I have been remiss in posting…BUT

We are going to be first time Grandparents come mid June.

It seems obvious that the “TRIP” will linger from time to time until I finally get all the

photos that are fit to show on the Blog.

Until then I suppose the judicious thing is to again post as I began my Blog, on a day to or

every other day or so journal of life as I see it.

That being said

Let’s see what I conjure up for today!

The Baby Shower for those that do not do Face book…

It was [I heard someone say this:] elegant.

WHEW because I wanted, what Mom does not, the best for their child [ren]

I only took 149 pictures hee hee

Soon it begins

Family, Friends, Flowers, Food and FUN

OH YUMMMMMMMMMMM

Catching up on times past and times to come

some serious writing of helpful hints, or not to the Mom to be

What a range of beautiful colors

Some emotions show through, awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

A whirl wind of baby fashions

Mother - in - laws are always ready to be there

Corny BUT It was A MAZI ing

Thanks Amy

What a weekend in many ways. For me driving there and getting there with no major getting lost was TREMENDOUS.A goal I had challenged myself with and I got a gold star.

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Tee hee there are my STARS! ;)

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This trip was purely a WOMANS WEEKEND…

But sure glad my Son in law joined us all in our ventures...I might say he is AMAZING

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SHUCKS, I had to say that ;)

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Stars for his abilities to lead with Brilliance

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My traveling companion and riding shotgun for me was my Sister-in-law. I am not sure how many hours we spent at the Outlets, but it was QUALITY time in many ways. ;)

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Actually we should have had one of those ped o meters to clock how many miles of walking we actually did. Bottom line all the good food we had got walked off as we leisurely strolled through many shops and restaurants.

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Everything we did was new except for Eastern Market Market, but as I have said I really enjoy that place.

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The market has been in continuous operation since 1873. This weekend we were blessed with sunny skies, while brisk in the early morning the temperatures warmed to the low 60’s.

******** After a good nights sleep, the pride of driving through major traffic and many lanes really was not a dream after all…we headed for The Metropolitan Cooking & Entertainment Show. Founded by Denise Medved in 2005.

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Before the Corn Maze and after Eastern Market and the trade show… ************ Wonderful food goes without saying. I had the Fatteh, warm yogurt sauce served over layers of chickpeas, eggplant, pita chips, tomato and garlic sauce, topped with pine nuts, with a stout Dark Ale. OH WOW!

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Of course more shopping to walk off lunch...;)

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Then off for a Corn Maze, Thurmont, MarylandPirate Theme. CHECK OUT THE PIRATE BOATS THAT ARE BUILT FOR YOU TO SHOOT PUMPKINS AT Pirate Theme. CHECK OUT THE PIRATE BOATS THAT ARE BUILT FOR YOU TO SHOOT PUMPKINS AT.

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After that more shopping and more food…then more shopping…Virtual Tour of Isabella's Taverna & Tapas Bar.A small slice of Spain with a wide variety of tapas (little dishes) in Historic Downtown Frederick Much like Jaleo’s but different setting and wonderful foods.

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Some of the foods we tasted:

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Espinacas a la SacromonteLeaf Spinach Sautéed with Pine Nuts and Malaga Raisins

************ Calamares a la RomanaFried House-Breaded Calamari Served with Citrus Sea Salt, Lemon and Garlic Alioli

**************** OH this one was new and YUMMY

************ Queso al HornoWedge of Creamy Brie Baked on Toasted Bread with Almonds, Port Wine Reduction and Fresh Oranges

****************************** Gambas al Ajillo y TomateTiger Prawns in a Tomato, Garlic, Herbs, Wine, Lemon Sauce

********************* Fritos de Datiles Y ChorizoCrispy Bacon Wrapped Spanish Dates Stutted with Chorizo on Mild Goat Cheese Cream

***************** Jaleos is also a favorite of mine.

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Needless to say Downtown Frederick was not a disappointment. Frederick County Maryland is less than one hour from Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and nearby Gettysburg, Antietam, and Harpers Ferry. There are many attractions, historic sites, and Civil War heritage. Once a month, merchants host evening, art-related events during the evening as part of First Saturday Gallery Walk. Frederick is home to more than 100 exciting and diverse specialty shops and art galleries, some 200 antique dealers all within walking distance, and 30 restaurants with menus that span the globe. The historic district bustles with activity seven days a week and offers evening entertainment at three performance venues, as well as live music in numerous restaurants.

