Hackberry Trees, etc. #9

Definitely! Going to attempt the highways today to go home. Snowed again last night from here to there. We have no experience for this kind of weather.

Have thoroughly enjoyed our visit with our son and his family. He and Amie have been married just over 3 years. We brought his daughter, Payton (the ballerina) with us. Amie has a beautiful daughter, Sydney so we have had a houseful. A 15 and 16 year old girls keep the place hopping. Never seen so many electronic devices in my life. Even in the store. hahaha

Pray for our safety today. Mike is a good driver but too many others drive like there is nothing to be careful of. oooowww bad grammar.

Princess Kilikina

Be safe, christi.

Will have you in our thoughts til you get home safely and let us know as soon as you do.

Christi, my angels are still there. Just remember, do not drive faster than my angels can fly. Love you all very much.

Hi Princess Leia and Kilikina and the mere mortals like me,
Sounds like everybody has had a happy and good time. As Christi says, the kids are very electronically orientated. Tim's much more tech savy than me. Will use the Library computer in St Pete Beach.
Think those are indoor pink boots, Sharon; we don't wear outside shoes in house. Think they might be fashionable among the kids, well the girls (pink!). They're rather conspicuous because Alyssa had knee surgery, so has foot resting up. Alyssa's allergic to nuts and fires! Can always add the almonds to the runner beans, but can't have fires. Just read about excitotoxins (specifically from MSG) in foods. Have long assumed food and other additives are having a major effect in promoting allergic reactions and all sorts of other health problems.
Picture was painted by Carol's late Mom's. Carol changes Mom's pictures with the seasons, as her mother did. Next will be daffodils, but some time to wait!
LIke nutcracker men; think they came in in Austrian in Victorian times.
Agree with you Christi about being especially careful around some other drivers. Good that Mike thinks the same.
Charlie

Marti...... Happy Almost New Year!!!!!
Snow...Snow....snow...
I am so so so cold.... Moan.

You need a little brandy. That will warm you up. Or B&B. B&B is great and it only takes a small amount. You warm it slightly and sip. Probably the price alone would warm you up from shock.

Tim provided us with Christmas pudding and brandy. We did not want to chance igniting the brandy on the pudding, but it was good anyway.

WE ARE HOME........AT LAST!!!!!!

Christi

Yayyyy christi.
Thanks for letting us know.

Glad your home and safe. Now relax.

Home sweet home.

Sorry I am delighted because I was out but so glad you are home safe. My angels are headed somewhere else. Love you. Talk tomorrow. Any steps backward???

Thanks to all of you for your concern for us while we were traveling. Saw lots of automobiles in ditches, turned sideways and heavily damaged. No one was around them so guess they happened before we got there. We are both tired from simple tension of driving on ice. Snow crunches, ice is deadly. We have a CRV with all wheel drive, even that doesn't compensate for ice.

That is history and we are wrapping up another year. Does this count as a decade?.......2,000-2009......or must we include 2010? It has already been 10 years since the scare of the millennium business. Seems like yesterday.

Having 4-5 very close friends to ring in the New Year. Sometimes we don't even make it till midnight. Now that is *old*.

Praying for the very best for all of you for the New Year. I am glad to put 2009 behind me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

PK

Have a blessed day all my friends. I think everyone is ready to say farewell to 2009. We are taking the grandchildren to this gourmet hamburger place at 1pm. That will take about two hours and then we will be home for the rest of the year. Getting my black eyed peas ready for tomorrow. Have a great day all my friends.

Happy New Year's Eve to all of you.
Be well, be safe today.
And check in tonight so I know you are all safe.
I'll be in front of the roaring fire........

Back home and we are staying home. The lunch was a bust. The company was great but my burger was goopy. I do not goopy but our youngest son Brian loved because he got two burgers. The grandchildren loved it and that is all it is about. Sharon, I just got my latest issue of Fine Cooking. They have some really fine looking vegetarian recipes, I will copy and send them to you. But you will have to cook. Do you cook? Love you all. DH is watching, I think two football and one basketball game. Anyway he is very happy. I am busy studying about worm growing because my worms should be here in about 10 days.

