Dackel Princess

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Picture postcards were first printed back in the mid-1800’s and deltiology is the official name for postcard collecting. When did you last send a postcard? Receive one? Do you save postcards sent to you? Do you collect and/or send postcards when you travel?

I don’t collect them, but I love to receive them and I do send them to people. I especially love the old post cards of days gone by.

2. What treat do you most like to indulge in while on vacation?

Ice Cream! We splurged today and had an ice cream and despite popular belief that my favorite ice cream is only Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, we went to a real creamery and had a flavor called pudding. It was very much like Rum Raisin, without the rum.

3. Are you good at hiding your feelings?

Are you kidding? I am an open book! I cry easily, I love openly and I am probably too open with my thoughts.

4. Does your town/city/county still deliver telephone books to your home? Do you check the yellow pages when searching for a local business number or has the internet replaced the phone book in your home?

They do mail them. I really do not use them, and go online for most things.

5. Would you rather be first or last?

Last. I get very nervous being the first for anything. This probably comes from being the last born in the family.

6. July is National Park and Recreation Month (in America, but everyone can still play along)…where and when were you last in a park? Did you participate in any recreational activities while you were there?

We drove through the White Mountain National Park. It was beautiful and I am always amazed at how splendid our country is!

7. What was one of your worst ideas?

Macaroni and cheese with hot-dogs mixed in. Or maybe it was the meatloaf with hot-dog chunks!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I get my stitches out today! I can hardly wait. The only bad thing is that the temperatures in Boston are supposed to be in the 90’s!

Monday Happenings!

Monday found us roaming around central New Hampshire going to the Kokopelli Store and then having lunch a one of our favorite places. We’re been enjoying “Canoe” for years. Their sweet and sour calamari and mussels in white wine and garlic are amazing.

Kokopelli has been revered since at least the time of the Hohokam, Yuman, and Ancestral Pueblo peoples. The first known images of him appear on Hohokam pottery dated to sometime between 750 and 850 AD.

Kokopelli may have originally been a representation of ancient Aztec traders, known as pochtecas, who may have traveled to this region from northern Mesoamerica.

Their store has many beautiful items and it was like going into an Indian Museum!

Here I am with my darling friend, and sister in soul, Candy. She was my dearest friend in Florida, and our friendship has continued throughout our lives.

We saw this woman in the lake with her little Chihuahua doggy. They floated around and the pup just loved it!

Mount Chocorua.

This is Mount Chocorua. At an elevation of 3,490 feet (1,064 m) it is the easternmost peak of the Sandwich Range. Mount Chocorua’s bare summit can be seen from almost every direction and can be identified from many points throughout central New Hampshire and western Maine.

Candy has made a friend for life! Greta! Greta also adores DeVere, and is currently all cuddled up to him, as I write!

What I Did This Weekend

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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My friends Candy and DeVere are here visiting from Florida, so today I will post a few pictures from our travels around New Hampshire.

We visited Boise Rock.

There is the story, above and the actual rock below.

A memorial plaque to the Old Man of the Mountains.

The Notches along the Kancamagus Highway.

And some of the best Salt Water Taffy ever!

We also had a little stow away!

Happy Monday Everyone!

Sweet Cherry Jam

Sweet Cherry Jam

3 lbs. fully ripe dark sweet cherries

One 1-3/4-ounce pkg. regular powdered fruit pectin

1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel

1/4 cup lemon juice

5 cups sugar

Sort, wash, stem, pit and chop cherries. Measure 4 cups chopped cherries.

In a 6- or 8-quart Dutch oven or kettle, combine cherries, pectin, lemon peel and lemon juice. Bring to boiling over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Quickly skim off foam with a metal spoon.

Immediately ladle jam into hot, sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims and adjust lids. Process jars in boiling-water canner for 5 minutes (start timing when water begins to boil). Remove jars from canner; cool on racks.

Savannah!

On Friday I got to have lunch with my daughter, Mandy and my granddaughter, Savannah!

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have not seen them since Savannah’s birthday party on June 1st. Too long.

Today we met at Applebee’s and had lunch, and I took a bunch of pictures.

She is so adorable and such a ham! She doesn’t love the camera, but she sure does take a good picture!

She flirted with everyone, and was full of smiles and funny faces too. It just made my entire day!

So, Friday was the very best of days and I thank Hubby and Mandy for doing all the driving involved!

The End Of The Week

Hubby and I are unhappy to announce that the cherries on our trees all rotted! Yes, because we have had such terrible wet weather, the poor cherries didn’t stand a chance. They started to redden, and then turned soft and brown and so rotten that even the the birds didn’t want them!

Meanwhile, we picked our first cucumbers today. 2 slicers and 3 picklers. I think that Hubby should make his German Cucumber Salad.

