Walking by the Water

I finally got to walk around the bay a bit yesterday. When I was a bit, I mean a very very little bit as walking is painful because of my spine. I hope this becomes a regular feature now as it once was.
I have been taking it very easy and footing on the sand is not always easy but it felt so good to take off my shoes and stand on the cool sand. Standing and taking photos is mostly what I did.

While the weather was warm it was very windy and cool by the edge of the  water

I took some photos to share with you though.I was thrilled to be right by the water and the wind was a welcome gift even if it was blowing off the ocean and a bit chilly.

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Lip Reading the Candidates

Have you seen the Bad Lip Reading videos for the presidential candidates? My daughter and I had tears running down our faces from this one for Michelle Bachmann.
If you know anyone who is deaf you know that lip reading is a real skill but, it is possible to get it wrong. For instance one common mistake is that I love you and elephant shoe look alike on the lips if you are not careful to pronounce them right.

These videos are based on deliberately doing some really bad lipreading.
I hope it gives you a laugh also.

Family Dinner

Posting has been light since my trip to the hospital. Hopefully I can get back in the swing of things soon.
I enjoy these old 1950's service videos. You get to see a bit of the past but it also brings up some subjects that are very neglected today like manners and tradition.

Does your family do formal dinners? I always have, especially on holidays etc. I think it is especially important for children that special days be set apart with foods usually not eaten, dressy clothing and more formality. It is a great experience for everyone too.
First, it strengthens the family unit and makes the family special and important.
Mealtimes are so important for everyone and traditions and routine at home is essential I think because it draws people together and it draws a line between the workaday world and the world of family and special times together.
Today people live singular lives. They eat on the run, talk on the run and clothing is the same wherever people seem to go. I was taught that it shouldn't be that way.

One difference in my home was that animals are fed before the family eats dinner. The bible commands that. Then the youngest to the oldest were served.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.It should be something continued and not kept in the past.

Flying Time....

 It was rainy all day yesterday and today is cloudy with a promise of some sunshine, but yesterday I was thinking that if it would have been summer I would like to go walk barefoot in the rain.

I changed the mouse-over links above as well as the background and have added icons to the post title and the sidebar. Monkeying around is my hobby and I keep trying to make things nicer. I make my own links for the bar up top(home, radio, etc). I am not fond of the pages as they can't be manipulated as well as I can on my own.
The radio is so I can listen to my old time mystery shows when I like.

Where did the week go?How did it get to be Thursday already?

My daughter's hubby and the girls went to  visit the grandparents who winter in Boca Raton, Florida and summer on the Jersey shore.
But they came home last evening. I have not heard how the trip went. It was for just a few days.
  It may be that their trip had something to do with my view of time.
When things happen, change, etc. I often let time get away from me.


 I am hoping to get  some new photos of the bay soon. We will see how that goes. Walking around is not my strong suit anymore but then it hasn't been for a very long time.

Are the  birds coming back by you?. They are chirping morning , noon and evening now  in all the sweet little voices that were gone all winter. Yes, it is still winter but its mild out. Dips to the 30s at night but days are in the 50s now and that's mild compared to what it could be.  The last few years we had some nasty snow storms.
Now I am hoping that summer won't be oppressively hot and humid. I can stand the 80's as long as its not dripping with humidity.
Off for a cup of  Orange Pekoe tea, my favorite.

Tired and Lazy

Since being in the hospital and taking so many meds I have been sleepy and listless the past week and am spending most of my days snoozing and lazing around.  It is not me and its hard for me to just lay back and relax  but its been nice to catch up on rest which I have been deficient on for some time. Perhaps it is also healing in some way also.

Days have been so sunny lately but  the weekend was very windy.   March is going to come in like a lion it seems and maybe it will go out like a lamb.
I watched a bit of the Oscars but it was boring and so I didn't make it for long!
 I liked Ellie Kemper's dress . Angelina Jolie had a hard look I think.
Harper's Bazaar  choose Gweneth Paltrow as best dressed.
What did you think if you watched?

Thursday Night Remembrance...love in a candy box.

Love in a Candy Box

My father was a romantic.
He loved my mother dearly and he loved her mother, who lived with us most of my life, very much also. He showed such a great deal of respect for her and for his own parents and as my maternal Grandmother said.."He is better to me than 20 sons".
My father was a scientist who for his own reasons later opened a soda fountain/ice cream shop that eventually became a small stationary store in a tiny town, selling stationary to local businesses  and school supplies.
He had a small lending library for religious books as well.
He took a beating money wise from malls and the big stationers.
But he was honest to a fault and ever the romantic who learned constantly.
 He would bring home boxes of candy to my mother and grandmother sometimes after work.

Once, I remember him walking home without his brand new coat  because he had given it to the town homeless guy "Its only a block walk. It's not that cold out"He wore his old one from then on. It was just as good he said.  A candy box was  tucked under his arm for Mother.  He sat down to dinner as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

In my grandmothers bedroom , inside the closet on a shelf , were old candy boxes filled with her crochet work (she made fillet crochet that was amazing), news clippings of her friends deaths, births of grandchildren, marriages, etc., cards from holidays, mementos and tiny souvenirs of times past. One was used to house her "good gloves" and "my good scraves".

