Anneliese & The Big Bang

Tuesday was kind of an odd day for me. I slept until the sun rose and although I tried to get back to sleep, I was wide awake.

I got the dogs, and after getting my jacket on (I finally found my winter coat in the front closet!) I took them out, hung up the bird feeders and by the time I came back in, the coffee was hot and brewed.

Jack has been sleeping incredible amounts, so I didn’t wait and at 8 o’clock I made my breakfast. Life was going on in a normal pattern.

It was much later in the day when I had finished eating my lunch I put my plate down for Anneliese to lick, and I started to move the tray table that my lunch had been on and Anneliese jumped back in terror and screamed a big doggy scream.

I felt terrible. I must have scared her because she can’t see the table well. Then Jack told me that he’d accidentally kicked his tray table last night in his sleep and knocked it down. It landed close to a deeply sleeping Anneliese.

My poor girl had PTSD!

I got her up in my lap. She was breathing heavily and shaking. I held her closely and talked to her but it took well over an hour to get her calmed down.

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I started to think about Anneliese then. She has new bumps here and there, I know her vision is almost nil as she doesn’t see things when I hold them closely in front of her.

She does come to me when I call her, and part of me feels she is happiest when she is on a leash Then she is attached to me.

I don’t like this at all you know. I see my little baby fading before my eyes and it makes me so sad.

April 26 011Baby Anneliese.

She was the baby I watched being born, who came out screaming. The last pup out when Greta had her first litter, and the one with the biggest mouth.

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Ha! She is very quiet now. She almost never barks or makes a fuss. But way back when, in 2006, she was full of spirit and the life of Greta’s first litter.

March 9 001Me and Anneliese. I think she was about 12 weeks old then.

All her sisters and Arnie were little sleepy heads. But this tiny little pup had so much spunk!

As I held her today I realized that all of these years that I have been her Mom, she always knew I would take care of her. And she has always come to me to be comforted.

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She is fine now (Tuesday Evening) and asleep in her bed. But I’ve realized that I really need to enjoy her as her days are coming to a close.

The Peak Is Past

I looked out today at the lake and everything was still. It was also a simple burnt brown and yellow and the vivid reds and orange and corals are done.

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Still, it was beautiful, and so when I went to get the mail, I took my big camera and took a few pictures. The one below was when the sun was shining. So beautiful!

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Soon the trees will be bare and the blustery winds of November will be upon us. With just the skeletal remains of the trees blowing eerily this way and that.

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It’s strange but my favorite time of year is Autumn when the colors are bright. The month of November, my birthday month, the weather, the colors, tend to be rather grim.

Yet, November holds two things I am looking forward to. My 61st birthday and Thanksgiving. My personal favorite holiday!

People ask me what dish is my favorite during the Thanksgiving meal? Hmm. Let’s see, turkey, stuffing made with roasted chestnuts, mashed potato, cranberry sauce, butternut squash, green beans, gravy, rosemary crusted hot dinner rolls, apple pie, pumpkin pie, or mince Pie? Umm, yes! All of it! LOL!

The Weekend Wrap

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Our weekend was a pretty quiet one. I was feeling so much better from the cold I had, while Jack was in the early stages of coming down with a cold.

I did laundry and cleaned and cooked a wonderful Sauerbraten. I cleaned my closet, went to the Recycling Center and prepared several bags of shoes, coats, blankets, shirts, and towels to bring to the Charity Shop.

Jack slept. He got out of bed, came out to his chair and slept some more. In between, he coughed and sneezed and then slept some more.

Due to his sleeping, I was the master of the remote control! I actually watched what I wanted to see! Yay, me!

With heart cartoon remote control from TV device

We have now had a couple of hard frosts, and we also had a wind storm that came through and blew away a large portion of our leaves. It seems that the peak of our Autumn is now over. As is the Foliage Train. Today was the last day the trains will run for the year.

The coming week finds me being quiet. I’m sure I will be caring for Jack while he recovers from the cold.

Banana Bread!

Banana Bread: My Favorite!

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I know pumpkin bread is really popular about now, and I love pumpkin bread,  but even more delicious to me is banana bread, which is my favorite.  Fortunately, it’s easy, and a great use for those bananas sitting on the shelf.

Time: 10 mins prep, 40-50 minutes baking.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas
2 c. flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup milk

Mash your bananas, then add your sugar, eggs, and butter.  Mix thoroughly.  Sift your flour, spices, and soda together and add them to your wet ingredients.  Mix it all up until you have a somewhat stiff batter.  It’s much thicker than cake batter. Which is why I like to use a little milk to smooth it out. I also tend to double the batch as this freezes well.

Spray your loaf pan with non-stick spray.  I just LOVE using the little loaf pans.  They gift easily, for one.  Also, while I can’t seem to stop at one slice of bread, I do have to stop at one loaf.  This recipe makes 3 little loaves if you want to go that route too.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, until you pass the toothpick test (where you stick it into your bread and it comes out clean).  For my little loaves, usually 40 minutes.  For a traditional loaf, closer to 50.

Jack and I have both been enjoying the bread. It is soooooo good!

 

Homophones? Who Knew!

I have certain words that drive me insane! Mostly because although they sound the same, they do not necessarily mean the same things.

Take Yay, Yea, and Yeah.

