IT'S BROKEN

 Hello friends.  Hope all is well with you.  Just a quick note to let you know that my computer is broken.  All my wonderful photos and videos are gone.  So is all my Bible study notes and Sunday School lessons along with the template for the church bulletin for Sunday.  Fortunately Pastor Ralph is picking up the care of getting the bulletin published.  I am thinking it might be an easy fix, but I think I will get a new one just in case.

So this is the best I can do on my tablet for tonight.  I will keep you updated on the progress.

Hope you have a good night.

Kathy

THE GARDEN

 Yesterday was such a beautiful day.  It was sunny and in the 80s (high 20s C.).  The only problem was the high winds we were having.  Our trash and recycling cans were blowing all over the yard.  But I did get a chance to spend some time outside.  And I took pictures to show you how things are doing.

I did splurge on getting a new banner for my fence.  Hello, Spring!

And I couldn't pass up this beautiful garden flag with the cross made of flowers and the words "He Is Risen."  A reminder of what we celebrate at this time of year.

After I got the banner and the flag set up, I walked around the yard looking at all the things that are starting to get green.  These first two pictures are of my hydrangea.  It didn't bloom at all last year, so hopefully it will this time around.  I don't see any flower buds on it, but there are lots of little leaves coming out.

Oops, a flag blew down in that great wind.  I will have to make sure I pick it up tomorrow.  More leaves coming out.

I am totally thrilled with my lilac bush.  Not only does it have leaves, but there are tiny little lilacs starting to come out on it.

Joe's favorite spring flower is a daffodil.  I planted lots of them when we first got married.  All different colors.  Two of them are up and blooming.

And my crabapple tree has leaves and little flower buds too.  Spring has really come.

I love seeing the garden come back to life after a long and cold winter.  But with the new life comes a lot of work to keep it looking nice.  I usually begin the Sunday after Easter to put things together.  I do just a small area each Sunday.

Hope spring is coming to your area too.  In any case, the sunlight hours are getting longer and the temperatures warmer.  That's a good thing.

See you later this week.

Kathy

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

 Hello, friends!  I know I am late getting this post to you, but when you hear my story you will understand.  First of all, I hope you all had a great St. Patrick's Day and had lots of good Irish food to eat.  Let's face it, we're all Irish on St. Patrick's Day.  But in the case of Joe and me, we really are Irish 365 days a year!

I bought a new St. Patrick's Day wreath for my door.  It has cute little lights in it and I so enjoyed having it lit at night.

I even wore my Irish shirt that I bought when I was in Tennessee five years ago.  Couldn't find one in Philly, but Covington's Walmart had it.

I decided to make some Irish soda bread for dinner.  The recipe was an authentic Irish recipe where you use only four ingredients:  flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk.  I even made a YouTube video as I made it.  My poor camera got covered in dough.  😦  All clean now though.  And the bread turned out good.

In the afternoon I started feeling bad.  I got bad pains in my abdomen.  At first I thought it was indigestion or gas.  But it got worse and worse.  I ended up going to bed and laying on my stomach.  That helped a lot.  The pains went on off and on all night.  The next day it was better, but still there and often severe.  By yesterday it was almost gone.  So far so good today.  I have to call my doctor on Monday and tell him about it.  My GI tract is really messed up right now.  I can barely eat anything without getting sick.  Good way to lose weight?

So anyway, I was too sick to write any blog posts.  It was all I could do to get through the day.  I can't tell you how relieved I was to wake up feeling pretty good this morning and not get sick on my breakfast.

Anyway, I have been having fun coloring some leperauchan pictures from my coloring app.  They had 10 cute illustrations to color and I thought I would share them with you.

Aren't they great?  I so enjoyed these.

Today is the first day of spring and I am so happy about that.  We are having the best weather this week -- sunny and warm.  I am starting to decorate the house with spring and a bit of Easter.  When Easter is over (and it's coming up fast!) I will just remove it and the spring will remain.  Yesterday I had to go to RiteAid and Joe bought me two little gnome figures holding flowers and butterflies.  I don't know how I got into gnomes, but it's been about a year now that I really love them.  My pastor likes them too and Joe said I am turning into Pastor Ralph.  Really?  Do I look like Pastor Ralph?  I don't think I have a beard.

