WELCOME FEBRUARY

 Hello, friends!  Can you believe it is February already?  And what a way to start the new month.  We are having the biggest snow storm in the last 3 years.  Fortunately it did not hit us too hard, but my poor sister lives farther north than me and has gotten over 24 inches.  She has spent many hours last night and all of today shoveling out.  As fast as she shovels, the snow fills it all in again.

I will show you snow pictures tomorrow but for today we will say goodbye to January.

It was a strange New Year's Day with no parade and the pandemic going on.

I began showing you my cat socks.  I have to finish doing that in the next few weeks.

I started a vlog called "Kathy's Happy Home" on my birthday (December 29) so most of the posts have been this past month.

I finished reading one book and have started on a second.  Although I have gotten sidetracked with my reading.

I got a drive-thru Covid-19 test which came back negative.  I have been very careful so I didn't expect that I would be positive.

I also had an endoscopy/colonoscopy which did not come out as well as I would have hoped.  I must call tomorrow for the outcome of the biopsy.  But I am not thinking about the worst, but the best outcome.

I saw my primary doctor for a wellness check which went very well even though I didn't get to see her until 2 hours after my appointment time.

And yesterday we had a business meeting after church and a small luncheon.  I say small because only 5 of us were there, social distancing as we ate.  All the food was great and I am glad we had a chance to socialize.  That's the thing I miss the most about not being able to go out and about.

Let me show you the calendars for this month.

The Breathtaking View calendar has a picture of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC at sunset.  How peaceful it looks.  When this photo was taken I'm sure the photographer had no clue of the chaos that would take place in just a few months.

The flower of the month is a pink rose.

The Moorehead Collection calendar is adorable as always.  The little boy and girl celebrating Valentine's Day is charming.  And I love the sweet penguin between them.  "Valentines of pink and red, special words of kindness said."

And finally, the Nature's Wonder calendar.  This picture of the little white church at sunset, the horse and sleigh on the snow covered bridge and the icy stream is just so peaceful looking.

And with that I must end and get to bed.  Hope you all have a great day tomorrow.  I will see you all soon.

Kathy

WELCOME TO NOVEMBER -- A LITTLE LATE -- AND OTHER TALES OF WOE

Hello, friends!  Happy cold Saturday to you.  After a week of beautiful weather in the 70s (low 20s C), November has decided to act like winter.  No more open windows and short sleeves.  But all in all we have not had a bad run.

Yes, it is really 4:00 a.m.  I am writing now because the pain I have been experiencing is tolerable and who knows what it will be like later.  I had a toothache before I went to the dentist.  After she cleaned my teeth, it got worse.  Much worse.  She wrote me a prescription for antibiotics and I took them, but they did nothing.  I was able to get in touch with her at her South Philly office and she gave me stronger antibiotics.  I have had only two doses so I don't know if they are helping or not.  I am living on Tylenol.  Not a good thing.  And soft food although even that bothers me at times.  I wake up from a sound sleep crying with the pain.  This is awful!  I found an emergency dentist on Google.  He has excellent reviews.  Out of 65 there are 5 poor ones, 60 excellent ones and nothing in between.  I am willing to give him a shot since the office is about 25 minutes from home.  Right near the Country Club Diner where you have heard me talk about in the past.  (My Philly friends will know just where that is.)  The office is open 365 days a year.  It opens at 7:00 a.m. and I will be one of the first calls.  I have to do something.  I can't continue to live this way.  I have already decided not to go to church tomorrow.  I am in too much pain!

That is my tale of woe, so now on to the welcome.

Yes, we are halfway through the month and I am just saying hello.  But let's see what happened in October this year.

I have been watching a lot of Hallmark movies.  47 of them to be exact.  Most of them were fall movies but at the end Christmas came in.  I am not ready for Christmas.  I want to enjoy Thanksgiving first.  People are putting up Christmas decorations and I am still finding my pumpkins and scarecrows to put out.

The tomatoes on my vines are finished.  For an investment of just over $3.00 I got 19 delicious tomatoes.  We still have some ripening in the bag, but most are eaten.  They were so good.  This is the best I have done in years.  I think I will plant my tomatoes in the earthbox again next year after I add some Miracle Gro soil to the box.

I spent a lot of October in the hospital.  Between doctor appointments, tests, and a visit to the Emergency Room, I am getting to know the layout of the hospital pretty well.  I had some more hospital visits (and doctor visits... and dentist visits) in November and I know I have some coming up in December.  Let's hope 2021 is better.  I am so sick of being sick.

