Category: Amanda

Usually Thursday finds me writing thirteen things I am either doing or thinking about, but right now life has become happily busy and I’m afraid that I’m finding it hard to pin down thirteen things that are related.

On Wednesday I got to spend time with Mandy. We shopped the sales, and had a nice lunch, but here is where I got lost.

You see, I got lost in my love for my daughter. Suddenly as we sat having lunch I could recall the first moments of seeing her beautiful face!

The love was so deep and overwhelming and pure. I swear, there is nothing like it. I remember looking at her, and then looking up into my ex-husband’s face, and knowing that we both felt the same way about the miracle of this tiny person.

As Mandy grew into womanhood, I watched in total wonder, as she became a warm, wonderful, caring and loving person. Yesterday I sat there thinking, “Wow, I’m her mother!”.

I search the outline of her face and I can see her father and me. She is the best of both of us. How blessed we are to have her.

I hope she will know that I love her deeply.

Yes, blessings!!!

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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On Friday I tried a recipe for Hot Wings (Buffalo Wings). It was pretty good. The only thing I might do differently next time I make them is to marinate the chicken wings for an hour or two before cooking them, instead of just brushing on the hot sauce. All I can say is, YUM!

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On Saturday I re-potted my tomatoes and eggplants. The peppers were not quite ready for that, so I thought I would wait until the end of the week for that. It was fun to play in the dirt and to get those lovely plants in their new pots!

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On Sunday, we drove south to meet up with my daughter, Mandy and her boy friend and his parents to celebrate Mother’s Day. We met at The Common Man in Merrimack, NH. We had a delicious meal, served by one of the nicest and most efficient waitresses that we’ve had in a while. Hubby and I had mussels and scallops and salads and fabulous and decadent desserts. Hubby had Key Lime Pie and Mandy and I shared a chocolate chip cookie ala mode. Matt and his parents had beef meals and Matt had this wonderful (and oh so gooey) chocolate lava cake!

Mandy and Me.

Matt and his Mom.

We had a great time, and before we knew it, our meals were over and everyone needed to go their separate ways. As we left Mandy and Matt gave each mother a beautiful vase of flowers. I love the flowers, but I think I love the vase even more. It’s beautiful!

So I send a big thank you to Mandy and Matt for one of the nicest Mother’s Days ever!!!

Friday found me driving south to meet up with my daughter and have lunch. The weather was just miserable! It was cold and rainy when I left home and I tossed a cooler in the car because I had planned to stop at a German Deli and pick up some goodies.

It took me a bit longer to get to the Deli, but I was able to buy some wonderful German bread, Leberkäse, Tilsiter cheese, some Weiss Wurst, Leberwurst and Christmas Stollen! It is always fun for me to shop when I can get authentic German foods!

After that I met up with Mandy at a great Fish restaurant, called “The Fish Market”. Yes, I know, very originally named!

We both ordered coffee, and a small cup of clam chowder and then a lovely Lobster Salad. My regular readers already know that I LOVE Lobster! This Lobster salad has to be one of the best I have ever had!

Now doesn’t that look fantastic? Everything was so fresh and wonderful. We will definitely go back again!

Mandy and I hung out and talked until she had to leave for an eye examination. What a joy it was to spend part of my day with her!

The drive home was a bit tedious. The traffic was heavy and my mood was not the best. I really don’t like traffic as it tends to make me nervous, but eventually I got home to Hubby and the beasts!

I’d gotten some wonderful wursts and so I made Hubby Bratkartoffeln (fried potatoes) wurst and rutabaga for his dinner. He was quite a happy man!

Friday night found me curled up with Arnie and Anneliese, and my laptop catching up on my mail. All in all, it was a good day. Of course any day I get to spend with my daughter, is a good one, indeed!

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PS: After dark, Arnie begged to go out.  I always leash them and grab my handy, dandy heavy flashlight, ever since finding out that Mr. Bear enjoys going through our yard!

So, we go out and I flashed the light around and what do I see? Mr. Coyote. This is what he looked like.

The was borrowed from Wiki for demonstration purposes only.

One super big coyote! I was scared to death, as a coyote will kill a dachshund and could do me some damage too!  I grabbed Arnie and ran into the house. After a bit, Greta went ballistic, because she knew something was up! So, I leashed her, grabbed my flashlight, and went out. No problems. Then I took Arnie, and lastly, I took Anneliese. I looked around the back yard with the light and what did I see?

Mr. Coyote, sitting on the stone wall. As soon as my light hit is eyes, he slipped over the stone wall and was gone!

All I can say is: I lived to tell the story!

Saturday was a great day. I got to spend some time, relaxing and enjoying my daughter, Mandy and her boyfriend, M. M’s parent’s also came by and we sat around talking and joking and Mandy made a delicious spinach lasagna!

The weather was beautiful and we all sat out on her balcony, in the slightly crisp air. Yes sir, it felt like Autumn!

My daughter lives in the town next to where Hubby and I lived when we first were married. Before that Hubby lived in that town, and I lived one town over and so going back is always a trip down memory lane.

This part of New Hampshire has grown like crazy. The strip malls are everywhere and along one road, where there wasn’t one stop light when I first moved there nearly 30 years ago, there are now stop lights every 500 to a 1000 feet! Or so it seems.

And yet there were roads and corners and trees and homes that have remained the same, so that in many ways it felt like we were driving home.

Of course, by the end of the evening, we got into our car and headed back to our real home an hour north, and when we returned we were greeted by 4 happy doggies!