Pink Sparkly Balls & Courage to Judy

Presenting.....a Ms G update.....she just loves to stretch out on the recently cleaned off and NOW completely covered with STUFF again dining room table....in LM's defense, the stuff is mostly related to the bathroom re-do, and yes, some of it is fishing equipment which loves to migrate out of its storage space....has a mind of its own.
My dear co-worker, Nancy, sent me home with two little pom-pom type sparkly balls for Ms G several weeks ago and they have been the best fun for feline and humans alike. G carries them everywhere and drops them at our feet, begs for us to throw and she fetches them right back to repeat the process. The hardest part for LM is that she is doing it all night in the bed and when he doesn't react speedily enough, she tries to lift up his hand. Notice the array of Whiskahs Temptations on the table....LM did not allow her to go cold turkey on to the healthy cat food....he's an enabler!!
She is such a character.
She is in full trot here on her way back to LM so he can throw the ball again.
After many fetches, she finally tires a bit, and sits with her toy to rest. Gotta love that face!
This funny girl is not having the best time as we go through the construction.....she is hiding upstairs a lot and is VERY unhappy that her favorite play place is no longer there. Soon, my dear!

My blogging friend, Judy, is going to have hip replacement surgery tomorrow. It is her first surgery ever!! Pretty amazing. She's gone round and round with conquering her fear and I am happy to say that she is READY for tomorrow. Wishing you ease, peace and love all around, Judy!! We'll be here waiting to hear the good news about your recovery.

Meggie's Birthday

A week ago Sunday LM and I hosted a gathering which marked several celebrations. It was a long time in the waiting. All three of his children came to his home to share a lobster dinner and a lot of laughs. For reasons I have written about before, John has been "away" for several years, and he is now free, and doing very well. While he was in jail, he celebrated his 21st birthday, now we were all free to have a genuine celebration of this wonderful young man who, despite so very many challenges, is finally able to begin his development into an adult. Also we were celebrating Meaghan's 26th birthday, and it was a beautiful thing to see LM reveling in having all 3 of his children together.
The table set for the messy but delicious lobster dinner.
Early that morning, LM and I walked to our neighbor's little flower stand and picked this pretty bouquet to celebrate this special day.
Meaghan facilitated John having his first legal beer....can you see LM wincing? He is not a true drinker but he'll bear anything for his kids.
Meg, Kristi, LM and John
Oh, how I love that look!
The lobster feast.....
Kristi LOVED the dinner!
LM brought out the big guns for some very hard lobster shells.
A very happy group....we laughed alot all day...
Kristi, Meg, John, moi and Meg's, Jose, who just has to be one of the nicest young men I have ever met.

The meal ended with Meg's choice of birthday dessert, a lovely peach cobbler. Ms G decided to make herself scarce and was hiding upstairs in her lair all day....the second they all left, she was with us for play and cuddling. Tomorrow I will share some of what she's been up to!

Saturday Morning Musing

It is a perfect day here, a cloudless sky, sunshine, breezes and clear dry air.....so nice to sleep peacefully from 11 pm to 7:30 am!! Because LM is bathroomless, he came over here for dinner and a movie last night and I thought he might stay, alas, the call of my competition was too great and he had to go home to check on Ms G and be there for her through the night. He will be here shortly this morning for his shower, etc. I'll shortly be off-Cape bound to visit with grandson, Matthew. Not sure what we will be doing but we'll find some sort of entertainment and it will be a joy to visit. Most likely I will recruit him to help me pick up two more items needed for LM's bathroom, the flooring and the paint...I think we have settled on a cornflower blue. Flooring will be a wood laminate.
Another wall was taken out yesterday and after clean-up, the new sub floor was installed. We also chose and ordered, the new shower. The contractor will pick that up next week. We are documenting all this and I will have some before pics tomorrow, but here's one of LM standing in the old bathtub, one last time, on the lawn!

One night this week, Sara and Samantha came over to have dinner with me and share some stories.
I love this picture of Samantha's pose as she listened to her Mom read. We were reading one of my favorite children's books, The Jolly Postman. A lovely evening!

Fun with Nan and Charlie

Through my years living on Cape Cod - 33+ now - I've been blessed with some lovely and enduring friendships. They've seen me through the happiest and the lowest years of my life, and high up on that list is my friend, Nan. Alas, she moved "home" to Saratoga Springs, NY a few years ago, but we keep in touch and the caring has never diminished, only strengthened. We share the love of so many things, most especially the sea and cats. Her dear cat, SeaRay has been under the weather recently, and I was so grateful she did not have to cancel her trip here last week due to his health.
Nan brought a close friend, and high school classmate, Charlie, along and he brought me a gift, that goes near the top of my best ever list. Charlie gave me a birthday gift from Nan in the form of his talents...he spent nearly two hours with me doing reflexology, acupressure and reiki. A truly sublime experience. Charlie is very gifted and intuitive. He is also one of the funniest people I've ever met. Laughter is good for the soul, and I felt I'd been at the spa after his visit!