The trees around here were really pretty for a week or two.  Now a lot of them are bare.  We don't really have a lot of color.  It comes in late October or the beginning of November and seems to go as quickly as it comes.  I usually see gorgeous trees when I visit my aunt for her retirement community's Christmas Bazaar, but of course that was cancelled this year.

October wasn't a very happy month for all the shootings, lootings and riotings we had.  Most of the stores along the avenue are still boarded up.  A lot of them have opened.  Some have not.  And some never will again.  So sad.  What did it accomplish?  Did getting a big screen TV, a new mobile phone or some expensive shoes really warrant ruining someone's livelihood and making things difficult for people who are not able to get to other stores?  What a world we live in.

We had a strange Halloween this year.  Joe went to the store and bought a huge bag of candy.  There were 100 pieces and five different kinds.  I have a five section tray, so I sorted them into the sections (one kind to a section) and it was looking so good.  All the KitKats together.  All the Hershey bars together.  All the peanut butter cups together.  My nextdoor neighbor and I sat out on our front steps and talked as we wait for children to show up.  They were around.  We saw them walking one street over.  We heard them talking.  Not a huge amount like in other years, but enough.  And we got a grand total of... 3.  Three sweet little kids who all said, "Thank you!" so nicely.  Tons of candy left.  Joe heard a pizza delivery coming to one of our neighbors, grabbed the tray and ran outside.  "Would you like some candy?" he asked the lady.  She laughed, said, "Sure" and helped herself to a couple of pieces.  And so Joe and I have been having snacks now and then.  There is still a lot left.  I am thinking of taking the Reece's pieces and adding them to my peanut butter cookie dough when I make cookies for Christmas.  It would use some of them up.

So I wonder what the rest of November will be like.  I am hoping healthwise it is better for me.  I am glad I have been good for part of the month.  Joe and I have decided to have Thanksgiving here at home by ourselves.  I just can't face a four hour drive (two up to my sister's house and two back).  I'm not feeling well enough.  And with COVID-19 rearing its ugly head again, I'd really rather not be exposed to people I'm not usually with.  My sister and I have agreed that each person needs to do what makes them feel comfortable.  We will be heading to my sister's house for Christmas when it is just the three of us and not other people around.  We three know we are COVID free.

Let's see the two calendar pages for this month.  Our Breathtaking View is from Yosemite National Park in California.  I wish I could walk down this trail and see where it leads to.  And look at those mountains in the background!

And our flower for this month is Mums.  One of my favorite flowers.

My tooth is beginning to hurt again, so I am going to end for now.  I hope you all have a good day.  Remember to pray for our nation and its leaders.  We sure need prayer right now.

Until later...

Kathy

TURNING THE CALENDAR PAGE TO SEPTEMBER

 As long as July seemed, that's how short August was.  It seems as if August just got here and now it's gone.  But...  September is my favorite month of the year.  Not too hot, not too cold.  Part summer, part fall.  Warm enough to go without a sweater but full of harvest delights.  It's almost like a second New Year's Day to me.

Let's see what happened this past month.

We had a couple of hurricanes come through in August.  Isaias and Laura.  Fortunately neither was bad by the time they got to us.  Just a lot of rain and high winds.

I had a lot of doctor appointments and hospital visits.  I hope to have less this month and even less in October.  Maybe I can be over with everything by November.

I began to clean up my yard and was making good progress until I got waylaid by all the bad weather.  I really MUST get out there and finish before the bad weather returns.  But on the bright side I have at least 7 tomatoes just starting to get ripe.  Yum!

I actually finished a book.  Yay!  I have started on my next one.  It is slow going because I don't have time to read.  But it is so interesting.  I hope I have time tonight to get some of it read.

Really not a lot going on last month.  Like I said, most of it was spent visiting doctors and getting tests done in the hospital.  I have another visit coming up next week.  And I had the eye doctor today.  No wonder I can't save any money.

Before I end, let me show you the calendar pages I have for this month.  The first one is from the Breathtaking Views calendar.  And isn't it just.  This is Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia.

The second one is the flower of the month.  This time it is a Red Gerbera Daisy.  So pretty.

And with that I will end and go back to my cleaning and baking.  Hope you all have a good day and may September be good to all of us.

Kathy

 

WELCOME JULY

Hello friends and welcome to July.  Can you believe the year is half over already?  I am sure having trouble with that.  I think being stuck inside so much makes time fly faster than usual.  And things are not looking better.  Not by a long shot.  Cases of the Covid-19 virus are going up in Pennsylvania as it is in most states.  Who knows what the rest of the year will be like.