You pronounce yay in the same way you pronounce yea, which makes these two words homophones—indistinguishable when spoken and easily confused when written. They have different meanings, though. While yea is the word we sometimes use for yes, yay is the word we use to express joy, approval, or excitement.

The origins of yay are difficult to pin down—some sources say it came from yeah, others say it came from yea.

Yeah: in modern times is a less formal way to say yes. But good old YAY! Still is solely used to express happiness and joy!

There is also the problem of Their, There, and They’re.

Their: is the possessive case of the pronoun they, as in “They left their cell phones at home.”

There: is an adverb that means “in or at that place,” as in “She is there now.” In this sense, there is essentially the opposite of here. There is also used as a pronoun introducing a sentence or clause, as in “There is still hope.”

They’re: is a contraction of the words they and are, as in “They’re mastering the differences between these homophones!”

I do so love playing with the English language. I know I make so many mistakes, and when I look up to find answers, I hope I will retain what I learned.

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And an English Professor once told me I was an “over-explanation-pointer” when I write! Imagine that!!!

 

The Friday Five

The Friday FiveThis year it seems many of my weeks have flown by and so many of them have been just a little crazy.

This one wasn’t so crazy, but it was unusual and it did fly by. So, here’s what’s up in New Hampshire.

  1. It was Columbus Day on Monday, and that really was the day to be out and enjoying nature and the beautiful Autumn leaves.
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  2. The Tourists were all here, Leaf Peepers, and the like. The trains were full and everyone was enjoying their time in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.
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  3. We also had many people up closing their summer camps for the winter. Soon our traffic will disappear and we will return to being the lovely sleepy town we are in the winter. (Meredith is 54.2 square miles. With a population: 6,384)
  4. I decided to switch things around in my closet now that the cooler temperatures are here. One thing I cannot seem to find is my winter coat! Where on earth did I store it last Spring?
  5. And lastly, both my stomach and my cold are better. It’s nice to be able to eat normal foods again (even though it is low fat) and to not be coughing and sneezing!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday, Candy

Today would have been my dearest friend, Candy’s birthday. Last year I sent her a 3 lb wheel of Vermont Cheddar Cheese and New Hampshire Maple Syrup. The year before I sent her a Red Velvet Cake, her favorite.

I sang her happy birthday and all was well. Neither one of us knew that last year would be her very last birthday on this earth.

Just over a month later, Candy was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. I will never forget the night she called me. She had just gone to a walk-in clinic for her cough. They x-rayed her lungs and found the masses.

She called me sitting in her car in the parking lot. She knew. I kept trying to explain away what the doctors had found, but Candy being a nurse knew.

July 15 13 005How lucky I was to have been her friend all of these years. We could go for a while not talking on the phone and then one of us would call the other and it was like we just talked yesterday. It was always easy to talk to Candy. She understood me in so many ways, that no one else did.

1471833_10152064816746499_671583404_nWhen Candy and her husband visited us back in 2013, they both fell in love with our Greta. So much so that a few months later they got their very own wire-haired dachshund. Aurora went everywhere with Candy and she was the real joy in her life.

FB_IMG_1548898268358Candy was an identical twin. I wrote to her sister Mary and spoke to her last week. Needless to say, she is feeling an unimaginable loss. I knew this would be very hard for her. Firsts are the worst.

I was not only blessed to have been Candy’s friend all these years but during her last days on this earth, I was able to give back to my friend all that she had given me, by caring for her.

Oh, how I miss this wonderful woman. But as I told her the last time I saw her, “Love never dies, Candy. I will see you next in God’s Garden”.

Happy Heavenly Birthday!

Gone To The Birds

I know that recently my blog has gone to the birds. It seems I write about them a great deal. But these wonderful creatures have added so much to my life recently, and between sneezes and coughs, I have watched them, felt joy and taken pictures.

One bird that comes daily now is Mr. Cardinal. He used to be fed by my neighbor, but apparently he likes my Suet feeder because he shows up here every morning.

P1010006 (2) copyMr. Blue Jay is here daily as well. He squawks and squawks if we are close by, as he does not trust us too much…yet.

P6280014 (3)Mr. Oriole comes by too. Occasionally I put some grape jelly on the feeder, and sure enough, he shows up. Apparently he has a sweet tooth.

P6250024 (2)And I have both a Downy and a Hairy Woodpecker that come every single day. Today the Downy Woodpecker came by when I was walking Anneliese and he was not in the least concerned by my being less than 5 feet away. The Downy Woodpecker Male is probably my favorite.

These birds will overwinter here, and I plan to feed them all winter. It will bring me joy to watch this nature in my back yard. It really already has.

The Long Weekend

Our long weekend was not a bad one. I am still fighting this blasted cold, but I went outside in the warm air and all the beautiful leaves. It’s good for the soul to be surrounded by such beauty.
PA120005I think even when you are not feeling your best, the beautiful Autumn colors can turn your day around. And so it was with me.

The train went by again today, as it was the holiday. I checked their schedule and determined that next weekend is their last foliage train! Too bad. This year our Autumn is about two weeks late, so there would have been plenty to see at the end of the month.

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This is another quiet week for me, which is a very good thing. I keep hoping to shake off this cold and being able to take it easy and do a few crafts and rest is really helpful.

At least this is what I am telling my immune system!