Blog Archives

Lazy day pictures

38 years lost and now found.

     For the 38 years since our wedding we had none of our wedding pictures.  They’d disappeared, were lost, they were gone forever only a few weeks after the wedding.  For years we searched and my relatives searched to no avail.  What few wedding pictures we’ve had all these years were gathered from snap shots taken by friends and relatives.

     By serendipity some wedding slides surfaced yesterday.  Not all of them, but some great ones from the wedding and reception that we thought we’d never see again.   I have pictures of my Father, Mother, Gramma (Mom’s mom), and Grandpa (Dad’s dad)!!!

     We intend to have the slides put on a disk.   I told The Curmudgeon they go over to the photo place no later than Wednesday of next week!

     We are now only missing a few pictures that my brother-in-law took of us at the Rose Gardens.

Picture day again…

Morning sound effects

     Car horn, noisy children, quiet returns and sleep deepens.  Hours later, click, click, click, click, click, sniff, sniff, sniff, thump, rattle of door, and loud sigh.    Click, click, click, click, click, thump, thump, thump, thump.

     An hour passes then click, click, click, click, click, thump, rattle of door, soft whine.

     “Okay, okay.”  I open the door to a white dog wagging his tail.

     The bed bouncing commences.  On the bed, off the bed, on the bed, off the bed, on the bed.   He stops to cuddle a few minutes, then bounces off the bed to put his paws on my dresser and stare at the dog in the mirror.  A couple more bed bounces and he’s ready to go downstairs.

     Morning Mom.

     You all have a good one!

It never gets easy

     On Friday the thirteenth in April of 2001 my baby sister breathed her last breath.  A hole opened in my heart and has never healed.   To have her joy, laughter, sense of humor, and smile leave this world forever was the cruelest thing of all.

I mourned her then.   I mourn her now.  Mary, it still feels like it was only yesterday that we spoke on the phone.  I miss you.  I love you.

Getting antsy for the PW conference

     My conference room-mate and I reserved our room back in January.  I paid my conference fees last month.  Why isn’t it May?

     Because I haven’t planned my basket donations yet?  Gee, I really need to do that.  The title for this years conference is A Writer’s Map.  A theme basket could be in order….any ideas? 

     I have a pile of books to put in baskets again this year.  Most are mysteries but there are several writing books too.  Hmm, I need to start getting into  basket creation mode.

   You all have a good one!

And how was your holiday?

     Yesterday would’ve been my father’s 97th birthday if he were still with us.  I love you Dad and miss you every day!

     I made us a lovely dinner of leg of lamb, pickled beets and eggs, potato salad, and one deviled egg for both of us.  The Curmudgeon was in heaven over it.  It had to be one of his absolute favorite meals.  In fact, each component is a favorite of his so he was quite over the moon.  The deviled egg I served him made him giggle.

     Gavin and Patty sure enjoyed the tidbits of lamb he provided for them. 

     I hope you had a wonderful weekend and a good day today!

MS takes its daily toll

     Most days The Curmudgeon can barely take the dogs out and feed them in the morning.  He insists that he do it.  He is at his best in the mornings and his best is most people’s worst. 

     This won’t get better.  We know it and work hard to accept it.  His walking is poor at best.  His balance sucks. 

     As the day goes on, he can do less and less.  By one or two in the afternoon he MUST take a nap.  It’s funny, the dogs have decided that they must take a nap then too.  If I don’t close their crate doors and drop the covers down, they will sit in them and whine or Gavin will stand in front of me and bark until I do.

     The Curmudgeon gets up around four and so do the pups.  I take the pups out and then they vie for who gets to sit on The Curmudgeon.    Usually Patty wins but Gavin does get there before her sometimes.

     I think they use this to see how many times they can make The Curmudgeon laugh.

     You all have a good one!

My garden makes me happy

I need to go out into my garden.

Relax. 

I need to release all the tensions of the day. 

Chill.

I need to enjoy the colors, textures, and sounds.

You all have a good one!

What took me hours to accomplish…

     Would take a teenager mere minutes.  Yeah, I’m back to electronics and my need to have a teenager that I can tap for his/her electronic wizardness once in a while.  It’s not that I can’t do it, it just takes me longer to figure it out than it used to–with age comes wisdom and a lesser ability to crack instructions on electronic things.

     I do have a great advantage over many people of my age in that I am willing to learn how to use all the new things that come down the pike.

     Once learned, however, I may not want to keep the electronic device in my life.  Yes, let’s take cell phones as an example–I am not a person who enjoys being connected 24/7.

     I do enjoy my now (after a few hours) well loaded MP3 player though.  I have always loved having a variety of music at my finger tips.  I am doing a happy dance to my wonderful music!

     You all have a good one!

Decompression Day!

Everyone should have at least one day a week where they turn off the phone, shut down the computer, and decompress.  Maybe all this being connected 24/7 has a lot to do with road rage, escalating violence, and a lack of manners.

In honor of my baby sister, I declare April the 13th (anniversary of her death) Decompression Day!!!   For 8  hours–24 if you are retired, or if you have to work– from the time you leave work for the day until you go to bed, turn off your phones, get off the computer, turn off the TV, and decompress.  Go for a walk.  Play with the dog.  Do something you enjoy that isn’t connected to electronics.

You will be amazed at how being disconnected for a day will make you feel less stressed.

Pass this on we could start a movement!

You all have a good one!

Patty’s turn to write

     Mom said I could write today’s blog.  She was too tired to think straight. 

     Gavin thinks I should write about food, but that’s all he ever thinks about.  I want to write about all the bullies like me that someone rescues.  Mom and Dad rescued me and I think that’s important.

     We have many friends on Facebook that are rescues.  Lil Bit and Tugg are two of them.  They had a much rougher start than I did.  We Bullies are made of tough stuff and more often than not we bounce back from the worst of circumstances. Those two certainly have.

     I was lucky.  I was what Mommy calls a dump off.  Some man had imported me from Budapest Romania so he could breed Bullies.  He got a boy Bullie from Oklahoma too.  I didn’t like the boy Bullie much and the man decided I was too much trouble.  Mom ran the Lehigh Valley Bull Terrier Club rescue at the time and he brought me to her.  She says he was supposed to bring my papers and shot records and stuff but he never did come back with them.

     At first I didn’t like Gavin very much, but he was nice to me except when I stole his bones.  Mommy says she had planned to place me in a home but since Gavin’s Auntie Sadie died, he was lonely for another Bullie and she and Dad decided that maybe I should stay.

      That was almost eight years ago and I am still happy here.  I love my Mommy and Daddy and my bratty big brother Gavin.