I took them on a little tour around Chatham after work last Monday and we then headed out to try to find dinner. That is a challenge in summertime here with all restaurants very crowded. We finally ended up at a really cute little place in Harwichport, The Wee Packet, which has been there since I can remember. My Mum and Dad loved to eat at there on their annual visits to the Cape in the Fall, so it was heartwarming for me to go there for the first time and experience what they loved so much. It is really adorable and old Cape Cod inside and the seafood was perfectly wonderful....we sat on the jalousied porch and that was a help on the very warm and humid evening.
Here's Nan
Charlie......love the little boy who was sitting in the window at an inside table. I am sure he was wondering about those crazy people laughing so much at the outside table!
You know who....aka my favorite date
Tired but having a great time!
The next morning our fun guests were on their way back to NY. I think the sand in their shoes will bring them back to stay on Cape Cod someday. "Twould be nice!!

The Here and Now!

I haven't been updating on the other stuff happening much as I try to catch-up with a zillion other events but here's a little list:Bathroom demo took place Thursday at LM's....truly amazing as I thought it would never happen.

• Shopping for the new bathroom acoutrements, and it is big fun!! i have pretty much free rein and it's going to look so nice.
• Sewing alot. Second quilt goes to the quilter this evening
• Getting ready for two lovely trips coming soon.
• Helping Ms G recover from the trauma of aliens in her house all day making big noise!
• Enjoying some outside time at the most beautiful time of year on Cape Cod.
• Dealing with a cloudy eye issue....appt tomorrow
• Loving life!
  

That's a smidgen....
Be back with more catch-up tomorrow!

Belated Birthday with Sue

My dear longtime friend, Sue (mother to Jaxson, my feline godson) and I out for the day celebrating my birthday. It was lovely and we had a delicious light lunch at The Marshside Restaurant in E. Dennis. They have the loveliest gardens.
Hydrangeas.....just beginning to turn pink

Our next stop was to see a delightful movie, "Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky," at the art theater house on the grounds of the Cape Museum of Art.
The castle water garden next to the museum front walk.
Found art on the front wall of the building. Cape beaches are the perfect place to find items with which to make these lovely and interesting pieces.
Wooden sculpture. The sky was so beautiful that day.
Sue, in her lovely and interesting antique hat. Thanks, dear friend. It was a perfect day with you!

Hairpsray Evening

NOTE: I woefully behind in posting - enjoy this effort to catch up!

I used to wonder why life took me in certain directions, in other words, I was fighting life, and wasting a lot of time with "whys," blinding myself to the many wonderful people, places and things along the new path. Some amazing friendships did come out of a very painful journey I found myself on a few years ago. My favorite friend, Nick, from that time is still a constant in my life, and I can always count on him for fun and enthusiasm for life.
Nick, below, came to work at my current employer and we were friends immediately. He was our model maker....many of our clients commission a model to be built of the homes we design and build for them, and Nick is a wizard at creating these mini works of art. He spent many years in Hollywood and in the NY theater world doing set design. Alas, in the economy dip over the past several years, clients are not commissioning models, and Nick is no longer working with me. I dearly miss him on a daily basis, but we've kept our friendship going and look forward to dates once in awhile, and LM and I get together with Nick and his wife for dinner as well. We share a real love of theater and when he called me several weeks ago to see if I would like to attend a performance of John Waters' play, "Hairspray" at the Cape Playhouse, I was thrilled. We shared an early dinner to catch up with all our latest activities and then were off to the theater.
Nick on the playhouse grounds before the show.
The Cape Playhouse grounds are really beautiful and I love the architecture....the ticket office could easily do as a house for moi!
The front steps.....
The gazebo in the side yard.....
It was a delightful evening with lots of laughter....Hairspray is one of my all time favorite movies, but the first incarnation with the fabulous and dearly departed Divine, and the newer version with John Travolta. Hilarious. Thank you, Nick. You are the best date.

