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Memos, Mail, Me: The Valentine Edition

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It’s after dinner, and I’m just getting around to writing my Monday Memo blog post. It was a busy, busy weekend. We had the delightful job of babysitting for our three granddaughters on Friday night after a busy day entertaining a friend for lunch and volunteering in the afternoon.

Our Presbytery hosted its annual Church Leadership Development Day on Saturday. I was the official greeter prior to the worship service, and as soon as it ended I slipped out to go to the memorial service for a friend who lost her battle to ovarian cancer. It was a beautiful tribute to a very caring lady. Her three children spoke eloquently. I could have never spoken at my mother’s funeral, so I am always impressed with the poise some people possess. I returned to attend an excellent workshop on exploring ways of companioning those facing loss or in crisis. 

On Sunday, I introduced our speaker for Sunday Seminar—the wonderful professor whose Old Testament course I took last fall. As always, her presentation was both scholarly, stimulating, and entertaining. After church, Miss Skylar came to bake valentine cookies.

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Skylar took some cookies home for her family, some for her cousin and aunt, and we saved some for dinner on Wednesday night when they’ll be here to celebrate Valentine’s Day a day late.

Between events, I was making dark chocolate almond clusters with sea salt (yum!), and packaging my valentines for friends and family. 

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One box of the chocolates went to a friend this afternoon, and the other is going to my hairdresser tomorrow when I get my hair cut. The cute container is from Reverse Confetti. I bought two packages of them when they were released, and love how easy it is to create a cute package with the accompanying die cuts. The XOXO die cut is from Simon Says, and the patterned paper is from a 6X6 paper pad by Echo Park.

I used the same containers for the Valentines for my older granddaughters. No worries that they’ll see these on the blog before they get them on Wednesday.

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Almost everything in the boxes came from Target and Michael’s in Chicago when Sarah and I were shopping for the goodie bags for Caleb’s birthday party. The crayon notebooks are little sketch books. Inside the box is a tube of colored pencils, some tiny highlighters, an eraser that looks like a cactus, a pack of sticky notes, and a couple of magnetic bookmarks.

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Last, the goodies for the kids and co-workers at the after school program where I volunteer twice a week. 

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I bought the fry boxes last year at Michaels and tucked them away in my Valentine bin. They worked perfectly to hold some dark chocolates for the three folks I work with in the intermediate room. I tied a tiny valentine to some brightly colored pencils I found at Target for the kids. Pencils always seem to be at a premium.

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All these valentine gifts are in remembrance of my father whose favorite holiday was Valentine’s Day, and never failed to send me a package and/or flowers. 

So, what about the mail?

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Well, I got some great mail again this week. A darling “Save the Date” card from the daughter of a good friend. Check out Emily’s great lettering on the envelope. I also got two books. I ordered the bottom one after checking it out of the library and realizing that I would want to underline and take notes. The top one was hand delivered by a friend. She read it on vacation and thought that both Sarah and I would enjoy it as well. Katherine Patterson was unknown to my friend, but she’s a favorite author of mine. I think I’ve probably read Bridge to Terabithia at least fifteen times with fifth graders as well as several readings of  The Great Gilly Hopkins and Lyddie. I’ve enjoyed her books of essays, The Spying Heart  and Gates of Excellence, but I was unaware of her memoir, Stories of My Life. I’m really looking forward to reading it, and expect to put it in the tote bag for our March road trip. Then it will go to Sarah when we make our next trip to Chicago.

Waving to Sian at From High in the Sky, whose brilliant idea started this weekly meme, and all the rest of the Monday memo makers.

Memos, Mail, Me: It’s Monday

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Waving to Sian and the other Monday memo makers! I thought for sure I’d be without any mail to share since we’re still in Chicago, but then I remembered that thanks to Amazon Prime, I’ve received two pieces of mail this week. Of course, I think they’re interesting because I ordered them! 

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On top of the book is a new memory card reader. My old one is at least five times bigger, and I haven’t traveled with it in years. Tracy’s laptop has a memory card slot so I was using it, then transferring the images to my laptop to edit or post them. Last week I wondered if perhaps there might be a better answer, and here it is. It cost all of $7-8, and works like a charm.

