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February 2012
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Celebrations galore!

January 24, 2012 at 11:34 pm 3 comments

It’s been a few months of holidays, celebrations, and family! Most people just have Turkey Day and Christmas time holidays but our family adds another month to the winter celebrations. Thirty years ago we chose to get married on the only free weekend left between our birthdays and my job schedule.

It’s hard to believe but my husband and I just celebrated our 30-year anniversary. He found a perfect card, capturing lots of funny and touching ideas about being a couple this long. Since laughter has been the hallmark of our life, it was almost as touching to me as the flowers. He even included yellow roses, just like in my wedding bouquet. In his usual, humble way, he didn’t sign the card and tried to pretend he didn’t know who sent them.

Last weekend the kids were here to celebrate my big 5-0. One night we played Canasta into the wee hours – party animals, I know, but it reminded me how much I have loved game nights we’ve had over the years.  The baby was the center of our attention once he arrived. We passed him around, took turns feeding him, and watched him go crazy in his jumper. We watched Jason and football. My parents joined us for dinner and our little party so we had four generations together.

 

Jason, at Christmas time

I enjoyed cooking with the family all weekend, too, though I tend to make too much food when I create a party. PJ has become our official turkey specialist.  He prepared the Thanksgiving turkey as well as our birthday celebration. He makes awesome homemade cranberry sauce, too.  Nicole, Aimee, and Erica all pitch in with sides and desserts, allowing us all time with the baby, too.

     

The baby has been the center of our festivities.  Our large holiday gatherings allowed my nieces to finally get time to know Jason better, and sometimes hold him for the first time.  After a long summer of busy plans and crossed up schedules, Thanksgiving has become a time that I look forward to playing with all my nieces. One is in college now so even her parents couldn’t get enough of her. I very much remember that stage!!

Hannah, spending precious family time with baby Jason

 

This Christmas we packed in visits to as many people as possible. Jason dressed as Santa for us and we couldn’t get enough of his first Christmas. It was truly all about the gifts we share in life rather than the gifts we received.  We had plenty to be grateful for in 2011 and we are thankful for such a healthy start to 2012.

 

 

Dress up fun for Thanksgiving

Next week is Paul’s birthday, shortly after that is Valentine’ Day, and before you know it spring will be here and I will be planning my seeds and gardens!

Applique quilted wall hanging

 

Family none

Happy New Year

January 1, 2012 at 4:03 pm 6 comments

Since I can’t garden during the winter, I turn to my other favorite pastime: quilting! It had been a very, very long time since I’d been able to enjoy my hobbies, as most of you know. After going back to school the previous summer and winter, a new grandchild has consumed any free time I have had since emerging from my studies.  With him doing well, and cold weather slowing everything down, I got out the sewing machine after Thanksgiving.

Lots of fun making a holiday quilt

I spent early December weekends making a cheerful quilt designed by Konda Lukau. It was on the cover of McCall’s Quilting and I loved it as soon as I saw it. It was easier than I thought, and I was listening to the Hunger Games trilogy on my iPod so every chance I had I hurried upstairs to work on it. Between the story and the quilt, I loved those free moments. Even now when I spread out the quilt for a picture, I think of Catniss and her adventures.

I even found time to make a matching stocking for Jason

I used some leftover strips to make a stocking for Jason, my grandson, too. I had envisioned an appliquéd Santa in rich reds, greens, and blues, with his name on it. Maybe next year, but by then I will have a grand daughter as well. I always have big dreams and little free time!

Our Christmas holiday was packed with family and fun. From Friday night until Monday we were celebrating but there was lots to do and lots of traveling. My grown children have family of their own to see while they are in town and we also went east to spend time with the rest of the Groudas family. I have holiday pictures to share, at some point, but I have to figure out how to change the resolution first.

