Sunday

Sunday was the Taste Of The Lakes in a neighboring town. I’d purchased tickets for Hubby and me, and we met up with our friends, Laurie and Peter as well as a few other couples and secured a nice table…near the food!

This is the local chapter of Altrusa Internationale’s biggest fund raiser. Altrusa is an organization of Women (men too, in some areas) who work to better there community. I became drawn to Altrusa about 6 months ago, when I realized that it was time for me to give back to my town and the people in it.

So, today was the big event. Recently, Hubby and I have been saving our money, so we have not gone out much. To have two “dates” with him in one week was more than special!

I got all dressed up, did my hair and make-up and even wore the dreaded panty-hose! I put on a pair that have been in my dresser, like forever, and put them on. Then I stood there laughing. You see these were hose from before Weight Watchers and they were so big that they immediately started to fall south! No video of this exists, you will just have to trust me on this. It was funny!

Dress on, hair done, I went in and did my make-up. In my younger days, a tiny bit of blush, lip gloss and mascara and I was good to go. Now I all but use a putty knife to apple the make-up, for that young and “natural” look!

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We drove over the the event, and then walked to the door. It was quite a long walk and my feet, jammed into high heels that I never wear, groaned with each step. How do working women do it, wearing heels like this every day? All I wanted was my slippers! Heck, I would have taken a pair of sneakers!

Okay, back to the event. We entered with Peter and Laurie and selected a table. Then began 2 hours of grazing.

Here is Kevin’s Cafe. Naturally I spoke with them and enjoyed the best crab cake ever. It was just loaded with crab!

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You can see people moving around the different stations checking out the food!

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These people had Bruchetta and it was fabulous!

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This was Canoe and they served plain macaroni and cheese and meatballs, as well a cheesecake and toffee bars for dessert.

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One restaurant had Oysters. Hubby had several of those!

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Stuffed mushrooms!

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Wonderful Jamaican coffee was served there.

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And before I forget, these four gentlemen sang to us during the event. They sang Barber Shop Quartet songs! It made me think of my Grandfather Stevens who took me to hear the Barber Shop Quartet sing at the Prudential Center in Boston. I was a very little girl, as I remember sitting on his knees.

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After grazing for 2 hours we all headed out to get our cars and come home. The dackels were thrilled to see us, and I fed them quickly and we walked them. Then I sat down to write, but got interrupted again.

Baron’s owner called to tell me what a great guy Baron is.

Baron

He is Anneliese’s son, and looks the most like her, I think. I had a wonderful visit with him, before hanging it up and talking to my sister.

Busy, fabulous wonderful day! How was your Sunday?

Surprise!!

After many years using my old page skin, a lovely lady named Emily helped me design this new page. I wanted fonts that were deep and easy to read, as you all know my vision is poor, and I wanted bright spring colors that were also soothing! I am thrilled.

Thank you so much, Emily!!!

So what do you think of the new and improved Dackel Princess?

The Anniversary Clams

On our anniversary yesterday, you may be wondering what we did to celebrate. Well we started the day off with my taking a shower with all three dackels and giving them all a good wash down! Hubby helped to dry them off, and then I was dried off, dressed and went off to the Post Office.

The rain came in steadily by mid-afternoon, and I settled in to watch my guilty pleasure, “All My Children”. Many of you know that Fridays mean that the soap opera will end the show with a cliff hanger. Well, the joke was on me, because of a Presidential news conference, which interrupted the last two segments of the show! Rats! I did get the West Coast feed later in the day on the satellite. Yes, I know it’s silly, but I do enjoy “All My Children”.

Later in the day Hubby and I dressed a little more warmly and headed off to “Kevin’s Cafe” for the “All You Can Eat Fried Whole Belly Clams”. On of my favorite things in the world. Kevin does a great job.

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My plate and then a close up of those nice clams!

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I had no trouble finishing up all of my clams. I’m a Cape Cod girl! I was raised on Whole Belly Clams! Hubby ate as much as he could, but in the end we brought home a box of leftover food for him. The key for me was just eating the clams and no fries. I mean, why waste the space in the stomach with fried potatoes? Nope, give me a clam any day!

Thank you all for your good wishes!

Life is good and our anniversary was wonderful!

PS: This is my 2100th Posting on Dackel Princess!

22 Years & Counting…

Today Hubby and I are celebrating our 22nd Wedding Anniversary! We have been so lucky. Although we’ve shared the ups and downs that life throws at you, we’ve always managed to get through it because we had each other.

We were friends for a long time before we fell in love. Perhaps that is the key to a long relationship. Being friends first.

Whatever it is, we are blessed and thankful to have shared this time.

Our 22nd Anniversary from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart!

A Strange Day

It was a strange day on Tuesday. It started out bright and sunny and then the clouds moved in and sprinkled us with rain. Nothing major, just annoying rain. I decided to run out and do my errands in the morning and then come back to do a little cooking, make lunch and play with the dogs.

The sun went in and out, before departing completely about 2 PM. Our yard is alive with fruit tree buds, lilac buds and snowball bush buds, all reminding me that spring is just around the corner.

Hubby took his skis out of the car, and has put them away for the year. His ski clothes are in my laundry room awaiting washing and packing up. Yes, here we are, April 7th and his skiing is over.