So what did happen in June?

For one thing, I have been doing a lot of work in the garden.  I have it about a third done now and it looks so nice.  Yesterday I tried to cut down a small tree.  I got the branches cut off earlier in the week, but I still had the trunk to do.  I got about half of it down, but sawing through it did me in.  That was all I did.  And today I did not go out at all.  It is HOT and I decided that if it is over 90*F (32*C) I am not working outside.  When I got in my car to go to the drugstore today it was 104*F (40*C) in the car.  But I am happy with what I have done and will show you pictures very soon.

They just said on TV that today was the hottest day of the year so far -- 93*F (34*C).  And it is going higher than that next week.

I have also been working on the house a lot and though I am discouraged and don't really see a lot of change, I keep plugging away.  I do see change in the kitchen and that keeps me going I guess.

I haven't been baking as much.  Just too hot to have the oven going.  I did make muffins, but they didn't turn out so good.

I had plans for summer but with some places closing again, who knows what will happen.  Something will I am sure, but who knows what.

Church opened up again and it was really nice to be back with my friends.  We began meeting outside, but have been inside for the past two weeks.  With air conditioning.

I am still working on my temperature blanket.  A lot of it is now yellow for the 80* days we have been having, with a few red stripes for the 90* days.  We have a heat wave coming so the red is going to be featured a lot more.  I didn't expect that and have just a little left over red that I am using, so I might have to hunt out some more red.

Here's a close-up of the month of June.

And that's about it.  Really not much going on.

I changed my calendar page and here's my new picture.  It's the Santa Monica pier in California.  I wouldn't mind being there now.  Except for the virus.

Hope you have a good evening.  We ordered pizza and pasta and it just came so I am heading to the kitchen.  See you soon.

Kathy

LEAP YEAR AND WELCOME MARCH

Hello, friends!  Can you believe it is March already?  How did that happen?  I am glad spring is on the way, though.  It sure felt like spring today.  It got up to 64*F (18*C).  I even had the air conditioning on while I was driving.

Did any of you celebrate Leap Year Day?

We were going to celebrate my birthday two months late, but that didn't work out.  Basically I just slept.  The only time I went out was to go to Rite Aid to get a few things.

Two of the things I got were these cute little signs to hang on my pantry.

This is the one I have up now.

And here is another I couldn't resist.  I think I will save it for the summer.

There were so many other cute ones too, but I couldn't get everything.

I thought I would show you my temperature blanket as of the end of February.  It is looking so good and I love it so much.  It feels great too.  Very soft.  I keep telling Joe it is big enough to keep me warm now.  It covers my feet (but not my ankles yet).  He tells me to keep working.

And here is the sampler scarf.  I am working on it a little at a time.  My hands are hurting so badly with arthritis that I can't do a lot at once.

I turned my calendar page yesterday.  Here is March's picture.  So pretty.  I love the little lit cottage with the lighthouse in the background.

So let me recap what happened last month.

I was well enough to go to church again.  What a joy that was.

I actually watched the Super Bowl all the way through for the first time ever.

Joe got me a beautiful bouquet for Valentine's Day.  When it died a week later, he got me another even more beautiful bouquet.  Yesterday, he got me a single red rose which is absolutely beautiful!

I went to the dentist and ended up with a torn muscle in my jaw.  I am so glad to be feeling better now because it was a rough time for awhile.

We wanted to go to our favorite Japanese restaurant for Valentine's Day, but couldn't get there because of two accidents blocking the way there.  So we ended up at Shop Rite and had a very nice lunch.  Sometimes just being together is good enough.  We also got a heart shaped pizza for dinner.

That's about it.  Not a very exciting month, but still trying to get my health back.  I'm so much better so I hope March will be kind to me.

Thanks for stopping in and I will see you soon.  Have a good night.

Kathy

CLOSING OUT MARCH, WELCOME APRIL

Still catching up here.  So goodbye, March!  Let's catch up on what went on in my month without a camera.  I did pretty good using my little flip phone though.  I didn't realize what great pictures it took.  But I used up a lot of my minutes transferring them to my email.

We began the month with a blizzard and high winds which left a lot of people with no electricity for days (including my sister and my brother and sis-in-law).  The storm also left a lot of destruction in its path.

Little Hadley turned seven months old on the fifth.


I lost my good friend, Dottie, this month.  She lived a good long time but it's never easy to say goodbye.  Her memorial service was beautiful.

And then there was snow.  Lots more snow.  It seemed to storm every other day this month.

