Housewarming

My dear friend Karen is having a housewarming party today. I am so happy for her! She didn't buy a new house, she actually sold a house in order to rent a smaller house, but it represents a new step for her. It represents freedom. When I first met Karen around 14 years ago at a playgroup at the local community center, it never occurred to me that all these years later we would be such great friends. We have been through a lot in our lives, yet through it all we have been there with words of understanding, advice, or just to listen. The way friendship should be. When she got divorced a few years ago I watched her turn from someone who was afraid of the threats her ex was making, into a strong woman who was able to order that man out of her house after he felt it was ok to make himself at home when dropping a child off after a visit. She has changed drastically and it's been a joy and privilege to watch the transformation. The house she had with her husband was too much for her. Too much time, work, money. It was time to down size and simplify. It is actually costing her more money to live in her new place, but the freedom and feeling that come with it are priceless. So here's to Karen - May your new home bring you much happiness and may you make the best memories of you life there! Cheers!

An Old Friend

My grandson, Connor, loves to be read to. One of the books I had saved from the library of my own children is The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Happily, Connor loves it as much as the children did and as much as I do! He is 10 months old, so isn't close to reading yet, but I do believe the love of reading starts as soon as we give children the chance to hear a good story. Connor loves to play with the hard paged cardboard books, and likes the paper paged books as well, but has learned the joy of tearing paper, so those are reserved for story time. Each time Connor has a story read to him, his posture changes. He settles back. He snuggles up. He knows what is coming. And he loves it. As I get to one of my favorite parts of the book, where Peter comes across the white cat sitting by the pond, I can hear his father's childhood voice say 'cat kitty' and when I read 'Scritch, scratch, scratch, scritch' as Mr. McGregor hoes in his garden, Connor smiles.

While I am sharing a love for reading with Connor and making new memories with my favorite little guy, I am at the same time strolling down memory lane, reliving moments with my own little ones so many years ago.

Tea

I have been a fan of tea for quite a while. I have a lovely wooden box to hold my assortment of tea bags. I have loose teas in tins, assorted infusers, spoons, and of course, pretty china cups and saucers. With my daughters and friends I have hosted several tea parties. We have them for Valentine's Day, the Royal Wedding, or for no special reason at all. We usually dress up, hats included! Why? Because it's more fun that way! I usually make several different types of tea sandwiches. I buy the Pepperidge Farm very thin white bread. I fill the sandwiches with tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, cucumber and a thin layer of cream cheese, or watercress. The crusts are removed and I usually cut the sandwiches into quarters, making little triangles. They taste better that way! Along with the sandwiches I may serve quiche or cream of crab soup. Scones, muffins or mini muffins, assorted pretty cookies, grapes, chocolate covered strawberries, or whatever strikes my fancy can also be found at our tea parties. I have two 3 tiered stands that I use to hold our treats. I bought them both at Target. One is stainless, so looks like silver without the price or bother. The other is wrought iron, so rustic looking, and great for a fall themed tea. My favorite tea parties are the ones we have on Valentine's Day. No girl should have to go without a special celebration just because she doesn't have a beau! We celebrate ourselves!

In England and Ireland I think we drank as much coffee as we did tea. We also developed a shortbread addiction, which I had a heck of a time breaking once I was home!

Since I have been home from my trip I have been having an evening cup of Earl Grey instead of my usual coffee. I find it relaxes me and I sleep better. (sleep is a huge issue of mine!) Now that summer is here and the girls will be out of school in a couple of weeks I will start planning a summer themed tea party. I want to make a refreshing summer fruit salad and find a nice selection of fruit flavored teas. The girls will help decorate our table and we'll dine under the shade of the large oak. I can hardly wait!

I took a trip

I took a trip. I like travel, especially road trips, but I had always wanted to see the town in Ireland where my grandmother grew up. It is a town called Trim, in Co. Meath, near Dublin. My grandmother left there when she was 13 and never went back, though I believe she wanted to visit. My mother always wanted to see it but was afraid to fly and I am not sure there was money for that sort of thing. So the dream was passed to me and I have spent years wishing I could go. I had told my husband I wanted a trip to Ireland as a 50th birthday present but we know how that goes. Kids get married, other expenses come up, plans and dreams get delayed. Then they never happen. Last year I was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Around that time my friend Terri mentioned a trip, inviting anyone on our little homemaking group to go along. I said to count me in and England (her dream) and Ireland (mine) were to be the destinations. So we planned. Kind of. And dreamed. I got my passport. A huge deal to me! Then we picked dates for April of this year and bought our tickets. I would be flying out of Baltimore - alone!- by myself for the first time. I had no idea what to do! We would meet at the airport. Heathrow. A HUGE airport. Me at terminal 5, she at terminal 3. I arrived first so had to find her. Yikes! I was nervous all this time but somehow felt myself getting braver. I am almost 52. I should be able to handle this on my own, right? I did. We met up. Took a very expensive taxi to our hotel and headed out the door immediately to tackle London!

