MID DECEMBER

It is hard to believe that it is now the middle of December.  The phrase time flies is so true.  My pictures reflect the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We had the family up for Thanksgiving and my 11 year old granddaughter (a budding chef) made my birthday cake and then she and her grandfather made a great chicken fried rice dinner.  Tomorrow night I am having friends over for dinner and the last picture represents my Christmas table scape.  The napkins are in the form of trees.  I went to YouTube for the directions.

MID-NOVEMBER

Well, the election is over.  Now we need to go about uniting the country and ALL of its citizens. Enough on that topic.  This has been a beautiful November so far and this coming week is no exception.  Temperatures are in the mid 50's and blue skies.  I am going to include several pictures. One is of the fall trees and one is of the recent super moon that was taken by a friend of mine.  No extraordinary recipes this time.  It really is hard to come up with menus.  We are still working on the cupboards and it is going slowly.  Hopefully we will persevere.

Last week was my husband's birthday.  We celebrated by spending the day with the grandkids and then taking everyone out for dinner that night.  We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Bonefish Grill.  I was concerned whether the grandkids would find acceptable choices on the menu but really did not have to worry.  It was a fun day.  We then drove to Columbus, spent the night and visited some of our favorite shops the next day.  Now it is time to get ready for Thanksgiving and then Christmas.

NOVEMBER 1

November 1, 2016 was a beautiful and fun day.  It started with coffee in the family room.  The ducks, geese, jays (gathering their peanuts), the kingfisher and the osprey were all in view.  I then had lunch with one of my best friends.  Then I decided to go to the zoo.  I needed the fresh air and exercise.  I only stayed on one side but the polar bears (mama and "baby") were being fed as well as the arctic wolves.  The cheetahs had been moved and are now easier to see.  The giraffes were strolling around and so much fun to watch.  I had hoped that the feeding station would be open and I could feed them but alas no such luck.  After that I came home and sat on the deck with a good book.  Just before coming in the osprey was back and dived right at my shore line and flew off with a fish.  Then dinner at a local bar with 2 other couples.  The only negative was that the Cleveland Indians lost game 6. Here are some pics of my day.

OCTOBER WEEK 2

 This has been a beautiful October thus far.  This coming week is going to be more of the same with temperatures in the low 80's two of the days.  We were at our grandson's JV football game this week.  The game starts at 10 so the temps can be dicey but it was a gorgeous day.  We visited with everyone after and then came home in time to watch the OSU vs Wisconsin game.  Last Sunday we put all the fall "stuff" out on the front porch and cleaned out the flower beds somewhat.  On Thursday night I attended a short presentation on area birds.  The photographer took some gorgeous pictures and I was impressed that he could identify all of them.  There are many, many warblers in our area.  It inspired me to try to take pictures of our birds again.  I am including some pictures of my week.  Enjoy!  NOTE:  It has been at least a week since I originally wrote this.  Here is a picture of my front porch and a beautiful tree in full leaf.

OCTOBER

This past week was the closing luncheon for our golf league.  I have been the chair for the last 2 years.  Every Sunday or sometimes Monday I would send out an email to the group.  This includes an email sent out over the winter months.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this and have received many compliments and thanks.  That is now over and I hope to fill that creative need by blogging weekly. The problems I will be having are topics,  The golf was easy, rules, winter lunches, non-golfing club events, summer tournaments etc.  This will be harder as it will encompass a wide range of topics and will tap into my somewhat humdrum life.  I hope to incorporate pictures into the blog as to make it more interesting.  Oh well, this is a warning as to what will be coming.