Got a good joke for you people. At lunch one of my granddaughters asked me about why I was growing worms. So I explained about worm castings and with the casting, you could make worm casting compost tea. Three people, DH, Granddaughter and Daughter in unison said yuck. My daughter asked, "how can you drink that?" I said, "I do not, the plants do."

Just a bunch of blonds.

Oh how funny. Just a bunch of blonds.

Happy new year to all of you!
Love you!

hahahahaha

It's been a while...
Charlie, I have been missing our indepth conversations, of course with frozen ground it would be difficult to get very indepth right now. From here in the frozen tundra I can tell you that my moments outside are only to get from here to my car and back again. And it's hard to see what's going on out there if your eyelids are frozen either wide open or tightly shut. Did you know snowflakes sting like the dickens when they fall into your eyes?

My trip to Chicago was fun, I enjoyed the train ride and you can read more about it here, if you can get the link to open: http://leftoverwords-sharonb.blogspot.com/2010/01/phoebe-and-ms-elvis-and-amtrak.html

I had fun with my little guy too, also fun with my big guy because he is an excellent cook. We must have had every kind of homemade pizza and salad imaginable.

I very definitely have the winter blahs, as do Jazz, Daisy and Cupcake. But we are all trying to stay warm and trying not to get in each other's way on those days when we have cabin fever....which is most of the time.

I hope you had great holidays, and are looking forward to spring and warm sunshine as much as I am. Shouldn't this winter be over already? I think so. Maybe we should take a vote. Oh no....Charlie is making a mad dash to Florida, so I guess we have to wait till he returns. Speaking of...how's Buddy? I am going to assume he was happy with his Christmas gifts.

Geesh, I am so tired of cold weather!

Poor Charlie. Travel all the way to Florida and their temps are also in the 20's. Citrus will be high this year.

Can't work in the yard to get ready for spring planting, so spending the days working out a graft of the yard and planning where to plant different flowers, shrubs, trees,etc according to their need for sun, part shade or full shade. So far have half the yard grafted. Now to work on the rest.

Can't work in the yard to get ready for spring planting, so spending the days working out a graft of the yard and planning where to plant different flowers, shrubs, trees,etc according to their need for sun, part shade or full shade. So far have half the yard grafted. Now to work on the rest. Got to plan walkways, veggie garden and where to plant my elderberries when they arrive.

Sounds like a plan to me, Marti, and a good way to keep from having cabin fever. It has warmed up to the low 40's during the day though, so it isn't as bad now as it was last week.

I am so so so ready for spring.

I'm still have some cabin fever. This is my first winter in KY and I'm really missing year round gardening like I did in Calif. In Bakersfield, where I was living you can take any yard waste, tree trims etc down to a special area where they run it thru a giant chipper/shredder and than for $15.00 you can buy a pickup truck load of compost for your garden. A load of landscapers go in with their big dump trucks and buy enough to do their work with. One scoop is $15.00 and will fill a pickup truck, so the price is per scoop with a big tractor. Its less if you just want chips for the garden walkways. I can't find anything like that here in Somerset. Of course, I don't have a pickup truck now either.

Great so see you back on the thread, Sharon.

You too Christi.

Sympathize with Marti, re no year-round gardening, but do probably need a break from heavy labour here.

Very pleased you had an excellent time with the boys in Chicago, Sharon.
Interested to read the blog. Tim loves trains and like your son is a good cook. The Julia and Julie film has introduced Tim to Julia Child's cooking.
He speaks fluent French, so he does it in style.