With the vast amount of rain that we have had, the bees have not been doing their work, and the garden is not overflowing as it usually is! Hopefully the rain will subside a bit and once again I will be complaining about too much zucchini and summer squash!

After nearly ten years of life, guess who has discovered ice cream? Fritz! He absolutely loves vanilla ice cream! Since I only give him a little (people ice cream isn’t good for him), I plan to get the doggy ice cream for his birthday on July 26th! After all, a ten year old doggy deserves what ever he wants!

Thursday Thirteen

Here are thirteen things happening right now.

I had the first reconstruction of my nose done on Monday.
It’s looking good, but he isn’t kidding about taking things easy.
I say this because I was doing things around the house today, and my nose began to bleed.
Doing things too early…bad!
I lay down in my recliner and pressed the area that was bleeding for 10 minutes.
It stopped, but when I tried to move again, the bleeding started.
I think it is a bit more swollen tonight.
I guess it is to be expected.

Thank goodness for ice packs and pain medication.
I am so hopeful, really I am!
I remind myself over and over…patience!
Mom will be moved to Hospice Care soon.
Then I begin the process of saying good-bye and allowing myself to grieve.

Mom, in the center with (from left to right) Me, Melodie, and cousin’s Larry and Janet. This was just in April, before Mom was diagnosed.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What’s something people might ask you for help with?

Usually it is anything dog related although lately it is skin related. Remember that sunscreen and a hat everyone!

2. What’s something you might ask someone else for help with?

Right now almost everything. Between my nose and my foot I am only functioning at about a 75% level.

3. Did your family take summer vacations when you were a child?

No. We lived on Cape Cod, literally 5 minutes from the beach.

If so, where did you go?

One summer we did go to Washington DC. I was very young.

If you’re a parent, did/do you plan summer vacations with your own family? Did/do they resemble those you took as a child?

Yes, we took the girls to Cape Cod often when I was still married to my ex-husband, and also to Canada and Disney in Florida.

4. Pool-lake-ocean…which one is most appealing to you on a hot summer day?

Ocean, but I don’t get there often. We did have a pool for 6 years, when we lived in Florida and I used it often. Now we live across the street from a lake. I love to look at it, but seldom swim there.

5. Have you ever justified using the expression, ‘you gotta be cruel to be kind’? Was it really necessary or were you rationalizing?

More likely joking.

6. The Journal of Psychology recently mentioned the results of a survey identifying the ten most hated foods as-liver, lima beans, mayonnaise, mushrooms, eggs, okra, beets, brussel sprouts, tuna, and gelatin. Of those foods, how many do you actually hate? Anything you’d add to the list?

I don’t hate any of those things. In fact I love them all. Recently, I tried Kimchee and I hated that!

7. What’s your favorite book or movie set in a beach or lake town?

On Golden Pond. It was filmed in the next town over from us. Every time I watch it, I see places I know. I also love the story.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I woke at 5 AM on Tuesday morning. My nose is swollen and sore, but I am not allowing this to get me down! I really cannot believe how much better it looks already!

After

Monday was the big day. I’ve been stressing about it for a while, but in the end, I really didn’t need to. Dr. P. was wonderful. He explained everything he was doing and we also talked about life, planes and dogs. It put me at ease.

During the operation one of the nurses exclaimed “Oh Dr. P.,this looks so beautiful!” He laughed and said, “Ah, you like my work!”

Frankly folks, I like his work! I have taken pictures and compared them, and my nose has gone from a big lumpy, bumpy, mess to a profile line. Nice and straight!

See, here we are before and after.

Isn’t this amazing?

I do feel tired tonight and a little bit in pain, but emotionally, I am feeling worlds better! You see, I will have a nose! A real life, normal nose!

Hubby is warming up some spaghetti sauce that I made last fall, and although I don’t feel like spaghetti he’s cooking me some cheese ravioti with sauce. Good!

It’s nice after you have gone through surgery like this to feel so positive, and to lie your doctor even more than you did before.

Life is once again, good!

What I Did This Past Weekend

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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This past weekend I worked like crazy to prepare the house for the next week or so. Today, Monday July 8, 2013, I am having the first of my reconstructive surgery. I am excited and scared all at the same time.

The good part is that I think I have healed pretty well in the last 8 weeks and I think the surgeon has more to work with.

May

July

Anyway, all weekend there was laundry to be done, a guest room to be cleaned and gardens to be watered. Busy, busy, busy!

One of my best friends from Florida is coming on Saturday. We haven’t seen each other in several years. I have not met her husband. So, I am excited, so is Hubby.

So, we leave here by 10 AM, and head to Boston. As usual I have hired a doggy sitter to take care of the beasts! I am always happy to now they will be well cared for.