Moon Shot and the Ever Present Snow

Monday, February 1, 2010

Moon Shot and the Ever Present Snow

Lisa called me early this morning and suggested I go out on the deck and look up. Couldn't go out there, because the snow was still holding the back door shut all but a few inches. But I saw what she meant. Lovely moonset.



A telephone pole was in my way of viewing it properly, so I got myself behind the kitchen window curtain and tried a shot through the glass.


. Considering the little point and shoot I have, I guess I didn't do too badly.


Rita has the day off, and she came over about noon. She's out there right now, shoveling the deck and ramp for me, God bless her. Who knows? I may get out of the house some time soon.

Our Holiday in Review

Christmas at my house was a very quiet one. Rita was here all day with me. Joe and Jan stopped in during the afternoon. We talked with both Ruth and Kitty on the phone. It was a very nice day, in touch with all of our loved ones.



Here is a photo of Rita, and one of her favorite gifts - a Santa statue from Joe and Jan.









Here I am, and one of my favorites - a flameless candle from Lisa.







And of course, here are some from California. They start with Mike's birthday, which falls on the first day of winter. He's taking in a deep breath in order to blow out the candles.








Then there is their tree. Looks as if Santa had already arrived when this was taken.








And Isaac, trying on a Santa hat.







Then one of his favorite gifts - a crane. Some kind of heavy construction about to go on here.


What is not shown here is his big gift from Mommy and Daddy, which was a remote control aquatic car that looks like a manta ray.









After much of the initial excitement was over, their family spent some time at Asilomar Beach, exploring tide pools.




Here is the beach boy.











And here are he and his dad, doing their thing.











I think I could thoroughly enjoy spending Christmas Day at Asilomar.

Autumn Garden

At the start of the weekend, daughter Rita came over to help me get rid of some of the weeds that had taken over my garden. She uncovered the angelonia that was hiding behind - or under - the cosmos and the weeds. I asked her to move it up front.

I really can't believe the cosmos. They are about five or six feet
tall.






The butterfly bush still has some blooms, but is really almost done for the year. But the best thing that made me really happy was that after the whole long summer without a single monarch butterfly, they finally found me. I guess they are on the way to the coast to migrate. Two of them have spent the past few days on my butterfly bush!





It is so sad that their numbers are so depleted this year. It really did warm my heart to see the pair in my garden.






We also found a pair of crickets who seemed to have taken up residence for a while on my mums. So much better on my mums than in my house.



Rita did a great job for me.
Thanks, Rita!



On Saturday, Lisa stopped over. She had her camera with her, and took these two pictures while she was here.



Lisa always takes beautiful pictures.

Poetry

My youngest, Kitty, is having a full month in February. she is doing a poetry reading, and is also conducting a poetry workshop to benefit Isaac's pre-school. I had placed all the details on my blog earlier today, and it made her a bit nervous. Please forgive an over-enthusiastic mother. A few of you made nice comments, and I'll pass them on to her.

I'm still going to try to get her to let me print some of her poetry soon.


Another daughter, Rita, just informed me I missed Langston Hughes' birthday, February 1st.
Well, I can rectify that at least. Here is a poem by Langston Hughes.

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
that cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.


Poem: www.PoemHunter.com

Shadow Shot Sunday #32

Hello again. I hope that everyone had or is having a truly wonderful holiday.

I found an entry for Shadow Shot Sunday purely by accident the other day. My daughter was sitting at the computer, and the light sent her shadow onto the door nearby.



Shadow Shot Sunday is hosted by Tracey at Hey Harriet. Thanks, Tracey! I never congratulated you last week on your 100th post. That's quite an accomplishment!

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL !

Rita

Seems to me that I don't talk much about my daughter, Rita. I think it's because she is here. I see her almost every day.


I don't see the daughter in California very often, so I think about her a lot and about my grandson. I don't see the one in New York very often, either, but she doesn't have a three year old to report on all the time, and anyway, she has always been a more private person who does not share as much information about her life with me. I love her a lot and think of her a lot, but do not have so much to chat about with you concerning Ruth.


But, back to Rita. From the very beginning, she was crazy about horses. No, I won't give you a whole biography. But she was so darned cute, I have to show you at least one picture of her when she was little.



