It's Taking Over!

Perhaps you recall several mentions of my watermelon plant not just coming back from almost-death, but taking over.. I'm here to tell you, or rather show you, that's no exaggeration!

Here is just a general view. It's not just over it's three tubs, but the sweet potatoes, too. And getting into a couple of tomato plants, and some basil...

Here's another of it in the garden. not much there not but watermelon vine, basil, and bee balm... Since it's not growing season here yet, I'm just letting them have their way since they are, you know... growing, lol

Here it is from the "back" of the garden, flowing down onto the ground and maybe trying to make an escape? Yikes! Should I be worried?




:)

Rainy Day and Trivia Night

It's been one of those days where if it's not raining (or at least sprinkling), then it looks like it's about to. (And here comes the thunder...) Super hard to fend of the urge to nap in that instance, don't you think? Haha! And other than the

watermelon taking over everything, and the bee balm, nothing much to report in the garden. Some pictures of that tomorrow, hopefully.

And with our Trivia team getting back in the groove again, even more reason to possibly, you know, indulge in a little bit of a nap. After all, I wouldn't want to hold the team back because I'm not sharp and on my game, right? Right?!

So not all that exciting today, but hey, it's something. Wish us luck tonight!

:)

More Bonus Post Cards!

Some truly awesome things come my way, they really, really do. Like funny stories from my sister (Go here to read it, lol), and The Best Mail Lady In The World!

Yep, she really is - would you look at that picture?

Those are postcards - again! She is so awesome! She sent me seven, yes *7* postcards while she was on vacation!

Here's another look at 'em.

They will get their own Post Card Saturday in the near future, but for now, just wanted to share the awesome.

Enjoy!

:)

Birthday Loot II

As promised, here's the rest of the awesome loot I got a week and a half ago. I'm telling you - I have the most awesome friends!

These are all from an online friend of mine who knows a lot of stuff I like, too, hehe. 

First off, it all came in these awesome boxes! Aren't these pretty? I love boxes. Something I get from my mother. I'll have to tell you about that sometime.

And inside one of them was - this!

Haha! It did have this note on it, lol.

And also - this! Because for someone who has Happy Hour every Friday, she couldn't believe I didn't have a flask, lol. Sorry the picture is so fuzzy.




Then last, but oh-so-definitely not least... TaDa!

Yes, that's exactly what it looks like - more awesome old postcards!!! I mean *old*. Some are from 1906! I'll feature one of those on Post Card Saturday once my current series is done  :D

So there it all is - told you I have awesome friends!

:)

Post Card Saturday! On Saturday!

How exciting! It's time once again for Post Card Saturday! And not just any postcard Saturday, but the next in our May / Elizabeth installment. Three postcards, all in the same month (June), all in the same year (1934), same state (Massachusetts), different cities. Still no closer to knowing the relationship between these two, or what May was doing tooling around all over. But it's fun to speculate, no?

So of course, the top one is the first card of the evening, from Northhampton, as this detail shows.

Here's the back. 

And the message (Bless May for having such good handwriting! Lol)
Saturday, June 9th
Isn't this beautiful? This place is full of spots of beauty -- sure am getting to know this section of New England!
May

This next one is dated 11 days later. Was May busy? The message itself is fairly short, so maybe so. Who knows, but here's the card.

The detail, from Holyoke this time.

The back.

And the Message:
Wednesday, June 20th
Isn't this lovely? When you drive in the residential district of Holyoke it is very beautiful.
Some magnificent estates.
May

And click Read More to see tonight's last...

Birthday Loot I

I realized today that I never did get all the awesome birthday loot up here! And as I was taking pictures and stuff, I realized - dang, I am one lucky person! I think there is just too much for one day. So I'm going to split it into two posts. Today, then tomorrow is Post Card Saturday. Then Sunday I'll show you the rest of the awesome, amazing stuff.

First up - Breakfast and a bag.

A friend of mine invited me for an awesome breakfast - arepas with various fillings, followed by quessillo (the Venezuelan version of flan - that's the picture at the top). It was yummy! 

And the gift (as if homemade breakfast wasn't enough!) - Venezuelan chocolate and this!

Haha - yep, it's an awesome bag of the flag of Venezuela. I've had so many students from Venezuela and learned so much about the country's culture, history, politics, they tell me I am an honorary Venezuelan. I've been carrying this bag, and it's the perfect size, good and sturdy, too. My friend's mother made it.

