MEMORIAL DAY

 

Hello, friends!  It is hard to believe that almost a week has passed since Memorial Day.  I had such a good time that day.

As usual the day began with the neighborhood parade.  When I say that, it seems like it will be a little thing.  But it is the biggest Memorial Day parade in the city.  It lasted about two hours.  I love that they have so many string bands in the parade.  And I get a front row seat!  I always enjoy the Civil War reenactors too.  Only one lady was marching this year.

I always jump when they fire the rifles in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Society.  Joe belongs to it and I was sitting right in front of the building.  Suddenly I saw a bunch of rifles being aimed pretty close to me.  I got up quickly and moved.  Yes, they are blanks, but I'm not taking any chances!

This is a picture of the group from the Vietnam Vets getting on a truck to be driven to the start of the parade.  They are all such great guys.

This beautiful wreath was placed on the memorial outside of the building.  It is a memorial to those who could not come home.

This is a boy scout group that was marching.

I will be putting up a video on all of this next Friday on my YouTube channel and give you a link.

One of the guys named Tom looks like Santa Claus.  No really.  He really does.  And he plays it up, too.  All the kids were coming up to him and asking him if he was really Santa.  He would say, "Yes.  And I see that you are being good."  Then he would talk to them awhile.  Some kids were frightened and ran away, but lots of others just wanted to tell him everything!  He even introduced himself to me as the real Santa Claus.  I'm a believer!

After the parade I went back home and put my feet up.  My legs were swollen and I needed to take a break.  I was getting really red sitting in the sun.  I had a hat on so at least my face wasn't too bad.  And I didn't burn, but I have a lovely tan.

A few hours later Joe walks in the door with a plate of food for me.  They were barbecuing at the Vets (they are across the street from our house).  The guys told him to give me lunch.  He brought me a hamburger, macaroni salad (the best I have ever had!), and potato chips.  Everything was so good.

I  didn't go across the street for the laying of the wreath either.  But I did stand at the door and watch it from home.  It's always a somber moment.

I laid down again and took a nap.  When I woke up Joe was handing me a hotdog and told me this was the end of the food for the day.  Again he was told to take it to his wife!  Those guys look out for me.

So that's it for today.  I will try to get something to you next week even if it is just a short little something.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Kathy

JOE'S BIRTHDAY TRIP TO WILDWOOD PART 4 (MONDAY)

 Hello, friends.  I'm back to tell you about our last day in Wildwood, NJ.  At least today was bright sun.  We need the rain so badly.  In Philadelphia we have had 1/4 inch this entire month.  But when you are driving a couple of hours to go home, sun is appreciated.

We got up, packed up, and turned in the key.  Sort of sad.  I would have liked one more day.  But on the other hand I was anxious to get home and see Mr. Jack.

We decided to go to Uncle Bill's again for breakfast. 

I appreciated that there was a parking lot for the place, but the door was around the corner and down the block.  It was quite a walk to get to it.  Oh how I wish I could still walk well.

We both got the Wildwood special for breakfast.  Joe had scrambled eggs and scrapple, and I had poached eggs and sausage.  We had the same waitress we had before and she remembered us.  The meal came with toast.  I didn't want mine, so Joe got four slices of buttered toast with his breakfast.

After we ate we headed back to Cape Community Church to return the wheelchair.  While we were there we hit the bathrooms and then I got behind the wheel to drive home.

One of the last pictures I took was of the Sinclair gas station.  They are few and far between these days  I've seen only one other and that is near my sister's house.  I remember them sponsoring "The Flintstones" when I was little.

I drove the entire way home and it was not an easy drive.  In retrospect, we should have stopped at the halfway point (the Farley Rest Stop) again, but I drove straight through.  When we got home I could hardly walk.

But all in all we had a wonderful trip.  I hope we can do this again next year.  But at another beach.  I am thinking of where we went 13 years ago when Joe's son and his family visited from Tennesse.  We stayed in a hotel in North Wildwood that was right on the boardwalk.  An easy walk to the beach.  Lots of stores at our doorstep.  Yep, I think that is going to be Joe's birthday gift next year.

Here it is the end of May already.  Another year flying by.  But it's been a good year so far.  And I am hoping lots more wonderful things to come.