He's done Boeuf bourguignonne (Carol, he and Buddy loved it). As said, I don't eat red meat or veal. Last time up here he made chicken cordon blue (using turkey bacon). I made the dessert under his directions: baked pears with grated macaroons, brandy, etc.. Not bad! Of course, we also have wine and baguettes with the French cooking. Problem for me is that I can't eat bread (which I love) without more butter.

Picture below: we met Tim and went to the Tutankhamun exhibit in downtown Toronto today. No pictures allowed inside; outside Anubis (the jackal-headed god). Just about no snow in Toronto. We live to the north in a snow belt.

Saw 1979 Tut exhibit here. This one is a fair bit larger, with excellent historical interpretation. It doesn't have the sarcophagus and gold mask of the first one (security concerns). Relearning Tut. It's ironic that the ancient Eyptians wanted to forget the heretic pharoah, Akhenaton, likely Tut's father, and those associated with him and so the location of Tut's tomb was lost. Now Tut's the most famous of all the ancient Egyptian pharoahs.

Also the youngest of the pharoahs, wasn't he? I love Egyptian history, the hieroglyphs fascinate me, their ways of mummification, it's all so interesting. I'd love to have been with you today. I'm glad you got to see the exhibit again, Charlie.

Your pear dessert sounds great too....when I come for a visit, I want the pear dessert, ya hear?

The weather is wrecking my legs and back. I am sure it's the weather and certainly not old age, right? I keep telling myself that every day. But I have seeds accumulating, and I am anxious to meet spring face to face soon. Can't wait!

Marti, I hope you get used to the ways of KY soon. It can be frustrating even for native Kentuckians!

I used to teach (university) a component of osteology on palaeopathology. Had a great slide show on mummies of the world, including ancient Egypt. Was one of the most popular lectures I gave! Remember reading that there were/are probably a million mummies buried in Egypt. Means still lots to find.

Think as you say, Tut was young, about 19 at death. Suggestions as to his cause of death have certainly changed over recent years. Most recent (heard today, at exhibit) was a fracture of the shin bone (X-rayed) which turned gangranous (said to have died very soon after the fracture). Sounds quite speculative.

Been cold here, but not very windy recently. Good winter clothing helps.
I don't want to also rely on insulation from Tim's French cooking! We are looking forward to spring too. As said, St Patrick's Day (March 17) is the time when we see our very first flowers (snowdrops). It's another reason to celebrate that Day (Carol's heritage is very Irish and my father's mother's too).

It will take me awhile to adjust til than I'll just have to hang in here with ya all and see what I can learn or share

Hi Marti,
Think we're interested in lots of things.
Sharon's a vegetarian, I'm a semi-vegetarian and Christi is a full spectrum diner.
We (me at least) reluctantly follow Dave's dictates about no politics, but I guess it's for the good.
We're all pet owners.
Sharon and I include a lot of pictures in gardening season. Sharon's great at photography, picture composition and the like, as well as flower gardening.
I love colour.
Charlie

And I'm out of my league with these wonderful people. As plain as homemade soap. I try to learn a lot but don't have much to share. My beautiful tropical garden is history after the past week. Last Saturday it was 13 degrees. Forecast this Saturday is for 67 degrees. Nothing has a chance to actually go dormant so it is always a liability. Even my greenhouse is sad.

Christi

I am so sad about your plants Christi. We had the same here in Las Vegas but not as drastic. We always have a 10 day winter. Cold, wind, all tomatoes, peppers, basil, you get the idea, gets destroyed and then great weather and getting warmer every week. If it was easy, everyone would be a gardener.

DH and I had Doctors appointments today. Not Good. Our appointment is tomorrow. My mistake. Not good when we are both going down the tube at the same time.

Todd, Heather and baby Luke made it to Spokane yesterday evening. I now have Skype. Supposedly can see everyone on the other end so we can see Luke grow. My 16 year old granddaughter Sarah is coming over next week to show me how to work this new technology. Maybe we can all get Skype and talk to each other and you can also talk to your own children and grandchildren. And it is free. This is not a commercial, just a happy grandmother finding out how to see new grand baby and son every day. I wonder if I could get George Clooney on Skype????

