to fly out of Bradley in Connecticut and tried to get on the plane in Warwick, RI at T.F. Greene. Made for a real mess picking her up in Florida! I think she hung around Providence and managed to get a late afternoon flight. Hope they all knew what airport she would be landing at. It's just funny as heck because she is a perfectionist, although it sounds like something I am capable of.

Will send out some early Christmas cards this year letting all and sundry know that we've cut out all presents except for four kiddos. I'm not sure what has possessed me to do this but I think the commercialization of this peaceful, family day has taken the 'buying gifts' out of me. It seems to trivialize the beauty of Christmas so we'll have our usual family feast, a tree and cards and call it quits. I'll get myself to the Children's Mass too.

Be leaving shortly to pick up Kiddo for his Frication. Hope he remembers to pack a snowsuit and boots. It's 34 and windy but the hill looks good for sliding. I shall watch only. Don't want to risk breaking my neck coming down at breakneck speed!

Quote:  The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.   _____Johnson

Thanksgiving Proclamation

Unhappy state of affairs . . .

At least this little guy is happy at the Diner!

P&D's Pop returned this stormy morning with a very nice monetary gift certificate to Gus's Pub from a friend at the school.  That is really very nice but somehow there is a downside to this generosity and that is:  he went to the Roadside in Central Village to get the gift certificate but they wouldn't oblige him because they are leaving soon for Canterbury. What the hell. I knew down deep that they wouldn't stay in Plainfield but I've really enjoyed the food and especially the service. These guys have never stayed at anything for more than a few years and then they're off. I was hoping this would be different. I guess I'm blown away by the fact that these two guys use people for their own ends and are not pleasant to the people that work for them. That sounds like sour grapes and it is but I believe it's the truth. I've seen servers in other restaurants we've frequented also treated like dirt and this has been the same. I think if I were working there I would have walked out on them long ago. They have great food but lousy manners. I suppose we may check them out in their new digs but perhaps we'll just go to breakfast less. We have found a very good place for lunch with a couple of beers and a Margarita so we're all set! Could end up saving us a lot of money. Okay, there it is, the bright side. I will miss seeing Trish but imagine she will find a new place to work. She's an excellent waitress and great employee who is most definitely underpaid and overworked.

Missing my weekly trek to East Granby because of a Nor'easter. It's only raining now but will probably turn to snow later this evening. We are getting some pellet rain at the moment and I think that younger sister may already be getting wet heavy snow. I'll weather the storm writing Christmas cards and reading.  The birds are looking frazzled; not sure I can get any good photos today.

Quote:  Self-trust is the essence of heroism.    ___Emerson

Gees . . . I have been very bad . . .

Yes, bad to the bone. For some inane  reason I felt almost faint went I got back from my bi-weekly cribbage games with cousine S. I had eaten a good breakfast but because I was so hungry on my return at around 11:30 I ate enough to fill two of me. Still didn't feel great but went shopping at Big Y along with the entire village and came home still craving food. So I did the best I could; I went out and bought myself Ben&Jerry's Everything But The . . . After I ate half of it I felt terrific and cleaned the house a smidge, played around with the Lumix and was ready for supper! Now here we are after supper and I just finished the Ben&Jerry's. Awesome. I hate that word but it fits the circumstances. I just put on at least 5 pounds. But I feel super fine. Nothing else to say.

So discouraged by the news today. Can't believe that Ferguson, Missouri is in the throes of race riots. This should have passed years ago but it seems to be getting worse. One would think that having a mixed race president would help ease the tensions in this vast United States of America. But if anything racial tensions are worse than I've seen them. I find it frightening for all people that we are still looking at skin color, eye shapes, ethnicity, religion as important. What has happened to our souls that they no longer shine through the morass? It is painful to live in such crude, backwards, material, selfish times. It seems that man truly is an animal without the instinct to love, honor and protect his own kind. Other animals have their instincts and live quite well in their animal kingdoms. Man is the worst animal because he follows base instincts and has not improved over the time he has been on this Earth. One may not believe in God but one can understand why a belief in a some intelligent being seems to be the only way to bring order into the chaos man makes. Man is in a losing battle with himself. Don't like it one single bit. I really think that the song from South Pacific fits our situation here on earth. "You've got to be taught, before it's too late, to hate all the things your relatives hate. You've got to be carefully taught."