From Tuesday on I actually had a “stay-cation” as my daughter likes to say. For the next few days I listened to music and some James Patterson mysteries while making another holiday quilt top, this one from Quilt magazine using Ohio Star Blocks and designed by Kaye England. It was for intermediate quilters it said. I must be a beginner because it was a bit hard for me. My Mom has suggested I enter them in next year’s fair but if you look too closely you’d see all the points that are uneven. It took me all of one day just to do the triangles for the star blocks and the flying geese! And you thought they called them “hour-glass” blocks because they look like hour glasses- no- it’s also because you spend hours making them! On the third day I was finally ready to put all those different borders together. It was very gratifying. I have red fabric with small flowers for the binding but I am intimidated by the quilting. I am not sure whether I will do it myself or send it out for someone else.

A bit harder for me

I really enjoyed the flying geese and ribbon borders

Hourglass points are called that for a reason!

I spent Friday and Saturday doing housework and work for school but Harry Potter kept me company.  PJ and Erica gave me the complete set of movies on blue-ray for Christmas so it still seemed like vacation even though I was cleaning or typing reports.  I made it all the way through the sixth one.

Last night, for New Year’s Eve, Paul and I enjoyed over five hours of Pride and Prejudice. Both my daughters and my son’s girlfriend love this book and movie and I had never seen it. I’d read the book and enjoyed it but it was such a long movie it was hard to find the time. Well, what a great way to finish stay-cation and celebrate New Year’s Eve! We really enjoyed it, as they said we would. It ended just in time for the Coldplay concert on PBS, though Paul had to switch channels for just a minute at midnight. He needs to see that ball drop in NYC!  I didn’t miss Paradise, though, which was the next song when we switched back. Nice!

I can only hope 2012 is as awesome as 2011! Last year ended on a high note and we are ever the optimists!

Family, quilting none

pumpkin pie, chili peppers, and NH

October 23, 2011 at 10:06 pm 5 comments

It’s been a very busy week but wasn’t the weather great? I was able to enjoy the crisp air each morning and the autumn gold light after work most days.  Alas, a hefty book bag, the mark of teaching, weighs down my inspiration to play in the yard but after a quick walk around the yard I usually just watch wildlife out the window while doing kitchen chores. Get the kitchen stuff done to give my mind a break before getting back to teaching.  I am in the middle of “interval testing” at work- checking on the literacy progress of the students that have been there at least six months along with those that are close to discharge. You have to test the students periodically to see if your instruction is effective.

Though work keeps me busy, life at home keeps me happy.  The pretty red chili peppers had to come off the plant. I loved seeing all that red from my window but what’s the point of growing them if they don’t get used? I made a pot of chili … oooh, sizzling hot! I only used a couple of those babies, too! Yummy!  Paul dried some of them for me so I could use the seeds on my pizza all winter. Mmm..hot pepper on my pizza!

I steamed a couple sugar pumpkins and made a pie from them. I used sweetened condensed milk and it didn’t even need sugar. I didn’t have cheesecloth for the pumpkin though, and used just a strainer. I wonder if it might have been easier… or harder? It took a long time…now I know why people buy canned pumpkin!

I topped off the week with a trip to NH to join my daughter and her husband at a benefit concert by the Indigo Girls. The Nashua Leadership Committee raised money for the auditorium the concert was held in, the largest in New Hamphire and part of a school. It is important to the NH Performing Arts. The concert brought awareness and funds to the arena, along with hours of harmony and rhythm.

Now we get to have Fitzwilliam Darcy at our house for a visit for a couple weeks. Nicole packed his costume because we will be doggy-sitting during Halloween.  So. “bat-dog” packed his toys and came to Grandma’s. He’s already walked in the woods with each of us today.  However, sorry, Nicole. It’s saying there isn’t enough room for my new camera’s pictures. I’ll have to take some pictures of him with my iTouch and see if they work. The “bat-dog” pictures on my computer are adorable but I can’t upload.  Took Faye’s and your advice and wrote  without pictures.

dogs, Garden, vegetable garden none

Awesome Fall!