If you get George Clooney on Skype, then I'm getting Skype, too.

I have a bunch of sewing to do tonight, so I'll save my words for another time....not much going on here anyway, but it was in the upper 40's today, and I did a little walkaround in the yard. Felt a little like spring, but not enough to trust Mother Nature.

Y'all have a good evening.

Beg to differ, Christi, about leagues.
You provide interesting and friendly input.
Something that particularly stuck in Carol's and my minds was your description of Katrina damage you saw in coastal Mississippi. It's always very interesting to hear about things like your extreme weather and your growing conditions. Texas is a very exotic place for us up here! Great to also hear about things like your granddaughter's ballet and Mike's barbecuing skills.
Charlie

Ditto Charlie, Christi.....meant to say that above and failed to do so.
Even trouble learning your new computer was fun to read about.

So don't sell yourself short.

Hi Sharon,
Getting warmer here too.
Off to bed. Some council minutes came in that I requested and I find I have to be wide awake when I go through them. At least these are hard copy. Found counting up things from a computer screen is a bit of an eye strain.
Charlie

Don't let that council situation get to you, Charlie, I'd hate to think something so political would drive you bonkers!

Sleep well.

I can truly sympathize with the political thing, Charlie. The 5 years I was HOA president nearly drove me crazy. Since I resigned there has been no HOA. No one wanted the responsibility or the daily work that went with it. I was really surprised as I was called for everything. Instead of calling Animal Control, someone would call me to tell me there was a dog loose. I made a lot of friends at City Hall that has continued to benefit our "Village". Seems like yesterday but we started the HOA 10 years ago and it has been languishing now for 5 years. When we formed, it was discovered that of 140 rooftops, 120 were the original buyers over 40 years ago. After all the kids got grown we had lost our network and everyone so happy to discover each other again. Sad, but in these last years we are loosing our friends and neighbors to attrition. At least 20 have passed on. We all moved here as youngsters with new babies and we are growing old together. Those who have moved in have just taken up where others left off. We are the most stable area in our little city of 60,000.....2,000 when we moved here in 1967.
We are The Village that Hillary Clinton wrote about in her book "It Takes a Village". All of our children are closer to the neighbors as surrogate aunts and uncles than they are to blood relatives. Out mayor is in his 70's and lives in the farmhouse where he was born and raised. Has nothing to gain on a personal level. He prefers to be called Bobby rather than Mr. Mayor.
We are a suburb of Dallas and metroplex, as it's called, has a population of over 4 million now. Within 30 minutes driving distance we can be in a very sophisticated shopping/dining area or a small town with all the charm of over 100 years ago. Putting all of this down makes me realize just how fortunate I am. And to sit at my own desk and visit with friends from every corner of the world....well, there are no words to express the wonder.

Christi

And it is a wonder, isn't it, Christi?

Hi Christi, Sharon,
Very interesting Christi. You did a lot to make a community. Things change, but things go on. Sounds like your Mayor is a humane and socially conscious person like you.
May have said, but was on a condominium corporation board and had some similar but also some different experiences to you. Think the problem was that some of the people in the condo (our starter home) were quite uncouth. Your's sounds like a nice neighbourhood.
I was threatened (physically) both by the the president of the board once I was elected to it and apparently by the manager before. I don't consider myself the person to be intimidated, but I did eventually resign from the board. The reason was that 'our side' fought the good fight against abuse and unfairness and won. Then when we assumed control, some of our side started to act as badly as the people we replaced.
It really reminds me of my graduate school, where we said we'll never treat our students the way (some of) our professors treated us. But, as far as I know, nothing changed.
Christ, I tend to like people like you and Sharon, people of quality!
You may be fortunate, but it's so nice to hear about good things happening to good people. You talk to people from so many places because they like and respect you.
Charlie