This First Month of the New Year!

I know January ends tonight, but better late than never...Happy New Year!

January is almost always a busy month for me and January 2012 has been no different.  The month begins, of course, with a holiday - New Year's Day.  This, in itself, should says something about the month.  Either it's a day to rest up in preparation for what lies ahead, or it's a day to start out celebrating!

Bob and I usually start the year with a New Year's celebration, but this year I had to work. So, in addition to no party, there was also no blackeyed peas, greens and hamhock for me.  Hope that doesn't mean I can forget about good health, happiness and prosperity for 2012!  My mom used to say, too, don't fuss or fight or say unkind things on New Year's Day because whatever you do on the first day of the year, you'll repeat over and over throughout the year. So I guess that means I can count on working in 2012 - not a bad thing the way things are right now with the economy.

I fed my "Dinner Divas"on the 10th. We're a group of ten ladies who've been getting together on the second Tuesday of every month for the past 100 years.  Really, I don't know how many years.  The first pictures I have aren't dated, and they're not digital either, so there you go.

Anyway, we each take a month and so everyone gets together for dinner in that person's home.  We meet in restaurants the empty months. There are some excellent cooks in this group. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them, and so, every year I pick up this wonderful Rosemary Baked Ziti and Greek Salad from Romano's, a nice little Italian restaurant not far from my house.  Unfortunately, Romano's burned down a few weeks before my dinner.  I truly believe everyone was afraid I was gonna cook because only four came - five counting me.  Their excuses - two had to work, two were ill and one had to milk goats. Hmmmmmm.   But they needn't worry.  I wasn't about to cook!!   My month follows Ruth's, and she's one of the best, if not the best cook in the bunch.

Here's a picture of us all at Ruth's in December: 

First row left to right:  me, Karen, Marsha, and Zandy.
Second row:  Bonnie, Ruth, Jean and Sandy.
 Top: Nancy (Missing: Sherry)

 Here we are at my house in January:

That's me in the chair.  They let me be Queen that night - probably because it was my house:)  That or they were
just so happy I didn't cook!)  Behind me: Bonnie, Jean, Zandy and Nancy.

I'm really just joshing about my Dinner Divas.  They're really a great bunch of ladies.  I know they would have been very gracious about my cooking, had I cooked.  Fortunately for all of us, Romano's has a sister restaurant across town - Capriano's - to whom I thank from the bottom of my heart for not only being there, but for having the same menu!!

On the 17th of the month, several of us met at a friend's house for a vegan cooking class. Now that was a lot more fun than I anticipated - and the food was very tasty. We had vegetable balls that could have easily passed for meat balls, a wonderful soup called Deeply Rooted Winter Soup, made with beets, carrots, potatoes, celery, onions and parsley, hmmmmmm! a great bread ....and wine (It's nice to know I won't have to give up wine if and when I go vegan!!!) We're all planning to get together once a month for a class. I'll take some pictures next month and share them here.

Then there was the surprise birthday get-together for my sister who turned 60 on the 19th. I didn't have to really do anything for that - just go. It was a very nice evening. I am very proud of my sister. She had gastric bypass surgery this past July and has lost 80+ pounds so far. I wish we'd had a group picture taken that evening so I could post it here, but I just didn't think of it at the time.  So here's Dolly, her husband Larry, and son Tim in the background...

Dolly's daughter Darlene made the cake!

On the 20th of the month, my husband's swing band played at Kepple Auditorium for a Night of Jazz and Swing. It was a benefit for our Rowan Helping Ministries and it was terrific!  There were both swing and shag dancers on stage as well.   This was their second year doing this and since I don't have the video yet from this year, I've attached the one from last year to give you an idea just how great it was!!

http://youtu.be/U9QHbVOcx7I

Finally, we celebrated my husband's birthday on the 27th. His birthday was actually the 24th, but we've had to give up partying on work nights.  This celebration has become an annual thing for us and one we both absolutely look forward to. This particular one was especially special for me in that one of our new friends took the camera from me and took pictures all night long.  I've never had so many pictures with me in them in any one night (or ten nights, for that matter) in all my life!!! You'd a thought it was my birthday!  I usually have to give the camera to somebody and say "now take one of me" just so I can prove I was there! Ha!  Anyway, just saying...

The highlight of the evening of course, was our "crazy" picture.  We've started ending all of our big occasions with a crazy picture.  It's a lot of fun and always produces a lot of laughter while we try to get the perfect shot.  I've included the last three year's here just so you can see why I think it's the highlight of the evening.

January 2010:

January 2011:

And now, January 2012:

Finally tonight, this last day of January, I drove to Burlington to have dinner with my grandson, who turned 13 yesterday.  It was the perfect ending for a near-perfect month. I say near-perfect only because  there were still some family and friends that I didn't get to see during this first month of the new year. I'm looking to change that, though, in the coming months.

Here's to all my friends and family - Happy New Year!  May you all be busy with happy occasions the whole year through - and may each and everyone of you show up in my pictures!

