Wednesday Hodgepodge

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1. July is National Ice Cream month…your favorite flavor? Soft served, hand dipped, or frozen yogurt…which do you prefer? And technically yogurt is not ice cream but its hot outside so I’ll let that slide for today.

My favorite ice cream is Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. I love it served in a handmade sugar waffle cone! YUM!

2. When you travel do you tend to pack too much or too little?

Always too much. I am one of those people who say, “What if…” and then I pack that way!

3. What’s your favorite cleaning product?

Oh I love the new and improved “Fantastic” it cleans everything so well. I also like the “Clorox Clean-Ups”.

4. Which is the greater tragedy-an innocent person imprisoned or a guilty person set free? Explain.

Since a guilty person usually will recommit a crime, I would tend to lean towards setting the guilty free. I think an innocent person would eventually be exonerated and get free of the conviction. Just look at OJ. We all know he killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, and he got off. But could he just keep out of trouble? No. Well, now he will sit in prison for a while, still not consolation for the Brown’s and the Goldman’s.

5. What’s the longest trip you’ve taken by car?

Well, actually it was motor coach, and we drove across country, down the west coast, across the southern part of the country and then back up the east coast to New Hampshire and home.

6. tennis-golf-canoeing-biking…pick one.

Biking. Although I do live in a great spot for canoeing.

7. What sound drives you crazy?

Probably the sound of wheels in my driveway when the dackels are outside. Let me explain. I always worry when the dackels are running freely in the yard and a delivery, or meter reading truck comes into the yard. Fear grips me that one of my dackels will be run over.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I am really looking forward to returning to my hometown next week, for my High School Reunion.

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I have not been to Falmouth in 8 years and I am looking forward to revisiting my favorite beach, two of the homes I grew up in, and having fried clams and stuffed quahogs! A favorite of mine, that are best served and eaten in Falmouth!

Contemplations

I could complain about the heat, and humidity that we have had the last few days, but when I started to think about what is important in life, I decided that our “Heat Wave” didn’t really matter too much in the big picture of life.

A few days ago a friend of mine lost her boy-friend. He was taken far too young, and I know that my friend will be truly challenged in her life as she goes on.

I know. I do. It is so difficult to see that, as time goes on, the pain lessens. Right now it feels so overwhelming and strong, to her.  I know she will always love him, but I do know that one day, she will smile again.

Then the catastrophe happened in Oslo and three of my dear blog friends are Norwegians. Their country is a small, safe, loving country. In some ways it is an end to the innocence. The Norwegian government has said that it will not change the country…but all of us here in the USA know, that the day after 9/11, we were all different.

So why are we challenged with these difficult things? Perhaps so we can truly appreciate the goodness when we have it. I do not know.

I do know that when I lost my own daughter 26 years ago, I thought I would never make it, never be happy again.

But here I am. 26 years later, and my life is happy. I still love Katie. I still miss her terribly. I still do not understand why she died. I still hate it.

But…my life is good. I have my family, both human and fur, and I love and in turn I am loved!

Life has gone on!

And I’m okay!

All My Children

I know that many of you may not be Soap Opera fans. I do not watch many, but I do watch one. “All My Children”.

Many moons ago, I admitted I was addicted to “All My Children”. I’ve been watching, almost since the beginning of the wonderful and wild and sinful world of Erica Kane! So many wonderful actors and actresses have come and gone over the years, so many good and evil characters, too. Somehow, Monday through Friday, I had that time with “All My Children”, and it allowed me to escape my own life’s drama, and focus on something totally unbelievable, like women wearing sleeveless dresses in the middle of winter.

But the dresses were always lovely and the actresses always looked beautiful and the men handsome. No one ever woke up with bad breath or, heaven forbid, had spinach on their teeth after having lunch. Mostly because no one really eats on the Soaps either.

The characters fall in and out of love like I have never seen, but then, sometimes you have special loves, those long and enduring loves. Angie and Jessie, Joe and Ruth, Tad and Dixie, Mateo and Hailey! And Erica and just about every man on the show…

And now, 41 years after the show made it’s debut, it has been canceled because they want to put on a cooking and fashion show for a younger audience! I guess baby boomers aren’t a good demographic because ABC announced they want to appeal to women 18-49.

This is the first time I have not been in the correct demographic…meaning young!

Well ABC, take “All My Children” off the air. I can’t stop you, as it is obvious that you care very little about what women and men in my age bracket think.

The last air-date for the show is in September. Until then I shall value the characters just a little bit more than I would have.

Thank you to every cast member and crew member who made that hour each day during the week a nice escape for me.

Love

Hubby and I celebrated our anniversary in a great way. We celebrated the beginning of someone else’s marriage. We went to a wonderful dinner party where we talked and laughed and ate and drank to the joy of the new couple! It really reinforces the whole belief in marriage, doesn’t it?

Everything was wonderful. Grilled meats, different salads, and a cupcake wedding cake! Just perfect!Here are a few pictures!

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We got home late, so I will post this now and get off to bed! I’m tired and so are the dackels!

Memories

I was looking for a certain picture today in my Flickr Photo-stream, and I had such a good time. I had a chance to look over a whole bunch of pictures of Hubby and me,

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my daughter

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my cousin Janet and her boyfriend,

Jan and dave

my parent’s and sister,

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happy faces, cherished loved ones, now gone,

me & uncle George

Shubi with Jack

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and newborn puppies.

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As well as my very own fur children!

Anneliese.

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Arnie

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Greta.

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Fritz

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Yes, it was fun and brought me back to enjoy the time I have had. It was a great way to spend the afternoon!