Joe and I met up with a friend of his from high school for dinner one night.  It was lots of fun.

The new Shoprite supermarket opened in March.  I am still loving it.  Every time I go there it is better and better.  Look for a post on it coming soon.

I got a new camera and absolutely loved it -- until I lost it.  Still hasn't shown up.  I know it is someplace simple, but I just haven't found it.  But I will.  I love it because it has all kinds of special effects.  Hope I find it before I go away.

With all the snow a lot of the birds were having trouble finding food.  We have kept the bird feeder full and so have seen many birds in the yard including one that all my good blog friends helped me to identify as a finch.  Thank you, everyone, for your help.  I have never seen a finch around here and I've been here for 38 years!

I helped to decorate the church for both Palm Sunday and Easter.  It looked beautiful for Holy Week.  Celebrating Easter is my favorite part of the entire year.  Except this year I threw out my back and ended up in bed for most of the week.  I'm so glad it is finally back to normal.  Fortunately this doesn't happen to me very often.

And that's about it for our snowy month.  Did I mention we had lots of snow?  I am so looking forward to this weekend when the temperature is supposed to go up to around 80*F (27*C).  I'll enjoy even one day of it.

Here is the Breathtaking View for April.

Virginia Bluebells along the Potomac Heritage Trail in Virginia.  Doesn't this look like a nice place to hike?  In my younger days I did a lot of hiking and walking.

And here are the two calendar pages for April:

Take only memories.  Leave only footprints.

And the Peanuts calendar.  I am really enjoying this one.

I'll be seeing you tomorrow.

Kathy

CLOSING OUT FEBRUARY, WELCOME MARCH

Since I did not have my camera, I was not able to do the last two calendar pages.  So I thought I would catch up here even though it is the middle of the month.  Have I told you how much I love having a camera again?  Although I still have not found my new camera or my lesson materials, I did find (or I should say Joe found) the book I teach out of.  So there is hope the other things will turn up as I clean more.

We celebrated Groundhog Day and Punxsatawney Phil said we would have six more weeks of winter.  Are you sure you didn't mean TWELVE weeks, Phil?  This icy, snowy, cold winter has gone on and on even into today.

I posted my pictures of the Super Blue Blood Moon from January 31st.  What a magnificent sight.

Hadley turned six months old in February.  She's turning into such a big girl.

My friend Donna and I went to East Coast Wings to celebrate our December birthdays.  Nothing gets done quickly around here.

In February I had my eyes examined and all is good.  Whoo hoo!

Joe and I went to a fantastic 40th birthday celebration for our neighbor Chrissy.  We had such a good time.

I also took the time to reorganize the pantry.  It was a lot of work, but what a difference it has made in being able to find things easily.

Valentine's Day was low-key because Joe was sick, but I was still spoiled rotten.  It's nice to be a Princess.

And finally we celebrated Chinese New Year -- the Year of the Dog.  Such fun!

I have not worked on my temperature afghan at all because I am working on Joe's to get it done before his birthday.  You have seen as much as I have finished and I will show you the next month as soon as it is done.

Here is my Breathtaking Views calendar for March.  It is a footbridge to the beach in Key West, Florida.  I'd love to be there right now.

And the two calendar pages for March -- 

Yesterday's errors are today's power.

And the page from the Peanuts calendar for March 

I will catch up with March/April tomorrow and we will be back on track.  Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Kathy

WELCOME FEBRUARY

Welcome February!  I can't wait to see what you have in store for me.  Here's the calendar page I have for you.

Life is an occasion.  Rise to it.

And here is your Peanuts calendar page for the month.

Is Charlie Brown giving his valentine to the little red-haired girl?  Hmm.

Have a good evening.

Kathy

CLOSING OUT JANUARY

J A N U A R Y

OK, how is it the end of the month?  Didn't the year just start?  At least it feels that way to me.  Let's see what I can talk about today.

We had snow and cold temperatures.  Very cold temperatures.  I can't remember the last time it was in the teens for days on end.

Because it was so cold I really didn't do much this month.  I stayed in the house a lot and because I was still feeling the effects from my fall in December, I slept a lot.  I guess I was hibernating!  But now that the weather is getting better and warmer I hope to be doing more.

I took my finished temperature blanket and added a two inch white border around it instead of leaving it fringe.  It looks so much better and lays better too.  I haven't taken a picture of it because Joe uses it all the time.  But here's what it looked like before.

Here is October's section.  See the 80* pink section?  How I wish!

 The November section.  Not too bad.