Well this isn't helping my mood so I'll just sign off. And to think that I'm an optimist. Gees Louise.

Quote:  The existence of evil, as Whately well says, is the great theological difficulty; and the apparent want of success of good men in overcoming it, is but one branch of this difficulty.   ___Bristed

I've never blogged at night before . . .

Isn't that crazy . . . I swear I've never written in the evening. I usually write in the afternoon but I was caught up walking my couple of cold miles, taking photos of the hawk P&D's Pop saw and I've just finished watching Gold Rush on the boob tube. It's good that we can tape it and skip the ads. Not sure why I get a kick out of the show but I do. Perhaps because it takes place in Alaska and of all the reality shows it's interesting to see gold kept in Mason Jars as the weeks progress. No one else keeps stuff in Mason Jars on modern day media! There's really nothing worthwhile that comes out of other reality shows. At least I get to see gold and I like gold. Wish I had at least one solid gold coin to keep on top of the old desk so I could admire it. Pure gold looks as if it must feel warm, bright, heavy and beautiful. I'd even settle for a little, teeny weeny bar! We gave Kiddo the gold we panned when we were in Alaska so he has a little bit hidden away, probably worth about $25. That's cool. We also gave him some pure silver. I'm sure it isn't worth too much but it sure is pretty.

He just called to tell us that he's doing a good job on two of his projects for school. He has one due Tuesday on Lionfish and then a super big one due in January about Tchad. He had to pick a country where French was spoken and he chose Tchad! Wow, it was hard finding him a good book to use as part of his research. They are not allowed to go overboard using Google, Wikipedia or media junk so it's pretty interesting to see him working on his projects. He and Grampa went to buy just the right poster board colors, spray glue and various other colored paper so he can finish the projects. His Mom hates the projects but the kid seems to thrive on them. Personally, I hated them when I was in school and I rarely assigned projects in my classes. I hated cooking projects or art projects. What a pain in the derrière for all. I'm always impressed how he can speak extemporaneously on any subject he has decided he likes.

We played Chess this weekend and now I think he's hooked. I sent him a set from Amazon. He should get it Wednesday. His Mom is going to kill me because he'll be bugging her to play. He was practicing on the iPad on the way to Groton this morning. I'm not a good teacher so I told him to play against the computer. He'll learn more that way!

Quote:  Heaven must be in me before I can be in heaven.  ___Stanford

Okay . . . that was interesting . . .

Sweet

Got to the Orthopaedic Doctor's office a smidge early and I was in 'the room' a bit early too and lo and behold the doctor was right on time. Gee, I like this man. The MRI's showed a slight tear in the right rotator cuff so we'll just leave it alone. He warned me not to throw anything overhand with the right arm nor rotate it much. The back has more arthritis than I expected but nothing major. He offered me a shot which I declined but I'll be going to a therapist to set up exercises I can do on a daily basis to strengthen and stretch my back. I'll show the therapist what I've been doing because I think I've done some exercises I was taught in cardiac rehab that probably aren't good for the back. (Definitely not going back to the guy in Danielson.) The doctor also told me I could go back to my weights, just don't throw things or rotate the right shoulder. Yay. I've already dug them out. I had to hide them from myself so I wouldn't use them. I do have a tendency to go overboard.

Got back from a good visit with younger sister yesterday and P&D's Pop had been speaking with a guy who explained that we need to have railings on the porch steps and the steps going to the milk room. So that's what he's doing at this very moment; working on the porch railings. We may just pull out the steps to the milk room and add some loam and grass instead of a railing. Neither of us really use those steps because they can be somewhat treacherous especially in the Winter. As I think about it perhaps there should be a railing at the top of the wall by the milk room. Everyone is safety conscious to the extreme and even though there have been many kids brought up in this old house and I'm sure many of them have jumped from the top of that wall I guess today's kids need to be protected from their rash behaviors. C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?

Think I'll walk up the street today. It's not quite 32 degrees though so I'll have to dress up.  Poo.

