Playing with fire

We have had our new fire pit for almost 2 wks now but, because of the temps and the winds, we have not been able to have our first fire.  We love this one as it hold a BIG fire.  We gathered wood this morning in the nature preserve behind our house (with the park official's permission), got out a nice bottle of wine, two holiday glasses, a lighter, some newspaper and some of the color cones my honey gave me last year.  I am pretty Scrooge with these and will ration them out carefully.  Our first fire was one reason to play.  The following photos are all from our fire...wish you were here!

When I was little, my grandfather would crumple up the newspaper funny pages and put them on the fire...the colors were unforgettable.  The printing process has changed now and that no longer happens when you put the colored funny papers into a fire.  While progress is a wonderful thing...like being able to share parts of my life with those of you who follow my blog...being able to talk face to face with friends and family far far away...there are somethings I so wish has not gone the way in the name of progress. 

From our house to yours...stay warm this holiday season.

Happy Black Friday

Who is out there braving the crowds for that just have to have bargain?  Not I said this little red hen.  I'm heading off to crop the day away with some good friends later and, after a "refreshing" (it is about 38 here this morning) walk, I'll finish the clean up from Thanksgiving, sort some projects and head out.

Both of the twins have bronchitis and their mama has an upper respiratory infection so Thanksgiving was a bit more sedate than usual.  With one little guy sitting on Nana's lap sad because he did not feel good, the photos are rather limited.  They did get their tree up with help from Uncle Rob, who then read The Christmas Crocodile to them while we got dinner on the table.  The kids each got to pick a lemon from the limoncello trees (also known as a Myer lemon tree) and the boys actually ate slices.  Without further ado, here are the photos I did take.

Thi

 

This is going to be a busy few weeks coming up.  Tues we resume our child care help, Thurs is the Christmas Book Club at Glo's, Friday is Snow Place like Tarpon Springs with the Grands (they love the reindeer and the snow), Jo and Bill arrive sometime this coming week, Mitch and Kim arrive sometime Sat. and Sat. night is our holiday party followed Sunday by the craft fair at Safety Harbor.  Taking one box of projects to the crop today and I won't get to the craft fair til late morning. 

The following week is only slightly less busy with Whim So Doodle's Christmas party on the 12th. along with a library board meeting and that Sat. is our never to be missed, Tarpon Springs Christmas Parade and visit with Mr. and Mrs. Santa. and a holiday brunch that Sunday at a friends. 

Sure am glad we have almost all our gift shopping done...a few last minute items and E's big gift.  Tis the Season and I hope yours is a joy!

Let the fun begin

                         

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from our home to you. May your holiday be filled with joy!

For us, Thanksgiving kicks off our Christmas holidays.  This is the night we turn on all our holiday lights and the trees (we have 3).  We still have the roof to do out in front and, when Chris gets a few spare moments, that will be done too.  E is no longer allowed on ladders let alone the roof of the house so our son in law graciously does this for us.  The lanai is done, the path and the arbor gate to the lower lawn finished, the village is up and the ever growing collection of snow people.  Even Vera, my laptop has her own tree.

             

 We follow the German custom of each person in a household having their own tree plus a family tree.  The one above is mine in my workroom.  This is a second generation neon green funky three footer...a bit retro, a bit vintage and all mine.  As is my custom, the tree has a name.  This is Lucille II.

And our Christmas Island (yes! after the Jimmy Buffett song) village.  None of the houses are more than a couple of inches tall and we can no longer find any little ones so this is the end of any expansion.  The kids started this collection eons ago with 3 little Dickens houses and look where we are now! lol  Visitors to our home are encouraged to pick out a residence where they would like to live.  Sorry but the lighthouses are taken as are the two pubs in the village. 

 We've had some problems with the lights on our 7foot family tree this year.  We love this tree because the lights are shaped like little pine cones.  Not sure if we'll be able to fix the loose connection or not and we may have to wind some other lights through the tree to fill in the gaps.  Of course, the connection did not go out until we had the tree completely decorated, which takes us about 2 hours.

 Outside on the lanai we've done our usual but have changed out the lights surrounding the lanai cage.  I love the blue and the lights are so pretty reflected in the pool.

I'll be heading south in a bit to pick up Rob in St. Pete.  One of the kids will run him home after our Thanksgiving meal as he has to work early tomorrow morning.  Thank goodness his store closes on Turkey Day unlike others.  Kristen and the Grands will head over when they get up from their nap and the Grands will decorate their tree while we wait for their daddy to get off work. 

Off to take care of some household chores.  The turkey is done and Kristen is doing the pies.  E and I will work on the rest this afternoon.  Meanwhile, there is the parade and our high school marching band from Tarpon Springs is performing in the Macy's TG parade. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Surprise!

I am actually posting once again.  Life has a way of getting in the way of my life sometimes.  We've been mad busy between the Grands, family, my tooth issues, E's back and a gazillion other little daily things that keep us occupied. 

The Grape Escape was, as always, incredibly well done.  And, once again, we've found some new wines and restaurants out of the fund raiser.

 We had a lovely dinner with the other volunteers at Tarpon Tavern for our work at Tarpon Springs' first annual Octoberfest and I finally took my oath of office for the library board...I am official! lol

We had Leighton's second birthday, Kristen's 38th (and tonight we are finally having her b'day dinner) and have been planning and decorating for our annual Holiday Party. 

I've missed a couple of crops due to a tooth infection and miss the Women Who Do Lunch so very much.  All but our dear Lady Di have also had health issues so one of my wishes for the holidays is that all my gal pals are healthy AND happy.

I did get one more Australia layout done but have not paused lately to add the title or the journaling.  I'm also trying to get things together for one of the stores in Tarpon Springs who has requested more of my Bottle Works and items for a craft fair in Safety Harbor in Dec.

We are so looking forward to the "Snow Place Like Tarpon Springs" event on Dec 6 and the lighted boat parade and the wonderful parade here in town on Dec 14 with Thanksgiving in between and all the fun that brings.

Hope the holidays are filled with joy for you, your friends and your family...I am so thankful for all of these in my life.

My BFF Leighton Kaye

Although she had a bit of a temper tantrum the other day, Leighton is still my "bestie" and we have some great adventures together.  Can't wait til our next one.  Meanwhile, here are a few pics...she does love to have her picture taken.

Leighton Turns Two (holding up at least four fingers so show how old)

Her party was held at John Chestnut Park and it was a beautiful location.  There was a playground nearby for the little ones to enjoy and a lake to worry Nana.  No one fell in and all was well.  The Grands were hyped to the hilt so the pictures are few and random. 

Leighton is about half way through potty training (ok...maybe not half) and, while she was on my lap and we were swinging away having a grand ol' time...well, you get the picture.  Baby wipes helped remove most of the urine smell from my jeans but I did notice that many of the adults stayed up wind of me.

Without further ado...here are the pics.  I am hoping Mama and Daddy got some of the cake etc.

And about the H'ween pictures.  As soon as I figure out another way of retrieving them from the drop box where I loaded them on my tablet to the drop box on my laptop without emailing them to myself one by one, I'll be happy to post them.

Oh, wait...here is the ONE I emailed to myself.  Will try for the rest when I have more energy.