Home from Camp

Hubby and I are home from a week of camping at the family campground at church camp. We spent a wonderful week in New Hampshire with a lot of other families from our church who enjoy this same week away. The weather was great, we slept more, ate a lot more, read, relaxed, sat on the beach, swam, talked and talked, and made s'mores over the fire. I love that we spend this week with our friends who, like us, enjoy a week away amidst the pines, chipmunks, and red squirrels. This year, more than ever before, we had to safeguard all our food and equipment from these little creatures, or "mini-bears" as Hubby calls them. They were very agressive....one red squirrel even climbed up on my chair while I enjoyed a few cashews with my glass of wine. Eeeek!!!

Here is a photo of our campsite while we were in the process of taking everything down for the trip home. I had totally forgotten to take any pictures this year, so this one just captures our screenroom and "big blue tarp" just before they came down. Darling Daughter is sitting on one of the chairs. Yes, the newlyweds are home from their honeymoon and joined us at camp for the weekend. When I asked DD if this is the way she wanted to end her honeymoon, camping with Mom and Dad, she said, "Of course, otherwise I won't get a chance to come to camp this year!". That is how much she loves it there. We really enjoyed having them with us and they were the center of attention with all our friends. So nice!

Since we got home I've been doing laundry and cleaning all our equipment. The one problem with camping is that everything, including us, comes home dirty. It's such a big job, but certainly worth it. We're back on the normal eating plan now...no more roving cocktail hours with friends, or s'mores, or doughboys, or eating big dinners at the conference center. Ah, camping is a once a year tradition that is absolutely one of my favorite things to do.

A Beautiful Wedding!

Our Darling Daughter was married last Saturday in a beautiful ceremony marking the beginning of her life with the man she loves with all her heart. They were so happy, so in love, and so thrilled to be surrounded by all the friends and family who love them so much. We are thrilled that we have another son to add to our family. He is funny, kind, and so very patient. We could not have asked for a more wonderful man for her to love.

The wedding day was perfect. The weather was so nice, there was only one minor disaster when the zipper on one of the bridesmaids dresses broke, and the reception was the best party Hubby and I have ever thrown! I was blessed to have my dearest friends enjoy our celebration with us. My very special, longest friend, Mrs. Goodneedle and I spent such lovely time together both at the reception and the next day. She gave me some wise words: I would feel a let-down after the wedding was all over. She was right, as always, but there is also a bit of relief that all our work and effort made for such a joyous day. Tomorrow Hubby and I are off for a week at family church camp. Just what we need to relax and renew.

Here are Hubby and our DD dancing their father/daughter dance to "Isn't She Lovely". This song was popular when she was born 25 years ago and we used to sing it to her when she was just a newborn. It was so fitting that they danced to it now. Probably better than all those Sousa marches he used to hum as he carried her around, hoping she'd stop her crying and drift off to sleep. Many of those marches really did work.

Here is our DD the day after the wedding, in her lovely "day after" dress, feeling exhausted from such a busy time in her life. I couldn't resist but to snap this photo. It reminded me of times long ago when she would cuddle up on the sofa and drift off, comfortable and happy. Now she and Husband of Her Own (HOHO) are off in Hawaii, enjoying the tropical breezes, relaxing, and savoring their time as they celebrate the beginning of their life together. We wish them joy, love that knows no bounds, and many, many years of happiness!

Middle of the Night Musings......

I'm awake again in the middle of the night. Once I wake up, there's no going back to sleep. Wedding details are consuming my mind and it just starts to race the moment I stir. Everything is going well, so why can't I sleep? At least it makes for some uninterupted quiet time. (Thinking positively!).