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That was our Saturday; we still had one more half day before we headed home…

Bottom line we never ran out of GAS!

Flip that Dirt

Compost Happens… ^^ Compost Site Selection

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Check the Chart useful information I thought. The three primary nutrients used by plants are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium; their soil had NONE of these.

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Yes we did the soil tests! ;( Needless to say our trip to DC to see our daughters and Son In Law was fabulous. Helping the newly weds was neat. The Garden Center we went to was totally amazing as well. Seeing the results of JUST the Beginning of a yard makeover breath taking. Then just sitting in their back yard and admiring the Blood [holly branch in the upper lip] Sweat and tears [of laughter] was astonishing.

^^^^^^ Now I am going to need some help in identifying some trees/shrubs for them, I hope you all can help me in this one!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I will do one picture per tree/ Shrub so I do not get confused! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Looks like this MIGHT be a Magnolia Compost Recipe! Recipe Ingredients · Air · Water · Brown stuff Green stuff

It was a DARK and CLOUDY Night…

While not quite Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter… The moon was more of a sight than the game. Alas and Alack. No. 18 South Florida Tops No. 5 West Virginia: College Football ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sigh!

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October 6 at Syracuse…TBA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OK Onward and UPWARD…I am going to go KNIT!

Plus get ready to go see our DAUGHTERS and first son-in-law, Whooooo HooooooooooooooooooooLook out DC here we come!

Crape myrtle/ Lagerstroemia indica

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeee Skippyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy I found my Crape Myrtle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

** The 6 petals of the flowers are wrinkled, suggesting crinkled tissue paper, hence the name ” crepe” myrtle.

************* IT had been hidden behind stacks of roofing materials, ladders paint cans etc… Bottom-line it LIVES!

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I first noticed this plant on the campus of the THEN Randolph Macon Woman’s College. I knew one day I would get one to plant, not only because it is a lovely plant, but also for the memories it evokes. Ummmmmm Maybe it would live in the DC area??? I need to be Checking Zones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

************************* Founded as Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in 1891

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Randolph-Macon became co-educational in 1972 and Randolph College became co-educational in 2007 and the two schools are now governed by two separate boards. But that is another story.

One week from today!

What do we live for,

it is not to make life less difficult for each other?

George Eliot

English novelist (1819 - 1880)

Ponderings on a Sunny Sunday July Morning

OR ~~ BING BING [ not Bling Bling] and Hello Granny Smith ~~ Creativity spawns a mess while the messes soon become a work of art. So what does this have to do with the price of Tea or actually my life? The roofers as you are aware are almost finished. MESS! Making the light wells for the skylights a MESS, cutting out old dry wall adding new and sanding and mudding, MESS. Then this week the outside Painters arrive. Having to move temporarily out of our bedroom and into another area, chaos. Seeing these place in a new light became Symbiotic. [Greek sumbi sis, companionship, from sumbioun, to live together, from sumbios, living together: sun-, syn- + bios, life; see gwei- in Indo-European roots.] For the last @ four years I have wanted to paint our bedroom and bathroom. There have been color chips on the wall to get a sense of what color scheme to use. When it was determined we would have skylights that put another LIGHT on the subject, so to speak. Off to the local Lowe’s, Home Depot and the like to gather more paint schemes.

I had asked my dear friend Linda, West Virginia Watercolor Society, a watercolor artist, to come over and PICK her brain for ideas of the ultimate color scheme for the rooms. I had looked at all the paint samples taped all over both rooms in various lights, and one in particular appealed to me more than the others. Before Linda and I looked at these she gave me an original painting of hers. Title of the painting is “Autumn Joy” I gasped not only at the beauty of her work, which is a given, but the color scheme…just think about the color of a ripe Bing Cherry and a Granny Smith apples are a light speckled green in color, though some may have a pink blush.