Quote:  Sophistry is like a window curtain - it pleases as an ornament, but its true use is to keep out the light.

3:50 post meridian and I had to turn the lights on . . .

Haley's Farm, Groton

It's been a dark and dreary day but some how it has flown by. Not sure how that happened. Did a couple of loads of wash, made beds, played with bird photos, went to Big Y, oh, read the Bulletin - that's it. Oh, exercised too and had a monster lunch. I was starving and made myself egg salad with lots of Sweet Vidalias, Cain's Mayonnaise (the only good mayonnaise) with real butter on an English muffin and a homemade café mocha. And . . . wait for it . . . I'm still hungry. What's up with that? P&D's Pop always says it's the caveman genes that are kicking in with the cold weather so my body needs more food to keep warm. I've always bought into that tall tale because it's a good excuse to eat rich and hearty.

My Christmas cards arrived today. I ordered 120 from Etsy. They are just fine. Pretty much white cards that say Merry Christmas. I like their simplicity. The lady I bought them from added some birthday cards as a thank you for the order. That was nice. We're going to change our Christmas giving this year. Got to let the big kids know that we're only giving to the young ones, that means Kiddo and eldest's two grand children actually three with the newbie due in about four weeks. Stopping the candy from the nuns to all and sundry. Having a little trouble with that decision but it's time to stop. I will send out Christmas cards to all. Not ready to stop that yet. We'll also have a real tree and a few simple decorations around the house; it'll be a plain and quiet Christmas.  And of course we'll have our traditional family Roast Beast on Christmas Day. Sounds good to us.

Quote:  The soul of man is infinite in what it covets.  _____Heber

Now that was nice . . .

Was pleasantly surprised when I was told my godchild from New York was coming for a visit! So it ended up an excellent day. Her father and mother brought her here around one o'clock, then her older sister showed up and my younger brother and his wife too. Very cool. Spent time drinking coffee and tea and us older folks also had snacking goodies. The best part was talking, laughing and being together for a few hours. It really is a rare occasion so it was nice to have everyone here in this old house.

Kiddo and I played UNO yesterday and he beat me about eight hands in a row. I was surprised when we went out in the cold to shoot some baskets (I'm the gopher) and I forgot all about my right arm. So it must be working pretty good because I could throw the basketball around and made a lot of nice bounce passes. Good on me. I like it like that. Will go visit R. Tuesday this week. I have a doctor's appointment to find out the results of the MRI's on our usual Wednesday visit.  I have the CD of the results to bring with me. That's pretty cool.

Feeling a bit spiffier today even though it is gray and cold out. Grampa and I went to the flying field and I got in about a half hour walking in the spitting snow. Fresh air always perks me up. We also went to Hog Heaven in Fiskdale, MA to pick up some parts for the planes.  On the way home we stopped in Southbridge to give older brother and his wife the Indian Corn I had put aside for them. Short visit but good.

 Time to read the paper which is still not getting to us at a reasonable hour. It's been an entire week that the Bulletin arrives around 8am. Much too late for Grampa who is up and about by six or earlier. Will have to call again and make a more forceful complaint! Doubt it'll work though.

Quote:  Three things too much, and three too little are pernicious to man; to speak much, and know little; to spend much, and have little; to presume much, and be worth little.   ____Cervantes

The doldrums . . .

New roof

Still struggling to get out of the doldrums. You'd think that having the new roof on this old house would do the trick but it's just okay - no big deal. Went to visit younger sister yesterday and we took a ride to Newington to visit her husband's grave. The headstone looks really nice and it was good to see how the cemetery is well cared for. We had our pepper and egg grinder for lunch then drove to Simsbury for our cupcakes. Wow, they are good. I brought home a little cake that P&D's Pop and I shared after supper. Stupendous amount of frosting and we both licked our plates clean. Must stop with the sweets! It's a good thing I only visit R. once a week.

Thinking we should try to figure out what this old house is really worth in this year of our Lord 2014. We really don't know. So I think that Grampa will ask the people at JCS Bank who we should hire just so we have a true picture of what we're worth. The guys who worked on the roof did a good job and it does look good. We were impressed that the underlying wood is still in great shape. That wood has to be ancient.

