Making new memories

Hi there ~

I'm back from a fantastic weekend getaway with some of my favorite people in the world! I think I mentioned earlier that I was going to Gatlinburg with my lifelong friends/childhood classmates. Our friend Phil suggested the trip after our last reunion. Let me just say that this trip was better than I could ever have imagined! We had such an awesome time! I made some new memories I will cherish forever!!!

Saturday morning a few of us went into Gatlinburg for pancakes. The Village has a scarecrow display that was really impressive.

From l -> r: Karen, Phil, Vanessa, Me

I *LOVE* scarecrows! Fall is my favorite time of the year and nothing says fall more than scarecrows and pumpkins.

David & Phil and an amazing backdrop - from the deck at the chalet!

This stained glass window was part of the front door. Isn't it beautiful?

Saturday morning's sunrise from the deck.

Phil and Vanessa are such a great couple,

lots of fun and truly sweet people.

Even though this was only the second time I'd been around Vanessa,

I felt like I had known her forever! We discussed our love of photography (she's very talented) and knitting. She gave me some helpful scrapbooking tips, introduced me to a vegetarian version of biscuits & gravy, and has even tempted me to want to cook!

(The cooking temptation will probably pass quickly LOL)

Another gorgeous view from the deck. We were so high up we could watch the clouds move in over the mountains!

Vanessa and I always had our cameras on hand

so I have loads of pictures.

Phil, Danny, David, Karen, and me!

Danny, David, and I have known each other since first grade!

We all agreed that it is so special to have friends we've known all of our lives.

Karen and me

I wish I could find pictures of us when we were little girls - we've been friends since she came to our class in 3rd grade and Miss Draper assigned me to be Karen's "guide"

(we later took a blood oath so I guess we are really "sisters" now LOL)

Saturday night we had a blast playing Taboo! I'd never played before but really enjoyed it. Good times!

Back row: (l-r) Danny, David, Phil, & Brent

While we were taking this shot Brent reminded me of how he and David used to lift me up to get a drink from the water fountain when we were in 1st grade!

I love that we all share memories like this!

I'm blessed beyond words to have my friends, old and new

and it never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to come together with this group and pick up right where we left off!

I hope your life is filled with people you love and that you are making happy new memories of your own!

Close to home...

Hi y'all (practicing for my trip south)...

How's your weekend going? Mine is off to a great start. I had a really nice time today. Mavis and I met for lunch in downtown Burlington. It's really a pretty area and not what you might expect when you think of New Jersey. Burlington is quite historic!

It's kinda sad to live in an area for almost a decade without knowing much about its history, don't you think? Do you play "tourist" where you live? I often feel like I should be better at being a local tourist (is that an oxymoron or what?)

The main street through town ends at the Delaware River. This riverboat has been there for a while but I just found out today that they used to do riverboat cruises down to Philadelphia. I wish I had known that, it would have been fun!

Looking across the river: This house is actually in Pennsylvania. It's beautiful and what a view they must have!

The Burlington Bristol Bridge
The midway point is the state line between New Jersey and Pennsylvania

The only postcard I've ever found for Burlington features this bridge, I can't help wondering why when there are other things to see.

Mavis and I had lunch at the Cafe Gallery.

A view from our table

After lunch we went to Olde City Quilts for a one-day quilting class called Hook, Line, and Sinker

It was a great class. The teacher/owner Judy (standing) was exceptionally patient and a lot of fun. The other ladies Joan (far left) and her daughter Lynn (in front of Judy) were so sweet. Mavis (in pink) was a great classmate, I'm so glad she went with me. I had originally signed up to take the class alone and then Mavis agreed to go too. It made it much more fun for me. A big thanks to Judy for putting together a great afternoon class.

My friend Journey is always encouraging me to explore my creativity so this class was one of my ways of doing just that. I am not sure I will ever make a full size quilt but I enjoyed the smaller projects and look forward to trying some more of them. There are so many craft type things that interest me, I love taking classes to learn about them. Who knows, I might even become one of those "domestic goddesses" doing cozy crafting projects. Martha Stewart, watch out!

As you can see, today was spent enjoying simple pleasures - close to home. What simple pleasures do you enjoy?

You know I can't end a blog without a whisker moment so I'll share Dolly enjoying two of her simple pleasures...

Playing with her purple catnip fish - which she loves to dig out of her toy basket (at left of picture)

and being cute!
Have a wonderful evening and thanks so much for stopping by!

I need to pay more attention

Hi there ~

Have you ever had a moment when you think "is it really safe for me to be out on my own?" Yesterday I went to the mall that is near my house. In the 8+ years I've lived here I've been in that mall 100s of times (okay that might be an exaggeration but then again, maybe not). I was walking towards Macy's when I noticed this:

My first thought was "what a cool fountain, I wonder when they installed THAT!" The more I thought about it the more curious I was as to how long it had been there. I went into Macy's and asked someone at the Clinique counter. She said it has been there for many years but that the water is not always running.

Wow, it's pretty scary to think that I might have walked by an elephant in the mall hundreds of times and not noticed it! Another frightening thought is that at some point I had noticed it and completely forgotten it to the point where it seemed brand new to me.

