What A Difference A Day Makes....

Here is a photo I took of our place yesterday...

 Our Lazy Daze and Scion

Parked on our "site" on our farm near Athens, Ohio

Look at the contrast of the fall colors of the birch and the pine trees.  The leaves are almost gone from the birch...  looks like autumn is almost over.

This morning we woke to this.... 

I heard rain during the night, but the temps dropped.....  and the rain turned to snow.  I think it was around 6:30 am when I took this picture...  now the sun is shining and when the temps raise a little the snow will be gone.

 My swing...  nestled under the arbor of Trumpet Creeper

No bright red flowers now...  no hummingbirds either.  It will be nearly 6 months before they return.

Looking behind our rig....

The snow is beautiful, but we're not used to the cold.

So, what the heck are we still doing in Ohio in November?  Well, plans tend to get changed...  or maybe just rearranged....  but this seems to be our year to have rental problems.  We stayed in NM a few weeks longer than we intended because of our rental house there.  Arrived at our place here in Ohio only to find that one of our tenants was leaving.  Since it's the first time we've been here at the same time the place would be vacant, we decided to make some major renovations while we have the chance.

Blue Jay....  trying to decide if he wants to approach the bird feeder.

Yesterday was Veteran's Day, and for only a few days Lowe's offered 10% off of all purchases to veterans.  We were able to buy all the plywood, subfloor, and new flooring...  and saved enough money to buy a new kitchen range.  We don't know how much we can get done before we have to leave for Texas, but we do have some other options in mind.

In other blogs I've read about others who are "absentee landlords" and the problems they have, but I will say that for us, the rentals have been a good thing.  We retired at age 55 with no retirement kicking in for several years.  Our rentals have continued to make life on the road... or abroad... financially possible.  It's been well over 15 years since we retired, and while we never intended to be back in Ohio when the snow flies, it's really a small inconvenience in the total picture.

The big problem for us is that our flight to Costa Rica is December 15th...  and it flies out of Dallas/Ft Worth.  We both need prescriptions refilled before leaving the USA for 3 months.  Our doctor is in Texas...  just figuring out the logistics of getting everything done has been like fitting together a jigsaw puzzle.  Of course it will all work out okay...  we'll do what we can here, leave the rest to our rental manager and our very competent contractor, leave Ohio in time to see our doctor in Texas, and leave our motorhome at our daughter's place while we're in Costa Rica.  See...  I told you it would work!

So...  next week we hope to be heading to Texas...

Fly Away beautiful bluejay.....  

And start another adventure....

One last thing...  a couple of weeks ago I included a photo of a sweater I'd made for our great-granddaughter...

I got this photo of Evie yesterday in my e-mail....

She's a beautiful little girl...  and it looks like the sweater fit okay.

That's All For Today!

Saturday Night Hoedown

Saturday night for me and Bill usually means a quiet evening at home, listening to Prairie Home Companion...  Bill doing genealogy research on the computer, me knitting, reading or on my computer.  Last night was  totally different.

I saw a flyer announcing a square dance in Stewart, Oh... which is only about a half hour drive from our farm.

What caught my eye was that music would be by The Dancehall Desperados.  I'd not heard of them, but...  just below that line was the names of the musicians.  On the far left it lists Glenn Jarvis.

In another life, my former husband and I had spent many a Saturday night in Columbus, listening to the music of the band Glenn played in.  He's an exceptionally talented fiddle player and plays everything from bluegrass to country to well... you name it.   Glenn was from Stewart, but worked in Columbus (even talented musicians have to have jobs).  We became friends with Glenn and his wife, Wanda.  In fact, we went to their wedding over 40 years ago.  Time passed...  things changed.  I'm thinking it was in the mid to late 70's since I'd seen them.  I'd often wondered how life was treating them and hoped someday we'd cross paths again.

When I saw the flyer I asked Bill if he'd want to go to a square dance.  He doesn't dance, and really, I don't either, but I had talked about Glenn and Wanda off and on over the years and told him I'd really like to see them again.  

So, this blog is kind of a double story...  the photos show what fun folks can have on a Saturday night.

Hoedown square dancing isn't as sophisticated as those fancy dancers doing precision dance steps and all dressed in coordinated dresses and shirts.  Nah...  you get out there and listen to the "caller".  He'll sing out the moves and if you don't understand or go the wrong way there'll be someone who'll help you out.

The women kind of outnumbered the guys here, so some of the couples were two women.  You could see the confusion on some faces when a woman would go to swing her corner and thought she had done wrong because "he" was a "she".  

You can see the band on stage with the square dance caller standing at the left with the microphone.  You can't see Glenn as he's directly behind the caller.  But that's my friend Wanda, in the red shirt, dancing with one of her grandsons. 