She's still "little" But only in physical size. She has become a strong woman, able to stand up and fight for her beliefs and ideals.




This was Rita with her grandmother in 1973, visiting North Cape May from New York. Sorry it doesn't show the long braids. They were below her waist.




Here she is a few years later, I would guess 1979, on the beach in Cape May. The hair was shorter then.



Rita is one of the most selfless and generous people I know. She is always ready and willing to do anything I ask. The list of charities she helps support is a long one. Most recently, I drove her up to C.A.R.A. with shopping bags full of food to be distributed for Thanksgiving. She always manages to give a couple of frozen turkeys. When she made her decision to buy the house, I think one of her most serious problems to consider was whether she would still be able to contribute as much to charity as she would like.


This is Aunt Rita with Isaac a couple of years ago.(What happened to all that hair?)



At Christmas time, Rita is in her glory. She gets to give gifts to everyone - even to everyone's pets. She is definitely Mrs. Santa Claus. It is not that she has all that much money. It's just that she would rather share with others. And she is just as willing to share her time and effort, whether it's typing letters for Amnesty International, or baking and helping out with church activities.



Do I sound like a proud mama? Guess so. I am. Rita is a nice person to know, and I'm glad she's my daughter. Her dad would be very proud of her too.

Follow Up to Halloween

Thanks for all the good wishes - and Boo's. Blogger announced that he couldn't either publish or save the Boo blog I was doing, and promptly erased it. Oh well. I think between Sky Watch Friday and Halloween, everything was overloaded.


But meanwhile, in California, My son-in-law finished the tiger's costume (except for the tail, which Kitty did), and the Tiger and his parents, the Living Dead, went to see the great pumpkin in the mall, and did some trick or treating.


















In New Jersey, Aunt Rita and her fellow workers in the library, dressed as books. They wore sandwich signs, front and back covers of said books, all day at work.



Here at home we had Trick or Treat night from 6: until 8: in our town. Lisa and I spent most of that time on the phone with one another, pausing to give the little goblins candy from time to time, comparing notes on costumes, etc.

Our block is very quiet and with few children. Altogether we only had 10 or 11 come to our doors, which was actually more than last year. Not like the old neighborhood, where I sometimes treated 100 or so. I think that these days most parents are wary of strangers and what they give to children, and they make arrangements for parties or keep them close to home. That is probably for the best.

The cutest little guy I had visit me was a tiny little vampire, who was very shy. I had to give the pumpkin filled with candy to his Daddy to give to him. He wouldn't come close to me. - Well, maybe he sensed what I had learned earlier in the day when I went to a site that Storyteller had on her post: "Are You a Witch?" It seems that I am all of 45% witch! Beware!

Cape May County Library

Last Saturday, the Cape May County Library celebrated 25 years of public service.










They really went all out. The parking lot held representatives of the Police and Fire Department, Paramedics, National Guard, a String Band, hot dog vendor, and a rep from radio station 98.7 The Coast, and around back, rides on Tony the pony for the kids. Inside was story telling and face painting for the kids, the Health Department. There was a cake, and of course there were balloons and souveniers.







The people my daughter, Rita works with are a great group. They all seem to like one another and get along very well. They're fun. This picture is of Freddie, serving cookies to a patron.



Rita and a couple of others took turns playing "Clickity the Dolphin" and greeting the children as they came in.





Rita took the Clickity picture here and the one at the start of the post.

When I got there, I took Clickity pictures too, but had no idea who was inside the costume at the time.



The "Villas Public Library" sign in the top photo was once on a little old building that served the purpose who knows how many years ago. One of the patrons found it in her attic, and donated it.




I think a whole lot of people had a very good time last Saturday.

My Girls

My New York daughter called me yesterday. She asked me if I was still hearing voices in the attic. Yes, I am. We decided it must be the dish on the roof picking up someone's radio. We got a little silly about it, and she suggested that I start my own radio station, using the dish. She says the station's call letters could be WBLOG.



California daughter put up pictures on Flickr. This one was taken during Monterey's July 4th celebration. Pretty cool, huh?



New Jersey daughter celebrated her birthday Sunday.
We don't get the whole family together very often any more. Her brother and sister-in-law took her to a birthday breakfast on the way home from church. Then she and I had our ice cream cones later.