See you next time,

Kathy

JOE'S BIRTHDAY TRIP TO WILDWOOD PART 3 (SUNDAY)

 Hello, friends.  I am back with day three of our Wildwood vacation.  Hope you are enjoying it.  I broke it up so that it wouldn't be overload for you.  Today I will tell you about Sunday.

As usual, I woke up early.  I did my devotions, took my medicine and watched YouTube before hopping in the shower and getting ready for church.  I had brought a pretty summer dress to wear.  But it was so cold that I opted for a pair of black pants and a black and white striped top instead.  In fact, it was so cold that I wore a sweater almost the entire time I was down there.  Boy did I get that forecast wrong.  I ate some chips in order to have something in my stomach to take my medicine.  We were going to go out to breakfast, but we didn't have time.  Poor Joe went with nothing.

We got to church a little late, and I opted to sit in the back.  Well, I sit in the back every week at my own church, so this was no different.  The only thing we missed was the welcome and call to worship.  They were still singing when we walked in.

It was a wonderful service.  Pastor Brad is a very good speaker.  Afterwards the ladies I met on Saturday all saw us, waved and came over to give me a hug.  So sweet!  Plus we met more people.  This is the friendliest church I have ever been to.

Joe got a cup of coffee and I went to the Ladies' Room before we headed out to get something to eat.  Pastor Brad had recommended a bar and grill just about a half of a mile from the church that had good food so that's where we went.  It was called South 9 (it was on Route 9 South).

We were able to get seated right away.  The service was really quick too.  Joe got a diet soda and I got water.  I drank water the entire time I was down there except for two cups of decaf tea in the mornings.  I thought the glasses they served us the beverages in were so cute.  One side said "New Jersey Proud".

The other side said, "Cape May".  The church we went to is in Cape May Courthouse, NJ.

They had an old Harley-Davidson motorcycle on the bar.  I had to get a picture of that.

I filmed the food we had for my YouTube channel, but forgot to take pictures for my blog.  I had a hamburger and homemade potato chips.  Joe had a bacon cheeseburger and onion rings.  They were very good.

We went back to the hotel and Joe took a little nap before we went out to meet a friend of his on the boardwalk.  We actually met up with her daughter and son-in-law before we met his friend Alice.  They were so nice and friendly.  The people at Cape Community Church had loaned us a wheelchair to make me getting around on the boardwalk easier.  And it did let me get more places.

We never did get onto the beach or near the water.  There was a lot of construction going on.

I think this is a good picture of Joe, even if he is squinting.

This seagull seemed to pose for me.  As soon as I took this picture, his buddy joined him.  I love both of these shots.

Joe and Alice grew up together on the same block.  They have been friends for about 60 years but haven't seen each other for about 40 years.  Her daughter had to leave, but Alice sat and talked with us for hours.  We ended up going to a pizza place that she liked (Sam's Pizza) which was on the boardwalk.  I ordered a lemonade which was the only thing on the menu that I could drink.  They both got pizza, but I'm allergic to dairy so couldn't have it because of the cheese.  I did steal a lot of the pepperoni off of Joe's slices though.  Finally, the place was closing up so we had to leave.

We walked down the boardwalk and Alice left to get her car and go home.  We had another block to get to our car.  But... we couldn't remember which street we had parked on and ended up walking up and down and up and down.  Nothing looked familiar.

We had promised fudge and saltwater taffy to the ladies taking care of Jack the Cat.  (Boy was he ever spoiled when we got back!)  We saw a fudge shop, Fudge Island, and Joe "parked" me on the boardwalk and went inside to buy some things to take home.  I told him to get me some peanut butter fudge if it wasn't too expensive.  (Everything is expensive down the shore.)

He came out with a big bag which I carried for him.  I ate a piece of the fudge he got me and it is the best fudge I have ever eaten.  Even Joe who doesn't like peanut butter fudge loved it.  It is so creamy.  

But where was the car?  Finally I got the idea to pull out the parking tag they gave us and see if it had an address on it.  Sure enough, it did.  So we headed down to the street level and found the lot.

We were tired when we got back to the hotel.  But to make up for everything, there was another Phillies/Cubs game on and we won that game.  It wasn't long before we went to bed.  We were tired!  And going home the next day.

So...  I'll be back tomorrow to tell you about our last day at the shore.  See you then.