October 12, 2011 at 10:00 pm 2 comments

The fall has been so very busy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall flower display

 

 

I have turned over a new leaf at my job, transitioning from English teacher to full-fledged literacy coach. I am now mentoring new English teachers for the classes while also directing the literacy program and handling small group and individual intervention contacts. After years of incorporating literacy strategies into my English classes, it is rewarding to have a total focus on each individual students’ literacy needs, from sounds of vowels and syllables to writing detailed expanded predicates.  I am excited and nervous to watch the data to see how the students progress.

 

PJ invited us down to visit and he took us to watch the Yankees beat up on the Red Sox.  We took the train to Grand Central Station and made our way to his apartment in Manhattan from there. We had lunch at a brewery and dinner at a pizzeria after the game. Though his hospitality was generous and thoughtful, his company was the best part of the weekend. We just don’t see him enough in this time of busy lives.

 

Go Yankees!

PJ and Paul at Grand Central Station

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The garden has a few special fall blooms left.

Giant sedum hiding behind the epimedium

The giant sedum is now red.  The autumn crocus surprises me each October.  I have planted lots of bulbs in anticipation of spring births. I remember all the tulips and hyacinths blooming while we visited baby Jason in the hospital last spring so he will be a year old when tulips bloom next year. We’ve already enjoyed five lovely months with him. Amazing!

I can’t help but add a few more pictures of him in closing!

Holding onto his favorite toy, a stuffed owl

 

An older picture from summer- I just love his expression :

OK Grandma, I'm tired of all these pictures!

Family, Garden, Jason Jr., Yankee games none

Babysitting Jason

August 17, 2011 at 5:40 pm 2 comments

I’ve enjoying the wonderful opportunity to spend two whole weeks babysitting Jason, my adorable grandson while my daughter Aimee, his loving Mom returns to work.  I’ve tried to capture pictures of him smiling for her each day but it isn’t easy to grab the camera at the right moment!

There have been lots of times when he just wants to be held, especially after a feeding.  Digesting can be difficult and uncomfortable work for a tiny one like him.  I am glad to hold and comfort him as much as he wants. We are really proud that he has gained as much as he has… with just ten more ounces he will have tripled his weight since birth.  Full term babies often take a year to do that and Jason will be four months old on September 1st.

When he is awake and playful, he likes to move his arms and legs like crazy.  He is very expressive and when things catch his attention you can see his fascination.  As with most babies, he loves faces.  He even gets a kick out of the reflection of himself, like in the mobile above his swing or my iPod camera.  He has started swinging his fists and it is adorable when he realizes he is controlling them.

For his cousins that are waiting to meet him, here are some of his funny faces:

Jason Jr. none

A whole week at home

August 5, 2011 at 5:47 pm 1 comment

I didn’t expect to be home all week and I really miss my grandson, especially since a conference in Syracuse for work next week will keep me from him longer still! On the bright side, I have worked in just about every garden I could get to, even my snake haven out front today. I admit, I ignore the weeds and flowers in between the bushes out front far longer than my neighbors probably like.  Reaching into an area where garter snakes enjoy relaxing is way too difficult for me.  Even armed with a long handled rake to warn them of the areas I was headed I ran into my friends. I picked the late morning for this chore so that my husband could come home and sit nearby – the comfort I need to complete the task once I’ve screamed and had heart palpitations.  If I walk away, I will not come back and finish.

The biggest accomplishment of the week was the huge garden at the guest house next door.  Without any attention in the spring, the goutweed was prolific, spoiling some beautiful perennials I’d planted in there over the years. The root system of that weed is serious and it tangles itself among the good plants.  I resorted to weed killer a few weeks ago, spraying it on and waiting for it to get in its system and kill it. I have been digging and spraying a little at a time, during this heat wave, trying to save what I can of the garden and feeling joyous when I get bare ground around any nice plant! I was listening to The Help, which kept me going.  I was so absorbed in the story that I kept on working no matter how hot or discouraged I was.

