Friends Passing Through...And Busy, Busy, Busy!

Wow what a busy week it's been for us. The beginning of the week started out rather slowly, but like a Rollin stone that gathers no moss, from Tuesday on we have been on the run.

I'm in rehearsals for Beethoven's 9th Symphony being presented here at the University of Oklahoma on Saturday, April 20th. Constantly singing high A's is taking a toll on my voice. I firmly believe that Ludwig Von Beethoven hated Sopranos. Otherwise we would be singing something beautiful and great and not screaming our vocal chords to death on a single note.

Wednesday we had two huge trees removed. Unfortunately we have several more big trees that need to come down. Between a horrific ice storm in 2007 and two years of drought, all of our big trees that have provided so much shade for our house for many years have just upped and died. Matter of fact I can stand in my yard and count at least 10 trees in the neighborhood that have bit the sawdust heaven and know of at least 10 that have been removed already.

 

Bobbie and Jim

Linda X 2

Our friends Bobbie and Jim Chapman passed through to see us and some other friends, The Two Lindas, who were camped out at the lake. We all got together and shared a meal. Bobbie fixed some wonderful beef stew and a vegetable medley that was delicious. We took a bean, corn, pepper, green onion, avocado salad and a no added sugar apple pie from Sprouts. I wish our visit could have been longer but B and J had been up since 4:00a.m., and after driving in from Sanger, TX both were very tired.  Bobbie was also worried about her little dachshund Poncho who had gotten into some chocolate.  Thankfully he is better.

Thursday was a busy day at work as it’s the end of the month, a lot of data entry to be done. Later in the afternoon I went to a reception for a co-worker who was retiring. Ran to the County Treasurers office to pay the second half of our taxes before they closed as I found out they were not going to be open on Friday due to it being Good Friday. Sure don't want to pay that penalty and went to Sprouts again to partake in all their specials they were advertising. I purchased some apple chicken sausage that was wonderful and left the store with 4 large reusable shopping bags that were loaded down and only spent $40.00. That I can live with.

Friday has been spent finishing up the end of the month in the office and getting ready for April's business. Hmmm, what to do for dinner, I don't know but I will think of something, I always do. Maybe Dave will take me to dinner, hint, hint, maybe to Cracker Barrel for their Fish Fry Friday?  Hopefully we will go to Hastings afterwards and get some coffee.

I will take it easy this weekend, maybe enjoy a morning fire tomorrow with my cup of coffee in hand and watch the dogs play outside, or maybe Dave and I can get together with the Linda's and partake in an evening meal or a movie. They will be here for two weeks then they move on to their next destination to work. I know we will see them sometime before they leave the area. They are two really neat ladies and we like them a lot.

Next weekend will be Medieval Fair weekend and my youngest 30th birthday. What?!?!?!  Did I just say 30????? Oh, my gosh where did the time go? It flies for sure; blink and they’re all grown up with jobs and responsibilities.

Have a wonderful Easter everyone.

 
Happy trails...

650 Days and Counting

A Gathering and Plans Set in Jello...

Strange how things work out, I started a new blog the other day called MiaFoodies. The Two Linda’s left a comment on my comment page saying they looked forward to seeing us again this year. We met them after friends of ours Bobbie and Jim Chapman introduced us to them via blog. Bobbie and Jim are full-time RVers that we met three years ago while camping in Colorado. They rescued us when our car broke down. They were the camphosts at the campground we were staying in.

Bobbie and Jim

I texted Bobbie after noting on her blog that they were on the road traveling towards Colorado, saying wouldn't it be lovely if we could all get together as the Two Lindas were due to arrive here on Wednesday. I got a reply back from her saying to give the Two Linda's a hug from them as they would not be coming this way.                                                                 

Me and the Two Linda's

Now here comes Jello. What I think that attracts me to the RV lifestyle is the fact that you can pretty much change your mind at the last minute and go where you want. I got a text yesterday from Bobbie saying, plans have change, they are coming in on Wednesday and are going to be out at the lake camping with the Two Linda's and we are all going to get together and have dinner. How fun is that!

I went to the new Sprouts Farmers Market to check things out during their preview and WOW I am dually impressed with the market. I will pop by at noon and get the items for my salad and get that put together and get a pie, Apple of course. 

I can’t wait to see our friends again…come on minutes go by faster!

Happy trails…

New Blog...

I started a new blog about the food I love to fix.  So go check it out!  Mia Foodies

St. Patrick's Day...And a Birthday

Birthdays...I love birthdays. There is nothing better than to have a birthday on a Special Day such as St. Patrick's Day. Yes my middle name is Patricia. I was born in Philadelphia, PA, left there with parents in tow on the train to
Oklahoma when I was 11 months old.