Since I never got to make it, I am doing my Irish stew for dinner tonight.  I am going to try to film it for my vlog.  I am having fun doing a vlog, but I am running out of things to film.  Joe and I are talking about taking a road trip to Lancaster soon and that would be something but in the meantime...  It does test my creativity but I think that's good.

I'd better get going because I have a lot to do to get ready for tomorrow.  I love teaching Sunday School but it sure takes some work and studying.  We are learning about Zacchaeus tomorrow.

So until later, enjoy your day!

Kathy

WHAT'S HAPPENING

 

Aren't you glad spring is coming?  This long, cold winter is almost over.  I can't wait until I don't have to wear a jacket or coat anymore.  We had a couple of really nice days in the 70s here this week.  (20s celsius)  But now it is getting cold again.  I know it can't last long though.

Friday was one of those nice days and Donna and I decided to go to Shoprite.

We both had our $5 off coupons and I had a coupon for 99 cents per pound ground turkey.  Well, Donna had one too but she doesn't eat ground turkey so she didn't use hers.  She offered it to me, but I don't have any room in the freezer for another pound.  I thought I needed just a few things, but I kept seeing things in the store and they found their way into my cart.  Here's one of the things I found.

I was so happy to see my Peeps again.  It's been a year since they were made.  The plant that produces them shut down because of Covid.  Anyone who knows me knows I love my Peeps.  Yes, I know they are not good for me, but I really don't care.  Peeps is a candy you either love or hate.  I love them.  I almost did a happy dance in the aisle.  They had all different colors and shapes but I kept it down to two boxes.

When I took Donna home, I took a picture of her street for you.  

It is such a cute street but like a lot of the old historic neighborhoods in Philadelphia, the street is very tiny.  There is parking on one side of the street and another car can barely make its way through.  I always drive very slowly down her street trying not to scrape another car or get my sideview mirror knocked off.

I know a lot of you live in single houses with land or yards, but this is how we live in Philly.  I thought it would be interesting to you to see what our row houses look like.  Yes, I live in a row house too, but my street is wider than Donna's.

I didn't take pictures of my haul this time.  I was tired and just wanted to put my food away.  Ever since I got the Covid shot on Tuesday I have been very tired.  I have been sleeping a lot.  Today I am feeling much better.  I have stayed awake all day for the first time.

But now...  it really is time for bed.  Don't forget to change your clocks.  We lose an hour's sleep tonight.  We don't really lose an hour, it's just called by a different name.

Have a good Sunday and I will see you soon.

Kathy

WHAT I'M READING: THE NANTUCKET INN by Pamela Kelley (2021/2)

 Hello, friends!  How is your day?  I had a rough night.  I was sound asleep when suddenly I woke up with a claw in my foot.  Jack was there in bed with me and I must have moved.  He thought I was playing and pounced.  Ouch!  Daddy Joe woke up and evicted him from the room.

I had to get up early today anyway and be on time at the doctor's office to get my first Covid shot.  They had that place down to a science.  There were three people assigned to every 15 minutes.  I was in the 9:00 group.  We went in and two people were sent to an office and I was told to stay in the waiting room.  Diane, the Medical Assistant, gave me my shot.  Barbara, the CNP, and Dr. Kimmel each gave a shot to another patient.  Then we sat there for 15 minutes.  As we were leaving another group of three were coming in.  We came in the front and left by the back door to keep things moving.  Now I go back on the 30th for my second shot.  So far I have had no side effects so that is good.

On Sunday Joe had to run to 7-11 before church.  When he came out, he had a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me.  He said it was a "just because" gift.  He's always so sweet to me.

Today I want to tell you about a book that I have just finished reading:  The Nantucket Inn by Pamela Kelley.

Amazon describes it this way:

Lisa Hodges needs to make a decision fast. Thanks to her dead husband's gambling addiction, their savings is almost gone. In her early fifties with a large, waterfront home on Nantucket to support, Lisa hasn't worked in over thirty years, has no in-demand skills and is virtually unemployable.

Her only options are to sell the house and move off-island, or, she could use her cooking and entertaining skills and turn her home into a bed and breakfast. She desperately needs it to succeed because she has four grown children with problems of their own and wants to stay close to them. 