The Plants in My Life

While I seem to prove summer after summer that I'm not much of a gardener, I did realize this morning that's not entirely true.  I do have a few house plants that not only seem to survive year after year, but actually thrive.  Of course, I'm not sure I really have anything to do with it, but let me brag on them a few minutes just the same - and forgive me if I call them something they're not.

I can't even begin to tell you for sure how long I've had this philodendron.  Seems to me that I've had it since around 2004 when my mother passed. It requires so little care I forget sometimes I even have it, except it's so big and requires so much room. I drag it out on the deck in the spring and then back in in the fall. I did cut off about fifteen to twenty branches two weeks ago before I brought it in.  It had a lot of new growth during the summer, so I know it's really real.

Same with this palm.  Not sure how old it is.  It drops old leaves and sprouts new ones.  It makes the same trip out to the deck every spring and back in in the fall.  I just stick it in the corner and give it a little water when I think about it.  Heck, I'm not even sure it really needs water.  

This one is a lemon tree, although I've never seen a lemon on it.  I know it is only because it started as a small cutting from my friend Jean's lemon tree.   I guess you could say it's done pretty well in that it has actually grown into a tree. However, it doesn't do well during the winter when it has to come inside.  All the leaves drop off and it looks so pitiful I almost threw it out last year thinking it was dead.  Something happens to it though, once it moves back outside in the spring. It resurrects itself.  Still no lemons though.

  

This one is an amazing little plant in that it started out just one little sprig stuck down in floral foam. Yep, that's right, no dirt!   I thought every plant needed water, sunshine and good dirt!  Apparently not this one! 

Now this one is my favorite, without a doubt - the Kalanchoe.   I have to tell you a little about why it's my favorite...

A few years ago, my niece's parents moved down here from Minnesota to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren.  As a housewarming gift, I picked up this pretty little plant at the grocery store.  I had no idea what it was called - didn't even care.  It was pretty and that's all that mattered.  A year or so later, while at their home, I couldn't help but notice these two beautiful potted plants sitting on the front steps by the door. "Gosh, I love these," I exclaimed, "what are they?"  When they told me it was the same plant I had given them when they first moved here, I was awed.  To think that that small gift I gave, pretty much as an afterthought, turned into something so beautiful!  She then reached down, broke off a little piece and told me to take it home and stick it in a pot of dirt.  I did, and it grew!  I now have several pots from the same plant and for some reason I can't look at any of them without feeling that same awe. I've been in love with the kalanchoe ever since.

My Kalanchoe blooms red, but they come in several different colors

And finally, the easiest plant of all to care for - no water, no dirt, no sunshine - just maybe a little dusting every now and then...

Well, that's the plants in my life - none of which seem to require a thumb of any specific color.   I'm still hoping though that some of the perennials I planted the past two springs/summers will come up again this next spring, most especially the Day Lilly bulbs Jean gave me.

But then that's another blog.

Perfect Day for a Walk on the Greenway

Today was the perfect day for a walk on the Salisbury Greenway.  The scenery was so beautiful I just couldn't resist taking a few pictures.  What a great idea somebody had to make a cell phone double as a camera.  I just happened to have it in my pocket...

Another Story about my Mom!

Ahhhh, it's finally raining, after weeks of teasing with a sprinkle here and there.  Everything was starting to turn brown around here, but now after only a few hours of this slow, steady rain, everything is looking lush and green again!

I love the rain! Actually I can go even further and say, I love a storm!  And the louder the thunder booms and the lightning cracks, the better - especially if I'm tucked away at home.

I credit my mom for this.  (Ah, yes! Another story about my mom! Ha!)

Anyway, when I was little...

Mom didn't take any chances when a thunder storm came up, She'd unplug everything, which meant no television and no lights, and we'd have to be very quiet.  We'd all stretch out together across the bed - me, my little sister Dolly and Mom, and while the thunder boomed and the lightning cracked, mom would soothe us with wonderful stories. 

I loved it!  All of us there together, snug and safe, with the raging storm just outside.  I was always sorry to see the storm end.  And to this day, I've always been comforted by the rain.  Of course a good storm makes me want to turn out the lights and crawl in the bed!  Not because of fear, but simply that I want to be caught up in the moment - sort of like listening to a good piece of music that moves you.

...Well, the rain seems to have stopped as I still sit here at my computer, and the view outside my window is breathtaking.  I just snapped this picture.  Of course it doesn't come close to the real beauty of the earth just after a good rain...

Thanks, Daphne, for the Memory!

A lovely co-worker and FB friend just posted this great picture on facebook and it brought back a sweet memory of my mom.  I just couldn't resist blogging about it.

I've blogged about my mom before and if you've read the blog (July 2010), then you know what a special person she was.  Few days go by that something doesn't remind me of her, and rarely ever is it something that doesn't make me smile.

Mom spent the last year of her life in an assisted living facility pretty much next door to the hospital where I worked.  She was no longer able to stay home alone, and so it was a choice that had to be made.  While all the staff were wonderful to her and she grew to love them, she desperately missed being at home, and so I tried to be in and out throughout the day doing little things for her.

She didn't get around very well and so she spent most of her day sitting in a little rocking chair by her bed.  The chair had a little foot stool which she used religiously, so of course, her feet were always in her direct line of vision.  I begged for months "Mom, let me paint your toenails! They'd be a much prettier site to stare at all day!"

