Saturday, January 31, 2015

My Foster Lani

 Lani had a tough week having suffered some type of injury or incident. with some veterinary assistance and a little TLC, I believe we have her on the road to recovery. I believe she deserves a post of her own!

Isn't she regal? She's a Rat Terrier from the Decker line with a pedigree to prove it. This means she's a giant rat terrier with a serious prey drive.
 

Here she is after being medicated with a pain killer. Snuggled up in a blankie on the dog bed in front of the fire place on a cool night for central Florida.
 

Eddie and I snuggled up with a candle and watching TV on that same coo night. Can you find Alice in this photo????

Friday, January 30, 2015

Childhood Friend

A childhood friend of Jerry's was recently visiting in our area. Dave & Jerry grew up in Philadelphia and their dad's both worked for the Philadelphia Gas Company. His sister, Joyce, also came. Jerry really enjoyed visiting and catching up and I was happy to finally meet the folks I'd heard so much about.

Me, Dave, and Jerry in our house


Dave & Jerry


Brother and sister - Joyce & Dave


Joyce & Dave at Bonefish Grill

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Sanibel For The New Year

 
After Christmas there was New Year's dinner at my moms. Then there was a weekend in Sanibel! Jerry & I and Hellen & Les left on Friday the 2nd and returned on Sunday the 4th. We stayed at the Seaside Inn again (see post from Mother's day 2014 for photos) and ate some nice meals, hung out on the beach, enjoyed the view, and relaxed. Got a couple photos. The surf was too rough for shelling.

Christmas 2014


Our advent - we forgot to light one of the candles on week#3 so week#4 we lit the last two.
 

Christmas dinner at mom's (above is Hellen hiding, Lea, and Sarah - below is Jerry, Lea, Sonya, Sarah, tommy, Don, Les, Hellen, Mom))

The dogs had a secret santa and we opened some gift early and some Christmas morning




Christmas morning shot of the annual Swarovski crystal snowflake that Jerry gives me every year. 2014 is particularly beautiful.

Random shot of Eddie with Uncle Les

And, for the final, yes I did give my hubby pooper scooper service for Christmas!



Saturday, January 17, 2015

Still Catcing Up

So, my Aunt Hellen and her husband Les flew in from Oregon to spend the holidays with family. Yea! We picked them up at the airport, had a nice dinner, and then said goodbye because they drove up north a bit to spend time with aunt Mary & Uncle Larry.

When they returned on the weekend we all went to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse to celebrate both mom & Les's birthdays.

 

The next day I took Hellen & Les to temple.
 


The next weekend was my birthday and I choose Polish food, Yum yum. (had to borrow a photo online, mine did not turn out). We enjoyed all the items in this photo though (perogis, cabbage rolls, kielbasa).

The next day was my actual birthday and I had some tickets for the ballet (Moscow Ballet Nutcracker) and I invited Aunt Hellen to go with me. It was fabulous and quite different than the version Jerry and I saw last year.
 


Oh my! I skipped over Christmas Next time.


Randomness

Still catching up with photos from my phone:


A local breakfast restaurant has this giant rooster and they sometimes dress him up for the holidays. This is his ugly Christmas sweater look.


Proof that it does sometimes get cold in central Florida - I am proof in my flannel night shirt, leggings, and socks.


I previously posted about my Christmas Eve dinner and shared a photo of the menu but what I didn't share was the invitations I had printed via VistaPrint and send to ny family members. The inside of the card had the details, of course, but it was the cover that got their attention. We had all the items on the cover (and more) except the fried catfish on the top right - I didn't fry anything. Add in cab dip, seafood lasagna, and orange roughy imperial and then you have it!

Alice Eating Cookies In Her Box

If you scroll back to a previous post titled "Free Art Friday" you can learn about a monthly event where Artist leave their work around town once a month for others to find. I wasn't aware of this and saw what I thought was a poster under a tree surrounded by trash. It was a windy day and it had apparently blown off the spot where the artist had left it and got a bit wrinkled and a little torn in the process. I followed the directions to let the artist know it was safe with me.


She felt bad that this happened to her art and happy that I rescued her and said she would bring me another that wasn't damaged. What she brought was a full reduction print to replace the artist proof! very kind and generous. I took Alice to Michael's to have her framed and she now proudly sits in our house.

The artist explained that a reduction print is where there is a "carving" for each color and as you ink/paint each layer you then cut away that part of the print and do it again with another. When you are finished there is nothing left. You can never make another print like the previous ones because the original work is destroyed in the process.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FAFStPete/?fref=ts

No Camera

My lack of posting, especially during the holidays, is the result of my digital camera going kaput a few months ago. I'm less motivated to blog without photos. But, we had such an exciting holiday season that I want to document/share. So, I'm going to use photos from my iPhone and try to catch up.

Shortly after Thanksgiving I FINALLY talked my husband into going to the Thai temple in Tampa on a Sunday morning. We met a coworker (tip) there. The dragons in the photo were in the Palm River on the night of Loi Krathong. We ate noodle soup, desserts, summer rolls, and visited for several hours with a couple of my coworkers and their friends.



Did I ever mention that I found two albumns of our Solana/Lani/Lollie online? They were from when her previous owner had recently acquired her and was excited to have her. So excited, when she got old she dumped her in a kill shelter. (Exiting my soap box) Here are the links to see Lani as a youngster: http://imageevent.com/sierras_heaven/diamondvalleyssolanashlani/solanalani and http://imageevent.com/sierras_heaven/diamondvalleyssolanaatsh/thegiftsofthemagifamily


My nickname for her is Sasquatch because she has big feet. That big girl can twist and fold herself into the smallest of spaces and prefers to sleep in tiny beds.

At my work place we sometimes have available free or discounted tickets to performances at a local venue that the city manages. Just to be clear, we do have to report the value of the tickets on our federal taxes. Usually they are unsold or complimentary tickets. I was able to secure a couple to the Florida Orchestra's holiday performance and Jerry and I made a date of it! The performance was awesome and then we went to a steak house for dinner and that was great. Couldn't help getting a photo of the cows dressed up for Christmas. 

Thursday, January 1, 2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It was a quiet transition from 2014 to 2015 in our house last night with the exception of neighborhood fireworks.

In a strange turn of events, Jerry was up and witnessed the change and I was in bed and missed it. Usually he doesn't stay up and I do but I'm coming down with something and left work early and went to bed. He had to do some online work which involved completing 7 courses so he was up very late.

Lani ignored the fireworks, Diamond didn't hear it, but Eddie was a mess. The older he gets the less tolerant. He was panting and going in and out of the covers as I tried to sleep. Poor boy.

The highlight of the evening was a dinner. I got up around 6 to fix us a dinner of lobster tail and a very thick porterhouse steak. I read an article online about Bobby Flay's favorite porterhouse preparation and it was fabulous - easy, quick, and fab! What a way to end the year.