Off for an MRI this morning. Not a happy camper since the shoulder and sciatica are in pretty good shape at the moment thanks to all the cortisone. But I guess it's worth a shot to find out what the problem is besides, of course, just pain older age! (Pun was not intended.)

Quote:
     Gossip has been well defined as putting two and two together, and making it five.
     I hold it to be a fact, that if all persons knew what each said of the other, there would not be four friends in the world.   __ Pascal

Veterans Day 2014

Thank you, love of my life. Thank you Aaron, Dana, and Dyana's Dad.  Thank you Kyle's Grampa. I love you.

Plain grouchy . . .

Geese in a fly over at Arlington National Cemetery
Photo by Donna L. Epstein-Cole who gave me permission to share this beautiful photo

Unsure why I've been grouchy all day but I have been. Starting out the day too early, without the Bellyache Bulletin to read and spending the first hour after I got up trying to contact the nimrods in Norwich and getting nowhere didn't help. Then I strolled into the kitchen after P&D's Pop had left for school and cars, trucks and men were piling up on the driveway. Yikes, I had to go and retrieve a bathrobe as I was certainly not ready for workers at the windows. The roofers came without notice only two weeks late but at least the job is halfway complete and they've been halfway paid. Have no idea if they will return tomorrow or not. They were out of here by 1pm. But it's looking pretty darned good. If it lasts as long as our old roof, 45 years and counting, the roof will outlive us! The underlying wood is in beautiful condition, just as it was 45 years ago so we can't complain about anything. It was time to break down and invest in a new one but it hurt me to write out the check. I hate spending that much money for something that didn't leak! But it was breaking up in some places so I know it had to be done.

Went with P&D's Pop to the flying field and tried to walk off my grouch. It helped a little. Didn't get too much accomplished today. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Still have so much reading to do but I keep taking pictures and working hard to improve them once I've taken them! I do find it relaxing to go upstairs, kneel on the floor at the window and try to get some good shots of the birds. I lose track of time when I'm taking photos and also when I'm playing with them. I think I should take a class to learn how to use my camera to full advantage. That's a maybe.

Younger sister called and was happy with her mini vacation with our younger brother and his wife. She sounded great and had a good time. Also spoke with older brother today about Massachusetts and Connecticut politics. What a mess. At least the people in Massachusetts now have a Republican governor. We couldn't even kick the incumbent Democrat bastards out. Oh what a state we're in - something is rotten in the state of Connecticut. Am I paraphrasing Shakespeare?  I hope the ending isn't as brutal.

Quote:  He fancies himself enlightened, because he see the deficiencies of others; he is ignorant, because he has never reflected on his own.   ___Bulwer

Hard work . . .

Beauty personified

Phew, I'm pooped. P&D's Pop and I went for a walk, after a great snack on fresh desserts provided courtesy of the Roadside, and on our return I decided to clean up the rest of the garden for Winter. I cut down the asparagus stalks and then hit the raspberry patch. It's hot, sweaty, healthy work; I worked slowly and wore gloves so I'm still in pretty good shape. Very few people at Mass today because the kids have a long weekend and I guess you don't need Christian instruction if you're on holiday even though somehow or other the overhead projection of the prayers for the kids' Mass still has " and my soul shell be healed." I swear I do not make this stuff up. So . . . point being (yes, I'm rambling) everyone involved with the kids' instruction should be teaching them the difference between shall and shell even though it is religious instruction! Ignorance is not bliss nor is it blessed. Good, I've got that out of my system again.

Friday I brought Kiddo and his saxophone to the music store because the instrument would not make proper sounds no matter what Kiddo or his teacher did. We came home with a loaner sax that sounds terrific. Luckily middle child had bought a two year warrantyand it's being cleaned. Should be ready in about a week. I should have known that it needs cleaning and spiffying up twice a year. Will have to do that from now on. Got some fantastic photos and a video of Bluebirds at the box near the garden yesterday morning and today. I was so excited because they are the best photos I've ever taken of our Bluebirds. The sun was out bright and low shining on the birds; perfect.