"No", she'd say, "no need to go to all that trouble!"

I kept on though, and finally one day she relented.  I polished her toenails a fire-engine red and she absolutely loved it!!  I never had to ask again.  It became part of our routine and one that we both looked forward to. I loved it ~ laughing and talking with my mom, and painting her toenails red!

It's a sweet memory!

Thanks Daphne!!  Love the toes!

One more shot!

Two summers have just about come and gone and still no flowers!  While I was hoping gardening might turn out be one of my hidden talents, I was wrong!!  I can't tell you how much money I've spent on plants these last two seasons, but I know it's a gracious plenty.  Mostly perennials, too - the ones that are supposed to come back year after year.

I'm telling you this because my friend Jean just gave me a bunch of daylilly bulbs. Tells me to "just put 'em in the ground and they'll grow".

Well, if you say so!

I've tried my hand at bulbs before.  One year I decided to line our front walkway with tulips.  I took great care in planting the bulbs and waited with great expectation. The following spring only the front half of the walkway had tulips. So, I bought more bulbs and replanted the second half.  The next spring, the second half came up, but not the first...

Then a couple of years later, I tried tulip bulbs again - not along the walkway, but randomly throughout our natural area.  As I remember, very few came up.  So I went to the local garden center and cried about my experience with tulip bulbs to some nice young man behind the counter.

"Are you sure you planted the bulbs right-side up?"  I must have looked pretty startled because he then gently smiled.

I know he was joking with me, but I'll never forget it.  To this day, mention any kind of bulb to me and I get this mental picture...

I'll give Jean's bulbs a try, but I'm not really expecting anything.

Kid Fun

Had my grandson Nick over this week - Monday through Wednesday - and had a blast.  He's almost thirteen now and very good natured, so he is agreeable to doing most anything.

On Monday evening we met my walking group at the Greenway to walk three miles. On the way there he kept telling me "I don't know if I can walk three miles, Maw Maw!"  I knew he could though and as it turned out, he did it skipping, walking backwards, and overlapping us. He was quite proud of himself.

Afterwards, we all took him to our usual Monday night restaurant for a beer and sandwich - no, he didn't get to enjoy a beer with us, but he did quite enjoy his hamburger and fries.

Tuesday we went over to visit cousins, Angel, Cole and Gavin. Nick wanted to see who was the taller now, him or Angel.  Angel just turned thirteen in July and Nick will turn thirteen in January, so they are six months apart.  They've always been close in height. Both are going to be tall. Angel has always been taller than Nick. This time though, Nick felt he might have edged her out.

As it turned out, Nick was right. He was taller.  I told him, though, to enjoy it while he can.  Next visit might be an entirely different story.

Angel and Nicholas

I barely got away from there without bringing everybody with us, but Nick and I had our own plans.  We were going to eat Mexican, Nick's favorite, but not a favorite of the others, so we promised to come back on Wednesday and take Cole and Gavin with us for lunch at McDonald's.  Angel had big girl plans.

Nick gave the Mexican restaurant a thumbs up, and then we decided on a movie.  That's what's so nice about kids.  They are pretty much game for anything. The Green Lantern was playing at the $2 theatre and so we decided to go back and get Cole.

Eight year old Cole with Nicholas

Of course, Cole was thrilled to be going and begged to spend the night with us as well, so now we had new plans.  The Green Lantern turned out not be a good idea, as we ended up leaving about 30 minutes into the movie.  The action was just too scary for Cole and I didn't want him having nightmares. So we packed it in, drove home and got out the old Monopoly game - actually it was NC Stateopoly. By midnight I was begging to  "please, let's go to bed!"

Where do they get all their energy?

Oh, did I mention we had stopped by Krispy Kreme doughnuts on our way home...?

Everybody woke up on Wednesday morning raring to go...well maybe I didn't so much, but I did manage to hang in there.  Nick and Cole wanted to pick back up with Stateopoly, but I talked them out of it.  Instead, we all played computer games (mostly Angry Birds) until time to pick up Gavin for our lunch at McDonald's.

While at McDonald's, I bet I got a a million comments about how cute my guys were.  I couldn't agree with them more!

Cole, Nicholas and Gavin

We left there and went to a local car dealership to look at new Camaros.  That's what Nick wants when he turns sixteen.  I never thought about it before, but they are actually really good looking cars!    Pretty expensive too!.   Nick says he's saving his money - only has about $30,000 to go :)

Cole dragged us over to the Ford Mustangs....

Cole wanted the red Mustang

It was Gavin's idea to drive through the Honda dealership. Ha!  Five years old and already the most practical!

Anyways, that was it.  I dropped off the last kid at 6:30 pm and then hit the sack exhausted around 8:30 pm.  In two days, I had listened to more hard rock and rap than I've listened to in a lifetime. I  learned how to share my desktop in a Skype session.  I saw about 1/3 of The Green Lantern, and ran up a pretty high score in Angry Birds!

Today, the house is so quiet it's deafening...maybe I'll play a little Angry Birds!