More about the wedding preparations: In May, the bridesmaids hosted a shower for my Darling Daughter. My Dear Daughter-in-law, the Matron of Honor, lives in North Carolina, so far away, and she asked me if they could hold the shower in my home. And so began a wonderful event, where my family room was transformed into a lovely shower space. There was quite a look on Hubby's face when I told him we wanted to empty all the furniture out of that room and replace it with 9 small tables and 36 chairs...."No way that will all fit in there!", he said. Ah, he of little faith! After putting all the furniture in the garage, he and my DD's soon-to-be HOHO washed down all the rented tables and chairs and as they were brought into the room, we place pretty pink tablecloths on the tables, set places with pink silverware and sweet favors of little tins of flower seeds, and placed a pretty pink plant in the center. One might guess that the wedding color is pink, but no, it's not...the bridesmaids will be wearing ice blue dresses. The room did look quite lovely after its transformation!

Family and friends were treated to a wonderful luncheon and an afternoon of laughter and celebration. My daughter received many lovely gifts and her day was spent surrounded by the women most important in her life. Young ones, just starting to find themselves in the world, and we older ones, who are enjoying seeing a new bride begin her married life. So much to look forward to, so many dreams to share, and just beginning to know the joy of sharing her life with a partner she loves with all her heart. Here she is, at the end of the day, wearing a "veil" handcrafted by her bridesmaids, and holding her ribbon bouquet which she will carry down the aisle at the ceremony rehearsal just two days from now.

I'm trying to savor every moment of this week, even these sleepy ones in the middle of the night. I am truly blessed with a wonderful Hubby, the best children, great family, and some of the dearest friends in the world. In the quiet of the dawn, this is so evident to me. In the craziness of the daytime, with all the things that need to be done, I have to work a little harder to keep that in the fore-front but isn't it absolutely what life is all about? We love and are loved and that's what makes our life so meaningful. I wish my DD a life full of love! And as Mrs. Goodneedle would say, "Life is Good"!!

"84 Bottles of Wine on the Wall....."

I haven't written in this blog in so long. Life has been a non-stop merry-go-round of late and I just haven't had the time to sit and post creatively. But here I am in the middle of the night, unable to sleep because of so many things on my mind. Posting in my blog is something I can do in the wee hours of the morning, when I'm unable to make a lot of noise, make phone calls, or even sleep! You see, my darling daughter is getting married this weekend, and I've been consumed with wedding details and trying to make this the best party our family has ever seen.

That old song, "100 Bottle of Beer on the Wall..." has run through my head lately. Our version revolves around wine, and the 84 bottles that have resided on my dining room table for the last two weeks. This is how the story goes: when my daughter and her soon-t0-be Hubby of her Own had just started dating, it was quickly Christmas. Unsure what to get for this new lady, he bought her a bottle of wine, placed it in a lovely wooden wine box, and enclosed an invitation to a Wine Dinner at the Nashoba Valley Winery. It's a lovely little winery, making mostly fruit wines, and having a wonderful little restaurant. They had a marvelous time on that date, and have since gone back for special occasions. The last time they went, they strolled in the orchards first, and this is where Hubby of her Own proposed to my Darling Daughter. They had a romantic dinner there afterward, celebrating their betrothal.

Fast forward a year, to when they thought that the favors for their wedding guests should be a bottle of this Nashoba Wine. How fitting, they thought, to share with their guests something from a place so meaningful to them. The wine would be purchased in different types, so that when a place card was attached to each bottle, the guest would know which table he/she are sitting at. Perhaps at the Plum table, or the Baldwin table, or maybe the Maiden's Blush table. This however was a sizable project....

First we had to assign all of our guests to a table, then figure out who many bottles of wine were needed at that table. Each couple would receive a bottle, but we also had to give a bottle to each person coming as a single. Once we knew how many bottles of each kind of wine we needed, I called the winery to place the order (luckily with a 15% discount for such a large order!). Darling Daughter and I went to the winery and picked up the wine the next week.



Next, placecard tags had to be made for each bottle. Darling Daughter has a passion for lovely fonts, so the printing had to be just right. After hours at the computer, each guest's name and wine type were lovingly printed on their placecard. Each bottle was then put into a cellophane bag, tied with a light blue ribbon, and the tag attached. Here are DD and HOHO admiring the product of all our hard efforts, heads tilted to the side to read the placecards attached to the bottles. We laughed thinking about all the guests having to cock their heads to read their names!