Went to see Alice in Wonderland last night with Oneco friend and her daughter. Her daughter often gets us tickets to the Plainfield High School productions. The kids do an excellent job. As a non sequitur, I'm still rambling,  I'm glad that Grampa has a chance to work with our high school students. It's a plus for everyone - even I get a chance to have a little old house time to myself when he's at school! Will be playing cards tomorrow with cousin S. Still enjoy our biweekly get togethers.

Quote:  There is certainly something of exquisite kindness and thoughtful benevolence in that rarest of gifts, - fine breeding.    ___Bulwer

Very good grey day . . .

Picked up my friend K. at 9:30 and we were off to Haley Farm in Groton for some photo taking. It rained all day but not hard enough to stop us from walking one of the trails closest to the little cove. We were amazed by how beautiful Haley Farm is and plan to go back in good weather to walk the trails and hope to see many different species of birds and flora. A lady who had come to walk the trails told us she had seen an owl yesterday. That would be so neat for us. We left as it started to rain hard and parked at Bluff Point to eat our peanut butter crackers, sandwiches, pretzels, almonds, cheese, cookies and drink lots of water; good snacking! Since it was really raining after lunch K. thought we should go to Slater Museum on the campus at NFA. It was a bonne idée. We saw the Connecticut Pastel Society's 21st Annual National Exhibition. It was very good and made even better because K. is quite an artist and could answer my questions with ease. We've made another Adventure Date! Cool.

Had a chance to visit with younger sister for a while yesterday before I dropped her off to stay with our younger brother and his wife. I'm sure they are all enjoying the visit. Good weather for staying inside and gabbing the day away. Grampa and I decided to go out for burgers at New York Pizza in Central Village. The $5 off coupon given to him by Rob, the PHS teacher he helps, is great. We can use it all year long! Nifty.

Probably wasn't too brilliant to take photos in the rain today but I'm going to download what I took and see if my poor camera minded the rain. I only took about 60 because I hated getting the camera wet. I've set it on the Bunn coffee maker to make sure it's all dried out!

Quote:  Nature is the most thrifty thing in the world; she never wastes anything; she undergoes change, but there's no annihilation - the essence remains.    ____T. Binney

Voted . . .

Started out this beautiful morning in New England, US of A at the polls in Moosup, Connecticut. We had some trouble finding a place to park! There was a line to check ID's and it continued as we received our ballots and had to wait for open carrels. This is spectacular, grand, super and every other good expletive you can fathom. Wow! We went to breakfast, bien sur, at The Roadside and it was very busy. After delicious poached eggs on cheese on toast we were treated to railroad men moving dunnage for the new rails they will be installing. I felt like we were back in the 1940's. Life is invigorating, at least for now. So I accept all that is good in this day without question and pray that tomorrow will see a change in the fortunes of our tattered republic.

Scrubbed this old house yesterday because it needed it. I've gotten lax in my dotage. I only clean when the cleaning spirit moves me and that is much less frequently as I grow up. I consider this progress. I'm still anal but I'd like to think that I'm a smidge more relaxed. We went out for supper with Oneco friends and it was very good. What a pleasure to be with longtime Onecoians; very comfortable.  Will try to go for a ride sometime today to find the eagles in Rhode Island. Not sure what we'll come up with but I'm looking forward to it. Still have some shopping to do at Big Y. Since they have enlarged and redone the store it takes me longer to find what I'm looking for and I meander through every aisle! Oh well, one day I'll get the hang of it and will know exactly where to go!

Quote:  I hate all bungling as I do sin, but particularly bungling in politics, which leads to the misery and ruin of many thousands and millions of people.  ___Goethe

Tumbling down the Bluebird trail . . .

Bluebird came visiting this morning.  It's a good thing Grampa sees things for me!

P&D's Pop invited me to walk the Bluebird Trail this afternoon. I've never been with him to check out the Bluebird boxes. It's a pretty impressive hike by my standards. I was surprised by how steep it is. Three of the eight boxes had mice in them so P&D's Pop cleaned them out. It's a good crisp day for a walk in the woods. We saw at least four of his Bluebirds in the trees as we passed. It's a good thing I didn't take my camera because I came slipping and sliding down a steep slope on the thick bed of fallen leaves. Scared myself but although I may have a black and blue right hip and a sore right shoulder tomorrow I seem to be in one piece. We'll just have to take a less steep walk home next time. I really do want to go back. It was good to be out in the woods and meadows.