We bought tickets for the Original Bus. A bus we rode once and never saw one 'in service' again! Ha! But we saw enough in that one trip to get our bearings and in that first day saw many of the major landmarks and tourist destinations. By day two I think we felt like seasoned tourists. Even the money kind of made sense. We ate fish and chips at a pub. We drank a pint. We were cool. The third day we took a ferry to Dublin. The mood changed. It was Good Friday and we were a bit lost. The bus from the ferry dropped us off with a promise that our hotel was 'just a ten minute walk' away. Nope. Soon we realized we needed a cab. Price gouging, anyone? 60 euros was our first quote. Euros? Wait a minute, we were just using pounds! Oh, you don't take credit cards? Next cab wanted 50 euros. Third cab said 15 euros and he'd run us by an atm. Thank you! So we made it to our hotel and though it was lovely, I was rattled. It sure felt different from London and not like I thought it would feel. The next day I had planned for us to visit Trim. I talked to the staff at the hotel. Two to three buses, an hour or two, transportation is sketchy at best. I ended up hiring a cab to take us there and pick us up later in the day. Roughly $330 American dollars but I didn't come all that way to miss seeing grandma's childhood home! The cab driver ended up being very friendly, full of information, and it all worked out. Grandma's house was still there and the very nice tenant next door let us peek over her garden wall into grandma's back yard aka garden. The Yellow Steeple and Trim Castle were very much part of Grandma's playground and it was wonderful to actually see and touch the things she knew growing up. Her stories of yelling 'Hello Old King John' up the castle walls had more meaning. The banks of the River Boyne where she picked primroses were no longer strangers to me. Terri and I walked the town, stopped in a pub and had a pint, and by late that afternoon I was content with reconnecting with my heritage. A happy day. I had taken along pictures of my mother and grandmother so Terri could snap a picture of the three us 'together' in Ireland. I do believe mom and grandma were with me.

We visited Trinity College, the Old Jameson's Distillery (loved it!) and visited the standard touristy spots in Dublin, then it was back to London for the remainder of our trip. Oh, how I missed pounds!

We went to landmarks and museums. Took tours (Sherlock Holmes at 221b Baker Street was very cool and Westminster Abbey is a must see!) and took loads of pictures. We saw the Changing of the Guard - to American tunes, which confused and amused us. We got to know Big Ben and the London Eye and often saw it as we made our way around town.

Selfridges was insanely expensive. Harrod's food area was almost sinful. Kensington Park is gorgeous. I love London and wouldn't mind going back one bit!

We both kept travel journals, which was wonderful! Every evening back in our hotel we would write about our adventure of the day and glue. We glued in ticket stubs, post cards, brochures, anything at all. The books were full and bulging by the time we were done but even my husband said the journal was the best thing I brought back from that trip. I have to agree!

Yes, it's been a while

Too long to even discuss. But hey, life gets busy. Sometimes SUPER BUSY. Cancer, weddings, travel, grandbaby, etc. So here I am again, giving this blog thing a try. I was going to just scrap this and start again but let's just see if I can get this thing going. So it's Memorial Weekend. I have decided that since we have such an amazing backyard, we should spend a lot of time in it. And that since I journal, I should also do a photo journal of sorts or just take a lot of pictures every weekend, even if we are doing the basic, normal things families do on weekends. After all, this is what our lives are made of. Normal, family things. So yesterday, since we had been sprucing up a bit for a birthday party Saturday night and a graduation/going away party coming soon, and a 21st birthday party after that, that I would take some pictures. So far, so good! Naturally the photos are on the other computer but I still have a couple to share here.

This is our fire circle. I love Adirondack chairs and have them in assorted fun colors. I still want a peach chair, but haven't seen them this year. I will keep looking!

This is me (or at least part of me! haha) enjoying the fire. I stayed out there until almost ten o'clock. I swear, this is the most relaxing thing to do in the world. I love it!

This is me this morning. I don't look all that great, but boy was I enjoying some coffee and journaling, the coolness of the morning, the sun streaming through the leaves, and the birdsong. The best way to start the day! Since it is Memorial Day I will also pay tribute to my dad, who served in WW2

as well as my great great grandfather who died at the battle at Petersburg, Virginia in April of 1865.

This is why we have the holiday. Let us not forget! Still, we can enjoy this time to gather with family and friends, cook out, play Frisbee or corn hole, or whatever we enjoy doing. We spent Saturday doing yard work and Sunday repainting our mailbox, hanging bluebird boxes, and buying a new welcome mat (so exciting, right?!) and flowers for my plant hook in the front yard. We bought a couple of new garden flags, too. It's fun to add a few new things to look at.

So this is how we are spending our weekend. I hope you are enjoying yours! (Next time I blog I am going to tell you about my recent travels to the UK!)