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Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Back to Work

I have no excuses for not getting on with this project as my supplies have arrived. After removing the photos from the old and dilapidated photo album from 1961 - 1972 of when we lived in NJ and came to the lake in PA on a regular basis, I am, I think I am, ready to start putting them on new pages. Whatever glues I used in those days really stuck and the removal process was difficult and tedious. I had a difficult time trying not to tear any and keep them in order. What a nasty job! Each one had to be re-trimmed so they were neat and clean for the new corners to slip on easily.
I don't know how many there are and hope that my new supplies will be adequate. There are corners enough for 315 pictures. I will not even consider making an album of all of the loose ones that are stacked in a boot box from 1972 on, until I started putting them on the computer(s). As it is my habit to always finish what I start, this particular project will be completed soon and I can go on to other things. The loose ones will stay in that box.

The Alstroemeria flowers from my birthday are still very pretty and the wine helps my attitude at the end of trying days. So...back to work!
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Sunday, March 27, 2016

Easter Good Old Days....

Since I'm working on my old albums now, I thought you might enjoy seeing these. In 1962 we were a family of four children on Easter.
In 1966 the girls got new hats, coats and dresses and the boys new jackets and ties.
My family in 1968 There is one missing because he didn't arrive until October. Notice we couldn't replace the old outfits of the girls for about 4 years but they never complained. New shoes  for all HAD to be purchased and new jackets and pants for the boys who seemed to grow faster than the girls. 
Easter today shows a GREAT GREAT Grandson enjoying a cupcake! His Great Grandfather is the boy pushing the cart in the photo above.


'Tis the Season.....

With a flurry of wings all sorts of birds and waterfowl are mating, and causing quite a ruckus - on the lake and in the woodland. I woke up to their songs that were throughout the thickets behind the cabin. 

I sat on the front porch this morning trying to get a good picture of a little duck that has been hanging out at my end of the lake - all week - all alone. It dunks its head sometimes, but mostly just paddles around by itself, never joining in with the buffleheads or the mallards. It is a very fluffy and small critter but, unfortunately never came close enough to the shore for me to get a good picture. This is the best of 31 shots! Awful. Just take my word for it that it is very busy and healthy acting and tiny.
After I came indoors wouldn't you know that a PAIR of pileated woodpeckers landed on our "woodpecker tree" that is on the beachfront close to the water. Well, again, I wasn't able to get a sharp photo but it was exciting anyway. They had better not peck on the cabin!
Maybe I should stick to taking flower pictures.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Eighty

The party is over and I’m now officially 80!  Yesterday was a good day and even though I told all that I wasn’t celebrating and wished to keep a low level and have a quiet day, the UPS truck stopped with a delivery from our New Jersey family, the phone rang several times with greetings from friends and other family members and the mailbox was quite full. My e-mail had greetings as well! Our daughter who lives nearby sneaked in the day before, leaving flowers and candy while we were taking our nap and we never heard her. Our son came from ninety miles away bringing his son and daughter and gifts. That was a surprise and a delight. Since I hadn’t seen her since she was married two years ago, I was able to give her the hand knitted blanket that my mother made and several other treats. The male components took a break from the house, retreating to the shed and motorized stuff to avoid woman talk while she installed an art program as a gift for me. 


Today I dressed James in his Easter bow as I felt guilty still having him in winter attire. It’s beautiful here but still chilly and the daffodils are still not out!  
Happy Easter!

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Thursday, March 24, 2016

Monday, March 21, 2016

Spring Warming

Soon the little snakes will be coming out to warm up on the rock shelves. I love to see them there. Now that the weather is becoming more friendly, I may be able to trek about a little and see my wonderful surroundings closer. Nature is WONDERFUL!
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The daffodils are coming up well and soon I'll plant some flower seeds(in the house).

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Green

Top o' the morning ye who are wearin' o' the green!  I like this Irish ditty! I have a wee bit of Irish in me - the love of talkin' (aka blarney).





Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Cheater

These deluxe ready-to-bake cookies with peanut butter cup pieces and chocolate chips are so easy to make and are delicious. It is my second batch this month. I can have my baking done before 9am and then enjoy the rest of the day, especially in Spring!
Hint: Don't spoil the experience by reading the fine print regarding the calories, fat, sodium or sugar. DON'T read the Nutrition Facts!
Just don't!

