Happenings

 

The wind is howling outside and has been since yesterday.  There's to be no let up in those gusty winds until late  tonight or early Sunday morning.  The sun is shining and it's not cold but that wind is making the trees sway which makes me nervous.

It's been almost one full month since my official retirement date.  Fall is here, the leaves are almost all off the trees (oh those pesky oak trees that hang on tight to their leaves) and it just smells like fall outside.  Time for apple dumplings, pumpkin pies and soups and stews.

After the week in Myrtle Beach, SC, there was a about a weeks hiatus at home before a trip to OnlyDaughter and OnlySonInLaw's home to stay with Grandsons #1 and #2 and the two four-legged kids for a week.  OnlyDaughter and OnlySonInLaw headed West for a writers conference and we were left in charge.  As always there were some funny moments.  Grandson #1 had crew every evening after school necessitating a pickup at the boat club at 6PM after school and a return home about 1/2 hour later.  We managed to get dinner on the table not long after he and his Pappy (Mr P) got home but there was often homework that kept us all up late.  Then it was an early rise for all to get ready for school the next day.  Grandson #1 had a crew competition in Philadelphia over the weekend so there was an early morning drive to get him to the boat club and a late, late pickup the following evening when they returned back to the club.  

The funniest moment for me was when Grandson #2 and I went to the grocery store on Sunday.  I wanted to pickup chuck roasts to prepare for dinner on the evening OnlyDaughter and OnlySonInLaw were returning from their trip (which coincided almost exactly when Pappy and Grandson #1 arrived home from crew).  Grandson #2 was to take a donation of two canned goods to school the next day so I gave him $5 so he could pick out and pay for the two items he wanted to take.  I picked up some items (Isley's sauce, a local product) as we entered the store and we headed to the bakery to pick up 3 donuts as snacks.  I'm still not sure where but I lost my broken "cheater" glasses after I entered the store and got the donuts but before we headed to the meat counter to look at beef.  We retraced our steps to the entrance of the store with no luck in locating my glasses. There was a stop at the canned vegetable aisle where two cans of mixed veggies were placed in our basket and then it was on to the meat counter.  Grandson #2 assisted me in selecting two nice beef chuck roasts and then I suggested that some ice cream to top the apple pie we had made might be nice.  Grandson #2 looked at the items in the basket and must have done a quick estimate of the total final cost before saying to me, " Um, Ana, I don't think I can pay for all of this with the $5.  I laughed and told him that I didn't expect him to pay for all the groceries with his $5, just his canned veggies.  He brightened up and asked if I knew how much his veggies cost and I told him about $2 total.  His next statement/question was, "Can I keep the change from the $5?".  It made me chuckle and yes, he kept the change.

There was a pair of knitted socks finished which are now owned by the librarian where I volunteer.  A bunch of tea wallets were made for OnlyDaughter that she took along on her trip out West as gifts for her fellow writers.  Neck pumpkin was cooked and canned for future use.  The volunteer dinner at the library was last Friday evening and the theme this year was music of the 50's.  The decorations were so cute and the food was diner comfort food (baked ziti, meatballs, salad, bread and of course a layered jello salad).  

I'm still trying to adjust to not having to cram everything into either evenings (when some days all I wanted to do was have dinner and sit) or weekends.  It's such a treat to go to the grocery store early on a weekday when almost no one is shopping, hang laundry out on a beautiful sunny day and spread my normal household chores over the week.  I will still volunteer at the library on my usual evening but have been going along with Mr P on his volunteer day to help out where I can.  

I want to do some sewing today and maybe work outside if the wind dies down.  Have a good day and weekend wherever you are.

Myrtle Beach - Final Installment

The last pictures from the week in Myrtle Beach.  Another sunset, a wave from the balcony of the unit where we stayed with sister J and brother-in-law B, a trip to the ferris wheel (no one would take a ride with me, but maybe there will be a chance at our next visit), and a stop at the candy store "I Love Sugar".  The lights in the candy store are made from thousands of gummy bears and the tables have a variety of candies sealed in the table tops.  There were a few purchases made for the Grandsons but so much of what was offered was gummy/chewy and since both boys are now in braces, I was somewhat limited in my choices.  Isn't the lantana plant being visited by a butterfly beautiful. 

We had a lovely, restful week.  Thank you J and B for the invitation to join you for the week.

It's raining here today and the temps are cool.  A good day to stay inside.  Hope you are having a good day despite any messy weather you might be experiencing.

Myrtle Beach Continued...

 

Second post of some more of the pictures taken on the trip to Myrtle Beach, SC.  Most are sunrises and sunsets but a few depict the changing weather that week - rain, rain and lots of rain the first three days.  There was a really windy day which I think I captured with the shot of the sand blowing across the beach which looks like different colored strips in the second and fourth photos.  It stung sister J and my legs as we took our morning constitutional.  The birds didn't seem to mind the weather fluctuations though.  The one photo with what looks like a river running down the beach was just that.  Obviously all the rain that Jochaim brought to the area caused water to drain from the community down to the beach in some cases causing erosion and a nature made "stream" as the water flowed back to the ocean.  The final picture above shows the patterns made in the beach as this water created a path and the dark "stuff" at the top of the picture is actually water.  This water rushed swiftly and because it was so dark and murky it was hard to discern just how deep it was.  Somedays when we wanted to cross the beach to reach an area further up the beach for good shell collecting, we would potter around until we saw someone else cross and then follow their route.  (That is if they made it without any problems.  

We gathered lots of shells each morning on our walks.  One morning there was a woman walking the beach who stopped to talk to us and see what we were collecting.  She was collecting sharks teeth and fossils and very kindly gave me two sharks teeth and the fossilized spine/stinger of a sting ray.  Grandson #2 was the happy recipient of the shells collected as well as the sharks teeth and sting ray tail part.  The only thing I kept was a beautiful sea anemone "shell" that I found on the first day out.  

There will be a third post of a few more pictures from Myrtle Beach and then I will attempt to resume posts of what's been happening since our return and since my retirement.

Hoping you are having a wonderful weekend.  The weather here, while back to normal temperatures after much warmer than usual temps last week, is just gorgeous.  Fall is in full swing; the leaves are almost all off the trees and apples and pumpkins, all signs of fall, abound.