Ketch-up Day

 

 

I'm back....... 

If you celebrate, how was your Thanksgiving? We went to Philly via an eleven hour train ride to spend it with our daughter and SIL. The train we travel on is old, has bathroom issues and several cranky conductors. To be fair, there were a couple of nice ones. One was a model conductor, very helpful, so I shouldn't grumble too much.  I wanted to take pictures for Andrew, but that didn't work out. Anyhoo, we made it to Philly safe and sound.

The next morning we spent a little time at University of Pennsylvania then went back to the house where M and J prepared Thanksgiving dinner and the HH and I stretched out on the couch and watched the Christmas parade and movies.

This is the feeder my SIL made.

And this is a frequent visitor. Look how chunky he's getting.

This lovely little pond is located at Penn.

Can you see the sparrows? There's several in the leaves.

This little guy was a show stopper. He'd come right up to you and beg for food.

Back to the house and the cooks are hard at work.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Ah, dinner.

It was a lovely day and luscious dinner.

What about you blogger buds? Catch me up on what you've been doing.

It's Tuesday AND I'm Back:)

 How are you, my blogger buds? For those that celebrate Thanksgiving, did you have a wondrous one? I trust so. Ours certainly was, with some Griswold moments thrown in. But first I have to say I've got the best blogger buds in the blogosphere. Look what was waiting for me when we got home from Philly.

 I mentioned that I couldn't find cinnamon tea and my own special genie in the form of CJ at CJ and Ink ordered and sent me this.  You rock, CJ. Thanks so much.

AND

If that wasn't enough of a surprise Rockin Ro sent this.

Look at what prices were back in the day.  A car for 4K and a home for 54K.  Can you believe it? This is really going to date me but I can remember my parents picking up an old house with no plumbing, no kitchen cabinets, and only one bedroom for 3K.  Luckily my dad was a carpenter, but I've wandered way off topic.  Thank you, Ro,  your memory is way better than mine:)

AND to the blogger buds that sent cards and holiday wishes, thank you so much. I'm thankful for each and everyone of you.

ON to the holiday weekend, which was lovely. We arrived in Philly Thursday evening and wonder of wonders found a parking spot right in front of our daughter's and SIL's row house. Talk about lucky. We should have bought a lottery ticket.

The next morning we took a walk in one of the city parks. Before we left the baby girl served french toast, soaked overnight in custard then topped with brulee. Oh my. It was so good.

 

 

As you can see, there's still plenty of color in the park. Does anybody know what the shrub with the purple berries is?

Then later, our delicious dinner.

Followed by this the next morning.

After breakfast we headed for Longwood Gardens. Oh my Cod, it was cold. I wore my NC jacket down but packed my Philly coat. Thank goodness. Pictures to follow next week. 

Now I want to hear all about your week. Did you celebrate Thanksgiving? Walk? Eat too much? Inquiring minds want to know.

Addendum

I just received an online advent calendar from Birgit at Created by BB. Thanks so much, Birgit, can't wait to get it downloaded.

It's Tuesday

The Good

 They had a poetry event in conjunction with the baby girl's showing and her dad was invited to receipt some of his poetry. So we went to Philadelphia for the weekend and he got to recite his poetry at her showing. 

A couple of her paintings from the show.

Later we went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. They were quite beautiful. We saw quite a bit of wildlife: birds, geese, koi and a racoon.

 

The Sad

We put Faux Paw down last week. She was nineteen. Her heart was still strong and she was alert but everything else was shutting down. Her back legs no longer worked and she couldn't even drag herself around.  My fondest memory of her is when I was in rescue and adopters would come to the house. She'd sashay up to the car and escort them to the door.

 This pic is back in the day when she was still a sweet young thing. She always reminded me of Pepe Le Pew's girlfriend.

And The Ugly

Hands down, New York traffic. 

AND

I took my allergy tests and got high marks on almost everything. HaHa.  The only thing I tested for that I'm not allergic to is penicillin.  Yes, I am allergic to dogs and cats AND trees, grass, weeds, dust and mold.

Monday-Tuesday

We're back! We spent Thanksgiving in Philly with the baby girl and her husband were the HH got cake #4. 😊 Homemade chocolate with chocolate mousse icing. It was delicious.

As mentioned previously, they recently bought a 1913 row home and are in the middle of remodeling. As you can see the SIL has rebuilt the stairs.

Added a built-in bookcase.

Remodeled the bathroom and powder room. 

They have a projector, so the HH was able to watch the Bears Thanksgiving on the wall:)

AND...we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.

Pictures of Longwood Garden next week. How was your Thanksgiving? Were you home or did you travel?

Happy Fourth and Did You Know

AND...

Did you know that Philadelphia was the capitol city  between 1790 and 1800 AND that in 1793 one tenth of Philadephia's population died of yellow fever?

I Am Back and Happy New Year

It has been awhile.
While offline, we traveled over two thousand miles in a week. We went from North Carolina to Southern Illinois to Central Illinois to Philly then home again.
In Southern IL we visited with my ninety year old aunt.  Lookin' good, Norma Jean.

While in Metropolis we saw Cinderella's carriage, all decked out for Christmas, sitting in front of a B and B.  Do you think Cinderella was inside the B and B waiting for Prince Charming and her glass slipper?

From there we traveled to Central Illinois to attend the visitation and funeral of our brother-in-law. Last year we lost a brother-in-law in November. The funeral held on the HH's birthday.
Fred, who passed in December, was only sixty-two and though he had some health issues his passing was unexpected. He was first and foremost a family man. His wife and children adored him. He was a scout leader and was buried in his uniform. He was also active in his church. The visitation was packed with a wait line of two hours that curved through the building.
After the funeral we said our good-byes and headed for Philly to spend an early Christmas with our daughter and dear SIL.

While there, we toured the South Side, went through the Italian market and a cheese shop that had folks patiently waiting on the sidewalk to get in and place their orders.
Saw the Christmas Light Show at Macy's.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner out and celebrated our anniversary. On Christmas Eve, the kids fixed a mouthwatering dinner.

And yes, this dessert is as good as it looks.

Of course, you have to have Christmas Cookies at Christmas:)

Their cat Holly spent her time watching projections on the wall.

We drove home Christmas day. It actually turned out to be a good travel day as most folks were tucked up with their families. Arrived safe, sound and oh so happy to be home.
And that was our whirlwind holiday. How was yours? Wondrous, I hope.

If  I haven't been round to your place yet, I'm on my way.