SEPTEMBER LOST

I cannot really believe that September is over.  Where did it go?  It seems like only yesterday  I was playing golf Labor Day weekend.  I played that Sunday and Monday with one day off and then two days of a major tournament.  The next week I also play on a Tuesday and Wednesday.  It seems as though September is the perfect storm of activities.  The summer schedule is finishing up and the winter activities are beginning.  There are lots of meetings and lunches.  In addition, my company requires CEU's for work.  The company requires these by December 31 but the district that I am in set an October 1 requirement.  I finished my last class yesterday and passed the test this morning. The Internet site has been overhauled and there are reporting problems so I am printing out everything that I can to prove that I took and passed tests.  Really very frustrating.  Now I can concentrate on my closet.  I need to rotate some clothes.  It has been very chilly these past few days and I can't find some items that I would like to have close.  That's what happens when you just stick stuff in some boxes.  I will find everything eventually.  No pictures for today but I will post some shortly.  I think that it make my blog tons more interesting.

MID SEPTEMBER

It is now the middle of September. The days are shorter with dusk coming very early.  I so love summer and so hate winter that sometimes it is hard to see the beauty of the fall because of the knowledge of what is to come.  Yesterday it rained for at least 5 solid hours.  I chose not to drive down to watch my grandson play football since I did not want to have to negotiate the construction zones in the rainy mess.  It was supposed to rain there but did not but I am content with my decision. My time as golf chair is rapidly growing short.  At one time I felt sad about it but lately with all of the whining and complaining I must admit that I am happy to give it up.  One would think that a group of socio-economic equal women would be able to get along.  Based on what I have recently witnessed, I have no hope that as a world we can ever find peace.  A terribly sobering thought.

WHAT NOW

In just a month I will no longer be the chair of our golf league.  I have had this position for two years. I should have been tournament chair that first year but both my assistant chair and the overall chair resigned leaving me alone.  I had been chair about 13 years previously and have a great knowledge of golf so it was not difficult.  This past year I had both a tournament chair and an assistant chair so it has been easier.  Each week I send out an email on Sunday to all the members.  I have received many compliments on these emails and have really enjoyed creating them.  Sooooo, what will I do after I am no longer sending them.  I could try to blog more often.  The problem is that with the golf emails I had something definite to say.  My blog is more random and thus I find it more difficult to write in a timely manner.  Once again I will try to be more diligent in my writings while still trying to be somewhat interesting.

NIAGRA FALLS

Yes, the falls are still there.  I had not been there in about 30 years so I thought that my grandchildren would enjoy the experience.  My daughter-in-law had never seen them so the 4 of us drove to Niagra New York, spent one night and drove home.  They really are spectacular.  We were unable to go to the Canadian side since I am the only one with a passport.  It was still a worthwhile trip.  Here are a few pictures.

JULY HEAT

Whew!!  It has been extraordinarily warm (some might say downright hot) over the last week.  With temperatures in the 90's it is hard to be outside for any length of time.  My golf has suffered.  I only play when required.  I prefer to be in the air conditioning if possible.  Yesterday I did go on a Garden Walk.  There were 4 gardens.  The first is a very compact terraced garden.  It has a full time gardener and part time crew working on it.  It was very unique and beautiful.  I found a tree that I loved.  It is a thin line buckthorn.  I will try to put a picture of it on the blog.  The next two gardens were more of a traditional garden found in our back yards but each set up differently.  Both had open air porches with pots and plants around the yard.  The last had let the yard go natural.  Unfortunately the heat had taken it's toll on the flowering plants.  I had seen this garden before in a quest to see owls and so I knew how different it was.  However, none of these gardens inspired me to go home and weed.  I lost my once a month gardener in May, have not replaced her and have not been weeding.  My yard will NOT be on any future garden walk.  Here are a few snapshots of the flowers, a garden shed and one of the porches.  I will put the picture of the buckthorn on a later blog.

4th of JULY

I have to say that the 4th of July is my second most favorite holiday.  The first of course is Christmas. But I do love this holiday.  First of all it is celebrated in the summer.  Second is that it is the celebration of our country.  I am very proud to be an American.  I am proud that my ancestors chose to come here long long ago.  I can trace back to the 1700's and I find great pride in that.  I love the festivities that goes with all of this.  Now please realize that I don't really go to the parades anymore but I do see fireworks every year.  I have a box (yes a box) with red/white and blue clothing in it.  I have enough tops to last the whole weekend (a 4 day weekend) and I am sure that some of my friends think that I am a bit over the top.  Oh well too bad.  I love the music.  America the Beautiful, I'm Proud To Be An American, My Country 'Tis of Thee, the National Anthem - all of them and more.  So if by chance you read this, please celebrate this very important holiday.  Yes, have your picnics and family get-togethers but celebrate the country.  We have our fair share of problems but we are still great.