Jaxson Rides Again

All because his Mommy would not let him get on the stove to investigate her food preparation skills, Jaxson, HAD to jump up on the top of the kitchen door. He thought, perhaps he could leap over her head and get to the stove from there. One hitch in the plans, though......each time he attempted to jump, the door would move and scare him back to his perch. Ah, cats have it tough.
Sharing a little laugh with you on a very dark and rainy Monday here. I'm actually loving the rain, and on the way back to work at lunch, I thought I could see the flower gardens smiling in thanks. As beautiful as this summer has been, it came at a dear cost to the gardens. Now they can really take a deep breath and give us some of their glory before the first frost falls.
Stay tuned for some fun stuff from the weekend when I can finish the downloads.

Fast Forward

It's been pretty busy out here on the elbow......there have been house guests at my house, thus, I've been staying at LM's....not such a hardship, be assured. There have been tours, sharks, and lovely meals, thunder storms, busy workdays, and a party with some hilarious conversations, lovely warm nights, and a cat trying to separate our ribs as she chooses who will be graced by her presence in the night. There was also a HUGE organizational campaign waged at a certain wonderful man's house, and the dining room table is now bare and looking very pretty. And, drum roll please, a new bathroom may finally be in store at LM's. Remind me to exhale when the plans are finally in place.

All this leaves little time for blogging, but wanted you to know you are always in my thoughts. My lovely house guests have left, and I miss them already - Nan, you and Charlie are so wonderful!!

There would be pictures my computer and camera cord are not with me for a few days. We will be re-united on Friday!

Catching up with Bob's Summer

My nephew, Bob, has been very studious this summer.......not sure if he thinks this literature is boring or captivating.

Every chance he gets, he is lounging about in the garden or on the front steps. His mother's beautiful garden is being undermined and destroyed by voles but he is not too interested in lowering the population.
Your a beautiful boy, Bob, and a constant source of amusement. Thanks.

Jeff and Laurie's Wedding and some Bliss

As any of you, who have been reading for awhile know, I introduced a favorite co-worker of mine to a friend several years ago. Jeff and Laurie were married last Saturday on the most picture perfect summer day, and LM and I were honored to be among the guests. The wedding was in Falmouth at St. Barnabas Church on the Village Green.
Unfortunately, your truly is not a good photographer, nor do I own anything more than a very inexpensive camera. Here are a few shots of the very happy couple. (click on photos to enlarge)
A former co-worker was the official photographer so I am sure there will be much higher quality memories forthcoming.
After a receiving line on the church lawn under glorious old shade trees, a group photo was taken, after which, we headed a short distance to The Flying Bridge Restaurant on Falmouth harbor. It was an absolutely glorious place on that summer evening. Meanwhile, Jeff and Laurie headed for the upper end of the harbor to board their boat from which they would make a surprise arrival by water at the reception. One of the groomsman donned an official captain's hat to man the wheel.
This is the beautiful view of the harbor from the restaurant deck.

The empty spot where the boat would tie up
The grand arrival as the sky began to turn pink
The wedding party waited on the dock to greet the newlyweds.
They all walked up the dock and then the stairs to the reception and went right away into their first dance. Lighting was really bright from the back....tough to get good pictures.


Lovely flowers on the guest book table.
Each table was named after a Cape Cod beach....ours was Marconi Beach. One of my favorites in the National Seashore of Wellfleet
Taken by LM behind the church as we took a little walk after the ceremony.
The best date any girl could have....We had lots of fun......
I had given the quilt, beautifully wrapped, to Jeff, to take home about 10 days before the wedding. Not a word was said, not even on the wedding day. I was really curious to hear their reaction, still nothing at the wedding.....the suspense was building and everyone kept asking me how they liked it, etc. Yesterday, Jeff came back to work (they leave on a very elegant honeymoon cruise this Fri Aug 13th). He walked in the door yesterday morning and walked right to me and through his arms around me in the warmest hug and thanked me over and over for the quilt, saying it was their very favorite gift. So nice. After work, he followed me to my car and hugged me again! A lovely feeling.
Now I have just completed another quilt top for yet another wedding gift.....a dear friend will give it to her niece in Oct.

As for that BLISS I mentioned at the start....the day after the wedding was just for LM and moi....these not-usually-party-people slept in until 10:15 am, had a leisurely brunch of blueberry Lemon Ricotta pancakes, after which I set out to do a trip to purchase quilting fabric and some groceries. So much was accomplished but the best part was our late afternoon drive over to Sesuit Harbor (on Cape Cod Bay) in Dennis. We had the nicest lobster roll dinner outside along the harbor and watched the boats return from their day out on the water. We were bathed in lovely late afternoon light and cooled by warm breezes. PERFECT!!

In other news, Sunday evening, Ms G caught a mouse and brought it right to LM's feet! She is now the hero of the week!