The weather changed enough that I drove up to the Point on Saturday night. The Villas Girl (who is sort of my other daughter) goes almost every evening, walks the beach, watches dolphins leaping, and chats with whoever is there. I didn't do all that, but watched the birds and bunnies and the kites flying over the water. Got a few nice pictures of the sun going down.

Of course I had to run home before it went all the way down.
I turn into a pumpkin if I try to drive after dark.

LIBRARY LADY

I seem to talk a lot about my youngest, Kitty, on my blog. Probably because she is a fellow blogger.



I do have two other daughters - and a son - and they are pretty great, too! At least, I think so.


It always amuses me. We go to the supermarket, or walk down the street. We could be on a nature trail, in the woods, at the beach, a mall, the zoo. No matter where we are, sooner or later I hear from someone, "Ma, isn't that the nice little girl from the library?" or "Look, Suzi! Isn't that the library lady?" My second daughter is famous - locally, that is. It reminds me of the little girl in the comic strip, One Big Happy. The child talks about Library Lady, Playground Lady, and Cafeteria Lady. However, in Rita's case, she is often referred to as "that nice little girl" in the library. She is petite, and she has the kind of face that will always look younger than her years. And yes, she is very, very nice - always ready to help a patron.


She's nice to me, too. I see more of Rita than any of my other children. Rita lives and works within a half mile of my house. We eat lunch together most days. And Rita is always willing to tackle anything I ask her to do for me, around the house or in the yard. She's good company.


Rita bought the house we used to live in. I'm not sure that I did her any favor, selling it to her. When I made the move to the little house I live in now, I left behind an awful lot of things she may not need. And she now faces all the usual - and a few unusual - homeowner woes. Who knew that the pear tree would lose a branch in a wind storm, doing enough damage that she now needs a new roof? Who knew that she would need to replace the hotwater tank, which happens to be located in an almost unreachable spot under the kitchen counter?


Being the Library Lady, Rita is our walking Dewey Decimal file. If she doesn't know the answer, she knows how to find it for us. She's very good at crossword puzzles, or playing Upwords, or Scrabble. And I still think she should go on Jeopardy one of these days. Here she is, playing Upwords with her sisters.


She is very happy to be Library Lady. The people she works with at our local branch are exceptionally nice people. Come to think, it's been my experience that most people who work in libraries are nice people! Must be that they are happy in their work.



Hey! Isn't that the nice little girl from the library on the back of that motorcycle?

FAMILY VISIT - PART 2

As for the rest of our family visit, Ruth came down from New York. We hadn't seen her in what seems like forever! Before she reached us, she was greeted by one of the Township's finest because she didn't come to a full stop at the corner.


We all went over to Joe and Jan's for dinner. Joe is a great cook, and he outdid himself this time. Jan made a yummy dessert.


Isaac loved the BIG back yard at Joe's house. This little three year old managed to connect with a wiffle bat and a rubber ball for four long hits! He throws right handed and bats left. (Or is it the other way round?) But I think the consensus is that we will wait until he's at least five before we declare him a future All Star.


Aunt Ruth is such a bundle of energy at times, and so much fun! She and Isaac had a great time together


Back at my house the next day, Michael went to work on my computer. Yes, he made the switch from Linux to Micro Soft. He spent hours on the job, dealing with the dozens of Bookmarks, hundreds of pictures, and all of the other nonsense I've accumulated and probably should have got rid of long ago.

I had no concept of how much time and work this would involve, mostly created by me and my lack of computer knowledge. I am so grateful for his skill and his patience with me.


Isaac and Aunt Rita enjoyed playing with the castle. He loves that castle. It was his mothers when she was his age. It always amuses me to see him playing with the medieval castle, complete with accessories such as Match Box cars, a dinosaur, various sea creatures, and a washer and dryer from his mom's doll house.


On Sunday morning, most of them went to the beach for a while. Too cold and windy for me! I chickened out. But I went along the next day to the Point, where there was, of course, the obligatory picture-in-front-of-the-lighthouse. And we went over to the lake, where Isaac "went fishing" with a stick that he found.


It was hard to say good-by, as it always is, but our little boy was more than ready to go home. He throws himself into the enjoyment of the moment, wherever he is and whatever he is doing. But he is always happy to get back to home and pre-school and his routine.


Me too.