Coffee break #98

What a nice gathering, Rosemary.....Cliffie must have been in his glory as well.....Patti, you are always working....no need for penance! Jan, hope you have a safe & happy trip....we know your battery is good!

Right Jan--have a great time

Pffftttt!!!! Glad I didn't have any coffee in my mouth wheni read that,
RD. I am rolling with laughter. Yes, the battery IS good. I am still impressed withthe service I got from that garage out in the middleof nowhere. And, of course, your willingness to drive me all over. Thank you again. That was an adventure for sure.

Got to my son's house for dinner and DIL and one of the grandies has been puking today. I steered clear of them and went to the basement to the guest room. I don't need that on top of the laryngitis. Plan is to leave around 5 am.

Found out a friend's son's family is one of the finalists on the Today show 'Sound of Music' competition. If you can vote for the LLOYD family. Pretty cool!!

Thanks for the good thoughts about my trip. I'm pretty excited!!

Stay well, Jan......Just had the furnace cleaned, last week it was the fireplace.....hope I'm set for the winter....oh, yeah, put new batteries in all the smoke alarms, too......

good for you on the batteries. The furnace people in the company here are quite good about scheduling cleaning.

Thanks, RD. Took our luggage up to the office. Bus will be here at 8:00 in the morning. Will check in if I can sometime. Otherwise it will be after the 14th. Stay warm everyone!!

Hoping that you have a great time!

Yes, enjoy the warmth.

Nice time of the year for a FL visit.......would love to go down in January to visit my stepson, but I really can't leave Suey at this point in time........

Was supposed to have the creative writing class over today, but due to the weather, postponed until next Monday......pushed me into cleaning the house & putting up the Christmas tree....guess this is the earliest I've had one up....bought a nice full Frazier fir........

less than an inch of snow overnight. DH cleared off driveway with a push shovel. 34° sprinkles

Good way to bring on the Christmas spirit, Marilyn! Jan's visit with her older friend and her friend's companion this coming Sunday has helped us get into the spirit. We had packed away all of our Christmas ornaments and dishes and decorations ane weren't going to get them out from the bottom of the stacks of moving boxes in our shed, but how can you have a holiday brunch on Fiestaware plates? Nah.....we decided unpacking some decorations and the china -which we always set out in our dining room as a decoration all month - will help our spirits as well. So, now we are ready to enjoy some Christmas cheer with Jan and friends! 😄

Well, that sure looks weird! Lol. Our table and chairs aren't QUITE THAT laid back, literally! I should have written this on the other site which is IPad friendly! Bummer . But you get the idea.....still have to add some pretty holiday flowers as a centerpiece

The table looks lovely....aren't you nice to get out the packed away boxes! We would be having brunch on plastic! Enjoy your company, Louise.......miss you & all the rest of the gang!

Pretty festive table Louise,enjoy your visit!
We got almost 5'' of snow yesterday, was supposed to be a dusting...what a mess everything froze at once, traffic was litterly at a standstill. We were on our way home from my granddaughters riding lessons and what should have been a 20 minute drive was 2 1/2 hours. So many stuck cars, spinning tires and accidents. Glad we had four wheel drive. Shame on our county for not being better prepared!
Glad I got the outside decorations done on Wednesday when it was warm.

less than an inch of snow. drizzle off & on. More snow predicted for tomorrow (Tues).

I'm not ready for this weather, although it is Dec.

I haven't gotten to the Holiday table plan for this year so I am way behind Louise which will be so festive. I now do know that we are staying in Nantucket this year instead of going to Vermont as DS just decided he wants to be on the Island as many of his friends will be here over the holiday. He is in between restaurant jobs in NYC so he will actually have more than 48 hours home for the first time in many years. His new job is at a soon to be opened place that is under construction so he will just be working on hiring and ordering equipment but not really in earnest until Jan. He is enjoying his paid 3 weeks off.

I tried an experiment that may have good all wrong because I forgot about it until today. I had sunk my large collection of Hippeastrum in the ground for the summer, then dug the pots up in early Oct and put them under a big heavy tarp to stay totally dry, dark and cool until late Nov or until the first frost. I just remembered them when I heard the weather forecast this morning for very cold weather and snow, so my DH brought three full wheel barrels of them to me as I staged them in the GH which was already full. A few show sounds of life with green shoots poking up, so I will now soak them all and hope that I didn't kill them So dumb of me. Will advise.

Wow, Got it done in the nick of time as it is now snowing huge flakes. Patti

Christmas on Nantucket sounds romantic! Nice to have your son home, miss mine even though he lives only 40 minutes away. Patti, I think your amaryllis should be fine.....one year I left a yellow one(small but interesting) in our unheated garage.....totally forgot about it until one summer's day, my DH said something yellow was blooming on the shelf in the garage....Yep, no water for a year & it bloomed! The bulb was so shriveled by that time, I just chucked it......

Robindog, That gives me hope. I think we have about 90 in pots so it would be a huge loss for having the winter blooms we so love. Patti

Wow....90 amaryllis blooming is a sight to behold....I have 6 this this year, but only one is producing a flower stalk so far.......I planted mine in the garden this summer, dug them out in Sept. & repotted them....I'll just have to wait to see if they're OK.......

I have had some for over 30 years or their offsets, so losing them would be very sad. I was too stupid with my hair brained idea. A few had started to send up some foliage even in their cold canvas cave so I am holding my breath. They are now well watered and in the GH, not in direct sun.

Off to get a Christmas tree on this cold morning. Hope we warm up next week as we have all our bulbs to plant yet, so I need it to thaw out a bit and be more comfortable to work outside in than in the 20's. Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. But it is a pretty sunny day with some snow still showing under the trees, so a good day to go look at Xmas trees. Patti

DH got our tree, & it is waiting in the garage out of the snow. Too soon to put it up, although I will get my wood Swedish trees & their candles for the mantelpiece.

I put up my tree on Sunday....it was early, but I'll take it down right after Christmas......stopped at the nursery & bought a dark pink poinsettia & a white cyclamen....I guess that's it for me!

wow patti - thought the bulbs would need to be in by now - I have a few that did not get planted yet - will keep them cool in the garage and hope for the best.

Check this out about lyme

http://boston.com/lifestyle/health/blogs/daily-dose/2013/12/12/three-deaths-reported-from-heart-inflammation-caused-lyme-disease/P76VcyTQJBBwifaYcRlaNK/blog.html

Wha, my rule of thumb for planting is from a Cornell University publication, "Time of Planting:
October is the best month to plant all the spring flowering bulbs. Tulips show some reduction in size of bulb and length of stem when planted after December 1, but any time before December 15 is reasonably satisfactory for them."

But our ground is often so warm in Oct that I normally wait until Dec. But it looks like I may be a week late this year. I have even planted many that I picked up on sale in January that bloomed a tad later, but did just fine and have returned to their normal bloom schedule during the second year.

Now to read the latest horrors about Lyme that you just sent me. Heard today that we have even larger deer herd on Nantucket than previously thought. Not good. Patti

latest horrors indeed

not questioning the bulb planting - always thought you had posted the MARATHON planting earlier in the year. good luck with this years batch!!

Thanks for that heads up, Bill. We had a young vet in CT once who became completely incapacitated from undiagnosed Lyme. It is really a serious threat.

Yet my dog gets the vaccine every year. My vet said it was because the humans can sue.

There was a human vaccine for Lyme ....maybe 10-12 years ago....my doctor recommended I get it, & I did have one shot.....then it was reported the vaccine was causing Lyme symptoms, including in yours truly! The vaccine was discontinued. I have had the rash once. I also have had problems with heart palpitations this summer, had to wear a heart monitor, & have found ticks on me several times, including just last week.....Nothing found by wearing the heart monitor & palpitations have decreased, but I'm certainly going to tell my doctor to read that article....thank you, Bill!

Seems late in the year for ticks, yours must be very aggressive. DH was raking up pine needles to use a mulch on new plantings. I hope ticks were not hiding in there.

I took my dog for a walk on the water pipeline....that's where I picked it up....may have been some in the pine needles as well.......

Wow, Marilyn, it does seem late to have ticks still kicking! I am very glad that you noticed it! Is Miss Suey doing well today?

As many of you know, we were trying to keep up our Christmas spirits despite the fact that all of our ornaments and decorations are all packed away already in preparation for a move this winter or Spring......BUT......WE KEEP CAVING and doing some SMALL decorating with whatever we can get to. We were "NOT going to go so far as to put up a tree"....,,,,well, maybe just a tiny tree? LOL

Our mutual buddy, Jan 23, is coming tomorrow for brunch. I just can't wait to see her and her visit with 2 friends will make the season festive for us, and hopefully for them too. Hank has offered to make blueberry & banana pancakes for us, so they will leave full and sleepy. 😀.

Well, we are off the ship and back at my friend's place in Florida and sooooooooo looking forward to a festive brunch tomorrow with Louise and Hank and the girls. Woohoo!!!!

Lyme's is no joke. One of our grandies was just diagnosed with it recently when she woke up with a knee so swollen and painful that she couldn't walk on it. Apparently blood tests showed Lyme. Not sure of the exact prescription, but weeks of antibiotics.

Caught up with everyone's goings on and a holiday in Nantucket is awesome. One in CT sounds great also. We aare going to be in Atlanta for Christmas at Jeff's brother's. I will leave Florida next Sunday. On the 23rd I'll pick Jeff up at the airport, spend a few days there then head home. We'll do our Christmas in January when several of the boys and families will be in NJ.

I heard about the snow I missed. Hehehe it was in the 80's where I was. Wnderful!!!

All the snow isn't here as yet. Still have some mailing to do.

Glad that you had a great time!

Sounds like a great trip, Jan.....Louise, Hank is a doll for volunteering to cook! Miss Suey is doing pretty well, the meds are keeping her 'normal' for now....I don't know how long she'll be with me, but I'm giving her extra treats & love every chance I get. Ordinarily, we'd be out walking right now, but the 5" of snow has nixed our plans!

Yes, Marilyn....Hank is a keeper! 😍. We had a great visit with Jan! She is such a lovely person and we enjoy her so much. It was just plain fun! Such a welcome holiday visit! We were so busy talking we didn't even think to take any pictures.

Marilyn, glad to hear Suey is doing pretty well. Lots of lovin and treats are definitely on the agenda.

I concur with what Louise said. It was a very nice visit. Good food and good friends. What more can you ask for? We stopped at the manatee park on the way home and were able to see some. Very cool!!!!

Stay safe!

So glad you guys had a great visit!
Florida sounds nice right now with the snow we have been getting already.
Glad Suey is doing well, lots of love to her!

Thank you, dear friends, for the well wishes for Suey......I'm sick of the snow already, hoping for a very early spring!