One of the hibiscus I planted for my daughter's wedding

Hours and days, killing and removing goutweed!

Of course, bare ground wasn’t quite enough satisfaction to keep going so spent time each day in all of my favorite gardens.  Now most of them are weed free even if it isn’t a time when they have lots of blooms. A good friend asked for some more pictures so I went around and found some color to share.  In a pot by the deck I have some wonderful red blooms.

Lovely red blooms attract hummingbirds as well as humans!

I don’t know what it is, but I hoped when I saw it at Home Depot that the color and shape of the blooms would attract hummingbirds and they do. Coincidentally, I just looked up to see a ruby-throated hummer at my feeder, probably thanks to that nearby flower!

The deer and rabbits ate most of my phlox, echinacea, and vegetable garden this year, especially my husbands’ giant pumpkins. Our vegetable garden has a huge blank space where they usually grow.  No sunflowers either.  I pulled out all the weeds that were in that blank space the other day and decided to start some new lettuce, peas, spinach and carrots.  Either we will get them in the fall, or the wildlife will have another feast.  We’ll see.

Our peppers and a tomato plant.

My herb garden is bountiful.  I have spicy basil, regular basil, oregano, tarragon, parsley, thyme, rosemary, dill and lavender.  The animals ate the tops off my onions, and trimmed my dill, but it’s working out.  Paul is taking care of a vegetable garden for some friends he is caretaker for, so I didn’t plant cucumbers or corn here.  I only put in one tomato plant, a couple peppers, some lettuce and carrots.  I put zinnia seeds all around the veggies and now that garden looks pretty, too!   The deer left these zinnia alone because the apple trees were closer.

The weather man has threatened showers all weekend.  I say bring it on!  My seeds will need them- or else I am going to be listening to the next story while I stand there with the hose each day.

Garden, Mom's garden none

Mowing our Camp

August 3, 2011 at 9:24 pm 1 comment

Last Saturday Paul and I went to our Knox property for the day. As he does each summer, Paul has been trying to spend his Saturdays mowing the fields for us.

Putting on the new tractor tire

Taking a quick break

This year he has had a few tractor problems and this week we brought the huge tire he had repaired.  It was a heavy job to move it off our trailer and lever it onto the tractor. Once it was done, I was free to drive the quad and our supplies to the camp in the back part of our 104 acres. 

 

We had lunch, then he mowed with the tractor and I pushed the mower we keep near our camping area.  Paul mowed fields and I mowed our living spaces making it nice for our annual Labor Day weekend family camping trip.  Last year the beavers had left lots of damage and debris on our paths for us to clear but at least we were able to get some interesting pictures of them swimming in the pond.  It looks like they’ve left the site this year.  The hut is still on the pond but it seems abandoned with no sign of cut trees either.

A little sunny sunflower near the kitchen

I’ve been working in my own gardens finally.  I have clipped and weeded almost all of the gardens in my own back yard and even made a nice dent in the huge garden at the guest house next door.  I have a cute little sunflower blooming right by my kitchen door : ).

Garden, knox none

Pics for Georgia and the girls!

July 24, 2011 at 7:37 pm 2 comments

"Let me think about that a minute"

Having an audience that comments has reminded me to update my blog, so thank you, Georgia- and these are for you and your sisters!

Aimee visited this weekend, with Jason, Jovi, and little Jason, our sweetie pie.  This time they had time to hang out with us so I was able to take some pictures.  Most of them came out funny, so I will post a couple on Facebook later, but here are a few just for you guys!  He moves so fast that just when I think I am going to get a good shot, he makes a funny face and flings his arm around and I get a blurry shot or a silly shot : )  He is just adorable.  He is staying awake quite a bit now, so we can talk to him and enjoy him so much more.