The book I ordered on Saturday night and it arrived early this morning. John Berger passed away recently, and last week I read two blog posts about him here and here. I was so interested that I decided I wanted (and needed) to read it. I’ve decided to put a bigger focus on photography this year after backing off during 2016. Although Berger’s book deals primarily with paintings much of what he writes about can be applied to photography as well.

Thanks for all your comments and emails wondering how Sarah and Hannah are doing. Both are doing well. It will be a while yet before Sarah gets her energy back, but considering where we were two weeks ago today, it’s been a quick recovery. Caleb is quite smitten with his baby sister and is very affectionate.

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Today was Caleb’s “friends” birthday party. His fifth birthday was mostly spent at a friend’s house since that was the day Hannah was born, and Sarah had her second surgery. Today he hosted 14 friends at a “Jump Zone,” a wild place with inflatable bouncy houses and slides. Let me just say, the five year olds were in heaven!

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The birthday boy on his way home. It was the perfect day for a party—cold, wet, and dreary—even the parents were glad to have a place for their kids to run around for an hour or so. Caleb had both sets of grandparents there today as Adam’s parents are here for three days on their way to England. As amazing as it was that Hannah was born on Caleb’s birthday, Adam’s sister who lives in England had her third child the day before Hannah was born. Lots of excitement in this family!

A Quick Update

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It’s not often that a week goes by without a blog post, but it’s been quite an unusual week. Shortly after I posted the news about Hannah’s arrival, we received word that Sarah had been taken back into surgery for internal bleeding. The surgery went well, but when we arrived in Evanston on Saturday, we found her in the ICU. On Sunday afternoon she moved back to the Women’s Hospital, and spent another three and a half days there. The staff at the Evanston Hospital is first-rate as is the facility itself. Thursday afternoon Sarah and Hannah came home. It’s been a surprisingly easy transition for both mama and baby. Needless to say, I haven’t been on the computer much, except to post on Facebook and Instagram for two photography projects (both daily 365 projects). I’ll be around to catch up with all of you next week some time, and I have a couple projects I hope to post as well.

I’ll leave you with a photo of Caleb and Hannah’s first meeting. Caleb wore his Superman T-shirt, and brought his new sister a Wonder Woman sticker. He’s been wonderful during the time his mama was in the hospital and at home with Hannah as well.

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I think my end of the year reflections, and One Little Word posts are likely to be a month late this year. But, in fact, holding a baby and entertaining a five year old takes precedence over almost anything. Hope your year is off to a good start!

Memorandum Monday

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It was a very unusual weekend. It began with a record high temperature on Friday of 72°. This morning we woke up to nearly a foot of snow and very windy conditions. We’ve definitely been spoiled, and I’m definitely not ready for this kind of winter!

The big event this weekend was celebrating Ella’s second birthday. Her birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year, and most of us will be traveling. We went over after church to give her our gifts. Several years ago, we bought Skylar her own chair from Pottery Barn Kids. This year it was Ella’s turn and she was delighted to get her own personalized chair.

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We also gave her a box filled with notepads and pencils. Her favorite character is Mickey Mouse, and that was the theme for her party in the afternoon. I found some cute stickers to decorate the box where she can store her pads and pencils.

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Later in the afternoon there was a party at “The Little Gym.” It was the perfect place for toddlers and some of their older siblings to run around and play. The staff there was fabulous and there was just the right mix of activities and free play.

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Of course, there was cake. Wegmans, our local grocery store extraordinaire, creates the most amazing and delicious cakes.

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I made Ella a shaker card for her birthday, which she promptly pulled apart to get at all the sequins. Later on, we pieced it back together again.

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Waving to Sian and other Memorandum Monday folks! Here’s to a great week.

 

Memorandum Monday

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Waving to Sian and MM fans this beautiful Monday in Chicago. We often make a visit to Sarah and Adam in the fall, but this year we came a month earlier than usual so we would be here for a very special event– Sarah’s installation service as Associate Pastor for the Winnetka Congregational Church. Although she’s worked there for nearly two years, she has been in an “acting associate” role, and it has been mutually agreed that it should be made official, and as the Head Pastor said, “settled.”

