Sunday, September 23, 2012

Our 25th Anniversary Bash

After waiting ten days and agonizing over where to celebrate our 25th Anniversary, Jim and I         settled on what was actually my first choice, Club Soda.

 We started off with a couple of their signature martinis, the Sinatra. Taking a corny hand-holding photo  along with our special drinks just seemed the right thing to do. Anyway, the martinis and food (I splurged on a $30 filet mignon, and Jim chose chicken) were incredible. Now, we never eat like this. I can safely say it's been at least 5 years since we ate anywhere remotely as expensive and fancy.

I only wish they had told us we would also get bread and salad with our entree. And a side of green beans. Maybe I wouldn't have bought that $2.00 baked potato and ended up eating more food than I need for three days. Oh, well, you only have one 25th Anniversary, right? They had a sweet jazz quartet playing, and we had a great time. 

Heirloom Tomatoes


     After a long summer of consistently high temperatures, we're expecting our first frost tonight. These
are some of my last vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes for the year, unless the weather warms up quite a lot in the next couple of weeks. The big one is a variety called Mortgage Lifter, and the two smaller ones are Rutgers.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Summer 2012 Highlights

We all seem to be glad that summer is basically over. By which I mean not only that we're back into a school year routine, but that the hot weather seems (hopefully) to be over for the most part. After the hottest summer most of us can remember, it's great to feel a cool breeze, or even just to be able to go outside without gasping. Anyway, since I'm rebooting my blog, for myself and family, not to write to an "audience" (although I obviously don't care if others read it, since I'm putting it on the internet), I thought I'd start out with a some highlights, or not-so-high-lights, of Summer 2012.

Highlight #1:



    Summer just can't start in Fort Wayne without a trip to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. I always love to see this albino peacock strut his stuff.

   Pretty much everything at the zoo was as usual, except that the alligator had recently smashed the
glass of his tank with a wicked tail swipe. So we didn't get to see the alligator this trip. Never one of my favorites anyway, since he mostly just lies there on the grass or in the water, so no big loss.

Highlight #2:

    Getting our dog, Shadow's, hair cut off may not seem like much of a highlight, but it makes a huge

difference in the amount of hair we have to clean up. He is also much happier all summer, as well as smelling clean for a change.

Highlight #3:



     Early in June, we were able to go again on a bus trip to Cedar Point. Jim's company pays for all the employees and their families admission, as well as getting us there. Thanks, Sweetwater Sound!

Highlight #4:

    Well, not all highlights can be positive, right? At the end of June, a derecho hit several states, including our area, leaving over a hundred thousand households and businesses from Indiana to the East Coast without power for days to weeks. Tree limbs were downed all over the place.  Our neighborhood with all its big, old trees, was hard hit. The picture shows a big limb from one of our trees blocking the street out front until burly neighbor men came and hauled it down the street until the city could pick it up with the other debris.  We were among the lucky ones, though, who only went without power for a few days. Still, it was not our favorite experience.

Highlight #5


      In early August, our beloved Franciscan Sisters Minor allowed the public to a one-time open house
of their new monastery before they became cloistered nuns the next day. We miss being able to interact with them, but are so glad these Poor Clare nuns are here, praying for all of us. The pictures below are from a newspaper article covering the Enclosure Mass.


 
   We love our Poor Clare Sisters and Franciscan Brothers!

Friday, August 10, 2012

Catholic Sistas Giveaway

One of my new favorite blogs, Catholic Sistas is having an incredible giveaway, including a signed copy of  this book:



as well as cute crocheted baby hats, pro-life rosaries, wine, and a bunch of other great Catholic items.

The Christmas Octave: A Peaceful Space

I was planning to make this first post in over two years a "catching up" post. And I will get to that, eventually. But I felt insp...