I Did It!

On Thursday, while most of New England dug out from “The Great Blizzard of January 2011”, Hubby and I took  off for the mountains to ski. Our little corner of paradise only got 4 inches of fluffy snow, which made for perfect skiing!

Now, my regular readers have been following my feelings of dread about skiing since my accident. I lost that sense that I could actually ski with little or no consequence, but when I fell, a few years back I really developed a fear of skiing. You can read about the ski accident HERE.

In fact I went through a few years of just plain not skiing at all. This year I thought, why not overcome this fear? The first day out in December I was a wreck, but today, it was all good.

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I skied stiffly at first, but eventually loosened up, and in the end, actually learned a little about skiing through fresh snow! In fact I did 4 runs and was going to quit after the 5th, but I had a breakthrough and felt so happy that I actually went back up and skied a 6th run!

Yay Me!!!

Oh, I think I will always have a healthy respect for the dangers of skiing, and I will be very careful, but perhaps I can also enjoy the scenery, the fresh air and the exercise.

Speaking of exercise, oh yeah, I had a good workout today, and I’m feeling a bit sore tonight, but happily so!

Veteran’s Day

Thursday the 11th of November, was Veteran’s Day here in the States. All across the Nation, Memorial Ceremonies were held to honor those who gave their lives for our country, as well as those who served, continue to serve and all the families.

Our State Veteran’s Cemetery is about 22 miles from our home. It is beautifully laid out, and quite comforting to walk through. A few thousand people came from across our state to remember, and honor the Military.

I took pictures and so did Hubby. We wanted to share with you these pictures, to allow you a chance to see, some of the wonderful men and women who served our Nation in the Military. The cemetery serves both the Military and their Spouses for burial.

I was glad I had on my big sunglasses, because I get quite choked up seeing the love around me. The love for Country, Family and Friends.

Hubby’s Veteran’s Day from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

A Flash From The Past

This morning I decided I would learn how to scan a slide with my super scanning machine. After all, when we bought the scanner a year ago, it was with the plan to scan in some of our old slides. Hubby has a ton and so do I. In fact, when my parents gave up their home years ago, I became the keeper of the slides.

I went to pick up the slides and in the box was a zip lock bag with a couple of slides in it. I guess that Dad must have had them out for some reason. Anyway, I kept them in the drawer of my desk hoping one day to scan them in.

Today was that day!

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The smallest child in the group is me. I was 8 years old, and I was playing Gretel in the Sound of Music. I remember that this was a lot of fun for me. I sang and danced and luckily, all of the adults were very nice and made the project a great experience.

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It’s funny looking back and seeing myself so confident and calm. I wasn’t at all nervous, and I performed like I’d been doing it all my life. It was only later in my life that I started to feel shy.

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This is probably one of my favorite pictures of my sister and me. I was joking with her that this was the last time that she was taller than me! I loved Melodie in that dress and my own dress, the chocolate brown one, was one of my all time favorites!

How exciting it is to be able to scan in these old slides. They’re like old friends.

The Reunion: Part Two

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Friday found us heading to Warm Springs, Georgia, for a tour of The Little White House. This was where Franklin Roosevelt went to enjoy the warm mineral springs, as a treatment for his polio damaged legs. In his last days, he was there vacationing and having his picture painted when he succumbed to a massive stroke. In some ways I can’t think of a nicer place to be when I leave this world.

Franklin Roosevelt unfinished portait

After the museum tour, we were escorted to The Bulloch House in the town of Warm Springs for a buffet luncheon. I am here to tell you all that The Bulloch House knows how to put on a real southern cooking smorgasbord! We ate until were thought we would explode! There was fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, lima beans (a favorite of mine!), corn bread, salad, cream corn, and a gingerbread cake with vanilla ice cream and caramel for desert.

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Okay, so I know I have just lost the Weight Watcher of the year award!

Because we drove our own car to Warm Springs, rather than ride on the charter bus, we were able to drive back to Columbus and spend a couple of hours at the Civil War Naval Museum there.  Why is there a Naval Museum so far inland? Columbus has a river, the Chattahoochee, and several ironclad ships were built there for the Confederacy. One of them sank just down river and was raised recently (what was left of it) and added to the museum. They have an excellent history of all the ironclads (Monitor, Merrimack, Etc.,) used in the Civil War, with many pictures and models.

ironcald ship

Friday night there was a dinner and speaker at the main hotel. He was an officer serving in Afghanistan. The men enjoyed his speech, but I think that many of us, who had not served in the military found it hard to listen to. Still, I admired his bravery and his service to our country.

Saturday morning we had our general meeting, and this is where we decide on future reunion locations. Next year we will meet in Corning, NY and the following year it will be in Pittsburgh, PA.

After lunch we changed into our evening wear and returned to the main hotel for pictures. I wore my little black dress, with bling, and I had done my hair and make up, so I wasn’t looking too bad.

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Hubby and I posed for pictures and then we headed back to the Infantry Museum with our friends, Jim and his wife, Gerry.

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We arrived before the others in our group, which proved advantageous, as we got a full table to fill up with Hubby’s friends from the old days.

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The food and service were spectacular at the Museum, and the program for the night was splendid indeed! Most of us enjoyed the steak, served with mashed potatoes and green beans, and molten lava chocolate cake for dessert!

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dessert

As we sat in the Infantry Museum, having our banquet and listening to the speaker I glanced around at all those wonderful people that I have known for so many years! It has been a blessing to me to have known these fine soldiers and their spouses.

Our evening ended with our glasses raised and a toast to the good health of all.

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