I clearly need to be more aware of my surroundings. There could be a zebra in my backseat someday! Maybe I should also start dropping bread crumbs in order to find my way home!

Has this ever happened to you? Or maybe it has and you just haven't realized it yet ~ until yesterday I would have answered the question with a "no!" I challenge you to look around and see if there's something you've been missing! You can respond here or if you prefer, you can email me your answers I'll post them here and if you send me a picture I'll include it too!

This is an older picture of Toby but I love his curiousity.

Have a great evening and be sure to look around you. There may be an elephant looking over your shoulder!

What I did this summer

Hi again~

Remember when you were in school one of the first assignments teachers would give every fall was to write about "What I did this summer"? I guess we never get too old for that because I was talking to my sister the other day and she was telling me that every year on Memorial Day she prepares a list of projects she wants to complete before Labor Day. Then on Labor Day she reviews the list to see how many she can check off. It's kind of an grown-up version of "what I did this summer." We were laughing about how sometimes the summer goes so fast it's easier to just mark through the year and save the list for the following year. Been there, done that! This year I had quite a few things I wanted to accomplish and luckily I got the most urgent one done!

As many of you know I've been feeding feral cats who have established residence in our neighborhood. My plan was to trap, neuter, and release (TNR). With the TNR the plan is to trap the cats and then to return them to their home area after the neutering has taken place. I had hoped to do that last fall but it didn't happen. Then it was going to be in the winter. Life got in the way of that plan too. As tends to happen, two of the five cats got pregnant and instead of having 5 that needed to be neutered I had 11 ~ yikes! Two of the adults, Punkin & Tigger, have been friendly enough for me to pet. Punkin had three kittens and she brought her three around but the kittens would scatter any time I went onto the porch.

Here's Tigger! He's been a mush ball since birth. Even when he was a tiny kitten he would roll over on his back and let me rub his belly!

Here's a sleepy Punkin! Her picture has appeared on the blog several times before, if you want to see her awake!

I was so very fortunate to find an organization to help with the TNR. Forgotten Cats is an organization in Pennsylvania & Delaware. They provide trapping assistance (they lend the traps and offer instruction on proper use), they then spay/neuter the cats, keep them until they have had a chance to recover and then return them home. They also vaccinate them for rabies and distemper and give them a flea treatment. They do all of this for a very reasonable fee. With their help I was able to complete the TNR of 11 cats in less than one week! Amazing. I know they would appreciate you checking out their Web site. If you happen to be participating in United Way you can allocate your contribution to go to their organization.

So back to the story...now that the 11 cats have been returned Punkin's three have become much more approachable. For the first time I've been able to pet them. Today two of the three were actually rubbing against me. I'm sharing their pictures - the first I've been able to take from the same side of the door (I've often snapped their pictures through the sliding door).

Aren't they adorable?

The yellow guy sitting is Dandy (short for Dandelione), his twin is Daisy (although now that we've discovered "Daisy" is male, I guess he needs a new name). The little gray one in the back is Gigi!

Here are Gigi & Daisy checking me out!

You can see where Gigi's left ear was "tipped" to indicate that she's been fixed. For some reason Daisy's wasn't done.

The other six are much more "feral" and won't pose for pictures. Yet! LOL

So, that's what I did this summer. How about you? Did you have a good summer? Do anything special? Do you have a project list and if so, did you get a lot marked off of it?

Take care! And thanks again for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit.

New Month

Hi Everyone,

Happy September! It's hard to believe Labor Day is just around the corner and school will be starting back soon. I don't have anything lined up yet but know that for many of you there are bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils in your near future. Back-to-school was always so much fun as a kid ~ new clothes, new teachers, etc. What special memories does September hold for you?

I'm pretty excited about September! On September 12 & 13 MEOW (Calgary, Alberta) is hosting their Fall Adoptathon. My friend Barb has sponsored a cage there in memory of Tyler and one in memory of her boy, Forrest. I'm very touched and extremely impressed with MEOW (Make Each One Wanted). Please check out the organization's Web site .

Also this month, two very special friends, Journey & Jenessa, are celebrating their birthdays on September 15. I'm going to Tennessee for a weekend party with my elementary school friends on September 18-20. Then on September 26 the National Book Festival is being held in DC and some of my favorite authors will be speaking. It's promising to be a very good month!

This month I'm going to try to be more consistent with my blogging. Today's pictures are ones I've "borrowed" from Jenessa. I'll have my own tomorrow :)

Jenessa, her mom (and my great friend) Susan, and the rest of their family live near Los Angeles. Jenessa sent pictures of the sky to show how thick the smoke from the wildfires is! Pretty scary stuff. I worry so much about all the animals unable to escape, not to mention those poor people who have watched their homes destroyed.

This is Jenessa's cat, Crackers. Whenever I go to visit Crackers is my reluctant "room mate." I'm pretty sure both of these pictures are Crackers wanting to see if I'm back! LOL

Noah (cat) and Bo Peep (dog) are also members of Susan and Jenessa's family. Aren't they sweet? Bo Peep is such a girl, she just loves anything pink. In fact, she's been known to claim pink things for her very own!

Thanks for stopping by and a big thanks to Jenessa for sharing her photographs. I hope you'll visit again!