Another Lonely Weekend,,Sort Of

Its now mid August and our heroine is a bit lonely after having her daughter up for a visit the previous weekend and a weekend in Harrisburg with the love of her life. What is a women to do?? Projects around the house!

On Saturday morning she got her large trash bag full of pine cones down from an upstairs bedroom. She did not remember there being so damn many pine cones.

While waiting for the wax to melt before she could start dipping pine cones our heroine grabbed an orbital sander and roughed up all the tongue and groove wood on the enclosed front porch. Then She sanded all the trim around the front door and using wood putty fixed all the screw holes from where the storm door used to be and where another dog had chewed the door trim.

After a hard day of work she got cleaned up and headed off to Beech Mountain to have dinner with some very good and dear friends. Any friend who tells you that you are beautiful when you're tired and feel very fat is a great friend!

The heroine's friend found these really cool stained glass corner pieces at a craft fair. The heroine is sure that another really good and dear friend, Michele, could make these as she makes spectacular stained glass creations.

At the same house the heroine saw these neat old windows that had been painted. Her hostess had one on each end of her front porch. What a great idea!

By late Sunday our heroine had finished wax dipping all the pine cones. These are not all of them, there are more in the master bedroom and in the upstairs guest room.

As if wax dipping all the pine cones was not enough our heroine then made a pumpkin pie for her beloved co-workers. She figures that if she keeps them happy they will not get angry with her for taking time off. Hey,,it might work.

By bedtime our heroine took the brace off her left hand to mark the end of six weeks of not using her "writing hand" for anything. Yee-Haw!

Now that our heroine is healed and has been given a green light from her surgeon who knows what she will do this coming weekend.

Stay tuned,,,same website,,in a few days.

Girl's Weekend

A few years ago I started a tradition with my daughter where we would have "Girl's Weekends". We would meet somewhere and have a fun time. I think this started back in 2005 or 2006. We've missed one year since we started.

This year she came to visit me here in the mountains. She arrived very tired on Friday night. We had tacos for dinner and went to bed fairly early.

On Saturday morning we had a nice breakfast and then went shopping for baby clothes. The weekend before Patricia arrived she had a two dimensional ultrasound which showed that she would have a girl.

We went to a few different stores and there were just soooooo many cute outfits,

It was very hard to restrain ourselves and not buy too much.

On Sunday after another nice breakfast we went for a walk/hike on the mountain. My pregnant daughter looked great at 16 weeks. I am so happy for her and excited about being a grandmother in January.

While we were out we saw this tree. I have no idea why anyone would cut 2 almost perfectly rectangular holes in a tree trunk.

Further examination reveled another hole on the back side.

Later on Sunday we had Patricia's grandparents for dinner. During cocktails Patricia was relaxing on the sofa.

Her grandmother was looking good as always.

After dinner Patricia and her grandfather were joking around.

I got this photo taken of 3 generations of women, soon to be four. Awesome!

Harrisburg, PA,,,,Road Trip

NOTE: You can double click on any photo to see a larger size of it and all the other photos.

Recently I took a road trip up to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to see Richard. I was in 5 different states each way. There was some interesting scenery but no where
to pull off and take a photo.

When I arrived on Friday afternoon the Captain held the 1:30 cruise a few minutes so I could make it. Good thing I have connections.

Since the Susquehanna River is so low we were going to head downstream. We would pass under several bridges. Here is the downstream view while sitting at the dock.

Unlike most paddle boats The Pride of The Susquehanna has no rudders and no propellers. She moves only by the rotation of her split stern paddle wheels. We are leaving the dock.

The Captain is very dashing in his uniform.

Here is another shot looking downstream at the bridges.

When we get as far as we can go the Captain tells us to look carefully and off in the distance we can see the cooling towers of Three Mile Island.

The public cruises are only 45 minutes and soon we were back at the dock. Once the Captain was off duty he took me out for Indian food,,it was awesome.

Since the Captain had to work on Saturday I took a stroll around Harrisburg. I love the wooden window headers with the Dutch style carvings in them and the other woodwork.

When I got back to Richard's place I noticed this sign on the side of his apartment building. I knew it was an old building before I saw this.

By lunchtime Carol & Howard Page (former sister in-law and hubby) had arrived. I picked them up from their hotel. After lunch we went to take a ride on The Pride with Richard as our Captain. We staked out a spot in the shade while waiting for our pre-cruise talk.

Here is Captain Richard giving his pre-cruise talk. I love a man in uniform.

After the cruise we got a group photo. This is the only photo of the Captain and I.

I got the Captain to pose at the fake helm in the wheel house.

Later on we went out to an Irish place for dinner. Here are Richard and Carol.

After dinner we walked down the street and found a bar with outside tables where we could sit, drink, enjoy a cigar and people watch. Richard does like his cigars.

So does Howard.

On Sunday morning while Richard had some work to do I strolled along the streets near Richard's apartment and the Susquehanna River. Across the street from Richard's apartment is the Y.M.C.A. It is a large building and was originally a cotton mill. The brick work is really neat.

From the Y.M.C.A. I crossed the street and got a shot of the Pride at her dock.

A block down is the street which runs to the Capitol building.

An artist painted a few of these cows and has placed them around town. This one, minus her horns, show fireworks over the city with the skyline reflected on the water.

This cow is jazzin'

Further down the riverwalk is this statue dedicated to the men who fought in World War I. It is from the families who lost men in the war.

Further down but not pictured are statues dedicated to Fireman and the PA DOT workers.

My last night in Harrisburg Richard took me to the steel beach. It is the roof of his building and there are chase lounge chairs, park benches and patio tables. The night time views of the river and the town are spectacular. If I go back I will get some shots from up there.

Christmas In July

Every July we host a Christmas in July party. This was our Fourth Annual Christmas in July.

I started all the prep the Wednesday before. One of the last things I did was to make the Peppermint Brownie Torte.

As the guests arrived I took photos.

Here is my former mother in-law, her husband and Betty Christopher.

Here is Bill Schmitt, Don Platt and my former mother in-law, Bunny.

Nan Sher, Suzanne Schmitt and Joe Knipper. Suzanne wins first place for actually wearing a Christmas shirt.

Part of the dinner buffet: Sweet potatoes, squash & onion casserole and pearl onions in cream sauce.

More of the dinner buffet: green bean casserole; cranberry sauce and dressing with Portabella mushrooms and sausage.

My neighbor Bill Schmitt brought his electric carving knife and did a wonderful job on the turkey.

Beautifully carved meat.

Honorable mention goes to Bill Schmitt for his Santa Merry Christmas pin and to Kit who wore a HOx3 pin.

Older But Not Always Wiser

My 53rd birthday was looming very large on the horizon. I had no plans and was not expecting any guests until,,,,,,,,,

My very dear and long time friend Tammy called me. She and her fiance were heading home from a bike rally near Pittsburgh and were going to make a 2 hour (???? am I worth it ???) detour to spend my birthday night with me.

Tammy and I go back several years, the exact number to be with-held so that no one knows our real ages.

I had picked up a small cake to celebrate my birthday with. Since I did not have candles Tammy improvised. Each of the pillar candles represents a decade in my life.

The matches I am blowing out represent the extra years.

And of course like everyone else Tammy just LOVED Morgan. He is such the ladies man.

At some point after the cake Tammy asked me about the last time I had done a shot of chilled Cuervo Gold. That was not a good question and I quickly found the bottle of Cuervo Gold and chilled a couple of shots.

Getting ready to do the shots,,

The "Post Shot:" happy dance.

I love my friends and really enjoy their visits even if it means I am a bit slow the next day.