As you can tell, this all is pretty informal.  It started at 7pm and was over at 10 pm.  Three hours with only 1 short break for the musicians.

One really nice thing about these events...

They are family oriented.

Lots of kids...  even 2 year olds getting out there and trying their best.

It was especially nice to see a young father holding his daughter and doing the waltz.

Lots of laughter...

This couple were seated just below us (we had a great "ring side" seat) and they joked and kidded around all evening.

Here you can see Glenn on the fiddle (right)

Playing a waltz...  with the lights lowered and the atmosphere rather romantic..

This couple did a right nice job of dancing the waltz as it was intended.

One of the last square dances was kind of complicated....

It was fun for me and Bill to watch as folks figured out the moves.  You could see a bit of confusion in the beginning but by the end of the set, everyone had it down perfect.

I spent a lot of time talking with Wanda.  We caught up on our lives and our kids and all.  They are now retired and moved back to Stewart. She and Glenn just got back from a cruise last week.  It was a bluegrass themed cruise and Glenn spent his week on stage as part of the entertainment.  He's played with various groups all over the eastern US, and now it looks like he'll be travelling even more.

Wanda and Glenn Jarvis

We got home around 11pm or so...  late for us.  Bill attended his first square dance, and while we didn't dance even once, we both enjoyed every minute of it.

Not only did we hear good music and watch fun people, I loved seeing my old friends again after all these years.  I hope it won't be so long before we see them again.

That's All For Today!

Just Call Me Imeda

Baby Mama Sharon Needs a New Pair of Shoes

Bill's theory on life is if you get something new, you get rid of the old.  Also, he seems to think that you actually NEED something before you'd consider buying it.

Silly Man!

I will readily admit that I carry around way more pairs of shoes than I need.  I mean, I can wear only one pair at a time...  what's the big deal?  But I wear sandals, sneakers, work shoes, dress shoes, boots, slippers...  you get the picture.  Okay... so I have a few pairs of sandals... I wouldn't wear those strappy leather ones along the beach... I need those rubber Tevas.  My steel-toed boots come in handy at times.  And I'm not going to get my sneakers all wet filling the bird feeders in the early morning, but those Crocs sure are handy.

My trusty "everyday" shoes have been gradually wearing out.  The soles are so thin that I swear I can feel a grain of sand under my feet while walking.  The heels are worn down...  the uppers have come away from the soles allowing gallons of water to flow in when it's wet.

They have hundreds... probably thousands... of miles on them. 

My feet tell me it's time to replace them.

Off to Tractor Supply...  What?  You don't shop at a farm supply store for your shoes?  Hey...  they have good stuff!  The jeans aren't designer jeans...  neither are the shirts...  unless you call "John Deere" blazed across your chest stylish.

Yep!  I got me a new pair of shoes!

These puppies are everything I need...  they're even manure resistant.  ( I did NOT make that up...  it says so right on the hangtag).  Waterproof, durable and sturdy.  Great for geocaching, hiking, and I suppose even housecleaning or doing the dishes.  

I got high tops this time...  good for walking through brush...  or cactus.  Handy if snakes are around.

I started grade school in a little country school.  All the little girls wore high-top brown leather shoes.  Nobody thought anything about it...  but we moved to a "city" school when I was in 2nd grade.  My hightop shoes were definitely country bumpkin.  I swore way back then that I'd never wear brown high tops again in my life...  Well...  here I am...  back to brown high tops...  and I love them.

So, call me Imelda...  or call me whatever you like... I'm thinking that maybe those old worn out shoes might be good for something...  maybe I should hang on to them a while longer....

But meanwhile...

These Boots Were Made For Walking...

And I it's time to head outside and get the day started.

That's All For Today!

Knit One, Purl Two....

My mother crocheted ....  all kinds of things... afghans, shawls, and I don't know what all.  When I was a little kid I learned to crochet an edging on handkerchiefs...  and I made them to give as gifts.  But I was never very interested in crocheting...  what I wanted to do was knit.  I didn't know anyone who knit and could teach me.

When my son was born in 1962, I was a stay-at-home Mom.  I decided to try again and if I remember correctly I bought a "how to" book at the local Woolworth's store.  I taught myself to knit and the first thing I made was a cardigan and shorts outfit for my son.  He was just a few months old, and somewhere I think there's a photo of him wearing those garments while sitting on a blanket....  he wasn't walking yet.

Probably because I had learned some about crocheting first, I hold the yarn in my left hand.  I've since learned that this is called the "Continental Style" of knitting.   Later, my former mother-in-law asked me to teach her to knit but was really unhappy to learn that I didn't "throw" the yarn over the needle with my right hand...  she decided to take classes that the local college had at night.