Went to the children's Mass yesterday. I don't think you're supposed to laugh that hard in church. Oh my goodness. The children sing quite well but there is one songster that drowns out the rest along with the entire community and she sings off key. I had trouble keeping the laughter inside. It was awful. Not sure why you would let one child ruin  some of the songs. I really think she should be signaled to quiet down and let other voices be heard and perhaps it wouldn't be so gruesome.  After Mass I always drive by our old homestead on the chance that our great-nephew or niece might be outside and I'd stop to say hello. It has never happened yet but I still like the drive. Mr. Walker's house is for sale. I wonder if he has gone to live in an assisted living home? He must be in his late eighties.

Quote:  Kindness is the only charm permitted to the aged; it is the coquetry of white hair.   ___Feuillet  (Ha!)

Holy cow . . .

Rosie O'Grady

Just grabbed the iPad, walked by the kitchen windows and a monster slew of Common Grackles flew away. They had covered the feeders, the ground, the trees - yuck. They must recognize my movement in the house because they took off like bats out of hades. I usually chase them with a broom! They usually just go into the trees up on the hill and taunt me but I'm pretty tenacious too and run up and shoo them off so today they just moved out and kept flying. Finally some progress was made. 'would be nice if we could get rid of our greedy, nasty, grabby, noisome, pitiless, rotten, curmudgeonly politicians as easily. I fear there will be so many illegal votes cast Tuesday that the enemy will continue in office and our middle class selves will continue the slide into extinction. Not sure what the power brokers will do when we no longer exist to boost their egos and power. Scary thought!

Wow, hadn't planned on going into my disgust with the state of  Connecticut but there it is. Will be going to see younger sister Wednesday. I always look forward to our visits. We'll stop in at the Harvest in Simsbury and pick up our delectable large cupcake for dessert after we visit the cemetery in Newington to check up on her husband. We haven't been in quite some time. It is a beautiful resting place; well cared for.  Then we'll go to lunch at our favorite eatery near her home. It's always a pleasant visit and renews my faith. She reminds me that most people are kind, generous, sweet and undemanding.

Quote: What the heart has once owned and had, it shall never lose.   ___H.W. Beecher

Cajun CJ's Gumbo . .

Cajun CJ's Gumbo that's what's for supper tonight. Not sure what's gotten to me but I felt like baking too and made some Cape Cod Oatmeal Cookies. Smells good in this old kitchen. Maybe I feel like getting back to this journal because I'm coming to grips with the topsy turvy in my life. Wanting to move south but staying north was a concern for my feeble wits but it's beginning to feel a bit okay. We can play this game day by day and just let our lives unroll as perhaps they were meant to unfold. Have to try to push back the anxiety and know that no matter where we are we'll be okay. It seems pretty straight forward and simple but it's not easy on this ditsy mind of mine. I keep trying to plan things out and I can't. I must remember the year I was so messed up; and then Pa, Matante and Ma died and my kid brother accidentally rapelled off of a cliff, fell, survived and middle child gashed her leg badly in a long jump pit that hadn't been checked for rocks,  I finally gave up trying to figure things out and decided to roll with the punches that seemed to be never ending and here I am today twenty-six years later, feeling healthy if not wise even though I complain about aches and pains and I've got to learn the lesson all over again:  nothing stays the same; changes are inevitable; live each day ; enjoy  today; appreciate all the goodness in my life; know that I've fulfilled my dreams and whatever comes next is a bonus. I always wanted to marry, have children, a home and a good job. Yep. It's that simple and I've been fortunate to have  had it all. So it's time to "Laissez les bons temps rouler" whether it be north or south. I love my husband, my children, my home, my work. What more should I want?  Nothing.

Quote:  The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved, loved for ourselves, or rather loved in spite of ourselves.   ___Victor Hugo