Kathy

JOE'S BIRTHDAY TRIP TO WILDWOOD PART 2 (SATURDAY)

 I have a short time before I have to get ready to leave for the dentist and the dreaded tooth pull.  I have to be sedated because of my heart condition, so I will not be in any shape to write later.  I'm praying all goes well.  Two times ago I was sent home without any work being done because the doctor monitoring me thought I was going to have a heart attack or stroke.  Taking care of my teeth is not easy.

But let me get back to our wonderful vacation.  Saturday was Joe's birthday and we woke up to pouring rain.  And it rained the entire day.  Not much to do in the rain.  No going to the boardwalk or getting onto the beach.  I let Joe sleep in while I watched some YouTube videos.

When he did get up, we decided to go get some breakfast.  We looked online for something close and found Uncle Bill's Pancake House.  We thought it was a local thing, but found out that it's a chain.  So we got into the car and headed off.  Fortunately we keep umbrellas in the trunk of the car so we had some protection.  It was cold too.  I was glad I had brought a jacket with me.

You can't even see the ocean in this picture.  It was VERY foggy.

Uncle Bill's had a large menu.  I told them I had a dairy allergy and the waitress was very good at helping me avoid that.  In fact, I didn't have to take dairy medicine at all while I was away because all the restaurants were great at keeping me away from something that would make me sick.

I had strawberry pancakes for breakfast.

Joe had scrambled eggs, ham and pancakes.

Look at this cute sign outside of the restaurant.

When we finished eating, we headed for Cape Community Church which is a part of our denomination and was nearby.  They were having a flea market and Joe wanted to visit with his friends.

It was a lot of fun meeting everyone.  Joe knows them from going to the online Bible study, but I didn't.  They were all so friendly and I got several hugs.  We bought a couple of jars of honey from one of the Elders there who raises bees.  Then while Joe was talking to him, I wandered over to another table and saw this beautiful bracelet that exactly matched the outfit I was wearing.  It was only $3 so I bought it.  I looked at some other things and ended up at the Mary Kay cosmetics table.  I got some more hugs from Donna and Debbie who were at the table.  Donna is a Mary Kay representative and she loaded me up with samples -- lipstick, blush, lip balm, hand cream.  So nice.

My knees were hurting me a lot, so I ended up going and sitting in the car while Joe went and talked to Pastor Brad.  It was nice just sitting in the fresh air.  I worked on my YouTube video too.

By the way, my YouTube of this trip comes out tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m.  I already have it uploaded and ready to go.  If you want to see more in depth, go there.  It's kind of long though, about 30 minutes.

We went back to our suite and Joe took a nap while I watched TV.  When he got up we tried to decide where to have dinner for his birthday.  Saturday was his actual birthday and I wanted to do something special for him.  He wanted seafood and picked a place called the Water Front (?)  I think.  I can't remember.  So we got directions and headed off for there.

When we got there, we went into both parking lots and they were both completely full.  There was a line outside waiting to get in too.  So we decided to go somewhere else.  Joe drove up a block or two until we found street parking and then we grabbed our phones and started looking for another restaurant.  We found a place not too far away called The Boat House.  They were right on the water and I said that sounded like fun so we headed there.

We found a handicapped parking place right next to the ramp to get to the restaurant.  It was busy, but not really crowded.  We went up to the desk and gave our names.  We were told it would be a 15 minute wait, so we sat down on these benches they had.

I took lots of pictures of Joe.  He's a good subject and doesn't mind.  We didn't wait very long until we were called.  Actually, they take your phone number and text you.  That was cool.

We were given a table right next to the water.  I made Joe sit with his back to the window so that I could take pictures of the outside.

I told the waitress I had a dairy allergy.  When they brought out the salad for us, the cook had put a vinegarette on because it had no milk in it.  So thoughtful!  We also got these wonderful rolls.

Joe got fried flounder with beurre blanc, roasted potatoes and broccoli.

At the waitress' suggestion I had the salmon with blueberry sauce.  It was wonderful!  I also had fries and broccoli which were very good too,

I actually took some of the fries and broccoli with me, but finished the fish.  I stuffed myself.  It was so good.

Then Joe was asked if he wanted dessert.  Of course he did.  He got chocolate cake.  Because the waitress heard us say it was his birthday, she came back with a slice and a lit candle.  How sweet!  Joe is thanking her here.

We started talking to the people sitting at the table next to us.  They were from Philly.  And so was our waitress.  This is her summer job.  She goes to Temple University where Joe went so we got talking to her too.  We met so many people from Philadelphia at the shore.  All of them said they would never go back to the city.  It made us start to think. Hmm...