I don’t have many photos, although I hope to get some from the church eventually. Two of these were taken by Adam, and none of them show the beautiful stole the church gave her yesterday, hand-embroidered with branches of a tree. The cover of the bulletin for the service was also a tree (a symbol Sarah uses often,) and the choir sang, “The Tree of Life” by John Rutter as one of the anthems.

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I’ve attended many installation services over the years, and must say this was one of the most personal I’ve ever attended, probably because the congregation and staff know her so well. (You can see a bit of the lovely stole in this photo taken during the service.)

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After the ceremony there was a luncheon on the lawn—great sandwiches and delicious chocolate cake.

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At least one person started with dessert!

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It was a day to celebrate—and something new for Memorandum Monday!

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5 in 5 and Memorandum Monday

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I’m waving to Sian and her friends today. It was an incredibly busy weekend here filled with all kinds of new experiences. Tracy’s high school class celebrated their 50th High School Reunion this weekend, and he was the chairperson of the event. He and the committee have been planning this event for the last several years, and I actually know more people in his graduating class than I would in my own. (Granted I only attended my that high school for two years.) There was a Friday night gathering at a local bar, a Saturday night dinner, and a Sunday picnic. In addition, we hosted breakfast for seven Saturday morning–friends who had arrived from Florida, England, New Mexico, and Illinois. I took almost no photos of the events since there were several people taking lots of photos. But here’s a snapshot from the Saturday night dinner of the planning committee.

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I learned lots about his classmates over the course of the weekend, but nothing of great interest to share here.

Squeezed into Saturday was Skylar’s fifth birthday party, and as always, Betsy planned a wonderful event with face painting, and balloon animals. I did take LOTS of photos there. Here are five in five minutes during the breaking of the pinata for Sandi’s September 5 in 5 meme:

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You can see the amazing face (and arm) painting in this one. The woman who did these was a wonderful artist.

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There will be more birthday photos come Wednesday for SNAP! For now, I’m off to get my homework done for class, and wrap up some odds and ends that need to be finished this week.

 

 

I love it!

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On my creative calendar was to try another technique from the Online Card Class, Heat Wave. Kristina Werner created a card that combined stamping some images with colored inks and embossing others. I ended up using three different stamp sets to create the flower border: “Build-able Bouquet” by My Favorite Things, “Handwritten Floral Greetings,” by Simon Says, and “One Big Happy,” by Papertrey Ink.

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The sentiment is from Penny Black’s “Kind Words,” and you’ll see in a moment how very appropriate it is. After embossing the sentiment, the centers of some of the flowers, and  leaves with Liquid Platinum embossing power, I attached the card to some fun foam, and then to a card made with Hawaiian Shores.

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The card is for the mother of a close friend. Ruth is a wonderful quilter who is now in her 90’s. She had a collection of over 40 quilts that she hadn’t already given away, and decided it was time to share them. (She made a beautiful quilt for Sarah from quilt squares created by my great-grandmother and great aunts, and gave it to her as a high school graduation gift.) This time I was the lucky recipient. Since red is my favorite color, it was a perfect choice. Here it is folded on a chair in my living room.

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And spread out on the back of my couch.

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It’s entirely hand-stitched and here’s a close-up:

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I’ve yet to find the perfect spot to showcase it, maybe on my bed—although I’d love to hang it. It was a very special gift, and I’m very grateful to have received it. It’s not often that I post twice in one day, but I wanted to get the card posted to the class gallery before it closes this week.

 

SNAP: the Grandchildren

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We spent more time with our grandchildren last week than we usually do. Caleb’s visit combined with the arrival of Madelyn meant we had lots and lots of time together. They played in Matt and Betsy’s wonderful yard, went to a splash park, went to the playground, and in general, had a wonderful time together. It amazes all of us that the minute Caleb arrives, it’s as if he lived next door. Actually it’s been almost a year and a half since they’ve seen one another. I’ve got a pile of photos, but I tried to find four that represented a bit of the different activities, and one that included the new addition to the family. 