One a day will do.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

The Real Writer

When on a search for some ancestry material I came across these two poems, which were written by my maternal grandfather when he was in my current hometown to visit relatives in the nineteen forties. He lived in north Jersey at the time.  I really wonder who he was writing about. His name is Aurelius A. Drake - nickname "Real" - and he alludes to himself in the Barbara poem. She was 10 and I would have been 11 when he wrote it but, today, I cannot figure out who she could have been. He was blind at the time so I don't know who typed this. 

Click on image to read easier
Sweet, eh?

Monday, March 14, 2016

Spring IS Ahead!

The Bufflehead ducks have just arrived. We counted 19 of them and they are neat to watch.
The daffodils struggle upward after being frozen three or four times. These are hardy and have been growing here without much TLC for about 50 years.
  Now to look back 20+ years! 1993 and 1996. The first six pictures are from 1993 and that is the main road into the lake home. We lived in a larger house on the other side of the lake then. The last five pictures are from 1996. 
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Sunday, March 13, 2016

Result of Photo Project

I made a picture after reading something in a book recently.

A quote by C.G. Jung~

"Every mother contains her daughter in herself and every daughter her mother and every mother extends backwards into her mother and forwards into her daughter."


Please click on image to view larger 

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

SUGAR PRESSURE


Sweet tooth prevailed today. I made peanut butter/chocolate chip cookies and a pumpkin pie AND I ordered 3 bags of my favorite Russell Stover PECTIN Jelly Beans! HA! All natural fruit flavors, too; Grape, Strawberry, Pineapple, Cherry, Orange, Lemon and Lime! I love these over corn starch beans which are ordinary, sweet and sticky. Pectin - YEA!


Why? Because I can, that's why.

And I'll be baking a large meatloaf this afternoon. Back into the swing of things now that my photo project is finished; well almost finished.
3pm baked, sliced and ready to eat.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

