Vacation snapshots

On Valentines Day, we were visiting G's cousin in Georgia.  He bought flowers for her and me.  How sweet it was. 

While visiting A and V in Sarasota, they had a Wood Stork visit.  G went out and fed it and we were able to get really close. 

Winter activities

Poor Hubby. He has had to blow the snow out of the driveway and yard two times in the last week. The cat has hunkered down in the shop, not to leave for a month it seems.  It is a good time for me to get caught up with inside the house work.  Yesterday I took a trip to the thrift shop, not to buy but to donate.  I also gave away two items on FreeCycle: a car seat that the grandchildren have outgrown and a set of dishes.  I am down to two sets of dishes now.  YEA!!

G is busy working on details for the Cousins reunion that he is planning for June.  These are cousins on his mother's side.  The date and location are chosen.  Now it is the many details to figure out. He is very good at doing all that.  Guess it is because he is excited to see all the cousins, some whom he has not seen for 40 years.

Entertainment and experimentation

G and I enjoy attending concerts and theater that are local.  Every Friday night there is a Bluegrass concert about 10 miles from our house.  It goes from 7 pm to about midnight.  The cover cost is three dollars each.  For an extra cost you can have "dinner".  I had a great hot dog with chili and cold slaw piled on top.  

This week we attended a one man show of "Einstein". The actor looked the part and spoke with a German accent.  It was like having an autobiography spoken to you by the person.  I loved it.  Einstein is one of G's top three heroes. The other two are Leonardo da Vinci and Ben Franklin (in case you wondered).

My daughter introduced me Project 333.  ( theproject333.com )  I spent several hours choosing clothing with accessories and shoes.  The rest were laundered and stored away.  The picture shows my closet now.  The premise is to choose 33 items to wear for the next three months. I choose accessories and shoes also. My total was at 50, but I think I did quite well.

This is what I wore to camera club today.  I will report as time goes on how the experiment is going.

Taste test

Whenever we leave for a vacation or trip somewhere, I freeze leftovers from my refrigerator.  I usually label them, but recently found one that was unlabeled.  I opened it and tasted the contents.  I was puzzled at the taste, which was not bad.  Then I realized I was eating Phi's food.  My daughter makes all food for her cat.  She had left this in the freezer.  Oh well, Phi will have it the next time she visits if I don't serve it over noodles before then.

Since we left on our trip to Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota right before New Years, the Christmas decorations never were put away.  That is one of my projects for today.  G is attending his annual motorcycle planning meeting.  That is where they schedule all rides for the year.  I always joke that I had better have anything I want to do on the calendar before that meeting.

Mankato Mn visit

The view from their kitchen is great.  You wouldn't guess it was 6 degrees or colder.

My sister in law is the best cook.  Dinner was the best baby back ribs and twice baked potatoes.

Brother dressed for the weather.

Zoe loving the warm house.

Happy New Year 2015

We drove to Wisconsin to celebrate Christmas with Gerry's family.  Some of the entertainment is seen here.  Gerry found a game at a garage sale called "The Farming Game".  It was sort of like Monopoly so it went on for many hours until we were so tired we could not see straight.  Was fun that is for sure.

Catch up posts

I have noticed to my chagrin that I have not posted for over a month. To catch up I will pick events from the last month and tell about them, with pictures too. We had our annual holiday dinner for the friends we see every Monday night for dinner (at a restaurant). The hit of the menu was the dessert, which was Panna Cotta with a blackberry sauce.

The other ongoing tradition is to have a "White Elephant" gift exchange. I looked up the term "white elephant on Wikipedia and found this explanation: "The term "white elephant" refers to an extravagant but burdensome gift which cannot be easily disposed of, supposedly after the King of Siam gifted rare albino elephants to courtiers who had displeased him, that they might be ruined by the animals' upkeep costs." Below is a picture of our friend, Ed, opening the gift Gerry brought.

Guests are allowed to "steal" the gift from others.  Here Jerry is contemplating that. It was rather funny since I heard some wives saying "Don't you dare!"