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Linking up with Helena where you’ll find more SNAP sets: three or four related photos.

Welcome Madelyn Tyler

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Matt and Betsy welcomed little girl #3 this morning. Madelyn Tyler weighed in at 7#13oz. Everyone is doing great. Here are some unedited iPhone photos, and then I’m off to make dinner for the other two little girls, their dad, and Sarah, Adam, and Caleb who came to spend the week, knowing they’d be here for the big event.

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Neither of the big sisters were interested in photos today at the hospital, but they were happy to meet her.

SNAP 27: A Birthday Party

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Yesterday was my mother-in-law’s 87th birthday, and we celebrated with a family picnic at our house. I thought I’d share four photos from the party for this week’s SNAP—a photography meme of 3-4 related photos hosted every week by Helena.

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The cake was “Chocolate Decadence” made by Leo’s bakery, and it was moist, rich, and totally delicious! Skylar and Ella had left by the time we had cake, so Caleb was the only great-grandchild available to help blow out candles. Before the little girls left, however, the three great-grandchildren provided some “musical” entertainment. Caleb and Gigi had a great time together opening all the cards and notes.

Here’s the card I made for Mom.

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Once again my starting point was the fabulous Papertrey Ink Make-it Market Kit: “Don’t Forget to Write.” The kit was a big splurge, but worth every penny. The two stitched panels are from the A2 Note Card dies by Papertrey, and I die cut the letters from Neat and Tangled’s “Journaling Alpha.” The stamped sentiment is from “Retro Style Birthday” (PTI).

And while I’m here, #7 for the Summertime Photography Hunt:  a family gathering, surely not the last opportunity I’ll have this summer for this item on the list.

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Everyone looks a bit overdosed from the chocolate cake and ice cream, but we had a great time!

Happy Father’s Day

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It’s Father’s Day, and I made cards for three of the “very best” dads I know:  my husband, my son, and my son-in-law. All three of them spend as much time with their kids as they can, have great relationships with their children, and are loving, caring parents. The best there is, truly.

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I started with Avery Elle’s sentiment set, “Handwritten Notes,” and then add “DAD” die cut and stamped with Papertrey’s “Headline” alphabet. I die cut the sentiment with a Simon Says “Stitched Circle” die and mounted it on a piece of black cardstock that I scored three times on the top and the bottom.

We had a nice Face Time chat with Adam, Sarah, and Caleb, and we spent some time with Matt and his family this morning after church. Betsy’s niece is an accomplished Irish dancer and her troupe was performing at the Brighton Farmer’s Market. Ella was entranced.

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I love this photo of Nadia with her gorgeous hair flying behind her as she danced. The fast foot work is amazing!

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It was almost 90° at noon when they were dancing so they stayed as close to the shade as they could.

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This ought to be my Memorandum Monday post (my first Irish dancing performance, but surely not my last!), but by then Father’s Day will be over. We’re actually celebrating Father’s Day again tomorrow with a combined Father’s Day and Graduation party at Betsy’s father’s house. Hope you’ve had a great weekend!

Ten on Tuesday: Memorial Day Weekend

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This week’s list for Carole’s Ten on Tuesday asks for 10 things you did on the weekend. Mine was a busy one, but most of my photos are from the last part of the weekend. It was a three-day weekend in the U.S. although mine started on Friday and spans four days!

1. I walked with my friend, Debbie, from Pittsford to Bushnell’s Basin (about a 5.75 mile walk) which we end with breakfast at the Coal Tower. 

2. Friday afternoon I picked up my pots for the patio. For the last three years, I’ve taken my three biggest pots to a local garden center and have them planted. It’s proven to be very cost effective, and I’m always pleased with the results.