Finally, each bottle had to be put into alphabetical order by the guest's name, and put into boxes for the trip to the reception venue. Today the wine will make its trip to the reception site where it will be placed on their big table, ready for our guests to receive.

This is just a snippet of life for me in the last two months. There have been shopping trips, bridal showers, phone calls, appointments, research, strategy planning sessions, and countless hours spent with my DD in preparation for this week. All of it has been fun, exciting, and filled with love. The love DD and HOHO have for each other, and the love we feel for them both.

Now the sun is coming up and another busy day begins. One day closer to seeing my daughter married. More to follow.....

Caution: Road Construction!

Things are busy and noisy here today because our new driveway is being put down. When we moved into this house exactly twenty years ago, our younger son was only 15 months old. Since the house was built new then and the work crews still had things to finish, like landscaping and the driveway, he would toddle from window to window watching the big trucks and the workmen. At each window he would exclaim, "A-zi-zi-zah!!", his word for any truck or piece of machinery. He was always so excited to watch and it kept him busy for long periods of time. This morning I keep looking out and thinking, "A-zi-zi-zah!!". My little boy would have loved this! How does life pass so quickly?

Memories of Home

Two posts from me in one day...making up for lost time! Mrs. Goodneedle asked what speaks "home" to us. These Hümmel figures that belonged to my mother do that for me. My mother had this pair, Brother and Sister, for as long as I can remember. As a child, I thought of them as Hansel and Gretel, about to enter the forest with a basket of breadcrumbs. I wanted to take them down from the high shelf where they stood, and make them walk along, ready to meet the wicked witch at the enchanted cottage. Now they stand in my china cupboard, always reminding me of my mother and the innocence of childhood.

Good Hikes, Good Friends, Good Times!

Last weekend we went on our annual get-away weekend with a group of great friends. We all go to church together, and between us, five play in the bell choir, three serve on the Worship & Music Committee, two serve on the IT committee, four sing in choir, two sing in the early morning choir, six golf, two are woodworkers, three play guitar, and the list could go on and on. What makes us all one is that we are friends and all really good people trying to do good in the world. These people are one of my life's greatest blessings.

On Saturday we set out in the murky dampness of a rainy weekend to climb Mt. Willard, elev. 2806. We found the trail snow-covered which increased the challenge but made for more exercise and funny moments.





We crossed a little river without anyone falling in....a miracle in my opinion!



At the top, the view was breath-taking. We looked over Crawford Notch in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, seeing the road and railway tracks way below. The cloud ceiling was just a little above our heads and we really felt such awe being in such a beautiful place. Here are Hubby and I perched on a rock high above the notch.


The rest of our weekend was spent sharing time with each other, with our spouses, and eating and sleeping more than we ever do at home. Here we are back at the inn after our hike, a bunch of friends enjoying our time together and away from all the stresses and pressures of everyday life.

New Bathrooms

As an update to my bathroom renovations post, I thought I would share the before and after photos of our labors. Thankfully, all bathrooms were operational on the day our children arrived home. Poor Hubby worked all day at the office, only to come home each evening to hours of bathroom work. Both sink drains leaked (for two different reasons), one countertop had to be modified to fit the vanity, and that wall prep was just a killer. But it's done and I'm happy, and isn't that what it's all about?! My only "to d0" item is to find a new mirror for the red bathroom. The one that came with the vanity is too dark and too small. Hubby hung it high enough so he could see his face in the mirror, but it looks wrong. I'll find another one, maybe in a silver finish, that's a bit larger. I wish I could post side-by-side photos, but alas, that's beyond my area of expertise (without Hubby's direction), so I will post them one after the other. First, the upstairs main bathroom:




And this is the dramatic downstairs half bath. There's a funny glare on the wall from the reflection of light off the mirror but nothing to be done about that on this bright sunny morning. I wish I had taken a photo before we ripped out the old vanity and toilet but needless to say, the change is quite something!





