And for $6.95 . . .

Sunday blueberry pie - all gone last night!

Have no clue why I wanted to go out for lunch today but Puppies' & Danté's Pop was agreeable as I offered it as my Valentine's Lunch. We went to Central Village's Roadside Diner and for the whopping sum of $6.95 I had excellent fresh Italian bread, baked scrod, mashed potatoes, green beans, coffee and strawberry apple rhubarb crisp! Just perfect. These guys put out a great meal. I'll have to start double exercising because I had breakfast today with T. at Old Tymes, Cinnamon Crisp! Perhaps two hours of good conversation whetted my appetite for lunch! I believe we'll have tuna sandwiches for supper.  It's already Ash Wednesday!

Grampa is washing the Hyundai because the amount of dirt and salt on it makes it look like a mud ball. We're supposed to get some snow tonight but not enough to mess up my Thursdays at Kiddo's school. Looking forward to seeing him to hear what he's been up to with all of the snow days. He did call to let us know he had lost another tooth! The outside thermometer is reading 60 degrees but that is with the sun shining right on it. There is a lot of melting going on but I believe that Kiddo will still be able to go sliding Friday afternoon.

Completed the last CD of 48 CD set as I exercised yesterday and put the book up for sale at Amazon. It's not going to fetch as good a price as the last set did. But if I clear $35 I'll be able to order the last book (8) in the The Outlander series which will come out in the Fall. Come to think of it I believe I've already pre-ordered it! And besides I already have book seven  in the series ready for exercising!

Quote:  To have ideas is to gather flowers; to think, is to weave them into garlands.  ___Mad. Swetchine

Blueberry pie. . .

So much outlining and still more filling in to do!

To quote Puppies' and Danté's Pop, "It's colder than a witch's tit." Started out at 2 below, went to 3 below and it is now 9 above. That's progress for you! I'm going to finish up the frozen blueberries kid brother gave me ages ago and make a sweet, comforting, aromatic pie. Even though we went to Central Village for a very early breakfast I'm not venturing out for Mass. The roads are not good and I can't imagine the steps up to All Hallows are in very good shape. We couldn't make it (from Route 12 and by the Medical Center) up the drive way coming back from the Roadside Diner. I got out and opened the garage while Puppies' and Danté's Pop went down to the bridge to turn around and come at the yard with some speed. That worked out well. I'll spend the day cooking, watching UCONN men and women basketball, playing the keyboard, reading and maybe some cross stitch. I've only been working on it for a few years! I must say that it is truly beautiful to look out on the bright snow shining under the sun's rays. The sky is a perfect blue, no clouds. Don't think we'll get too much melting today before the rains come in tomorrow and raise havoc. Typical Nutmeg weather. Hoping younger brother and his wife make it home from Arizona although they could probably stay longer and keep away from this blinding, but beauteous snowy mess. The wind has died down so we do have a plus! Another plus - I exercised for half and hour and didn't cough.  Gee, five weeks and it seems I'm back to normal.

Quote:  There is no trifling with nature; it is always true, grave, and severe; it is always in the right, and the faults and errors fall to our share.  It defies incompetency, but reveals its secrets to the competent, the truthful, and the pure.   ___Goethe  (Not too sure about the revelation part!)

The aftermath . . .

Top of side steps from porch.

 

Bottom of side steps from road.

 

Spinner can't spin.

 

Cleaning in front of the garage.

 

       

Porch.

 

We shall see . . .

Back to England - WWII

Puppies and Danté's Pop has already scraped off about two inches of snow from in front of the garage. It is about 2:30 pm. The snow started at about 8:15 this morning! But the wind is starting to come up and the snow is coming down faster so we shall see what the Blizzard of 2013 leaves with us. Spent a nice visit with younger sister Wednesday where we splurged and pigged out on a whole (small) cake from the Harvest.  It was very good - marble with raspberry on top and fantastic, thick, rich mocha frosting all around. Shocked myself as I ate my half! Couldn't stop eating until the last, tasty bite of frosting disappeared. Very pleasurable and great to share with R. She beat me at cribbage. Must be taking lessons from Cousine S! They're starting to gang up on me.

Seems that Kiddo did quite well in his King Tut presentation but no grade has been sent home. He said that his teacher commented that he was the only one who remembered to speak in the first person! It seems that she asked him "Where did you get your staff?" (I found a neat one at Amazon with a flared cobra head!)  He told her, " My father, Amenhotep, gave it to me!" Cool beansies. He has been lax keeping up with his reading but I've been on his case. We'll see how it pans out. Made myself buckle down and finish reading American Pastoral by Philip Roth. Not good. Not good at all. I read that it was one of The Great American Novels so I decided to buy the Kindle edition. It is not a great novel and the Kindle edition was full of mispellings, lacunae, and odd symbols in place of parts of some words. I've written to Amazon to complain but doubt I'll get a refund.  I bought it in November and just got around to reading it. When I finally looked up the reviews on it after I had finished reading I realized the author had written Portnoy's Complaint which I recall was a blockbuster sex novel some years ago. I'll have to be a better judge of literature than I was for this latest fiasco. I'm going to start reading The Curse Big-Time Gambling's Seduction of a Small New England Town a novel by Robert H. Steele. He was our Congressman in the early 70's and ran for governor in 1975. In 1971 he took part in the annual VJ Day parade in Moosup and stopped by our house to refresh himself! That's when we were pretty heavily involved in Republican politics. I remember walking the parade route which started at Kaman and went up Main before cutting across to come down Lake Street, then up High Street and down Daggett.  I was expecting our first kiddo! Boy did I give out a lot of candy and pot holders!