 And the December section.  Now the cold hit.  Look at the end of the month with all the gray.  That stands for 19* and under.

And here's the entire thing before I added the border.

I liked doing this so much that I joined a couple of groups on facebook that do temperature blankets.  I never realized there were so many ways to do them.  So I've started another blanket for 2018.  I'm doing this one corner to corner and in garter stitch so it has a completely different look even though I am using the same colors.  Here is January's section.  It was so cold that for the first time I had to use navy since the temperatures were in the single digits.

I am so excited to see how this will turn out.

I am also working on two scarves in ivory for two of my friends who are having birthdays. I am having lunch with Donna on Saturday.  I am almost finished with the first one so I think I will be OK with that.  Chris' birthday is the 6th so I have to move with that one.  I'm glad I have the Crafters meeting on Friday so I will have 1 1/2 hours to work on them.

I hope February will be more interesting.  I know I have a few things coming up that I will take you along with.  It's just no fun to blog a boring day and there have been a lot of them because of the cold.  I'm so looking forward to being able to get out in the yard and start gardening.

So before I end you know I have to show you a picture from my Breathtaking Views calendar.  This is the lighthouse at Grand Haven, Michigan.

Enjoy your day, everyone!

Kathy

Weather in Philly:

Mostly sunny

High:  34*F     Low:  17*F

Sunrise:  7:09 a.m.     Sunset:  5:18 p.m.

10 hours and 9 minutes of daylight

WELCOME JANUARY (UPDATED)

It's a new year and a new calendar.  I hope you like the one I've chosen for this year.  This picture looks as cold as it feels here.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

I also wanted to show you the Peanuts calendar but misplaced the cord to download it.  I just found it, so here is the Peanuts calendar.  Boy do I wish I had that coat!

Try to stay warm and have a good day!

Kathy

Weather in Philly:

Mostly clear

High:  24*F  (-4*C)

Low:  10*F  (-12*C)

Sunrise: 7:22 a.m.     Sunset:  4:47 p.m.

9 hours and 25 minutes of daylight

CLOSING OUT DECEMBER

During the month of December I did my first Blogmas.  It was fun and I think I will do this each year.  Did you enjoy it?  I hope so.  It was a challenge to post every day and I did miss a few days, but I almost made it to 25 days.  A challenge for next year.

I showed you a lot of my decorating, but not all.  It just got to be too challenging.  But I will show you my birthday gifts here which I hadn't photographed until this morning.

From Joe:

A beautiful sweatshirt.  I saw it in Cracker Barrel in Lancaster and fell in love with it so he bought it for me.

Two lockets.  The top one says "I love you" and the bottom one says "Faith, Hope, Love, Peace".  So beautiful.  I asked him why he got me two and he said he couldn't decide between them.  What a guy!

And then these beautiful blown glass butterflies on mirrored stands.  Oh how gorgeous!  Right now they are in tissue paper in their boxes.  I will put them on my shelf come spring and leave them out until fall.  Unless I find a really good place to put them where they won't be broken.

My sister, Elaine gave me:

A beautiful black lacquered box with a silver butterfly on the front.  I love it.

This funny mug that I know was meant for me since I must be the Sister of the Century.  I tried to take a picture of the back, but it didn't turn out.  The back says, "A local woman received the coveted Sister of the Century Award and was presented with a rare and expensive mug to commemorate the occasion.  'My sister has the best sister' she is quoted as stating upon receipt of the prestigious award.  She later added: 'And no, you can't borrow it.'  A parade in her honor is scheduled for..."  So cute.  I like it that my sister knows she has the best sister.  Ha, ha!

And finally this beautiful swan.  We had one similar to it on our dining room table when we were small and that's where this is going to go.

And finally my neighbor Chrissy.  She knows I love the Peanuts cartoons so got me this awesome calendar.  I think I will use it each month right here in the blog.

Again I have made no progress with my temperature afghan.  I have been too busy knitting Christmas gifts.  That had a deadline.  But I am planning on finishing it this week and then you will see it.

I will end with the Breathtaking Views calendar page.  I have a new one for this year so your views will go on.

Historic Marblehead Lighthouse -- Northwest Ohio

And that's it for this time.  I have lots more ideas for posts this month.  Hope you'll come back and join me.  Have a wonderful day!

Kathy

Weather in Philly:
Mostly clear
High:  20*F (-7*C)
Low: 2*F  (-17*C)
Sunrise:  7:22 a.m.     Sunset:  4:46 p.m.
9 hours and 24 minutes of daylight.