I talked to him about skiing next year. He wants me to go with him, but I really am not an excellent skier. I mentioned that I would be happier getting a pass at a smaller, local area where I can ski and not fear falling and breaking something. So now I can look forward to next winter when I can ski at an area that I am comfortable with.

On Tuesday night I was officially voted in at my Woman’s Club meeting. I was so happy to be joining this group of remarkable women. There is a ton of stuff coming up in May that I want to be a part of, but everyone understands that I am waiting for Anneliese to go into heat, so I cannot officially sign up for anything just yet.

One activity I hope I can work at is Wiener Weekend! It’s not what it sounds like for a Dackel Princess. Actually we sell grilled hot-dogs at our towns Arts and Crafts Street Fair! Doesn’t that sound wonderful? I hope I am around so I can help sell hot-dogs!

Anyway, that was my Tuesday. A slow start, which picked up mid-day and ended with a smile or two!

The Day After

The day after Easter found me exhausted! lol! I sat sipping my coffee on Monday morning, in a clean house, which was good, because I had very little ambition. I decided to take the day off. Do a little email writing, TV watching and Owl observing.

However, I was feeling guilty about the fact that dinner wasn’t up to my standards yesterday, so I decided to cook Hubby a nice rotisserie chicken for his dinner Monday night. The only thing was, he had a meeting at 6 o’clock, so I needed to have dinner on the table at 5 PM. That’s okay, just meant I had to start everything an hour and a half earlier than normal.

So, the dogs got fed at 4:15 (45 minutes early), and I worked on making a nice dinner after that. The chicken smelled great, and I made baked potatoes and eggplant roll-ups to go on the side.

The trees and shrubs are all budding and this is a problem for me. Seems I am allergic to this process and so I spend part of the last few days with severe allergy symptoms. Ahhhh-choooooo!

And my final piece of news is that Mandy’s cat, Maestro went to Rainbow Bridge over the weekend. He was a big, beautiful, Tuxedo cat with a heart of gold. I will miss him, and I know Mandy will too. I’m so sorry Sweetheart.

kitties and food

Rest in peace, dear Maestro.

Easter

Our day started with true excitement! Greta found a snake! I raced inside and grabbed my camera, as she chased the little garter snake across the yard! By the time I got back, she had gotten to the rocks and stream on our property. However, she was not done looking for it, so I took a quick film. It still makes me laugh!

The Easter Snake from Dackel Princess Maribeth

One thing you should know is that I really hate snakes, but Greta was being so cute, that I forgot my fear, and just laughed like crazy!

After that excitement, I set the table and started preparing. Here is the table as it lay before our guests arrived.

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Each guest got a small box of chocolate. After all, it is Easter!

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Then our guests arrived and we sat outside enjoying the warmth.

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Here are the salads. This was, perhaps, my favorite part of the meal.

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Hubby slicing our Ham.

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The vegetable bundles.

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And for dessert, the coconut bunny cake!

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It was a great day and we had a lot of fun. In fact the time slipped quickly by and before we knew it, our guests left and we sat down to digest! The only thing was the dogs wanted to get their dinner, so I had to pop up and feed them! All is done now, so I am off duty!

Easter Weekend

Friday was one of those perfect springs days. Bright blue, sunny skies and warmth, wonderful, delicious, warmth! At one point it was over 75 degrees! Now isn’t that fantastic?

I unwrapped the awning, and put it out over our back patio. I opened the windows in the family room, bedroom and pulled the screen across where the sliding glass doors are. in the kitchen. Everything was open and fresh and clean smelling.

The dogs loved it. They sat in doorways, played outside and sat on the back of the couch watching the happenings on the lake.

Here is Anneliese and Arnie.

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And now Greta, Anneliese and Arnie.

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And the truly handsome Arnie!

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Fritz was busy following his Daddy around the yard. Hubby also took the shedding tool outside and gave Fritz a good going over.

Oh yes, and while it was lovely and warm here, Hubby drove up into the mountains and skied again today. I doubt there will be too many more days for him to do this.

Tomorrow will be my day to prepare for Easter dinner. I will do as much as I can and then get up early on Sunday to finish up the cooking.

I hope that wherever you are the sun is shining down on you and you will enjoy the holiday!

The Owl Box

My sister turned me on the Molly and MaGee. Who are Molly and MaGee? They are Barn Owls out in San Marcos, California. Currently they have nested in a back yard Owl Box that is on Streaming Video. Please go and check it out. If you are lucky you will see the Owlets in the box with Molly. MaGee, the Daddy, brings food in several times a day to feed his family.

The Owl Box

It’s addicting, I tell you, as you watch nature, up close and so beautifully perfect. My thanks to Carlos and his wife Donna for doing this so that we all can see this wonderful sight!

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Hubby and I hit the shops today to buy the food for Easter. We found a nice ham, asparagus and purchased the cheese to make my special Macaroni and Cheese. The store was not stocked very well, and we ended up having to go to two other shops to finish our shopping.

I was in the soda isle getting a few bottle of soda for Hubby and as I reached up with one hand to grab a 2 liter bottle, a second bottle leapt off the shelf and started to fall. I grabbed and I actually caught it! Just as I did Hubby turned the corner, but he missed my great athletic feat!

The day here was bright, with blue skies and warm temperatures. I even put the windows down in the car and breathed in the fresh spring air.

Ah-choo! Oh yeah, springtime. Allergy season. That’s okay, I’ll deal with it. Bring on the sun and flowers!!!