Weekending 3/20/23

 Good Morning!

First of all, Happy Birthday to my Mom who would be 104 today!!  And Happy First Day of Spring.  Yay!!  Even though it is in the low 20's here.  Yesterday was horribly windy (again) and the thermometer never got above freezing.  But, Friday was mild and I discovered a bunch of blooms!

These smaller daffodils are always the first to bloom and it is always a surprise to me because they are all along the north side of the house.

Again, Friday was mild enough that we had the first fire of the year in our fire pit!!  

You can see our arbor lights at the edge of our woods are on.  They are solar lights and Friday was pretty sunny.  The shiny thing on the other side of Fletch is a thistle feeder hanging in the apple tree.  Within about 40 minutes we started to feel a few drops of rain, but we lasted out there just about an hour and it was so nice to get back into a backyard fire.

Saturday morning found me meeting up with Dee as usual for some chatting, knitting and sipping.  I had to cut our visit a little short because Fletch and I had plans for the afternoon.  Years ago Fletch became friends with a local (movie) director and used to help out on sets, etc.  One day John asked him to be in one of the movies he was filming.  Fast forward to now and John had the premier of the movie on Saturday.  I joked with Dee that I needed to go home and find a gown to wear...and the only gowns I own are nightgowns.  LOL

Anyway, we went to the premier which was fun.  The movie is about an ex-boxer who is just out of prison and starting his life over and is told a champion wants to fight him.  Of course they fight and of course the ex-boxer wins (and gets a boat load of money and hooks up with his parole officer - which makes no sense whatsoever).  I did not particularly care for the movie but it was fun to see the scene that Fletch was in.  The audio was horrible though and I had a hard time hearing most of the actors (Fletch was audible though!).  A fun and different way to spend an afternoon.

The premier was held at the Norristown Public Library and a display case in front of the library entrance had some beautiful ceramic pieces from the local high school.

Love this trio of kitty boxes.

Sorry for the glare - difficult to get good pics.

Interesting teapots!

Some of these high school kids are very talented.

Despite the wind, Fletch spent some time outside and radish seeds have now been planted.  He counted 47 garlic shoots coming up (47 out of 50 planted)!!  Inside, the sungold cherry tomato seeds have sprouted.

So, even though the temps are chilly, Spring is emerging and that is an encouraging and wonderful thing!

I'm hoping for an easy start to the work week.  And, wishing you all a wonderful Monday!

Catching Up on a Friday 4/22/22

 Good Morning and Hello!

After a couple of busy days, I am back and will try to catch up.  I'm moving slowly this morning...sleeping in a bit and just now sipping my first cup of coffee.  

Wednesday with my friend was delightful!  Carol drove up from Elkton and arrived just after 10 a.m.  My goodness we had so many laughs.  For once traffic was her friend and the roads (particularly 95) were not crowded.  She brought way too many gifts for me and Fletch and Mabel too!  I made pineapple and shrimp soft tacos for lunch and some guacamole to go with that.  Yummy!  Too soon it was time to say goodbye.  Carol left around 2:30 and opted to take back roads home.  A longer, but prettier drive.  I was happy to never have once checked work email!

Later, after dinner, Fletch and I had our first fire of the season!

The sky was even a little bit light when we started (just after 8 p.m.) and it was lovely.  We picked songs one at a time from Spotify and just talked and listened to music.  And sipped wine.  Mabel even came around once or twice, but she steered pretty clear of the fire pit!

I didn't sleep all that well Wednesday night and ended up getting up early (5:15 a.m.) Thursday morning.  Really that was ok...Thursdays are my busy report days and I had to leave by 7:30 for PT.  So, I worked for 2 hours and then went to PT.  The session was good, but I could feel it in my back last night - not hurting, just more a tiredness or a tightness or a combination of the two.  Meanwhile, the rest of the day was crazy work-wise.  I had thought I might post and get to reading blogs by the afternoon, but that was not the case.  I will try to catch up today.

My calendar shows one conference call at 11 a.m. and otherwise the day is wide open.  It will be getting warmer.  If I can, I will get out for a walk.  As usual, I am hoping for a quiet day - one where I can fit in reading, knitting and stitching.  Always hopeful, but it doesn't always work out that way.  There are T-bone steaks in the frig and Fletch will be grilling those tonight.  I think I'll roast some Brussels Sprouts and maybe make some smashed potatoes to go with the beef.

