Friday Fragments

I can't believe it's Friday already. I had such good intentions of posting more this week, but time and circumstances intervened. First of all, let me apologize to those blogging sisters of mine who have either given me an award, or tagged me in the past couple of weeks. I have every intention of acknowledging those honors. It's just that I'm a little flummoxed right now. There is so much to do and, seemingly, so little time. So, I promise right after Christmas and New Year's, I will get to them.

In the meantime, let's talk about the past few days. I did manage to get outside and rehang my pesky wreaths. I think I might really have mastered the art of keeping them on the windows come rain or storm or dark of night; that includes snow and wind too.

Here are three of the four that blew away during Sunday's wind storm.

You may remember the picture I posted of the "cobbled up rigging" Jim had put together to deter the squirrels from eating all my birdseed. Well, that didn't work so well and the weight of the squirrels, plus the wind, finally broke the whole darn thing. So while I was hanging wreaths, Jim was hanging the new "squirrel proof" bird feeder. It looks pretty snazzy, but we'll see.

As if all this outdoorsy stuff isn't enough, it dawned on me that we hadn't put the tree up on our sun porch. This tree was Jim's mom's artificial tree. When she gave up her home, I dragged it home. I just couldn't bear to part with it. We had so many good times putting that tree together and decorating it for Mom. That was part of our Thanksgiving tradition while she still lived in her home. Now it graces our sun porch with just white lights. It looks so pretty shining on our porch as you drive by our house.

It doesn't look like much here, but it's really nice at night. That is, when I remember to flip the switch and turn it on.

Thursday (omigosh, was that only yesterday?) was Jim's mom's 94th birthday. Jim had an appointment with the neurosurgeon who did his hand surgery so we left right from the Dr.'s office and went to Pennsylvania. Mom knew we were coming and was waiting for us when we arrived. She looked really pretty. You just wouldn't believe she is 94. We visited with her for awhile and then went on to BIL and SIL's to get settled before time to take her to dinner.

The weather was pretty yukky; really heavy wet snow. I was afraid she would change her mind about going out, but she's a pretty spunky lady and donned her boots and winter gear and out we went.

We had dinner at a little neighborhood restaurant. The folks there were so kind to us. Of course, they fussed over her. They took the cake I had brought along and served it at the appropriate time.

She photographs much better than her son! LOL Isn't she just a doll? You probably have guessed that I hold this lady in high esteem. She is really special.

The overnight snow was just beautiful, but did cause some problems. The plan was to meet my Aunt and Uncle for breakfast this morning before we started home. When we arrived at the restaurant, there was no power. Thankfully, the gas grill worked and we managed to have a pretty nice breakfast, even if the coffee was only lukewarm.

Isn't this a beautiful sight? Driving along this road was like passing through a winter wonderland. I just kept oohing and ahhing all the way through this area. As we got closer to home, the snowfall was less and less. I think we probably have about 2-3 inches here.

December is such a wonderful time of celebration. Tonight we joined Linda, Jason, Shelly and Bruce for dinner at our friend, Ken's, new home. He made some delicious chili. It was a really festive evening.

I'm so proud of this picture. I sat the camera on the entertainment center, set the auto timer and ran over to join the others and Voila! I'm not always successful at this.

Before I close, I want to thank Dana for the lovely surprise. I had entered a drawing for a book on Dana's blog, which I won. When the book arrived, tucked inside was this wonderful "prize".

Isn't it sweet? Thanks so much Dana. You have made me very happy with this precious gift.

BTW, I mentioned Jim seeing the neurosurgeon. He was very pleased with the progress Jim is making with his right hand. He and Jim both think things are going very well. So, now he is ready to do the surgery on the left hand. That will take place in January. Thanks for all your concerns and prayers for Jim. Neither one of us actually thought he would get this much use back in that hand. PTL.

Well, I think that's it for tonight. Sweet dreams and a great weekend to all of you.

HIPPO HUGS