ahhh ... The Ocean

I am home, but I want to share the joy of the weekend with you.

I am not sure how long it has been since I had a weekend away from home - shedding all the roles and responsibilities of my life. But it has been long enough that I just don't remember.

The trip to the ocean was wonderful.

So eager was I to depart that I forgot to take pictures until I got to The Bridge.

For me,

the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

is

The Bridge.

Big.

Scary.

Thin.

Over lots and lots of water.

Lots of water.

Lots.

And I forgot to put the life vest on my Subaru!

It is long - over 4 miles.

It sways even in low winds.

It is high.

It turns a corner in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.

(Who thought that was a good idea!)

I have spent probably 30 years hating The Bridge, but not today.

No fear,

no anxiety,

no shallow breathing.

Nothing.

Just joy at riding in the direction of the ocean.

(I was even taking pictures, while driving The Bridge, for gosh sakes.)

The country side on the Eastern Shore of Maryland is very flat.

Much of it is filled with farms. Some are abandon.

Although a bit desolate, I love the look and feel of this picture.

It reminds me of a painting.

Three or four small towns dot the trip to Ocean City.

It used to be more common to see small family grave yards in the middle of open fields.

Many have sadly disappeared.

The trip takes about 3 hours when you do the speed limit. I guess I got a bit bored!

Yes, this is me smiling for the camera ... that is resting on my steering wheel.

(Trust me, there were no other cars near me!

Trees with big fat sturdy trunks

that might smash my new car entirely if they got in my way

but no cars. And no trees stepped out into the drive lane, thankfully.)

:-)

Love my new sweater (Pattern: The February Lady's Sweater) that I finished blocking the day before. Here is a shot of my sleeve.

Don't ask how I got this picture!

Dig those buttons.

Amazing color.

(Stop it! I am watching the road.)

I have taken other pictures of this sweater with the idea of putting it on the blog, but the colors were all wrong. Sitting in the car, going 60 mile an hour, I got the color perfectly.

Finally!

Ocean City in sight. I can stop taking pictures of my chest and arm now.

Besides - my camera battery was nearly dead.

Crossing another bridge from the main land to the sand bar that is Ocean City!

Excitement grows.

So close! Just over the dune.

The condo and a reminder to treat our beach with care.

And my goal!

Just me and the beach!

Perfection!

How do you improve on this!

Tomorrow: the people and stuff we did when not adoring the beach!

Escape

Tomorrow begins an "escape" weekend for me.

I am heading to an ocean-side condo my cousin owns - for a "family and fiber weekend." Pictures and stories will follow when I return.

And, oh, how I am looking forward to this break.

I love the ocean, but my chances to visit it are few.

I am eager to be just me.

Not someone's daughter

or caregiver

or wife

or mom

or grandmother.

Just me.

Hopefully I will recognize the person that is left

when I peal off all those other roles.

See you all come Monday.

NPR Interview - Knitting Behind Bars

A short note ...

Recently I did a blog posting on Knitting Behind Bars - a program started by Lynn, the founder of our knitting group ... (it is Tuesday morning - my favorite morning of the whole week, by the way!)

Anyway, she was interviewed by NPR (NPR for gosh sakes, NPR!!). Here is the NPR link. You can listen to this great story (about 9 minutes long) or read the transcript of this interview there. It was just a WONDERFUL interview. And it explains the program in Lynn's own voice.

Check it out!

Note: this is not the interview that happened at our Tuesday morning knitting group several weeks ago. That interview will be video. I will post that one as well, as soon as it is released. This one is audio!

Is it too early ...

... to do a walking update?

(Thinking out loud and talking to yourself)

You knew you were going to have a slow start. Walking 3 miles a day every day when you haven't been walking hardly at all is a bit ambitious.

By the 9th day - today - you should have walked 27 miles. Your little walking woman is showing - as of this minute - 7 miles!

A few miles short ...

So today when you dragged your butt out the door to do your walk ... because that little walking woman was beginning to haunt your thoughts ... you went over all the excuses of why you are falling short!

They are BOGUS! You berated yourself for being so willing to find excuses on day 9 of the new year!! Day 9 ... not day 60 or day 200 or even day 365. Day 9. Pathetic.

And then you started to think that maybe your goal of 1000 miles in a year was very unattainable. Think on it. That is 3 miles 7 days a week, and even when you were walking a lot, you didn't walk 7 days a week. What were you thinking? History would tell you that you were going to fall short of this goal.

Again, BOGUS! 1000 miles in a year is a goal! Yes, it is a hard goal. Yes, you will need to do better to get even close. But what good would a goal of 200 miles in a year be to you? Worthless.

And then it occurred to you ... maybe you could see just how close you could get to 1000 miles. Maybe you could make 1000 miles in a year the goal again next year or at least more miles than the previous year. Maybe you could take the long view on a long distance - 1000 miles!

Yes, that appeals to you.

And who knows ... maybe by November your weary body won't even know when it has passed the 3 mile mark - maybe you will catch up easily.

(You probably should stop talking to yourself now because someone might be listening.)

Images of a Christmas with Friends

Sunday ... day of rest!

Well, not entirely because I need to pull down all my Christmas decorations for this year!