Have not used the cookie cutter yet, but soon!

And here we have more awesome stuff from one of my best friends of all time - Flamingos!

Headgear for Trivia night, don't you know!

Yep, way before I moved to South Florida, I collected flamingos. It's a not-so-long story I might relate sometime, ha ha! I have loads of 'em, and obviously still love and collect them. So she found these amazing flamingo things that I have been enjoying.

It's too pretty to put outside, though it might
make it under the covered patio area...

So there you have it - Round 1. What can I say - I love my friends because I have the best ones ever!

:)

What's Up, Doc?

Carrots, that's what! Would you look at these babies?!

Yes - those my friends, are colored carrots. They cane from a packet of seeds called kaleidoscope or something like that. There are supposed to be the standard orange, but also purple, white, and red. Isn't that cool?! Mom and I thought so when we found them and bought 'em. She took some home with her when she visited in May.

If you didn't know, carrot seeds are super tiny. The way you plant them is to take a pinch of them and sprinkle them over the dirt where you want to plant then. Then a thin layer of dirt, water, etc. 

My carrots have been up for a while, and one of the parts of this process I've not been looking forward to is thinning them. They have to be thinned so that the ones that are left will actually grow into regular carrot size. If you've read anything here, then you know how I hate throwing out live plants... *sigh*

Something in a book I read though said not to think of it as throwing out or ending live plants, but as an early harvest. So I brought these in and am going to try them tomorrow. I also, well, I'll admit it. I um, transplanted a lot of the carrots I pulled up into an empty tub, lol. No idea if they'll grow or not, but at least I'm giving them a chance, right? 

Anyway - at least something's growing aside from basil, lol. I need to get out there this weekend and do a good once over, add some fertilizer, etc. I will, of course, let you know how it goes, ha ha!

:)

Just A Little Overkill

Yep, ran out of soup containers and
had to employ some others...

I'll be the first to admit that even I don't understand my thought processes sometimes. But this is a picture of approximately 12 quarts of chicken broth. Yes, nearly 3 gallons of homemade chicken broth that now takes up most of a shelf in my freezer.

There's a good reason for it! Well, I don't know about good,but there's a reason. Yes, I'll even share my own brand of crazy that is my brain at times.

I was reading the flyers from the grocery stores that come every week (yes, I look at them. I'm a dork, okay? But saving money is saving money, right? lol). One of the chains had whole chickens on sale, and I thought to myself that that sounded like a decent price, maybe I should get a couple... it's easy enough to cook them, then freeze the cooked chicken, and hey - I'd get chicken broth, too! After all, I am forever running out of chicken broth, I don't know why.

Only it turns out that Costco's regular price on whole chickens was even lower. And I just had it in my head that I *had* to have these chickens to cook! It was not an option, but a necessity! I *needed* those dang chickens! (No, I really did not, but it was just there in my head that I did, you see. And well, that isn't the kind of thing that easily changes once it's there. So... here we are, lol.)

I dutifully bought those chickens, and cooked 'em up yesterday (I also bought a huge thing of ground beef that I made meatloaf out of, and froze the rest. Yep, one of those moods, lol). Only I obviously added way more water to them than I needed to. 

They cooked and cooked and yep, the meat came off the bones. And there was this *huge* stock pot full of broth. I grew up learning that throwing food away was a sin so... it turned into 12 quarts, give or take, of chicken broth. Now safely stowed in my freezer.

Feel free to laugh. I won't hear you anyway, lol

:)

Post Card Saturday on Sunday - Again

So here we go again! The second installment of the May - Elizabeth post card odyssey! Sorry it's late again. I'll save you all the boring excuses, lol. Let's get to it!

That card up there is card number one for tonight, or I guess 4th overall. There are two from May 1934, and one from June. All three are from Massachusetts. Still no clue what May was doing traveling all over, but clearly her sister or cousin or close friend in New York was the recipient of all of these. And kept them, it seemed. No telling if Elizabeth traveled at all during this time and got them when she came back, or was permanently established in New York.

The detail of where Card #4 is from

Remember - this was 1934. Women married young and that was her job the rest of her life. I need to write to this address in NY and see what I can find out...

