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!

Memories of '23

 Soon shouts, whistles, fireworks and other manner of celebration will be heard all over the world.  Some places are already in 2024 while we still have a few hours of 123123.   I hope you're having a good-bye planned in your own way.  I seldom stay awake until midnight but I just might make it this year.  (I took a nap this afternoon!)   As I look back on 2023 I'm grateful that we made it through without any big drama, health issues, financial problems, or the loss of any family members.  A bit different than the last few years.  We accomplished a few projects and have plans for some new ones in '24.  We managed a couple of trips and visits with family members.  I continued to work and hopefully will do so this coming year.  I like being able to make my own schedule with no call or weekends or holidays.   As always, time will tell. I'm not getting any younger.  I guess you could say that I'm the youngest I'll ever be right at this moment.  I'm going to pray for a good year ahead.  I'm going to pray for my family and friends for their year ahead. I know challenges come in many forms and I pray what ever the Lord sends our way we can handle it.  In short...I'm going to pray each day!  I have my motto for this new year.  It's: "LESS IS MORE IN '24".   What does that mean?  How about less spending, less accumulating "things", less complaining, less procrastinating, less eating, less sitting.  Hopefully it will help with more: saving, downsizing, happiness, getting projects completed, more health, more stamina, and perhaps a bit more blogging than this year. Happy New Year everyone! Here's a few pics from '23 that made our year a good one.

January:

Sister bonding when Midge made a surprise visit.

Feb:

I turned the big 70!  Don't I look surprised?!

March:

A visit to Chicago to spend my sister's birthday with her and her family.

April:

Spring arrived with a Happy Easter!

May:

We were able to go to our Temple's open house.  The Columbus, Ohio Temple had been closed for renovations for 3 years! It's been great to have it back!

June:

A trip to Portland, Oregon to see our Grandson, Taylor, graduate.  He's now a freshman at BYU Idaho and doing great!

July:

A friend reunion with former members of our church! A really fun time to gather and reminisce. We're planning another one for July 2024.

August:

A beautiful day and picnic at Lake Erie at one of Jack's high school classmates Summer home and many of his high school friends.  They meet once a month for lunch. About 30 or more show up and I tag along too! This was a perfect day!

September:

A new paint job for the living room and a beautiful trip to Michigan! 

The Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island

My handsome hubby in a rare beach shot! He's not super fond of the beach. He burns easily!

October:

Celebrating the Fall season at the Pines

Decorating the Freer house for the Historical Society.

My nieces Amy and Katie at our annual Halloween gathering!  We all love October!

November:

Family gathering for Thanksgiving.  I'm so thankful for my many blessing but mostly for my wonderful family!

December:

The tree my friends and I decorated at the Freer house for the Historical Society's Christmas open house. We won the contest for the most votes for the best tree this year! Whoo hoo!

Our now functioning fireplaces make it a cozy place to sit and enjoy!

Our Hallmark town's new "Candy Cane Trail" that was a fun place to walk and enjoy the music and lights of the season.  Each month had it's own beauty and moments to remember. Time flies by so quickly and I can't believe this year is over in just a few moments.  All these pics will be in my book for this year and I apologize for all of them in this post.  I hope everyone has a healthy and safe new year and I'll be back in '24 for my 16th blogging year!

Happy New Year!!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

The day after Christmas had a deafening silence descend on the land.  No rushing around, no crowded stores, not many folks walking downtown and none in the cemetery when I walked Annabelle. I know,  most folks in the cemetery are just laying around but many do walk the paths like me.  I went to Wal-mart and it was kind of spooky! Spookier than the cemetery on a dark rainy day.  The Christmas music was gone from the stores and the radio.  It was quiet at home too and I even took an afternoon nap.  So as this year comes to it's close I thought I'd do a couple of posts since this year is the smallest posting I've done since starting this blog.  I have my saying for the new year and I'll put it into writing on my final post. That blog post will be on 123123...Dec 12, 31, 23.  A special date?  A lucky date? A buy a lottery ticket date?  Oh well, it's a fun thing to notice anyway.  Those who were sick on Christmas are slowly recovering.  My sister Midge is sick also and hopefully will be better soon.   I haven't worked since December 19th and I guess I'll be back at it by January 3rd.  Maybe then I'll know what day it is! These holiday weeks get us a bit discombobulated...my word for messed up, or turned around.  So no pics in this post just the question...Do you hear what I hear?  Shhhhh..post holiday quiet.  Until 123123.

