Here's what I did today!

This is what my bed underneath the tree looked like this morning. It was filled with weeds and the leaves from the daffodils that had long lost their blooms.



And this is what it looked like after I planted 48 impatiens plants!

A morning at the Botanical Gardens

Here is a photo of my youngest grandson, Andrew, and me at the children's area of the Botanical Gardens in Virginia. The Mulberry tree behind us, which is mostly on or low to the ground, is over 100 years old and still produces berries. . . we ate a handful of them!

Pictures from a proud Gramma!

My grandson, Kevin, participated in a mini-triathlon last weekend. He had been practicing for weeks. He swam 100 yards, rode a bike for five miles, and ran a mile. He was at the younger end of his age group and came in 95th out of 130. I think that is incredible.

Kale and Red Bell Pepper Strudel

I made a delicious dinner tonight from one of my Moosewood cookbooks. What? You don't know about the Moosewood cookbooks??? Look them up on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. The Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, NY specializes in wonderful vegetarian fare. I've never been there, but I love their cookbooks!

Anyway, back to my recipe. It was a Kale and Red Bell Pepper Strudel using phyllo dough sheets to enclose the filling. The filling was out of this world good! Kale, red bell peppers, onion, garlic, fresh rosemary mixed in with a cheese mixture of cheddar, cream cheese and tofu.

I think next time, though, rather than the phyillo, I will use my pie pastry recipe.

This recipe can be found in the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook. It's definitely good enough for special dinner guests!

The bears are back!

Last year, the Rochester area had several sightings of black bears in suburban areas. One actually made it safely across two major highways. Yes, you would slow down and stop too if you were driving along and suddenly saw a bear walking across a 4 lane highway, now wouldn't you?

They are back again this year. The area south of Rochester is mostly rural with lots of wooded areas. As young bears leave "home" and start to stake out their own territory, they tend to wander.

Am I fearful for my life? No! These are young bears and black bears are non-threatening unless cornered. Now, if Molly sees one, it's all over. . . she'd want to run up to it and play with it!

The biggest magnets for them are bird feeders and grills. I don't have a bird feeder and my grill is stored inside.

My biggest fear for these animals are either being hit by a car or encountering a rambo who thinks he/she will be a hero by shooting and killing a bear in the neighborhood.

A visit with my grandchildren

Whew! What a weekend! On Thursday I drove to Virginia to visit John and Jen and the boys.

On Friday morning, after the two older boys were off to school, Jen and Andrew and I visited the botanical gardens, always a favorite of mine. There is a children's area that Andrew enjoys. . . and so do I!

Saturday was a blistering hot day and what did I forget to pack??? Sunscreen and a hat and lip protection! Andrew and Jake each had a soccer game and my heart went out to all those young kids playing in 90 degree weather.

After a full weekend of activity, Saturday evening was supposed to be a quiet, relaxing time. Jen had planned a dinner cooked on the grill, I was occupied going through one of her cookbooks that caught my attention. . . I vaguely remember somebody saying, "CLOSE the door". . . The next thing I knew, their little dog had bolted out the door and down the deck steps, chasing after a rabbit into the woods.

The next few hours were frantic and honestly, kind of a blur as we all scattered in every direction trying to find the dog. This is the most loving dog. She just thrives on attention. The thought of her lost in the woods was just more than I could deal with.

Just as I had accepted the fact that she may never return, a neighbor down the street had found her and put her on a leash and called the house. Kevin and I went racing down the street to get her.

Now, if you think this soap opera is over. . . you are wrong! John and Jen found dozens of ticks on her as they bathed her. They spent over 2 hours with her in the bath tub trying to bring her back to her pre-escape condition.

The next day it was time for me to come home and after a pancake breakfast, I was on my way. I have always dreaded driving through the Washington, DC area, even on a Sunday morning, that place is a zoo. You are either in a pack of cars going 90 miles an hour, bumper to bumper, or you are poking along at 20 mph bumper to bumper. . . there is no middle ground. John and Jen gave me a new alternative to consider and I absolutely loved that route - scenic, easy to drive, no crazies on the road. . . my kind of travel!

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Five years ago today my youngest grandson was born! Happy Birthday, Andrew! Gramma will see you later today.

Michael and Marisa

I found this recent photo of Michael and Marisa, my son and daughter-in-law, and liked it and wanted to put it on my blog. Also Woody! Now Woody is quite a character! He's fun to play with. Everytime I go over to Michael and Marisa's house Woody gets so excited to see me because he knows I will play with him!!! He gets some of the most unique expressions on his face.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is set aside to honor mothers. May every mother have a wonderful day today.

Being a mother and grandmother is the most important thing in my life. Raising two sons - twin sons! - who grew up to be every mother's dream has been the most rewarding part of my life. I have been truly blessed watching my grandsons being raised with the same values as their father and uncle were raised.

Come with me back in time as I take a look at my boys' growing up years!

Rough weather today

I may be dissapointed that I couldn't do the yard work that I planned to do today. But I consider myself fortunate. In other places in the Rochester area, thousands of people lost power due to strong winds knocking down power lines. Large tree limbs have broken like match sticks. And a few homes were damaged when trees fell on them. Four people were trying to travel in a sailboat from Toronto to Rochester across Lake Ontario and they had to be rescued when winds tore their sails. Not very smart doing a trip like that on a day like today!

I had a hair appointment this morning and later I took my weed wacker to the shop for a tune up. Other than that I worked inside. . . you know, the usual weekend stuff - laundry, cleaning, dusting.

It will be a short work week this week. I am taking a long weekend to go visit my son, daughter-in-law and my grandsons. Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to that.

Ugh. . .

I'm going to be hurting tomorrow morning. . . if I can even get out of bed.

My son came over this afternoon to help me get the stumps out of the ground of the two small trees/bushes I spent the last two weekends cutting down.

My plan was, he would come over and get started, I was going to bake an apple pie for desert for dinner tonight. Once the pie was in the oven, I'd come out and help him with the clean up effort. WRONG!

With me helping him, it took three hours just to get the roots cut away and the damn stump out to the road. The roots were as thick as the bottom part of the tree. It is one of those trees that has multiple trunks coming out of the ground.

I had no idea it would be that difficult or take that long. When we finished that one, I said, "Let's hold off on the other one!" It is much smaller, but we were both really tired and it was a hot and humid afternoon.

Anyway, thanks, Michael, for all your help. It would have taken me all summer to do that.

Saturday morning entertainment

Who would ever think standing in line at the post office could be entertaining? Certainly not me. All I wanted to do was run in, buy my one stamp, put it on my letter and be on my way. Yes, I can buy stamps at automated machines or at Wegmans. But this was a check I was mailing for a membership at the gun club I belong to and I just wanted to get it in the mail before I forgot. I am famous for writing checks for things I can't pay online and then not remembering to drop them in the mail.

So I walk to the counter area, a rather long line and only one clerk behind the counter. There was this dear little old couple, who probably should not be out without supervision, taking up the time of the one clerk. I shudder to think one of them was driving a car to get there. Several of us in the line were rolling our eyes at each other over this.

I struck up a conversation with the rather large lady in front of me. First she told me she was mailing packages for things she had sold on eBay. She went on to tell me she makes $400 to $500 a month selling on eBay and around Christmas time it is nothing for her to take in $2000 a month. Then she began telling me about her car problems this morning.

Finally her time came at the counter and she began this whole conversation all over again with the clerk! Hhhmmm. . . wonder what else she would have told me had she had more time in line???

Then I made my purchase, the clerk took my letter and I was on my way for more mundane chores, like buying weed killer and coming home to do weekend chores.

Happy Saturday, Everyone!