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.

I'm Making Progress,

I have been working diligently to get all the wood split into firewood pieces so I can move on to easier stuff.
By Saturday lunchtime I had finished the pile of wood behind the woodshed and Jared had stacked it all for me. Even the woodshed is now full.


After lunch I headed out to start on the pile in the driveway near the garage,


By the time I quit I had made some great progress. With some help from the boys I can get this knocked off pretty quickly.


We have a rule that on Sundays we do not run the lawn mower, weed eater or tractor (unless we have to plow snow). I took the opportunity to head over to Tennessee and do a Sam's Club run. I found everything I wanted and stayed within my budget. I am good!! I have also restocked my baking supplies so I can have more fun with food days.

Fun With BIll and Rhonda

The other night I had Bill (my ex-husband) and Rhonda (his girlfriend) over for dinner. We had a great time even though my casserole came out a bit dry and the dessert did not live up to my expectations. I had tried to create something new and now know, I think, how to fix it for the next time.

After dinner we sat in the living room enjoying wine, Bill was drinking scotch with lots of ice(see below).

Like everyone else who meets Morgan, Rhonda just fell in love with our handsome little boy.

I believe that Bill was trying to make a point,,,or he was pointing at the clock and commenting on how late it was getting.

What ever it was he laughed about it.

Tyler came up and sat with us for awhile. He got Kele to sort of cuddle with him. He is making great progress in earning her trust.

I also got a lovely floral arrangement from Bill and Rhonda. It was a great night and I would like to do it again sometime just without the hangover.

Memorial Weekend

Memorial weekend, a time when we honor those who gave their lives for our country. The "official" start to the summer. A time for parties, barbecues and going to the beach, the lake or what ever, unless,,,,,,,,,

Unless you are the mountain girl who has LOTS of things to get done over the summer, and since the weather was gorgeous it was a long weekend for all outdoor chores.

When I got home from work early on Friday I changed clothes, took a quart of water and went out to split wood. After 3 hours this is what I had accomplished.

I decided to treat myself to an everything but the kitchen sink pizza. This beauty had pepperoni, sausage, bacon, onions, garlic, black olives and portabella mushrooms with lots of cheese. It was wonderful.

Saturday I headed back out to spend the day with Tonto, the tractor, and split more wood. This is where I quit after 5 1/2 hours. You need to refer back to Friday's photos to realize the amount that I got done. Actually if you go back to "A New State of Normal" You can see the whole pile before I began splitting.

I promised myself that Sunday would be an easy day, no more wood splitting for this girl. Nope, no way! Instead I cleaned the front porch area. The siding was covered with grime and mildew. Check out the raw wood frame around the storm door on the far left of the photo.

After I scrubbed the siding clean I got the paint that Richard had left me and painted all the trim around the storm door. When Richard saw this photo he thought I had painted the siding also because it looked so good.

Now being the somewhat crazed person that I am I could not sit back and relax for the rest of the day. I had to push myself and chop kindling. This box was absolutely, positively completely empty when I started. It only took me 90 minutes. But now I have a blister on my left palm and a severe case of tendonitis in my left hand. I should have quit when I started to get the blister but no, I was too stubborn.

Monday, Memorial Day, I did real easy stuff like sprayed Round-Up on the weeds and did laundry. I got my two male college tenants to stack all the split wood for me. Now I have room to split the rest next weekend. Maybe it will rain and I can do easy chores indoors.

Mother' Day Weekend

Since I was going to be alone on Mother's Day weekend,,,,except for my three four-legged furry kids I decided to treat myself to a road trip to the boat. The weather forecast was for perfect weather the entire weekend.

As I was sitting in the cockpit enjoying a cocktail on Friday night I was surveying my surroundings and looking to see what, if any, damage was left from the direct hit Oriental took from Irene last fall. As I was driving down I saw several house with tarps still on their roofs. But the most interesting thing I saw was this gazebo across the creek from us. The storm surge had pushed it over some and then the owners lashed it so it would not fall any further over.

On Saturday as I was relaxing in the cockpit and learning how to knit a father and son came over to do some fishing.

I was not the only one relaxing on Saturday. Morgan assumed his position on the cabin roof and dozed in the shade while the breeze ruffled his coat.

Kele soon got tired of guarding her territory from everyone who came near and gave in to a nap in the sun.

But of course Lili kept watch.

It was a wonderful weekend with the "kids".