But before I do, I want to share some images of last night's party. This party was especially sweet because last year was so dismal. Our holiday in December 2010 was severely abbreviated because of mom's recent hospital and rehab discharge. And this annual party in January 2011 wound up getting cancelled because almost everyone was ill that year and wanted to keep their distance from mom. It was the strangest holiday ever.

So here is the Christmas Party of January 2011 with some very dear friends and much loved family.

I love candid shots, and with the exception of a very few, these are candid.

The table was ready - except for the mushrooms - they were still in the oven.

Oh, there they are!

I don't think they ever made it to the table!

They went from the oven into the stomachs with record speed.

What is a party without cake! Here is the baker.

Here is the cake! Pretty beautiful - tasty too.

Time to dig in!

It is the point of the whole event!

My husband who makes a point of staying out of pictures!

This beautiful woman is my daughter!

Everyone should be lucky enough to have a daughter like her.

Lucky me!

Of course, my granddogs would be there!

Of course!!

Time spent with friends.

Both faces in this picture are worth the shot!

I love my camera.

Grimace in a quiet moment - wearing his pooch pants!

Milo focused on the fork!

Meathead focused on love.

My fantastic son with his wonderful future wife!

Gosh, that has a wonderful sound to it!

Two great kids!

Two future sisters!

The last Hurrah for our Christmas Tree.

It was a wonderful Christmas!

One problem solved ... almost

Remember that extra yarn problem?

You know, the extra yarn problem in my new craft room?

Ok, ok, extra yarn is never a problem.

But my discovery of 3 full boxes of extra yarn after I safely (and smugly) got *all* my yarn into its new home in the upstairs closet (using a shoe horn), did cause me some concern.

After all, that closet is a decent size and it is packed solid. I was kind of appalled, (like always) at the volume of my stash. That sinking feeling always happens when I wade through my stash periodically. An unsettling vision appears in my brain of my stash showing up on some Hoarders TV show - yarn hoarders - with my face attached to it!

Oh well, that is what doors are for! :-)

But then I got this great idea - Baskets! Put the yarn in baskets in that room. I don't know why I didn't think of that earlier. I have seen yarn in baskets before.

Very country.

Very decorative.

Very homey.

I can look at it decoratively displayed.

Wonderful idea.

But then there was the nagging problem of dust! I don't want my yarn dusty. It is ok if there is a thick dust layer on everything else in the house, which there usually is. But stand still for a few minutes in my house and a dust layer would settle on you.

So I got some Saran wrap to cover the yarn. Problem solved!

But ...

Another nagging problem. I don't have enough baskets to store all my remainder yarn. That stupid plastic container is still on the floor. It is still staring back at me saying,

"Hey you,

The one with too much yarn.

You, the one who is looking over her shoulder.

You have too much yarn.

I am talking to you.

Too much yarn.

Too much.

Pay attention.

Too . much . yarn!"

I think I will shut the door!

Getting Ready for Company

Yes, I said I would be back Sunday. It is Saturday. The blogging habit has returned and the need to share some pictures of my company preparation just seemed to make the prep time more productive!

Does that make sense?

This party is a yearly event for this group. It was started by another member of the group more than 25 years ago. She has since retired to Florida, and I volunteered to continue the tradition by hosting the yearly party.

She set the standard - keep it simple, buy the food, use disposable dishes and cups, enjoy your company. And since no one expects more, I usually follow in her practice.

But each year I do make a few things that are more than she would do.

For example - Banana Bread totally filled with walnuts. No recipe - this is a package mix by Dole (the Banana people) that I get from my local warehouse store. It is yummy! I could make this from scratch, but being a devout non-cooker, I don't believe in making things from scratch if a wonderful option is available (and yes, there is a piece missing - you ALWAYS need to check to be sure it is OK for your guests - and my daughter checked behind me to be sure that I wasn't wrong - and I considered checking behind her to make sure she wasn't wrong.)

If not careful you can "check" things right out of existence. :-)

I made Deviled Eggs this year. I love Deviled Eggs and they are so easy to make.

The Stuffed Baked Mushrooms are the creation of my predecessor. The mushrooms are the one thing that people seem to expect. No picture yet, because they are made at the last minute.

I always like having raw vegs and a tossed salad available so that those who are dieting have some options. That was also my addition to this party.

And the spiral cut honey ham is a standard - and it is the only time I have it all year. I love ham but my husband is not a fan. So once a year is good enough. We include roast beef and cheese for those who aren't ham fans.

And, of course, I discovered that I didn't have enough wine glasses for the guests, so I ran out to buy new ones at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Nothing fancy because I break them all the time. Gave them a quick wash.

While there I found a ceramic platter on clearance for $6.99 and with my 20% off coupon, the platter cost me $5.59. I was thrilled.

It had a decent design - but kept reasonable by being all white.

Setting up the buffet table is always fun. By the time I get all the things to the table that I planned, I always discover that I over-planned. Here is an early shot - a few of the dishes that will be used.

But it always happens. Too many dishes. But to begin with I just get dishes out on the table, slowly over the afternoon. Food that cannot hit the table now, sits in the fridge and the dish on the table is labeled with its name.

So it is now about 2:30 pm. No one is expected until 7:00 pm. All I need to make now are the stuffed mushrooms - that are made at the last minute.

My to-do list probably has something else on it, but I am not looking. I am sitting - resting my feet and ...

Visiting with you!

:-)