“WOW”, I uttered, of my Goodness this is to far out I thought, scary in that the color chips I liked the best were embodied in this painting. I told her about this and then dragged her with the painting in hand and said, “LOOK, is that not the freakiest thing?” We looked at each other and smiled, because this has happened between us before in other areas. So is born the color scheme and needless to say the painting I was given will be the focal point as one enters our bedroom. To add to my excitement, our eldest daughter and our son-in-law have moved into their first home. They too are decorating. She sends me pictures of possibles for their home and I send paint samples and lamp ideas etc. I even have the new rugs for the bedroom ready, oh this so much fun! What fun this MESS is becoming. This morning as I took pictures of my outside wonders I began seeing so clearly the colors I see daily and how they influenced my choices for the LATEST project. Enjoy! A. A. Milne: One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. Henry David Thoreau: The world is but a canvas to the imagination.

Nietzsche: You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.

Flag Day and more

Today was Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Birthday. Sunday is Father’s Day then on to June 20th, West Virginia’s Birthday followed by June 23 being Jane Lew’s 100th Birthday. A community in Lewis County, Jane Lew, WV was laid out in 1835 by Lewis Maxwell, member of Congress from Virginia, 1827-1833. The town was not incorporated until 1907. Jane Lew is named in honor of Jane Lewis, mother of the founder of the town. Big deal ya say, I agree it is for us here. Although I never knew Harriet other than her Birthday and mine are a day apart and more importantly her writing of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which she wrote in 1850. The book opened up the realities of slavery to the entire world. It became a best seller, which has never been out of print. I have always admired her as one of the many women before her time. A woman of commitment to and for social justice!

Philosophy

Pamela Redmond Satran, novelist and columnist extraordinaire, who originally wrote these very special words for Glamour. This story found its way onto the Internet, without the “by the time she’s 30” in the title and without the proper byline. It became a mass-email sensation, attributed along the way to everybody from Maya Angelou to Hillary Clinton. Book packager Caroline Herter thought it would make a fabulous book and, after an unsuccessful search for the author, sold it to Ten Speed Press. Find out more here. What Every Woman Should Have: One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to (even if you wouldn't) and one who reminds you of how far you've come. Enough money within your control to move out and rent a place on your own, even if you never want or need to. Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour. A purse, a suitcase and an umbrella you're not ashamed to be seen carrying. A youth you're content to move beyond. A past juicy enough that you're looking forward to retelling it in your old age. A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill and a black lace bra. One friend who always makes you laugh and one who lets you cry. A good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in your family. Eight matching plates, wineglasses with stems and a recipe for a meal that will make your guests feel honored. A resume that is not even the slightest bit padded. A feeling of control over your destiny. A skin care regime, an exercise routine and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don't get better after 30. A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship and all those other facets of life that do get better. Every Woman Should Know: How to fall in love without losing yourself. How you feel about having kids. How to quit a job, break up with a man and confront a friend without ruining the friendship. When to try harder and when to walk away. How to kiss a man in a way that communicates perfectly what you would and wouldn't like to happen next. How to have a good time at a party you'd never choose to attend. How to ask for what you want in a way that makes it most likely you'll get it. That you can't change the length of your calves, the width of your hips or the nature of your parents. That your childhood may not have been perfect, but it's over. What you would and wouldn't do for love or money. How to live alone, even if you don't like it. Who you can trust, who you can't, and why you shouldn't take it personally. Where to go - be it your best friend's kitchen table or a charming inn hidden in the woods - when your soul needs soothing. What you can and can't accomplish in a day, a month, and a year. Why they say life begins at 30.

Randolph-Macon's move to go coed draws ire and protests

This is for our daughter and the wonderful memories we had of this institution and of her love of the Perfect College for her. A very Sad Day! One of the very tenants of RMWC is the rich tradition and sense of sisterhood that RMWC breeds among its students and alums. You go anywhere in the world and see a RMWC class ring and you are immediately connected to that person. Discussions of Odd and Evens, sister classes and more immediately spring up and bring a sense of sisterhood. When a women’s college goes coed, young women lose a choice, and the country’s diversity is diminished.