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3. Although I have photos from my very special evening on Friday, they aren’t ones I can post on the blog. The agency where I volunteer once a week has conducted a year-long project funded by a generous grant for the fourth and fifth grade girls. They’ve had the opportunity to visit a college, attend etiquette lessons while having a tea party (their favorite activity), go rock climbing, and visit local businesses. It expands the horizons of girls who are growing up in one of the worst neighborhoods in Rochester. The culminating event was a very fancy dinner at one of the nicest hotels in the Rochester area. The staff acquired fancy dresses for all the girls, and transported them. The girls chose the menu, picked out the color of the napkins, and created a lovely invitation. I was lucky enough to receive one of them. The girls loved every minute of the dinner, and everyone received a diploma for “graduating” from the program. The staff has applied for another grant for next year, and I hope they get it. It was such a positive experience for everyone.

4. Saturday morning was hot and humid. Not a great day for cooking for a crowd in a kitchen with no air conditioning, but that’s what my Dining Room Ministry team did. The food is always appreciated and I work with a great group of people from elementary school age to over 90 years old from my church. Our church hosts a lunch every Saturday (even on Christmas if it falls on a Saturday). We serve 80-90 meals each week. There are 10 teams, and we rotate throughout the year.

5. When I got home, Tracy and I went to visit our friend, Bob. Keep your prayers coming. The chemotherapy is doing some good, and he is feeling stronger. He was able to enjoy visits from both his daughters, and from family who was here visiting from California this week.

6. Late that afternoon, we attended our final performance at Geva Theater, our wonderful local repertory theater. The play, The May Queen, takes place in a small city in the Hudson Valley, just a few miles from where I graduated from high school so I was familiar with all the places that were referenced. It was an odd play (neither Tracy nor I know quite what to make of it), but it was well acted and the staging was great—as always.

7. It had cooled down considerably by the time we left the theater so we treated ourselves to dinner outside at one of our favorite restaurants on Park Avenue. It’s a Lebanese restaurant, and the food is always excellent. Watching the folks parade up and down the street adds an element of entertainment to the dinner.

8. Sunday, after purchasing some plants for the front circle and our vegetable beds, we went off to Home Depot to buy a new shower head for my bathroom. On the way out of the store, we happened to find a sale on a wonderful new umbrella for our patio. Sarah had recently found a solar-powered, lighted patio umbrella which we loved. We hadn’t had any luck finding one that was affordable online or in the one or two places we’d previously looked. This one is rectangular so provides a lot more shade for our rectangular table. It was the final touch to setting up the patio for the summer. I turned on the lights for the photo, but I’m sure it will be more charming in the evening. In the background you can see Tracy’s lush shade garden. It’s really in top form this year. We still need to set up the fountain, and do some transplanting, but it’s ready for use. We’ll be eating breakfast and lunch out here regularly. If it’s hot, we usually choose to have dinner inside since the patio gets the strong afternoon sun. This photo was taken about 7:30 at night, and then it’s great for reading and having a glass of wine.

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9. Monday was Memorial Day—a day to remember all the veterans who have given their lives in far too many wars over so many years. One way people commemorate the day is with parades. Matt and Betsy’s neighborhood has traditionally held a parade for the kids (and their parents) in the neighborhood. After a short speech to help the kids understand the reason for the holiday, a fire truck and police led the parade through the neighborhood. Ella and Skylar were all ready for the event.

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Skylar rode her bike which she and her dad had decorated.

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10. Betsy’s father recently moved into a new house, and he hosted a huge picnic for family and friends Monday afternoon and evening. The girls absolutely love his new pool. Ella is amazing as she floats around the pool (adult close by). She couldn’t wait to get into the water.

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Skylar and two of her friends spent a LONG time jumping into the pool on the count of three, climbing out and jumping in again. It never lost its appeal and finally, the parents told them it was time to get out of the pool. Miss Skylar is the one closest to the camera.

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In between all this activity, I managed to get some reading, planting, and organizing done. I recently completed a free four week online course hosted by InkWELL Press. I’d already cleaned out a lot of the areas covered in the course, but still had some things I wanted to clean up in our bedroom. Spurred on by Honoré’s book sorting, I redid the book shelf in our bedroom, purged some volumes, and reorganized all the rest. Let me just say, I have enough books on those shelves alone to keep me busy for at least another year or two! 

