It has been a long time since I posted on my blog. I'm not sure what got in the way, but life is a series of ebbs and flows. Keeping in balance, and doing the next right thing -- sometimes just takes all our attention. Every day I am more grateful for another day to give it all another go. Lately I'm considering what jewelry I want to make, how I can do a better job of organizing all my hobbies. I've decided that anyone who wants to come and have dinner with us will need to accept and enjoy all the materials that I have stored there. Not everyone has a kiln, a metal embosser, boxes of paints, brushes, cutters, paper, stamps, yarn, plastic canvas, beading tools....my dining room is a storehouse of fun. You just have to realize that serving and enjoying food is only a small part of life in my dining room. Maybe I am talking about forgiveness. As we learn to love and forgive each other, we also need to forgive ourselves. I am in working on forgiving myself for my curiosity, my enthusiasm and my ongoing collections of the stuff I need to create things. My kiln is my friend, and enjoys a big place in my heart as well as my home. Tools are like old friends. They are there when you need them, no longer how long since you've seen them. Have a creative day!

Live gets a little crazy sometimes. Keep dancing.

California in December

We had a great time visiting California to see my family, and enjoy a trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari park. The palm trees were gorgeous, and the sunny blue sky was amazing to see. Boston is great, but we really enjoyed the scenery and the sunshine. We stopped at a fruit stand in Temecula, and bought red oranges and grapefruits and wanted to buy lots more. George and I stood by the car in the parking lot and ate 2 oranges each right there! Delicious.

Home again, and now it's all about Christmas. We are busy decorating the house, and had a great trip to the outlet mall and our favorite store: Villeroy and Boch, where I bought some beautiful Christmas plates and a tea setting. I love the festive colors of Christmas, and we leave our decorations up until February.

Blogging has been something that has gone by the wayside of my busy life. I'm very grateful to have such a nice family to visit in California. Onward with the holiday plans!


Enjoy the season!

Safari park picture taken by Devin!

Lemon Meringue Pie

We have decided that we really like making these. I learned that baking a pie crust should not be done while watching The Name of The Rose on TV, or you might overbake it by 5 minutes and have to make a second one from the remaining crust. So, this is not perfect, but definitely a labor of love.

And a really nice treat on a Sunday afternoon.

Thunder's Apple Tree

When my cat Thunder died three years ago at age 17, we planted a very small apple tree in her honor. Last year we were not quick enough with the spray and the borer caterpillars had a picnic on the leaves. It was sad. This year, we were out there with the first warm spring day and sprayed every weekend and watched it closely. It had an abundance of healthy leaves & blossoms. Most of the apples seemed to develop down low.

A problem.

During the night, little night animals would come and pick off the apples one by one. We have skunks, raccoons & woodchucks and any of them could have been the culprit -- or maybe all three. Anyway, all summer we have watched as the apples become fewer. Now we are down to just this one.

So, here is a picture of our one apple for which we have high hopes.

Have a great day.

Hurricane Irene means a lot of waiting here in Boston

Hurricanes are so much fun to watch on the weather channel. So much going on. I'm sorry for people who have damage and flooding in their homes. I have been assured that our gutters are all facing the right direction. I was beading today at my little kitchen studio, and heard a freight train of rain coming down the track. It was a huge downpour, and I was glad when it stopped. George went out for some last minute supplies and got soaked. I shut all the windows and made popcorn.

Tomorrow is church, and since I'm the cantor, we will try to get there if it isn't dangerous to drive. But, it will probably be too rainy to take the chance. They'll have to do without me, the ten people who do show up.

This has been a slow hurricane, with a lot of talk, anticipation and concern.

And lots of time to turn into the weather channel for more updates.

Clean floors

On July 18, the movers came to move us out of the upstairs, and the floor men ripped up the old carpeting and sanded and varnished the floors. It was a huge undertaking. We chose not to worry about it until it was time to pack up, which took a whole weekend. The floor sanders worked for four days - the last 3 applying 3 coats of polyurethane. The kitties were moved into the den, with food and litter. They took it like little troopers, and didn't cause any problems at all. Our bed was moved to the living room, where we slept like kings in the middle of a large suite - actually enjoying that part of the process.

Hell came. On Friday, July 22, the movers came back again to move all the furniture back in (we kept it in a UHaul truck in the driveway). It was 103 degrees -- the hottest day in Boston on record since the 1920's. It was a roaster. We put a case of water and Gatorade on ice. The freezer wouldn't even freeze drinks it was so warm outside. We know. We tried. The movers were great, and worked very hard and I tried to keep everyone hydrated. George and I sat in lawnchairs in the shade when we could find any, and helped organize where the boxes went. Somehow, it all got put back into the rooms, but we still had a big mess of boxes and furniture and clothing that needed to be put away. It was 90 degrees in bedroom, and that is WITH a window air conditioner cranking the whole time.

The good news is that we survived this. The floors upstairs are beautiful. The old stained rugs are gone and we are enjoying more space since we gave away carloads of furniture and clothing. I know where everything is, and most all of it is unpacked and put away. The kitties were great about the move, and never made a peep through the whole process. George didn't have a heart attack and I survived the heat and lived to tell the tale.

All good.

Have a great day.

A loon swimming near the dock

The lake

Vacation at First Connecticut Lake, New Hampshire

We always have a great time, but this year our vacation at the cabin was spectacular. We had beautiful cool sunny weather, and lots of time to fish, swim, sightsee, take pictures of critters, play cards and I made a couple of beautiful beaded bracelets from a complicated pattern I was eager to try. It was a splendid vacation, and I only got two bug bites -- and that is a big deal since I am allergic and they can be really troublesome to me.

We didn't find the Pileated Woodpecker I sought, but we did see a beautiful young male moose with velvet brown antlers standing in the middle of a small out of the way road called East Inlet Dam road. It was breathtaking to see him standing there calmly, and before I could reach for my camera, he ventured off into the dark woods. The side of the roads are covered with wildflowers. The sun shines brightly and still the woods are dark as night. We saw lots of loons and had a particularly wonderful loon concert at 2:30 a.m. on two separate occasions. The loons call back and forth across the lake when everything else in the world is quiet and dark. Amazing.

The cabin is comfortable and welcoming. The swimming was cold, so we ventured into the lake only once, but it was fun. Fishing was..., well, fishing wasn't. We had only a couple of nibbles, and George caught a fish that only a loon would be proud of, about 5" long. We didn't really try hard to catch anything. It was more fun to play cribbage by the lakes and rivers, and just enjoy the scenery.

Can't wait until next year!

No fish, but lots of fun with worms.

George is in the background - fishing off the dock.

Our kitchen table at the cabin...homemade apple pie - yum.

Wave goodbye to the cabin until July 7, 2012