Seasons

I have lived in the Northeast my entire life. I love the fall here. Bright orange and red trees, cinnamon, apple picking. Love the fall. Then spring - the smell of new earth, returning robins, days getting longer, newness of life. Love the spring. Summer boating and picnics, pools and light cotton blouses. Love the summer. Winter, the trees. The snow and ice look so beautiful on the trees. I took these pictures last March of my back yard.

A close up of the same part of the yard:

This picture is after an ice storm and the sun setting. I loved the way the color danced on the trees.

Soft fleece, fires in the fireplace, a sip of brandy, a good book and appreciating the sun when it does poke through the snow and clouds. I do love winter.

HOWEVER......

About this time of year, pictures of tropical islands look mighty inviting. I need some of that warm sand between the toes feeling. The forecast for Friday in our area was a couple of inches - a dusting one might say. This was what I had to "dust" of my car Saturday morning.

OK...that is not so impressive. When my daughter and I reached the parking lot down the street to do some shopping, this is what we encountered. These mountains don't last long because they are carted away in dump trucks within a day in preparation for the next storm.

In an effort to chase away the winter blues we decided to have a tropical day dinner in Pulaski, NY February 21st. Pulaski is in the news quite a bit in the winter. This little town averages 250 inches of snow per year. The menu was jamaican jerk chicken, mango salsa, mojitos, red stripe beer, sweet potato fries, key lime pie and pineapple upside down cake and jamaican coffee. Grass skirts optional, but no wool or fleece allowed. We were trying to blind our eyes and cover our ears to the snow and wind action outside.

February 21st is also Bama's birthday. Her 88th this year. Here Bama is enjoying a mojito:


Even though Grace was born in late December, it was 61 degrees that day. It has not been that warm since. I don't think this little cub will wake until this cold weather passes.

Notice the hula dancers on her outfit :-)

I love the seasons of life.

Night Out With the Siblings

Last year Mom gave us all gift certificates to Outback for Christmas. My brother Bob and his wife Lisa; my sister Sharon and her husband Dean; Terry and me.

We decided to make it an annual event on Saturday, February 14th. We expected we would have to wait, but Outback does offer Call Ahead, they do not take reservations. Lisa called 2 hours ahead and were told it would be at least 4 hours before we could be seated! For at least 2 of us that means eating dinner at our bedtime. So Bob and I sucked it up and figured we could sleep in on Sunday (ha - church obligations). We all have such a good time when we're together. Six hours feels like 1. At the end of the night our sides hurt from laughing and if we could it would last longer. But with families and different sleep schedules it isn't easy to have all 6 of us together.

Dinner took about 45 minutes AFTER we were seated. The only thing my brother looks forward to is the sauteed mushrooms/onions. Yeah, they ran out on the order before his.

We declined dessert and went back to Bob's for a taste of dessert wine I brought. Chocolate Wine from the Cooper Winery in Va. How can you go wrong with that? It sure made up for the missing mushroom/onion order. Thank you Sherry and Hugh for sharing this treat with us. It has been well received. My brother savored each sip.

Hopefully one of these get togethers will include my sister Brenda and her husband Jerry(R.I.) and my sister Jen (Calif.) Until then, this will have to do:

A LIFETIME OF SAVINGS

Stuff. I'm tired of it. Everywhere I look there is stuff. I try so hard to minimize. I am a tosser. The rest of my family is not.

Never know when you might need "this". "This" goes to something..... "Just put it over there for now".

My mother-in-law. The matriarch of saving stuff. In the 3 times we have moved Bama in the last 9 years we have thrown away, donated and sorted more STUFF than anyone can imagine. Four carloads of costume jewlery. More books than some libraries (at least 7 truckloads). Yarn, craft materials, office supplies, nail clippers/files, paper, clothes, shoes, purses, blankets......

We had the difficult task of moving Bama to a nursing home at the end of January. Difficult for us because deep down we know this is her last home. Difficult because the physical work it takes. Difficult because moving equals stress for everyone. Difficult because we were tasked with sorting out once again what to keep, what to toss. Difficult because Bama's first words when she saw her room was "This is where I'm staying for the rest of my life?!" At first she was sharing a room. Thankfully Uncle Sandy (chaplain at the nursing home), arranged for a private room. :-)

A lifetime of possessions had been reduced to a very small closet, 3 dresser drawers, a tv and a chair, a bed and memories, real and imagined. Is this what life boils down to?

Last night Terry and I visited Bama, decorated the shadow box outside her room. Bama LOVED it. As we were leaving, Bama said "I like it here. It is easier to manage."