ALMOST MID JUNE

My, My, My how time flies.  I am not sure how it goes by so quickly and why I still seem to have tons of projects that I want to work on but never seem to get to them.  I have just had a few stressful days (don't you just hate it when you get stressed in the summer?).  I volunteered to be a chair for an event for the sole purpose to get the committee members to meet and then they were supposed to do ALL the work. I must be a horrible chair person since I seem to be doing ALL the work.  The event is soon and add that to a snafu in another event and my stress level rose to the max.  I won't go into detail on what this level of stress does to my system but somehow I have to get through the next couple of weeks.  I hate it when you tell people what they are supposed to do for an event and then they just do what they want.  In the one case, I was out of town the day before, thought everything was in hand (wrong, wrong, wrong assumption) and come the day of and find things not quite perfect and people in an uproar, complaining and angry.  They sort of lambasted the wrong person about it (not me) and I feel bad that she took the heat.   Now please realize that the event while important and it did need to be done right is not life threatening.  With all the friends that I have that are having major health issues, I have a problem with the level of anger that followed this snafu.  The event was still a game.  Add that to the news this morning of the mass shooting in the Orlando nightclub and I have just a feeling that sometimes priorities are not in order.  However, it was still a snafu and I will have to monitor it more closely.  I realize that for the most part, no one reads this and my publicly airing a grievance it probably wrong, I feel somewhat better although my insides are still in a turmoil. I guess that is it for now.

IS IT MID FEBRUARY ALREADY?

Well, time certainly does fly by.  Last week I only worked 40 hours but the two weeks before that were 54 hour weeks and that left me very little time for anything else especially anything on a computer.  Today I am off (both Saturday and Sunday) and it is a glorious day today.  Temperatures will be in the mid-60's and sunny.  PERFECT!!!  I do have errands to run and I think JR and I might try to catch a movie this afternoon.  I am hoping to cash in on the great day and not whittle it away doing nothing.  I am recovering from a cold and still have a cough that I need to get rid of.  I don't feel bad but I do not have tons of energy either.  So lots of liquids, accomplishing tasks around the house, some outdoor time for fresh air and time with hubby.  It should be a great day.

On the food front, not much to talk about.  We had lamb chops one night and last night we had fish tacos again.  I am making a pasta dish for our Sunday gathering to watch one episode of Doc Martin and one episode of Downton Abby.  Both of these are on DVD's.  It should be a fun evening.  The weather will not be near as great as today but at least in the mid 40's.  Soon we will have March and then hopefully spring.  Yeah.

WINTER

Well, the holiday season is well over and as you can see, I have not been blogging.  I had been trying to blog about food but I must say that our eating habits in January have not been stellar.  I go back to work in January and usually the other half picks up the cooking.  I noticed last year that his creativeness was waning.  This year is no different so I am stuck planning the meals.  I try to aim for a variety of meals (usually unsuccessfully).  One night each of chicken, pork, beef, fish, meatless and maybe gluten free.  The one problem is that my spouse is not a big fan of the meatless night and tries (usually successfully) to sneak in a meat.  Tomorrow I am planning a crock pot dish.  I have made this for years.  It is beef (usually a round steak or roast), a package of Lipton's Onion Soup, a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup and 1/4 C of water.  Mix everything together and pour it over cut up beef and cook for about 8 hours.  You can serve it over noodles or mashed potatoes and I always choose noodles.  There should be enough left over to make either a shepard's pie or open-face roast beef sandwiches.  Right now that is as far as I have gone in the menue planning stage.  We have been going to a local bar on Tuesday nights with friends but oddly have not really been eating out.  I think that once I am home from work, I am not interested in going out to eat.  It saves us money so that part is good.