Why I Blog

People have blogs for many reasons.  They want to connect on a social media site that lets them write about their life and maybe throw in some photos.  My blog buddies are varied and wonderful. A few are writers and photos are not a huge part of their site.  Some are hookers.  Hey, get your mind out of the gutter!  Rug hookers!  I'm not a crafter.  In fact I say my projects are more like arts and crap than craft. But I sure appreciate art in many forms and enjoy reading and seeing what's out there.  Some are music buffs and I enjoy listening to their favorites and sites like my friend Shady from the Shady Dell always takes me back to my youth and teaches me about different artists and life at a special place of his youth.  I love the writers that make me laugh! Cranky Old Man, that would be you!  I know you know my blog is my journal.  I usually have many photos.  At the end of the year it all goes into book form so my kids will have something to fight over when I'm long gone. (I'm being funny here)  I just got book #15 back this week.

Not a great photo of it but you get the picture.  In it are the times I want to remember.  Maybe it's the weather from last year or events with family that are recorded for posterity.  Sometimes I get questions about when a certain thing happened and I go back to my old blog books and get the answer.  What ever your reason for being a blogger I'm grateful you're out there sharing your wisdom, humor, recipes and life stories.  Everyone has a story.  Sometimes it's only a few years worth or other times it's many years of wisdom being shared.   This past week has been one of sadness for a good friend that I will have recorded here for remembrance.  I think I mentioned them in a post last fall.  My friend Bryn and her hubby Terry had been going through a very tough year of his up and down health issues.  He was going into hospice when I mentioned him last year.  However, he decided he wasn't ready for that and struggled to do physical therapy and many other things to improve his health.  He gave it all a valiant try.  We cheered him on when he celebrated his 80th birthday in November.  Bryn gave him a surprise party at the nursing facility and we all gathered to wish him well.  However, his battle ended yesterday afternoon.  I stopped by the day before at the hospital for a final visit with our friend.  He and Bryn were married for 30yrs.  A second marriage for them both and they filled it with love for each other and friends and family.  My hugs and prayers to out to Bryn as she faces these times without him.  He was 10yrs older than her so I'm sure this was something they knew could happen.  Rest in peace Terry.  We'll miss you.

Yesterday was also 20yrs since my nephew passed away in a car accident.  He was 18 and very close to my boys, especially Jordan.  It's hard to imagine him as a 38 year old as he will be forever young to us all.  

Here he is as a young boy with my silly #2 son doing his Dolly Parton imitation!

Here he is with his sister Katie.  He was in his freshman year of college. He wanted to be a police officer like her.  So I will continue to blog to keep family and friends remembered or honored.  Events recorded or weather posted.  This week the weather warmed up, the snow melted.  It was in the 50's these past few days.  I know winter isn't nearly over but I'll cherish a relief from bitter cold even if it leaves us with rain and fog!  So keep on blogging if you have the desire.  There are times I want to just stop and in fact I blog less often than when I first started.  I realized that I repeat many stories but that's my life.  Sometimes new things happen and sometimes I'm in the memory lane.  Whatever lane I'm in this year I hope to get it put down in writing and also many photos.  Night all.

JanBRRRRary

 We're pretty darn chilly here at the Pines.  I think it's 8de here this morning with a little snow that fell during the night.  It was cold all weekend but having this:

Sunshine!!!  Yes, even when it's bitter cold if the sun is shining it's a great day.  We had so many gray, cloudy days leading up to this weekend that it was so nice to see blue skies:

Look how pretty that sky is.  Can you see Annabelle's potty path? Ha!  Luckily she loves this weather. Cold, snow, or rain doesn't seem to bother her but throw in wind and she's heading back to the house. The sound of it really bugs her.  But she's up for a walk any time I feel up to a walk.

She gets her warm little coat on and is ready for the day.  When we first got her I always put little booties on her paws to protect them.  If you remember she was a puppy mill mom and spent 7 years in a kennel and when we walked her paws would bleed.  But now she's a seasoned walker and her paws are good to go.  However, if we were going to be out in the snow a long time I would put them back on.  