 

 

 

Memorandum Monday

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It seems quite unbelievable to me that I have never attended the Lilac Festival parade, but in fact, I have not. Even though we’ve lived near the parade route for over 30 years. On Saturday I joined Matt, Betsy, Skylar, and Ella to watch the parade. It was Skylar’s second year, and she was very anxious for the parade to begin. We had perfect viewing “seats” at the edge of South Avenue, but it was a bit of a wait. Ella started out in the stroller,

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but got restless, so Skylar took her for a walk along the edge of the street while we were waiting for the parade to reach us.

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The parade was worth the wait. There were policemen and women on horses, marching bands, bagpipes, and many groups including veterans and animal rescue groups hoping that someone in the crowd might adopt one of the dogs. I’m missing photos of the animal rescue folks and the veterans. There were lots of folks on this beautiful day along the parade route, but it didn’t seem particularly crowded until the parade was over, and we all headed for the food tents.

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The best of the marching bands!

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The drum lines were excellent.

Skylar and I have been talking about making a fairy garden for several months. Saturday we had planned to go to The Artful Fairy in Victor after the parade. When I called to find out if Saturday afternoon would be a good time, I discovered that they had a booth at the lilac festival so we were able to make our fairy garden right there at the park. It was lots of fun and easy to do. She’s very pleased, and the owner told her it was one of the nicest she’d seen and took a photo of it for the business!

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The plants are real and we purchased the fairy, her bench and the bridge. The rest of the decorations were free—blue stones, shells, pebbles, and sphagnum moss. We also purchased a vial of “fairy dust” (aka silver glitter which really finished it off.) I’m surprised the glitter doesn’t show in the photo—the bridge is covered with it in real life!

Waving to Sian and others posting about new ventures over the weekend.

 

Memorandum Monday

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I’m a day late with this post, but we just got home tonight from a six day trip to New Orleans for a family wedding. Thirteen of us shared a house on the water out near Lake Ponchartrain, and I knew I wouldn’t have any computer time, so I didn’t take my laptop. I did, however, have one very new experience and learned quite a few new things, one of which I’ll share tonight.

Friday night, the groom’s family hosted an amazing party at their home with a crawfish boil. I had to get a lesson in eating crawfish from one of Randy’s friends but it was easy after that and delicious! They boiled 110 pounds of crawfish, and then quite a few pounds of blue crabs which were much harder to peel and eat.  Included in the crawfish boil were spicy sausages, corn on the cob, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and even some brussel sprouts. It was quite the feast.

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My grand-niece, Bella, is an old pro at this. Living in Lousiana has its perks!

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Saturday morning five of us took a walking tour of the Garden District.

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We had a fabulous tour guide, and I learned all kinds of things. One of the most interesting was the difference between Creole and Cajun. Both terms are used frequently in New Orleans. Creole is anyone who was native born to New Orleans but nationality is not important. Their ancestry might be French or Spanish, or someone who descended from African/Caribbean heritage. Cajun describes people who immigrated from Acadia after the British took over the area in Canada and demanded that the Acadians adopt the king’s Protestant religion. The British forced them to leave and many were shipped south to the Louisiana territories.

When it comes to food, Creole cuisine is considered “city” food, and Cajun “country food.” While many of the ingredients are similar, if the dish has tomatoes in it, it’s Creole. I had both Cajun and Creole gumbo and both were excellent. One had alligator sausage as well, and it was my favorite.

It was a fabulous trip and a beautiful wedding. I’ll have lots more to share once I get the photos organized and edited.

SNAP: Easter

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Celebrating Easter in Chicago is always fun. Sarah’s church in Winnetka is lovely, and the service is always beautiful. Caleb’s Cherub Choir sang during the service, and the weather was good enough that the Easter egg hunt could be held outside. When we got home from lunch, Caleb got the first of eight clues (drawn by his talented father) for a scavenger hunt to find his Easter basket. He couldn’t wait to begin. I have lots of great photos which will eventually show up in my project life pages, but for now here’s a collection for Helena’s meme: SNAP.

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We’re spending today in the city. For all our trips to Chicago, we usually spend all our time on the North Shore. There’s an exhibit at the Art Institute I’m anxious to see, and I’m hoping to get to a few other sights as well. The weather is somewhat iffy, so we’ll see how it goes.