Stuff happens

I've been a bit behind here but sometimes life gets in the way. My youngest kid started a new job this week(yay!) but it's two hours away and he has no place to live yet (boo!). We have family and friends nearby so he has places to stay and we will figure it out. He's enjoying a few days with his favorite cousin in his college apartment. I'm glad I'm not a fly on one of those walls! A little bit of illness and family stuff has also kept me out of the loop. Now I need to catch up a bit. I have reviews coming right up and a giveaway or two. I really need to clean my shelves and share some of my books. They are piling up! And I need to visit my friends here in blogland.

We had a long winter and a few weeks ago we suddenly had beautiful hot days in the 80s. Some of my flowers finally blossomed and I had my annual "ceremony" to put out The Hammock. (I really need to name that thing, it's like one of my children or maybe just a really, really good friend.) We apparently skipped right over spring and jumped straight into summer. For a week. Then last weekend it got cold again and we had SNOW for a few minutes. Ugh. Yesterday spring came back and we have sunshine and sandal weather. I'm reading a great book and I'm heading outside.

I hope you had a very happy Mother's Day! All of my boys and the grandkiddos were here for a casual day and Hubby made a terrific dinner for us all. I also have the very best mom in the whole world! I'm a lucky lady!!

This is how we set the table at my house! The Princess and Monkey Boy helped Grandpa with dinner.

Storms and stuff

It was a busy week of just "stuff" - doctor appointment, babysitting the grandkids, working on Halloween costumes (we made a Raggedy Anne wig), and being annoyed by a head cold that we are all sharing. We also had two days of gorgeous weather with temperatures near 80 but I feel like I wasted them. I should have been outside every second that was possible, enjoying the weather and putting away lawn furniture but I wasn't. I got a few things done but not enough.

Now we have this nasty storm heading for the east coast. We know how to handle blizzards but we don't experience much hurricane weather in western NY state. We are trying to stock up on supplies and prepare just in case we lose power for a while. Hopefully it won't be too bad and we can celebrate Halloween with lots of trick or treating. For those of you in harm's way, stay safe and take care. I'll be saying my prayers this week that Sandy fizzles out in the ocean and leaves us all alone!

My granddaughter picked out tiny pumpkins and arranged them together on the porch

My poor grandson was "forced" to try on a Halloween wig!

Saturday Snapshot

 Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home with Books. To participate in this meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
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Here is western NY we are used to unusual weather. We have four seasons, sometimes all in one week. That was the case recently. After the mildest winter I can remember we had several days in March in the 70s. Several! The plants have even blossomed weeks earlier than usual. April has been closer to normal conditions but still pretty nice.  Last week we were playing outside in shorts, mowing lawns, tending to flowers. Three days later we had a storm for two days and almost a foot of snow. And two days after that it was almost gone. Like the saying goes - "if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." (Twain)

Playing on the swing set in backyard (4/15/12)

The same swing set one week later (4/22/12)

Saturday Snapshot

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home with Books. To participate in this meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.
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  I know it’s premature, and yesterday we had snow and freezing winds again, but we also had “balmy” weather last week in the 60s. Spring is on the way! This is NY state so we will be doing this back and forth with the weather well into April or even later. I am sooooo ready for things to turn green and the flowers to bloom. Needless to say I envy those of you who already have blossoms. I decided to post some of my favorite photos from last summer that I took at my house. Aren’t the colors beautiful?

Our typical chaos

This is always a hectic time of year. School doesn't end until late June and the weather has been wet and miserable lately so now it's a mad rush to cram everything in. Baseball games have been cancelled or postponed all season long and now we are trying to get through the playoffs. Our youngest son is a senior in high school and that's keeping us busy too. This last month will be filled with ceremonies, picnics, dinners, banquets, exams, rehearsals, papers to sign, lost books to find, fees to pay, graduation to attend and lots and lots of parties. There will also be lots and lots of tears...mostly from the moms who are conflicted between the disbelief that their baby is graduating and moving on and relief that their baby is able to graduate and is finally moving on - and out!

Obviously I haven't been keeping up here lately but I have plenty to read and reviews to write. Last week it took me three days to read the last chapter of my book! My poor hammock has been waterlogged from all the rain but today the sun was shining and the hammock was calling my name. I'm going to squeeze in some quiet time and I'm determined to read more than 1/3 of a chapter. Now I just need to decide which book from the large pile I'll relax with...