Tulsa, Oklahoma  Looking North East from the Convention Center

 I grew up in Tulsa and with much anticipation always looked forward to my birthday. My Grandmother would always bake my cake, chocolate with a chocolate mint icing or spice cake with coffee icing. She made the best cakes and they were mouth watering and to yearn for.

 

Me in costume for La Traviata with our exchange student Sandro

My 18th was a special birthday for me, I got to vote on my birthday, sing in a huge opera production, and my mother's cousin who was a baker made my cake. What was special about the cake is that it was all done in green music staffs and notes and the candles were rolled up $1.00 bills. Eighteen of them! How fun was that.

 
Today, I watched one of my favorite movies, "The Black Stallion Returns" I love both Black Stallion movies. I love the books by Walter Farley. They were the books that inspired me to read. Every day when I would stand in the lunch line in elementary school, I would pick up the book as we passed the shelves in the Library/Lunch room, read a few pages and then get my lunch. Mind you this was the big picture book and the horse drawings were great. I love horses. I love the story of Alec and The Black. So getting to lounge in bed and watch Francis Ford Coppola's movie was a big treat for me.

 
I got a beautiful Red Shamrock plant and the movie Anna Karenina, staring Keira Knightly, Jude Law, Matthew McFadden and Domhnall Gleeson from my loving husband of almost 41 years. I love you honey! The movie was very good but very strange. The whole movie was like watching an over the top play from above the stage to below the stage. Each frame was a work of art.

 

I’ve had all kinds of free food coupons this week. One for a free Taco Salad from Taco Mayo another for a free sub and drink at Jersey Mike's, free pizza from Marco's , shakes from Smash Burger and a crispy taco from Taco Casa. Just register on their website and the offers come pouring in.

 

Awesome salad

Tender flakey crust on a Chicken Pot Pie

The Mudslide Martini...Yum but I swear I could not taste the Vodka in it. Never did feel it.

Dave took me to Cheddar's for my birthday dinner on Saturday night, I had a wonderful Chicken Pot Pie with salad and a honey croissant and a Mudslide Martini. It was good!

 

But for my Sunday dinner for my birthday I put a beautiful piece of corned beef in the crock pot Saturday evening and let do its thing. Sunday morning I pulled it out and trimmed all the fat from it and wrapped it in tin foil and put it in the refrigerator to make slicing it easier later. Just before we left to go see "OZ The Great and Powerful" I put the cabbage, carrots and new potatoes into the crock pot with the broth from the corned beef. Dinner was waiting when we got home. All I can say is YUM!

 

We enjoyed Oz, it was stunningly beautiful and a good story.

My girls gave these to me!

Socks...I just love different kinds of fun socks so you know I just have to wear my lucky socks on my special day! Best day ever to wear them on.

 
Today I have had well wishes on my Facebook accounts even one from Nick Russell, birthday texts, emails and phone calls from family, how can you not love listening to your 2+ year old Grandson try to sing you Happy Birthday and to hear the other Grandson cooing in the background.   To my blog family...I love you all. You have inspired me over these past three years with your tales of travel and your pictures. Soon we will join you out there.

 
A girl never felt so blessed.

Happy trails...

 
662 Days and counting down!

Did I Meet A Relative Last Night?

We went out again to our favorite night sky viewing spot to see if we could catch a glimpse of the comet.  There was another party there who soon left after sundown.  We went through the routine of getting out the camera, tripod, binoculars, flashlight and jackets.  We got settled in to do some night viewing of our spectacular sky.  Again the weather was gorgeous. 

Shortly after setting up, a young father of two rambunctious boys asked if they could join us. “Of course” was our reply.  The boys were so cute with their school papers of where to look and their binoculars. Then another father and son duo showed up, but with a $3000.00 telescope.  We had so much fun looking through the big telescope and then watching the little boys reactions, as they had never look through one before, it was priceless. Words could not describe the looks on their faces or their dad’s face. 

Ed and Ben Averyt had the big scope.  How wonderful of them to share. Dave was able to get some great shots of the comet which you could not see with the naked eye.  Once we figured out where it was Dave was able to track it by taking pictures of the night sky and the moon.  The pictures as you will see are awesome and to think that we will never see it again is somewhat mind blowing.  We saw it at 8:40p.m., below the moon on the right side and it tracked upward past the moon to the left.  It is difficult to see but the digital camera did a great job of catching it. 



Comet below the moon 8:40p.m.