We will renovate our master bathroom in the fall, after our daughter's wedding and our vacation are over. Then I suppose I will have to start thinking about new projects for Dear Hubby....wouldn't want him to sit around getting used to relaxing! Ha!

The masons should be finishing up our new walkways today so I will post those before and after photos later on this week. Our new driveway will be done sometime in May. My next door neighbor asked me last week if we were planning to put our house up for sale. She thought we were doing all this renovation to get the house in order to put on the market. I suppose in a way we are, but we're going to enjoy all the updating for a few years. Once Hubby retires, maybe 5 or 10 years from now, we may think about finding a new home to grow old in, a home on one level but with space enough to attract the children home. Perhaps that home will be "someplace else" but we'll wait to see where the children settle because that will affect where we spend our golden years. Meanwhile, we're still enjoying our "youth"!!

Then and Now

Spurred on by Mrs. Goodneedle's post about her high school prom, I thought I would also reflect on that time of my life. I was lucky enough to go to two proms, once in my junior year and again in my senior year. My first prom was also one of my first dates with Hubby, who ended up being a keeper, just like Mr. Goodneedle. There are two memories of that prom: first, my mother made my dress and I just loved it. Second, Dear Hubby failed his driving test on the afternoon of the prom, so we had to make a mad scramble to find someone willing to double-date with us. Otherwise, oh dear, Hubby's mother would have to drive us! How embarrassing that would have been since she was our high school librarian! Here is how we looked on that day in May 1970.


Here we are at my second prom. Hubby did finally have a driver's license and he was also a college man by then. He was still just as skinny, not having gained the infamous "freshman 15" that year. His hair was longer as were his sideburns. My mother made this dress for me also, but this one left me with a complex. My mother thought the lace down the front along the "princess seams" was very slimming. Did I need slimming? Since that day, I've always thought so. I'd also had my hair done that day for the first time in my life. Ah, milestones. This is the same prom Mr. and Mrs. Goodneedle attended and I believe the theme was "Traces of Love". For the four of us, it turned out to be more than traces, more like a lifetime of love.

But we've come a long way and, I dare say, improved quite a bit over the years. Here we are at our son's wedding in May 2005. Hubby's hair is no longer strawberry blond and he is not the skinny guy I once knew, having found the "freshman 15" plus a few more over the years. I still worry about being slimmer, but I have the confidence and wisdom of age now. We have come so far since being 16 and 17 and I wouldn't trade our life together for anything.

The Power of the Weather

This morning I posted about our Nor'easter storm. Well, it's still raining on and off and the winds are blowing, although not quite as hard as this morning. But the weather has taken its toll a little too close to home. Here are some photos of a house in our little neighborhood after the large pine tree that fell on it was removed. It's hard to see the the damage through the tree, now lying in the road after the crane brought it down, but in the second picture you can just see the damage behind the tree worker. The third photo is blurry, but shows the depth of the slice made by the tree.




This tree stood here for longer than the house has stood. It survived Hurricane Bob back in the 1990's. It has provided shade and a place for birds to sing. But today, its roots couldn't hold tight to the rain-saturated soil. This is the house where all my children took their piano lessons and where we have always felt safe. Today, the weather changed that. I'm grateful that no one was injured and that the damage isn't more severe, but this is too close to home. This house is so much like mine, that window below the damage is their master bathroom window too, just like in our house. How frightening to not feel safe in your own home. But our neighborhood is a happy and caring one and our neighbors will be held in the embrace of us all. A little storm can't surpass the power of love and friendship.

Is It Time to Build Another Ark?