"Oooo... I love it when Mommy rubs my tummy!"

"Just give me a little lift, Grandpa!"

After they left I finally worked in the garden.  I took some pictures of some of the blooming flowers, like the crocosmia, because even though the garden around them looks messy, the flowers look pretty cool.  It’s been too humid to keep up with all the weeding and mowing so I just work on the small patches closest to where I sit.

crocosmia

The deer have eaten our pumpkins this year, so all that is left in my vegetable garden is one tomato plant, a few peppers, and lots of lettuce!

I guess the deer don't like my lettuces!

So we’re growing just a salad garden I guess… since all the other things kept getting chopped off before they could start.  I miss Shadow.  Her scent must have helped keep the deer away before.  What a difference a dog makes.

I can’t believe it is almost the end of July- but I’m really enjoying the summer!

Garden none

Weeding, reading, and Harry

July 12, 2011 at 8:10 am 3 comments

It’s been quite a different summer! Gardening has been more work than relaxing, since I fell so far behind in the weeding.  When I get a chance, I clean up what I can, then when I get back to it, it seems I barely made a difference. Not to mention- the deer are eating anything that had a chance of blooming! My most relaxing pastime has been reading, which I try to do during the hottest part of the day.  I’ve managed to wolf down many fun books to make up for all the tough reading I had to do for school all last year!

I have finally convinced my husband to watch the Harry Potter movies with me while I anticipate the Deathly Hallows Part 2.  He doesn’t know all the parts he is missing, never having read the books… and I am enjoying them with fresh eyes.  Without his interest, I only had the chance to see each one when they came out, so they are like new again for me.  I feel the excitement building, watching Harry grow up and the war against the Dark Lord building.  After we watch the final movie, I intend to listen to all those books one more time!  Jim Dale just brings them alive for me and makes me laugh while I do my chores- in this case weeding, weeding, weeding!  We’ve got a “Welcome, Baby” party scheduled at the end of August and my gardens look awful!

Garden none

Summer Vacation

June 27, 2011 at 8:52 pm 1 comment

It’s finally here and I’ve been enjoying it already! Some people yearn for resorts and far away places but I long for simple pleasures and special moments.  I’ve waited all year for this summer vacation and the first three days have been all I could ask for.

Saturday we visited my grandson.  I hoped to help my daughter but my husband and I just sat around and adored him.  We fed him, burped him, and changed his diapers.  We took pictures of the simplest things, including the bath in his whale tub. Mommy and Daddy hold him together, calm him and clean him, then towel him and warm him.  Here he is, looking clean and smelling sweet : )

Jason, just after his bath

We drove home Sunday afternoon listening to the end of James Patterson’s Tick Tock.  James Patterson is one of our favorite authors to listen to on our rides and we’ve really enjoyed the Detective Michael Bennett mysteries.  I listened to more of the Dresden Files while mowing the lawn and cleaning the yard.  Paul did the trimming and helped clean the decks, until he disturbed a yellow jackets’ nest and got stung a couple times on his nose!

We trimmed the yard and cleaned the decks

I turned over some dirt in the small garden surrounding the pine tree.  It looked good after weeks of rain so I transplanted some hardy perennials into the bare spots.  I’m trying lamb’s ear, valerian, and anemone.  It will be a nice contrast to the yellow ***** (that’s been the only thing that’s ever survived there).

I transplanted some lambs' ear, valerian, and anemone

By last night, it was a pleasure to sit on the deck and cook dinner.  Everything looked so nice in the yard.  Today I cleaned the inside, preparing for a visit from Aimee, Jason, and Jason Jr.! While I vacuumed everything, I washed all my blankets, including some baby blankets saved from when my children were babies.  It was such a pleasure to have time to do things around here, without responsibilities for work hanging over my head.

I look forward to sewing, gardening, reading and writing.  I hope to appreciate every bit of this vacation that I have!

Family, Garden, Jason Jr. none
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