It looks like I haven't posted in over a month.  It's been for lack of time.  There's been times I wanted to be twins to do everything that I'd like to do ( Read more... )

With the exception of a book report, I haven't posted here all year, so...

We spent New Year's with my mother in Buffalo.  My father died on New Year's Day, so this is the first NYE without him and we didn't want her to be alone.  Dinner was take-out chinese and diet-breaker munchies at midnight.  We brought Sparkling Grape Juice for the toast, ( Read more... )

For those who don't follow me on Facebook (dagonell@hotmail.com if you want to), I lost my father on New Year's Day.

New Year's Eve - We spent a quiet evening at home, with lots of not-good-for-us treats, some storebought, some homemade, watched the ball drop, kissed, ate our herring, drank our champagne and then I stayed up to watch the Muppets on ( Read more... )

Monday: The previous week I had been begging for additional work because I had nearly nothing to do.  On Friday, literally 45 min. before I went home for the weekend, I got handed a project.  This morning, I got handed another one.  Where were you people
last week???  I took a half-day off for a doctor's appointment.  I have to use up my personal ( Read more... )

Years ago, I once suggested a recipe from a magazine for a side dish for Thanksgiving.  My mother lectured me on the importance of 'tradition'  (* Insert Fiddler on the Roof tape here *).  We get our meat and poultry from the farmer down the road.  No factory farms, no additives, just free-range, grass-fed food.  We've had a 20-lb turkey in our ( Read more... )

I had a wonderful holiday weekend with my folks.  Saturday, we ran the usual errands, then packed the car for a weekend at my parents.  Sunday, after a hearty breakfast of hashbrowns and eggs, we drove down to the Erie Basin Marina to see The Pride of Baltimore II while she was in port.  What can I say, I'm a tall ships buff!  I took dozens of ( Read more... )

We've gotten our first box from Farm to Table for this year: 2 qts fresh strawberries, 1 bunch rhubarb, 1 bunch asparagus, 1 bunch scallions ( Read more... )

It used to be that Advent was like Lent.  A period of fasting, prayer and purification leading up to the celebration.  Dec 25th was the First Day of Christmas, like in the song, leading 12 days of Christmas giving and celebrations ending on Jan. 6th, the Twelfth Day of Christmas or as Mister Shakespeare called it, Twelfth Night.

Nowadays, after ( Read more... )

Thursday night -- I received a phone call from my mother that my great-aunt Alice had passed away in the night.  She was my grandmother's baby sister, barely 6 years older than my mother.  She was the last member of her generation in the family, the family matriarch.

Friday afternoon -- It's good when you can finish all your jobs and ( Read more... )

Friday -- Back in the fall, I won a certificate for free passes to Folk in Fredonia's entire concert series.  Friday was one of their concerts, so I took a half day of vacation to catch the curtain on time.  The program was a double-header, half folk concert and half puppet show from Das Puppenspiel  When I first moved to Chautauqua County, they ( Read more... )