We have had rain, rain, and more rain this weekend. This is what we in New England call "a Nor'easter". Accompanying this rain today is high wind, and when you have such strong winds and rain-saturated soil, trees can come down. I went out this morning to the gym, only to dodge enormous puddles and many branches and tree limbs in the roads. Today is also the 111th running of the Boston Marathon and the runners are going to have to battle the elements, not just the fatigue that comes with running 26.2 miles. Our daughter has two friends running "Boston" for the first time....I've said a little prayer for them, and for the other thousands running along side them.

In other news, our bathroom renovations are continuing. We spent the whole weekend working really hard to finish, but alas, we still only have one functioning toilet. Dear Hubby will be working every evening this week to remedy that situation! To everything there is an order, and the toilet installation is one of the last. New baseboards are easier to install without having to work behind the toilet, so I'm letting Hubby take his time. Things really do look wonderful and I will post photos later on this week. Remember, all the kids come home this weekend, so by Friday, we need functioning bathrooms. It's always good to have a goal!

Our new front and rear walks are being completed, although work has stopped because of the aforementioned rain. Hopefully, the masons will be back later in the week to finish up the front walk, then they'll start the rear path. Here is the progress shown in photos (please note the melting of the snow in each picture):







I will post a photo of the completed walk when (if???) it ever stops raining. With all the work left to do, I think the masons will be here till summer!

Progress....

We are making progress with our bathroom projects. Today a different tile installer came and put down cement board on the two bathroom floors and tiled the upstairs bathroom. Here's how that bathroom looks now. I never heard what happened to yesterday's installers. I hope someone found them! We ended up taking the upstairs vanity out so the tile could be laid underneath it. The funny white lines on the floor are actual rays of sunshine coming through the window. I haven't seen the sun in so long that I had to look twice!


Meanwhile, Dear Hubby decided to replace that nasty, rusty toilet ring downstairs and it turned into a bigger job than anticipated. Why is it that all our projects do that??? First he had to run to the plumbing supply store to get exactly the right replacement part, and then he had to get the old ring off. Here he is, with his man tools, working away.


Tomorrow, the tile man will return to tile the downstairs bathroom, and then will come again on Monday to grout both floors. Perhaps by Tuesday evening we'll be able to put the toilets back in place. This afternoon we're going to work on stripping wall paper and doing wall repair since tomorrow we'll be kept out of both bathrooms while the tile cement dries. We will have one more weekend before all the children come home. Will we have three working bathrooms by then? Stay tuned!

Please Pardon Our Appearance!

We are in the midst of another renovation, this time two of our three bathrooms are getting a face-lift. One of the major pieces of work to be done is the installation of floor tiles. We decided to let our favorite floor specialists do this work, and we would just have to prepare the rooms for their arrival which was supposed to happen next week. Yesterday, however, my floor guy called to say they'd had a cancellation and could they please come tomorrow (which is now today). The job would take two days, but that meant they'd be done with it by the weekend so we agreed to be ready. It meant a very late night for us since we had to take out two toilets, rip off baseboard, and rip out one vanity, all after our church choir rehearsal (we couldn't miss choir right before Easter!). It also meant that I had to rearrange all my plans for today and tomorrow. One toilet is sitting in the bathtub and the other, well, let's just say it's certainly not "the hot seat"! I should have snapped this photo early this morning when the toilet was still completely snow-covered.



So, I was ready at 7 AM this morning....I'd showered, had breakfast, cleaned up, and was eagerly awaiting the installers arrival. And then I waited, and waited, and finally at 8:30 I called the store. My floor guy can't find his installers!! Granted, we had a spring snowstorm overnight, but only 3 inches worth of the white stuff, but the installers can't even be reached by cell phone. Did they slide of a road into a ditch? So now, the floor guy is coming to rip out our sub-floor himself. But how long will we be without two bathrooms? For Hubby and I, we just have to remember to climb the stairs for the toilet, but for anyone else coming to our house (like on Easter Sunday), they will have to go through our bedroom to the master bathroom. Not a usual occurrance and I'm not used to sharing my private domain with anyone but Dear Hubby!