Conversations started to get rather strange.  As we were discussing small stuff, Dave asked Ben where he went to school to which he said was Mount St. Mary’s Catholic school near downtown Oklahoma City, to which Dave said that our next door neighbor was the principal there.  How fun is that.  The evening rocked on and then the comet was gone. 

Comet above moon 8:58p.m. By 9:10 it was gone.

Ed, Ben's dad, is a stay-at-home dad due to a medical condition, asked to share information as he would like to get together again sometime with all of us to view the night sky out at Lake Thunderbird.  I exchanged information and then Ben wanted to give us their email address, when I looked at the last name again, bell and whistles went off in my head like a casino machine.  AVERYT!!! Oh, my gosh!  that was the last name of my great, great grandfather.  Ed asked where he was from and I replied “Texas” as that was what my grandmother had told me.  Ed said it couldn’t be his family as all of them were from Alabama.  We bid each other Adieu and left on the promise we would hook up again.

I kept thinking on it...when I got home I got on my Ancestry.com account and looked up my great, great grandfather.  Jonathan H. Averyt was born in Dallas County, Alabama!  Could it be?  Are we long lost cousins?  A chill went through me.  I emailed Ed and gave him the information.  He said that his grandmother was a big genealogy person so maybe she will be able to find something out in their family records.  Wouldn't that be a hoot!  They say there is only six degrees of separation between all of us. Hmmmm something to think about for sure.

664 Days and counting…

Comet Gazing...New Friends?

"Date Night!," I texted to my dear hubby. He responded with "where are you taking me?" "Comet gazing" I replied.

After dinner we packed up the camera, tripod and set off on our journey to far yonder hills west of Norman with a spectacular view of the western sky. As we pulled up to our favorite parking spot there was someone already there parked and facing west. We pulled in next to them and proceeded with getting our gear out of the car. The whole area was filled with stargazers.

After getting set up we introduced ourselves to Maggie and John Thompson and their two lovely Morkies, (Maltese and Yorkie cross) Bailey and April. After conversing with them for a while, they were telling us about their Alaskan Trip the summer before, they let it be known they were RVers, had sold their home in OKC and were living in an RV park not far from where we were. Oh My Gosh! Is God putting people in front of us for a reason?  Hmmm...I tend to think so.

Well you can imagine where the conversation led. We were so excited. We exchanged telephone numbers and email addresses and names.

We will return tonight to see if we can see the Comet Pan-STARRS.  Pan-STARRS was discovered in June 2011 by a team of astronomers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (or PAN-STARRS), a telescope in Hawaii. The comet is officially designated as C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) and is thought to take more than 100 million years to make a single orbit around the sun.

A friend of mine took this picture the other night of the comet.  

 

Here is a star chart of where it is in the sky for the next couple of nights. I sure hope Al of the Bayfield Bunch gets some great pictures of it. 

665 Days and counting... 

DVD's and a Butterfly Circus...

Dave and I like to watch movies, so we buy lots of Blue Ray DVD’s because they have the extras and any good film student will tell you the information on those DVD’s concerning the construction of a movie is worth its weight in gold.  

We recently watched “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”.  It took us by surprise. If you have not seen it I will not spoil it for you.  Excellent movie, not what you would think it would be.

We also watched Breaking Dawn Part 2.  I was really taken as to how Bella becomes a woman of strength and character unlike her pre-vampire self. We both thought it was very good, especially the fight scene.

We are waiting for the release of "The Hobbit".  We saw it in the theatre and look forward to having our own copy.  Again we will enjoy the “extras” as we learn how the movie was put together making our viewing pleasure that much better. It was an excellent movie

The latest "Three Musketeers" was good.  I like the Chris O ’Donald one better, but don’t go by my word, scout it out for yourself.  The young D'Artagnan is played by the same actor who stars in Perks of Being a Wallflower.

I recently saw a short movie called the Butterfly Circus on YouTube. A very powerful 20 minute movie about life, possibilities, and obstacles that might arise but can be overcome. Well worth the view.

 

There are so many good movies getting ready to be released this year, Star Trek, Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, The Wolverine, Thor, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and the second installment of The Hobbit.  Lots to look forward to.

 

665 days and counting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Infinity Scarf...Another Project Done

Ever since I received my circular knitting looms for Christmas I have been knitting up a storm.  Here is my latest creation.

 

I know the picture is not all that great but it shows some of the colors I was working with.  I will ship this off sometime this week to my daughter in Texas.  I finished a grey one just like it for my daughter in Kansas City, MO.  I sure am having fun working with my looms.

 

670 days till freedom!