What does withstand time is family. I can live with that.

*Dress made by Aunt Laurie

DOG GONE IT

Alison's friend at college, Rachel, lives in Tucson,
AZ. Rachel has two dogs, a teacup Yorkie named Mia and a Lhasa Apso, named Pookie. "R" went home for the month break and for her to bring her dogs home, it would have cost $800+ to have them fly home with her. Terry and I told her that was ridiculous and told her we would watch them for the month. So with our two mini-long haired dauchshounds Link (red) and Roxie (black) we had 4 dogs with a total weight of maybe 50lbs.

These two dogs fit in so well with ours. It's almost like we've been together for their entire lives. Link and Mia play and sleep together. Mia was Santa's helper this year.

Taking a mid-morning snooze with Terry.

Dinner time at Camp "B"

I'm not sure where I'm suppose sleep. I had my bed pre-warmed every night. But at 52, I NEED the "cool spots" during the night!

Don't worry Link and Roxie, I understand Rachel will be going to Italy for 2 months this spring to study painting. I have a feeling your playmates will be back.

Thanks Rachel for letting us take care of your two babies. We had more than a few laughs with them.

Change in the Wind

When I woke this morning and half way opened my eyes I could see it was snowing pretty hard. Living in Syracuse, NY it's a pretty common site in January. As I listened to the morning news I heard we were caught in the middle of lake affect from Lake Erie (unusual to get this far north) AND Lake Ontario. I was a little annoyed that the dogs with their internal alarm clocks were waking me at 5:30am. The usual time I get up. Didn't they sense that today was different. So very different.

After 23 years of working at Syracuse University, a place that I truly love, I am no longer a part of this community.

I was one of the casualties of yesterday's layoff. At 10:00am yesterday there was an email notice that a FULL department meeting was called by the VP for 4:00. At noon I had a personal invite to meet with the VP at 2:00. Does not take a mensa member to figure out what was about to happen. The 2 hours gave me time to go through a whirlwind of emotions. What I did promise myself is I would not let them see me cry. I would hold my head high, ask questions and not let them BS me. And I did what I set out to do.

My "separation agreement" (don't separations eventually lead to divorce?) is fair. Terry and I will be ok for a while. It just seems weird to be in my fuzzy slippers and bathrobe at 10:00am on a Thursday. Being that I was in network security I know standard operating procedure and of course all my access has been removed...including my email. Email will be turned back on, but my address books are there. My manager had tears in his eyes walked back up to my cubicle to get my keys. On the way he said he has connections at various places, not sure what is open, but he is more than willing to make a few calls if I'm interested. The VP said the same thing. So it's not me, it's them. :-) This is a view from my building.

I love this campus. I LOVE seeing the freshmen coming in August with their parents, all wondering what this milestone in their lives will mean. Anxious, happy, sad, hope all expressed in their faces. I feel like that now. I have had a few tears well up, but I have not cried. I am too afraid I will not stop. I have a lot of support from friends and family and that makes all the difference.

Terry and I have decided that it will be best for me to take some time. And I am. I have a few ideas on the back burner that I will investigate. I will definitely need some new training and I am quite positive I do not want to be tied to a computer all day. I like people so much more than a machine. So I am going to try something new. Something challenging and rewarding. It will all be ok. Who knows, what lies ahead may be just what this gal needed all along. What I got gipped on was saying good-bye and a blow-out retirement party and I will miss the 5 weeks vacation time.

As soon as I get a permanent email account set up, I'll let you all know.

Meet Grace

Pop-Pop and Oma made the treck up to Pulaski so Pop-Pop could finally hold his newest grandchild, his first granddaughter. It was love at first sight as evident below

Oma had a chance to get some snuggle time as well.

Nothing beats the feeling of a child falling asleep in your arms. The peace we each feel cannot be outdone.

Mom knows this feeling too.....

Even new big brothers know there is something mystical and special about a new baby sister.

Welcome Grace. You are so loved.

WELCOME

What better way to start the new year than with a new blog? My other blog was no longer speaking to me, so there is NO way it could speak to anyone else.

New Year's Eve was nice. Terry and I went to dinner with another couple, had some champagne back at our house in front of the fire. Very low key and that is fine with me. Ali called at midnight and I had to be awakened to wish her a very groggy HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I will be making a standing rib roast. Seems kind of extravagant for the two of us.

Terry has to work tomorrow. He's been home for 3 days now and I haven't been able to get a thing done. Saturday we will go up to Wendy's to wish Patrick and Ben a Happy Birthday (Sat & Sun respectfully). Grace will be celebrating her first week birthday! Pictures will be taken!