Meanwhile, in the upstairs main bath, we are replacing the countertop, sink and faucet. The vanity will stay and we're still doing some wall repair where the old countertop was removed. Excuse the "hole in the floor"! Here's a picture of that room this morning:


Here is a photo of our downstairs half bath. We are putting in a new vanity...a new style, with the taller, countertop height and it will be up on legs, with a black granite top. The wallpaper is all coming down and a new paint job will happen. There will also be a new mirror, light fixture, and faucet. Both bathrooms will get all new baseboards. Hubby even bought himself a brand new power mitre box with a laser light for this job. Oh, men with tools!! Sorry, I digress.... Once again, excuse the hole in the floor....how disgustingly gross those rusted metal rings are!


I'll post another set of photos when the work is done, hopefully within the next two weeks since all the kids will be home for a family wedding on April 21.

The one positive about the installers not showing up today is that I have a totally free day, I've done all my chores already, and I even have had time to post a blog entry! Oh, and Mrs. G: I think I will spend the afternoon with my ironing. Be envious!

The Tax Man Cometh.....

Every year at this time, we devote time to preparing our taxes. But not just our taxes. In February, when we visit our college-going son in California, one of the chores during our stay is to help him get his taxes done. Since he works as an "independent contractor", he has to manage his own taxes all year long, paying estimated payments to the government every quarter....a lot to expect from a college guy. He does well with that, but for the last two years, he's also had to pay more tax in April on top of his quarterly estimated payment that's also due then. At his age, it all seems incredibly unfair. He wants to keep his money, not give it to the government.

Hubby and I spent a weekend doing our taxes a couple of weeks ago. The government wants more from us this year too and although I understand that we owe that money and it's not really "unfair", there is a little sting to the fact that we can't use that money for something more fun. Since we owe taxes, we haven't actually filed yet. We won't do that till April 17th, getting two extra days this year to hold onto our money! But now Hubby's company has amended his W-2 form. Apparently, since Hubby worked for the same company but worked in three different states in 2006, they mis-reported some of his income. Now we wait to receive that new W-2 form to find out if we owe more money, or perhaps (could it be possible??) that maybe we don't owe as much. Of course, we've already spent the fee for our on-line tax preparation program and now have to start all over again, and pay that fee again, not to mention that we need to find another weekend in the next month to sit and write the taxes again.

But, then there are the happy tax stories. Yesterday, our daughter and future son-in-law came over after church for their annual "do the taxes" day. They sat side-by-side with dueling laptops, while Hubby sat in the middle offering advice and suggestions. This year they will both receive nice little refunds and both were very happy at the end of the process. To them, doing the taxes means they can afford a new washer and dryer for their anticipated new home and have some money left over to put toward their honeymoon. We celebrated with a nice dinner, a good bottle of wine, and happy conversation about their future.

And so, the tax man cometh, bringing different news to all of us. Some look forward to his arrival and others dread it. But in the end, we have to remember the benefits of the taxes we pay, and feel grateful to live in a place where our taxes offer us such a good life.

Laundry Lady

I promised I would post a picture so here it is. My new washer and dryer are here, and besides being quite the color, they are also so efficient and wonderfully quiet. It's a bit unusual to watch your undies go around through the glass door, but it's certainly made doing the laundry much more fun. My wash dries in only 45 minutes, such an improvement over the hour and a half it took the old machine. The new washer feels like a space ship taking off when it spins on the highest cycle and it holds such large loads! I gave Hubby the grand tour and a brief lesson on the care and feeding of such wonderful machines. I wouldn't want him to live his life in dirty clothes should something happen to me! He seemed somewhat interested. I've also found myself wondering what more I can launder. I've stripped the bed, washed all the towels, plus all the clothes....next I'll do all the door and bath mats in the house. I wonder how long this new novelty will last and when washing clothes will go back to being the same old drudgery it used to be?

Disasters in the Kitchen

I often "experiment" with new recipes when we have company. Occasionally a recipe will turn out "okay" but not be really worth repeating. Sometimes, I hit on one that is a real "keeper" and it's made over and over again. Then there are those that are sheer and total disasters! Thankfully, I haven't had too many of those over the years.

On Friday evening, we were having good friends over for dinner. I tried a new chicken dish which was very good, a new appetizer that was time-consuming but worth a place in the recipe file, but then there was the dessert. I had seen this recipe for "Tunnel of Fudge Cake" in the newspaper just prior to Valentine's Day. It was the second place winner in the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1966, and came with a strict warning: do not overbake, adhere to the exact baking times and check your oven's temperature to make sure it's accurate. So, after blending together almost a pound of butter, six eggs, confectioner's sugar, granulated sugar, flour, 3/4 cup of cocoa, and 2 cups of walnuts, I poured the batter into a well-floured bundt pan.


After double-checking the oven temp and baking the cake the required 50 minutes, I removed it from the oven for the hour and a half of cooling time. I finally turned the cake out of the pan onto my beautiful pedestal cake plate and reveled in my efforts. I turned to the refrigerator to get out milk to make the chocolate glaze and when I turned back, I was horrified to see the following sight:


I blinked and looked again....still the same disaster stared back at me. My beautiful bundt cake had collapsed in a heap!!


Obviously, the tunnel of fudge had not baked long enough and the cake didn't have thick enough walls to support itself. But all I could do was laugh!! I picked up the phone and called Hubby who was on his way home from work. "Help!", I said. "Stop at the bakery on your way home and pick up anything that looks good, your choice!" He chose a wonderful chocolate mousse cake and was home ten minutes before our company rang the bell. I did save the disaster for them to see (they are wonderful friends, after all) and we all had a good giggle over my certified disaster.

I think in times gone by, I would have be reduced to tears over such a calamity, but this has made a good story, and a good blog post.

Another Honey-Do Project

We are getting a new washer and dryer on Thursday. Our 12-year-old washer is on its last legs, making horrible banging noises on the spin cycle, so we decided it was time to purchase a new machine, a front-loader this time. They are so much more efficient and use much less water so they are environmentally friendly. We must do our part, I reasoned. Now, being one to like order and symmetry, that meant that the dryer needs to match the washer, so Hubby and I went shopping for the pair. We picked out a lovely set, but alas, they were out of stock in white, so the salesman offered us a RED pair for the same price. Well, also being one who loves the color RED, I jumped at that chance. I wouldn't have paid extra for the color, but if it's free, why not? And in ten years, when the color is horribly out-dated, they will be safely hidden away behind closed doors where no one will see them except me. In the meantime, I'll get to enjoy doing laundry for a little while. (Is that possible??)


So, here are the soon-to-be-replaced pair. Yesterday, we hauled them out of their little space, and did a good cleaning behind them.....oh, things do accumulate and get lost back there. But then I had a wonderful little project for Hubby. I thought we should replace the venting hose that goes from the dryer to the outside world. After all this time, it certainly must have been clogged with lint and that would be such a fire hazard. It sounded reasonable to Hubby, so after two trips to the hardware store we had everything we needed to do the job.


Not so easy. The old vinyl flexible hose snakes down behind the dryer, through the floor and runs above the dropped ceiling in our finished basement. Ceiling tiles had to be moved, the new metal flexible hose (now "code") isn't nearly as easy to bend and twist around the rafters, and Hubby was having a terrible time, sneezing all the while, as all the dust he was stirring up was certainly not good for his dust allergies. Try as I might to sound supportive, he knew this was my idea!



Finally we got the hose to the unfinished part of the basement, where it had to coil out from above the finished ceiling, under the rafters, around the drainage pipes, and finally be attached to the outside vent. But of course, the vent is in a corner, behind the extra refrigerator, and above a lot of stored things, like a mattress and box spring and an old bureau. It was not easy to get to, and Hubby was still sneezing and blowing and snorting.....not one of his more favorite projects in recent memory. Meanwhile, I was busy taking his photo which made him inquire as to what in the hoo-ha I was doing that for. "This will make a good blog entry", I explained. "Great!", he sneezed.