We went back to the hotel and watched another Phillies game.  We lost this one.  Badly.  Joe said of course that would happen on his birthday.  But he had a really great day and so did I.

I'll tell you about day three tomorrow.  I hope.  If I don't show up you will know it was because of my dental surgery.

Hope you all have a great day.

Kathy

TRAVELING AGAIN -- JOE'S BIRTHDAY TRIP TO WILDWOOD PT. 1 (FRIDAY)

We are a traveling family this year.  We were home from the Conference for a couple of weeks and then headed out again to go to the Wildwoods for Joe's birthday.  It was a special birthday for him (65) and I wanted to do something to celebrate.  We are still having difficulty with our neighbors and the best thing to do was to get away.  So that's what we did.  We have wanted to go down the shore for about four years and haven't made it.  So we decided this was the time to do it.  We found a hotel we wanted to stay at, made the reservations, saved up some money, and went.  Life is too short to just think about things.  You need to do it.

It was nice to travel this time with our own car.  The rental car was great for going to the Pocono Mountains for the conference, but there is nothing like having your own things around you.  We decided to split up the driving.  I drove down and back (2 1/2 hours each way) and Joe drove around Wildwood.  It gave us each a break.

We went down I-95 to the Walt Whitman Bridge and headed to Jersey that way.  I am not familiar with that bridge and was a bit hesitant because I wasn't sure where I was going.  But it is a beautiful suspension bridge and reminded me of driving over the Golden Gate Bridge when I was in San Francisco.  Joe took some pictures of the Delaware River for me.

We were using the Waze app on our phones which gave us excellent directions.  How did I drive anywhere before GPS?

We stopped at the Farley Rest Stop which was the halfway point to the Wildwoods to take a break.

After getting something to eat and using the facilities, we went over to look at the memorial to the USS New Jersey.  The real New Jersey is docked in the Delaware River across from Philly in Camden, NJ.  I have never been on it, but would love to take a tour someday.  This was a brass model of it in exact proportion to the real thing.  A masterpiece really.

There was also a nature garden and a memorial to the World Trade Center.  If my legs were better, I would have taken those tours also, but I just couldn't do it this time.  But I did take a picture of the World Trade Center memorial.  I will never forget that day.

Then we got back on the road and continued on.  Here we are crossing the bridge over the Little Egg Harbor Inlet.

Finally we made it to Wildwood.  I took a couple of pictures of these fun huge beachballs while I was stopped for a red light.  They were all over the place.  I found out that they are a symbol of Wildwood.  Just like the Liberty Bell is a symbol of Philly.

We got to our hotel and found the office to check in.  It was difficult to find!  Joe had to ask someone out on the deck outside of their room.  We were on the top floor (the 5th) and it was a suite.  More like a little apartment.  We had a living/dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom and a huge bedroom wih a king-sized bed and large closet.  We had brought some food with us so while Joe brought up the luggage, I started putting it away (there was a full sized refrigerator, a stove, coffee maker, microwave and sink).  I didn't realize how much we had brought with us until Joe came up with a full luggage rack.  But we used it all.

The view from the deck outside the room was great to see the boardwalk, beach and ocean each day.  And we were right by the Wildwoods sign.

It was almost dinner time by the time we got settled.  We both were beat from the drive.  It took us almost three hours with the rest stop.  Instead of going out to eat, we decided to use the food we brought with us.  So we had ham and cheese sandwiches (Joe even brought mustard), chips and chocolate chip cookies.  It was so nice to be away.

After we ate we turned on the TV and found a Phillies/Cubs game.  We were surprised.  We can't get the games on TV at home because they are blacked out.  It was the first of a three game series.  And we won.  Yay!  Both Joe and I love baseball so this was just perfect.  Then we climbed into our beautiful huge bed and went to sleep.  Rather quickly I might add because we were tired!  

But before I went to bed, I did get a picture of the Wildwoods sign at night.  So pretty!  It is lit up like the American flag.

Lots more to come, but that's for another day.  I have to get this day started.  I don't know if I will post tomorrow or not.  I will try to before I go to the dentist to get my bad tooth pulled.  I am dreading it, but I know I will feel better after it heals and the pain is gone.

Hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy whatever you are doing.

Kathy