Happy Wolf Moon

 

The moon setting this morning. It was a twice a year occurence where it is 30% brighter and 15% bigger. Tonite should be very similar so take a minute and enjoy!
The planet that appears to the left is Mars. Pretty cool!

Color and Black and White

 

Sometimes things look better in color and sometimes black and white.

Progressive trials

 

February 13th is our annual progressive dinner. This year I have main course so today
is experiment day. I'm trying both an Indian dish and a Thai dish which I think will
be something different for the other 8 who participate. We love both ethnicities ourselves,
so we're hoping to turn them on to these as well. Rich and Jane are coming over to help as
they are our partners in this course. I shall keep you posted as to how it's received!

Coffee Companions

 

This morning as I looked out drinking my first cup I noticed we had company......

Back in biz

 

Still reading up on the camera setting etc but it sure is good to
have it! Took a picture of my new little netbook next to a 5 X 7
frame. It's cute, little and does everything I need. I will still
prefer the desktop for picture editing etc. though.
Now back to work!

Lost 3rd hand (eye)

Imagine my dismay yesterday when I turned on my trusty Sony
to have it simply say "access" and the lens starts going in/out
on it's own. Thought it was low battery so recharged and tried
again. No luck! Mark went online to see what he could find out
and came out and tried what they said only to make matters worse (but atleast he tried).
So for the moment I've lost my 3rd hand (or eye) and must wait for Amazon
to deliver my new "hand". Woe is me!

 

Perfect Winter Weekend in Michigan

 

This has been a crisp, bright, soulwarming weekend in Michigan. While winter can be long here it becomes more bearable when we have a weekend such as this. You can almost feel goodness of the sunshine soak up inside just looking out the window. But best of all is layering up and going out to really enjoy it. It brings back memories of my youth when we'd rush to get our skates on and walk across the street to skate or dragging our sleds a block to the park to sled on such days as these. And perhaps my very best memory of days like these is February 3, 1973 when the weekend was just like this one and the day we got married.

Diet One

This may seem hard to believe but I am on the first "diet" of my life at almost 60 years old. All I can say is it's HARD! We (Mark and I) started mid-October and have had a few setbacks we've had no control over or should I say self-control over?
Basically trying to watch fat, carbs, and calorie intake but not a specific diet.
Whew! I don't have to tell anyone who's been on a diet how hard it is I'm sure.
It requires a change in thinking and much self control. Things I have not had to
do much in my life. I've been lucky but my luck has run out. Now I need to get "with it" and change. So far it's been 10 lbs down from 13 lbs. (pre-Xmas) and another 9 to go. Mark refuses to get on the scale since Xmas and he may be smart in that choice. But I figure at the rate I'm going maybe by the time I actually turn
60 I may reach my goal.

Latin warmth

 

Meet Cecelia and Eddie Heffron from Guatemala. They are the children of Tom and Patty Heffron, Mark's cousin.
Yesterday we attended the annual Heffron holiday reunion and we were reaquainted with these two delightful
children as they were here for the holidays with Tom's side of the family and aren't always here for the reunion.
What struck me is how openly loving they are. Touching and hugging is the norm for them even if they don't know you really well. Eddie is 13 and when Patty reintroduced us he immediately put his arms around me and hugged me and didn't pull away right away even. I experienced this with my friend Von's grandson as well from Puerto Rico. They are warm
and loving people who aren't afraid to express themselves. We could learn something from them.

The wave

Though Mark and I have tried to see Dylan atleast once every 2 months it still seems like we miss alot of his "firsts". This visit we tried to teach him several things which he seemed to take in but in his way pretty much ignored. The morning we left with our hands full of suitcases out his front door he cried seeming to know it meant we'd now be gone. As we put our suitcases in the trunk Dave knocked on the open door window to get our attention and we all 3 looked and saw Dylan waving at us all on his own. This was a "first" and he did it for us!