Keeping Warm

All cats like to be warm...mine are no exception! Look closely at the photo & you can see the bricks in the lower right part--that's the platform for the wood stove & Tuck likes to be as close as he can! Somtimes he sticks his head underneath or curls up behind it! Does it look like they'll be fighting soon? Well,it was a rare occasion --they started grooming each other! The gray cat ( Squeak) is 12 & Tuck is 15 & up til 6 months ago there was always other cats in the mix & these 2 weren't the best of friends & it didn't matter.....

Was happy to catch this "on film" as we would say in years past.......

Merry Christmas!

These are the preliminary shots for our family Christmas card from 1950....Ann, Judie & Susie Lou the cat! Not sure if my sister was laughing or crying because the cat stuck her in this one! She was hard to get to sit still!

And the finished product! Notice--no cat! I'm sure the colorized version was just for th 8 x 10 my parents got. Note our strange hair color--yellow on top of the brown?!

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas & Happy healthy New Year! And thank you all for your friendship over the past years--may it continue for years to come!

Looking Out My Back Door.....

A few early morning shots out the back door

Love the pink in the sky--it doesn't last very long!

A Family of Readers.....

We went to MA. to celebrate with my family this past weekend. Had a great time--the ride back wasn't great because of the snow in eastern MA, but after an hour of driving it cleared up--only took an extra 45 minutes. We opened presents on Sat. afternoon--everyone got books and settled in to read very quickly! here's my brother and his son.......

Alan with one of his new books......
Me and one of the great books I got--the new Sandra Lee slowcooker cookbook...

And Alan showing off the new "old man" sweater ( his term!) that my Mom got him for Christmas!

All Smiles--Guess We Got What We Wanted!

Christmas 1955 with our new metal doll suit cases. I think we had Ginny dolls and lots of fabulous "custom made" ( by Mom , Aunt & Gramdma) doll clothes.

On the road again.

Leaving in a few hours to visit my family ( brother, sil, niece & nephew & my mom). We trade off years going to each others houses to celebrate the holidays, but tougher for Mom to travel so we're going up there.
New housesitter this year for vacation, so he's doing a trial run this weekend---should be fine--he's been to the house numerous times so the animals are acquainted with him already.
Big snowstorm coming--they just changed it so we're now supposed to get it tomorrow afternoon & evening instead of Sunday--that's great --should be over by the time we hope to drive home.

Now off to organize everything we are taking!!

What a Treasure Trove I found!

These photos are great--from 1950-1955 there are lots of me & Judie...My brother was born in 1956 & then most of the photos are of the 3 of us or just him.........These are from 1952 The stocking were hung.....

Another old one!

Looks like it was taken the same Christmas as one I posted last week. That's my Mom on the left, me & my sister. My sister passed away at 49yrs. old--13 years ago. I miss her every day--she lived with us for the last 4 yrs. of her life, but especially miss her at this time of the year. I think she loved the holidays & her enthusiasm rubbed off on all around her.

Chelsea Market, NYC

the decorations in Chelsea Market were outstanding--definitely not your run of the mill holiday decor. This tree is totally covered with CD's--many cut & twisted into shapes. A closeup of the tree--sorry it's so dark...... Close up of a wreath made tthe same way--I don't think it would go in my house, but it was interesting!

A fountain. The building that Chelsea Market occupies used to be a Nabisco( National Biscuit Co.) bakery that made many products from Saltines to Oreos. They took the huge lobby and made it into Chelsea market & the rest of the building is office space--the Food Network is in this building.They did a great job of incorporating many of the features of the bakery into the new space. It now has quite a few restaurants and a few shops in it. It was bustling on Saturday.

More decorations.

Love these lights! All made with plastic cups--wonder how they're made so they don't burn?

Gelato shop right next to the bokstore--I think there were at least 3 bakeries in there, too!

They left the giant fans from the bakery .....

And a cool light

The Book Signing--The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond

I left my house at 6:15 AM yesterday to drive to JoAnne's for our trip into New York City for Ree Drummond's book signing of her Pioneer Woman cookbook. It was very cold! ( 16 at my house). We got to the train station & the 1st one to come along wasn't the express, but we were freezing so we got on! On route 8 driving to JoAnnes
Got to Grand Central Station & went outside & got a cab....the cabbie drives awhile & stops--he says " I'm new & I think this is the right area, I'm going to go ask" It was --only needed to go another block or so. Walked into Chelsea Market and way down to the end where the bookstore was--it was 10:20 and the signing was scheduled for 11--about 50-75 people already in line.

The young lady in the plaid shirt was from new Haven (CT) and we had delightful conversations with all the people around us--several found "small world" connections

The signing was at Posman Books--an independent bookseller with 2 locations in NYC--what a great sore--happy to see them doing good business while we waited!

They let people in in groups of 10. Ree looked great & was very gracious. She took time to talk to, have pictures taken with everyone that came through the line--it was definitely worth going to! She had someone there that would take your camera & take photos of you & was also taking photos for her--maybe we'll end up on her blog!

JoAnne & Ree

Me & Ree

JoAnne, Ree & me

More photos of NYC & Chelsea Market to come...

Another from the Vault

Another of Judie ( my sister--she's on the right) and me --Christmas 1950. I'm guessing one pair of legs belong to a grandmother & and an aunt, but not sure! Maybe some of you read on FB --JoAnne posted about going to NYC to Pioneer Woman's ( Ree Drummond) book signing--well, I'm going , too--Can you imagine both of us with cameras? Think we have the picture taking covered! This is Central Park--don't think we're going there--going to try for Rockefeller Center--I heard the trees are gorgeous!

Is He Coming Yet?

Found a bunch of old photos from Christmas time; will be posting some throughout the next week or so. This is in 1950; me on the right & my sister; waitng for Santa!

Family at the Fair

Just go this photo from a friend--she had taken it at the fair this year.......My brother & his family make the trek down to come to the fair most years--don't have many pictures of all of us together--I'm usually behind the camera!

Why Don't We Just Dance?

Such a catchy tune--makes you at the least tap your toes or want to get up & dance! Love the way they show many decades of dances from the robot to disco and lots in between--and I like Josh Turner! It can't help but put a smile on your face!
My favorite line in the song.....
Baby why don't we just turn that tv off Three hundred fifteen channels of nothing but bad news on Well it might be me but the way I see it the whole world has gone crazy ...
So baby why don't we just dance

I love this kind of snowfall.....

The kind that snows overnight & is done by the morning and melted by the next night! ( Well, not quite all melted!) i went out at 7:30 am to get the Sunday papers and Rafe came along with his ever-present "baby". It's a small stuffed panda that he carries everwhere--I try to get him to leave it in the house, but that doesn't always happen. The sun coming up through the trees

Covering the pine boughs

Looking down the driveway