And, for your Friday Feline fun, just look at this sweetie:

I call this shot Mabel in the bulrushes - LOL.  Fletch and I spotted her in amongst the plants one afternoon when we were sitting on the patio.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!  I'm looking forward to getting together with Dee tomorrow morning for a Saturday therapy session!

Friday Felines

Good Morning!

Happy Weekend (well...almost there).  It was 60 this morning on our patio!!  And the crocus have started blooming along our driveway bed.  Of course, rain is coming in today and the temps will be cooler over the weekend, but NO SNOW in the forecast.

Fletch picked up new hay bales for our target shooting.  It's been so long since I picked up my bow, I'm anxious to do so.  Meanwhile, someone was enjoying a different view:

He sat there for quite some time.  Maybe looking for mice?  (There was yet another dead one in the yard last night).  The target will be up on one of the bales and the extra bale in the back is to catch the arrows that I shoot over the target - lol (which happens a lot).

We had a nice dinner and Fletch had picked up a blueberry pie for Pi Day, but none of us could eat dessert!  Too full from dinner.  Maybe tonight.

Then...we had out first fire of the year last night!

It ended up being pretty windy and it was difficult to get out of the line of smoke - you know...no matter what direction you move, the wind changes and the smoke follows you.  It was wonderful though to be outside at night!

The weekend is looking good!  I'm meeting up with Dee tomorrow morning for some much needed therapy of knitting, coffee, and chatting; Sunday we are going over to Colin & Mailing's for lunch.  Can't wait to see their home with furniture in place and the cats in residence!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I've got to get cranking - two conference calls coming right up.

It's Friday!!

Whew!  It has been a long, long week.  not sure why, except that I've had back-to-back busy weeks at work, and after a long, slow summer that is difficult to get used to.  Don't get me wrong - I prefer to be super busy at work - makes the time go quickly.  There is nothing worse than having to sit around with absolutely nothing to do.


Now I'm in the midst of planning a small (30 people or so) West Coast meeting in October.  I probably will not attend this one (boo-hiss) as October is a super busy time in my office.  The other one I'm planning is in early November in Florida at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando.  This is a beautiful resort - I've done a number of meetings here over the years.  This group will be a tad bit larger - about 140 people.  I'm hoping I will be able to go to this one.


So, what is happening?  I re-started the Close to You shawl and I'm liking it.  I wasn't sure about the pattern as I'm not real fond of double yarn-overs, but I changed needles and now everything is working ok.  I had originally been using a ChiaoGoo circular needle, but the yarn is so soft and those needles are very slippery.  Stitches (especially the yarn-overs) kept slipping off.  I switched to wooden circulars and all is good.  I'll get a picture over the weekend when I've gotten a bit more done (right now I've only knit about 24 rows or so).
Fletch and I also started reading a new book after dinner.  It's one I read almost 30 years ago, but is very good.  It is The Solace of Open Spaces and makes me think of Nancy.


Colin stopped by for dinner last night and we had a fire in the pit after dinner.  It was a perfect evening for it.  I actually had a shawl wrapped around my shoulders sitting by the fire!

That's Fletch standing and Colin sitting with a glass of whiskey and a cigar.  Lots of good conversation and plenty of laughs.


Colin and Mailing are coming for dinner tomorrow and it should be nice enough to have another fire.  We are going to do grilled shish kabobs (steak, pork and chicken as well as peppers, onions, tomatoes, green & yellow squash and mushrooms) and strawberry shortcake for dessert.


I ran out to Trader Joe's around 10 this morning.  Disappointed that the liquor store next door is STILL closed for renovations (going on 3 weeks now), but I got a beautiful bunch of flowers at TJs as well as pizza crusts for tonight and other miscellaneous goodies (always, always buy more than I go in for at TJs).


And, for the Friday Feline Crowd, here's a shot of Tyg that I took last weekend - resting on the lawnmower after Fletch had done some mowing.  At one point he tried to stick his head down in the bag with all the grass clippings!  Too silly.

Well, that's it for me today.  I am so ready for the weekend and our weather forecast looks perfect - 70's all weekend with cooler evenings and mornings.  Hope you all enjoy the weekend!