Christmas Day Or Easter?

 With beautiful sunshine and temps in the 60's the gang that gathered for Christmas celebrating thought we should have had an Easter egg hunt to match this weather!  It's been a busy and tiring weekend as I wrapped up the Christmas shopping and also the Christmas gift wrapping.  Throw in the food prep and getting the house ready there was no hope to get that "long winter's nap"!   It was all hands on deck and we got it done in the usual YaYa and PawPaw fashion.   We only had one snafu with the food. A little mishap with the mac 'n cheese but all else was good!  The kids came in one by one at one.  After some appetizers to keep our strength up we headed into the living room for the gift exchanges.  

The kitchen was rearranged with a longer table to fit the crowd.  We had a few that had to cancel because of illness.  Our son Phil was hit hard yesterday with what appears to be Covid.  Also my daughter-in-law Evelyn had her oldest daughter's family out also with Covid.  That includes their 2mo old baby. When our oldest son Jack was leaving for home today he said he suddenly felt ill.  He's the one holding the red cup in the pic.  I'll keep praying for quick recovery for all and that we don't get it!  Even our son in Oregon is ill today.  Tis the season.

The gang starting to pick a seat and get the unwrapping started!  It seemed everyone enjoyed their gifts and I don't think any will be returned!  After this was it was time for food and fun. 

Granddaughter Summer with her constant companion, Happy.  I know I usually grab some pics of the food but I was a slacker today!  I did get some  pics of the desserts.

Baklava anyone?

Some of my homemade cutouts perhaps?  I also made a pecan pie, pumpkin chiffon pie, and dirty dessert.  Most of the desserts went home in containers as we were stuffed from dinner.  We played our saran wrap game later and along with the gifts inside the wrap there were lottery tickets and again this year only a few $1 or $2 winners.  It was fun anyway!  Soon it was time for everyone to head for home.  I did manage to grab some photos of some of the kids.

Summer and Mandy had some interesting outfits!

Mandy, Jack, Evelyn and Megan

Cameron. I didn't get a pic of his older brother, Anthony.  Anthony had to leave earlier for work.  He escaped the lens of YaYa!

Rae, (in blue), older sis Lexi and little sis Aria.  We sure missed Phil and we made sure to send home a nice selection of food for him.  Hopefully he'll feel like eating it and will be able to taste it!

Evelyn's daughter Megan and her hubby Landen.

Lexi giving Annabelle some love!

Family portrait?  Yikes!  We said goodbye to everyone and then got the house back in order.  Sometime during the evening the rains came.  That didn't stop us from our annual drive to see the decorations around Ashland.  Most of my photos came out bad as trying to snap a pic with the moving car and rain made it a mess.  But here's a few anyway.

The town Nativity.

The downtown.

The town Christmas tree.  

Ho Ho Ho!

A few lights at Whispering Pines.  It was a lovely Christmas for us and I was very grateful for the blessing of seeing family, enjoying the sounds and tastes of the season and also remembering the real reason we celebrate.

As we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I know this time of year can be a stressful and not always a happy time for many.  I wish we could take away all the pain and suffering in the world.  We can't make it all go away but He can help us get through the tough times if we let Him. I hope everyone has had a joyous day today and prayers that the coming days will be better for those didn't.  God bless us everyone.  Merry Christmas!