Quote:  If ever this free people__if this government itself is ever utterly demoralized, it will come from this incessant human wriggle and struggle for office, which is but a way to live without work.  __Abraham Lincoln

Change of plans . . . redux . . .

And I must include the best of the Roses.  (1985)

On my return from Mass yesterday and Puppies and Danté's Pop's return from watching horseshoes in East Hartford middle child called and said they would manage without me for their Super Bowl Extravaganza! So that was pretty cool and we spent a nice anniversary quietly together. We went to the flying field in Brooklyn where I walked for at least half an hour in the breezy cold. Yikes! But it felt good to be outside. I haven't walked outside in many weeks. The cough is letting up but still tenacious. Hope this week finally kills it! In the afternoon we watched UCONN men beat USF. It was a come from behind game so that is an enormous feat for Kevin Ollie and his bedraggled Huskies. Had a pick up supper before settling in for Super Bowl XLVII. We have never actually watched a bowl game, ever! This was so comical it was fun! Of course Grampa watched Dumbest Stuff on Wheels during half time and I played solitaire! We saw a couple of glimpses of the show and I was content to win at solitaire. The best part of the game was keeping track of the Facebook comments by family and friends. Did a lot of laughing! Going out this evening with Oneco friends and tomorrow I should be seeing Kiddo in the afternoon (he has a half day?) to find out how his Tutankhamen presentation went.

Quote:  Love is patient; love is kind.  Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, it is not snobbish.  Love is never rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not prone to anger; neither does it brood over injuries.  Love does not rejoice in what is wrong but rejoices with the truth.  There is no limit to love's forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure. Love never fails . . . Saint Paul 's First Letter to the Corinthians  Chapter 13

Forty-six years have gone by . . . not possible . . .

Perry and Snoopy at our second apartment in East Hartford.  First apartment was near the cathedral in Norwich. September 1967

Moi.  We lived up the covered steps until 1969, East Hartford.

May 31, 1965 - Good thing Gram wrote on the back of her photos!

Still feel the way I did when we met in 1964. We're good. That may be understatement but don't know how to express the depth of my emotions. Married Friday evening February 3, 1967 less than two months after Perry returned from Vietnam. Were married at All Hallows Rectory - sister Rose and brother Larry were witnesses along with Ma, Pa and Gram.  Fr. Millette officiated. Wouldn't change anything of these 46 years. This good life continues.

Not quite as planned . . .

 

 

Had a change of plans because of Super Bowl Sunday tomorrow, our forty-sixth wedding anniversary! We decided to go to the Corner Bistro today but, naturellement, they were not opening until 4pm and we wished to eat at 1pm. Our backup plan took us to the 99 Restaurant in the Killingly Mall area. It's a good thing we were late for lunch. The place was very busy but quite a few people were leaving when we arrived so we only waited about seven minutes. Food and drinks were really quite good. Much better than our last outing at a chain restaurant, the Outback, in Warwick. After a good lunch of fish and chips for Puppies' Pop and  delicious mac and cheese for me along with salads, key lime pie (moi!) beers and a Kahlua and Vanilla Stoli for me we got home in time to see the UCONN women beat St. John's by the skin of their teeth. Tomorrow I'll go to Groton late in the day to keep Kiddo out of mischief while Richoni's rocks!

We had a good Friday into Saturday visit with Kiddo. He found the old green fountain pen that MaTante Rose used to use, an empty ink bottle and the blotter on top of Grampa Rose's desk and asked how it worked. So we set him up at his table and he whiled away the time practicing  his cursive. Really enjoyed using that wonderful old pen. I don't think I ever expected to see it used again. We only put some water in the bottle but there must have been a lot of dried up ink in the pen. It worked like a charm. He even took a tour of his Aunt D's room to see her Waterman Calligraphy pen, the beautiful, colorful ink bottles and the instruction books I used (once, perhaps!) I think he'll be taking it all out again when he comes next Friday. He was really keen on using the pen!

Monday he has to give a report to his third grade class about King Tutankhamen. He has it pretty well figured out and a costume too. I hope he pulls it off without being too nervous. That's a tough job. At least those were tough jobs for me! The doctor called in an antibiotic for me yesterday and it seems to be working. Hallelujah! Four more pills to go and I hope the cough of 2013 is history! I know Grampa seconds that!

Quote:  If there is anything better than to be loved, it is loving.   ___Anonymous