Random Musings

I delivered flowers to this church recently, and through the eyes of my co-deliverer, I discovered this view. I've been in this church many times and never thought to look up. It looks sorta like I imagine Noah's Ark inside. 

Sammy, my "frequent visitor" cat, had not been around since the last time he was chased off the deck by my daughter's dog two weeks ago. Sammy was brave enough to surprise me on this, my birthday morning, with a chance visit. He was rewarded with a dish of salmon, which disappeared quickly. He then went upstairs for a quick nap, but didn't stay much longer. I hope he will come back soon. I really enjoy having him around  (especially since he is house-trained and I don't have to have a litter pan.) And BTW, his owner is fine with it. 

Another birthday has come and there are just 3 more hours until it is over. I don't relish being 72, but I do love living. I am blessed with enough good health that I am still able to work. I think when I am forced to retire, I will wither up and blow away. Being around fresh flowers; smelling and touching, designing and using my creativity keeps me going. I thank God daily for the talent that allows me to do it and the health that makes it possible, and for the business owners who tolerate and hire me!! Long may they prosper!

On Sunday, my son and his family, and my younger daughter and her family came to visit and took all ten of us out to lunch. On Monday, my older daughter came with her family and I treated them to a good meal. Today, mr. kenju took me out to a nice lunch and I did a little shopping for some fall clothing  (although I need to get out my warm clothes before I buy anything else.) The weather has turned cool in the wake of the storm Sandy, although Sandy left no damage here in our area, for which we are very grateful. I offer my condolences to those who were in the path of the storm and had damage or power-outages and I give thanks for the tireless workers who are trying to get everything back to normal as soon as possible.

Quotes of Note

We establish no religion in this country. We command no worship. We mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are and must remain separate. 

Ronald Reagan, 40th US President (1911-2004) 

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In the cellars of the night, when the mind starts moving around old trunks of bad times, the pain of this and the shame of that, the memory of a small boldness is a hand to hold. 

John Leonard, critic (1939-2008) 

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The tragedy in the lives of most of us is that we go through life walking down a high-walled land with people of our own kind, the same economic situation, the same national background and education and religious outlook. And beyond those walls, all humanity lies, unknown and unseen, and untouched by our restricted and impoverished lives. 

Florence Luscomb, architect and suffragist (1887-1985) 

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What is the use of a fine house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on.

-Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) 

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The worst kind of people are those who confuse kindness for weakness. 

Werner Makowski, banker (b. 1929)

More Photos from the Dinner Party...

My wine cooler; an old painted washtub on legs. Not long after I took this photo, I noticed a trickle of water on the floor, and I had to put a bucket under the tub. Next time I will use sheet
plastic to line it, not foil! 

Our fancy wine glasses. One of the women bought these as favors, but we forgot to tell the women that they should take theirs home.  :-(

Our chef  extraordinaire -  Toy Townsend

My kitchen table, set for the party. We had to have three tables in order to seat 13 women and Toy.

Toy explaining his choice of wine for a particular course of the meal; Kristina (our guest, visiting from Sweden), Pam and Nancy showing rapt attention.

We had a lovely time. I think I am finally getting the hang of entertaining  (especially when I don't have to do the cooking!)

A Dinner Party...

Last night at my house.....twelve women and one guy  (the chef) gathered in my home. A great time was had by all (if I do say so myself!) My decor theme was half-autumn and half-Halloween. (It's what I could do without having to buy much of anything new....lol)

I had three tables; this one is the dining room. The centerpiece consisted of orange "Miracle" roses, with home-grown ivy and corkscrew willow which I had painted copper. I bought orange lilies, too, but they refused to open in time for the party. You can't see it here, but the centerpiece was in a black metal cachepot with brass animal feet

A place setting close-up

The table in the living room had an Annalee Halloween wizard sitting atop a ceramic pumpkin.  The paper under the place setting is our menu. The chef, Toy Townsend, will come to your home and prepare a previously decided on menu, and you can help or just watch - or drink and talk. Some of our guests did all three. We had a "global" menu:  Crab rangoon with chili dipping sauce, canellini bean spread on garlic rubbed crostini, Asian cabbage slaw with sunflower seeds, spinach and cheese stuffed roulade with roasted pepper sauce and vegetable couscous, and for dessert, apple strudel with whipped cream.

Toy is a excellent chef and his forte is paring wine with each course. We had five different varieties of wine:  Gruner Veltliner, Italian Verdicchio, French Rose, Cotes du Rhone and Tawny port. I like all of them  (a little too much, I might add) and as usual after imbibing, I didn't sleep for long. I turned out my light at 1:45 am and woke up at 5:40 am. It's safe to say I will be dragging my buns at work today!   LOL

Blogger, Please Don't Fix What Isn't Broken

Blogger is very frustrating to me now. It used to be very easy for me to change my template, the layout and colors and such, and it was even easy to add gadgets and items in my sidebar, like I had on my previous blog.....Imagine. 

But recently, they completely changed the way the dashboard looks and I have a hard time finding things on it, especially the place you go to make changes.  I really wish they would give us the option to use the old dashboard pages.

In previous times, the face of the blogs had a bar across the top which showed such things as  "next blog" and had an option to click when you want to make changes. That has disappeared from my blog since the new format appeared  (without my wanting it!) Is that bar available as an option?  I wish I knew, and I have no idea how to find out.

Are you listening, Blogger???

Our Family 8-25-12

If you are on Facebook, you have already seen this photo. This will probably be the last wedding-related photo I post, unless something wonderful pops up...lol.  The photographer took most of her photos in both black and white and color, but for some reason, there's no color print of this one.