Postmarked May 17 from Northampton, Massachusetts:

The message says:

May 17, 1934
This is a beautiful old town, right in the Berkshires. Leaving to-morrow morning for Greenfield, supposed to return here later.
                           May

Card #5, also from Massachusetts but Greenfield this time.. Post marked May 21, 1934

The detail

The back

And the message:

Hello, there, how are you  I passed through Holyoke on my way to Northanpton, before I came here.
This country is the heart of old new England -- not only beautiful, but very interesting.
                        May

And to continue, hit "Read More"!

Catching Up

Yep, that's all I feel like I ever do these days, lol. It's been a long, tiring week, let me tell you. Not sure if I'll get postcards done today or not. Definitely tomorrow, however. Still on the alternate computer, but I'm working around that. I'm not deliberately trying to be a tease, I promise!

Anyway, working my way through stuff. More later and/or tomorrow, regardless.

Thanks!

:)

Computer Chaos

So I spent time this evening getting pictures of all the amazing presents I got for my birthday. But my computer has been having some issues, and so a super scan was being run in safe mode for most of the evening. Turned up nothing.

Only when I went back to using it, *nothing* worked right. I couldn't get on the internet, ran another scan with a gazillion threats now detected...

*sigh*

I'm on another computer right now and wondering if mine is just going to have to be wiped and start over. So maybe tomorrow when I've figured out this computer better and I can save and size pictures and such and get them all here.

Sorry - keep your fingers crossed for my poor computer!

:)

Just You Wait!

Just a pretty poster! Don't you
love Mucha? I do!

That's right! Just you wait until this evening! I made out like a bandit for my birthday this year, and I'm going to share pictures! It's been a busy couple of days, however, so I haven't had the chance - yet. But that's the plan for this evening. I am *very* excited about them all!

So tune in later and take a gander if that's your thing!

:)

Take a Guess!

Hello! Guess what this is? I know it looks rather um... something, lol. It's not as bad as it looks, however. Because it's a...

Sweet potato!

Yep, I couldn't stand it and dug one up. There are some others, so that's cool, and as you see, this one is pretty small. So eventually I'll have bigger ones. Hopefully anyway, ha ha.

The white potatoes? Tried to dig those up. Turns out they were just weeds in that tub. One solitary tiny potato in the whole thing. For now that tub is empty. When things cool off, I'll see about what to put in there.

Hey - sweet potatoes are new, right? 

:)

Post Card Saturday!

So tonight I'm starting something special. Or sorta special. I guess I'll leave it up to you to decide, ha ha!

In the first batch of postcards that my student gave me were many addressed from the same person (May), to the same person (Mrs. Elizabeth Mason). I don't think these are all the cards there can be out there, and I suspect letters were sent as well. 

From the messages it seems the two are close, but I have no idea if they are related, good friends, or what. The handwriting is very good, though, lol. 

The cards themselves are from several different places, and May seems to be staying in hotels, so she must be traveling. It's hard to tell it all from just these 24 cards. 

They were all sent in 1934 and 1935. But I will post them all eventually, in chronological order of them being sent.

This week I'm starting with three, and I'll figure out next week if I do the rest individually, three at a time, or by location. I'm open to suggestions! 

These first three are all from Raleigh, NC in 1934. Up top is the front of the first one, dated May 4, 1934. Here's the detail of the bottom, stating where the card is from.

Here's the back. Sorry it's blurry.






And here's the message, much clearer, lol.

Took (?) bus out to State College --- it is perfect enormous --- building after building and extensive grounds, beautifully kept.  

May

To see the other two, click "Read More"!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yep, yesterday was my birthday! I won't tell you how old I am. but it's.. up there, ha ha. It was a great day, and I can't express how happy and thankful I am to all my friends who made it special for me. I'll have a proper post card post tomorrow, and pictures soon of all the cool stuff I got. 

In the meantime, he's a picture of a cake. Why? Well, why not? Yesterday was my birthday! Lol - And it is Friday after all. Enjoy!

:)

An End to Misery!

 Ahhhh... Air Conditioning... How I do love thee...

Yes, that's right, the AC is fixed! I meant to post about this last night, but I was too busy basking in the cool air, changing the sheets, taking a shower I didn't sweat after, and sleeping for real. Ah-May-Zing!

And heck yeah - the branches are gone, too! Above is the first picture of the branches they cut down to repair the lines. Here's the other one.

And these, yes, these are the after pictures, because they sure did come to get them yesterday. Yet another awesome event that made yesterday the best day in AGES.

Keep your fingers crossed it all stays in working order... haha! And yep, I just knocked on wood.

:)