I once asked her why she saved all those boxes.
"Oh, " she said, "its a shame to waste things".
"Yes", I said, "but you could fit this all in one or two hat boxes".
She looked at me with those deep gray eyes , now half blind and said , "But there is so much love in these boxes".

Yes, there really was.

Reading and Enjoying Sun

partly sunny tomorrow after another beautifully sunny day today!




   I am doing more reading as I lie around doing not much of anything. Trouble is I read fast and go through books like crazy. Then I reread them. Over and over again. Do you do that?

I am also following some good sense from Proverbs which is called Mishlei in the  bible and attempting to be merry as much as I can .
לֵב שָׂמֵחַ, יֵיטִיב גֵּהָה    וְרוּחַ נְכֵאָה, תְּיַבֶּשׁ-גָּרֶם  which means:
"A merry heart is a good medicine; but a broken spirit dries the bones."
Laughter is a healer and a heart that is crushed or hurt does harm the body. Broken heart syndrome is very real.  
So, keeping the heart merry and keeping a good attitude can go a long way towards helping a person feel better and be better.  I also think its important to keep the needs of others in mind too. So I have stepped up my prayers for others.  Being ill or in trouble makes you worry about yourself a lot. But, it highlights how self can be put above others too much. So I have stepped up my prayer for others who have needs.
So here is a little joke (it's old I know) to put a smile on your face today:

Jack, the painter, wanted to make more money painting houses. So someone gave him the idea to thin his paint so it would go further. Using the thinned cheap paint Jack was able to put in the low bids, and , as a result always got the job. 

One day while he was up on the scaffolding -- the job almost finished -- he heard a horrendous clap of thunder, and the sky opened.

The downpour washed the thinned paint off many of the houses Jack had painted recently  and knocked Jack off the scaffold and down to the lawn.

Jack knew this was a warning from heaven, so he  cried out :   Forgive me! What should I do?”

And from the heavens, a voice said : “REPAINT YOU THINNER!”

 I hope your evening is happy and light hearted and tomorrow sunny and bright whatever the weather.

Home and a New Week Begins

  Photo by my friend K. Kaller. Taken hear my home

The photo is by my friend. Its just by my house near the bay.
I cropped it down to show just part of it and to show how blue the water is in winter sometimes. This was taken a couple of years ago. I don't have any new from this winter. But you can see the frozen water overlaying the liquid parts here.


Well, no surgery as yet.  It was not yet to the extreme emergency they had suspected it was, but I am not out of the woods yet and its serious.
I have spinal stenosis and it is causing pinched nerves that are doing some nasty things to me.
I am done with a round of things that were to give some help and relief  but we shall see. I  am waiting for news of physical therapy and considering an anti inflammatory diet... lots of things but I have no real answers yet.

I will be posting as I can. I love blogging, and actually, I love reading your blogs more than  posting here on my own. I enjoy getting to know you all and hearing about your lives and what you are up too. When you are laid low it is a giant help too to see others going on and sharing a bit with them.
How I will miss Toni's blog!  I hope blogging is far from over for most though and hope she will find time to come back to it. So many have quit.
It is hard to come up with ideas but, truthfully even the mundane and a simple hello is enough. As I have said often, blogging is like stopping by a friends kitchen door just to say "Hi". Nothing super duper is necessary. Its just a neighborly thing to do.
Thank you all for your prayers and wishes. I am more grateful than I can tell you. Please keep me in your prayers too as I am still not doing well.

Tomorrow will be warmer but today was spectacular here weather wise.  I laid on the sofa for a long time just basking in the bright sunlight and glorious blue skies. Soon I hope to get out and take some beach photos to share with you, something I have not been able to do most of the winter.

Just a Quick Note

I ended up in the emergency observation for a few days
 and just got back a hour ago or so. I have had  spinal issues for a while and it finally went over the top. 
I may need spinal surgery but for now, they will monitor me and try steroids and physical therapy.  Posting might be light for a while, but I just don't know.

Hospital was boring. I can now see the use of a laptop or notebook for sure. 
Now I am going to lie down for a while. You don't get much rest in hospitals.
Prayer would be appreciated.  

For a Chilly Afternoon: Vegetarian Bean Soup

It was spring like here but now the temperatures are plunging as they sometimes do in late winter just before spring. Afternoons can be chilly and rainy. This soup can warm you up nicely.

Ingredients:

    1/2 onion, diced
    2 ribs celery, diced
    2 carrots, diced
    any other vegetables desired, 1/2 cup each
    2 tbsp olive oil
    8 cups  vegetable broth, low sodium optional.
    1 cup pearled barley, uncooked
    1 cup pinto or white beans, pre-soaked then if they are dry, or use canned and drained ones.
    1/3 cup  crushed tomatoes
    1/4 tsp salt
    1/2 tsp pepper
     1/4 tsp of celery salt, but this is optional.
    1/2 tsp basil

Adjust the spices to your own taste, make it spicy or plain.  I like to add cheese to it too and I love the taste of Romano or fresh Parmesan. Hard Italian sharp cheese grated in is also nice.

  It's nice on a chilly day for lunch and its good for you as well.
If you like meat , you can add if you like or use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth.