We Gather.

 Time rushes by, doesn't it? 

Thursday, we drove to Buffalo and picked up my youngest daughter from the airport. The traffic was hairy, but the old folks did alright. 

Friday and Saturday rushed by in a flurry of activity. People coming in. Meet ups. Food prep. 

My youngest daughter spent the next 3 nights in town to maximize her time with nieces and nephew, and siblings too. 

The reception went well and was a pleasant celebration. I am sure glad we pushed so hard to make it happen indoors. It was 53° and raining. Not a day anyone wanted to sit in an outdoor pavillion. It was nice though, and a chance to meet my son in law's family. Being a merry prankster, he showed up in a shirt he had ordered special for the occasion. It said, "I am my mother in law's favorite child." (After the laughter died down, I offered to give him back. His family said there was a no return policy.)

I had bought the flowers from Mattie's greenhouse. She also made 5 dozen rolls and the girls churned butter for us. They were a huge hit. People were able to take the hanging baskets from their tables. Even still, I ended up with three baskets at my house. They really were just gorgeous.

As mentioned, I made 20 lbs off barbecued chicken, 20 lbs of garlic chicken and about 30 lbs of ham. To my relief, everything was very good. I am nervous about things like this because if there is to be a disaster of any sort, it will happen at an important day. I was a little more nervous than usual because the day had actually started out with a power outage.  I had three large roasters plugged in and everything blinked off. It was only for a few minutes, but oh, people! I nearly had a heartattack!

After that clean up/packing up, we were glad to get back to our little house and end the day relaxing...after dividing the left over meat up into single serve packages for the freezer and scrubbing out the roasters. 

Sunday, Tim went to church. I spent the morning getting ready for dinner here. The kids and their families and their dad were all coming here for an old family comfort food: homemade pepperoni rolls, or as Iris called it, inside out pizza. 11 for dinner.

Because the day was not busy enough, I found a find. Someone I knew was selling an old fashioned oak table, 3 feet wide, 6 feet long. I knew it was perfect for our kitchen space. It was 40 min away. Tim grumbled, but as soon as he got home from church, I left my dough to rise and we headed off with the truck. For all of Tim's grumbling, he fell in love just as soon as he saw it. It is Amish made and extremely heavy. 

We got that home, the old enamel table to the basement. It will double the work area at the meat cutting station. The new table went in, and I was rolling out dough on it when people walked in the door. We don't have a lot of counter space and this was a beautifully functional addition.

Monday morning started with a huge breakfast send off at my sister's. I made a strata. She made a breakfast casserole and monkey bread. Fresh fruit and plenty of coffee, juice and milk completed that. 15 at the table that morning. We said our goodbyes there and Dylan and his family left for home.

Cara is now sleeping here. She is a very avid 'rambler' and belongs to a club back in the UK. She does 15 mile rambles and thinks nothing of it. We have walked over 20 miles in 3 days at Oil Creek Park. They have 35 miles of trails, but some of those trails were little more than deer paths, literally. We were walking on steep paths with sheer drops. She may have thought nothing of this, but it was challenging for Tim and I. We got it done, I am proud to say. Yesterday was 7.2 miles.

It is an off day for walking. Cara has business to take care of before she heads back home. Tim is chauffeuring. I am going to get my garden beds planted this morning. This afternoon, I am making homemade pizza. My sister and Cara and I will play a ruthless game of scrabble after.

Tomorrow is Friday already. Cara will spend the afternoon at my nephew's house. We will meet up with Dylan and the girls on Saturday at Bald Eagle Park which is almost precisely half way between our house and theirs. We will have a picnic and go hiking once more. 

We watched three good movies here in the evening. Remarkably Bright Creatures. Thursday Murder Club. Grandma. Light and enjoyable.

We will be driving Cara back to Buffalo airport Monday morning. I am trying to hold on to these precious days but they trickle through my fingers like water.

Crazy

 We have been busy here. I finished my last day working on the old house for the next couple weeks. The day after tomorrow  we will be driving to the Buffalo Airport to pick up my youngest. Friday night my son and his wife and my granddaughters will be coming. I plan to savor this. Tim can do as he wants.

Saturday is the wedding reception for my oldest and her husband. They got married late last fall in a small  ceremony, delaying the celebration until the weather was a bit more predictable. This is also a long weekend which allows more out of towners to get in.

You know. Things like this stress me out. I have my agenda. Thursday: airport. Friday. Pick up produce order. On the way home, pick up four roasters. We will thaw 40 pounds of chicken breast and 30 pounds of ham. Saturday, we cook that meat. 20 lbs will be BBQ. 20 lbs will be lemon pepper. I will make the salad. I need to drive up to Mattie's to pick up the rolls and a pound of churned butter. Also to pick up 8 planters of flowers for the tables from her greenhouse.

 My sister gave me a load of manure for my birthday. I told her I don't take shit from anybody but her. We shoveled manure and blabbed. It feels like forever since we have had time to just visit. They are pretty busy too, demo'ing a house on their side of the road. Today I planted my onions, peppers and tomatoes.

So...it has been a bit crazy at my house.

It has also been crazy outside our house. We had two police shootings in 3 days. I mean, we live in the middle of nowhere. To have two separate shootings within 20 miles of us is crazy. Today an 18 year old stabbed his father. A man was sitting outside with his dog. A bear showed up and took a swipe at the dog. Also in that 20 mile circle.

Outside that 20 mile radius, it is even crazier. 1.7 billion dollar slush fund for trump allies. The IRS cannot investigate any of the trumps for tax evasion.  Trump claims he was within an hour of resuming attacks on Iran but has called them off because he was asked nicely. 

There is just too much crazy right now.

 .

If I don't laugh...

Gees...sorry about the spam comments on the last post. Miss a few days of blogging and those guys sneak right in there, don't they? I hope no one contacted those pesky faith healers with strange names who can cure breast cancer. We don't need them. 

Our president claims:

"We've taken people that were dead. We had a person given the last rites -- gone, the kids are crying and everything -- and started them on this drug. And the person became better. It works."

Of corse this miracle drug is not named and no one has left their death bed to testify to this miracle. 

It doesn't matter, people will still flock to the golden idol to pray.

https://youtu.be/tdcJ85PQw90?si=38PFfTTrWrI0uDfT

Sorry for going silent. It is a busy time. My daughter is flying home this month. I am planning a small wedding reception for my daughter and her husband. My son and his family will be coming home.

After this is done, we have a trip that will take us up into Canada for a week.

In the midst of this, because Tim cannot and will not wait, we are  clearing out the old house to put on the market. 

It is a crazy time, but no matter how crazy it gets, it is crazier in Washington. This is not comforting.

We have had two hard frosts in the last two days. It dropped to 25° two days ago. Will summer ever get (and stay) here.

Posting may be light for the month of May. Ignore the spam. Don't contact any African faith healers. Ask for the revival/Lazarus drugs instead.

Just Another Rainy Day in Paradise.

 It started out as another very rainy morning. This after a very rainy night. 

Protest started at 12 and I was dreading the thought of standing in the rain again. Miraculously, it cleared off before we got to the courthouse. 

It was a small group but we have a great comaradry. And it is not just the protesters. The people driving by know we are going to be there. The tooting begins before we get situated. 

Encouraging. 

I carried this:

It is a flip off sign. The reverse side says: BLESS YOUR ❤️! When we get flipped off, I can "flip them off" right back with my sign.

 

It was a good day. 

Hypocritical

This was written by Carrick Ryan and perfectly highlights the hypocrisy of this administration and its supporters:

 'Today, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood before the world's media and made the following statement about Iran:

“This is an international waterway, No country can control them. There is no international law that allows you to say, I’m going to put mines in an international body of water, and I’m going to blow up ships that don’t listen to us and try to go through.”

“We cannot live in a world where a rogue state like this Iranian regime is allowed to claim, as a new normal, control over an international shipping lane,” 

I agree with him.

Since September last year, the US military has conducted 47 strikes on civilians marine vessels travelling in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, leading to over 190 deaths.

No criminal trials, no evidence provided to the public to justify the violence, merely an arbitrary declaration of terrorism with no transparency or accountability for who they have summarily executed.

The USA then sent its military into Caracas, killing more than 80 people, to abduct the President of Venezuela and replace him with a compliant proxy.

It then commenced a military campaign against Iran that has already killed thousands, without even attempting to conduct themselves within the parameters of international law. The UN Security Council was not consulted, and no evidence has been provided to support its flimsy attempts of retrospective justification.

The US President has made genuine threats to invade Greenland, Panama, and Cuba, without ever once bothering to even pretend to discuss a legal justification for the hostility.

The erosion of the concept of international law as a guardrail against geopolitical anarchy has led us to a dangerous place. But few nations have contributed more to that erosion than the USA, and no president has expedited its demise faster than Donald Trump.

This isn't just hypocrisy, it's insulting, performative, dishonest, and shameless.'

Even as he stands there with the ridiculous 'Gulf of America' hat on display at his podium. How can people not see this blatent hypocrisy? 

Another day

 The weather is coolish but not cold. 69° right now, but a cool wind blowing in rain. More rain. We have had aclotvof it, but knowing how desperately some areas need rain, I will not complain. 

We have gotten nearly 14 inches of rain, this year, which is surprisingly considered just a bit above normal. We have 2 more inches on the way. 

So. Water is running high. You know what else is high? Gas. It has gone up 60 cents since May 1st. 5 days!

BTW: I am still optimistic and hopeful. I still dream of a better, kinder world.

Also, if I ever saw that horse, I would have to bring him home because he looks so sad. 

We drove back to Meadville today. At my appointment yesterday, I gave them a thank you card with a gas card tucked inside. That got a lot of attention. The card traveled around the office staff and people came out to tell that 'I did not need to do that'. I said that I liked the idea that the next time they had a Debby Dim-bulb standing in front of them all a-fluster, they could pay it forward. We all laughed together. I like that.

Today I went back for a followup. It is a longish drive and the first thing I do is tell them I am here. She remembered my name. The second thing I do is head for the bathroom because it is a long drive. 

When I came out. I admired a wandering jew that they had. I had a huge one that did not take to being moved from one house to the next. I asked if they would mind if I took a clip. The receptionist said, " I can do you one better " and handed me a cup with a rooted cutting. This is really just the friendliest little clinic. At the same time, they all wonderfully efficient, which is very comfortimg.

Something unexpected was that my shoes attracted a great deal of attention. People loved them. 'They look handmade!" "Where did you find them?" 

That surprised me because I really don't know that I have ever been walking past someone and their shoes caught my eye.

But they are sweet shoes.

I said. "Goodwill. Our store runs 79 cent sales, and these had the right color tag. They also were my size." And they were all suitably impressed.

So it was a good day for me and my bejeweled feet.

Over the weekend, I tried something new. I made ricotta cheese. It turned out very well. I have a lasagna in the oven that Tim is very excited about. 

So. That was today and it was a satisfactory day.

Well...except for the gas.

Food for thought