Later in the week, I will post a photo of the new RED washer and dryer. I can't wait for them to be delivered. I've declared all laundry done until that time, I've given my daughter my big box of laundry detergent as the new model takes high efficiency detergent, and we've wrapped up the old appliances ready for them to be hauled away. There are times in a woman's life that are milestones....one of them is when she gets a new washer and dryer. Wheeeeeee!!!!

My New Profile Photo

I've decided that it's time for a new profile photo. The last one, of the Passingham ancestors, was a wee bit small and difficult to see. This one is of my Grandad holding me when I am about 15 months old. Grandad was an interesting man.....rather quiet, so different from my father even though the two of them were so physically alike. Grandad kept chickens and I remember this very early memory so well. I loved to help him feed the chickens but I didn't like it when he chopped their heads off in preparation for them becoming the day's meal. He and I spent hours with the chickens but once back indoors, I worried him constantly to go outside to see them again.

Grandad rolled his own cigarettes, as many in England did back then. I would watch him carefully lie a small amount of tobacco on the paper, then roll it up and he would lick the edge of the paper to make it stick. Although I didn't like the smell of the lit cigarettes, I did love the smell of the tobacco in its tin. He gave me an empty tin at one time and I saved all my English coins in it. Everytime I opened it to see the coins, I remembered him because of the smell of the tin. I still have that tin.

Grandad had a younger brother who also had the same name as he did. They were both named George James Carter, but Grandad was called George and his brother was called James. I've often wondered why my great-grandparents used the same name twice, but perhaps with twelve children, it was hard to be creative. They also later had two more boys, one of whom they named Albert and the other Bertie. I should think it lent itself to confusion as to who was who, because it certainly did for me when I researched my grandfather's siblings.

Grandad loved apples and he would take a large knife and cut them in sections while holding the apple in his hand. He would carve me off a section and we would share the apple together, making the kind of conversation that only a grandfather and granddaughter can have. My times with him were rare because from the time I was four until his death, he lived in England and I in the U.S., but I think of him fondly and remember him for the patience he showed to a little girl who loved him.

Little Tiny Hands

Recently, I re-discovered some old papers, cards, and pictures made by my children. Many of their creations were put into "memory boxes" and when the boxes were full, they would be stored in the attic, appropriately labeled with their name and the dates. We delivered our older son's memory boxes to him in North Carolina when he finally had an attic of his own, but we are still the keepers of two more sets of childhood memory boxes.

This Mother's Day card was made for me for my daughter when she was six years old, but it wasn't in her memory box but instead tucked away in my dresser drawer. I found it again, and yesterday when she was here, she saw it for the first time in almost 19 years. The front page is a poem, fairly well known, but I do not know the author:

"Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small
And always get my fingerprints
On furniture and walls.

But everyday I'm growing up
And soon I'll be so tall
That all those little handprints
Will be hard to recall.

So here's a lasting handprint
Just so that it will stay
Exactly as my fingers looked
One Mother's Day in May."


And here are her six-year-old handprints, so much smaller than they are now. But we smiled together about her Mother's Day card, as she compared her adult hands to these little ones. She has grown into a wonderful (and tall) young woman of whom I am so proud, and one day she will have a child who's little handprints will adorn her home. I wish her the same joy these precious handprints have always brought me.

California Golfing!

Just a quick update to share that Hubby and I are in beautiful Palm Desert, California, enjoying the week at that Desert Springs Marriott. We're playing golf everyday, enjoying the magnificent views, and basking in the warmth. At home it's quite cold with snow predicted by the end of the week. I do think that yesterday was just about the perfect day: an amazing breakfast buffet, 18 holes of golf (I beat Hubby!), a gorgeous day, a post-game cocktail by the pool, and a lovely dinner here at the resort. We're getting plenty of sleep, plenty of exercise, and plenty to eat! Now, off to play more golf!