Her oldest daughter, Kate, has a fabulous career in Boston--working as a writer for a popular fashion magazine and engaged to a dangerously handsome, photographer, who none of them have met.

Kate's twin, local artist, Kristen, has been reasonably content with her on-again off-again relationship with an older, separated businessman. 

Her son, Chase, runs his own construction business and is carefree, happily dating here and there but nothing serious. 

Youngest daughter, Abby, is happily married to her high school sweetheart, and they've been trying to have a baby. But it hasn't happened yet, and Abby wonders if it's a sign that maybe their marriage isn't as perfect as everyone thinks.

The only reason I bought this book was because it came up on my Kindle as a book I might like and it was only $3.99.  I thought I'd give it a try.  Well, I couldn't put the book down.  It was a quick read and I was reading it all the time.  It's what I call a bit of fluff.  Not a lot of your attention needs to go into this book.  But that was just what I needed.  And the characters are developed enough to keep your interest.  It has been a long time since I read a book so quickly.  I've already bought book 2 in this 6 book series.

I realize this book is not for everyone.  But if you want a quick and easy read with a good story, give it a try.

And now I am going to go get something to eat.  I don't know why I am so hungry today but I am.  Hmm...  maybe I'll do a "What's for Dinner?" post next.  I haven't done one of those in awhile either.

Have a good day everyone.  I'll have to go blog reading after I eat.

Until later...

Kathy

WELCOME MARCH

 Hello, friends!  I really haven't fallen off of the face of the earth.  This week has been really busy.  Last Friday I went to see my gastroentrologist.  I have to have another procedure done.  This time in May.  I'm not looking forward to it.

Then on Tuesday, I started having esophogeal spasms.  It feels as if you're about to have a heart attack.  Not good at all.  I had to have a blood test done, so went to that.  There was no doctor at the office, just the medical assistant.  She took my pulse and said everything seemed OK with the heart but I should go to the Emergency Room.  I thought about it for awhile, but the spasms weren't stopping.  It had been several hours by now, so I went to the hospital.  I ended up sitting in the Emergency Room for over 2 hours.  During that time, I had called my doctor and his office returned my call because he wasn't in that day.  His assistant was going to leave a message for him to call me.  While I'm sitting there waiting, several people are going up to the front desk and screaming that the service there was no good and they were leaving.  Some people had been waiting for over four hours.  I waited another hour and no one was taken in to be seen by a doctor.  So since I was feeling fine by that time, I went to the front desk and asked how much longer I could expect to sit there.  The girl there said 3-4 hours because they were really backed up.  So I chose to leave and see my doctor.  I have felt fine ever since.

The next day my doctor called me and he wants me to get a test at the hospital in center city.  He said they couldn't have helped me at the ER because they don't have the equipment there.  So now I am waiting to hear from him.

Thursday I had an appointment with my primary doctor.  I was told it was at 10:45 but it was really 10:30 so I was 15 minutes late and couldn't see her.  Ugh!!  I now have an appointment for the 25th.  The good thing, though, was that I was able to sign up for the Covid vaccine.  I get the first shot on Tuesday.  At least I HOPE it's Tuesday.

On Friday Donna and I went to Shoprite.  We each got coupons in the mail that gives us $5 off of our order each week for four weeks.  It also gives us special deals each week.  This week was a pound of butter for 99 cents.  So we made plans to go this coming Friday also.

The last two days have been a little calmer, though very cold.  It seems hard to believe that later next week it will be in the 60s.  I can't wait to get outside each day and start to get the yard cleaned up.

I need to get the house cleaned up too.  But it seems that the more I work on that, the worse the house looks.  I know it has to look worse before it looks better but really.

So here are the calendar pages for this month.  I can't find one of my calendars so when I do, I will post that page.

The Breathtaking Views calendar is showing the beautiful tulips at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  I love tulips.

The flower of the month is daffodils.  Those are Joe's favorite springtime flower.

And the cute little Moorehead Kids are flying kites.  The caption says "Like a kite, let your dreams soar."

I know the Nature's Wonder calendar is around here someplace, I just don't remember what I did with it when I was cleaning up.  It's tough getting old.

I'm going to end now and get myself ready for church tomorrow.  I think this coming week will be a little calmer than the last week was.  At least I hope so.  I want to post at least several times this week.

Have a good weekend.  See you soon.

Kathy