I must be honest here.  One of her other favorite activities is curling up on the couch with me and having a nap! If it's morning we call it "snooze with the news" time.  I put on the Today show and she and me can be out for a little nap time.  This cold snap has the wood burning furnace up and running and keeping us warm and cozy.  It's a lot of work to heat with wood but you can't beat that warmth and the electric bill is great too.  We also like to make sure our feathered friends have some chow to keep them warm.

I had to de-ice it once but then they realized the Pines cafe was open!

Whoa...this guy might need some help on take off!  Look at his cute chubby belly!  Well, to end this weather & bird post I have a little riddle.  Do you know what this is?

This is one of the Christmas gifts I got from Jordan.  Hmm...It took him explaining it to me.

It's a book marker and a place for a cup of tea or whatever. The little hole on the left is for a pen. You see, I love word search so he also got me a word search book and then I can keep a pen there and under the wood tent area is a spot for my phone! Yes, my son knows me!  I love to read or do word search and a cup of tea or cocoa is great but I'm also leaving my phone everywhere so now I have no excuse for losing it!  Thanks Jord!  So that's about all that's happening here at the Pines.  This month is half over already and soon we'll be into the short month.  I hope we're getting the bad weather now and will be able to sail through February without icicles hanging on our eyelashes!  Brrrrr!

Greetings 2024

 January has arrived and the we rang in the new year in our usual quiet way.  We were able to stay up until midnight! Whoo Hoo!  We toasted with some sparkling cider and watched the ball drop.  So much fun I'm not sure everyone could handle it!  January 1st we had our good luck meal of pork and sauerkraut and black eyed peas.  We do the pork in the form of ribs which is good.  The peas are for Jack who always had them in his family on New Year's Day.  In my family I remember Mom having to have pickled herring...not my style then or now! But she believed fish on New Year's Eve brought good luck.  We also usually had ham.  So how ever you eat your luck I hope 2024 is a great year!  One other thing I always do is make my Greek New Year's bread.  Vasilopita bread, or it can be made as a cake, is traditional in Greek households.  Inside the bread or cake is baked a coin.  Everyone gets a chance to slice the bread and if you get the coin good luck is promised for the year.  Jordan was the lucky dude this year!

This bread is so good when made into toast.  Yummy!  I started taking down the Christmas decor after the 1st.  The tree just came down yesterday much to Jack's sadness.  He really enjoys the decorating of Christmas and especially the tree.  We struggled with the lights this year on our pre-lit tree.  Many folks tell me that their pre-lit trees also lose the lights eventually.  So we put lights on it and now I wonder if we should buy a new tree.  Hmm.  Jury is still out on that one. Maybe a great sale will motivate this!  So now most of Christmas is back in the storage room.

Living room is deChristmased..I just made that word up! But you will spy some little bits of it left in other spots.  I still have my wreaths in the windows and I put up all my snowman things with some lights on the kitchen mantle.

You can see the wreaths in the dining room windows and I have my snowman tablecloth that I found a couple of years ago at a vintage shop in Chicago. Fresh flowers that say Spring will arrive one day!  I'm glad I don't suffer with seasonal disorder and struggle with the dark days of winter but I do like to keep lights on here and there for brightening up spaces.  

A blurry pic but you can see I have white lights and snowmen to celebrate winter in Ohio.

Snowflake lights on my kitchen windows help bring in some sparkle. You can see we did get a bit of white flakes for real last night.  Now it's raining because our temps are in the upper 40's.  It's a mixed bag of weather all over the country.  Some of you are being dumped on with snow, others with rain and tornados.  Crazy!  We may be in blizzard conditions by the weekend.  I don't mind snow just not a blizzard please! Everyone will be out in force grabbing milk and toilet paper for sure!  Well, with the first week of January gone and winter moving in I hope everyone is warm and safe. 

I took this photo yesterday of the sun rising.  I just wanted you to know that we do get sunshine now and then and we had a little yesterday and in the past week.  Greetings 2024! I'm hope when I look back on you at the end of the year it will have been one laced with good luck from what ever food was consumed! Happy New Year!