Slightly off track here...  my former father-in-law was a curious person... and he just had to learn to knit.  Wilma taught him and while he didn't really make anything, he had fun making on all kinds of stitches.  He and my former husband were construction workers...  back then they were all macho and proud of it.  One day Wilma put a pair of knitting needles with some project she'd started in Paul's lunchbox.  Not sure if he ever lived that down.

Back to my story...

I still have stacks of magazines I purchased back then...

This 1963 Vogue magazine cost all of 60 cents.

It contained patterns for over 50 knit projects...  mostly sweaters..

Some of the contents...

Look at the Jackie Kennedy influence in the lower right photo.

I look at the advertisements...  an entire kit containing yarn for a sweater AND wool cloth to make a skirt...  all for $8.98 (plus $1.50 for shipping and handling)...  you can barely buy a skein of yarn for that now.

Some of the styles in that 50 year old magazine are classic...

A Fisherman Knit sweater is as stylish today as it was back then.

In fact, I still wear the one I made nearly 45 years ago, and while it shows some wear, it's still as warm and cozy now as it was then.

Yep!  I still carry it around with me.

When my kids were little I knit garments for a yarn shop...  well-to-do ladies would commission me to make suits, sweaters, jackets... just anything....  in all kinds of styles and patterns.  I loved the challenge of using multi colors of yarn and intricate patterns.

I don't knit as much as I used to...  I kind of take spells and knit like crazy...  then go for long dry spells.  My daughter learned to crochet a couple of years ago and makes all kinds of items.  Not too long ago she learned to knit and really enjoys it.  I think making things for her granddaughter has really spurred her on.

Evie, my great-granddaughter, has revived my interest as well...

I just finished this sweater and cap a few days ago.  

(Yes, Donna...  it's in the mail... it should arrive sometime this week)

The hardest thing now for me is finding time to read, time for the computer stuff, time to enjoy the outdoors and still find time to knit. I recently ordered yarn to make a pair of socks... it's been years and years since I've knitted socks...  I'll let you know when/if I ever get them made.  

That's All For Today!

Lady Bug, Lady Bug, Fly Away Home...... Please!

We have been invaded!

Asian Lady Beetle The Asian lady beetle (not to be confused with the indigenous American ladybug) is an invasive species of theCoccinellidae family introduced into the United States in 1988 for the purpose of reducing native aphid populations. Since 1988, they have spread throughout North America, in most places displacing the native ladybug populations to become the dominant Coccinellidae beetle. Because of their destruction of plant life and their aggressive tendency to bite, Asianlady beetles are commonly considered a nuisance pest. (Wikipedia) That photo above I took of a Minnie Winnie (not ours) that is parked in our driveway....    but our Lazy Daze is equally infested. Another outside photo of the darned things... Inside...  on our screen door.... More than 30 years ago Bill actually bought a package of ladybugs to help control aphids and other pests on the farm.  He was certified organic and used whatever methods it took to grow crops without chemicals. Now, as the blurb from Wikipedia states, these guys were introduced and they have decided to take over.  They seem to like white or light colored surfaces.  Our motorhome attracts them as did the khaki pants I had on yesterday.  They love sunshine....  but tend to creep into hidden spots and emerge for months afterwards. We didn't even open the car doors yesterday....  but today, as we were running our errands we were constantly opening the windows to let these guys out. I suppose we infested the whole county by the time we got back home. More of these... They stink really bad...  someone recently was complaining about stinkbugs...  hey, stink bugs are nothing compared to these guys!  Before we "left home" and still had cats, the cats wouldn't even touch these guys...  they just aren't palatable even to cats. The temps today started out as 50*...  got down into the 40's....  then in mid-afternoon got to 61*...  so it wasn't really very warm today. But... the sun was shining...  and these guys really loved it! There is a huge pile of them laying at the base of the door in the barn....  I don't know their lifespan, but these guys weren't there when we left 2 weeks ago...  now the pile numbers in the hundreds. Do you have them where you're at? Just wondering..... We're thinking we'll be heading back to Texas next week...  I suppose we'll take a whole herd of them with us and invade the whole state of Texas..... Yikes! That's All For Today!

St John New Brunswick.... and... the last of the cruise

Howdy All....

The cruise was over last Friday and today is Monday, so, yes, I'm way behind in posting about our "vacation".  I "..." because since we're retired and full-time RVers folks think we're on a perpetual vacation, and, I suppose we are....  but I'll have to admit that I tend to categorize things and my "rating" system puts a genealogy cruise and the accompanying sight-seeing trips in the vacation category.  Anyway...  last I wrote we'd visited Portland and Bar Harbor Maine.

Then it was on to St John, New Brunswick....