THE Porch


A Porch To Remember  by Pauline F. Nulton 1996     1914 - 2005

I'll never forget the house where I grew up, and the wonderful summer hours my father and mother spent with me on the wide porch that surrounded two sides of our white four-room bungalow.
At first it was only a summer cottage. It was purchased by my parents, in the early 1900's from the nearby railroad company which had used it for their workmen while building what was later to be known as "The Cut Off."  The two-track, wide, dirt and rock fill had taken many years to build, but the savings in miles from New York City to points north and west, mainly to transport anthracite coal, were well worth the huge expenditure and effort.
In later years, with the addition of a basement, central heating, and two more rooms, the cottage became a year-around home. It still stands today, modernized by new owners, but one thing has remained untouched—the porch.
The porch made a wonderful sleeping room on hot humid nights. We all had cots where we slept each night from early summer to early fall. Sometimes the bedding became a little damp, but the hot sun in the daytime soon took care of our reluctance to crawl under the covers again. Lying there at night, we listened to the crickets, the katydids, little screech owls and an occasional marauding cat or barking dog.
The mornings were begun by a chorus of crowing roosters, both near and far, joined always by the birds; song sparrows, robins, meadowlarks, orioles, and yes, even bluebirds. Wrens added to the chorus and always built their nests in the rambler rose bushes that bordered the porch, and it never ceased to amaze us how much noise could come from such a tiny bit of life. And the hummingbirds!  Of course they didn't sing in the morning, but if one watched carefully, they could be seen flitting fro their tiny nest in the honeysuckle vine to each ivory-hued blossom. The little jewel-like bodies then took off on invisible wings to the nectar-laden trumpet vine with its bright orange flowers waiting to accept the long bills thrust deeply to gain the life-sustaining fluid.
The view from one side of the porch, since it faced the east, was often spectacular in the early morning. Each day, each week, each month and season had its own special splendor. As the house sat upon a fairly high hill, one could see just about full circle. The mountains were the farthest away, preceded by fields and a few houses scattered among the fence-lined checkerboard hills in the mid-distance. The little country town in the valley below was mostly hidden by large trees along the few small streets, but one knew it was there because the gray slate-covered church spire could be seen dominating the partially visible patches of the roofs of the few scattered homes.
Toward the north, a huge oak tree hid most of the nearby view, but it was the source of many hours of pleasure because it supported a swing which hung from its lowest sturdy branch. I recall how hard I tried to swing to get just high enough to touch the leaves of the big branch. I don't think I ever quite made it, but the effort occupied much of a long summer afternoon. A horseshoe shaped stone fireplace was built in the shade of the friendly ancient tree. A picnic table and cedar-poled shelter faced the fireplace and many family picnics were enjoyed in this long remembered spot of quiet majesty.
To the south, the view from the porch consisted mainly of the railroad embankment and a few farms, accented here and there by tall red or gray silos. That may not sound especially lovely, but have you ever seen a lighted passenger train streak along in the evening darkness? Many was the night we sat on the porch just waiting to catch a glimpse of the "Limited" as it sped on its way toward the city. On a holiday there would be more than one section, often two, and sometimes even three, each group of ten or twelve passenger cars a diamond necklace displayed fleetingly against the black velvet curtain of night.
On nights when there was a full moon, it was something really special to watch as it rose from behind the mountain. We sat on the porch for hours and watched it grow from just a suggestion of brightness in the sky to a full disk of purest silver. If anyone had told us then that one day human beings would walk upon the surface of that disk, we would have laughed derisively and accused them of being dreamers or even worse.
At any time of the day or night, I think that the most impressive sight we looked forward to was that of a thunderstorm! Yes, looked forward to, because we had the most wonderful view of the whole spectacle from start to finish. I firmly believe this is why, to this day, I have no fear of such a storm. We watched as the dark lead-colored clouds began to form, as the wind drove the misty curtain of rain up the valley, and as each flash of lightning illuminated the scene around us. No two bolts were ever quite the same or in the exact same spot. No two thunderclaps ever sounded exactly alike. The mountains echoed each clap to its own mysterious timing in an ever changing pattern.          
    After one especially severe daytime storm, we were treated to a sight not seen by too many people—a double rainbow! The ends of one side of the rainbow were anchored behind the mountain in the distance and the ends of the other side were buried deep in the center of the village and touched with ghostly colored fingers, the very top of the church's spire.
The corner of the porch had another function to perform when it became the center of a new beginning, a small family gathering to celebrate my wedding in 1934. A loving neighbor decorated the area with flowers from her garden, among which were tall stems of the old-fashioned "Golden Glow" which is seldom seen today.
In a few years the porch performed one more use, when a playpen provided a safe area for the first baby, a daughter, to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. When not in the playpen she enjoyed rocking in a tiny 'Mission' rocker that had been mine and still remains in the family to this day.
No matter where I live, or how far away I may be, I shall never forget the wonderful porch of my first home. Now that porches are back in fashion, I sincerely wish that others could experience some of the sights and sounds which have meant so much to me and stayed with me in memory over the years. Their influence on me has colored and shaped my likes and dislikes over the stretch of time. 
I often think back to those special days and am so grateful for my present home with…you guessed it…a porch. No, I do not wish to go back, but rather to profit by the many incidents that occurred while I enjoyed my first home with a porch, and to learn to enjoy and appreciate my life in the present time and place.
Very early 1900's
1912 Lattice added
1913 Awnings added, parents standing
1996 
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Monday, March 7, 2016

The Finish Line

Except for trying to figure out what to do with the old family post cards, dozens of cabinet cards and studio portraits that are mounted on hard board, I'm just about finished with the rejuvenation of the old photo albums and the creation of two more. I did not enjoy doing this at all, I will admit. 

Got a kick out of this 1917 photo, though. My mother is near the bottom of the stairs and the bottom is completely covered with onions from the garden drying in the sun! It was written on the back!
And this one of my dad. Handsome devil wasn't he? GOOD MAN!
I even found these but they weren't marked as to when or who. I could make a guess on the face similarity of the woman and then could surmise the man is her husband and the child is her daughter and the photos were taken before her son, my grandfather was born. A guess is just a guess, though. I'll never know for sure. They are called Carte de visite photos. See link to explain below.


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Click on links below to learn more about old photograph cards