Bill & I have been to St John a few times in the past, so we didn't go to the Reversing Falls or any of that stuff on this trip.  We did head to the Market Place....

 We love all kinds of markets and, like a compass heading north, here we are....

I'd been to this very market many years ago...  another lifetime....  and bought a bag of DULSE (seaweed) way back then.  It's kind of an acquired taste...  and darned if it didn't taste this time exactly as it did over 35 years ago ;-).  The lower left shows Bill by a sign for Poutine.  Now....  THAT'S another acquired taste...  french fries, covered in gravy and cheese curds!  Yep!  You read that right....  our friends Roche and Elise, from up in Quebec introduced us to that little "heart attack on a plate" several years ago.  ...  We passed it up this time around.

I love seeing churches....

 Doesn't matter to me what denomination they are...  but this one was a Catholic church cathedral.  It was so beautiful!  I didn't get a good photo of the rose window....  but it was truly beautiful.

An artist John Hooper...  had lots of sculpture art on the city streets...

 Bill struck up a lively conversation with that guy heading to work on the left.  The middle guy couldn't be bothered with us...  too interested in his newspaper.  And the guy on the right who was feeding that pigeon was so engrossed he hardly had time to say hello to me.

This "timepiece" was quite interesting...

 Not your ordinary clock...  also by John Hooper, had a neat way of telling time.  It was at the entrance to the Market Square....  very colorful and fun to look at.

We walked a lot (we seldom take ship excursions, preferring to meander around town on our own) and walked up to the city park and bandstand.....

We never did figure out how anyone got to the 2nd floor of the bandstand....  but the autumn flowers and especially the autumn leaves....  were so colorful and made for a grand walk.  I love to kick the leaves as I walk and listen to them underfoot and as they swirl in the air.  

We spent all our shore leave just wandering through the town.  I did find a really neat yarn shop...  didn't buy any yarn but did buy a pattern book for some items I'd like to knit.

All in all it was a great shore leave for us.

Our stop, the next day, was in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Again, a trip we've done in the past, so we did not go to Peggy's Cove, Lunenburg, or any of the other great places to visit.  We did walk up to the Citadel and along the boardwalk, but my photos aren't anything I'd want to post.

After Halifax we spent 2 days at sea heading back to Baltimore, Maryland.  We docked early Friday morning and Bill & I were among the first to disembark...  getting through customs and immigration quickly and easily this time.  We took a taxi back to the hotel in Columbia, Maryland, where our car was parked, and were on the road to the Hudson Valley of New York by 8:30 am.  

The 8 day cruise was a real vacation...  Bill did all the genealogy workshops and lectures during our days at sea...  I loved the "quiet time" to knit, read and just relax.  Our idea of a true vacation!

After that we did have a couple days visit in NY with our daughter and her family, and then on to Pennsylvania to visit another daughter and her husband...  and today, leaving there and heading  back to Ohio where our motorhome awaited us.

It is SO good to be home.  

As much as I love our family and also those vacations, it sure will be nice to sleep in our own bed tonight.

I hope to catch up on reading all my favorite blogs and get back to posting my own again soon.

That's All For Today!

In NY but not quite caught up....

We disembarked yesterday morning...  I still have a couple of blogs to do - St John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia...  we didn't have internet access for a few days.

Got off the ship in Baltimore around 8am...  took a taxi back to our hotel to pick up our car and got on the road by 9am.  Our destination for the day (yesterday) was Marlboro, NY....  got here around 3pm. That's where our daughter and son-in-law live, as well as our granddaughter and great-granddaughter.

Of course I'll have a ton of family photos before we leave.  I did try to get caught up on blogs I read - can't miss out on what's happening with my blogging family ;-)

One blog I read was Mitch's, who lives in Spain.  I don't know how to link to that, or I'd do that, so...  if you like reading about his adventures you can always check the blogs I read that are listed alongside my own.

Anyway...  he had a link to an old Rosemary Clooney music and dancing scene... which brought back some memories from the 50's for me.  Evie, our great-granddaughter, who just turned 2 years old a couple of weeks ago, came over to see what I was doing...

Evie was just mesmerized by the performance....

I think I played it 3 times - and know she could have watched it several times more.

Mitch's comments were about it being "campy"...  yeah... maybe so, but Evie just loved it...  and so did I!

We're about to head off to the park...  maybe fly kites if it's windy enough.

Maybe back to the cruise later...

Thanks, Mitch, for the memories...  wait a minute...  that's Dinah Shore, isn't it?

That's All For Today!

(Later...  Judy reminded me that it was Bob Hope who has the memories...  now that I think about it, I believe Dinah wanted us to see the USA in our Chevy...  oh well... it's been a LONG week!  Thanks Judy for helping me out)